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Enter Semafor. The world’s first news platform designed to meet the moment we are in. Providing audiences with an unparalleled level of journalistic transparency through innovative new forms, cutting through the noise of the news cycle with smart, distilled views and exploring competing perspectives across borders for a curious, new global audience. Source
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Media Outlet details
| Scope | International |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Country | United States of America |
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Recent Articles
Search ArticlesAI agents are hitting the pageant stage Original
AI agents have made inroads in businesses and government. Now they’re hitting the pageant stage.Samantha Smitte, 37, who worked at IBM for a decade, spent about $150 on AI agents to train for the Miss New York USA pageant next week, she told Semafor. They run practice interviews with her, suggest workout routines, keep her up on current events, and suggest dresses like those of past winners.
AI companies move to protect teens Original
Frontier AI labs don’t want to be known for helping teens commit harm against themselves or others. “The principle here is to avoid the mistakes that were made before us,” Lauren Jonas, OpenAI’s head of youth well-being, told Semafor. “AI is not social media,” she said, arguing that teens primarily use its tools for schoolwork.
Kimi K3 threatens AI business models Original
The AI world is going nuts over the Kimi K3 AI model, the latest open-weight offering from Chinese startup Moonshot. While the new model is a big deal, the concern is somewhat misguided. For instance, Nvidia’s stock (and American markets broadly) took a hit over fears that China is closing the gap with the US. But if you’re an Nvidia shareholder, the excitement over K3 is pretty good news.
View / AI teaches a bitter biology lesson Original
Reed’s view Over the last decade, experts in artificial intelligence learned a “bitter lesson”: Their own knowledge was getting in the way of progress. “The actual contents of minds are tremendously, irredeemably complex,” computer scientist Richard Sutton wrote in 2019. The most successful AI breakthroughs involved humans getting out of the way and allowing increasingly powerful computers to take over. The same humbling lesson is now being learned by scientists in the field of biology.
US-Iran conflict is becoming a testbed for the future of warfare Original
The US-Iran conflict has become a testbed for the future of warfare, from missile defenses to cyber operations and autonomous drones. The US this week said it had carried out its first offensive combat mission using unmanned surface vessels, sending drone boats to strike Iran’s Bandar Abbas naval base. The 24-foot vessels, which cost less than $1 million each, can travel more than 1,000 miles while carrying payloads of up to 1,000 pounds.
Gulf states are rearming rapidly as Iran war reignites Original
Gulf states, already among the world’s biggest spenders on defense, have been rearming rapidly since March as they seek to deter future attacks. This week, the US approved a $2 billion Saudi order for weapons guidance systems, launchers, warheads, and other equipment, as well as a $484 million package of parts for Kuwait’s fleet of C-17 military transport aircraft.
View / Africa’s mineral export bans are only the opening bid Original
Yinka’s view Africa’s biggest advantage in the critical minerals race may not be its minerals. It is the world’s growing determination to rely less on China. As governments and manufacturers scramble to diversify supply chains, African producers possess something they’ve long lacked: bargaining power. The instinct has been to convert that leverage into export bans; the real challenge is converting it into industry.
China’s ‘gray zone’ coercion Original
China’s Wars: The Politics and Diplomacy Behind its Military Coercion by Vijay Gokhale. The former Indian foreign secretary looks at case studies of Chinese “gray zone” tactics — aggressive actions falling deliberately short of acts of war — to highlight patterns of coercion over the last 60 years, an international relations scholar writes in The Wire.
South African rooibos tea seeds head to space Original
South African rooibos tea seeds will be sent to space as part of an experiment to see how the plant grows beyond Earth’s atmosphere. The world-famous “red bush” seeds will head to the International Space Station in October, where they will be exposed to microgravity and space radiation, said the South African Rooibos Council, which partnered with MaxIQ Space and the South African National Space Agency for the project.
Ghana opens 5G licensing round Original
Ghana has opened the bidding and award process for 5G licenses, a move aimed at making the telecommunications sector more competitive. The licenses are split into 11 lots, valued at $230 million in total, with clauses to prevent a single company from owning all the spectrum bands. MTN and Telecel — the two largest providers accounting for 95% of mobile internet users in Ghana — have each indicated interest in acquiring 5G licenses.