Saile, which just raised $2.2 million in pre-seed funding, is building an AI-powered credentialing and staffing platform designed to help physicians quickly pick up side jobs.

The cyberthreat group targets an Azerbaijani oil and gas firm with repeated attacks, as the China-linked actors extend targeting beyond hospitality, telecom, and government sectors.

In the latest evolution of automated cyberattacks, threat actors heavily leveraged AI agents to support campaigns against entities in Mexico and Brazil.

Tarot readings can encourage self-reflection. But what happens when you turn to AI to interpret the cards? Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Sally Hansen If you’ve ever turned to artificial intelligence to try to figure out how to handle a tricky situation with a friend or colleague, you’re far from alone. For many, AI has become a modern oracle – a source of guidance, emotional support or clarity in moments of uncertainty – though critics worry that they could lead to emotional dependence on the technology. Of course, the urge to seek answers from forces beyond ourselves is hardly new. For generations, people have turned to psychics, astrology charts or tarot cards for reassurance. Once fringe, these practices have increasingly become mainstream. According to a 2025 Pew Research survey, nearly 1 in 3 Americans consult tools such as tarot or astrology at least once a year, interest that’s thought to largely be fueled by Gen Z and social media. Now, we’re seeing these two forces – AI and occult practices – meeting in strange and fascinating ways. An increasing number of tarot readers, from novices to seasoned practitioners, have been turning to AI to help make sense of their tarot readings. What makes this pairing so striking is that interpretation is the whole point of tarot. And yet AI often brings little knowledge of your history or your unique situation when it dispenses advice. In a study published in April 2026, we examined which aspects of the practice that tarot readers were delegating to AI, and how the technology was shaping their interpretations. Watching what happens when readers hand that important interpretive step to AI may offer a glimpse of what helpful AI guidance could look like – and where it could go wrong. The mainstreaming of occult practices Tarot cards are experiencing a revival. Tarot did not start out as a spiritual or fortune-telling tool. It began as a popular card game in the Italian Renaissance, before spreading across Europe. Over time, readers and occultists layered the cards with mystical symbolism drawn from Kabbalah, Egyptology, numerology and other mystical and symbolic traditions. In the early 20th century, the British publisher William Rider & Son released the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, which became the most popular tarot deck in the English-speaking world. Whereas only a handful of tarot decks were being published in the early 1970s, today thousands of tarot and oracle decks are in circulation. A standard tarot deck contains 78 cards, each carrying its own symbolic meaning. Practitioners use the cards to sit with hard questions, which can range from difficult relationships to world events: Should I leave my partner? Is this job worth it? What’s going to happen with Donald Trump and the Strait of Hormuz? After cards are pulled, their meanings are interpreted through the lens of the reader’s question, circumstances and life history. Someone asking about a relationship and drawing the Tower card, for instance, might read it as impending rupture, or as false assumptions finally giving way. Which reading fits depends on the other cards, the specific question and what the reader already knows about their own situation. This stands in contrast to AI, which is primed to produce a seemingly definitive answer, even when it’s unaware of the nuances of your situation and context. The adoption of AI in tarot reading For our study, we interviewed 12 tarot practitioners about their use of AI in readings they did for themselves. They generally found themselves pulled in two directions. On the one hand, they often sought explicit guidance from AI in the process of self-reflection. By using AI to interpret the cards, they could sidestep the frustration of interpreting many cards in light of the question asked. Say someone drew the Fool and the Ten of Wands for a question about a career change. The Fool points toward a leap into the unknown, while the Ten of Wands speaks to burnout and an unsustainable load. But do the cards say, “Leave, you’re exhausted and something better awaits”? Or “Leave, and the new job will be just as demanding”? Rather than sit with that ambiguity, some readers simply ask the AI for the meaning of the reading. An attendee at Google’s 2025 I/O developers conference wears Android XR glasses with Gemini AI, which she’s using to interpret a tarot card. Camille Cohen/AFP via Getty Images For more challenging readings, AI’s “yes man energy” helped them feel more confident about their interpretations. This was true for cases where participants both drew physical tarot cards and then interpreted them with AI, or used AI to directly simulate tarot readings. These uses of AI are seductive. They make the act of self-reflection less demanding. But within the broader tarot community, we found a lot of criticism of AI, and there were concerns about how the sycophantic nature of the technology could undermine people’s intuition and reasoning. AI as a tool for critical engagement On the other hand, the tarot readers we interviewed also used AI as a tool to challenge their own biases and assumptions – blind spots in their readings, or what they might be missing in their own interpretation of the cards. Along these lines, they used AI to generate alternative perspectives so they could compare the different interpretations and see which resonated more. And some even asked for an “objective reading” of the cards, because AI appears to have no skin in the game and be unburdened by personal biases or motives. Many readers did this when they didn’t want to “bug” or “pester” their friends for help with a reading. Instead, they relied on chatbots in a one-sided relationship that feels supportive – an example of what scholars call parasocial interaction. Some interviewees even treated bizarre AI-generated outputs or hallucinations as meaningful precisely because they were random and unintended, the same way that a card drawn at random feels like it carries a secret message. What does this mean for the future of AI? AI is becoming a powerful new oracle in its own right. In one recent survey, researchers found that up to 87% of generative AI users are consulting the technology for “personal applications,” which includes advice and emotional support for relationship conflicts and mental health struggles. Sometimes these chatbots are genuinely helpful. But at the same time, advice seekers can also become emotionally dependent. Some rely on the technology for companionship and guidance instead of friends and family. Chatbots have also been found to nurture delusional beliefs and even lead to self-harm. Meanwhile, professionals that regularly give guidance are using AI in their practice, from lawyers to therapists and even priests. Pope Leo XIV recently urged priests to resist the temptation to use AI to write sermons. We think it’s important to make sure the technology isn’t seen as an all-knowing source of truth. It can certainly open up users to new ideas, but it should be a tool to enhance self-reflection, rather than one that serves as a substitute for it. In some cases, that’s what the tarot readers in our study did. They tapped into their own capacity for reflection by using AI to explicitly challenge their own biases and assumptions. This points to an alternative blueprint for the future of AI – one in which the technology doesn’t simply hand you answers but keeps you actively engaged in the process of finding them. The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

