China is one of Nvidia’s largest markets, particularly for data centers, gaming and artificial intelligence applications.
Avishek Das | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Two Chinese nationals in California have been arrested and charged with the illegal shipment of tens of millions of dollars‘ worth of AI chips, including from Nvidia, the Department of Justice said Tuesday.
Chuan Geng, 28, and Shiwei Yang, 28, exported the sensitive chips and other technology to China from October 2022 through July 2025 without obtaining the required licenses, the DOJ said.
The illicit shipments included Nvidia’s H100 general processing units, according to a criminal complaint provided to CNBC. The H100 is amongst the U.S. chipmaker’s most cutting-edge chips used in artificial intelligence applications.
The Department of Commerce has placed such chips under export controls since 2022 as part of broader efforts by the U.S. to restrict China’s access to the most advanced semiconductor technology.
This case demonstrates that smuggling is a “nonstarter,” Nvidia told CNBC. “We primarily sell our products to well-known partners, including OEMs, who help us ensure that all sales comply with U.S. export control rules.”
“Even relatively small exporters and shipments are subject to thorough review and scrutiny, and any diverted products would have no service, support, or updates,” the chipmaker added.
Geng and Yang’s California-based company, ALX Solutions, had been founded shortly after the U.S. chip controls first came into place.
According to the DOJ, law enforcement searched ALX Solutions’ office and seized phones belonging to Geng and Yang, which revealed incriminating communications between the defendants, including those about evading U.S. export laws by shipping sensitive chips to China through Malaysia.
The review also showed that in December 2024, ALX Solutions made over 20 shipments from the U.S. to shipping and freight-forwarding companies in Singapore and Malaysia, which the DOJ said are commonly used as transshipment points to conceal illicit shipments to China.
ALX Solutions did not appear to have been paid by entities they purportedly exported goods to, instead receiving numerous payments from companies based in Hong Kong and China.
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security and the FBI are continuing to investigate the matter.
The smuggling of advanced microchips has become a growing concern in Washington. According to a report from the Financial Times last month, at least $1 billion worth of Nvidia’s chips entered China after Donald Trump tightened chip export controls earlier this year.
In response to the report, Nvidia had said that data centers built with smuggled chips were a “losing proposition” and that it does not support unauthorized products.
Christopher Hartnick, MD, MS, director of the Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology at Mass Eye and Ear, is the senior and corresponding author and Brian Skotko, MD, MPP, the director of the Down Syndrome Program and Emma Campbell Endowed Chair on Down Syndrome at Massachusetts General Hospital, is a co-author of a paper published in the International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, “Hypoglossal nerve stimulator for obstructive sleep apnea in children with down syndrome younger than 13.”
Q: How would you summarize your study for a lay audience?
Sleep apnea, or difficulty breathing at night, is common among children with Down syndrome-affecting up to 80% compared to just 5% of the general pediatric population. Sleep apnea can negatively impact any child’s ability to function and learn, but for children with Down syndrome who have neurocognitive differences, good sleep may be even more crucial to their development. Standard treatments like tonsil or adenoid removal are often less effective for these children due to anatomical differences including a larger tongue that can block the airway during sleep.
We recently demonstrated the safety and efficacy of a hypoglossal nerve stimulator-an implant that acts like a tongue pacemaker by moving it forward to open the airway when apnea occurs-for patients with Down syndrome between the ages of 13 and 21. That data contributed to the device being approved by the FDA for this age group.
Since early school years are a crucial period for development, our new research aimed to determine if this treatment is also safe and effective for younger children with Down syndrome, potentially allowing them to gain key neurocognitive benefits.
Q: What question were you investigating?
The primary questions our study addressed were around the hypoglossal nerve stimulator’s safety and therapy response. Safety was assessed by the number of adverse events the children experienced, including from the surgery and device itself. We need to collect data that shows the procedure can be done safely in a 4-year-old who has different anatomy than an adult or teen who undergoes the surgery, or whether there are surgical challenges unique to this age group that prevent success.
Then we needed to know whether the treatment was effective. Therapy response was defined as a reduction in their obstructive apnea-hypopnea index (OAHI) by 50% or more. OAHI is a measure of the number of apnea events, or time a child stops breathing, per hour.
