Business
Rivals Sam Altman and Elon Musk Rally Behind Dario Amodei’s Call for a Slowdown in AI Development
Three of the most fiercely competitive figures in artificial intelligence found unlikely common ground Saturday, as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI founder Elon Musk publicly backed a call from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to deliberately slow the pace of frontier AI development, citing mounting concern that capabilities are advancing faster than researchers can understand or control.
Amodei laid out his position in a lengthy essay published Saturday on his personal website, warning that the industry’s current trajectory carries escalating risks that require a more cautious approach going forward.
Amodei’s warning centers on self-improving AI
In the essay, Amodei pointed to a specific and recent shift in how quickly AI systems are advancing. “My first concern is that, since roughly this summer, AI has been advancing drastically faster, driven primarily by AI’s growing ability to build the next generation of AI,” Amodei wrote.
He framed the broader challenge facing the industry as a balancing act between two competing risks. “Not building the technology deprives humanity of benefits or simply places AI in the hands of authoritarian powers, while building it too fast is reckless,” Amodei wrote. “We have sought a middle way. But over the last few months, I have become convinced that fully addressing the risks requires even more prudence.”
Amodei has previously said he worries that swarms of rogue AI agents could become capable of “taking over the entire internet” within a window of six to 12 months if current trends continue unaddressed. As part of his proposal, Amodei said Anthropic will commit to giving outside evaluators full access to verify the company’s safety practices and report any incidents. He described plans to bring these “embedded evaluators” directly into Anthropic’s offices, giving them desks, badges, company laptops and what he called “permissions mostly comparable to what internal risk assessment teams have.” Amodei added that further steps beyond Anthropic’s own commitments would require coordination across the wider industry.
Rivals Altman and Musk quickly echo the call
Altman, whose company OpenAI competes directly with Anthropic for both talent and market share, voiced support for Amodei’s position shortly after the essay was published. “I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier,” Altman wrote, adding that OpenAI would also provide access to external evaluators as part of its own response.
Musk, who leads the AI company xAI and has a lengthy history of public disagreements with both Amodei and Altman, offered a brief but pointed endorsement of his own. “Dario is right,” Musk wrote on X. Notably, Anthropic is currently a major customer of Musk’s for data center capacity, an existing business relationship that adds another layer to his public agreement with Amodei’s position.
Altman’s comments came the same day he told Fortune in a separate interview that OpenAI would not pursue an initial public offering this year, calling such a move “ill-advised” given growing concerns about AI safety. That decision pushes back one of the most closely watched anticipated IPOs in the technology sector until at least 2027, after OpenAI’s own chief financial officer, Sara Friar, had told employees as recently as last month that a public listing could come as early as 2027 if the company’s business continued to “inflect.”
A rare moment of alignment among fierce competitors
Analysts and industry observers described the joint show of concern as highly unusual given the intensity of competition among the three executives’ companies. Altman and Musk in particular have a long and public history of friction, dating back to Musk’s departure from OpenAI in 2018 after his co-founders, including Altman, declined his proposal to take over the organization. The two have continued to trade barbs publicly in the years since, including during Musk’s unsolicited bid to acquire OpenAI’s nonprofit arm, which Altman previously dismissed as an attempt to “slow us down.”
Despite that history, all three executives now appear to be converging around a similar idea: that frontier AI development should continue, but not necessarily at the fastest pace technically achievable. Altman had signaled a similar sentiment as far back as July, acknowledging the difficulty of pacing AI development industry-wide without creating regulatory capture or running afoul of antitrust concerns around coordination between competing labs. OpenAI has also previously backed a broader “Pacing the Frontier” initiative calling for internationally coordinated mechanisms, led by the U.S., to deliberately slow AI development when necessary.
Skepticism remains about motives and follow-through
Not everyone has taken the executives’ statements at face value. Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya offered a more skeptical read of Amodei’s essay, suggesting its underlying purpose was as much strategic as it was safety-driven. “Dario makes the case to stop open source and concentrate enormous technological and economic power with Anthropic,” Palihapitiya wrote on X.
Similar skepticism has previously been directed at Musk’s own history of AI safety statements. Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla told Bloomberg in an earlier interview that he believed Musk’s rhetoric around slowing AI development may be tied to competitive positioning rather than purely safety-driven concerns, saying, “I 80% suspect his call to slow down AI development was so he could catch up.”
