AI
America crafts an AI action plan
Tech platforms got a rare opportunity to present President Trump with a wishlist — and they're using DeepSeek's success to push for controversial policies
Casey Newton
Founder and editor of Platformer, a publication about the intersection of tech and democracy. Prior to founding Platformer in October 2020, Newton was the longtime Silicon Valley editor of The Verge.
AI
Chatbots have started to reshape the web
New data from Adobe offers evidence for a big shift away from traditional search engines. Will the internet's vast public commons survive?
Meta
How Meta’s take on Community Notes misses the mark
Crowdsourced moderation is better than nothing — but how much better remains an open question
TikTok
There are two TikToks now
One has been banned by the federal government and awaits a forced sale. The other keeps shipping
AI
Manus of the hour
What the hype cycle around a new Chinese AI model tells us about the state of competition in agents
Google's new AI Mode is a preview of the future of search
The next phase of AI's takeover of search offers plenty of links to the web — but will anyone click?
How AI stole Chegg's homework
For companies that rely on Google, the company's collapse offers a warning
OpenAI
Early thoughts on GPT-4.5
PLUS: What AI policy is for
Apple
Apple's clever answer to child safety concerns
In creating an age assurance API, the company raises hopes that platforms can keep kids safer without sacrificing everyone else's privacy
Child Safety
Why app stores are resisting a good idea to make kids safer online
Making app stores verify kids' ages could save everyone a lot of grief — but some worry it will introduce new risks
Google gives up on data voids
The company once warned users when they might be seeing low-quality results — but weeks before the 2024 election, the feature was quietly turned off
Content Moderation
How Meta's concessions to the right may have backfired
A new inquiry from the Federal Trade Commission suggests that apologizing for "censorship" may have only emboldened the company's conservative critics
AI
There are probably too many AI companies now
Everyone has a model. Almost no one has a business
OpenAI
The chatbots are getting more adult
As content moderation falls out of favor, OpenAI says it will loosen up
AI
America's new AI safety plan is “let’s see what happens”
At the Paris AI Action Summit, J.D. Vance delivers anything but
Content Moderation
An overdue idea for making the internet safer just got the funding it needs
How a new initiative from Google, OpenAI, Discord and others could transform trust and safety