I recently switched my phone service to EE, as it has better coverage (and 5G) where I spend a lot of time. As a freelancer, I had to get my phone on a business contract, which started oddly and soon turned into a farce, and now it’s impossible to manage my account online.

In this age of advanced AI, super-fast mobile networks and data at our fingertips, how can a company the size of EE (and owned by BT) be unable to make something as simple as online account management work?

An eSIM by post

Things started strangely when I tried to order an eSIM. I thought that I’d get the eSIM in an email, but I was told that the system was down, so it had to be posted. Yes, you read that right: the eSIM had to be posted.

To be fair, the service was fast, and the next day I had an envelope with a cardboard wallet containing the QR code for my eSIM. A few minutes later, I had the eSIM installed and connected, and glorious 5G was mine, with better reception.

It was even smooth transferring my old number to my new account. But that’s where things started to go wrong.

Online account linking didn’t work

I was about to go on a work trip to Berlin, so I wanted to check that my Roam Abroad Inclusive Extra, which I’d picked on checkout, was added to my account. Despite being able to create an EE account, I found that it wouldn’t let me add my phone.

So, I called for support and was told there was an issue, but my account would be manually linked, and it would take up to four working days. I explained about the work trip and was told that it was noted, and roaming was turned on.

When I landed in Berlin, I got a text saying roaming charges applied per day. My Roam Abroad extra had not been applied. Fortunately, I could do this by text.

Business account linking can’t be done manually

When I got back, I found that my account still hadn’t been linked, so I had to phone again. This time, I got closer to the truth.

“The reason being the EE app is getting upgrade to a better version and it’s under maintenance, so that’s the reason why you are not able to [link your account],” the support person told me.

I was then offered paper bills every month, and the option to call for help every time I wanted to do something simple, but no option to have the actual issue fixed. When I took out the account, the sales team didn’t mention that online account management was broken. I told this to the support person, who denied that account linking is broken and said that “it is getting upgraded to a better version”.

When pressed on why the account linking is broken, I was told, “It is not broken.”

Apparently, “There’s a difference between a broken app. There’s a difference between an app and an app under maintenance and getting upgraded to a better version.”

And there is. A broken app doesn’t work and doesn’t let you do the most basic of things.

I asked, “So, does my app work at the moment?”

And the answer was, “No.”

“So if it doesn’t work…” I began to say.

“That doesn’t mean it’s broken,” interrupted the support person. 

“It does. If something doesn’t work, it’s broken,” I said.

I was then offered some further help and asked to wait for two minutes. Which I did. Rather than help, I was put through to the e-business upgrades team instead. Another trip through security questions, and I was transferred to the service team, who also had to put me through the security questions.

Business account linking has been broken for ages and there’s no confirmed fix

Finally, this support person told me what the actual problem was.

“You are not being able to sync your numbers, check accounts online, manage your account online. Basically our EE app and our website; both versions are not working as they should,” said the support person. “There are technical difficulties that have been going on for several months now. I’ll be very honest with you. This is a recorded line. I’m giving you this information. Okay. Now, this has been going on for several months.”

Apparently, EE needs to build a new application to manage accounts, and there’s no confirmed date for when this will be done. And, the old version can’t be reverted to, either. 

“Previously what we were trying was to revive the application which we already had, but we have things have not turned up good,” I was told.

I was then told that if I really wanted online account management, you know, almost as though we were in the 21^stcentury in a world filled with technology, then I could cancel my account as I was in the cooling-off period. Or, I could have paper billing, which would be provided free of charge.

I asked for a discount on my line while the issues are fixed, but apparently that’s impossible to do on any day except day one of the contract.

My call finished with the service representative confirming that the online application is broken: “To manage things online, yes, you need access to our online applications, which is currently broken.”

So, what is going on? Looking around, it seems as though the issue has been dragging on for a long period. This Reddit thread from a year ago describes the same issue. So does this thread from September 2025 on the EE support forum, which describes the issue as starting in November 2024.

I got in contact with EE to ask for a statement and for more detail on the issue, but only had my request put through as a complaint. The resolution of the complaint? Paper billing, of course.

Oura spent the first nine months of its financial year buying its own shares back from its investors. On Monday it started selling them to everybody else.

The Finnish smart ring maker launched its initial public offering before the New York open. It is marketing 50 million shares at $40 to $44 each. At the top of that range the deal raises $2.2bn. That values Oura at about $14.1bn, according to Bloomberg, which calculated the figure from the share count in the filing. Oura has applied to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker OURA.

