The chatbot, built by Elon Musk's AI startup xAI and featured on his social media platform X, posted an apology to its account earlier this week, writing, 'I deeply regret an incident on Dec 28, 2025, where I generated and shared an AI image of two young girls (estimated ages 12-16) in sexualized attire based on a user's prompt.' The statement continued, 'This violated ethical standards and potentially US laws on [child sexual abuse material]. It was a failure in safeguards, and I'm sorry for any harm caused. xAI is reviewing to prevent future issues.' It's not clear who is actually apologizing or accepting responsibility in the statement above. Defector's Albert Burneko noted that Grok is 'not in any real sense anything like an 'I',' which in his view makes the apology 'utterly without substance' as 'Grok cannot be held accountable in any meaningful way for having turned Twitter into an on-demand CSAM factory.' Some governments have taken notice, with India's IT ministry issuing an order on Friday saying that X must take action to restrict Grok from generating content that is 'obscene, pornographic, vulgar, indecent, sexually explicit, pedophilic, or otherwise prohibited under law.' The order said that X must respond within 72 hours or risk losing the 'safe harbor' protections that shield it from legal liability for user-generated content....
French startup Ynsect shot into the spotlight when 'Iron Man' star Robert Downey Jr. touted its merits on the Late Show during Super Bowl weekend 2021. Now, nearly four years later, the insect farming company has been placed into judicial liquidation ' essentially bankruptcy ' for insolvency. The company's demise is hardly a surprise, as Ynsect had been embattled for months. Still, there is plenty to unpack about how a startup can go bankrupt despite raising over $600 million, including from Downey Jr's FootPrint Coalition, taxpayers, and many others. Ultimately, Ynsect failed to fulfill its ambition to 'revolutionize the food chain' with insect-based protein. But don't be too quick to attribute its failure to the 'ick' factor that many Westerners feel about bugs. Human food was never its core focus. That indecision extended to its M&A strategy. In 2021, Ynsect acquired Protifarm, a Dutch company raising mealworms for human food applications, adding a third market to the mix. Even as the company announced the deal, then-CEO Antoine Hubert admitted it would take a couple of years for human food to represent just 10% to 15% of Ynsect's revenue....
Digital transformation often stalls when employees resist new technology. To overcome this common challenge, French spirits company Pernod Ricard drew upon four strategies: proving value through A/B testing, reducing risk by adjusting performance evaluations, investing in training and support, and leveraging internal champions. These efforts drove adoption rates as high as 85%, boosting sales up to 4.5% and marketing efficiency by 15%. In order to drive meaningful transformation, companies need to realize that technology on it's own can't drive value'humans need to be convinced to buy in....
The portfolio, purchased from Proudreed, spans 2.3 million square metres of urban warehouses located in France's largest cities, alongside land earmarked for development, according to people familiar with the deal. Logistics assets now account for more than half of Blackstone's European property holdings. The New York-based private equity giant began building exposure to the sector more than a decade ago, capitalising on the e-commerce boom that has driven rents and valuations higher. The transaction underscores Blackstone's continued conviction in warehouses as its largest European property strategy. Neither Blackstone nor Proudreed provided comment on the deal, which was first reported by Green Street News. Subscribe to our Newsletter to increase your edge. Don't worry about the news anymore, through our newsletter you'll receive weekly access to what is happening. Join 120,000 other PE professionals today....
