Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

How a hacking campaign targeted high-profile Gmail and WhatsApp users across the Middle East
On Tuesday, U.K.-based Iranian activist Nariman Gharib tweeted redacted screenshots of a phishing link sent to him via a WhatsApp message. “Do not click on suspicious links,” Gharib warned. The activist, who is following the digital side of the Iranian protests from afar, said the campaign targeted people involved in Iran-related activities, such as himself.…

The AI healthcare gold rush is here
AI companies are clustering around healthcare and fast. In just the past week, OpenAI bought health startup Torch, Anthropic launched Claude for healthcare, and Sam Altman-backed MergeLabs closed a $250 million seed round at an $850 million valuation. The money and products are pouring into health and voice AI, but so are concerns about hallucination risks, inaccurate medical information, and…

AI journalism startup Symbolic.ai signs deal with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp
Newsrooms have been experimenting with AI for several years now but, for the most part, those efforts have been just that: experiments. A relatively unknown startup, Symbolic.ai, wants to change that, and it just signed a major deal with News Corp, the media conglomerate owned by Rupert Murdoch. News Corp, the major assets of which…

Silicon Valley’s messiest breakup is definitely headed to court
OpenAI and Microsoft tried to dodge a courtroom showdown with Elon Musk, but a federal judge on Thursday rejected their requests to dismiss the case. Source link

The US imposes 25% tariff on Nvidia’s H200 AI chips headed to China
After months of rumors that the Trump administration was going to impose tariffs on semiconductors, a tariff has been announced for some chips. The tariff only applies to certain semiconductors, including the Nvidia H200 advanced AI chips set to ship to China. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday that entailed a 25% tariff…

Iran’s internet shutdown is now one of its longest ever, as protests continue
As of Thursday, 92 million Iranians have been completely blocked from accessing the internet for more than a week, in what is now one of the longest nationwide internet shutdowns ever, according to experts. Last Thursday, Iran’s leadership blocked internet and phone access across the whole country in response to massive anti-government protests, which began…

The FTC’s data-sharing order against GM is finally settled
The Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday it has finalized an order that bans General Motors and its OnStar telematics service from sharing certain consumer data with consumer reporting agencies. The finalized order, which comes a year after the agency reached a proposed settlement with GM, also requires the automaker to be more transparent with its…

Mira Murati’s startup, Thinking Machines Lab, is losing two of its co-founders to OpenAI
Former OpenAI exec Mira Murati’s startup, Thinking Machines Lab, is saying goodbye to two of its co-founders, both of whom are headed back to OpenAI. Another former OpenAI staffer who went to work for Murati’s startup is also headed back to the company. On social media on Wednesday, Murati announced the departure of Barret Zoph,…

AI models are starting to crack high-level math problems
Over the weekend, Neel Somani, who is a software engineer, former quant researcher, and a startup founder, was testing the math skills of OpenAI’s new model when he made an unexpected discovery. After pasting the problem into ChatGPT and letting it think for 15 minutes, he came back to a full solution. He evaluated the…

Google’s Trends Explore page gets new Gemini capabilities
Google announced Wednesday the launch of a revamped Trends Explore page, now featuring Gemini-powered capabilities that automatically identify and compare trends related to your searches. The update is rolling out on desktop starting today. The Trends Explore page has long served as a valuable tool for content creators, journalists, and researchers, making it easy to…
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