AI labs are buying internal comms from defunct startups to train their models — slacks, emails, docs, etc. They claim personally identifiable info is scrubbed. Still, must be quite unsettling to find your former employer is selling your slack quips to pay debts.

Forget Palantir. Meet ‘Poulantir”. It seems to be a running joke among Mistral’s 700-strong staff that the company’s future leans on challenging Palantir.

Forbes 2026 AI 50 List | Top Artificial Intelligence Companies The Forbes 2026 AI 50 List spotlights the most promising artificial intelligence businesses. See the leaders driving the future of AI.

Excited to reveal the 2026 Forbes AI 50 List, which spotlights the most promising privately-held AI companies in the world.
forbes.com/lists/ai50/

Inside Messy, Fast-Growing Mercor, Run By Youngest-Ever Self-Made Billionaires Founded in 2023 by 20-somethings, data labeling startup Mercor exploded to $1 billion in annualized revenue run rate earlier this year. Now it's confronting a wave of challenges, including an employee...

Mercor reached $1 billion in annualized revenue run rate earlier this year. Run by the youngest-ever self made billionaires, the startup is facing a wave of challenges: employee fraud, North Korean infiltration and cultural growing pains.

With Anna Tong.

www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...

Sid Krofft, Co-Creator of Mind-Blowing Kids TV Shows, Dies at 96 The puppeteer and his late brother Marty partnered on 'The Banana Splits Adventure Hour,' 'H.R. Pufnstuf,' 'Land of the Lost' and much more.

GenX, pour one out for one of the architects of our childhood

www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/s...

[alt text by NASA] The Moon, seen here backlit by the Sun during a solar eclipse on April 6, 2026, is photographed by one of the cameras on the Orion spacecraft’s solar array wings. Orion is visible in the foreground on the left. Earth is reflecting sunlight at the left edge of the Moon, which is slightly brighter than the rest of the disk. The bright spot visible just below the Moon’s bottom right edge is Saturn. Beyond that, the bright spot at the right edge of the image is Mars. Credit: NASA

Whoa 🤯

The Moon, in full eclipse, with the #Artemis II Orion spacecraft. Part of the Moon and spacecraft are lit by Earthshine, and both Saturn and Mars are visible to the lower right. Incredible. Details: images.nasa.gov/details/art0...

Big Banks Seeking a Piece of SpaceX’s I.P.O. Must Subscribe to Elon Musk’s Grok

Elon Musk is making the big banks who want work on SpaceX's IPO subscribe to Grok. Some of those banks will now pay tens of millions in dollars annually for the chatbot.

Business!

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/b...

How Abu Dhabi Quietly Bought A Stake In $90 Billion VC Insight Partners A workplace lawsuit has opened the lid on the little-known ownership structure of Insight Partners, an investor in OpenAI and Anthropic: It is now partially owned by the government of Abu Dhabi.

A workplace lawsuit has opened the lid on the little-known ownership structure of Insight Partners, an investor in OpenAI and Anthropic: It is now partially owned by the government of Abu Dhabi www.forbes.com/sites/iainma...

The Graveyard Of OpenAI’s Dead Products And Incomplete Deals As it announces one of the biggest funding rounds in history, OpenAI has trumpeted hundreds of billions in other deals and products—including Sora—that haven’t yet become reality.

The AI giant's abrupt Sora shutdown is just one example. As it announces one of the biggest funding rounds in history, #OpenAI has trumpeted hundreds of billions in other deals + products that haven’t yet become reality.

With @rashis.bsky.social for @forbes.com:

www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

Buzzy Startups Like Cursor Are Using This AI Law Firm To Close Deals Faster New York-based startup Crosby’s AI agents and lawyers work together to review contracts quickly, billed by the page, for the likes of Cursor and Runway. CEO Ryan Daniels calls it a “neofirm.”

Crosby is an entirely new type of law firm where AI agents and lawyers work together to speed up contract review for buzzy AI startups like Cursor, Cognition and Runway. The $400 million-valued firm is disrupting the way traditional law firms work.
www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...

