"There is no Founding Agreement, or any agreement at all with Musk," OpenAI said in a court filing as a defendant in Elon Musk's lawsuit. We're, of course, talking about the lawsuit Musk filed against OpenAI, which accuses it of violating its status as a non-profit, as well as of violating a founding agreement promising the organization would never operate for profit and would release its AI publicly. The company said the billionaire's claims are based on "convoluted — often incoherent — factual premises." It called that founding agreement "a fiction Musk has conjured to lay unearned claim to the fruits of an enterprise he initially supported, then abandoned, then watched succeed without him."

If the case goes to discovery, there's evidence that would show that Musk supported OpenAI's transition into a for-profit structure, "to be controlled by Musk himself," OpenAI continued. Further, the billionaire allegedly ceased supporting the project when his ideas weren't followed. That statement echoes the company's blog post from earlier this month, wherein it published purported emails to and from Musk from when he was still involved with the organization. Based on those exchanges, Musk knew and was in favor of turning OpenAI into a for-profit entity. He even wanted full control of it as CEO and to have majority equity. Musk also agreed with a suggestion to attach the organization to Tesla, so that the automaker could provide its funding. In the end, the parties didn't come to agreement, and Musk ended his involvement. 

"Seeing the remarkable technological advances OpenAI has achieved, Musk now wants that success for himself," OpenAI wrote in its filing. "Musk purports to bring this suit for humanity, when the truth — evident even from the face of Musk’s contradictory pleading — is that he brings it to advance his own commercial interests."

Musk introduced his own artificial intelligence company called xAI last year, with the rather lofty goal of understanding "the true nature of the universe." A few days after OpenAI published its blog post wherein it claimed that Musk knew it never intended to open source its technology, the billionaire announced that xAI was going to open source its Grok chatbot. While it could very well be a dig at OpenAI, open sourcing Grok could also get his company feedback from the developer community, which xAI could then use to improve its technology. 

The number of unionized workers for Microsoft's video game subsidiaries keeps growing, and the latest group to join the pool is the largest one yet. Approximately 600 quality assurance workers at Activision have joined the Communications Workers of America (CWA), making them the biggest certified union in the US video game industry. They're also the first Activision workers to organize under the agreement between Microsoft and the CWA. If you'll recall, Microsoft agreed to respect the right of Activision Blizzard workers to unionize as part of its efforts to secure regulatory approval for its $68.7 billion takeover of the video game developer. 

CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. said Microsoft kept its promise to let workers decide for themselves whether they want a union. Part of Microsoft's pledge when it agreed to make a pact with the CWA was that it would take neutral approach during a union campaign, and the company said it didn't interfere or influence people's votes. 

Another element of their agreement was giving employees access to "innovative technology-supported and streamlined process for choosing whether to join a union," which includes not having to petition the National Labor Relations Board for an election. In this instance, the workers only had to sign a union authorization card or to vote online. According to The New York Times, 390 workers voted in favor of forming a union, while eight people were opposed to it. Around 200 more didn't cast their vote. 

In early 2023, Microsoft also recognized a union with 300 workers for Zenimax, the owner of Bethesda and another one of the company's video gaming subsidiaries, which was the largest one for the video game industry at the time. Those workers also unionized under the simpler process enabled by the company's agreement with CWA. By the end of the year, Microsoft agreed to hire 77 temporary QA contractors as full-time unionized Zenimax employees, which was a welcomed win for workers in an industry beset by layoffs.  

Sonos has been excluding its first music speaker designed for spatial audio from previous sales events since it was released last year, so listen up: The company is selling refurbished units of the Era 300 for $359, or $91 less than retail. Yes, it's not brand new, but Sonos' refurb program has a good track record. At the moment, only the white Era 300s are available at a discount — the black version is sold out — but if you don't care about color, then you will get three free months of Apple Music with your purchase. 