The Rivian Assistant is available for both Gen1 and Gen2 hardware.

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. A plan to make drugs in orbit is going commercial A startup called Varda Space Industries is betting that the future of pharmaceuticals lies in orbit. The company has signed a…

Thai Liang Lim/Getty Images This post originally appeared in the Business Insider Today newsletter. You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here. A Patagonia vest is to a finance bro as a cracked laptop is to an AI-agent power user. The new calling card for AI coders is someone who won't shut their laptop, even if it makes them look a bit silly. From airports to high school hallways to ice rinks, people are leaving their laptops at least slightly open to keep their coding agents running. BI's Henry Chandonnet spoke to these coders about their dedication to the AI agent game and the funny interactions they've had as a result. Their approaches may differ — some keep the screen wide open while others just leave a finger in between — but the result is the same: if it's cracked, they're cooking. That's not to say their dedication doesn't come with a bit of embarrassment. "I think people think I'm whatever the equivalent of an iPad kid is for a middle-aged woman," one AI user told Henry. I can almost hear some of you screaming: You can set up your computer to keep running when the screen is closed! We got plenty of comments on Henry's story making that exact point. (Yes, you can comment on our stories. Yes, we actually read them.) The "well, actually" crowd isn't wrong. There are a number of ways to do this, from changing your computer's settings to downloading a slew of third-party software. Henry breaks down all the methods here. Some of the comments were genuinely highlighting this trick. Others, however, came off a bit more aggressive… "Seriously?! It's a simple setting, power options generally, to keep it running and not shut down when closed. Coders?! These aren't engineers," one commenter wrote. But isn't that the point? The AI revolution has largely been about empowering non-technical people to code. And now that they're here, they might do things a bit differently. Getting upset over that is like being a fan of an indie band that suddenly makes it big and criticizing the newcomers for not knowing the B-side tracks. In the spirit of the band analogy, coding is having its Billboard moment. Vibe-coding tools have turned it mainstream, and there's no going back. Does that mean people might not follow old-school coding etiquette? Sure, but that doesn't mean it's wrong. (If you have some quirky behaviors around AI tools, or have noticed some, let us know.) And who knows, maybe you'll learn a thing or two from them. Read the original article on Business Insider

