On The Scene
Walter Isaacson: Elon Musk Is a Genius When It Comes to Engineering, Not Human Emotion
The storied biographer sat down with Richard Stengel at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York to discuss his time with one of the most divisive people for his latest book, Elon Musk.
THE LONG GAME
Bryan Johnson’s Antiaging Quest Has Made Headlines. But There’s More to His Story
The biohacker tech bro has spoken at length about his twin pursuits of eternal life and a younger penis. Now, he’s denying his ex-girlfriend’s allegations, amid news of a settlement.
Social Media
“The People Have Spoken”: Elon Musk Reinstates Conspiracist Alex Jones’ Account on X After User Poll
The disgraced Infowars host was banned from Twitter in 2018 after spreading lies about the Sandy Hook mass shooting in 2012.
Sure Sure
Elon Musk Was Just Expressing a “Point of View” by Telling Advertisers to “Go F--k” Themselves, Says X CEO Who Likely Shat Herself as He Did
He definitely wasn’t lighting revenue on fire or anything.
Tech
Elon Musk’s X Files Lawsuit After Losing Top Advertisers Over Nazi Content
Media Matters, a progressive media watchdog sued by X, has called the complaint a “frivolous” attempt to silence critics.
Tech
Elon Musk Wants to Banish Bots. Oh, but X Users Have to Foot the Bill
The owner of X, who’s long been bent on a paid-subscription model, is now having his platform charge some new users abroad $1 annually in a test of the “Not a Bot” program.
Man vs. Machine
Inside the Legal Tussle Between Authors and AI: “We’ve Got to Attack This From All Directions”
As pressure mounts in the AI wars, heavy-hitting authors are headed to court over what one observer describes as “mass theft” of their work. But when it comes to ChatGPT and its ilk, copyright law isn’t so cut-and-dried.
Failure to Launch
“Are You Dating Martin Shkreli?”: How A Pharma Bro Fling Upended Madison Campbell’s Start-Up
The Leda Health cofounder describes her romance with one of the most reviled men in America as a match made in heaven. (“We’re both homebodies” and “health care pariahs,” she tells Vanity Fair.) The one hitch: convincing her colleagues.
Tech
Elon Musk Isn’t Just Enabling Misinformation About the Israel-Hamas War—He’s Fueling It Himself
The owner of X boosted a doctored video of a CNN war correspondent that falsely suggests she was an actor who didn’t need to take cover from a missile salvo.
Musk Migration Musings
“It's called saving lives”: German Government Strikes Back At Elon Musk’s Criticism of Migrant Rescue
The Tesla CEO said video of German NGOs helping migrants on the Mediterranean had “invasion vibes.”
Tech
Apple’s Next Era Is Revealing Itself With the iPhone 15
The latest iPhone has some new bells and whistles—better camera, improved resolution—but it’s a spatial video feature that points to radical changes ahead with next year’s release of the Apple Vision Pro.
Tech
Elon Musk’s Plan to Rid X of Bots Might Actually Rid It of Users
The billionaire CEO floated a paid-subscription model for the platform, which has been hemorrhaging ad revenue since his tenure.
Tech
Elon Musk, No Friend to Joe Biden, Looks to Grow Tesla’s Foreign Footprint
The billionaire CEO, who has been accused of ignoring US labor laws, is reportedly in talks with Turkey and Saudi Arabia about establishing EV factories abroad.
CRYPTO WARS
Binance Founder CZ Says SBF’s Decision to “Bad-Mouth” Him to US Authorities Was “Not Smart”
In a new podcast, Changpeng Zhao tells the coauthor of Billion Dollar Whale about his tumultuous relationship with rival cryptofinance founder Sam Bankman-Fried—and his key contribution to the fall of FTX.
In Conversation
Walter Isaacson, Elon Musk’s Boswell, Tells the “Tale of an Impulsive, Dark, but Also Risk-Taking Dude”
In a wide-ranging interview with Vanity Fair, the storied biographer unpacks the varied “personalities and demons dancing around” in Musk’s head. Plus: Isaacson’s thoughts on the new CNN boss, Twitter’s turbulence, and the resilience of democracy heading into 2024.
Tech
Elon Musk Did Major Damage to a Ukrainian War Offensive Last Year: Report
The mercurial billionaire turned off Starlink communications just ahead of a submersible drone attack, thinking that the assault might unleash nuclear war, according to a forthcoming book.
Tech
Elon Musk, Who Is “Against Anti-Semitism of Any Kind,” Is Now Threatening to Sue the ADL
The billionaire owner of X, which has reportedly seen a huge upsurge in antisemitism since Musk’s takeover, apparently thinks this is the solution to his ad woes.
excerpt
How Musk, Thiel, Zuckerberg, and Andreessen—Four Billionaire Techno-Oligarchs—Are Creating an Alternate, Autocratic Reality
In an excerpt from his new book, The End of Reality, the author warns about the curses of AI and transhumanism, presenting the moral case against superintelligence.
You Blockhead
Elon Musk Prepares to Turn X (Formerly Twitter) Into a Trolls’ Playground
The social media platform's ‘block’ feature is to be deleted, much to the chagrin of just about everyone.
Tech
Twitter Can’t Seem to Buck Its Advertisers-Don’t-Want-to-Be-Seen-Next-to-Nazis Problem
Now rebranded under Elon Musk as X, the social media company’s campaign to convince big brands that they can trust them is not going well.
Media
Is an AI-Media Legal Fight Brewing?
IAC founder Barry Diller and others are reportedly weighing legal action against AI platforms for using their content without permission.