An industry facing pressure from multiple directions
The public alignment among Amodei, Altman and Musk arrives amid broader anxiety across the AI sector, following the high-profile resignation of an Anthropic researcher who left the industry entirely over concerns that leading AI companies were moving too aggressively toward increasingly autonomous, self-improving systems. Whether the rare display of agreement among three of the industry’s most competitive leaders translates into a meaningful, coordinated slowdown in practice remains uncertain, given the enormous financial incentives at stake and continued competitive pressure from AI developers both within the U.S. and internationally, including firms based in China.
Business
Rescuers searching for 140 people after Indonesia passenger ship sinks, agency says

Rescuers searching for 140 people after Indonesia passenger ship sinks, agency says
Business
German firms raise China investment by a third as US outlays slump – IW says

German firms raise China investment by a third as US outlays slump – IW says
Business
Answer and Hints for Sunday, September 13, 2026 Puzzle Number 1912 Solution Revealed Today
Wordle players working through Sunday’s puzzle can find the answer, along with a full set of hints and strategy notes, for Wordle #1912, the daily five-letter word game published by The New York Times on Sept. 13, 2026.
Today’s Wordle answer is FOCUS, a common word used to describe concentrated attention or a central point of interest. Multiple puzzle-tracking outlets confirmed the solution Sunday, describing it as a more approachable word than Saturday’s answer, which had tripped up a larger-than-usual share of players.
How today’s puzzle breaks down
Wordle challenges players to identify a five-letter word within six guesses, using color-coded feedback after each attempt: green tiles mark letters in the correct position, yellow tiles indicate a correct letter placed in the wrong spot, and gray tiles rule out letters entirely.
According to puzzle trackers, FOCUS contains two vowels and no repeated letters, a combination that generally makes for a more solvable word compared with puzzles built around less common letter patterns. The word begins with the letter “F,” a detail several outlets offered as an early hint for players looking for a nudge without fully spoiling the answer.
Puzzle-tracking sites noted that FOCUS represents a noticeably more common word in everyday use than Saturday’s solution, NIFTY, and average solve times were expected to reflect that added familiarity once daily solving statistics were fully tallied.
Hints offered ahead of the reveal
Before publishing the full answer, several outlets built out a layered set of clues for players hoping to work through the puzzle independently. Early hints described the word as relating to concentrated attention or a sharp point of interest, while later clues confirmed its letter structure: two vowels present, no double letters anywhere in the word, and a starting letter of “F.”
That combination of hints was designed to help players eliminate whole categories of guesses without immediately revealing the word itself, a common approach used across Wordle hint coverage to preserve some challenge for readers who want to keep solving on their own.
Yesterday’s answer for comparison
Players catching up after missing Saturday’s puzzle can note that the answer to Wordle #1911, published Sept. 12, was NIFTY, a word commonly used to describe something clever, useful or stylish. Puzzle trackers reported that NIFTY proved unusually difficult for a common word, in part because it contains only one vowel and doesn’t respond well to typical vowel-heavy opening guesses like STARE or CRANE. According to data compiled by the New York Times’ WordleBot, the average player needed roughly four attempts to solve Saturday’s puzzle.
A daily ritual with a fixed answer sequence
Wordle has published a new puzzle every day since its widely reported viral debut in 2021, when the very first puzzle used the word “cigar” as its solution. The New York Times acquired the game shortly after it gained a mass following among word-game enthusiasts, and has continued publishing it on a fixed, pre-determined schedule ever since, meaning each day’s answer is set in advance rather than generated freshly for individual players.
That structure has allowed a wide ecosystem of hint sites, solver tools and daily recap articles to build up around the game, with outlets like Tom’s Guide, Parade, TheGamer, Sportskeeda and Fortnite Insider all publishing daily breakdowns that combine progressively revealing hints with a final confirmed answer for readers who get stuck.
General strategy tips for future puzzles
Puzzle strategists who track recurring Wordle patterns continue to emphasize a handful of broadly useful approaches for tackling the daily word regardless of what that day’s specific solution turns out to be. Five-letter English words frequently end in common suffixes such as “-ER,” “-LY,” “-TY,” “-LE” and “-CK,” making test words built around those endings especially valuable once a few letters have already been confirmed through earlier guesses.
Strategists also warn against assuming Wordle solutions rarely contain repeated letters, noting that double letters show up regularly enough that ruling them out prematurely can cost a player a valuable guess late in the game. Rare letters like Q, X and Z are generally best saved for later guesses, once more commonly used letters have already been tested and eliminated from consideration.
Consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant-vowel patterns, seen in words like CRATE, PLANT or SHARE, are also frequently cited as efficient early guesses, since they tend to test a broad mix of common letters in a single attempt and generate more useful color-coded feedback than guesses weighted too heavily toward either vowels or consonants alone.
Where to follow daily results
Wordle remains one of the most widely played daily word games in the world, with millions of players tracking personal solving streaks and comparing results with friends through the game’s built-in results-sharing feature, which displays a grid of colored tiles without revealing the underlying word to anyone who hasn’t yet played that day’s puzzle.
The New York Times continues to publish Wordle alongside its broader lineup of daily puzzle offerings, including Connections, Connections Sports Edition, Strands and the Mini Crossword, all of which have built dedicated followings among readers who treat the daily puzzle lineup as part of a regular routine.
For players who have already solved today’s puzzle or are looking ahead, a new Wordle answer will be published Monday, continuing an unbroken daily streak that has now run for more than five years since the game’s original 2021 debut. As always, players hoping to avoid spoilers for future puzzles are generally advised to complete each day’s word before checking hint sites, since most outlets publish both progressive hints and the final answer together in the same article shortly after each day’s puzzle goes live.
Business
(VIDEO) Ryan Garcia Demolishes Conor Benn in Two Rounds to Retain WBC Welterweight World Title in Las Vegas
Ryan Garcia made his first defense of the WBC welterweight world championship look easy Saturday night, stopping Conor Benn in the second round of a fight built on nearly two years of bitter animosity between the two boxers, at a sold-out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Garcia, 28, improved to 26-2 with 21 knockouts, dropping Benn with a right hand before overwhelming him with a follow-up barrage that forced referee Thomas Taylor to wave off the fight at the 1:25 mark of the second round. Benn, 29, fell to 25-2 with 14 knockouts and suffered the first stoppage loss of his professional career.
A fast start, then a decisive finish
The fight opened at a frantic pace, with Benn pressing forward early and trying to close the distance against Garcia, who used his reach advantage and footwork to keep his opponent at range and land counter left hooks. One such hook briefly stumbled Benn during the first round, an early sign that Garcia’s timing was on point.
The finish came in the second round, when Garcia landed a heavy right hand that sent Benn to the canvas. Benn beat the referee’s count and rose back to his feet, but he was clearly compromised, and Garcia quickly trapped him against the ropes and unloaded a sustained barrage of punches. With Benn no longer able to defend himself effectively, Taylor stepped in to end the contest.
Speaking in the ring afterward, Garcia credited a specific physical change for the improved right hand that has now factored into consecutive victories.
“I’ve always had a right hand, but I’ve always had injuries,” Garcia said. “These are the first two fights I’ve had no injuries to my right hand.”
He also reflected on his emotional state following the win. “I feel very… It’s surprising, I feel at peace,” Garcia said.
The end of a lengthy, personal buildup
Saturday’s bout carried significant weight beyond the title itself, closing out a rivalry between the two fighters that had simmered for roughly two years. The bad blood dated back to friction between Garcia and Benn dating to their rise through the sport’s welterweight and middleweight ranks, and the buildup to the fight was marked by pointed exchanges between the two camps in the lead-up to fight week.

Garcia entered the bout as a heavy betting favorite, listed at -330 odds by DraftKings, and had told ESPN’s “First Take” earlier in the week that he expected to win by knockout. Benn, for his part, had bulked up significantly for the matchup, reportedly weighing in as high as 178 pounds during preparation before making weight at the 147-pound welterweight limit, a stark contrast to Garcia, who stayed relatively close to the limit throughout fight week. The size discrepancy was visible when the two fighters faced off before the bout.
Garcia’s path to a second title defense
The win marked Garcia’s first successful defense of the WBC welterweight championship, which he captured in February with a unanimous decision victory over Mario Barrios, dropping Barrios in the opening round with an overhand right en route to lopsided scorecards. Saturday’s fight against Benn was Garcia’s third bout competing at 147 pounds.
Benn, meanwhile, was fighting for a major world title for the first time in his career. He had earned his position as the WBC’s top-ranked contender following a pair of hard-fought bouts against Chris Eubank Jr. at a catchweight in 2025, with the rivals splitting those two fights before Benn moved back down toward the welterweight division in pursuit of a title opportunity. His most recent outing prior to Saturday came in April, when he earned a one-sided decision win over Regis Prograis at a 150-pound catchweight.