New from Evertrace reveals 112 DeepMind alumni have launched startups since Q2 2025. Explore how the "DeepMind Mafia" is fueling a $5B+ tech boom across the UK and Europe. The post UK and Europe Land 33% of New Startups Founded by DeepMind Alumni appeared first on TechRepublic.

Roblox has hired its first-ever chief growth officer. The company has set out a long-term vision to capture 10% of the global gaming content market. Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN / AFP via Getty Images Roblox has hired its first-ever chief growth officer. John Ciancutti joins from Amazon and will lead its discovery team and international expansion. Roblox has set a goal of capturing 10% of the global gaming content market. Roblox just made a big hire it hopes can unlock its next stage of growth. The online entertainment and gaming platform exclusively told CMO Insider it had appointed John Ciancutti as its first-ever chief growth officer. Ciancutti is responsible for Roblox's discovery team, which works on its TikTok-like algorithm that recommends games and experiences to users most likely to play them. Roblox is a virtual universe available on mobile devices, desktops, and video game consoles that allows users to play and design games and other online experiences. Ciancutti is also charged with leading the company's international growth, including its expansion in China. He joins Roblox at a crucial moment. The company recently lowered its 2026 revenue growth forecast as it prioritizes safety improvements, such as age-based accounts and mandatory age-verification checks. These are designed to limit adult interactions with children on the platform. Roblox's daily active user count fell slightly to 132 million in the first quarter, from 144 million in the prior quarter and from a peak of 152 million earlier in 2025. Revenue in the first quarter grew 39% to $1.4 billion. Roblox is branching out into new areas powered by AI, betting that the technology can attract a new wave of developers to its platform. Last month, it unveiled Roblox Reality, a new initiative designed to help creators build photorealistic games — a shift from the blocky, cartoon-style worlds that have long defined Roblox. The company has set a long-term goal of reaching 1 billion users and capturing 10% of the global gaming content market. Roblox said it had a 3.4% market share at the end of 2025. Ciancutti brings product experience from across Big Tech Ciancutti brings a wealth of experience in building consumer products. He most recently worked at Amazon, where he led product and engineering for Amazon Music. Prior to that, he founded the personalized audio news service 60dB, which was acquired by Google in 2017 and integrated into Google Audio News. Later at Google, Ciancutti held senior product and strategy roles within its search division. He also previously worked at Meta and Netflix. Ciancutti told CMO Insider that he sees future growth opportunities in international markets, among older age groups, and in a more diverse set of experiences on the platform. Roblox said last month that users over 18 represented 26% of its US daily active users who had used its age-checking process. Ciancutti said the strength of Roblox's creator ecosystem, which includes emerging developers and established studios, was one of the reasons he was drawn to the company. "What stands out to me about Roblox is the breadth of what the platform has become — for players, creators, developers, and brands alike," Ciancutti said. "I think there's enormous potential to continue growing awareness across markets and audiences as the platform evolves." Where Roblox's next growth spurts could come from Michael Pachter, a gaming research analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in order to grow further and boost playing hours from users, the company should consider bringing on successful games from other platforms — such as "Fortnite," "Candy Crush," "League of Legends," "Call of Duty: Warzone" — onto Roblox. "Those Roblox customers who play these other games on other platforms would likely migrate their gameplay to the Roblox platform, allowing Roblox to benefit from the player spending in each game," Pachter said. Advertising is another major growth opportunity, Pachter said. Roblox first introduced ads in 2023 and has steadily expanded the business with programmatic partnerships with adtech giants like Google and Amazon, rewarded video ads that give users in-game perks for watching, commerce integrations, and a new feature that lets brands place ads on the Roblox homepage. Creators can earn a share of ad revenue from their games in the form of Robux, the platform's virtual currency. Pachter said that Roblox is too fixated on "seamless" experiences akin to product placement that keep users within the platform's walls, and hasn't focused enough on the type of interstitial advertising found elsewhere on the web, such as on YouTube or Instagram Reels. "They have a multibillion-dollar opportunity here, but are not appropriately focused to exploit it," Pachter added. In addition to Ciancutti's hire, Roblox said this week it had appointed four regional general managers to help lead its international push: Joost Hagesteijn in Europe; Sunil Rao in India; Diego Dzodan in Latin America; and Mohamed El Sheakh, who will lead its Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye region. Read the original article on Business Insider