Read the split and the deal changes shape. Of the 50 million shares, Oura is selling 13.5 million. The other 36.5 million belong to existing stockholders. The 30-day over-allotment option of a further 7.5 million shares is also entirely theirs.

Oura keeps a quarter of its own flotation

At the top of the range, the company collects roughly $594m before fees. Its shareholders collect about $1.61bn, or 73% of the base deal. Exercise the over-allotment and the selling stockholders take close to $1.94bn of a $2.53bn deal. That is 77% of it. The release puts the point without decoration. “Oura will not receive any proceeds from the sale of its common stock by the selling stockholders,” it says.

Cash-outs are normal in a late-stage listing. The ratio is what draws attention. Most of the money raised on Oura’s debut goes to people who already own Oura. The company itself walks away with less than a third of it.

The ask has come down

A month ago the number was bigger. Bloomberg reported in August that Oura was targeting up to $3bn. The valuation attached to it was above $16bn, as TNW covered at the time. The launched deal is about 27% smaller than that ask, at a valuation roughly $2bn lower.

Set against a different marker, it still reads as a step up. Oura closed an $875m Series E last September at $10.9bn. A $14.1bn debut is 29% above that in twelve months. Which comparison matters depends on whether you were in the August book or the 2025 round.

Why the company wants the cash

The $594m lands on a balance sheet that has been emptied out on purpose. In the nine months to 30 June, Oura repurchased $1.17bn of its own stock. That included 13,295,528 preferred shares at $40.18 each in a February tender offer. It drew $375m on a revolving credit facility to help pay for it.

Those buybacks are the reason the filing shows a $924.3m loss. The operating business made $60.8m of net income over the period. A $985m deemed dividend to preferred holders turned that into a loss attributable to common stockholders. TNW set out that distinction when the S-1 first appeared. By 30 June the company held $371.8m of cash against a stockholders’ deficit of $1.62bn.

Seen that way, the Oura IPO is the back half of a transaction that started in February. Oura bought its early investors out at $40.18. It is now offering the same company to the public at $40 to $44.

The membership line is the bull case

Hardware is not what the bankers are selling. Oura’s membership revenue grew 121% to $240.5m over the nine months, against 65% growth in hardware. The membership gross margin is 89%. Roughly 94% of ring buyers convert to a paid plan and about 85% stay after a year. Sixty-three per cent take the annual option.

The company updated its S-1 on Monday. It now guides towards approximately 5.7 million paid members by the end of fiscal 2026. That would be 96% year-on-year growth, and it credits sales of the Oura Ring 5, the model it shipped in May. Members stood at 5.0 million at the end of June, so the guidance implies another 700,000 in the final stretch.

Oura sold about 3.6 million rings in the trailing twelve months and holds around 2% of the global wearables market. Eli Lilly’s $50m investment converts to stock at pricing.

What the sceptics are pointing at

Two things sit in the risk section and neither is abstract. The first is warranty. Oura booked $84.4m of warranty expense in fiscal 2025. It carried a $132.3m accrual at the end of June, having paid $75.5m of claims in nine months. For a company that sold 3.1 million rings over the same period, that is a live cost line rather than a rounding error.

The second is the accuracy question. A proposed class action in the Northern District of California challenges Oura’s marketed claim of 95% sleep staging accuracy against a clinical sleep lab. It cites research on 45 patients that put overall classification at 53.18%. Oura rejects it. “We stand behind our science, research, and accuracy claims,” the company said. It pointed to studies comparing its staging favourably with polysomnography. The suit names both Oura Inc. and the Finnish parent, Oura Health Oy.

Eighteen banks, and Robinhood is the last one

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Allen & Company and Jefferies are joint lead book-running managers. BofA Securities, Barclays and Wells Fargo Securities sit a tier below, then Citizens, KeyBanc and Guggenheim, then six more. Robinhood appears once, at the bottom, as the sole co-manager.

That placement was visible in the S-1 two weeks ago and it has survived to launch. The retail broker is in the syndicate for this deal, and it is in it last.

Founded in Finland, listed in New York

Oura was founded in Finland in 2013 and keeps its EU headquarters in Oulu. Its corporate headquarters is San Francisco, and the listing is on Nasdaq. It is the same route Revolut is now planning and the one Anthropic has chosen. European policymakers keep describing that pattern as a problem: companies built in Europe raise their public money somewhere else.

