The conservative influencer who <a href="https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-mothers-of-children-blended-family-8668121">claims to be the mother</a> of yet another of Elon Musk's children has sold her Tesla — and, of course, used it as a photo op.
In an <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14554563/Elon-Musk-Ashley-St-Clair-selling-Tesla-child-support.html">interview with the Daily Mail</a>, 26-year-old Ashley St. Clair claimed that she had to sell her Model S because the billionaire she had a baby with has cut her child support.
"I need to make up for the 60 percent cut that Elon made to our son's child support," St. Clair told a reporter with the British tabloid, who apparently showed up to her Manhattan apartment just as the Tesla was being loaded away.
Back in February, the former Babylon Bee writer <a href="https://x.com/stclairashley/status/1890554279749951687">took to Musk's social network</a> to drop a bombshell: that she'd had the billionaire's love child in secret after a whirlwind romance. About a month later, her <a href="https://people.com/elon-musk-reduced-financial-support-substantially-after-ashley-st-clair-sues-him-11700769">attorneys revealed to People</a> magazine that the multi-hyphenate billionaire "financially retaliated" against St. Clair for filing a custody petition by reducing their purported baby's child support payments.
In the same statement, the influencer's attorneys claimed that Musk tried to get a judge to instate an emergency gag order against St. Clair. A judge slapped down the "emergency" designation, but the matter still has not been resolved.
"Ashley is vigorously opposing this application in order to preserve her right to speak-out. All while Mr. Musk fashions himself a first amendment warrior and freely communicates via his owned social media platform," the woman's lawyers wrote in their statement to People. "Given that Mr. Musk is dedicated to transparency in government, it would be helpful if he administered his own life by the same principles."
St. Clair seemed to reference that statement when the Mail asked if her child's father, who is more than twice her age, was being "vindictive."
"Well, that's his modus operandi when women speak out," she said. "You can check the stocks: I'm not the only one who is cleaning up after his messes."
Indeed, St. Clair's latest stunt was accompanied by news that Musk himself had begun whining about Tesla's stock plummeting amid massive protests against the company vis-a-vis his role in Donald Trump's administration.
"What they’re trying to do is put massive pressure on me, and Tesla I guess, to... stop doing this," the <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-dad-emerald-mine">conflict gem scion</a> said at a town hall event in Wisconsin, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-31/musk-sees-tesla-as-a-buying-opportunity-despite-doge-blowback">per Bloomberg</a>. "My Tesla stock and the stock of everyone who holds Tesla has gone, went roughly in half. I mean it’s a big deal."
Credit where credit is due: St. Clair and her legal team are very good at the art of the clapback. But that doesn't mean we have all that much sympathy for anyone who worked <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/03/us/snopes-babylon-bee.html">at the </a><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/03/us/snopes-babylon-bee.html">Babylon Bee</a> — or, for that matter, anyone who thought having a child with Musk was a good idea.
More on Musk's family values: <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-vivian-wilson-reddit-discovery">Elon Musk Is Such a Garbage-Tier Dad That His Kids Find Out About Their New Siblings While Browsing Reddit</a>

Photo Op

Influencer's gotta influence. 

Mother of Elon's Child So Disgusted With Him That She Sells Her Tesla

As it struggles to hit its stride in the generative AI race, Apple is quietly working on an "AI doctor service," <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-03-30/apple-readies-biggest-push-into-health-yet-with-revamped-app-ai-doctor-service-m8vl97k2">Bloomberg </a><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-03-30/apple-readies-biggest-push-into-health-yet-with-revamped-app-ai-doctor-service-m8vl97k2">reports</a> — a move that the company seemingly hopes will revitalize its foray into medical tech.
The secret initiative — dubbed Project Mulberry and nicknamed "Health+" — aims to give a facelift to Apple's fairly basic Health app, along with integrating a "health coach." Bloomberg described the service as being powered "by a new AI agent that would replicate — at least to some extent — a real doctor."
The use of the term "<a href="https://futurism.com/ai-agents-dark-internet">AI agent</a>" here is noteworthy, as it entails a higher degree of autonomy than a model described as an AI assistant.
Using your Apple devices like an iPhone or Apple Watch, the idea is that the revamped Health app will collect all sorts of health metrics ranging from your heart-rate. Then, based on that data, the AI doctor will recommend ways to improve your health.
Just how deep will these recommendations go? Per the report, the Health app will have a major emphasis on food tracking, something that the current app doesn't do. In some shape or form, the AI doctor is supposed to help users with those nutrition features, though it's unclear how.
Ambitiously, Apple is also working on using your phone's camera so the AI agent can study your workout, giving you tips on your form.
It's worth being skeptical about how these features will work in practice. Apple's stab at AI, <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/apple-ai-announcement-new-ideas">Apple Intelligence</a>, was largely seen as an <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/iphone-unimpressed-apple-intelligence-ai">underwhelming flop</a>.
The greatest concern is the tech's <a href="https://futurism.com/openai-admits-gpt45-hallucinates">proclivity for hallucinating</a>, something that Apple caught flak for when its AI constantly <a href="https://futurism.com/apple-ai-butchering-news-summaries">butchered summaries of news headlines</a>, leading the company to suspend the feature.
These misinformation risks won't go away with deploying an "AI doctor." If anything, the stakes will be higher.
To that end, Apple is trying to assemble a medical A-team, including experts in sleep, nutrition, physical therapy, mental health, and cardiology, per Bloomberg, to create explainer videos that the AI doctor would refer patients to. If your data shows poor heart rate trends, for example, then the AI would show you a video made by one of these doctors about the risk of heart disease. Apple is also searching for a "major doctor personality" to serve as the face of the service.
As it stands, the project is the top priority for Apple's entire health division, and is being led by Sumbul Desai, a Stanford doctor who serves as the company's VP of health. A release is due as early as iOS 19.4, according to the report, a software update that's anticipated to rollout next spring or summer.
More on AI: <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-test-coreweave">AI's "Biggest Test" Is Turning Into a Catastrophe as CoreWeave Flounders</a>

Apple a Day

An AI agent to "replicate" a real doctor.