A 12-metric evaluation framework for production AI agents — covering retrieval, generation, agent behavior, and production health. Drawn from 100+ enterprise deployments. The post Building an Evaluation Harness for Production AI Agents: A 12-Metric Framework From 100+ Deployments appeared first on Towards Data Science.

Venture funding to agriculture-related startups in 2026 is on track to be on par or slightly lower than in recent years, while deal count looks to be down more significantly, with even AI-driven companies not able to make up for tepid investor enthusiasm for the sector in the post-pandemic years.

Pose your questions ahead of our May 27 livestream AMA, where a panel of WIRED experts will discuss how AI is transforming work.

Learn how OpenAI built a secure sandbox for Codex on Windows, enabling safe, efficient coding agents with controlled file access and network restrictions.

"I do think it's a really good historical moment for the space industry."

Are you married to a man who’s obsessed with AI? I’m so, so sorry.

Varda Space Industries, a startup that’s been pitching its ability to perform drug experiments in space, says it has signed up the pharmaceutical company United Therapeutics in what may be remembered as a notable step toward in-orbit manufacturing. The idea of building things in outer space for use on Earth has so far been explored…

Bloomberg: Tencent reports Q1 revenue up 9% YoY to ~$28.9B, below ~$29.4B est., and net income of ~$8.5B, meeting est., amid a costly AI pivot; its stock is down 23% YTD  —  Tencent Holdings Ltd. reported its slowest revenue growth in six quarters, underscoring the urgency around its costly AI pivot …

