A wax head of Elon Musk on a robot dog as part of an art installation called "Regular Animals" by digital artist Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, during Art Basel 2025 in Miami (Chandan Khanna/Getty Images)

Musk You?

Elon Musk says European Union‚ where Tesla’s sales are low, “should be abolished”

Sales are down 25% from last year on the continent and make up just 15% of total sales.

Rani Molla

12/8/25 8:06AM

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is stirring controversy once again in Europe after the European Union fined his social media platform, X, $140 million for a number of issues, including a “deceptive” blue check mark design and not providing data access to researchers.

Over the weekend, Musk posted, “The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries, so that governments can better represent their people.”

It should be noted that Musk doesn’t have as much to lose in Europe as he once did. After his previous machinations on the continent, Tesla’s 2025 sales are expected to decline 25% from last year in Europe, where they are slated to make up just 15% of the company’s total sales, according to the latest estimates from analyst Troy Teslike.

Musk has called Europe Tesla’s “weakest market,” blaming the relatively low sales on European governments’ lack of regulatory approval for its Full Self-Driving tech.

Sales in Europe pale in comparison to the unit delivery numbers Tesla hits in China and the US. And faster-growing sales in the rest of the world are helping to displace declines in Europe.

For what it’s worth, Musk no longer considers Tesla to be a car company. Rather, its future is in AI and robotics, so insulting a relatively small auto market isn’t quite the faux pas it might once have been.

Jon Keegan3/6/26

OpenAI reportedly delaying erotica feature to focus on “gains in intelligence”

OpenAI is delaying its planned “adult mode,” as it seeks to shore up ChatGPT’s core capabilities before the chatbot can generate erotic content.

A source within OpenAI told tech news site Sources that the company will miss its Q1 target for launching the feature:

“We’re pushing out the launch of adult mode so we can focus on work that is a higher priority for more users right now, including gains in intelligence, personality improvements, personalization, and making the experience more proactive.”

The company said it still believes in “treating adults like adults,” but said it wants to get the experience right. OpenAI has been testing user age estimation technology ahead of the planned release.

Liz Reid on where Google Search ends and Gemini begins

“We’re pushing out the launch of adult mode so we can focus on work that is a higher priority for more users right now, including gains in intelligence, personality improvements, personalization, and making the experience more proactive.”

Rani Molla

3/6/26

Why Apple is moving into the lower-cost smartphone and laptop markets

The luxury tech maker is heading down-market.

Man taking picture of Times Square using smart phone, personal perspective view

Ads have entered the chat

Advertisers are crowding into the next digital frontier.

Rani Molla3/6/26

Jon Keegan3/6/26

Anthropic will sue the Pentagon over supply chain risk designation, Amodei says

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a public post that the company will sue the Pentagon after receiving a letter from the Department of Defense officially designating Anthropic as “a supply chain risk to America’s national security.”

Amodei says that the effect of the unprecedented designation for an American company is more narrow than originally described, and that most of its customers would not be affected.

“With respect to our customers, it plainly applies only to the use of Claude by customers as a direct part of contracts with the Department of War, not all use of Claude by customers who have such contracts.”

Amodei says the company does not “believe this action is legally sound, and we see no choice but to challenge it in court.”

The CEO also apologized for statements he made in a leaked internal memo in which he claimed that the company was targeted because it didn’t show “dictator-style praise” for President Trump.

Where things stand with the Department of War

“With respect to our customers, it plainly applies only to the use of Claude by customers as a direct part of contracts with the Department of War, not all use of Claude by customers who have such contracts.”

Amodei says the company does not “believe this action is legally sound, and we see no choice but to challenge it in court.”

The CEO also apologized for statements he made in a leaked internal memo in which he claimed that the company was targeted because it didn’t show “dictator-style praise” for President Trump.

$40B💰

Rani Molla3/6/26

SoftBank is going to great lengths to double down on OpenAI — including taking on significant debt. After completing a $40 billion investment to become one of the ChatGPT maker’s largest backers, the Japanese conglomerate is now seeking a roughly $40 billion loan with a 12-month term, Bloomberg reports.

The financing would be SoftBank’s largest-ever dollar-denominated deal. The AI investment has helped lift profits, but it is also pressuring SoftBank’s credit profile.