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Peter Burke, Ireland's minister for enterprise, outlined the country's ambitions to capture more of the global AI investment boom. He addressed how Europe's regulatory stance, including the EU's AI Act that began phasing in during 2025, is evolving as governments try to balance oversight with economic competitiveness.
Flapping Airplanes, a one-year-old AI lab, announced a $1 billion Series A round co-led by Index Ventures and Lux Capital at a reported $6 billion valuation. The raise follows a $180 million seed round nine months earlier that had valued the company at $1.5 billion, with Sequoia, GV and Kleiner Perkins returning as investors alongside new backers including Nvidia.
New York venture firm Inspired Capital, founded by Alexa von Tobel and Penny Pritzker in 2019, has closed a $450 million fourth fund, pushing its total assets under management to nearly $1.4 billion. The firm invests in about 10 early-stage companies annually, writing checks of $1 million to $15 million, and has produced 12 unicorns and more than 10 exits across its first two funds, including MosaicML's $1.3 billion sale to Databricks.
Peter Thiel has been giving closed-door, invitation-only talks in San Francisco and, in March, Rome, arguing that effective altruism's apocalyptic AI-safety worldview risks producing what he calls the Antichrist. The lectures build on a 2023 talk at the Catholic University of America and focus on eschatology, the theological study of end-times. Thiel reportedly described the secrecy around the talks as good marketing, since restricting access generates more attention than making them public.
Doppler Labs, a startup that aimed to turn earbuds into computing devices, shut down in 2017 before bringing its vision to market. Many of the features it pioneered, such as audio augmentation and smart in-ear controls, later appeared in Apple's AirPods and competing products from other companies.
Billionaire investor Vinod Khosla is recruiting a new chief of staff, posting the opening on X to nearly two million views. The role requires in-person work in Menlo Park, California, availability from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. including nights and weekends, and a three-year commitment. Khosla's post did not list a salary, though Indeed data shows Bay Area chiefs of staff typically earn a median of $175,000.
Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak criticized the most ambitious players in the AI race, labeling them the 'lunatic fringe' of Silicon Valley. He argued Apple's slower, privacy-focused approach to AI features is deliberate, prioritizing useful tasks for everyday users over rapid, unconstrained advancement.
A former WIRED editor recounts how Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos secured favorable coverage across major outlets, starting with a 2013 Wall Street Journal opinion piece and followed by WIRED's own 2014 Q&A profile, plus features in Fortune, The New Yorker, and Inc. The piece traces how Holmes was repeatedly framed as the 'next Steve Jobs' before Theranos was later exposed as fraudulent.
A tech newsletter digest compiles several items: a report on espionage concerns in Silicon Valley's AI industry, comments from Michael Dell on surviving a potential AI bust, news of Apple's new HomeView tablet, and details on Meta's latest move into advanced AI development.
A new documentary focused on Elizabeth Holmes, the convicted founder of blood-testing startup Theranos, is set to be released, prompting discussion over how it portrays her. Details of the film's content and distribution have not been fully disclosed in available reporting.
Local authorities in Milpitas, California have ordered operators of the 342-acre Newby Island landfill to deploy drones and install monitors to track chemicals causing persistent bad smells, and to automate collection of landfill gases. Residents, including engineer Chia-Ling Kong who has campaigned against the odours, say smells have lasted hours daily despite recent improvements. The landfill's operators say they are committed to safe operation and protecting air quality.
A new wave of films and documentaries, including 'The Social Reckoning' and a Musk documentary by Alex Gibney, dramatize and investigate the personal conduct of major tech executives. These productions draw on existing investigative journalism, such as Frances Haugen's whistleblower allegations against Meta, to portray figures like Mark Zuckerberg in a far less flattering light than earlier works like 'The Social Network'.