Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) are demanding answers from major tech and AI companies over concerns that employees with ties to China could access cutting-edge U.S. AI systems.
Why it matters: Lawmakers are focusing on insider access — not just hacking — as a potential vulnerability, putting pressure on companies to demonstrate stronger safeguards.
Families who say chatbots harmed their children are urging Congress to pass strict safeguards, arguing that tech companies have put profits ahead of kids' safety.
Why it matters: Lawmakers are weighing how aggressively to crack down on AI chatbots for kids.
Robotaxis are hitting a very analog bottleneck: real estate. The next phase of autonomy isn't about better AI — it's about land, electricity and logistics to keep fleets on the road.
Why it matters: The race for autonomy is becoming an infrastructure battle, one that will demand billions for urban land, grid upgrades and high-throughput service hubs.
Uber unveiled its biggest push yet to become an "everything app" Wednesday, adding hotel bookings and new travel features.
Why it matters: The ride-hailing and delivery giant is trying to capture an even bigger slice of consumers' spending — bundling rides, food, shopping and now hotel bookings into one app.
Aurelius Systems is launching a manufacturing division to domestically produce industrial and defense lasers as well as their key components.
Why it matters: Directed energy weapons rely on precious pieces and materials, and supply chain concerns are top of mind following COVID-era disruptions and China's more recent throttling of critical minerals.
"We barely have any facilities that are producing in the country — at least anything in volume," Aurelius CEO Michael LaFramboise told Axios.
Soldiers with the 1st Cavalry Division will this fall get their hands on two of the U.S. Army's most anticipated machines: the XM30 combat vehicle and the M1E3 Abrams tank.
Why it matters: The Russia-Ukraine conflict has shown the grinding land wars of the tank's heyday are still with us in the 21st century — but also that drones are apex predators.
Both the XM30 and M1E3 are years in the making, with lineages predating today's bloody battles.
The Texas-based 1st Cavalry is helping plot the future of armored warfare amid this industrial and tactical upheaval.
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday kicked off an effort to use AI and other data science tools to monitor clinical trials in real time and cut down review times for new drugs.
Why it matters: Agency leaders portrayed the move as a major step toward keeping U.S. biomedical research competitive against countries like China.
One of the latest models is so powerful that its maker won't release it to the public.
OpenAI and Anthropic say their most powerful AI coding models are now building themselves.
AI companies are growing less transparent as models grow more powerful. The federal government requires zero transparency.
AI resentment is building fast. In early April, the San Francisco home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was the target of twoattacks in the same week. Shaken, he wrote: "The fear and anxiety about AI is justified ... Power cannot be too concentrated."
Biohub, the nonprofit spearheaded by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, is committing $500 million to help create better AI simulations of the human body, officials shared first with Axios.
Why it matters: The bet is that more data and compute will produce more useful models.
Congress is far from passing military AI guardrails as Google and the Pentagon sign a new contract more permissive than for rival companies like OpenAI.
Why it matters: AI companies say they have red lines around military misuse. But barring new laws on the books, contracts with the Pentagon could remain susceptible to loopholes and workarounds.
Universal basic income wouldn't be an antidote to AI-driven job loss, former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo says in an interview shared first with Axios.
Why it matters: Raimondo's remarks come as Democrats try to stake out winning positions on AI heading into the midterms and look ahead to the 2028 presidential race.
The White House is developing guidance that would allow agencies to get around Anthropic's supply chain risk designation and onboard new models including its most powerful yet, Mythos, according to sourcesfamiliar with the matter.
Why it matters: The Trump administration appears to be performing a 180 on a company it previously claimed was such a grave security risk that it had to be ripped out of the federal government.
I'm offering you four specific ways to get more out of AI this week: better prompting, improving AI memory (tonight), starting a business using AI (tomorrow) and running a business using AI (Thursday).
You nailed the perfect prompt. The output sang. You saved your Super Prompt. Then, you opened a new chat the next morning and AI acted like you'd never met.
It's not broken. You just haven't taught it to remember YOU.
Why it matters: Master what AI stores, what it can reference from your past and how to direct both — and your chats will start smarter. This is how you unlock next-level prompting and results.
