The fight that scrubbed the world's most powerful AI models from the internet featured personality clashes, industry confusion and international backlash.
Why it matters: Anthropic's models are back online, but the impact of its 20-day showdown with the Trump administration will be long lasting.
Fewer Americans are reading books, but here's the plot twist: The bookstore is still staging a comeback.
Why it matters: Once left for dead in the wake of Amazon's rise and the death of Borders,Barnes & Noble and independent booksellers have pulled off a stunning turnaround, opening new stores and reporting higher sales.
For 20 minutes on CNBC Wednesday, Palantir CEO Alex Karp unloaded on frontier AI labs, arguing they've become so obsessed with building ever-more-powerful models that they're failing their biggest enterprise customers.
The big picture: Karp put his finger on a trend: U.S. companies are increasingly turning to cheaper Chinese AI models just as the Trump administration is blocking access to some of the best American AI tools — a double whammy for domestic AI labs.
OpenAI may give the U.S. government a 5% stake in the company, per the Financial Times. The proposal is in very preliminary conversations, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Why it matters: If the overture is taken up by the Trump administration, that would mean the government would have a vested interest in weighing whether or not to limit the release of an OpenAI model.
Medicare is launching a pilot program that tests whether health tech companies — including those that heavily rely on AI — can lower medical costs while improving care.
Why it matters: We've discussed why many experts think AI will actually increase health care costs in the near term in part by generating more health care and making spending levels even more unsustainable.
The Federal Trade Commission is now under stronger presidential control — with no more opportunity for partisan dissent — following the Supreme Court's decision that President Trump can fire its members.
Why it matters: Any realistic chance the agency in charge of consumer protection, kids' online safety, tech competition and fighting deceptive and unfair practices will have any Democrats during this administration is effectively gone.
ASPEN, Colo. — Colorado's Democratic governor, Jared Polis, defended data centers, touted oil and gas rules and bemoaned climate change in a recent interview in this mountain town.
Why it matters: Colorado has long been a microcosm of the nation's debates on energy, AI and the effects of a warming planet.
