David Lidsky's Blog, page 221

DOGE and Elon Musk keep making mistakes. How many can America afford?

The chaotic effort to purge thousands of workers from the U.S. government echoes Musk’s early days at Twitter, only with much higher stakes.

“We will make mistakes,” said Elon Musk during an Oval Office press conference last week, a toddler son slung on his shoulders like a shield. “But we’ll act quickly to correct any mistakes.”

Why CX is every brand’s biggest opportunity

Five trends to help you close the gap of turning customer experience into a business advantage.

The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more.

AI hallucinations could get lawyers fired, law firm says

AI’s penchant for generating legal fiction in case filings has led courts to question or discipline lawyers in at least seven cases over the past two years.

U.S. personal injury law firm Morgan & Morgan sent an urgent email this month to its more than 1,000 lawyers: Artificial intelligence can invent fake case law, and using made-up information in a court filing could get you fired.

Elon Musk faces more conflict-of-interest questions after DOGE fires FDA staff reviewing Neuralink

Reportedly among the recent job cuts at the FDA were workers overseeing the review of Musk’s brain chip-implant company, Neuralink.

Since the moment the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was first proposed, Elon Musk’s critics have warned that the world’s richest man was at risk of making decisions that could be a conflict of interest, given his multiple business operations. With recent cuts at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), those fears are increasing.

Banksy painting owned by a Blink-182 member is up for auction

‘Crude Oil (Vettriano)’ is being sold in London next month from the collection of Mark Hoppus of Blink-182, who sees Banksy as a kindred spirit.

A painting by street artist Banksy with an environmental message and an estimate of up to 5 million pounds ($6.3 million) is going up for auction, with some of the proceeds helping victims of the Los Angeles wildfires.

Measles cases are spiking in Texas and New Mexico. Here’s what to know

The Texas Department of State Health Services said Monday that 13 people are hospitalized with measles.

The measles outbreak in rural West Texas has grown to 58 cases as of Tuesday, and eight people in neighboring eastern New Mexico also have been diagnosed with measles.

OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever’s new AI startup is fundraising with a $30 billion valuation

Ilya Sutskever left OpenAI less than a year ago, but his new AI startup, Safe Superintelligence, is in the process of raising $1 billion.

A new artificial intelligence company from one of the cofounders of OpenAI is quickly becoming one of the most highly valued AI firms in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Ilya Sutskever’s Safe Superintelligence (SSI) is in the process of raising in excess of $1 billion with a valuation topping $30 billion. Bloomberg reports San Francisco-based Greenoaks Capital Partners is leading the deal and plans to invest $500 million itself. Greenoaks did not reply to a request for comment about the investment.

After leaving OpenAI, Mira Murati debuts her AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab

Thinking Machines Lab’s team comprises roughly two-thirds of former OpenAI employees.

Thinking Machines Lab, an AI startup founded by former OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, has tapped about 30 leading researchers and engineers from competitors such as OpenAI, Meta and Mistral, it said in a blog post on Tuesday.

Schools get 2 weeks to end DEI programs or they’ll lose federal funding, Trump administration says

Educators at colleges nationwide were rushing to evaluate their risk and decide whether to stand up for DEI practices they believe are legal.

The Trump administration is giving America’s schools and universities two weeks to eliminate diversity initiatives or risk losing federal money, raising the stakes in the president’s fight against “wokeness” and sowing confusion as schools scramble to comply.

5 ways you can help immigrant communities being targeted by Trump policies

Pro-immigrant experts at the ACLU and elsewhere say fighting back can make a difference, especially at the state and local level.

One of Donald Trump’s first acts as president was to sign an executive order attacking birthright citizenship. While several judges have moved to block the order, Trump’s anti-immigrant push is continuing—from allowing immigration officials to conduct arrests at schools and places of worship to training local law officers to interrogate and detain immigrants in their custody.