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Andrew Dai left Google DeepMind knowing that visual AI was a frontier he wanted to stake his claim on. He pulled off a whirlwind fundraising that resulted in a more aggressive valuation and equity ratio than Thinking Machines, which raised the largest in U.S. history. On this episode of Build Mode, host and Startup Battlefield leader Isabelle Johannessen speaks with Andrew Dai, founder and CEO of Elorian and former Google DeepMind researcher, to discuss how his company raised a $55 million seed round at a $300 million valuation just months after leaving Google. With more than a decade of experience…

Xavier Lorenzo | Moments | Getty ImagesA federal court has blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to curb eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, but other recent changes still impact borrowers’ ability to benefit from the program. For example, the new repayment plan would be ineligible for PSLF, potentially locking many parent borrowers out of the program entirely. These changes are part of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which overhauls the nation’s federal student loan system and takes effect July 1. PSLF, signed by President George W. Bush in 2007, allows certain nonprofit organizations and government employees to…

U.S. President Donald J. Trump attends the Great American State Fair kickoff celebration in Washington, DC, USA on June 24, 2026.Kyle Mazza | Anadolu | Getty ImagesA teleprompter operator is under investigation by federal regulators for allegedly placing bets on prediction market platform Karshi related to President Donald Trump’s comments.The operator allegedly made more than $90,000 in profits from the trades, but most of the funds were frozen by Kalsi after the bets were flagged as suspicious, the company said.”After investigating the exchange, our oversight team immediately flagged these trades and referred them to the (Commodity Futures Trading Commission),” Carsi…

It was a Capitol Hill mystery. For almost a month, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell has not been seen or heard from in public.Little was known about the 84-year-old’s condition other than that he was hospitalized on June 14. Conspiracy theories began to circulate online. Laura Loomer, one of the prominent right-wing influencers, even spread rumors that Republican leaders are brain dead.Recommended stories list of 3 itemsend of listBut after weeks of silence, McConnell acknowledged Sunday that he is on the mend after suffering a fall.Still, the Kentucky Republican has appeared increasingly frail in the Capitol, freezing in front of cameras…

You may have heard that OpenAI released its first piece of hardware this week, a $230 mini keyboard. You may not have heard that in parallel with this “command center for agent operations”, OpenAI also released ChatGPT Basketball. “This basketball was born out of the Pause. Play. Prompt. campaign, a physical reminder that creativity doesn’t just exist on a screen,” the product listing explains. No other references to “pause, play, prompt” were found. There’s a campaign on OpenAI’s website that I think is OpenAI telling people not to spend all day on Codex. Who said tech companies don’t care about…

united airlinesSecond-quarter results beat Wall Street expectations, but billions of dollars in additional fuel costs continue to weigh on profits, the airline said Wednesday.United Airlines’ third-quarter adjusted earnings per share are expected to be between $2.50 and $3.50, compared with analysts’ expectations of $3.60 per share. The company expects full-year adjusted earnings of $9 to $11 per share, at the high end of the range of $7 to $11 per share adjusted in April, when it lowered its January forecast following the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran in late February.Jet fuel prices at major U.S. airports rose 34% through…

This is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.Happy Thursday. Planning a road trip this summer? If Kalsi traders are right, you could be paying $4 a gallon for gas again.Stock futures are mixed this morning, with semiconductor stocks weighing on the market. Yesterday, all three major averages closed higher.Here are five important things investors need to know to start their trading day.1. Cleaning the aislesPeople shop for groceries at a store in Arlington, Virginia, USA on June 10, 2026. Li Rui | Xinhua News Agency | Getty ImagesWholesale prices unexpectedly fell last month,…

Reuters — An Italian court on Thursday sentenced former Atlantia CEO Giovanni Castellucci to 12 years in prison for the 2018 collapse of a highway bridge in the northwestern port city of Genoa. Atlantia was the controlling shareholder in highway operator Autostrade Per Italia at the time of the disaster, when 43 people were killed when a car fell off an overpass. Relatives of the victims packed the courtroom to demand accountability for the disaster and hear the outcome of a case that has become a symbol of the slowness of justice in Italy’s complex criminal process. Under the Italian…

Warren Buffett said luck was an important factor in the success that made him one of the richest people in the world, inspiring the billionaire investor to give away most of his wealth.”My perspective is that out of 8 billion people, I might be one of the 10 luckiest people in the world,” Buffett said in an interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick that aired Wednesday.Buffett often attributes some of his success to the good fortune he experienced throughout his life, especially in his early years. Berkshire Hathaway’s chairman, whose net worth was estimated at $147 billion as of Wednesday afternoon,…

Fireworks founders pose for a photo at the startup’s headquarters in San Mateo, California. Front row from left: Chenyu Zhao, CEO Lin Qiao, and Benny Chen. Back row: James Reid, Pavel Garbakki, Dmytro Ivchenko, Dmytro (Dima) Djurgakov.fireworkThe cost of modern artificial intelligence models is causing growing anxiety among financial executives, who are starting to tell their employees to consider open source alternatives.That’s what’s driving cloud startup Fireworks. Amazon and google Hosts models that developers can incorporate into their applications. of NvidiaThe company, backed by , on Thursday announced annual revenue of more than $1 billion, five times as much as…