Kristi-Noems-220-million-DHS-ad-campaigns-cost-more-than.jpeg

Kristi Noem’s $220 million DHS ad campaigns cost more than some of Hollywood’s biggest hits

by with No Comment Xpandfy

Kristi Noem might not be a Hollywood star, but her department spent like the big studios.

The former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security was ousted from her post on Thursday, following months of controversy over her handling of immigration enforcement in Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

During Noem’s appearance before Congress on Tuesday, Senator John Kennedy, among other lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle, pressed Noem about the department’s spending of taxpayer dollars, including a $220 million ad contract.

The ads, which Noem said were intended to encourage undocumented immigrants to leave the US, included footage of the now-former secretary riding a horse in front of Mount Rushmore while delivering stern messages about border enforcement.

Lawmakers scrutinized the bidding process for the contracts behind the ad campaign, as well as the firms selected, raising questions about how taxpayer dollars were awarded and spent.

In her testimony, Noem defended the ads as “effective” and said President Donald Trump had approved the $220 million in spending. “We went through the legal processes, went through it correctly,” she said.

Trump later disputed that account, telling Reuters on Thursday, “I never knew anything about it.”

On social media, “The View” host Meghan McCain compared the DHS ad costs to the production budget for “Sinners.” The Ryan Coogler-directed movie, which recently set an Oscars record with 16 Academy Award nominations, had an estimated budget of $90 million, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

“Kristi Noem’s DHS vanity videos cost $130 million more than Sinners,” McCain wrote in an X post.

“Sinners” isn’t the only movie with a smaller budget than the department’s ad spending.

The $220 million price tag — which also accounted for media buying and placement, consulting fees, and related administrative expenses — surpasses the budgets for a list of blockbuster movies.

Here are 15 of them, as well as their reported budgets, which have been adjusted for inflation to reflect what those costs would be today.

And spoiler: some of your favorite movies might be included.




Source link

Image of Lakshmi Varanasi

Claude hits No. 1 on App Store as ChatGPT users defect in show of support for Anthropic’s Pentagon stance

by with No Comment Xpandfy

While OpenAI locks down Washington, Anthropic is locking down users and rocketing to the top of the App Store.

Anthropic has been sidelined in Washington following a public dispute with the Department of Defense over how its AI models would be deployed. President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to phase out its technology.

Meanwhile, OpenAI has secured new ground, with CEO Sam Altman announcing in a Friday night post on X that it had reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy AI models in its classified network.

OpenAI’s agreement has left some loyal ChatGPT users uneasy about OpenAI’s ambitions, prompting online debates about the ethical implications — and some saying they were defecting to its rival Claude.

As of 6:38 p.m. ET on Saturday, Claude ranked number one among the most downloaded productivity apps on Apple’s App Store, trailing ChatGPT.


A screencap of the app store

BI



Converts have taken to social media to share screenshots documenting their switch.

Pop musician Katy Perry wrote that she was “done” on X, alongside a screenshot of Claude’s pricing page, with a red heart around the $20-per-month “Pro” plan.

Another X user, Adam Lyttle, wrote “Made the switch,” alongside a screenshot of his email inbox with a receipt from Anthropic and cancellation confirmation from OpenAI.

On Reddit’s ChatGPT subreddit, dozens of users say they’ve deleted their accounts and are urging others to do the same.

“Cancel ChatGPT” has become a common refrain online, while some users have taken a more personal tone, saying Altman’s move “crossed the line.”

The agreement hasn’t polarized all AI users, however.

In one Reddit thread, several commenters said the news does not affect their choice of AI model, arguing that Anthropic’s work with Palantir raises similar concerns. In November 2024, Anthropic, Palantir, and Amazon Web Services struck an agreement to provide US intelligence and defense agencies access to Claude models.

After Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said he would designate Anthropic as a “supply chain risk to national security,” Anthropic said it would “challenge any supply chain risk designation in court.”

In his Friday post, Altman said the Department of War had agreed with two of OpenAI’s safety principles.

“Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems,” Altman wrote on X. “The DoW agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement.”

By Saturday afternoon, OpenAI published a more detailed description of its contract with the DoW, including the specific language it used surrounding the use of its models for surveillance and autonomous weapons.

On the topic of autonomous weapons, OpenAI said:

The AI System will not be used to independently direct autonomous weapons in any case where law, regulation, or Department policy requires human control, nor will it be used to assume other high-stakes decisions that require approval by a human decisionmaker under the same authorities.

On the topic of mass surveillance, OpenAI said:

The AI System shall not be used for unconstrained monitoring of U.S. persons’ private information as consistent with these authorities.

While some chatbot users suggested it’s all fair in business, war, and federal procurement, others suggested the Pentagon’s stance may have handed Anthropic a public relations win.

X user Tae Kim joked that Hegseth might need a new title: “Secretary Hegseth Chief of Claude Marketing.”




Source link

Polly Thompson

Elon Musk’s Starlink is adding 20,000 new users a day as it hits 9 million customers

by with No Comment Xpandfy

Moving at superspeed isn’t limited to SpaceX’s rockets.

Elon Musk’s satellite and rocket company has secured one million new customers for its Starlink internet in under seven weeks and is now active in 155 markets, the company wrote in a post on X on Monday evening.

“Starlink is connecting more than 9M active customers with high-speed internet across 155 countries, territories, and many other markets,” the company said.

In a similar post from November 5, SpaceX said Starlink had 8 million customers, meaning that its customer base has expanded at a rate of more than 20,000 per day since that date.

SpaceX, which uses a constellation of more than 9,000 low-orbit satellites to provide its Starlink internet connection, including to remote areas, is reportedly planning to go public next year at a valuation of $1.5 trillion.

Elon Musk, who founded the company in 2002, said this month that the satellite network was “by far” the largest driver of SpaceX’s revenue.

The numbers close an explosive year of growth for SpaceX. In a December 2024 progress report, SpaceX said Starlink had 4.6 million customers, and by August 2025, the number was up to 7 million.

Global web traffic from users on SpaceX’s satellite-based internet service more than doubled in 2025, according to data from Cloudflare, a cybersecurity company that handles tens of millions of requests between users and websites every second.

Around two dozen airlines have also announced plans to use Starlink to offer high-speed WiFi on their planes, and SpaceX has signalled it could soon launch its own mobile carrier service powered by the satellite network.

SpaceX has successfully commercialized reusable rockets, a feat previously thought impossible by many within the space industry, and now launches more cargo into orbit than any other company.

It has also capitalized on opportunities that emerged as NASA and the Pentagon moved away from government-only spaceflight, and filled a massive unmet demand in global connectivity.

Led by Musk, who is the CEO and founder, SpaceX is also known for its intense, efficiency-driven culture.

SpaceX ultimately plans to fulfill its billionaire founder’s ambitious visions of colonizing Mars and putting data centers in space with its giant Starship rocket.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.




Source link