OpenAI Snags $200 Million Contract With US Defense Department
OpenAI has won a $200 million contract for a pilot program aimed at helping the US Defense Department determine how it could use artificial intelligence for a range of administrative and security tasks.
The one-year contract, which the Defense Department disclosed Monday, is the latest push by the ChatGPT-maker to sell its technology to the US government.
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Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
SoftBank Sells T-Mobile Stake for $4.8 Billion to Fund AI Push
(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp. raised around $4.8 billion through a sale of T-Mobile US Inc. shares, a move that helps fund the Japanese company's grandiose plans for artificial intelligence. As Part of a $45 Billion Push, ICE Prepares for a Vast Expansion of Detention Space Security Concerns Hit Some of the World's 'Most Livable Cities' As American Architects Gather in Boston, Retrofits Are All the Rage The Tokyo-based technology group sold 21.5 million T-Mobile shares for $224 each — pricing at the bottom of the $224 to $228 range — in an unregistered overnight block sale, according to the final terms of the deal seen by Bloomberg News. The offering — which Bloomberg reported earlier — represents a discount of 3% to T-Mobile US's Monday closing price of $230.99 per share. SoftBank is ramping up investments aimed at making AI reasoning superior to humans': It plans to put down as much as $30 billion in OpenAI and is also working with the ChatGPT creator to ferry hundreds of billions of dollars into data centers and related infrastructure in the US and around the world. Its original plans for debt financing had snagged on uncertainties around US tariffs. T-Mobile shares fell 3.9% in extended trading. They have climbed 4.7% in the year to date through Monday's close. SoftBank's shares climbed as much as 2.3% in early trading in Tokyo. The deal is the biggest US share sale since Toronto-Dominion Bank sold a $13.1 billion stake in brokerage firm Charles Schwab Corp. in February. Sales of new and existing shares in US-listed companies reached $91.4 billion in the year to date, up from $75.9 billion in the same period a year ago, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The T-Mobile stake sale would be the latest example of SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son tapping past investment successes — such as an early bet on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. that's yielded thousands-fold returns — to fund new ventures. SoftBank received T-Mobile shares with the completion of the US telecom company's $26.5 billion acquisition of Sprint Corp. in April 2020. Later that year, SoftBank substantially reduced its stake in T-Mobile via a $21 billion deal that helped pay for a record buyback of SoftBank's shares. The stake offered represents about 1.9% of T-Mobile's outstanding shares, according to Bloomberg calculations. SoftBank owned 85.4 million shares or 7.5% of T-Mobile as of March 31, according to its annual report. Deutsche Telekom AG is T-Mobile's largest shareholder with a 59% stake, according to a June 12 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Bank of America Corp. was sole bookrunner for the deal, the terms show. --With assistance from Min Jeong Lee. (Updates share reaction and adds background from the first paragraph.) Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros American Mid: Hampton Inn's Good-Enough Formula for World Domination How a Tiny Middleman Could Access Two-Factor Login Codes From Tech Giants The Spying Scandal Rocking the World of HR Software US Allies and Adversaries Are Dodging Trump's Tariff Threats ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Digital Trends
22 minutes ago
- Digital Trends
Forget Pro Max iPhones and Ultra Samsungs, the best phone I've used in years is the humble Pixel 9
A few weeks ago, I returned to my Google Pixel 9 to test Gemini's next-gen AI features. It was hard letting go of the OnePlus 13, arguably one of the most rewarding phones out there. Plus, given the 'Pixel history,' I had prepared myself for a bumpy ride, just like the Pixel 8, and the Pixel 7 before it. To my surprise, the Pixel 9 fared a lot better. It feels snappier on Android 16, takes sharp pictures, and lasts all day easily. The only thing pulling it down? The sporadic bad apps and updates. It's not enough to consider a replacement, but it's certainly frustrating in bits and pieces. Recommended Videos Overall, I think this is the most refined Pixel that Google has made to date. And with the regular discounts that often shave hundreds of dollars from its official asking price, there is little reason to look elsewhere. But ultimately, it's what you get from the phone that really made me question uber-expensive devices like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra or iPhone 16 Pro Max, which cost over 50% as much. Feels great, fixed flaws If I were to put a cumulative number on my usage spell for the Pixel 9, it falls close to six months. I've never put a case on the phone, and the only protection I applied on it was a thin screen guard. Yes, despite Corning's claims, the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 shield can't survive a pocket loaded with keys, coins, thumb drives, and candies. The shiny glass rear shell is no different. On the other hand, the metallic frame with a satin finish has held up pretty well. There are no scuff marks on it, and I haven't noticed any other forms of hardware hiccups so far. This phone feels every bit as premium as your average Samsung Galaxy or iPhone, and you really need to feel it in your hands to get a grasp of the fantastic build. Google got the ergonomics right on this one, even though it's not the lightest phone out there. It is, however, instantly recognizable and doesn't suffer from the identity crisis that you will find on Samsung and Apple devices that have looked virtually identical for the past few generations. I've had my friends and co-working buddies repeatedly telling me that the Pixel 9 feels like the premium device Google always intended to make. The only problem? It runs hot, and in unpredictable spots. It handled games well, but got warm while using Maps for navigation. The banking app kept crashing and working up the phone's thermal hardware, while long edits in Adobe Express and the Instagram Edits app sailed smoothly. A quick look at the Google Community forum suggests that it's due to poor app patches and optimization from developers, but it's weird to notice these stutters. One of my biggest issues with the Pixel 9 was the slow image processing in the camera app last year. I can confirm that the woe is gone. I've extensively tested hi-res and portrait capture modes, and I could see the final image in less