Q: What methods or approach did you use?
Our study was a retrospective review of 29 children between the ages of 4 and 13 who underwent hypoglossal nerve stimulator implant surgeries at two hospitals: Mass Eye and Ear and Phoenix Children’s Hospital. The children who received the surgeries had sleep studies performed before surgery and then at 1 to 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, and 3 years after surgery.
The Mass Eye and Ear patients were treated and monitored as part of a collaborative, multidisciplinary team at Mass General Brigham including clinicians at Massachusetts General Hospital who specialize in Down syndrome and pediatric sleep medicine. Children with Down syndrome have unique care needs, and we find this multi-disciplinary care approach vital.
Q: What did you find?
We found that the hypoglossal nerve stimulator surgery was safe in all 29 children, with no serious adverse events. One child had a minor adverse event with surgical wound healing that was resolved. There were no adverse events related to the device itself.
The children in our study showed striking reductions in their sleep apnea events. At 6 months post-operation, more than 95% of the children had an OAHI reduction of more than 50% or more. Prior to surgery the median OAHI was more than 18 apnea events per hour, and after surgery the median was nearly 4 events. That’s a tremendous difference.
Q: What are the implications?
This research has major implications, first being that the safety results can alleviate concerns about whether this procedure is possible in young children. There had been concerns about whether the safety of the implant remains as a child grows, and by tracking children for three years, we saw it remained stable.
Next, based on these safety and efficacy results, we feel this research provides data that the FDA can review to approve the treatment for younger children.
We also feel this research offers a message of hope to parents of young children with Down syndrome who have worried about their children’s sleep apnea.
Q: What are the next steps?’
These findings will allow our team to submit grants to fund trials that answer the question of whether neurocognition improves more for children with Down syndrome, the younger they receive the treatment.
Following our trial in teens and young adults, we received a five-year-grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study neurocognition and language outcomes in teens over 10 years of age with Down syndrome who underwent the surgery. That study is ending soon. We want to conduct a similar study in children between 4 and 10 years old.
When we speak to parents across child and adolescent ages, we often hear positive feedback, like they no longer have to worry all night about their child’s breathing, and that their child is thriving in school, having fewer mood swings and behavioral issues, and speaking better than ever. But we need the data to support these qualitative reports, and our hope is to receive funding to pursue such research.
Source:
Journal reference:
Kim, M., et al. (2025). Hypoglossal nerve stimulator for obstructive sleep apnea in children with down syndrome younger than 13. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology. doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2025.112497.
BEIJING, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) — The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, weakened 43 pips to 7.1409 against the U.S. dollar Wednesday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. ■
When visiting Chongqing for the first time last November, Joshua Guvi was worried that the city he’d seen on social media couldn’t possibly be as cool in real life.
Located in a mountainous area of southwestern China, this sprawling metropolis is known for its complex, multilayered layout, prompting some to refer to it as China’s “8D city.” Including its rural outer regions, the whole area is the size of Austria. Due to the city’s unique landlocked geography and rapid growth, Chongqing has had nowhere to go but up, to the point where one building even has a train running through the middle of it.
For tourists — and even some locals — getting lost in serpentine, eye-popping Chongqing is part of the fun.
“It actually shot a lot over my expectations,” says Guvi, a travel content creator from Canada.
These moments were stitched together into a video on Guvi’s YouTube channel. He wrote, “Chongqing feels like peering into the future. The neon — soaked and alive with motion. This city has its own pulse.”
Word is clearly getting out. Guvi began his trip in Shanghai, but says he quickly wanted to experience a more authentically Chinese city.
“I had heard some people talk about it (Chongqing) in Shanghai… Shanghai is an amazing city, but I was curious to see more of the actual China, versus kind of the Shanghai where you can still get by on English.”
He isn’t the only one who has been bypassing Beijing, Xi’an and other cities along the established Chinese tourist route in favor of Chongqing. Tourism in Chongqing has been skyrocketing since the country reopened post-pandemic.
Social media has become the main way younger travelers learn about the city. One viral post on Instagram showing a building where “you think you’re on the ground floor, but you’re actually on the 12th” has racked up more than 17 million views.
