Nvidia has hit a new milestone, becoming the first company in the world to reach a market value of $5tn (£3.8tn). The US chip-maker has rapidly climbed from a niche graphics-chip manufacturer to an AI titan, as euphoria about the potential of artificial intelligence keeps driving demand for its chips and propelling its stock to record highs. The company reached a market value of $1tn for the first time in June 2023 and hit the $4tn valuation mark just three months ago . Shares in the chip-maker rose as much as 5.6% to more than $212 on Wednesday morning, boosted by investor optimism about Nvidia's sales in China, which has been a geopolitical flashpoint. The world's most valuable company - the biggest winner in the AI spending spree - has soared past its rivals in the technology sector.

Booth is a reporter at TIME. Booth is a reporter at TIME. When Sam Altman arrived at Helion Energy's small Redmond, Wash., office in early 2014, nuclear-fusion textbooks tucked under his arm, the company was focusing its efforts on research and development. By the time he left, several days later, he had persuaded the fusion-energy startup to chart a more aggressive path toward deployment, CEO David Kirtley recalls. A year later, Altman, who was co-founding OpenAI around the same time, invested $9.5 million in Helion, taking the role of chairman.

Character.AI bans users under 18 after being sued over child's suicide Move comes as lawmakers move to bar minors from using AI companions and require companies to verify users' age The chatbot company Character.AI will ban users 18 and under from conversing with its virtual companions beginning in late November after months of legal scrutiny. The announced change comes after the company, which enables its users to create characters with which they can have open-ended conversations, faced tough questions over how these AI companions can affect teen and general mental health, including a lawsuit over a child's suicide and a proposed bill that would ban minors from conversing with AI companions. "We're making these changes to our under-18 platform in light of the evolving landscape around AI and teens," the company wrote in its announcement. "We have seen recent news reports raising questions, and have received questions from regulators, about the content teens may encounter when chatting with AI and about how open-ended AI chat in general might affect teens, even when content controls work perfectly." Last year, the company was sued by the family of 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III, who took his own life after allegedly developing an emotional attachment to a character he created on Character.AI.

Crowd control Asses.Masses played by a live audience. Crowd control Asses.Masses played by a live audience. T his weekend, I spent more than eight hours in a theatre playing a video game about donkeys, reincarnation and organised labour with about 70 other people. Political, unpredictable and replete with ass puns, Asses.Masses is, on the one hand, a fairly rudimentary-looking video game made by Canadian artists Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim with a small team of collaborators. But the setting - in a theatre, surrounded by others, everybody shouting advice and opinions and working together on puzzles - transforms it into a piece of collective performance art.

Nvidia becomes world's first $5tn company amid stock market and AI boom Nvidia has become the world's first $5tn company, just three months after the Silicon Valley chipmaker was first to break through the barrier of $4tn in market value. In comparison, Nvidia's value is greater than the GDP of India, Japan and the United Kingdom, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Shortly after US stock markets opened on Wednesday, Nvidia's shares touched $207.86 with 24.3bn shares outstanding, putting its market cap at $5.05tn. Ravenous appetite for Nvidia's chips, seen as the most cutting edge in powering artificial intelligence products and software, is the main reason that the company's stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023. The wider US stock market has reached multiple record highs this week, buoyed up by expansive investment in artificial intelligence.

Character.ai to ban teens from talking to its AI chatbots The platform, founded in 2021, is used by millions to talk to chatbots powered by artificial intelligence (AI). But it is facing several lawsuits in the US from parents, including one over the death of a teenager, with some branding it a clear and present danger to young people. Online safety campaigners have welcomed the move but said the feature should never have been available to children in the first place. Character.ai said it was making the changes after reports and feedback from regulators, safety experts, and parents, which have highlighted concerns about its chatbots' interactions with teens. Experts have previously warned the potential for AI chatbots to make things up, be overly-encouraging, and feign empathy can pose risks to young and vulnerable people.

The image of Donald Trump as Halo protagonist Master Chief posted on the White House's X account. The image of Donald Trump as Halo protagonist Master Chief posted on the White House's X account. Why Trump's White House is using video game memes to recruit for ICE A recent spate of posts has garnered attention, but Trump and his allies have long been using gaming imagery to mobilise a toxic subculture of'rootless white males' J ust days after Microsoft announced Halo: Campaign Evolved, the next game in its famous science-fiction series, the White House shared an interesting picture on X . The image, which appears to be AI-generated, shows President Donald Trump wearing the armour of Halo's iconic protagonist, Master Chief, standing in salute in front of an American flag that's missing several stars. In his left hand is an energy sword, a weapon used by the alien enemies in the Halo games.

Thousands of tourists warned they'll be'stranded for weeks' in the Caribbean as monster Hurricane Melissa carves path of destruction German activist dubbed'anti-Greta' seeks asylum in US with support of Elon Musk It's an extraordinary power grab that will leave Harry and Meghan quaking... but Diana predicted it all along: MAUREEN CALLAHAN Zohran Mamdani's deep family ties to George Soros revealed: TOM LEONARD unravels years-long web of finances and scheming that leads (wouldn't you guess it!) to Obama Netanyahu orders'powerful strikes in Gaza' and'kills nine' after accusing Hamas of violating ceasefire terms following'faked' return of hostage remains Taylor Swift is HIDING: Insiders spill on secretive behavior at NFL games... and why she's adamant about new life in the shadows Baseball fans go wild for the'most beautiful woman on the planet' singing national anthem at the World Series Sydney Sweeney sparks liberal meltdown with shock appearance on Fox's World Series coverage ...

Environment Animals Wildlife Fish The quest to find Shackleton's ship uncovered an Antarctic mystery Beneath the ice, an underwater robot discovered something far stranger than the'Endurance' shipwreck. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. The Antarctic Ocean's brutal conditions ultimately doomed Ernest Shackleton's famed 1915 expedition aboard the . Although the icy environment has quickly turned fatal for many unfortunate explorers, it's not an entirely inhospitable place . While attempting to locate Shackleton's sunken ship in 2019, researchers unexpectedly documented a strange sight-a sprawling, geometric complex of over 1,000 icefish nests .

Federal police say they have identified 59 alleged offenders as being in these online networks and have made an unspecified number of arrests. Federal police say they have identified 59 alleged offenders as being in these online networks and have made an unspecified number of arrests. Australian federal police will develop an AI tool to decode gen Z and Alpha slang and emojis in an effort to crackdown on sadistic online exploitation and "crimefluencers". The AFP commissioner, Krissy Barrett, used a speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday to warn of the rise of online crime networks of young boys and men who are targeting vulnerable teen and preteen girls. The newly appointed chief outlined how the perpetrators, who are overwhelmingly from English-speaking backgrounds, were grooming victims and then forcing them to "perform serious acts of violence on themselves, their siblings, others or their pets".