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Elon Musk’s SpaceX and xAI are reportedly holding merger talks

Elon Musk’s SpaceX and xAI are reportedly holding merger talks

Two Elon Musk companies are reportedly planning to merge. On Thursday, Reuters reported that SpaceX and xAI are holding merger talks ahead of a planned IPO. Part of their plan is to launch AI data centers into space (but unfortunately, only as far as Earth's orbit). Last week, it was reported that Musk planned to take SpaceX public despite having once said it wouldn’t happen until the company had a presence on Mars. Now, the IPO could happen as early as this year. Shares of xAI would reportedly be exchanged for shares in SpaceX under the merger. Reuters reports that two entities were set up in Nevada on January 21 to facilitate the deal. If the idea of two Musk companies becoming one sounds familiar, that's because it happened less than a year ago. In March 2025, xAI bought X, putting Grok (known for nonconsensual "nudifying" images ) and X (infamous for being a far-right hellscape ) together under one unholy roof . The latest idea Musk is pitching is blasting AI data centers off into space. At last week's gathering of the rich and powerful in Davos, Switzerland, he said, "The lowest cost place to put AI will be in space. And that will be true within two years, maybe three at the latest." The idea is that data centers in orbit could harness solar power and reduce cooling costs. However, industry analysts and executives consider it a risky bet, questioning whether the savings would warrant the massive investment. If or when the AI bubble bursts , the plan could go down in flames — if not literally, then figuratively. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/elon-musks-spacex-and-xai-are-reportedly-holding-merger-talks-211740150.html?src=rss

Sources: Microsoft is focusing on fixing the core issues of Windows 11 over the coming months after persistent bugs, ads, and bloatware eroded user trust (Tom Warren/The Verge)

Sources: Microsoft is focusing on fixing the core issues of Windows 11 over the coming months after persistent bugs, ads, and bloatware eroded user trust (Tom Warren/The Verge)

Tom Warren / The Verge : Sources: Microsoft is focusing on fixing the core issues of Windows 11 over the coming months after persistent bugs, ads, and bloatware eroded user trust —  Engineers are now focusing on performance, reliability, and the overall Windows experience. … Windows is in a weird spot.

Sources: Amazon is in talks to invest up to $50B in OpenAI, which is seeking up to $100B in new capital, a round that could value it at as much as $830B (Wall Street Journal)

Sources: Amazon is in talks to invest up to $50B in OpenAI, which is seeking up to $100B in new capital, a round that could value it at as much as $830B (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal : Sources: Amazon is in talks to invest up to $50B in OpenAI, which is seeking up to $100B in new capital, a round that could value it at as much as $830B —  CEO Andy Jassy is leading the e-commerce giant's negotiations with the startup  —  Amazon.com is in talks to invest up to $50 billion in OpenAI …

Publishers are blocking the Internet Archive for fear AI scrapers can use it as a workaround

Publishers are blocking the Internet Archive for fear AI scrapers can use it as a workaround

The Internet Archive has often been a valuable resource for journalists, from it's finding records of deleted tweets or providing academic texts for background research. However, the advent of AI has created a new tension between the parties. A few major publications have begun blocking the nonprofit digital library's access to their content based on concerns that AI companies' bots are using the Internet Archive's collections to indirectly scrape their articles. "A lot of these AI businesses are looking for readily available, structured databases of content," Robert Hahn, head of business affairs and licensing for The Guardian , told Nieman Lab . "The Internet Archive’s API would have been an obvious place to plug their own machines into and suck out the IP." The New York Times took a similar step. "We are blocking the Internet Archive's bot from accessing the Times because the Wayback Machine provides unfettered access to Times content — including by AI companies — without authorization," a representative from the newspaper confirmed to Nieman Lab. Subscription-focused publication the Financial Times and social forum Reddit have also made moves to selectively block how the Internet Archive catalogs their material. Many publishers have attempted to sue AI businesses for how they access content used to train large language models. To name a few just from the realm of journalism: The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft The Center for Investigative Reporting sued OpenAI and Microsoft The Wall Street Journal and New York Post sued Perplexity A group of publishers including The Atlantic , The Guardian and Politico sued Cohere Penske Media sued Google The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune sued Perplexity Other media outlets have sought financial deals before offering up their libraries as training material, although those arrangements seem to provide compensation to the publishing companies rather than the writers. And that's not even delving into the copyright and piracy issues also being fought against AI tools by other creative fields, from fiction writers to visual artists to musicians . The whole Nieman Lab story is well worth a read for anyone who has been following any of these creative industries’ responses to artificial intelligence. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/publishers-are-blocking-the-internet-archive-for-fear-ai-scrapers-can-use-it-as-a-workaround-204001754.html?src=rss

Microsoft warns of lower Surface revenue due to RAM shortages

Microsoft warns of lower Surface revenue due to RAM shortages

Microsoft said this week that it expects Surface and Windows revenue to fall as a result of the ongoing shortages of memory in the PC market. Microsoft chief financial officer Amy Hood told analysts that revenue in its More Personal Computing segment, which includes the Surface devices, should fall to between $12.3 billion and $12.8 billion, from the $14.3 billion that the company reported during the quarter. Windows OEM and devices revenue should decline in the low teens, she said. “The range of potential outcomes remains wider than normal, in part due to the potential impact on the PC market from increased memory pricing,” she said . Microsoft also reported that the surge in PC buying due to transition away from Windows 10 has ended as PC makers sell through their inventory. Windows revenue should fall by 10 percent, Hood said. PC makers have already warned about rising prices , especially Dell and Lenovo . Microsoft did not say that it was raising PC prices, however — still, as we have noted, the continuing rise of RAM prices means the impact to PC consumers tends to remain a mystery . A day later, however, and Microsoft’s stock had plunged by 12 percent in a single day, as investors apparently worried about Microsoft’s Azure revenue and dependence on OpenAI. “Capital expenditures were $37.5 billion, and this quarter, roughly two-thirds of our [expenditures] was on short-lived assets, primarily GPUs and CPUs” for the server business, Microsoft’s Hood said. “Our customer demand continues to exceed our supply.” Overall, Microsoft reported net income of $38.5 billion, up 60 percent from a year ago, on revenue of $81.3 billion for its second fiscal quarter and the fourth calendar quarter of 2025.