We found the Era 300 to be one of the best-sounding speakers Sonos has made when we reviewed it. The model's spatial audio experience can be a hit or miss in that sometimes, the Atmos versions of songs could sound like they have too much reverb that the vocals get lost in the mix. But overall, it exhibited excellent sound quality and can make songs shine by reproducing bass, vocal and instrumentation in great detail. It makes songs sound rich, crisp and vibrant. We advised not buying the Era 300 only for the sake of spatial audio in our review, since the library of tracks that support the feature remains quite small. That could change in the future, though, especially if Apple truly does start rewarding artists for offering their music in spatial audio.

It's worth noting that Sonos recommends pairing two Era 300 speakers for "mind-bendlingly realistic surround sound," and getting the cheaper versions would make that a more affordable prospect. The model is pretty easy to set up anyway — just add the speaker to your Sonos app and then pair it with your music services of choice — so having two or more won't be an issue. In case you're looking for something else, though, Sonos is selling more refurbished devices on its website.

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Google has fired a Cloud engineer who interrupted Barak Regev, the managing director of its business in Israel, during a speech at an Israeli tech event in New York, according to CNBC. "I'm a Google software engineer and I refuse to build technology that powers genocide or surveillance!" the engineer was seen and heard shouting in a video captured by freelance journalist Caroline Haskins that went viral online. While being dragged away by security — and amidst jeers from the audience — he continued talking and referenced Project Nimbus. That's the $1.2 billion contract Google and Amazon had won to supply AI and other advanced technologies to the Israeli military. 

Last year, a group of Google employees published an open letter urging the company to cancel Project Nimbus, in addition to calling out the "hate, abuse and retaliation" Arab, Muslim and Palestinian workers are getting within the company. "Project Nimbus puts Palestinian community members in danger! I refuse to build technology that is gonna be used for cloud apartheid," the engineer said. After he was removed from the venue, Regev told the audience that "[p]art of the privilege of working in a company, which represents democratic values is giving the stage for different opinions." He ended his speech after a second protester interrupted and accused Google of being complicit in genocide.

The incident took place during the MindTheTech conference in New York. Its theme for the year was apparently "Stand With Israeli Tech," because investments in Israel slowed down after the October 7 Hamas attacks. Haskins wrote a detailed account of what she witnessed at the event, but she wasn't able to stay until it wrapped up, because she was also thrown out by security. 

The Google engineer who interrupted the event told Haskins that he wanted "other Google Cloud engineers to know that this is what engineering looks like — is standing in solidarity with the communities affected by your work." He spoke to the journalist anonymously to avoid professional repercussions, but Google clearly found out who he was. A Google spokesperson told CNBC that he was fired for "interfering with an official company-sponsored event." They also told the news organization that his "behavior is not okay, regardless of the issue" and that the "employee was terminated for violating [Google's] policies."

Ever compared Cassidy to Spike Siegel or gunslinger Ashe to gun-toting Faye Valentine? Write this date down: March 12. That's when Blizzard is launching Overwatch 2's collaboration with legendary anime Cowboy Bebop, which will bring five skins based on the show to the game. The trailer released for the collaboration also shows the hacker Sombra dressed as her fellow hacker Ed, the Tank hero Wrecking Ball/Hammond as the data corgi Ein and the Samoan warrior Mauga as Jet Black. 

Speaking of that trailer, it certainly looks and feels like Cowboy Bebop's opening animation — it even uses the same theme song. Clearly, this collaboration is looking to appeal to the anime's fans, though we wish it could've happened sooner, say during the show's 25th anniversary last year. Blizzard did launch an anime tie-up in 2023, but it was with Japanese superhero show One-Punch Man.

Wrecking Ball's Ein skin will be available for free to all players, but the other skins will be sold through the Overwatch 2 shop. The collaboration will also give you access to new emotes, highlight intros and other items you can buy. Blizzard will officially introduce each skin and item on March 11, perhaps so you'd at least have an idea of how much you're spending a day later. 

There have been plenty of Wordle clones even before The New York Times purchased the real thing in 2022, to the point that they had become a common sight on app stores. It sounds like The Times has been trying to cull the numbers of Wordle knockoffs recently, though, and has been sending DMCA takedown notices to their developers. As 404 Media reports, the latest notice the news organization sent could take out not just the target game itself, but also thousands of other alternatives and spinoffs. 