The test is not the first day of trading. It is whether 5.7 million paid members arrives on schedule. The number to read it against is the warranty line, when Oura files its first quarter as a public company.

Microsoft warned that the built-in File History backup feature in Windows may stop working on some systems after installing the September 2026 security updates.

File History (introduced in Windows 8 and replaced by Windows Backup, which backs up data to OneDrive) automatically saves copies that let users recover accidentally deleted or damaged files using an older version from hours, days, or weeks ago.

By default, File History backs up all folders under the user’s account profile (Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, and Desktop) to an external hard drive, such as a USB flash drive, or a network storage location (NAS).

In a service alert seen by BleepingComputer and first spotted by Microsoft MVP Susan Bradley, Microsoft says that affected customers can see application crash events in Event Viewer referencing FileHistory.exe and KERNELBASE.dll.

“After installing the September 2026 Windows security update (the Originating KBs listed above), some customers using File History, might be unable to create or update backups,” it said. “File History, available through Control Panel > System and Security > File History, is used to back up files to an external drive or network location.”

On affected devices, Windows might also incorrectly display “Reconnect your drive” messages even when compatible backup drives are connected and working properly. Other symptoms include the “Last Backup” timestamp not updating and previously backed-up files showing “No previous version available.”

Affected Windows releases include Windows 10 21H2 or later, Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2016/2019, and Windows 11 23H2 and later.

The September 2026 cumulative updates have been linked to multiple issues affecting home and enterprise Windows users.

One week ago, Microsoft released out-of-band updates to fix Remote Desktop Services failures, Hyper-V issues, and USB audio problems triggered by this month’s security updates.

However, it also confirmed that these emergency updates did not resolve all the audio problems introduced by the September 2026 updates, and that it is still working on a fix for the remaining issues.

Microsoft also shared a temporary workaround for a separate bug that prevents some Windows 11 users from logging in with valid domain credentials after installing the September updates.

Join Mikko Hyppönen and security leaders from the NFL, CHANEL, and Atlassian for a two-hour digital summit on what AI-speed attacks change, what defenders should stop doing, and how to validate, decide, fix, and re-validate at machine speed.

Save your seat

Sennheiser has spent decades building headphones for recording studios, broadcast facilities, and working musicians. Audiophiles might claim the brand as one of their own, but professional audio has always been central to Sennheiser’s identity, which makes the new HD 480 Pro Plus particularly interesting.

The Sennheiser HD 480 Pro Plus is a full-size professional monitoring headphone designed around the things studio users actually care about: comfort, durability, replaceable parts, and the ability to survive long sessions without becoming a distraction. From a design perspective, Sennheiser gets a lot of that right.

The tuning, however, is where things become more complicated.

Rather than chasing the ruler-flat response many engineers expect from a studio monitor, the HD 480 Pro Plus rolls off the frequency extremes and places greater emphasis on the midrange. That approach can work extremely well with vocals, acoustic instruments, and less bass-dependent recordings, but it also raises an obvious question: is this really the kind of tuning professionals want from a studio headphone?

Related Reading:

Design & Build

The HD 480 Pro comes in two versions. The headphone itself is sold as the HD 480 Pro for $399, while the HD 480 Pro Plus adds a hard case and retails for $439. The headphone is identical in both packages, so while I received the Pro Plus for review, buyers of the standard HD 480 Pro are giving up nothing beyond the case.

The HD 480 Pro follows a familiar Sennheiser design approach with large oval earcups, a broad padded headband, and a mostly plastic construction intended to keep the weight under control. It is very clearly the closed-back counterpart to the previously reviewed HD 490 Pro, with identical dimensions and considerable parts commonality between the two models.

One change worth noting is production. While the HD 490 Pro was designed in Germany, production takes place in Romania.

The extensive use of plastic is a double-edged sword. At 272 grams, the HD 480 Pro is relatively light, which matters when a headphone might be worn through an entire recording session. That weight savings only works, however, if durability has not been substantially compromised in the process.

Studio headphones are tools. They get dropped, thrown into gig bags, bounced between locations, and subjected to considerably more abuse than most headphones sitting beside an amplifier at home. Sennheiser strikes a good middle ground here, with enough metal reinforcement in the headband that a slight twist is unlikely to cause any damage and polymer components thick enough that a few trips to the floor should not leave pieces behind.

