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The Morning After: Elon Musk's SpaceX is buying his AI company, xAI

Engadget

The Morning After: Elon Musk's SpaceX is buying his AI company, xAI Like some sort of corporate Russian doll, SpaceX has announced its acquisition of xAI. The merger will "form the most ambitious, vertically integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth," according to, well, owner Elon Musk. The AI company, arguably best known for its ongoing CSAM-generating chatbot controversy, might seem like a strange fit for a rocket company. But SpaceX is apparently key to Musk's latest scheme to build AI data centers in space. There might be an argument for moving the resource-intensive operations to space -- but Musk continued.


US opens probe after a Waymo self-driving car hit a child near a school

Al Jazeera

The United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it is opening an investigation after a Waymo self-driving vehicle struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California, last week, causing minor injuries and renewing concerns about the safety of robotaxis. The car safety agency said on Thursday that the child ran across the street on January 23 from behind a double-parked SUV towards the school and was struck by the Alphabet-unit Waymo autonomous vehicle during normal school drop-off hours. The agency said there were other children, a crossing guard, and several double-parked vehicles in the vicinity. The US Senate Commerce Committee had already scheduled a hearing on self-driving cars for February 4, which will include Waymo Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Pena. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also said it will investigate the incident.


Microsoft stock plunges as Wall Street questions AI investments

Al Jazeera

Microsoft stock has slumped 12 percent as part of a software industry sell-off, stoking fears of whether hefty investments in artificial intelligence will pay off across the sector. The Redmond, Washington-based tech giant is on track Thursday to finish at its worst day since March 2020 and has seen approximately $400bn in valuation wiped out. Capital expenditures grew by 66 percent in the second quarter compared with the same period the year before, reaching a record $37.5bn for the quarter. Meanwhile, Microsoft predicted Azure growth to stay stable in the period from January to March at 37 percent to 38 percent, after slowing in the last three months of 2025, partially due to AI chip capacity constraints. "[Wall Street] wanted to see less cap-ex spending and faster cloud/AI monetisation and coming out of the gates, it's the opposite. We have said this is a multi-year journey, and Redmond needs to focus on its data center buildout with more customers heading down the AI path. It's a balancing act with 2026 the inflection year for AI and MSFT [Microsoft]," Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in a note provided to Al Jazeera.


Rubio rules out military action in Venezuela, with an exception

Al Jazeera

The Trump administration does not "intend or expect" to again take military action in Venezuela, Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio told the US Congress, but theoretical threats like an "Iranian drone factory" could change the government's thinking. Trump says US ready to attack Iran with'speed and violence'


World Economic Forum at Davos 2026: Dates, location and what to expect

Al Jazeera

The World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting kicked off in the Swiss resort city of Davos on Monday, with global figures from politics, business, academia and civil society attending the five-day event. The annual forum that attempts to shape global agendas comes at a time of massive global upheaval. United States President Donald Trump will attend the annual event along with other global leaders. His attendance comes amid strained US ties with its European allies over his threat to take over Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark. Here is more about the WEF and what to expect at the meeting.


California is investigating Grok over AI-generated CSAM and nonconsensual deepfakes

Engadget

Apple's Siri AI will be powered by Gemini Governor Gavin Newsom called for an investigation into xAI. An illustration photo shows Grok logo displayed on a smartphone with the xAI logo in the background . California authorities have launched an investigation into xAI following weeks of reports that the chatbot was generating sexualized images of children. The statement cited a report that more than half of the 20,000 images generated by xAI between Christmas and New Years depicted people in minimal clothing, including some that appeared to be children. We have zero tolerance for the AI-based creation and dissemination of nonconsensual intimate images or of child sexual abuse material," Bonta said. "Today, my office formally announces an investigation into xAI to determine whether and how xAI violated the law.


We still don't really know what Elon Musk's Doge actually did

The Guardian

Elon Musk walks to the White House after landing in Marine One on the South Lawn on 9 March in Washington DC. Elon Musk walks to the White House after landing in Marine One on the South Lawn on 9 March in Washington DC. We still don't really know what Elon Musk's Doge actually did W hen Elon Musk vowed late last year to lead a "department of government efficiency" (Doge), he claimed it would operate with "maximum transparency" as it set about saving $2tn worth of waste and exposing massive fraud. Today, with Musk out of the White House, Doge having cut only a tiny fraction of the waste it promised, and dozens of lawsuits alleging violations of privacy and transparency laws, much of what the agency has done remains a mystery. The effects of Doge's initial blitz through the federal government - which included dismantling the US Agency for International Development ( USAID), embedding staffers in almost every agency and illegally firing people en masse - are still playing out.