Here’s How Much Cash OpenAI Is Burning On AI Video App Sora. What It Means Some back-of-napkin math suggests OpenAI is spending more than a quarter of what it’s making to power the AI slop factory.

From last Nov.: So just how much money is OpenAI dumping on this firehose of imbecilic video? More than $5 billion annualized, or around $15 million per day, according to Forbes estimates and conversations with experts.

Tesla Semi’s Biggest Rival Might Be Its Chinese Twin Windrose is selling a China-built electric big rig that looks an awful lot like Tesla’s Semi. Even with import duties, CEO Wen Han says it will make money in the U.S.

NEW: Tesla Semi’s biggest rival is its Chinese twin

Windrose is selling a China-built electric big rig that looks an awful lot like Tesla’s Semi. Even with import duties of 70%, CEO Wen Han says it’ll make money on each one it sells in the U.S. #Electricvehicles www.forbes.com/sites/alanoh...

This Ex-Palantir Exec Built A $900 Million Privacy-First Cell Network Cape cofounder and CEO John Doyle is seeing rapid revenue growth for his cell network, which deletes call logs and doesn’t collect social security numbers like AT&T and Verizon do.

🚨NEW🚨 Cape, the anti-surveillance mobile network cofounded by ex-Palantir employees, has hit a $900 million valuation.

Explosive revenue growth too, from $4.5m in 2024 to $37m in 2025.

Still, there are doubters and CEO John Doyle tells me how he responds to them.

www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...

This Argentine Billionaire’s Startup Vercel Is One Of Claude Code’s Go-To Web Hosting Tools One of the most popular ways to view the Epstein Files, an interface called Jmail that mimics a Gmail inbox, is hosted on Guillermo Rauch’s $9 billion unicorn Vercel.

Vercel, the web hosting and deployment company, hit run rate revenue of $340 million at the end of February. And its $300 million funding round in September has made founder Guillermo Rauch a billionaire, worth an estimated $2.1 billion.
www.forbes.com/sites/richar...

This $600 Million AI Startup Is Speeding Up Paperwork So Patients Get Drugs Faster Latent Health is tapping into the $200 billion market for specialty drugs with AI agents that help doctors convince insurers to more quickly approve drugs and treatments people need.

Exclusive: Latent Health, which is building an AI system to help doctors and pharmacists get drugs and treatments approved by insurers faster, has raised $80 million from Spark Capital and Transformation Capital. The startup is valued at $600 million.
www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...

“We Almost Didn’t Do It”: Jonathan Ross On The $20 Billion Deal With Nvidia The Christmas Eve agreement—billed as Nvidia’s biggest deal in its three-decade history—landed at a precarious moment for Groq. Now Nvidia is betting on Groq’s inference-speed tech inside a newly anno...

Three months after a blockbuster $20 billion deal, Nvidia announced its plans for Groq’s inference-speed tech. Here's how it came together and what's next.

My latest for @forbes.com, with @iainmartin.bsky.social, @richardnieva.bsky.social and Anna Tong:

www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

Tesla’s Best Growth Story Isn’t Robotaxis—It’s Batteries Tesla’s robotaxi and humanoid-robot promises remain unproven businesses. Its energy division isn’t. And therein lies the company’s next bright idea.

NEW: Batteries and energy, not robotaxis and humanoid robots, are Tesla’s best business bet #energy #batteries #solar www.forbes.com/sites/alanoh...

Replit’s Jordanian Immigrant Billionaire Founder Shakes Up Vibe Coding Amjad Masad’s Replit allows users to work together like they’re doodling on a white board. It also made him a billionaire along the way.

New: Replit has raised $400 million at a $9 billion valuation, and is releasing its new coding agent. The goal is to make vibe coding more like you’re doodling on a white board. Paul Graham, an early investor, thinks it will “redefine” the term.
www.forbes.com/sites/richar...

Undercover Cop Generated An AI Teenager To Catch Pedophiles A DHS investigator generates an AI for catching pedophiles on Kik Messenger, a known hotspot for predators.