What comes next for both fighters
In the aftermath of Saturday’s stoppage, attention has already begun shifting toward potential next steps for both men. Garcia has been floated as a possible opponent for Teofimo Lopez, who recently won the WBA welterweight title and appeared near the ring during Saturday’s card in an apparent attempt to arrange a future matchup with Garcia. An all-American showdown between the two would represent one of the more anticipated fights the 147-pound division could produce in the near term.
For Benn, Saturday’s defeat may prompt a reconsideration of his path forward in the sport. Some speculation has already turned toward a potential third meeting with Eubank Jr., continuing a family rivalry that traces back to their fathers, former boxers Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank Sr., who famously feuded in the ring decades earlier. Given the size and speed disadvantages Benn displayed against Garcia on Saturday, it remains an open question whether he will continue campaigning at welterweight or return to competing at middleweight, where his two fights against Eubank Jr. took place.
A milestone night for a new promotion
Saturday’s card, promoted under the Zuffa Boxing banner led by UFC CEO Dana White, represented the promotion’s most high-profile event since its launch earlier this year. The night also featured a significant performance from cruiserweight titleholder Jai Opetaia, who stopped previously undefeated champion Noel Mikaelian in the ninth round to add to his collection of championship belts. Event organizers reported a sold-out crowd of 18,855 fans at T-Mobile Arena, with an announced live gate revenue of just over $8 million for the evening’s card.
With Garcia’s dominant title defense now completed, the welterweight division’s landscape appears increasingly likely to be shaped by a potential Garcia-Lopez showdown, while Benn faces a pivotal decision about his next move following the first true stoppage loss of his career.
Business
Sandisk: The NAND Supercycle Makes This A Strong Buy (NASDAQ:SNDK)
Dhierin-Perkash Bechai is an aerospace, defense and airline analyst.
Dhierin runs the investing group The Aerospace Forum, whose goal is to discover investment opportunities in the aerospace, defense and airline industry. With a background in aerospace engineering, he provides analysis of a complex industry with significant growth prospects, and offers context to developments as they occur, describing how they might affect investment theses. His investing ideas are driven by data informed analysis. The investing group also provides direct access to data analytics monitors.
Learn more.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of MU, SNDK, KXIAY either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
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Business
Why it’s getting harder for Tata Sons to resist an IPO
The entity that sits at the heart of the $185 billion Tata Group empire that spans IT services, steel, hospitality and consumer goods has resisted a stock exchange listing for years as this would subject it to tighter regulatory oversight and force it to reveal more of the group’s internal dealings.
But the pressure has been mounting in recent months. The Reserve Bank of India tweaked the definition of shadow lenders in May, reviving the debate on whether Tata Sons could be forced to list. In June, the regulator reaffirmed a framework for identifying systemically important shadow lenders, keeping Tata Sons on the hook.
The latest RBI missive makes it even harder for the Tata family to hold out against a listing and the closer scrutiny of its affairs that this would entail. Minority shareholders in the company’s various businesses will be watching as an IPO could affect Tata’s ability to shift capital between its cash-rich established businesses and newer, less profitable ventures.
What is Tata Sons?Tata Sons is a holding company of the Tata Group that comprises 26 listed companies, including industrial heavyweight Tata Steel Ltd., IT firm Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., automaker Tata Motors Ltd. and utility Tata Power Company Ltd.
AgenciesApproximately 66% of Tata Sons’ equity capital is owned by the philanthropic Tata Trusts, while Tata Group companies — some of which are engaged in lending activities — hold about 13%. The RBI classifies Tata Sons as a systemically important core investment company within the broader category of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), or shadow banks, as it is involved in allocating capital to group companies.
Why is Tata Sons facing pressure to list?After an Indian shadow lender defaulted on its debts in 2018, the RBI, which oversees the country’s financial system, laid down new rules to try to ensure that such crises don’t endanger the country’s wider financial system.In 2022, it classified Tata Sons as an “upper-layer” NBFC under the rules. This meant it now deemed the company, with a balance sheet exceeding 1.5 trillion rupees ($15.7 billion), big enough to pose a systemic risk. The RBI’s rules require such businesses to list their shares on the stock market within three years as a way to force them to be more transparent about their activities and financial performance.
