If you're wondering why he got that gift, the answer is artificial intelligence. Lawrence has been one of the hottest quarterbacks in the NFL over the past eight games -- posting 19 touchdown passes and five rushing touchdowns -- and someone concocted an AI photo of Lawrence wearing a grill and a giant chain around his neck.
The United States has realised it cannot keep trying to police the whole world, argues Victor Gao, the vice president of the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing. Gao tells host Steve Clemons that improved China-US relations are inevitable although he warns that some American policymakers still view China as the number one threat and Chinese officials never underestimate what American neofascists will cook up next.
Shares of Palantir ( NASDAQ:PLTR) have been turbulently climbing back in the past month, and while the latest 7% slip in the face of what seems to be a Santa Claus slump, especially for tech stocks, investors might not wish to bet against CEO Alex Karp and company as they look to drive a comeback and bring the pain to Michael Burry, who's likely hanging onto his big bearish bets against the firm going into the new year.
After a tumultuous year marked by President Donald Trump's return to the White House and his swing towards tariffs and protectionism, recent growth has outpaced the expectations of most analysts. In a speech this month, Trump hailed his economic record, insisting that the US was on the cusp of an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen.
Broadcom ( NASDAQ:AVGO) isn't a member of the Magnificent Seven, but it's now tussling with those same companies for the largest market cap. The AI chipmaker surpassed Tesla ( NASDAQ:TSLA) to become the 7th largest publicly traded corporation, and it's poised to move further up in the rankings. Meta Platforms ( NASDAQ:META) is an easy candidate since Broadcom briefly had a higher market cap than Facebook's parent company this year.
Our Q2 outlook reflects substantial records across revenue, gross margin, EPS and free cash flow, and we anticipate our business performance to continue strengthening through fiscal 2026. Micron's technology leadership, differentiated product portfolio, and strong operational execution position us as an essential AI enabler, and we are investing to support our customers' growing need for memory and storage," he said in the Q1 FY26 press release.
Now, scientists have detected two new biological strands of MS using AI, a simple blood test and MRI scans. Experts said the exciting breakthrough could revolutionise treatment of the disease worldwide. In research involving 600 patients, led by University College London (UCL) and Queen Square Analytics, researchers looked at blood levels of a special protein called serum neurofilament light chain (sNfL).
SoftBank Group will acquire digital infrastructure investor DigitalBridge Group in a deal valued at $4bn, the companies said on Monday, as the Japanese investment firm looks to deepen its AI-related portfolio. The acquisition would expand SoftBank's exposure to digital infrastructure as the Japanese conglomerate is positioning its portfolio to focus on artificial intelligence. SoftBank's billionaire founder Masayoshi Son is seeking to capitalize on surging demand for the computing capacity that underpins artificial intelligence applications.
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), which has almost 260,000 members, has said that from March it will stop allowing students to take online exams in all but exceptional circumstances. We're seeing the sophistication of [cheating] systems outpacing what can be put in, [in] terms of safeguards, Helen Brand, the chief executive of the ACCA, said in an interview with the Financial Times. Remote testing was introduced during the Covid pandemic to allow students to continue to be able to qualify at a time when lockdowns prevented in-person exam assessment.
With venture capital pouring into artificial intelligence, retail startups are struggling to compete for funding. PitchBook has tracked $396 million worth of VC deals in retail through December 19 of this year, down from a recent peak of $7.6 billion in 2021. In the age of AI, new companies are under more pressure to prove their value to VCs. Founders are saying that the enormous fundraising seen during the pandemic has subsided in 2025.
The City Council signed off on a $3.5 million, six-year agreement with Ladris Technologies to purchase a system its creators said can distill vast quantities of data to determine which route will most quickly lead evacuees to safety. The purchase comes just in time for the technology to aid in emergency preparations for a series of major sports events expected to bring hundreds of thousands of visitors to San Jose next year.
Boxing Day sales are expected to deliver a £3.6 billion boost to UK retailers this year, around £1 billion less than in 2024, as cost-of-living pressures continue to weigh on household spending. The forecast comes from Barclays, which tracks nearly half of all credit and debit card transactions across the UK. The anticipated decline represents a blow to retailers during their all-important "golden quarter", traditionally the most lucrative period of the year.
Shares of Meta Platforms have advanced 13% year to date, bringing its market value to $1.6 trillion. Meanwhile, shares of Google parent Alphabet have advanced 64%, bringing the company's market value to $3.7 trillion. Three top hedge fund managers bought both stocks in the third quarter. Israel Englander of Millennium Management added 793,500 shares of Meta Platforms and 2.2 million shares of Alphabet. Both stocks rank among his top 10 holdings.
At the close of 2024, I wrote that Elon Musk's support of Donald Trump had made him the world's most powerful unelected man. In 2025, his reign turned out to be short-lived. He rose fast and haphazardly, like a whizzing firework, only to explode spectacularly in June when he claimed in a post on X that the president of the United States was named in the government's files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Proponents of artificial intelligence (AI), and especially individuals with a personal incentive to promote investments in the field, often talk about creating and selling AI products that clients can trust. In so doing, however, they reveal a deep misunderstanding of the nature of trust and what it takes to become trustworthy. To gain truly profound insight into trust, we should look not to Silicon Valley's marketing but to cultural resources that have stood the test of time.
Nowhere is this skepticism louder than in my own backyard. In Silicon Valley, the "skip college" mantra has evolved from a "hot take" to accepted wisdom. Fueled by the rise of generative AI, the logic is seductive: If artificial intelligence can code, write copy, and analyze data faster than a junior employee, why spend four years and a small fortune on skills a bot will master before you graduate?