🚨NEW🚨 Cops used an AI-generated teenager to catch pedophiles on Kik Messenger, an app notorious as a hive of predator activity.

A rare insight into how police can spin up AI teens for sting operations on social media.

But where else are cops using AI personas?

www.forbes.com/sites/the-wi...

Cursor Goes To War For AI Coding Dominance After becoming the hottest, fastest growing AI coding company, Cursor is confronting a new reality: developers may no longer need a code editor at all.

After becoming the hottest, fastest growing AI coding company, Cursor is confronting a new reality: with the rise of powerful AI agents like Claude Code, developers may no longer need a code editor at all. With Anna Tong.

www.forbes.com/sites/annato...

Screenshot of ProPublica webpage titled “Explore Financial Disclosures From President Trump and 1,500 of His Appointees,” accompanied by this blurb: “Use this database to explore potential conflicts of interest for President Donald Trump and his team. The documents disclose positions officials have held outside government, their assets and their debts, among other things.” A search bar prompts the user to search for a person or financial holding.

THREAD: We just released a tool that allows you to search billions of dollars in wealth, ties to the most powerful companies in the country, and details of the personal finances of President Trump and over 1,500 of his appointees.

Here’s how it works 1/

What The Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Means For Larry Ellison’s Fortune By Forbes estimates, the elder Ellison, who is also Oracle’s largest shareholder, doesn’t have enough cash to fulfill his part of Paramount’s $111 billion offer for Warner Bros. Discovery. Here’s how ...

By @forbes.com' estimates, the elder Ellison, who is also Oracle’s largest shareholder, doesn’t have enough cash to fulfill his part of Paramount’s $111 billion offer for Warner Bros.

We'll know more in the coming days, but here’s how it could play out:

www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

From Lanai To Near Mar-A-Lago: Larry Ellison’s Trump Proximity Play Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison's official residence is now in Manalapan, Florida, not the Hawaii island that he famously bought in 2012.

The Oracle cofounder’s official residence is now in Manalapan, Florida, not the Hawaii island that he famously bought in 2012, according to previously unreported county records.

More details in my latest for @forbes.com:

www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

Profile: Meet Column, The Most Important Fintech Startup You’ve Never Heard Of Plaid co-founder William Hockey is building a 'durable' unicorn at Column, his startup with $200M in revenue and a (maybe) valuation of $6B. His bigger fight: a new financial 'Cold War' with China.

Exclusive profile: Plaid co-founder William Hockey is building a 'durable' unicorn at Column, his startup with $200M in revenue and a valuation of (maybe) $6B. His bigger fight: a new financial 'Cold War' with China.

I spent months reporting this piece, the first edition of The Upstarts Profile 👇

Loyal’s Celine Halioua: From Defying Doubters To Pioneering Dog Longevity YouTube video by Upstarts Media

"People would literally laugh in my face... no one has an investment memo for dog longevity."

Loyal CEO Celine Halioua is pioneering her own startup category, raising $250M+ to secure FDA approval for drugs to help our furry friends live longer 🐕

Hear her story now of The Upstarts Podcast 👀

Nothing is surer to generate goodwill around the world than the US curating its very own state-sponsored 4chan board

Ex-Top Tesla Engineer Raises $140 Million To Rewire The Electric Grid Heron Power, backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Breakthrough Energy, is scaling up production of solid-state transformers that more efficiently move power to the grid.

NEW: An ex-Top Tesla engineer raises $140 million to rewire the electric grid with solid-state transformers www.forbes.com/sites/alanoh...
#infrastructure #renewableenergy

DOG AT THE OLYMPICS
FULL COMPETITION HIGHLIGHTS

an elon musk tweet comparing answers to the question "is the US on stolen land"

three answers suggesting you might want to think about the question a little bit and one releasing you from ever thinking about anything again

two researchers in pretty bad panda suits in the forest in China, holding a radio receiver

just need everyone to know that this is how wildlife biologists in China introduce panda cubs to the wild