CIA officer admits to creating fake top secret government program to steal over $190M, including gold bars

CIA officer David Rush, who worked on highly sensitive intelligence programs, reached a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors after he was caught siphoning money and gold with a fake government contract.
Meta rolls out new AI tools to detect ads that secretly lead to child sexual abuse material

Meta launches new AI tools after discovering ads on its platforms that may look normal but direct users to harmful content elsewhere online.
Healthleap raises $38M for its AI that flags hospital patients who may need a closer look

The financing includes an $8M seed round co-led by Sequoia Capital and First Round Capital, and a $30 million Series A led by Hummingbird Ventures.
SpaceX alumni nab $100M to rethink shipping with autonomous freight trains

Parallel Systems raised $100 million to scale production of its autonomous electric rail vehicle, which can shuttle thousands of pounds of freight up to 500 miles.
Bloom raises $3.6M to become the ‘Alibaba’ of American manufacturing

The Detroit startup has widened its scope beyond mobility to help drone and robotics companies find U.S.-based manufacturers, shippers, and more.
How to find out if Amazon thinks you have ‘flat buttocks’

“I stumbled upon a page of assumptions that Amazon has made about me based on my purchases and I’m literally speechless,” one shopper wrote on Threads.
Apple is reportedly partnering with LG to launch a smart lock, thermostat, and doorbell

Apple appears poised to push into the smart home market with a slate of new devices and a key partner.
Ex-Ramp engineers raise $20M for platform Melius after scrapping their first product

Instead of helping marketers manage and optimize ad spend, the company is focusing on building the tools that generate the creative assets and campaigns.
Silicon Valley’s AI wunderkind launches Underdog, the most private Instinct/Muse competitor yet

Sigil Wen, backed by a Silicon Valley who’s who, has built an on-device AI assistant that promises to be free, fully private, and capable for everyday tasks.
How AI decision models could change content moderation

On Tuesday, Musubi announced a lightweight decision model made for real-time moderation called PolicyLM-1.7B, released with open weights.