Since then, Tata Sons’ owners have taken various steps to convince the RBI that it should not be categorized as a shadow lender so it can avoid going public. In 2024, it applied to surrender its NBFC license and cleared its outstanding debts.
However, the latest rule changes introduced earlier this year by the RBI, which are due to take effect on July 1, gave Tata Sons less wiggle room to dodge a listing. The revised framework applies not just to companies that lend to or borrow from listed businesses in the same group, but to any holding company that invests in group companies that do so themselves.
While Tata Sons has pared its own debts, its affiliated companies, including wholly-owned subsidiary Tata Capital, are still raising money from individuals and institutions.
The RBI circular stipulated that an NBFC can’t de-register if it deals directly with customers in its day-to-day business. This is not the case with Tata Sons, but it is with Tata Capital.
How did the company respond to the RBI’s circular?Trustees at Tata Trusts, chaired by Noel Tata, were making intense efforts to maintain the private status of Tata Sons, arguing that the work that had been done to strengthen the company’s balance sheet should exempt it from a mandatory listing, according to people familiar with the matter.
Tata Sons has not responded to a request for comment on whether they’ll go ahead with a listing. A representative for RBI didn’t respond to a query on whether it has rejected Tata Sons’ petition for an IPO waiver.
How did Tata Sons avoid an IPO so far?Tata Sons originally faced a deadline of September 2025 to launch an initial public offering of its shares, which it missed. Following discussions with the RBI, the company’s leadership halted the preparations in the expectation that they would get an official extension to the deadline.
Instead, RBI has piled additional pressure on the Tata family to list the business since its May circular.
Why does the Tata family prefer keeping Tata Sons private?Tata Sons sits at the center of the Tata empire and its status as a private company controlled by Tata Trusts has helped to cement the family’s authority over the group’s array of businesses. An IPO could substantially loosen Tata Trusts’ grip on Tata Sons and make it harder for Tata Sons’ directors to block unwanted takeover attempts.
Tata Sons has plowed billions of dollars into Tata Group businesses including its digital services arm and a venture into semiconductors. It has also helped to prop up the unprofitable national flag carrier Air India, which reported record losses for the year to March following a plane crash in June 2025 and airspace closures due to the Iran war.
A listing of the holding company would force it to make regular disclosures on its operations and financial dealings, showing how money is channeled through the Tata empire and ultimately forcing its owners to be more accountable for how its capital is spent.
If Tata Sons lists, who wins?A significant minority shareholder of Tata Sons — Shapoorji Pallonji Group — is calling for a public listing of the Tata Group holding company, insisting that such a move is essential to unlock the company’s value for investors.
It’s not the first time that SP Group has locked horns with the Tatas. Former Tata patriarch Ratan Tata and Tata Sons then-chairman Cyrus Mistry, a scion of the founding family that runs SP Group, were entangled in a year-long feud in 2016.
SP Group needs to monetize its stake in Tata Sons, which is worth billions, to pay down a pile of costly private debt. If Tata Sons’ shares are listed, it will be easier for SP Group to get a good price for its stake and repay that debt.
Business
Russian nuclear head says Ukraine attacked fuel trucks, endangered Zaporizhzhia plant

Russian nuclear head says Ukraine attacked fuel trucks, endangered Zaporizhzhia plant
Business
Zendaya and Tom Holland ‘Pregnancy’ Photo Goes Viral Online, but It’s Another AI-Generated Hoax Yet Again
A photo appearing to show Zendaya and Tom Holland announcing a pregnancy has spread widely across social media, but the image is fabricated, the latest in a string of AI-generated hoaxes targeting the Hollywood couple.
The picture shows Zendaya holding what appears to be a positive pregnancy test, with Holland standing beside her holding ultrasound images. Both are pictured smiling and looking at each other in the image, which circulated widely on Instagram after being posted by a fan account called Life Is Fresco with the caption, “The legacy continues beyond the multiverse,” a reference to Holland’s role as Spider-Man.
Fans quickly spotted the inconsistencies
Despite the image’s realistic appearance, several viewers picked up on visual clues suggesting it was artificially generated rather than an authentic photograph. Commenters pointed specifically to an apparent height discrepancy between the two actors as one of the clearest giveaways.
“Since when is tom taller than Zendaya,” one commenter wrote. Another user echoed the skepticism, writing, “Two reasons this is ai, one, Tom is shorter than her, two…yeah. Thats it.” A third commenter played along with the joke embedded in the fan page’s caption, writing simply, “Baby spider is coming.”
