DistroKid has been quietly taking down songs in response to UMG lawsuit

DistroKid has been quietly taking down songs in response to UMG lawsuit

Artists are taking to social media to complain that DistroKid has unceremoniously removed their work without notice. Now DistroKid has confirmed to The Verge that the takedowns are a direct response to claims made by UMG. The label filed a lawsuit in September claiming that DistroKid has created an “AI-slop pipeline.” Artists are saying that…

Ledger wallet tampering suspected after reports of crypto thefts

Ledger wallet tampering suspected after reports of crypto thefts

Reports have been mounting that users of the Ledger crypto wallet have seen their accounts drained, and it appears to be related to tampered hardware sold by CryptoBillis. Ledger has asked CryptoBillis to pause all sales of its wallets while it conducts an investigation. Ledger has confirmed that “one of the impacted users’ devices contained…

Anthropic is cutting off its internal evaluations from the internet

Anthropic is cutting off its internal evaluations from the internet

After a recent spate of high-profile incidents in which AI agents escaped containment, Anthropic is cutting off internet access for all internal evaluations. In a report Friday, the company detailed “unintended model actions,” including submitting a false tip regarding an unsolved murder, that led to the decision. Although the impact of these behaviors was minimal…

Will Warner Bros. kill Skydance — or will David Ellison kill Warner Bros?

Will Warner Bros. kill Skydance — or will David Ellison kill Warner Bros?

Today, I’m talking with Peter Kafka, chief correspondent at Business Insider and host of the Channels podcast, about the gigantic Warner Bros.-Paramount merger and the future of the company now simply called Skydance. Skydance is owned by David Ellison, son of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, and its deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery officially closed…

Brendan Carr says he’ll let Pete Hegseth decide whether TV networks can air the public execution

Brendan Carr says he’ll let Pete Hegseth decide whether TV networks can air the public execution

FCC chairman Brendan Carr said he will defer to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on whether TV networks can air the planned execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan by firing squad. The Pentagon has said the execution will be livestreamed, suggesting it’ll appear on an online platform beyond the FCC’s jurisdiction. But it’s…

Nikon microscopic video competition winner disqualified for using generative AI

Nikon microscopic video competition winner disqualified for using generative AI

The original first place video used AI in post-processing. | Image: Dr. Ning Xu Nikon says the video that originally won first place in its Small World in Motion contest “did not comply with the competition rules regarding generative AI.” BBC reports that the original first place video from Dr. Ning Xu claimed to show…

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is down to $950 after Prime Day

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is down to $950 after Prime Day

Amazon has the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra in black with 256GB of storage discounted to $949.99, a healthy discount from its usual price of $1,399.99. This phone’s standout feature is the adjustable privacy display, which can hide your entire screen, or just portions of it, from onlookers and strangers. It doesn’t meaningfully hurt the screen’s…