Category: Semafor

A lung cancer drug reduced the risk of death by 34% in a late-stage trial, in the latest sign of China’s pharmaceutical ascendance. The results from the trial conducted in China showed the drug, when combined with chemotherapy, kept people with squamous non-small-cell lung cancer alive for a median of ...

China’s manufacturing activity slowed in May, new data showed, in the latest sign of strain for the world’s second-largest economy amid the Iran war. Beijing has been relatively shielded from the worst effects of the conflict because of its crude stockpile and diverse energy mix, but the lagging factory data ...

Ben’s view I recently ran into the Democratic strategist Doug Thornell, who was worried about America’s 250th anniversary this July 4. “Trump wants to make it a partisan two-to-three months where he can beat Democrats over the head for not being patriotic,” he mused. “Democrats need to be ready for ...

Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner isn’t backing down from his comments that GOP Sen. Susan Collins “sent me” to fight in Iraq, charging her with “trying to offload her mistakes” for pointing out that he chose to enlist. Platner told Semafor that he “did my best to stop” the ...

The Scoop The share of ads on New York City subways and buses from tech companies jumped 50% in the first quarter of 2026 from a year ago, as AI startups try to win over the world’s finance capital. AI has already upended the digital advertising sector. Now, more tech ...

Another week, another eye-watering valuation for an AI company. The economics are so unprecedented that Anthropic — which raised another $65 billion at a $965 valuation — seems to be teetering on the brink of either growing too fast, or too slowly. Iqonic Capital’s Matt Jacobson, who’s led multiple Anthropic ...

An AI startup is offering free home cleaning in New York City — as long as customers let the company record their dirty apartments to train its robots. Shift made a splashy launch Thursday, and has since gotten demand for “thousands and thousands of bookings,” US General Manager Harry Kilberg ...

With all the negative AI sentiment bubbling up among the consumer class, it’s worth taking a moment to note where it’s actually improving people’s lives. For more than a decade, California-based Aira has been connecting visually impaired people with trained assistants who, through the phone camera, help with daily tasks ...

Reed’s view Amazon’s decision to scrap its AI leaderboard after tokenmaxxing rapidly drove up costs is the most recent case of sticker shock hitting companies trying to implement AI. Those rising costs have led to a growing chorus of people hawking Chinese open-sourced models like DeepSeek. But in a recent ...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his forces to expand their control of the Gaza Strip while the country’s military launched strikes on south Beirut. The twin offensives are targeting Hamas and Hezbollah respectively, though critics argue that the operations are motivated at least in part by domestic politics — ...