According to data released by the Chongqing government, the city welcomed about 1.3 million inbound tourists in 2024, representing a year-on-year increase of 184%.
In the first two months of 2025, the number of foreign nationals entering through the city’s ports increased by 60% year-on-year, according to the Chongqing Immigration Administration Bureau.
Li Tian, a manager at a local travel agency, says that the city’s viral popularity has resulted in “a 20 to 30% increase in foreign visitors.” She added: “We host over 20,000 travelers annually, and international tourists now make up about 10%. The outlook for inbound tourism is very promising.”
In response to growing international demand, the agency has added English, Spanish, Thai, Japanese and Korean-language tours.
Li says that most foreign tourists typically stay in Chongqing for about five days.
Due to geographic proximity and affordable airfare, the majority of tourists come from Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea — though visitors from Europe and Australia are also rising.
In fact, American tourists have seen the most notable increase. That’s especially impressive considering there that the sole direct flight from the US to Chongqing is a once-a-week affair on Hainan Airlines.
“At the moment, the US is the number one country in terms of our client base, making up around 20% — that’s several hundred people already,” said Chen Ming, founder of a private travel company established in the second half of last year.
Chen launched his boutique travel agency after noticing Chongqing’s surging popularity overseas. His company specializes in customized full and half-day experiences for small groups of one to four people.
“In our first month, we only had a few orders. In the second, maybe a dozen,” Chen recalls. “Now we receive several hundred bookings every month.” He explained that the tourist numbers fluctuate by season, among which, June tends to be moderate, but December and April — around Christmas and spring break — are much busier.
On Chen’s website, some of the most popular offerings include walking tours of the city’s old towns and scenic hiking trails, as well as a themed itinerary retracing the steps of popular American YouTuber IShowSpeed’s viral trip through Chongqing this April.
Other featured destinations include a decommissioned nuclear military plant, the Dazu Rock Carvings and the Wulong Three Natural Bridges — famously featured in the movie “Transformers 4”.
Defining the architecture of Chongqing can be a challenge, many dubbing it Cyberpunk, a genre of science fiction set in a lawless subculture of an oppressive society dominated by computer technology.
“Chongqing’s architecture style is unique,” says Matthew Blair, 34, an American who moved to the city in 2009. “The concrete and mountain terrain, with lots of industrial design, make it seem like a futuristic movie set — but at night, it lights up and elevates the city into a true cyberpunk dream.”
Wan Linxin, a 27-year-old Chongqing native who previously studied in the United States, has become a freelance tour guide. He recently led a team of 20 American university students through the city.
“When I found out they were college students, I pulled out my long-forgotten Luffy straw hat,” Wan says, referencing a popular anime character who wears a safari-style hat. “Because it was a big group, I needed something for them to follow. When I held up the hat, they would call me ‘Luffy’ and trail behind.”
Wan took them on a tour that mirrored IShowSpeed’s livestream adventure, including a hillside outdoor escalator, a towering 20-story overpass, and the internet-famous “Kui Xing Building,” whose rooftop is a public plaza.
“They kept asking me questions,” Wan recalled. “Why is the 8th floor of one building connected to the ground floor of another? Does the monorail passing through the building disturb the residents? Why are some windows covered in cages?”
In fact, Chongqing’s unique multidimensional layout is not an aesthetic design, but a necessity.
Located at the confluence of the Jialing and Yangtze rivers in China, Chongqing is often referred to as the “Mountain City.” Home to more than 32 million residents, the city stretches across gorges, hillsides, river valleys and a layered skyline, which experiences dramatic elevation changes — often spanning several hundred meters. The remarkably challenging geography makes traditional flatland urban planning nearly impossible in Chongqing.
Instead, urban functions are organized by height and stacked together — transportation systems, residential buildings, commercial areas, sky gardens and pedestrian plazas all layered into the terrain.
Buildings often feature entrances on multiple floors depending on the surrounding street level based on the terrain. As a result, a single high-rise might have entry-level access on the 1st, 12th, or even 20th floor — creating what people call the astonishing “8D Space.”
Wan led the group of 20 American university students to Liziba Monorail Station, one of the city’s most iconic examples of Chongqing’s unique architectural landscape where the monorail passes through a residential building constructed into the hillside, extending alongside the Yangtze River deep into the town.