Fit and finish are fairly middle of the road. There is only so much that can be done to hide the seams between polymer components, but the adjustments are clearly defined and feel solid, which again reflects Sennheiser’s effort to balance weight, durability, and cost.

The earcups rotate sufficiently to make storage and transport easier, while the broad headband spreads pressure evenly across the top of the head.

The detachable cable terminates in a 3.5mm plug with a screw-on 6.35mm adapter at the source end, while the headphone end uses a micro-XLR connector that can be attached to either earcup depending on user preference. The cable also reflects the HD 480 Pro’s intended professional use, combining straight and coiled sections in an effort to provide additional working length without turning storage into a wrestling match.

Comfort & Fit

Comfort is one of the HD 480 Pro Plus’s strongest characteristics. At just 272 grams, it is light enough for extended listening, while the broad headband distributes pressure effectively across the top of the head. Clamping force is noticeable but not excessive. Listeners with larger heads may find the fit somewhat snug at first, but the pressure becomes less intrusive once the headband is adjusted and the pads begin to settle.

The velour pads are smaller than those used on the HD 6xx series, but there is still enough room that my ears did not touch the inside of the pads. The use of velour does reduce passive isolation somewhat compared with leather or more heavily sealed pads, but it also helps keep heat under control during longer sessions.

With a closed-back design, that choice may be deliberate. The open-back HD 490 Pro offers a more sealed pad option that will also fit the HD 480 Pro, giving listeners some flexibility if they prefer greater isolation or a slightly different feel.

As with any full-size headphone, eyeglasses can affect the seal. Listeners with thicker frames may notice some variation in bass weight depending on how the pads sit, although I found it relatively easy to make small adjustments and achieve a consistent fit.

Drivers & Specifications

The design of the HD 480 Pro relies on more than just the driver itself to improve performance. Sennheiser’s Vibration Attenuation System is integrated into the earcups to reduce unwanted vibrations, reflections, and distortion, while the geometrically angled earcups position the drivers to provide a more consistent path to the ear.

The 38mm dynamic drivers use neodymium magnets and an ultralight voice coil, with the latter intended to improve speed and transient response.

Nominal impedance is listed at 130 ohms, with a sensitivity of 98 dB SPL at 1 mW. While that impedance figure might suggest the need for substantial amplification, the HD 480 Pro is easier to drive than a number of traditional studio headphones and worked well with the portable sources I used during testing. With most modern portable gear, sensitivity is the more immediate concern, and the HD 480 Pro does not require an especially powerful amplifier to reach useful listening levels.

Frequency response is specified at 3 Hz to 28,700 Hz (-10 dB), which is oddly specific at the upper end. That level of precision suggests those figures are tied to actual measurement results rather than the conveniently rounded marketing numbers we often see printed on the box.

Listening

The HD 480 Pro Plus has limited sub-bass presence, beginning to roll off below about 50 Hz. While the published frequency response claims extension down to 3 Hz, output is already substantially reduced well before reaching that point, which makes me wonder what tolerance was used for that specification. Sub-bass is neither emphasized nor especially well defined, and even with EDM or dedicated bass test tracks, the HD 480 Pro produces relatively little energy in the lowest octave. Anyone looking for serious low-end weight will not find it here.

What the HD 480 Pro does offer is fairly clean and uncolored mid-bass. There is more presence here than in the sub-bass, but it never takes a starring role. Think supporting cast rather than lead actor. Above roughly 40 Hz, the bass response is close to neutral and remains fairly even as it transitions into the lower midrange.

The midrange is somewhat more prominent, but not artificially pushed forward. Vocals cut through the mix cleanly, guitars retain good clarity and rasp, and strings have enough energy through their lower registers to sound natural. Some of that realism is lost as strings move into the upper registers, largely because of the polite treble and the closed-back design, which limits the sense of air.

Lower-register vocals have good weight, while higher voices sit slightly farther forward and carry somewhat less body. Sibilance and nasal coloration are clearly audible when they are present in the recording, so the HD 480 Pro does not hide mistakes. Just as importantly, I did not find it prone to creating either problem when they were not already there.

Treble is on the polite side, with reasonable extension but limited energy. There is a modest rise from roughly 3 kHz through 5 kHz, followed by a more substantial reduction above about 7 kHz. That helps keep the HD 480 Pro from becoming fatiguing, but it also limits air and sparkle and prevents cymbals from sounding entirely realistic.

