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United Airlines cuts 10% of its Newark flights, citing air traffic controller understaffing

United Airlines flights account for roughly three-quarters of the air traffic in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport.

Over the weekend, the carrier announced it’s cutting 35 round-trip Newark flights, or about 10% of its daily schedule at the airport. In an online statement, United CEO Scott Kirby cited air traffic controller understaffing and outdated FAA technology as the reason for its decision:

This particular air traffic control facility has been chronically understaffed for years and without these controllers, it’s now clear — and the FAA tells us — that Newark airport cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead.

More than a third of Newark’s flights were delayed Sunday as tech failures and a closed runway continued to weigh on America’s 14th busiest airport.

There are 14,000 air traffic controllers working in the US, more than 3,000 employees short of the level needed to reach full staffing. It could take up to eight years to close the gap. In March, 132 FAA employees who were fired in DOGE cuts were reinstated following a court ruling.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is expected to announce a multibillion-dollar FAA modernization proposal this week.

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Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind’s CEO and founder, was also an early Anthropic investor

A chess prodigy and an actual a knight of the realm in the UK, it’s perhaps no surprise that Demis Hassabis has made some strategic moves about his exposure to AI upside. According to people familiar with the matter, the influential AI architect became an angel investor in Anthropic, currently behind many of the leading AI models, per Arena AI leaderboards.

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

Im playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

Im playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

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Jury rules against Musk in lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman

Jurors in Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and OpenAI found the defendants not liable on all claims on Monday.

In a unanimous verdict reached after less than two hours of deliberation, the Oakland jury found that Musk had waited too long to bring his case forward, exceeding the statute of limitations.

Musk had alleged that OpenAI abandoned its founding mission as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for humanity and instead became a profit-driven company closely tied to Microsoft.

The verdict caps off a three-week blockbuster tech trial that could have seen Altman and Brockman removed from OpenAI leadership.

Musk had alleged that OpenAI abandoned its founding mission as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for humanity and instead became a profit-driven company closely tied to Microsoft.

The verdict caps off a three-week blockbuster tech trial that could have seen Altman and Brockman removed from OpenAI leadership.

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