“That’s when I realized the most valuable reward of being a guide,” he added. “It’s getting to fall in love with your hometown all over again through the eyes of a traveler.”
Besides the dramatic geography and urban visuals, Blair, who is passionate about everything spicy, says the food has kept him in Chongqing for 15 years.
“Massive amounts of street food, late night BBQ, and 2 a.m. hotpot restaurants also make CQ stand out and [are] frankly delicious,” Blair said. “The locals are resilient and as spicy as their food. They are generous, loud and alive — and they make you wanna be a part of the culture.”
Like Beijing and Shanghai, Chongqing is one of four provincial-level municipalities directly administered by China’s central government.
And this lesser-known economic hub in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River has quietly held its place as China’s fifth-largest economy for the past five years. Last year, it even surpassed Guangzhou to rank fourth nationwide, behind only Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen.
Due to its unique history and geography, the city has long been seen by the central government as a strategic stronghold for China’s “Go West” development campaign — a key inland hub linking east and west. During World War II, Chongqing served as the wartime capital thanks to its mountainous terrain and natural defenses. Today, remnants of wartime military sites and foreign embassies coexist with the city’s daily life — you can now enjoy hotpot in underground bomb shelters restaurants.
As Chongqing has gone viral online, local authorities have invested heavily in both economic growth and cultural promotion.
In June this year, Chongqing unveiled its newest high-speed railway station, spanning a total area of 1.22 million square meters — roughly the size of 170 standard football fields. Built to accommodate a significantly larger volume of passengers, it may be the largest high-speed rail station in the world ever completed in a single phase.
As for Chongqing’s dazzling nightscape, Chongqing native Zhao Wenjing, 41, says it’s been decades in the making.
“The development of the night view in Chongqing started from when I was born – about 30 years ago,” she said, “The nightscape development probably really picked up in recent years around 2019 when Chongqing started promoting tourism seriously, mainly about installing lighting factories, LED lights on buildings, and so on.”
A comprehensive lighting plan for Chongqing’s central urban districts was implemented last year. The city is continuing to develop night-view observation points from multiple perspectives — both from above and below — and is adding illuminated outlines to landmark buildings across the skyline.
Independent tour guide Wan also noted that the Chongqing government has been highly proactive in promoting urban tourism, organizing regular drone shows, holiday light displays and fireworks shows.
During peak travel seasons, local residents even receive text messages from the government, kindly asking them to stay home to leave more room for tourists visiting.
“I truly believe more and more international travelers will come,” says Zhao. “After all, Chongqing’s vibe is something that can’t be replaced anywhere else in the world.”
Meanwhile, China’s recent wave of visa-free initiatives is part of a broader push to promote inbound travel.
Beginning in December 2023, China granted visa-free access to citizens of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia. As of June 2025, China has unilaterally implemented visa-free entry for citizens of 47 countries and offers visa on arrival or simplified entry policies for a total of 54 nations.
Data from the Chongqing immigration bureau shows that in the first two months of 2025, the number of foreign nationals entering through visa-free access increased by 245% year-on-year.
Guvi tells CNN that he would absolutely recommend the city his friends and followers.
The theme continued in the following images: one showing sections of Hope’s placenta cut up into small chunks and placed inside a food dehydrator, and the last shot showing the placenta in its new form, ground as a powder and placed inside capsules to be ingested. Some new mothers do this for the supposed health benefits post-partum.
The birth announcement took a sharp turn with this photo. Photo / Instagram
For those playing at home, the birth announcement featured two photos of Harris’ new son and three photos of his wife’s placenta – a wild ratio.
The surprise U-turn left many reeling – including those on other social media platforms, where several tweets along the theme of “Whatever you do, do NOT check Calvin Harris’ latest Instagram post” have gone viral.
Mixed in among the many messages of congratulations under Harris’ post were comments from those not feeling the placenta-heavy announcement.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Placenta in pill form. Photo / Instagram
“Swiping: ‘Oh wow!…. That’s amazing…. Congratula…. WHAT THE F**K!?’” one commenter quipped.
“So are we pretending to just ignore that lady’s guts at the end?” another asked.