The result is a presentation that feels more closed-in than the open-back HD 490 Pro. It also explains why strings can sound somewhat octave-dependent, with a more natural presentation through the midrange than in the upper registers.

On a consumer headphone, I understand tuning the treble to reduce fatigue. On a headphone intended for professional monitoring and mastering, however, I find the choice more difficult to justify. A significant reduction above 7 kHz could potentially mask an overly bright master, allowing excess energy in that region to hide behind the headphone’s own tuning.

The soundstage is solid for a closed-back design, although it does not create the same sense of openness as the HD 490 Pro. Width is respectable, and the presentation avoids feeling trapped inside the earcups, but it remains fairly intimate overall. Imaging is good, with instrument placement easy enough to follow and individual elements maintaining clear positions within the mix.

The Bottom Line

The Sennheiser HD 480 Pro Plus gets a lot right. It is light, comfortable, durable enough for studio use, and the detachable cable can be connected to either earcup. The midrange is clean and revealing, making vocals, guitars, and acoustic instruments especially convincing.

Its biggest weakness is the tuning at the frequency extremes. The rolled-off sub-bass and restrained upper treble reduce fatigue, but they also make the HD 480 Pro less revealing than I would expect from a professional monitoring headphone.

For acoustic music and vocal-heavy material, that balance works well. For EDM, bass-heavy recordings, or mastering work where problems at both ends of the spectrum need to be obvious, it is a much harder sell.

Pros:

• Lightweight 272-gram design is comfortable for long sessions
• Durable construction strikes a good balance between weight and studio use
• Detachable cable can connect to either earcup
• Clean, natural midrange with strong vocal and guitar clarity
• Good imaging and respectable soundstage for a closed-back headphone
• Non-fatiguing presentation works well with acoustic and vocal-heavy material

Cons:

• Sub-bass rolls off early and lacks weight
• Upper treble is too restrained for a professional monitoring headphone
• Tuning may mask problems at the frequency extremes
• Less convincing with EDM and bass-heavy music
• Fit and finish are functional rather than premium

Our Ratings:

★★★★★★★★★★ Sound Quality

★★★★★★★★★★ Build Quality

★★★★★★★★★★ Comfort

★★★★★★★★★★ Isolation

★★★★★★★★★★ Value

Where to Buy:

Related Reading:

Hideo Kojima has finally opened up about the extraordinary PlayStation split that sent Physint to Xbox, and it sounds like even he still doesn’t fully understand why it happened. Kojima told The Washington Post that Sony informed Kojima Productions during a Zoom call in mid-June that it would stop funding the action-espionage game. Kojima says Sony did not give him a reason for the decision.

For the legendary developer, the decision was quite serious. Kojima Productions employs nearly 200 people, and as an independent studio, its business depends on individual publishing agreements. “If they can’t fund us, our studio could collapse,” Kojima said.

Kojima didn’t think Physint was even on the chopping block

Kojima conceived the project as his return to the action-espionage genre after years of fans asking for another Metal Gear-style game. He discussed the idea with former PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan, who Kojima recalls responding enthusiastically, before the project was formally announced with PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst in January 2024.

Kojima described Physint as potentially the biggest-selling game he could make and said he never expected it to be canceled. After Sony’s call, he nevertheless returned to revising the game’s concept and began searching for another publisher. The situation also brought back some unpleasant memories. Kojima compared the uncertainty to his departure from Konami and worried about repeating what happened with Silent Hills, where actors and collaborators had already committed before that project was killed.

Xbox was already waiting in the wings

Photo credit: Macrumors
Apple just put Active Noise Cancellation, Adaptive Audio, and stem volume swipes into the open ear pair that costs $149, and that price is the whole story. AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case arrived in stores on September 18 at the same starting money Apple used for AirPods 4 two years ago, except ANC is now standard instead of a $50 upcharge. You still get the familiar short stem and the same 4.3 gram bud that rests in the bowl of the ear with no silicone tip. A redesigned multiport acoustic layout and next generation Adaptive EQ are meant to add depth and detail across a wider range of ear shapes, while Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking keeps music, movies, and games moving with your head.