The Times' latest DMCA notice was filed against Chase Wackerfuss, the person behind a Wordle clone called "Reactle." In its notice, the publication said that GitHub must delete the infringing repository and the hundreds of forked repositories based on it. Wackerfuss already took down Reactle's GitHub page — he told 404 Media it wasn't worth getting into a legal battle with The New York Times and just deleted his repository. According to the publication, though, it was forked 1,900 times before it was removed and was used to create versions of Wordle in dozens of different languages, as well as spinoffs with various twists. Some of those spinoffs turned Wordle into crossword puzzles and two-player games, while others transformed it into guessing games that use emoji and other symbols instead of letters and words. 

Based on the takedown request The Times sent to Reactle, the newspaper is claiming ownership of the name Wordle, as well as its mechanics. "The Times's Wordle copyright includes the unique elements of its immensely popular game, such as the 5x6 grid, green tiles to indicate correct guesses, yellow tiles to indicate the correct letter but the wrong place within the word, and the keyboard directly beneath the grid," the DMCA notice reportedly read. "This gameplay is copied exactly in the repository, and the owner instructs others how to knock off the game and create an identical word game." Seeing as Wordle has a pretty simple premise, though — I was easily able to create a simpler but similar word-guessing game when I took a basic programming course — this takedown request likely won't spell the end for its clones and alternatives. 

Warning: The following article covers matters of a sensitive nature.

A SpaceX employee has filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing it of siding with a supervisor who pressured her into having sexual relations with him. The plaintiff said that she and other female employees also had to endure "humiliating comments" questioning their credentials, that she was passed up for promotions in favor of male candidates and that she experienced retaliation when she complained about being paid less than her male counterparts. 

The plaintiff, Michelle Dopak, has been working at the aerospace corporation's headquarters in California since 2017. According to her complaint, she experienced discrimination early on in her employment when she was passed up for job opportunities in favor of external male candidates. Her male colleagues allegedly spread rumors about their female coworkers, as well, claiming that they only got their jobs because of their looks. Dopak and two of her female colleagues met with Gwynne Shotwell to complain about both issues — "an action that no male colleague or employee at SpaceX would ever feel the need to do to justify their hiring and stop such discriminatory actions," the lawsuit reads. The SpaceX president, however, apparently didn't take any action. 

After a reorganization in 2019, the plaintiff was placed under the supervision of a male boss who allegedly pressured her into having a sexual relationship that lasted years. When she got pregnant as a result, she said her married supervisor offered her $100,000 to have an abortion, which she had refused. She also accused SpaceX of colluding with her boss to transfer 48,289 shares worth $3,718,253 out of his name so that he could get out of paying child support. 

Her complaints didn't end there. After getting promoted to a position she had been chasing for years, she found out that a male colleague who was hired at the same time was being paid $5,000 more. The company officials she talked to about the pay disparity couldn't justify it and allegedly offered her only $2,500 more if she also took a reduction in stock benefits. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff said the offer was "a message that if you complain at SpaceX, we will just retaliate against you and find other ways to punish you."

The lawsuit accuses SpaceX of forcing female employees who have claims of sexual harassment and discrimination into bringing their claims to arbitration so that they could be kept secret from the public. "SpaceX has also attempted to coerce and force [the plaintiff] into only bringing her claims in arbitration even though such claims are barred from being forced to arbitration," the complaint continues.

The plaintiff is asking for general, compensatory and consequential damages, including lost wages, earnings and other employee benefits. She's also asking the court to prohibit SpaceX from continuing any "unfair and unlawful business practices." SpaceX is currently facing another proposed class action lawsuit that claims it pays women and minorities tens of thousands less than what it pays white male employees. In January, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against SpaceX, as well, accusing it for illegally firing a group of engineers who criticized Elon Musk for making crude jokes on X about the sexual misconduct accusations against him.

