Google says it has pulled AI model Gemma from its AI Studio platform after a Republican senator complained the model, designed for developers, “fabricated serious criminal allegations” about her. In a post on X, Google’s official news account said the company had “seen reports of non-developers trying to use Gemma in AI Studio and ask […]
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the real-world effects of Trump’s tariffs, follow Mia Sato. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started The economists tried to warn us. From the […]
“We got hacked,” members of the University of Pennsylvania community were told in the subject line of several emails sent from addresses linked to its Graduate School of Education. The sender, apparently, was the potential hacker or hackers themselves. “The University of Pennsylvania is a dogshit elitist institution full of woke retards,” said the emails, […]
The FCC is moving to dismantle a rule requiring internet service providers to publish detailed “nutrition labels” for their service plans, just over a year after the requirement went into effect. The changes it’s proposing could roll back transparency requirements that took years to establish – making it harder to tell how much you’ll be […]
One of the biggest flashpoints for internet regulation, the Kids Online Safety Act, is poised for a revival – but possibly without the central feature that’s kept people fighting over it for the past three years. Since 2022, supporters of KOSA have backed its plan to require web platforms to protect kids from a variety […]
When President Donald Trump revealed the physical model of the sprawling ballroom that will replace the now-demolished East Wing of the White House, something just seemed off. The model, small enough to fit on a table, is supposed to be a representation of the design that the Trump administration had previously teased in renderings. But […]
Hello, and welcome to Decoder. This is Sarah Jeong, features editor at The Verge. I’m standing in for Nilay for one final Thursday episode here as he settles back into full-time hosting duties. Today, we’ve got a fun one. I’m talking to Cory Doctorow, prolific author, internet activist, and arguably one of the fiercest tech […]
President Donald Trump says he has instructed the Pentagon to immediately start testing nuclear weapons, citing a need to match “other countries [sic] testing programs.” Trump’s post on Truth Social included very few details on the nature of the tests, but says the “process will begin immediately.” It’s not clear whether Trump is referring to explosive […]
At a Senate hearing Wednesday on government censorship of tech platforms, a Meta executive expressed regret to Republican lawmakers for failing to speak out more against the Biden administration’s requests that it remove health and election misinformation, including satire. Google, meanwhile, held firm in its stance, saying that evaluating – and often rejecting – government […]
Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old Palestinian American and Democratic candidate for Congress in the 9th District of Illinois, has been indicted by the Department of Justice on charges connected to protests outside an ICE facility. The indictment alleges that Abughazaleh and a handful of other protesters conspired on the morning of September 26th to prevent an […]