The Download: peering inside an LLM, and the rise of Signal

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 A judge has ordered Trump’s officials to preserve their secret Signal chat While officials are required by law to keep chats detailing government business, Signal’s messages can be set to auto-disappear. (USA Today) + The conversation detailed an imminent attack against Houthi rebels in Yemen. (The Hill) + A government accountability group has sued the agencies involved. (Reuters) + The officials involved in the chat appear to have public Venmo accounts. (Wired $) 2 The White House is prepared to cut up to 50% of agency staff But the final cuts could end up exceeding even that. (WP $) + The sweeping cuts could threaten vital US statistics, too. (FT $) + Can AI help DOGE slash government budgets? It’s complex. (MIT Technology Review) 3 OpenAI is struggling to keep up with demand for ChatGPT's image generation The fervor around its Studio Ghibli pictures has sent its G ... Read full article.