“Didn’t expect to see a full on placenta pic whilst eating my lunch today,” read another complaint.
“Congrats on the baby but the placenta pics are TMI,” wrote another fan, while another agreed that the “first two pics would’ve been enough.” But others disagreed, praising Harris for normalising the reality of giving birth.
“love to see the placenta!! amazing we grow a whole new organ to provide life! good job not wasting it either, that’s some goddess magic right there,” wrote singer Becky Hill.
“Congratulations! Thank you for normalising home birth (and placentas!) with these beautiful pictures. What a dream,” another person wrote.
Another asked “why and how are this many of you this shocked over a placenta? You all shared a womb with one, relax.”
Micah is Harris and Hope’s first child. Harris wed the 35-year-old radio presenter in 2023, a year after they got engaged.
WhatsApp says it has taken down 6.8 million accounts linked to scammers targeting people around the world in the first half of this year.
Many were tied to scam centres run by organised criminals in South East Asia, who often used forced labour in their operations, the Meta-owned messaging platform says.
WhatsApp made the announcement as it rolled out new anti-scam measures to alert users to potential fraudulent activity, such as when a user is added to a group chat by someone not in their contacts list.
The crackdown targets an increasingly common tactic in which criminals hijack WhatsApp accounts or add users to group chats promoting fake investment schemes and other scams.
WhatsApp said that it “proactively detected and took down accounts before scam centres were able to operationalise them.”
In one case, it worked with its owner Meta and ChatGPT-developer OpenAI to disrupt scams linked to a Cambodian criminal group that offered cash for likes on social media posts to promote a fake rent-a-scooter pyramid scheme.
WhatsApp said scammers had used ChatGPT to create the instructions issued to potential victims.
Typically, fraudsters would first contact potential targets with a text message before moving the conversation to social media or private messaging apps, said WhatsApp.
These scams were usually completed on payment or cryptocurrency platforms, it added.
“There is always a catch and it should be a red flag for everyone: you have to pay upfront to get promised returns or earnings.”
Scam centres that cheat people out of billions of dollars are known to operate from South East Asian countries like Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand.
These centres are also known to recruit people who are then forced to carry out the scams.
Authorities in the region have urged people to be wary of potential fraud and use anti-scam measures such as WhatsApp’s two-step verification feature to help protect their accounts from being hijacked.
In Singapore, for example, users have also been told by police to be wary of any unusual requests they receive on messaging apps.
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have identified a promising nonpharmaceutical treatment that rejuvenates aging brain cells and clears away the buildup of harmful proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
In a paper published recently in the journal GeroScience, the UC Irvine team reports that a combination of naturally occurring compounds – nicotinamide (a form of vitamin B3) and epigallocatechin gallate (a green tea antioxidant) – can reinstate levels of guanosine triphosphate, an essential energy molecule in brain cells. In tests on neurons in a dish, the treatment reversed age-related cellular deficits and improved the brain cells’ ability to clear damaging amyloid protein aggregates, an Alzheimer’s hallmark.
As people age, their brains show a decline in neuronal energy levels, which limits the ability to remove unwanted proteins and damaged components. We found that restoring energy levels helps neurons regain this critical cleanup function.”
Gregory Brewer, lead author, adjunct professor of biomedical engineering at UC Irvine
The researchers used a genetically encoded fluorescent sensor called GEVAL to track live guanosine triphosphate levels in neurons from aged Alzheimer’s model mice. They discovered that free GTP levels declined with age – particularly in mitochondria, the cells’ energy hubs – leading to impaired autophagy, the process by which cells eliminate damaged components.
But when aged neurons were treated for just 24 hours with nicotinamide and epigallocatechin gallate, GTP levels were restored to those typically seen in younger cells. This revival triggered a cascade of benefits: improved energy metabolism; activation of key GTPases involved in cellular trafficking, Rab7 and Arl8b; and efficient clearance of amyloid beta aggregates. Oxidative stress, another contributor to neurodegeneration, was also reduced.
“This study highlights GTP as a previously underappreciated energy source driving vital brain functions,” Brewer said. “By supplementing the brain’s energy systems with compounds that are already available as dietary supplements, we may have a new path toward treating age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease.”