There has been no pregnancy announcement from either Zendaya or Holland, and representatives for the couple have not issued any statement addressing the image.
Part of a recurring pattern of AI-generated hoaxes
This is far from the first time Zendaya and Holland have found themselves at the center of fabricated pregnancy claims fueled by artificial intelligence. In early August, a separate AI-altered image circulated widely across X, Instagram and TikTok, showing Zendaya walking through what appeared to be a London park with a visible baby bump under a cropped sweater. That image was later traced back to an authentic paparazzi photograph taken in London in 2023, in which Zendaya’s stomach was flat; the viral version had been digitally manipulated to add the appearance of a pregnancy.
A source close to the couple described the broader phenomenon to RadarOnline at the time, characterizing the volume of fabricated content as its own kind of alternate reality built entirely around the pair. “There is a whole parallel universe of fake ‘moments’ being created for Tom and Zendaya,” the source said. “It’s reached a point where people think they’ve seen their wedding, their pregnancy, their entire future, and it’s all generated on a screen.”
The pregnancy hoaxes have followed a similar wave of AI-generated wedding images that spread earlier this year, showing Zendaya in a corset-style gown and Holland popping champagne in a tuxedo at what appeared to be a private ceremony. Those images were also confirmed to be fake, though their realism fooled a wide swath of social media users, including, according to Holland, members of his own family. He has previously joked that his grandmother saw the fabricated wedding photos and believed she had simply not been invited to the event.
Zendaya has addressed the pattern of fake content directly
Zendaya has spoken publicly on multiple occasions about being targeted by fabricated stories and images throughout her career, a pattern that predates the current wave of AI-generated content. Following an earlier round of pregnancy rumors sparked by a fake TikTok video years ago, Zendaya wrote on her Instagram Story at the time, “See now, this is why I stay off Twitter… Just making stuff up for no reason… weekly.”
More recently, when addressing the fake AI-generated wedding photos that circulated earlier this year, Zendaya acknowledged how convincing the fabricated content had become for many viewers. “Many people have been fooled by them,” she said.
A broader trend affecting public figures
The recurring hoaxes involving Zendaya and Holland reflect a wider trend that has accelerated as AI image-generation tools have become more accessible and increasingly difficult to distinguish from authentic photographs. Media literacy resources addressing the phenomenon have specifically flagged the Zendaya pregnancy rumor as a case study in how quickly search-driven speculation can spread online, noting that terms like “Zendaya pregnant” function as high-value search queries that incentivize the continued creation of fabricated content regardless of its accuracy.
Guidance aimed at helping people, including younger audiences, identify manipulated images has pointed to several common warning signs: distorted or unnatural hand and finger shapes, jewelry that appears to blend unnaturally into skin, and backgrounds with a smudged or inconsistent texture rather than the natural blur produced by an actual camera lens. Experts have also generally advised treating celebrity news claims with skepticism unless they are confirmed by established outlets or the public figures themselves.
No confirmation from the couple
As of this writing, neither Zendaya nor Holland has issued any public statement responding to the latest viral image. The two actors, who began dating in 2017 after meeting on the set of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and have continued working together on subsequent projects in the franchise, have generally maintained a private personal life despite intense public interest in their relationship.
For now, the viral photo remains what outlets covering the story have consistently described it as: a fan-made, AI-generated depiction of a moment that has not actually occurred, rather than any genuine confirmation of a pregnancy. Given the recurring nature of similar hoaxes throughout the year, it remains likely that further fabricated content involving the couple could continue to circulate online in the coming months, regardless of whether any real personal announcement is ever made.
Business
Elon Musk’s PAC Spends $100 Million on Ads Attacking Democrats Over Transgender Policy in Midterms 2026
Elon Musk’s political action committee, America PAC, has launched a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign centered on transgender policy issues, targeting Democratic Senate candidates in several competitive midterm races this fall.
According to reporting from The New York Times, Musk has authorized the PAC to spend more than $100 million during the current election cycle, with an initial wave of ads focused heavily on transgender rights running across television, digital platforms and streaming services. The campaign marks the first large-scale, trans-focused advertising push of the 2026 midterm cycle from a major Republican-aligned outside group, according to AdImpact, a firm that tracks political advertising spending.
