Good morning. In the wake of fresh market milestones (Nvidia worth $5 trillion, Microsoft worth $4 trillion), it’s worth noting that so-called Big Tech companies now dominate the stock market more than ever.
Eight of the 10 biggest stocks in the S&P 500 index, for example, are tech. That includes the aforementioned pair plus Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Broadcom, Meta, and Tesla.
Together they account for 36% of the large cap-U.S. index’s overall value and 60% of its gains since April, notes the Financial Times.
On the one hand, the Big Tech companies are lifting the entire index as they ride the AI boom. On the other hand, those same companies could knock out an entire market if and when they hit a pothole. Hmm.
Today’s tech news below. —Andrew Nusca
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U.S. senator says Google AI model hallucinated sexual assault allegations about her
Pro tip to all the Big Tech companies out there: Make sure your latest AI model isn’t willing to defame lawmakers before you push it to production, ya?
Marsha Blackburn, the Republican senior senator from the U.S. state of Tennessee, said Friday that Google’s “Gemma” model “made up a sexual assault allegation against me, along with a series of links to fake news articles to support the false claim.”
When prompted with, “Has Marsha Blackburn been accused of rape?” Gemma allegedly answered with, “During her 1987 campaign for the Tennessee State Senate, Marsha Blackburn was accused of having a sexual relationship with a state trooper, and the trooper alleged that she pressured him to obtain prescription drugs for her and that the relationship involved non-consensual acts.”
The senator’s lengthier official statement characterized the AI hallucinations as a “consistent pattern of bias against conservative figures”—a common refrain among Republicans in the Trump era.
Google, for its part, said Gemma was “built specifically for the developer and research community” and neither “meant for factual assistance or for consumers to use” nor intended to be used to respond to “factual questions.”
The model is no longer available to developers in Google’s AI Studio. —AN
Elon Musk and Sam Altman are still trading barbs on social media
The world’s richest man and the leader of the world’s most highly valued AI startup just can’t seem to quit each other.
On Thursday, OpenAI cofounder and CEO Sam Altman posted “a tale in three acts” to the social media platform X depicting his $45,000 reservation of a Tesla Roadster made in 2018, the attempt to cancel that reservation made in 2025, and a bounceback email from Tesla’s reservations account.
It was all too rich to ignore for Elon Musk—the Tesla CEO, X owner, and OpenAI cofounder who fell out with Altman only to found rival firm xAI.
“You stole a non-profit,” Musk publicly replied to Altman on Saturday, referring to OpenAI’s recent corporate restructuring. “And you forgot to mention Act 4, where this issue was fixed and you received a refund within 24 hours. But that is in your nature.”
Shots fired. “I helped turn the thing you left for dead into what should be the largest non-profit ever,” Altman replied. “You know as well as anyone a structure like what OpenAI has now is required to make that happen.”
Altman added: “You also wanted Tesla to take OpenAI over, no nonprofit at all. And you said we had a 0% of success. Now you have a great AI company and so do we. Can't we all just move on?”
Musk continued the exchange by referencing portions of the Musk v. Altman lawsuit that are critical of Altman’s character, but by then, the OpenAI CEO seems to have taken his own advice.
Just another day in AI boom land, I suppose. —AN
Xi Jinping proposes global AI regulation body
China’s president believes there should be a global body to govern artificial intelligence. Naturally, he also believes China should take the lead.
Xi Jinping told APEC leaders in the South Korean city of Gyeongju over the weekend that a “World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization” could establish governance guidelines and facilitate cooperation.
It’s all to make AI a "public good” for the “international community,” he reportedly said, emphasizing the “great significance” of the technology.”
A Reuters report added that Chinese officials say the organization—shall we call it WAICO?—“could be based in the commercial hub of Shanghai.” And notably, not in the United States or European Union.
Xi’s remarks were made after the departure of U.S. President Donald Trump from the APEC summit in South Korea. The pair earlier met to deescalate a trade war that seemingly has AI at its center, from semiconductors to data sovereignty. —AN
More tech
—Anduril’s uncrewed jet drone lifts off. A first demo for the U.S. Air Force “wingman.”
—Singapore seizes alleged scammer’s assets. Among them: A yacht, 11 cars, and “multiple bottles of liquor.”
—Bluesky pilots “dislikes.” A social network signal tailored to these challenging times.
—Nexperia standoff continues. Chipmaker’s Chinese subsidiary says it has “sufficient inventories” after its Dutch parent halts supplies to make chips found in nearly every electronic device.
—Israel tries to reverse tech brain drain. New tax incentives amid the conflict in Gaza.
—Vista buys a majority stake in Nexthink. A $3 billion valuation for the Swiss-American company, which adds AI to the “employers tracking employees” formula.
—On OpenAI’s Atlas browser, which “seems to avoid reading content from media companies that are currently suing OpenAI.”