Category: Semafor

Longtime OpenAI executive Brad Lightcap announced his exit Tuesday, continuing a months-long leadership exodus from the company ahead of its planned IPO. OpenAI’s head of ethics also recently left, following the head of safety systems and the former mission alignment chief. The departures come as OpenAI battles a perception that ...

Iran doubled down on its demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, insisting that the US and its allies unfreeze its assets and end hostilities across the region. Tehran’s statement dampened hopes that a deal with Oman could provide a route for commercial shipping sooner than the US ...

India’s world-leading IT sector is downsizing, facing mass disruption by AI. Several large employers have slashed headcount by as much as 6% this year, the Financial Times reported: “The tool that we gave our sweat, blood and bones to — it threw us out,” said one IT worker. The industry ...

The world has a new humanoid robotics leader. Shanghai-based AgiBot surpassed the output of fellow Chinese robot maker Unitree in the first half of the year, shipping 8,400 humanoids and capturing 44% of the global market, according to a report from US-based firm Smart Analytics Global. That’s more than Unitree ...

Liz’s view A cardinal rule of finance is “always spend other people’s money.” It’s why leveraged buyouts include as much debt and as little equity as possible, and why the wealthy fund their lifestyles by borrowing against assets. The incentives, though, can be less than ideal. Milton Friedman, the legendary ...

In an unusually blunt assessment of China’s economic prospects, a leading Chinese economist has refuted the popular market theory that the current slump is the result of a “K-shaped” economy — with some sectors like EVs and AI thriving and others declining — arguing that the core problem is an ...

Chinese chip giant CXMT downplayed the impact of US restrictions in its latest investor filings, as the company looks to ramp up its overseas business. Apple is testing memory chips from the newly public company, The Wall Street Journal reported, as it grapples with an AI-induced memory shortage. The iPhone ...

Taiwan is conducting its largest-ever annual military preparedness drills alongside extensive civil defense exercises aimed at mobilizing a whole-of-society response in the event of conflict with China. Stretching from Aug. 5-14, the drills include several firsts: In addition to simulating the dispersal of defense production, Taiwan is throttling the island’s ...

China’s leaders invited dozens of scientists and technology experts to their annual summer retreat as they look to accelerate the country’s AI ambitions in the face of fierce competition with the US. Beijing is trying to control the entire supply chain in its AI stack — including developing advanced lithography ...

The Trump administration would push for the inclusion of Tibet’s exiled government in more international organizations under a new bipartisan proposal that rebukes China for its pressure campaign against the Tibetan people. The bill from Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and James Risch, R-Idaho, shared first with Semafor, would direct the ...