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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Developing artificial intelligence that lives up to the hype will take trillions of dollars of investment. So for OpenAI chief Sam Altman, the fact that the leader of the field could not easily raise new money was a big problem. A restructuring deal agreed with key shareholder Microsoft on Tuesday makes OpenAI a little more like a normal company. But only a little. The gist of this outlandishly complex reshuffle: Microsoft will swap its stake in an OpenAI subsidiary in which profit…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldChina’s Communist party leadership has called for a nationwide mobilisation involving “extraordinary measures” to achieve “decisive breakthroughs” in semiconductors and other key technologies.The push by the party’s elite central committee to close the gap with the west in chips, machine tools, high-end instruments and basic software comes just days ahead of critical meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump. China and the US have increasingly used technology controls and access to vital materials as weapons in their…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Sequoia Capital’s chief operating officer resigned over comments made by partner Shaun Maguire that she regarded as Islamophobic, as political debates sow division at one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful venture capital firms. Sumaiya Balbale — a practising Muslim who has spoken publicly about how her gender, ethnicity and faith have shaped her career — stepped down after five years at the company in August. Her decision to leave was precipitated by Maguire’s social media posts, according to three people with knowledge…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Apple has signed a $700mn deal to stream Formula 1 races in the US, as the iPhone maker joins Big Tech groups Amazon and Netflix in expanding further into screening live sport. The two groups confirmed on Friday they had agreed a five-year partnership ahead of this weekend’s US Grand Prix in Austin. Apple will begin broadcasting F1 in 2026, replacing Disney-owned broadcaster ESPN in the US.The deal is worth about $140mn a year, according to a person with knowledge of the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.OpenAI’s boundless ambition has become the touchstone of the generative artificial intelligence boom. It isn’t just the giant deals with which it has been shaking up the chip industry. If generative AI has the potential to change many aspects of business and daily life, then OpenAI intends to be the one leading the way. It wants to own it all, from consumer apps such as chat and social networking to the tools companies use to build AI agents. The question is how…

Hello from Tokyo, this is Katherine Creel, your host for this week’s #techAsia.Here in Japan, the big question in political circles is “Who will be Japan’s next prime minister?” The answer seemed pretty cut-and-dried after Sanae Takaichi won the Liberal Democratic Party leadership vote, but an unexpected bout of political upheaval has thrown that certainty out the windowIn the world of global tech and investment, meanwhile, the question is: “When will the AI bubble burst?”Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is the latest tech figure to argue that the rush of spending on chips and data centres means we are indeed…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Europe must rethink military procurement to keep up with the fast-changing world of drone warfare, the new boss of German start-up Stark has said.Uwe Horstmann, who will on Thursday be announced as the 15-month-old attack drone maker’s first chief executive, welcomed calls from top western military officials to update long-standing purchasing models to reflect the pace of innovation in the sector since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “When and how do we want [these drones]? How many of them? What do we…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.WPP and Google have struck a five-year deal to embed AI tools such as Gemini and video generator Veo into the UK advertising group’s offer to clients.Google’s AI will be used to create advertising campaigns rapidly and more effectively by WPP’s agencies, including real-time personalised marketing for millions of customers.The partnership includes a $400mn spending commitment from WPP for Google technologies to bring AI across its services.The deal is the first to be struck by new chief executive Cindy Rose, the former…

Additional reporting by Edward White, Rachel Millard and Maya de Souza. Additional development by Dan Clark.Fuel mix, generation and load data from Grid Status. California operating battery facility locations from EIA data, which is preliminary and relies on self-reported data. Capacity figures are based on EIA totals and facilities constructed in multiple phases may be reported as separate sites. Population data from Copernicus GHSL.Drone footage of Edwards Sanbord from BlackBoxGuild. Aerial images of Kola Energy Storage from NextEra Energy and of Eland from SOLV Energy, courtesy of Arevon. Source link

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Elon Musk agreed to settle with four former Twitter executives, including the social media platform’s ex-leader, who had sued the billionaire for more than $128mn in severance pay after he fired them following the company’s 2022 acquisition.Musk and X have reached an undisclosed settlement with former chief executive Parag Agrawal, former chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, former general counsel Sean Edgett and former chief financial officer Ned Segal, according to an update to the lawsuit filed in federal court in California. The…