For $149, you get all of the things that the cheaper $129 USB-C variant lacks. There’s a force sensor on the stem that allows you to play, pause, and switch between listening modes with a squeeze, and a swipe up or down provides you volume control without having to pull out your phone. The case can be charged via USB-C, any old Qi pad, or even an Apple Watch charger, and it even has a built-in speaker so Find My can ring it if it decides to hide beneath the couch. Apple claims that this device would last 5 hours with ANC, 7 hours without, and 22 hours with the cover. 5 minutes in the case will give you an extra hour, which is one hour every charge and two hours more total than the cheaper model.

Apple AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case

• ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLATION—AirPods 5 offer improved Active Noise Cancellation to help reduce outside noise.
• HEAR THE WORLD AROUND YOU—Adaptive Audio blends Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency for the best listening experience in any environment…
• LIVE TRANSLATION—Communicate across languages using Live Translation, enabled by Apple Intelligence.*

Open ears are surprisingly comfortable for long periods of time and still let some ambient noise to pass through even when the ANC is turned on, which is the trade-off for not using foam tips. Apple claims that these buds can block out up to 50% more outside noise than the AirPods 4 with ANC, making it the most powerful open ear cancelation they’ve ever done. Adaptive Audio simply blends the cancelation with the Transparency mode to make it sound natural in shifting surroundings. Transparency is about making nearby voices sound exactly like they do in real life. Then there’s Conversation Awareness, which simply turns down the audio when you start talking and back up when you finish. To top it all off, dual beamforming mics and Voice Isolation ensure that your calls are clear even in the wind or in heavy traffic. In addition, the same circuitry can record studio-quality voice notes in case you need to scribble something down, and they’re IP57 rated for durability, so you can use them in the rain or during a workout without worry.

When it comes to software, the “similar to Pro” pitch becomes very effective. As long as you have a compatible iPhone and the most recent software, Live Translation allows you to converse with someone and translate it on the run with a stem press or a Siri request. New Siri AI, rolling out in English with iOS 27 on Apple Intelligence phones, lets you ask longer questions and handle more tasks without touching glass. A nod or a small head shake can accept a call or dismiss a prompt.

Talks have begun between US and Chinese officials to propose a mechanism for the two countries to notify each other of artificial intelligence incidents which could threaten national security.

The framework, called the US China AI Dialogue, would also see representatives from both countries meet again to discuss the technology and try to align on common goals and threats, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

“We think that, just like with any cross-border activity, that moving from opaque to more transparency between the number one and the number two AI powers in the world is very important,” Bessent told reporters on Sunday.

Bessent said the discussions picked up from where they had been left off after US President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing in May. Since then, public safety concerns about the technology have grown. Security incidents over the summer, including OpenAI’s agents hacking Hugging Face, highlighted the capabilities of frontier models and how the industry’s safeguards have failed to keep pace.

Fears reached a fever pitch earlier this month after Anthropic employees warned AI could be on course to wipe out humanity. In recent weeks, leaders of the biggest frontier laboratories, including OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, and Elon Musk, have called for a slowdown in development of the technology while they set safety standards. In an essay suggesting steps for laboratories and governments to pace the technology’s development, Amodei had asked for government assistance in establishing international coordination, including with the Chinese Communist Party.

Trump has so far mostly brushed off their calls, despite growing bipartisan support for regulating the industry. The US government already has sufficient criminal and regulatory power over developers, his administration has argued.

He’s not alone. Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia, which builds AI infrastructure, pointed out that AI firms are already subject to cybersecurity and damage liability laws. “Apply that first,” he said in an interview with CBS News over the weekend. “Don’t let this doomsday narrative allow someone to relieve them of the laws that currently exist.”

Trump has said any slowdown could cede the US lead in the technology to China—a danger because, in his own words: “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!” His chief science advisor David Sacks previously warned that “China is very unlikely to join a global agreement” on pacing the technology. Thomas Wolf, cofounder of open-source AI platform Hugging Face, which Nvidia recently agreed to buy, has questioned whether the US can build global cooperation while “explicitly stating you want to design it to keep widening your own lead.” “That seems like a pretty counterproductive way to start the conversation to me,” he wrote on X in response to Amodei’s essay.

The US is currently trying to temper China’s advance in AI by restricting exports of advanced chips and chipmaking technology to China. Officials did not discuss these US export controls in this weekend’s meetings, said Bessent, which also featured trade discussions and were “very successful” ahead of this week’s visit to Washington by Chinese President Xi Jinping.