The latest batch of Jeffrey Epstein files shed light on the convicted sex offender's ties to Silicon Valley--and Peter Thiel's exacting approach to food. Peter Thiel--the billionaire venture capitalist, PayPal, and Palantir cofounder, and outspoken commentator on all matters relating to the "Antichrist"--appears at least 2,200 times in the latest batch of files released by the Department of Justice related to convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein . The tranche of records demonstrate how Epstein managed to cultivate an extensive network of wealthy and influential figures in Silicon Valley. A number of them, including Thiel, continued to interact with Epstein even after his 2008 guilty plea for solicitation of prostitution and of procurement of minors to engage in prostitution. The new files show that Thiel arranged to meet with Epstein several times between 2014 and 2017.

The AI boom is driving an unprecedented wave of data center construction, but there aren't enough skilled tradespeople in the US to keep up. AI companies like Meta and OpenAI have been offering multimillion-dollar pay packages to top talent, hoping to lure the best researchers and engineers away from their competitors. But there's another dimension of the AI talent wars that has garnered far less attention: the massive shortage of electricians, plumbers, and heating and cooling technicians in the US who can build the physical data centers that power AI. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that between 2024 and 2034, there will be a shortage of roughly 81,000 electricians on average each year in the US, measured in terms of unfilled jobs. The BLS projects the number of employed electricians to grow 9 percent over the next decade, "much faster than the average for all occupations."

Defense tech giant Palantir is selling T-shirts and tote bags as part of a bid to encourage fans to publicly endorse it. Palantir Technologies, which moved from Silicon Valley to Denver in 2020, sells software that immigration authorities use to identify and arrest people, militaries use to organize drone strikes, and corporations use to manage their supply chains. Now, it also sells tote bags. Last year, Palantir re launched an online merchandise store, and its website was recently redesigned with a swanky interface and new payment system . A mock terminal in the lower left corner displays "code" documenting each item you view.

Multiple news organisations have taken down articles written by an alleged freelance journalist that now appear to have been generated by AI. On Thursday, Press Gazette reported that at least six publications, including Wired and Business Insider, have removed articles from their websites in recent months after it was discovered that the stories – written under the name of Margaux Blanchard – were AI-generated. Wired published a story titled "They Fell in Love Playing Minecraft. A few weeks later, the outlet took down the story, stating in an editor's note: "After an additional review of the article … Wired editorial leadership has determined this article does not meet our editorial standards." The story cited a "Jessica Hu", an alleged 34-year-old "ordained officiant based in Chicago" who reportedly "made a name for herself as a'digital celebrant', specialising in ceremonies across Twitch, Discord and VRChat", according to Press Gazette, which reviewed the Wired article. Both the Press Gazette and the Guardian were not able to verify the identity of Hu. Press Gazette further reported that in April, Business Insider published two essays by Blanchard titled: "Remote work has been the best thing for me as a parent but the worst as a person" and "I had my first kid at 45.

The two-part special, 'The Amazon Review Killer,' is now streaming on Fox Nation. Amazon already dominates online shopping, but now it's setting its sights even higher. With a new artificial intelligence-powered project called Starfish, the company aims to become the world's most complete and trusted source of product information. The goal? Make every listing on Amazon accurate, detailed and easy to understand, whether the product is sold by Amazon or a third-party seller. If the project works as planned, it could save sellers hours of work and help shoppers find what they need faster.

Tech companies are scrambling to keep up in the race for AI supremacy, and it seems Amazon is no different. The tech giant is secretly working on an AI chatbot which it hopes will prise users away from ChatGPT, according to a report. Amazon's'ChatGPT killer' – named'Metis' after the Greek god of wisdom – will likely be launched at its autumn product event, expected to occur in September. When prompted, Metis will return up-to-date text information in a'conversational manner, as well as images. But its abilities will go even further by performing'complex' tasks such as turning on your lights and booking a flight for you – acting as an'AI agent'.

OpenAI and News Corp, the owner of The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, The Sun, and more than a dozen other publishing brands, have struck a multi-year deal to display news from these publications in ChatGPT, News Corp announced on Wednesday. OpenAI will be able to access both current and well as archived content from News Corp's publications and use the data to further train its AI models. Neither company disclosed the terms of the deal, but a report in The Wall Street Journal estimated that News Corp would get 250 million over five years in cash and credits. "The pact acknowledges that there is a premium for premium journalism," News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thomson reportedly said in a memo to employees on Wednesday. "The digital age has been characterized by the dominance of distributors, often at the expense of creators, and many media companies have been swept away by a remorseless technological tide. The onus is now on us to make the most of this providential opportunity."

'Terminator' stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton reunited to promote the new sequel'Terminator: Dark Fate.' Linda Hamilton became a star after appearing in 1984's sci-fi classic "The Terminator," alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger. But after appearing in the latest film in the franchise, "Terminator: Dark Fate" in 2019, the 67-year-old was ready to retire – not just from her iconic character, Sarah Connor, but the industry as well. "I don't do a lot of regret. I think in the end, it holds true that we regret what we didn't do, not what we did," she told The Hollywood Reporter in a new interview. Speaking on "Dark Fate," she continued, "I'm very glad I went back. I loved [director Tim Miller], I love my ladies [Mackenzie Davis and Natalia Reyes], and while I can't say I love the film, that's because I was so attached to it. I felt like it was too fast. But we did so much good work, and it was the greatest time of my life, and the worst time of my life, all rolled into one film. Linda Hamilton told The Hollywood Reporter that working on "Terminator: Dark Fate" was "the greatest time of my life, and the worst time of my life, all rolled into one film." "I was 63 or whatever I was, and it was the hardest shoot.

Maxwell Tani is known for his work on an obituary beat of sorts. A media reporter at Semafor, he always seems to be the first person to break news whenever something terrible happens for journalists at one outlet or another. He's been busy: According to one tabulation, more than 500 journalists were laid off just in January. A scroll through Tani's account on X surfaces a glut of executive memos, couched in corporate-speak, informing staff that they'll soon be laid off--at Business Insider, Engadget, the Messenger, Vice, and the Wall Street Journal. Sometimes he shares the news of an impending layoff before these memos even go out--and before employees have been informed. Slate spoke with Tani about what it's like to document the worst moments on the media beat, and how he feels about his place in the news-about-the-news ecosystem. We also tried to diagnose the ills of the industry--and find bright spots ahead.

The 2024 culture wars have begun in earnest, coalescing around the unexpected and extraordinarily messy topic of academic integrity. Last week, Harvard's president, Claudine Gay, resigned following accusations that she had plagiarized parts of her dissertation. Though Gay, Harvard's first Black president, admitted to copying text without attribution, she identified the accusations as part of an ideological campaign by right-wing political activists to "unravel public faith in pillars of American society." The allegations against Gay wouldn't be the last. The same week, Business Insider published a pair of articles reporting that Neri Oxman, a former professor at MIT, plagiarized some of her academic work.