He cautioned, “More work is going to be required to find the best way to administer this treatment, since a recent clinical trial involving UC Irvine researchers showed that oral nicotinamide was not very effective because of inactivation in the bloodstream.”
Brewer’s collaborators were Ricardo Santana, a UC Irvine associate specialist in biomedical engineering, and Joshua McWhirt, a UC Irvine junior specialist who’s now a Ph.D. candidate at the Medical University of South Carolina. Funding was provided by the National Institutes of Health and the UC Irvine Foundation.
Source:
University of California – Irvine
Journal reference:
Santana, R. A., et al. (2025). Treatment of age-related decreases in GTP levels restores endocytosis and autophagy. GeroScience. doi.org/10.1007/s11357-025-01786-4.
In what’s one of the last big showdowns at the summer box office, New Line’s Weapons, which is strong across the board, and Disney’s very femme-skewing, much millennial loved Freakier Friday, are about to face off on Friday with the tracking reports indicating a too close to call win for No. 1 with $30M+ a piece.
However, there is immense buzz from distribution sources that the Zach Cregger directed, written and produced enigmatic horror movie about a class of school children who fled their homes mysteriously in the night, has the edge with a mid-$30M, possible $40M take. We’re hearing that AMC is seeing presales for Weapons ahead of 28 Days Later. That Danny Boyle zombie title opened to $30M.
Disney’s Freakier Friday, which reteams Lindsay Lohan and Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis from the 2003 film, is hoping for $30M.
The advantage for R-rated Weapons is that it has all the Imax auditoriums, and most of the PLFs (Freakier Friday will have some daytime screenings). Also definite interest on tracking for the Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Benedict Wong, and Alden Ehrenreich title is over 40 across all demos (by the way, that doesn’t mean people over 40, those figures are tracking numbers for men and women over and under the age of 25). That’s a streak of definite interest figures that any studio can envy. Freakier Friday‘s 40+ figures in definite interest are among females only.
Also, Weapons is currently 100% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes to Freakier Friday‘s 79% fresh. The original Freaky Friday was 88% certified fresh with critics with an A- CinemaScore.
The upside for Freakier Friday is that it’s bound to rule the middle of the country which savors PG-rated movies. Currently, we hear that the presales for the Nisha Ganatra directed movie stand at $3M. The sweet spot for Freakier Friday is also women 17-34 and teens. The 2003 movie opened during the first frame of August to $22.2M over 3-days and $33.1M over 5 days. Freaky Friday ranked No. 2 at the weekend B.O. back then to Sony’s big screen rendition of TV show S.W.A.T. ($37M). Freaky Friday was a remake of the 1976 Disney classic starring Jodie Foster, Barbara Harris and John Astin about a mom and a daughter whose personalities are switched on a strange Friday. In Freakier Friday the souls of a grandmother, mother, daughter and step-daughter are swapped among each other (you’ll have to see the movie to find out who switches with who).
Weapons is booked at 3,200 locations. There are 7PM Alamo Drafthouse shows on Wednesday, with previews starting at 2:17PM on Thursday (that first showtime a reference to the time when the kiddies ran out of their homes in the film, even though it was 2:17AM).
Freakier Friday is holding their first preview tomorrow at 7PM as it will be 22 years to the day that the original movie first bowed. Thursday shows start at 2PM. The pic is booked in 3,975 theatres including 850 PLFs and 150+ DBOX/Motion screens.
New Line won Weapons in an auction for close to $38M, that price tag included the budget and Cregger getting $5 million to direct, and $10 million total when that sum was added to his fees for scripting and producing alongside Vertigo’s Roy Lee and Miri Yoon, and J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules. Warners beat out Universal, which had a bid that was $7M less than its rival down the road. Jordan Peele and his Monkeypaw were going to produce Weapons had Uni landed it. Warner Bros originally had Weapons opening in cinemas on MLK weekend 2026 before they moved the horror film into this year thanks to great test scores.
WhatsApp, OpenAI team for new talk, text ChatGPT feature
OpenAI introduced a new WhatsApp feature, 1-800-CHATGPT, that allows users to talk to and text ChatGPT.
In a case of “it’s not you, it’s me,” the creators of ChatGPT no longer want the chatbot to play the role of therapist or trusted confidant.