Microsoft has announced that it's holding an event on March 21 that will focus on its upcoming generative AI devices and features. The event entitled "Advancing the new era of work with Copilot" will start at 9AM Pacific/12PM Eastern time that date. Microsoft promises to unveil "the latest in scaling AI in your environment with Copilot, Windows and Surface," but it has shared no other details on what its announcements could be. 

As Windows Central had previously reported, the company is expected to launch the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 on March 21. They're apparently slated to be Microsoft's first AI PCs that will be equipped with the new Intel Core Ultra or Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processors. Both models have neural processing units (NPUs) that boost AI capabilities, which is why the upcoming Surfaces will most likely be the first to support the new AI features coming to Windows 11. 

Those new AI features could include real-time live captions and translations, upscaling for games and frame rate smoothing. Microsoft is also reportedly working on a feature called AI Explorer that will give users a way to conduct searches across apps, documents, web pages, images and chats using natural language. Windows Central said AI Explorer might have the capability to understand context and suggest actions based on what's on the screen. It could also create a history of the tasks a user does on their computer to make them searchable later on. We'll know for sure if Microsoft truly is launching new Surface devices and new AI features a couple of weeks from now — we will, of course, keep you updated on what the company reveals. 

Frostpunk's sequel finally has a release data, giving fans of the post-apocalyptic city-building survival game something to look forward to in the coming months. 11 Bit Studios has announced at the Xbox Partners Showcase that Frostpunk 2 will be available for Windows PCs starting on July 25. PC Game Pass subscribers will also be able to play it from day one. It's a full-fledged sequel to the original game, set 30 years after its events, where oil has taken over steam as society's main energy source. 

Players take on the role of the city's leader and will have to guide its citizens while facing the world's increasingly harsh, icy climate. In the sequel, they will get the chance to build larger cities divided into districts, with each one serving a specific purpose. One district could be in charge of food production, for instance, while another could serve as people's shelter. 

Similar to the game before it, Frostpunk 2 is expected to throw problems at the player that will force them to make some difficult decisions and challenge their morals. Players will meet various factions of citizens with ideals conflicting their own as their city grows, and they have to navigate the consequences of their decisions after siding with one faction over the rest. If it truly is like its predecessor, then players can expect a moody, somber experience that could be quite depressing at times. 

Both standard and Digital Deluxe editions of the game are now available for pre-order. The Digital Deluxe version comes with a seven-day beta access to parts of the game in April, exclusive access to story mode 72 hours before official release, thee post-release DLCs, a digital novella, an artbook and the game's soundtrack. Frostpunk 2 will also be making its way to consoles and will be coming to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service at a later date. 

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first continuous glucose monitor (CGM) people can buy without a prescription. Dexcom's Stelo Glucose Biosensor System has a sensor users are meant to insert into their upper arm, similar to the company's other CGMs that need a doctor's prescription for purchase. It pairs with a smartphone application that can show the user's blood glucose measurements and trends every 15 minutes. 

The company designed the device specifically for adults 18 and up who are not using insulin, such as those managing their diabetes with oral medications and non-diabetics making a conscious effort to control their sugar intake. It could be a great tool for people with insulin resistance, including individuals with PCOS and other metabolic issues that heighten their probability of developing diabetes in the future. In general, it could give users the insight to be able to better understand how the food they eat and the movements they make impact their overall health. 

While CGMs aren't anything new, they've become a wellness trend on social media last year, and even non-diabetics started using them. By clearing Stelo, the FDA is making the monitors more accessible than before. "CGMs can be a powerful tool to help monitor blood glucose," said Jeff Shuren, MD, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. "Today's clearance expands access to these devices by allowing individuals to purchase a CGM without the involvement of a health care provide. Giving more individuals valuable information about their health, regardless of their access to a doctor or health insurance, is an important step forward in advancing health equity for U.S. patients."

Stelo will be available starting this summer. Each patch is meant to last for 15 days before users will need to replace it. Dexcom has yet to reveal how much it would cost, but it said Stelo will "provide an option for those who do not have insurance coverage for CGM."

Dexcom