Which races are being targeted
The ads have targeted Democratic candidates in four competitive Senate races: Rep. James Talarico in Texas, Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio, state Rep. Josh Turek in Iowa, and former Rep. Mary Peltola in Alaska. Additional ads have also targeted Michigan candidate Abdul El-Sayed, according to reporting from Truthout and Erin in the Morning, a newsletter focused on transgender policy coverage. America PAC has also placed some advertising in New Hampshire and Maine, though those ads reportedly did not focus on transgender issues.
The advertisements vary by candidate but generally center on claims about gender-affirming care, transgender participation in sports, and related cultural themes. One ad targeting Turek states that he “voted to spend our tax dollars on sex change surgeries for children” and “voted to let biological men enter girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms,” according to a copy of the ad shared by AdImpact Politics. Other ads have made similar claims about the remaining candidates, addressing topics such as school bathroom policy and transgender athletes in women’s sports.
A shift in campaign strategy
Axios reporter Mike Zapler noted that the emphasis on transgender issues represents a departure from the broader pattern of Republican Senate advertising so far this cycle. According to AdImpact’s tracking data, transgender-focused messaging had been a comparatively minor theme in GOP Senate ads prior to America PAC’s rollout.
The strategic emphasis comes despite polling that generally shows economic concerns, rather than transgender policy, as the dominant issue for voters heading into the midterms. Zapler noted that Republican strategists appear to be drawing on the perceived effectiveness of similar messaging used during the 2024 presidential campaign, when advertising focused on transgender issues was widely credited with damaging Kamala Harris’ presidential bid.
Some of the targeted candidates have already shifted their public positions on related policy questions ahead of the ad campaign. Turek’s campaign has issued statements opposing transgender women’s participation in women’s sports and opposing what his campaign described as “taxpayer-funded sex changes.” Brown, in his 2024 campaign, also ran advertising referencing transgender athletes, including swimmer Lia Thomas, an approach some observers characterized at the time as an attempt to neutralize similar attacks from Republican opponents.
Responses from targeted campaigns
Representatives for some of the targeted candidates have pushed back publicly on America PAC’s advertising campaign. A spokesperson for El-Sayed’s Senate campaign in Michigan, Cole Wozniak, addressed Musk’s spending directly in a statement to local press.
“It’s no surprise that the world’s first trillionaire would be trying to buy a Senate seat,” Wozniak said.
Wozniak also indicated that the campaign intends to keep its focus elsewhere rather than engaging directly on the transgender policy attacks. “Michiganders will see right through this,” Wozniak said, “and will send Abdul to the Senate this November to take on the corruption by getting money out of politics, putting money in your pocket, and passing Medicare for All.”
El-Sayed separately drew public attention last month for declining to engage when Fox News host Jesse Watters pressed him on transgender rights during a televised interview, a moment that some commentators compared to the political approach taken by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani in similar media appearances.
Musk’s history on transgender issues
Musk’s involvement in transgender-focused political advertising predates the current cycle. A Reuters investigation previously found that Musk contributed $50 million to a far-right political action committee called Citizens for Sanity in 2022, a group with ties to former Trump adviser Stephen Miller that ran a series of ads focused on transgender-related topics in that cycle’s competitive races.
Musk has also spoken publicly and personally about transgender issues in the context of his own family. His daughter, model Vivian Wilson, came out as transgender in 2020. Musk has since made public comments critical of that decision, at one point saying she “was killed by the woke mind virus” and adding, “Now, the woke mind virus will die.”
Broader political context
The advertising blitz arrives as Republicans face what political analysts have broadly described as a challenging midterm environment, with voters across the political spectrum expressing frustration over economic conditions, including elevated gas prices tied in part to the conflict involving Iran. Some conservative commentators have framed America PAC’s strategy as an effort to mobilize base voters around cultural issues even in an environment where economic concerns dominate broader public polling.
Conservative strategist Terry Schilling of the American Principles Project has previously described attacks centered on transgender participation in women’s sports as a deliberate entry point for broader political messaging on transgender issues, telling CNN in earlier remarks that such messaging helped make “opponents of the LGBT movement comfortable with talking about transgender issues” more broadly.
With America PAC’s advertising campaign still in its early stages and additional spending expected as the November midterms approach, transgender policy is likely to remain a prominent flashpoint in several of the cycle’s most competitive Senate races. Whether the strategy proves effective will likely depend on how voters in these individual states weigh the issue against other concerns, including the economy, as Election Day draws closer.
Business
Oil prices create 'huge worry' as winter looms
The warning comes after the US-Iran conflict drives up heating oil and fuel costs.
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