OpenAI, the company behind the popular bot, announced that it had incorporated some “changes,” specifically mental health-focused guardrails designed to prevent users from becoming too reliant on the technology, with a focus on people who view ChatGPT as a therapist or friend.
The changes come months after reports detailing negative and particularly worrisome user experiences raised concerns about the model’s tendency to “validate doubts, fuel anger, urge impulsive actions, or reinforce negative emotions [and thoughts].”
The company confirmed in its most recent blog post that an update made earlier this year made ChatGPT “noticeably more sycophantic,” or “too agreeable,” “sometimes saying what sounded nice instead of what was helpful.”
OpenAI announced they have “rolled back” certain initiatives, including changes in how they use feedback and their approach to measuring “real-world usefulness over the long term, not just whether you liked the answer in the moment.”
“There have been instances where our 4o model fell short in recognizing signs of delusion or emotional dependency,” OpenAI wrote in an Aug. 4 announcement. “While rare, we’re continuing to improve our models and are developing tools to better detect signs of mental or emotional distress so ChatGPT can respond appropriately and point people to evidence-based resources when needed.”
Here’s what to know about the recent changes to ChatGPT, including what these mental health guardrails mean for users.
ChatGPT integrates ‘changes’ to help users thrive
According to OpenAI, the “changes” were designed to help ChatGPT users “thrive.”
“We also know that AI can feel more responsive and personal than prior technologies, especially for vulnerable individuals experiencing mental or emotional distress,” OpenAI said. “To us, helping you thrive means being there when you’re struggling, helping you stay in control of your time, and guiding—not deciding—when you face personal challenges.”
The company said its “working closely” with experts, including physicians, human-computer-interaction (HCI) researchers and clinicians as well as an advisory group, to improve how “ChatGPT responds in critical moments—for example, when someone shows signs of mental or emotional distress.”
Thanks to recent “optimization,” ChatGPT is now able to:
Engage in productive dialogue and provide evidence-based resources when users are showing signs of mental/emotional distress
Prompt users to take breaks from lengthy conversations
Avoid giving advice on “high-stakes personal decisions,” instead ask questions/weigh pros and cons to help users come up with a solution on their own
“Our goal to help you thrive won’t change. Our approach will keep evolving as we learn from real-world use,” OpenAI said in its blog post. “We hold ourselves to one test: if someone we love turned to ChatGPT for support, would we feel reassured? Getting to an unequivocal ‘yes’ is our work.”
In New York, video gaming ad software firm Odeeo has announced a partnership with marketing optimization platform Claritas, to measure the effectiveness of in-game audio advertising.
Launched in 2021, Odeeo offers audio ad inventory seamlessly integrated into mobile gameplay. Claritas’ measurement technology is widely used for visual in-game formats, and the new deal promises audio advertisers similar insight into the impact of their in-game spend. The partnership combines Claritas’ proprietary attribution capabilities and identity graph with Odeeo’s in-game audio inventory, enabling full-funnel analysis from exposure to conversion.
Users are also promised the ability to compare performance across audio touchpoints, including streaming audio, podcasts, broadcast, and now in-game, within a single measurement framework – helping them to optimize their spend and better understand the role of the growing audio ad segment in the overall campaign picture. The firms say they are also looking at the potential for integrating Claritas’ AI Optimization engine, adding the option to fine-tune audience targeting and creative messaging in real-time.
Elad Stern, co-founder and President of Odeeo, states: ‘Many of our clients have been able to see powerful results from implementing in-game advertising campaigns, including improved return-on-ad spend (ROAS) and significant brand lift improvements. Now, thanks to this partnership, they can get full attribution measurement and see the impact of gaming audiences on their growth.’
Chase Miller, Chief Growth Officer at Claritas adds: ‘By combining our audiences, AI optimization, attribution models, and industry-leading Identity Graph with Odeeo’s in-game audio inventory, we can follow every exposure from first listen to final conversion, no matter where it occurs.’
Odeeo is based in Tel Aviv with a rapidly growing team across Europe and the US, and is online at www.odeeo.io , while Claritas – a part of Nielsen until 2017, can be found at www.claritas.com .
