Technology

X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter, could lose as much as $75 million in advertising revenue by the end of the year as dozens of major brands pause their marketing campaigns after its owner, Elon Musk, endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory this month.Internal documents viewed by The New York Times this week show that the company is in a more difficult position than previously known and that concerns about Mr. Musk and the platform have spread far beyond companies including IBM, Apple and Disney, which paused their advertising campaigns on X last week. The documents list more than 200 ad units of companies from the likes of Airbnb, Amazon, Coca-Cola and Microsoft, many of which have halted or are considering pausing their ads on the social network.The documents come f...

The year-end holiday travel season is here, and if you’re skipping the airport and hitting the highway for your family gatherings, both Google Maps and Apple’s Maps have apps that can help save you time and money. Sure, online map navigation has been around for years, but if you haven’t used the apps for the long haul lately, both companies have recently improved their tools for modern road-trip concerns — like finding electric-vehicle charging stations or not getting lost in low-signal country. Here’s an overview.Pick a RouteFor many people, Google Maps (for Android, iOS and WearOS) and Apple’s Maps (for its iOS devices and Apple Watches) have become the go-to tools for getting around. The apps are free, easy to use and often installed by default on a device. (Ad-free subscription product...

Es muy probable que en poco tiempo los enjambres de drones asesinos sean una característica estándar de los campos de batalla de todo el mundo. Esto ha impulsado el debate sobre si se debe —y cómo— regular su uso y ha generado preocupaciones sobre la posibilidad de que las decisiones de vida o muerte al final sean transferidas a programas de inteligencia artificial (IA).A continuación, ofrecemos una descripción general de cómo ha evolucionado la tecnología, qué tipos de armas se están desarrollando y cómo ha progresado el debate.¿Qué tan nuevas son estas armas?Con el tiempo, es muy probable que la IA permita que los sistemas de armas tomen sus propias decisiones sobre la selección de ciertos tipos de objetivos y su ataque. Los recientes avances en la tecnología de IA han intensificado el d...

Just two weeks ago, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella stood onstage next to OpenAI’s Sam Altman at the start-up’s conference in a former concert hall in San Francisco. Both wore black jeans, Mr. Altman in an army-green shirt and Mr. Nadella in navy casual.“We love you guys!” Mr. Nadella said as he turned to Mr. Altman.“Awwww,” Mr. Altman responded.Mr. Altman has called OpenAI’s relationship with Microsoft “the best bromance in tech.” Since 2019, the companies have worked together to build advanced artificial intelligence systems that they believe could be the most important tech innovations in a generation, and Microsoft has invested $13 billion in OpenAI. Together, they planned to take on Google’s hammerlock on the internet.That relationship is being put to the test. On Friday, when the nonprofit...

For years, the Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and other senior employees at the cryptocurrency exchange knew that some of its users were criminals. Yet, despite regular warnings from some of its own employees that some transactions on Binance.com were violating anti-money-laundering laws, the firm was reluctant to cut them off.Those allegations, which were made public on Tuesday in a sweeping federal case against Binance and Mr. Zhao, show how thoroughly he and his deputies understood that criminals were using their trading platform — and how little they did to stop them.In many cases, they worked hard to keep the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, an arm of the Treasury Department that fights money laundering and other illicit financial transactions, from learning about their most noto...

What happened at OpenAI over the past five days could be described in many ways: A juicy boardroom drama, a tug of war over one of America’s biggest start-ups, a clash between those who want A.I. to progress faster and those who want to slow it down.But it was, most importantly, a fight between two dueling visions of artificial intelligence.In one vision, A.I. is a transformative new tool, the latest in a line of world-changing innovations that includes the steam engine, electricity and the personal computer, and that, if put to the right uses, could usher in a new era of prosperity and make gobs of money for the businesses that harness its potential.In another vision, A.I. is something closer to an alien life form — a leviathan being summoned from the mathematical depths of neural network...

One of the strangest episodes in the history of the tech industry ended as start-up events often do: with a party in San Francisco’s eclectic Mission District.Late Tuesday, OpenAI said Sam Altman was returning as its chief executive, five days after the artificial intelligence start-up’s board of directors forced him out. At the company’s San Francisco office, giddy employees snacked on chicken tenders, drank boba tea and champagne, and celebrated Mr. Altman’s return deep into the night.Mr. Altman’s reinstatement capped a corporate drama that mixed piles of money, a pressure campaign from allies, intense media attention and a steadfast belief among some in the A.I. community that they should proceed with caution with what they are building.Now OpenAI, which for two days appeared to be on t...

For much of the past year, OpenAI’s board of directors has been criticized as too small and too divided to effectively govern one of the fastest-growing start-ups in Silicon Valley history.On Friday, the board’s dysfunction spilled into public view when four of its members fired Sam Altman, OpenAI’s popular and powerful chief executive. The dismissal uncorked five turbulent days, as Mr. Altman rallied almost all of the company’s 770 employees to lobby for the board’s resignation and his reinstatement.Mr. Altman, 38, returned to the company on Tuesday night, after days of haggling over his job and over the makeup of the board.The board and Mr. Altman’s allies discussed more than a half dozen options for its future. They considered a board size of three to seven members and discussed about 3...

“Nanalan’” hasn’t been on TV in years, but it’s the hottest show on TikTok.A Canadian children’s program that made its debut in 1999, it has had a resurgence in recent weeks, thanks to its growing popularity on the social media platform, where it has been watched millions of times.A big part of the show’s appeal lies in its fiendishly catchy songs. One of them includes the lines: “Who’s that wonderful girl? Could she be any cuter?”The girl in question is Mona, a little green puppet with pigtails sticking out from both sides of her head. No, she could not be any cuter.The “who’s that wonderful girl?” earworm comes from a scene in which Mona enters a room dressed as a princess. Her grandmother, Nana, is singing the song while accompanying herself on organ. Nana’s dog, Russell, then appears i...

Sam Altman was reinstated late Tuesday as OpenAI’s chief executive, the company said, successfully reversing his ouster by OpenAI’s board last week after a campaign waged by his allies, employees and investors.The company’s board of directors will be overhauled, jettisoning several members who had opposed Mr. Altman. Adam D’Angelo, the chief executive of Quora, will be the only holdover.OpenAI had an “agreement in principle” for Mr. Altman to return as chief executive, it said in a post to X. “We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this.”The return of Mr. Altman and Greg Brockman, the company’s president who had resigned in solidarity, and the remaking of the board, capped a frenetic five days that upended OpenAI, the maker of the ChatGP...