Wikipedia’s Existential Threats Feel Greater Than Ever

In 2010, the FBI sent Wikipedia a letter that would be intimidating for any organization to receive. The missive demanded that the free online encyclopedia remove the FBI’s logo from an entry about the agency, claiming that reproducing the emblem was illegal and punishable with fines, imprisonment, “or both.” Rather than back down, a lawyer…

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The Real AI Talent War Is for Plumbers and Electricians

“We always have far more people applying than we actually accept into our apprenticeship programs,” Madello explains. How many trainees are admitted, he adds, depends largely on how many union members are expected to retire in the coming years. One problem, however, is getting people trained quickly enough to work on data center projects. Quinonez…

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OpenAI Invests in Sam Altman’s New Brain-Tech Startup Merge Labs

On Thursday, OpenAI announced its investment in neurotech startup Merge Labs, cofounded by its CEO, billionaire Sam Altman. OpenAI will collaborate with the new venture to develop technology to link people’s brains to computers. Merge Labs has raised $252 million in funding from OpenAI, private investment firm Bain Capital, video game developer Gabe Newell, and…

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How Nano Banana got its name

Back in late July, the team was hard at work preparing the first version of the model for launch, squashing pesky bugs and running evaluations. They’d already locked in the technical name — Gemini 2.5 Flash Image — but one critical detail was still missing: a public codename for LMArena. LMArena is a public platform…

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