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LightField Studios/Shutterstock It’s hard to overstate the impact that artificial intelligence has had since the release of generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT just three years ago. While they have led to countless advances in how we live and work, they have also been at the centre of controversies around domestic and sexual abuse. The use of the AI tool Grok to remove women’s clothing in images brought the issue of so-called technology-facilitated abuse to the fore. But it’s a problem that predates AI – with Bluetooth trackers, wearable devices, smart speakers, smart glasses and apps all used by abusers to control, harass or stalk their victims. This abuse has worsened as tech has become more embedded in people’s lives, and as AI advances rapidly. But governments have struggled to make tech companies design systems that minimise misuse, and to hold them accountable when things go wrong. Our own research has confirmed that technology misuse has increased and that its harms are significant. But governments and the tech sector are doing little to combat it – despite numerous examples of how tech can enable abuse. Case 1: Smart glasses The growing availability of smart glasses – which look like normal eyewear but can do many things a smartphone does – has led to reports of secret filming. In some cases, videos were posted online, often attracting degrading and sexually explicit comments. Meta has said its smart glasses have a light to show when they are recording and anti-tamper tech to make sure the light cannot be covered. But there appear to be workarounds. In England and Wales, voyeurism legislation focuses on private spaces, and harassment laws do not specifically apply to targeted recording and online distribution. However, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office is investigating Meta after subcontractors were allegedly able to access intimate footage from customers’ glasses. This is in addition to a lawsuit in the US, which alleges Meta violated privacy laws and engaged in false advertising. Meta has said that it takes the protection of data very seriously and that faces are usually blurred out. It also discloses in its UK terms of service the potential for content to be reviewed either by a human or by automation. Case 2: Bluetooth trackers Apple’s AirTags, and other devices built for tracking personal items, can be misused to stalk and harass people, particularly women. Apple released updates to AirTags and other trackable tech so that potential victims would be alerted if an unknown device was travelling with them. But for many, this feature should have existed from the outset. The law in England and Wales is clear that attaching tracker devices to someone without their knowledge is a criminal offence. But despite convictions, the ease of covertly monitoring people using these devices means people continue to be at risk. jkjkjkjk. Kannapon.SuperZebra/Shutterstock Case 3: AI deepfake and ‘nudification’ apps Apps can now “nudify” people, while AI is increasingly used to make non-consensual deepfake pornography. In January, several instances of xAI’s assistant Grok being used to create sexualised photos of women and minors came to light. All it took to create the images were some simple prompts. After criticism, xAI decided to limit this feature. But the safeguards appear to apply only to certain jurisdictions and certain users. In February, the UK government announced legal changes similar to the Take It Down Act in the US, which will require tech platforms in the UK to remove non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours. Failure to do so will result in fines and services being blocked, and the law is likely to be implemented from summer. Using automated technology known as “hash matching”, victims will only need to report an image once to have it removed from multiple platforms simultaneously. The same images would then be automatically deleted every time anyone attempted to reupload them. Nudification apps and using AI chatbots to create deepfake pornography will also become illegal in the UK. But there is more to be done. Mitigating risks must be embedded at the design stage to prevent these images being created in the first place. The rise of romantic and sexual chatbots means this has become more urgent. And beyond deepfakes and nudification, AI can also enable harassment at scale. This includes directly targeting someone with abusive content, or fake images or profiles that impersonate victims for so-called “sextortion” scams. Challenges ahead These issues must be prevented with robust guardrails built into these technologies. This is what prioritising user safety should look like, after all. But often, these guardrails have failed. Safety tools are only usually added after public pressure, not built into platforms from the start. Governments have allowed regulation to fall behind fast-paced developments. Tech companies have grown quickly, but laws and enforcement have not kept up. At the same time, police and legal systems are often under-trained or unclear on how to handle digital harm. Even where there is regulation, such as the UK’s Online Safety Act, penalties for platforms that allow abuse are often weak or unenforceable. The regulator Ofcom has issued only voluntary guidance to tech companies on how to better protect women and girls on their platforms. Campaigners have called for this to be made mandatory, with clear penalties for companies that do not comply, placing it on a level legal footing with child sexual abuse and terrorism content. As AI advances, tech companies must prioritise system design that puts user safety first. But until governments enforce real consequences, the tech sector will be able to profit from harm while those using the platforms bear the cost. Jason R.C. Nurse receives/received funding from The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), The Research Institute for Sociotechnical Cyber Security, The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), and the UK Home Office. He is affiliated with Wolfson College, University of Oxford as a Research Member, CybSafe as the Director of Science and Research, and The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) as an Associate Fellow. Lisa Sugiura receives funding from Home Office Domestic Abuse Perpetrators Intervention Fund

David Keohane / Financial Times: SoftBank reports Q4 net income up 3x to ~$11.6B, above ~$1.5B est., driven by a $25B gain in its OpenAI stake; by October, its OpenAI investment will hit $64.6B  —  Japanese group books net income of $11.6bn in fourth quarter, vastly ahead of analyst expectations