than a second. There's no lag in switching from the viewfinder to the image preview, and even with images that required manual frame adjustment, there was no unwanted delay at any stage. Aside from those sporadic jitters, everything worked flawlessly atop the stable build of Android 16. My secondary driver for personal communication is an iPhone 16 Pro Max, which is expectedly fluid, but doesn't have the same snappy feel as the Pixel 9. Oh, and I absolutely love the new predictive back gesture introduced in Android 16. Leaving a mark, where it matters Let's address the elephant in the room. The Tensor G4 processor. For an average smartphone user who is not too deep into demanding games or obsessed with maxing out in-game graphics settings, the Pixel 9 will serve you just fine. The hiccups with a slow camera capture have been fixed, and I didn't feel the need to boot in safe mode to find bad apps. The day-to-day activities, in a nutshell, fare smoothly. The numbers defy logic, however. Talking about benchmark comparisons, well, the Tensor G4 scores nearly half as much as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite in phones like the Galaxy S25, and even lower than Apple's A18 Pro inside the iPhone 16 series. It's not even a substantial upgrade over the Pixel 8's Tensor G3 processor. So, is the Pixel 9 a laggard? Yes. Is the real-life experience reflective of those tests? No. Making calls, texting all day, watching social videos, letting off some steam in Diablo: Immortal, snapping pictures, and editing short clips for Instagram. All these activities are handled just fine. At this point, we also need to change the definition of 'processing power.' A healthy bunch of experiences on the Pixel 9 are now powered by AI. And more specifically, the on-device workflows running the Gemini Nano model, thanks to the on-board AI accelerator chip referred to as a TPU. On-device AI processing now lends a hand with video rendering, translation, scam detection in calls and messages, accessibility features like talkback, Smart Reply in Gboard keyboard, audio summarization, and even media editing. Remember Magic Editor and Pixel Screenshots? Yeah, all that, and more. How does it stand out? You see, AI is now a transformative part of the Android experience, and the Pixels get the first (often exclusive) dibs on it. And it's not just the vanilla experience and quick access to OS upgrades that matter here, but also those exclusive Pixel Feature Drop updates that add unique features to Google's phones. Ever since the Pixel 9 series was released, it has received features like audio noise eraser for videos, underwater photography mode, theft detection lock, private space, AI-powered call screening, live call transcripts, expressive captions, Identity Check, and more. Android 16 — riding atop the Pixel 9 series — is the smartest mobile OS out there, at least when it comes to protecting users from scams and digital fraud. With Gemini deeply integrated everywhere and new capabilities like Project Astra changing how we interact with a phone, what you get is a one-of-a-kind experience. Of course, all that AI chatter doesn't mean the Pixel 9 gets the basics wrong. The battery life is reliable and I never had to pull my power bank mid-way through the day. It's not the fastest charging phone out there, but the competition from Samsung or Apple isn't doing anything dramatically better despite the high asking price. I haven't run into any glaring call or network reception issues yet, so there's that assurance. The camera experience continues its hot streak. And thanks to Android 16's optimizations, there are more granular controls to compose the frame. Portraits turn out fantastic, and night mode shots continue to wow on Google's entry-point flagship phone. The overarching theme with the Pixel 9 is that it has matured a lot, especially after the Android 16 update. And at its current asking price of $799, it doesn't miss a beat where you can outright reject it. On the contrary, it gives pricier Androids and iPhones a run for their money. If it's reliability you seek from your phone, the Pixel 9 has truly evolved in that parameter. And if you see a deal on this one, grab it to sweeten the experience.
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Morning Bid: Israel-Iran truce hope in tatters
A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Ankur Banerjee Investor hope of a quick resolution to the Israel-Iran conflict was swiftly dashed after the long-time rivals attacked each other again and U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iranians to evacuate Tehran. That, along with Trump reportedly calling the U.S. national security council and cutting short his visit to the Group of Seven summit, rattled investors leading to major risk-off moves. European markets are set to open deep in the red, futures indicated, while oil prices jumped nearly 2% in Asian hours, taking gains to 7.5% since the conflict started on Friday. U.S. futures also fell but currencies were relatively stable - with the U.S. dollar reprising its role as a safe haven. The worry for markets and the world remains that of possible U.S. involvement, broadening the conflict. A White House aide said it was not true the U.S. was attacking Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News that Trump was aiming for a deal with Iran on the latter's nuclear-related activity, and said the U.S. would defend its assets in the region. Markets have generally been resilient to Israel-Iran developments since initial bouts of knee-jerk selling as investors look beyond the conflicts around the globe, keeping benchmark U.S. and European stock indexes close to record highs. Amid the geopolitical noise, investors are bracing for a slate of central bank meetings this week, starting with the Bank of Japan which held interest rates as widely expected. The focus was rather on what the BOJ would do to its bond-tapering programme. The BOJ decided to slow the pace of reduction of bond purchases from next fiscal year, signalling its preference to move cautiously in normalising still-easy monetary policy. The central bank faces fresh challenges in weaning the economy off decade-long stimulus that has kept rates ultra-low and left the bank with an economy-sized balance sheet. Market reaction to the BOJ's meeting outcome was muted, with the yen and bond yields glacial. As UBS analysts put it, "It's lots of mulling for not so much change." Key developments that could influence markets on Tuesday: Economic events: Germany's ZEW economic sentiment for June Trying to keep up with the latest tariff news? Our new daily news digest offers a rundown of the top market-moving headlines impacting global trade. Sign up for Tariff Watch here. (By Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Christopher Cushing) Sign in to access your portfolio
