Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects In My Bag Look Up Creator Playbook Say More AI at School Safety Net Versus Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age All Series Trump's AI-powered America.gov is here. It was built by DOGE alumni and runs on Grok. On day one, it backed the 2020 election results. Chance Townsend is the General Assignments Editor at Mashable, covering tech, video games, dating apps, digital culture, and whatever else comes his way. He has a Master's in Journalism from the University of North Texas and is a proud orange cat father.

Mashable Selects Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Say More Safety Net Versus Creator Playbook In My Bag Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age Switch Off All Series Elon Musk's X launches'X Numbers' The optional feature gives Chat users a way to be reached outside their network, without sharing a phone number. Chance Townsend is the General Assignments Editor at Mashable, covering tech, video games, dating apps, digital culture, and whatever else comes his way. He has a Master's in Journalism from the University of North Texas and is a proud orange cat father. His writing has also appeared in PC Mag and . X has introduced a new way for users to be contacted on its messaging service without sharing a phone number or following each other.

The reliably Republican South Dakota senate seat has an incumbent on the ballot. But PACs associated with AI labs and investors have already spent more money on the race than actual residents have. Senator Mike Rounds, a Republican from South Dakota, arrives for a vote in Washington, DC, on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. Major super PACs associated with AI labs and investors have poured close to $1 million into incumbent Republican Mike Rounds's South Dakota senate race, seeking to shape the outcome of a noncompetitive race amid a critical national debate over AI regulation. Rounds has been the beneficiary this cycle of around $600,000 in spending by outside groups, with the vast majority of that figure coming from the super PAC Defend American Jobs, which receives funding from a super PAC financed by the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Ryan Clark again accuses ESPN of leaking his firing to OutKick: Here's the real story Sophie Cunningham says what other gaslighting female athletes won't about the naked Sydney Sweeney ad Steve Sarkisian says he should have shown'more patience' after running from Holly Rowe interview Bills cruise past Lions to christen new home behind Josh Allen's five-touchdown performance Patriots' TreVeyon Henderson explains siding with family over DCF in custody dispute involving gender identity Colin Kaepernick accuses NFL of'colluding' against Macklemore amid'Free Palestine' controversy Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger quietly rolls back Youngkin's plans to protect girls' sports Human vs. ChatGPT NFL Week 2 betting picks: AI looks to rebound after disastrous 0-5 debut NBA star Kyrie Irving jumps into NFL drama, offers to pay player's fine for Gaza-themed eye black NFL's highest-paid TE George Kittle reveals favorite purchase: A 50-foot flagpole for a massive American flag Bill Belichick would like you to know that his 25-year-old girlfriend isn't running things at UNC Bijan Robinson believes Texas' comeback over Ohio State can change entire season trajectory Barstool chief Dave Portnoy blasts Macklemore's shady past, strongly supports Patriots owner Robert Kraft Nvidia is the'king of kings' in tech as AI chip demand surges Tim Curry remembered by'Mighty Max' co-star Rob Paulsen: 'He made us better' 'Disturbing' new details reveal'STUNNING TWIST' in case of 5 missing women Iran's AI-powered cyber threat sparks alarm over US infrastructure OutKick Sports Maye Musk defends Sydney Sweeney's nude sports ad and recalls 12-year path to citizenship Elon Musk's mother praised the actress as'fabulous' and questioned taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal migrants Maye Musk weighs in on the backlash surrounding Sydney Sweeney's provocative ad, arguing that women should be free to look sexy, have fun and embrace their femininity without being accused of setting women back. Maye Musk, swimsuit model and mother of Elon Musk, joined OutKick's Tomi Lahren Is Fearless to tackle Sydney Sweeney, government fraud, and her 18 grandkids. Musk jumped into defending Sydney Sweeney after the actress caught online heat over going nude for a sports ad. Lahren noted that Musk, who famously graced the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover at age 74, knows a thing or two about the industry. Maye Musk attends the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue launch party at the Hard Rock Times Square on May 15, 2025, in New York, N.Y.

Washington Won't Be Regulating AI Anytime Soon Even with mounting concerns about AI models going rogue, legislation appears unlikely, and the White House is outright opposed to oversight. For weeks, Washington has been abuzz with talk of needing to push through some sort of AI regulation amid mounting concerns about the risks of highly capable frontier AI models going rogue. But there is no reason to think any one measure can win the support of the White House, where officials have paused work on creating a FINRA-style regulatory body after President Donald Trump soured on the idea, or of Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have competing proposals that lack the votes to pass. White House aides initially started sketching out a framework for an AI oversight agency connected to the administration soon after Google DeepMind's cofounder Demis Hassabis floated the idea in a July 14 essay and in briefings to senior officials, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Treasury Department and the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy envisioned a body where leading AI labs would self-regulate the development of frontier models, and they put together a preliminary draft to see what it could look like if executed. But when a chorus of tech executives --including Trump's former AI czar David Sacks and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg--learned of the effort, they one by one called Trump in August to express their opposition.

Trump and Republicans want companies to regulate themselves. It's a dereliction of duty that will make AI less safe I t is hard to get Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Dario Amodei to agree on much. But over the weekend, all three AI company CEOs called for AI development to slow down in the face of growing, alarming risks. Their employees are sounding the siren too, with one researcher publicly quitting and accusing OpenAI and Anthropic of "gambling with our lives". The combination of dire warnings from insiders and growing real-world evidence of rogue AIs should, in a sane world, lead to government action. Instead, Donald Trump and the Republican leadership have their heads in the sand.

Following mass layoffs in 2022 and 2023, many tech workers turned against their employers. When liberal politicians also rallied against Silicon Valley, their backers turned to Donald Trump. In the spring of 2020, as a new and highly contagious virus spread throughout the country, the US came to a standstill. The economy shut down, cities emptied, and white-collar workers were sent home en masse. Platforms like Zoom, Slack, and Microsoft Teams surged in usage as WFH became ubiquitous. From remote schooling and virtual weddings to app-based grocery delivery and livestreamed concerts, the pandemic accelerated and cemented society's increasing reliance on digital platforms. Already one of the most powerful forces in the American economy, the tech sector suddenly became the infrastructure underpinning every aspect of life.

Movies What if Elon Musk Was Always Elon Musk? Enter your email to receive alerts for this author. You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. You're already subscribed to the aa_Sam_Adams newsletter. You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time.

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Look Up Creator Playbook Mashable Voices Trending Now Say More Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Switch Off In My Bag All Series Elon Musk's SpacexAI faces another lawsuit from child sexual abuse survivor A proposed class action case alleges Grok was trained on CSAM. Chase joined Mashable's Social Good team in 2020, covering online stories about digital activism, climate justice, accessibility, and media representation. Victims of Grok's controversial nudify features are taking the company to court. The proposed nationwide class action lawsuit, filed today, alleges that the AI company trained its chatbot on data sets containing child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) featuring real children. SpacexAI did not adequately block explicit content, prevent nonconsensual sexualized deepfakes of real people, and filter abusive material out of their training datasets, the lawsuit claims.

SpaceX has announced plans to build a new 100 billion "Starbase" launch site on the southern coast of Louisiana, giving it a third potential location to launch its giant Starship rocket. SpaceX executives and Louisiana governor Jeff Landry revealed that Elon Musk's company will be authorized to build a 125,000 acre (195 square mile) facility on the coast in an area called Pecan Island. "We're preparing to build a spaceport that, until now, has only existed in science fiction," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said. "SpaceX was founded to bring about a future where humans are out exploring amongst the stars, which will only be possible when we make going to space as routine as flying on an airplane. Starbase, Louisiana will unlock that future."