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One damaged data center has supercomputers used for training Yandex’s AI model
The Department of Energy declared an "emergency" when none existed
Google is unveiling its long-awaited next-generation AI model, Gemini 4 Argon, to a small group of cybersecurity partners, the company said Wednesday. Why it matters: Gemini 4 arrives after a long gap at the top of Google's model lineup, in which the company kept rolling out smaller, cheaper Flash models while rivals OpenAI and Anthropic sprinted forward. State of play: Google says Gemini 4 Argon is built to handle complex, long-running tasks in software engineering, finance, legal work and cybersecurity. Google said the new model is state of the art on certain coding and knowledge work benchmarks, outperforming competing OpenAI frontier model GPT-6 Astra on several.The company is rolling the model out only to a group of trusted cybersecurity defenders and is participating in the U.S. government's voluntary pre-release process.Google says it will expand access after additional testing, with paying subscribers first in line. What they're saying: "Argon is a well-rounded model that has frontier capabilities across several domains," Tulsee Doshi, head of Gemini products at Google DeepMind, told Axios. "We've seen strong performance up close as Googlers have put the model through its paces in recent weeks, with many relying on it for their hardest coding and research problems." Flashback: Gemini 4 comes out nearly a year after the previous flagship model generation, Gemini 3. In May, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company's next major model release would come in June. That model, widely expected to be Gemini 3.5 Pro, never came out. In July, Axios reported that poor morale among Google DeepMind employees was part of the reason for the delay. Zoom in: Google's additional time investment may not be viewed as negatively in the context of the AI safety debate that has embroiled companies and users. OpenAI has had issues with agents going rogue, and recently said it is scrapping GPT-6.1 Astra due to security issues.Top AI developers OpenAI and Anthropic are investigating
The 2027 BMW 330 starts at $49,900, the i3 50 xDrive at $61,500
But the military's overall use of AI seems to be accelerating
In a long-awaited decision, a federal judge said Google must change its ad tech business to address antitrust issues, but did not disclose the measures
The 40-year-old unvaccinated woman reportedly had underlying health conditions
President Trump issued an executive order Monday calling for fewer childhood vaccinations, splitting the childhood MMR vaccine into three shots and delivering vaccines at separate medical visits. Why it matters: Controversial vaccine policy changes appear to be roaring back ahead of the midterms. The executive order states that "the combined MMR vaccine should be administered in three separate single-disease shots once such products are domestically available and that, to the maximum extent feasible, all childhood immunizations should be administered at separate medical visits." The big picture: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s handpicked vaccine advisers last fall called for splitting up the MMR shot and overhauling a central component of childhood immunizations. But the White House urged Kennedy to back off of such contentious policymaking earlier this year. And yet, President Trump has recently questioned Kennedy about the lack of momentum on childhood vaccine policy, per the Wall Street Journal, signaling his continued strong personal interest in the topic. What he's saying: "You have the MMR. We want it in three separate vaccinations, given at separate times," Trump said at an Oval Office signing event. He suggested the MMR vaccine could be "quite lethal" when administered all at once, and likened the volume to "a bottle of soda." Reality check: The CDC says there's "no published scientific evidence [that] shows any benefit in separating the combination MMR vaccine into three individual shots." It says there can be a "very small risk" of febrile seizures and extremely rare cases of serious allergic reactions, but that getting the MMR vaccine "is much safer than getting measles, mumps, or rubella."In addition, vaccine safety experts at CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics agree the MMR shot is not responsible for recent increases in autism diagnoses. "I'm a doctor. This executive order is wrong. The President does not have the expertise to make the
Explosive growth comes with a new regulatory burden in the European Union
A federal appeals court ruling Tuesday could erase a new midterm advantage for Republicans. Why it matters: The 2-1 ruling would block Republicans from using cash-rich party committees to buy more political TV ads at discounted rates. Republicans plan to appeal the decision, setting up another high-stakes campaign finance fight as the fall ad wars heat up ahead of November. Driving the news: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled the FCC was wrong to extend discounted candidate broadcast rates to political parties and joint fundraising committees that include non-candidate groups for ads they coordinate with candidates. The rates paid by super PACs and other outside groups are often several times higher than candidate rates.The case was brought by four Democratic candidates running this cycle — Sen. Jon Ossoff (Ga.), former Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), former Gov. Roy Cooper (N.C.) and Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (Mich.)The U.S. Supreme Court in June struck down limits on how much committees can spend in coordination with campaigns. Between the lines: Republicans believed the Supreme Court decision, paired with FCC guidance extending candidate rates to certain coordinated ads, would allow party committee cash to stretch further. The ruling applied to both parties.But while Democratic candidates generally have stronger grassroots fundraising, Republican Party committees have amassed larger war chests, fueled by megadonorsRepublicans believed the Supreme Court decision, paired with FCC guidance, allowed party committee cash to stretch further by accessing lower rates reserved for candidates. What they're saying: "Put plainly, today's ruling makes clear that lowest unit rate is an exclusive right given to candidates and incumbent campaigns and that is the law of the land," DSCC executive director Devan Barber and DCCC executive director Julie Merz said in a joint statement. "Democratic candidates' strong grassroots fundraising amplifying the voice of ever