Issie Lapowsky / Bloomberg:
A look at Babel Audio, which pairs anonymous strangers to record their conversations, starting at $17/hour, and bundles those recordings into AI training data  —  They vent, confess and role-play with strangers, all to help machines learn how to sound human.

Thomas H. Ptacek / sockpuppet.org:
AI coding agents will drastically alter both the practice and the economics of exploit development, automating the discovery of zero-day vulnerabilities  —  For the last two years, technologists have ominously predicted that AI coding agents will be responsible for a deluge of security vulnerabilities.

Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a first-of-its-kind executive order requiring safety and privacy guardrails from AI companies that contract with the state  —  Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, issued an order requiring safety and privacy guardrails for artificial intelligence companies contracting with the state.

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Social gaming startup Rec Room is shutting down on June 1, saying it could not find a path to profitability; Rec Room had a $3.5B valuation in December 2021  —  Rec Room, the Seattle-based social gaming company once valued at $3.5 billion, is shutting down its platform on June 1 …

Axios:
Inside David Sacks' new role shaping Trump's AI agenda; US officials say Sriram Krishnan is taking on a position at the National Economic Council to focus on AI  —  - The move lands as Republicans grow increasingly wary of an all-in attitude on AI development and begin to question …