The Next Web

South Africa used AI to write its AI policy. The citations were fake.

South Africa pulled its draft AI policy after News24 found fake citations in real journals. Minister Malatsi called it an "unacceptable lapse." The policy meant to govern AI was undermined by it.
The Next Web

The founder of Scholly sold his scholarship app to Sallie Mae. He says they fired him for asking why they were selling students’ data.

Christopher Gray built Scholly to help students find scholarships. After Sallie Mae acquired it, he says they fired him for objecting to selling users' personal data, including minors' information.
The Next Web

OpenAI called the growth report clickbait. The market disagreed by tens of billions of dollars.

OpenAI dismissed a WSJ report on missed targets as clickbait. Investors responded by selling Oracle, CoreWeave, SoftBank, and chip stocks. The real question is whether $600B in commitments still works ...
The Next Web

True Anomaly raised $1 billion to build weapons for a programme the Pentagon has not committed to building

True Anomaly raised $650M four days after being selected for Golden Dome space-based interceptor prototypes. The programme could cost $185B to $3.6T. The Space Force says it might not build it.
The Next Web

Musk told the jury the OpenAI case is simple. The consequences of his testimony are anything but.

Musk told jurors his OpenAI lawsuit is about protecting charitable giving, not personal gain. He renounced financial benefit and seeks forced reversion to nonprofit. OpenAI says he wanted control.
The Next Web

Venture capital is moving beyond code because the next tech boom will be built, not programmed

Venture capital is moving beyond software as deep tech, AI, and physical-world innovation redefine long-term value creation and investment strategy.
The Next Web

True Anomaly raises $650 million as the only space startup exclusively focused on orbital defense

True Anomaly, the startup building autonomous satellites has raised $650M weeks after being selected for Golden Dome’s space interceptor programme.
The Next Web

Accenture deploys Microsoft 365 Copilot to all 743,000 employees

Accenture has deployed Copilot to all 743,000 employees, the largest enterprise AI rollout ever. 89% monthly active usage, 97% report faster tasks.
The Next Web

Freepik rebrands as Magnific: a bootstrapped, profitable $230M ARR AI creative platform

Freepik rebrands as Magnific, unifying its AI creative platform under one name. $230M ARR, 1M+ paying subscribers, bootstrapped and profitable.
The Next Web

Australia unveils a 2.25% levy on Meta, Google, and TikTok’s local revenues if they refuse to pay news publishers

Australia unveiled a 2.25% levy on Meta, Google, and TikTok’s local revenues unless they negotiate deals to pay news publishers.
The Next Web

Google signs classified AI deal with the Pentagon for ‘any lawful government purpose’

Google has signed a classified AI deal with the Pentagon allowing its models for 'any lawful government purpose.' ...
The Next Web

Marloo raises $10M led by Blackbird Ventures to replace the AI notetaker with an AI operating system for financial advisers

Marloo raises $10M led by Blackbird Ventures for its AI platform for financial advisers. 650 firms, 40%+ monthly growth, near-zero churn in under a year.