Apple Quietly Working on AI Agent to "Replica" a Human Doctor

The DNA data from around 15 million people around the world is going on sale.
As <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01004-3">Nature reports</a>, consumer-genomics company 23andMe has <a href="https://futurism.com/neoscope/23andme-bankrupt-data-vulnerable">filed for bankruptcy</a> — and legal permission to auction off all of that data. To some, it's an enormous risk to consumer privacy, but to some scientists, it's a major opportunity for research.
"As far as I know, this is the most amount of genetic data that is potentially changing hands," University of Iowa bioethicist Anya Prince told Nature.
And while privacy advocates have <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/30/23andme-bankruptcy-selling-deleting-dna-genetic-testing.html">rung the alarm bells</a> over the potential for all that genomic data falling into the wrong hands — and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/03/24/23andme-dna-privacy-delete/">reminded customers to delete their data</a> — others argue it could be used for good instead, especially considering its sheer scale.
"If a future buyer is not interested in research collaborations, it would be a great shame that the potential this data holds for human health advances would not be realized," University of Exeter geneticist Rachel Freathy, whose research collaboration with 23andMe was cut short due to the bankruptcy, told Nature.
While we "don’t have to freak out yet," as Baylor College of Medicine bioethicist Amy McGuire added, 23andMe could alter its privacy policy in the future, allowing the likes of insurance companies or law enforcement agencies to access the data. As a result, experts warn premiums could rise for those at risk of developing genetic diseases, while other customers could come up in forensic DNA searches.
Besides the threat of changing terms of service, 23andMe has already proven to be vulnerable to hacking. The personal data of <a class="underline hover:text-neoscope hover:no-underline transition-all duration-200 ease-in-out" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/feb/15/23andme-hack-data-genetic-data-selling-response">nearly seven million customers</a> was exposed in 2023, the result of a "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/feb/15/23andme-hack-data-genetic-data-selling-response">very dumb</a>" security lapse.
One of the bidders at the upcoming auction will be 23andMe's cofounder Anne Wojcicki, who resigned as CEO following the announcement that the company had filed for bankruptcy.
Wojcicki, who has made several takeover bids in the past, resigned "so I can be in the best position to pursue the company as an independent bidder," she wrote in a <a href="https://x.com/annewoj23/status/1904036140077969563">March 24 statement</a>.
Whether her efforts to gain control over the data will prove successful remains to be seen. It's also unclear what would happen with the data under her independent ownership.
"Our foundation was the trust and respect of our customers, and they were always the guiding light on how we made decisions," she wrote. "If I am fortunate enough to secure the company’s assets through the restructuring process, I remain committed to our long-term vision of being a global leader in genetics and establishing genetics as a fundamental part of healthcare ecosystems worldwide."
Fellow cofounder Linda Avey took a notably different tack, blasting the company's leadership in a <a href="https://x.com/lindaavey/status/1904944197171318928">March 26 tweet</a>.
"Without continued consumer-focused product development, and without governance, 23andMe lost its way, and society missed a key opportunity in furthering the idea of personalized health," she wrote. "There are many cautionary tales buried in the 23andMe story."
According to Nature, an auction could happen as soon as May 14 — a high-stakes sale with the DNA of 15 million people in the balance.
More on 23andMe: <a href="https://futurism.com/neoscope/23andme-bankrupt-data-vulnerable">23andMe Is Crumbling, and That Means Your Genetic Data Is Blowing in the Breeze</a>

23andYall

Genetics

"There are many cautionary tales buried in the 23andMe story."

23andMe Is Selling All Your Data, in Largest Sale of Genomes in History

Jared Isaacman, the billionaire fighter jet pilot-turned-SpaceX astronaut, <a href="https://x.com/rookisaacman/status/1906700302083826101">has shared a photo</a> of himself during his unusual "commute into DC" — which involved a Cessna CJ4 private jet.
The entrepreneur, who is estimated to be worth $1.9 billion, was <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/trump-names-jared-isaacman-space-tourist-head-nasa">tapped late last year by president Donald Trump</a> to lead NASA, and he's chosen to head into the nation's capital to "meet with Senators this week" in a style that feels like a perfect illustration of the billionaires now running the government.
That's likely in anticipation of being sworn in, a decision that has seemingly been delayed by several months now. In his absence, NASA's acting administrator Janet Petro has been cracking the whip, <a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-disgusted-elon-musk-layoffs">overseeing mass layoffs</a> and a major clampdown on personal freedoms among employees, including the <a href="https://www.space.com/space-exploration/nasa-verbally-orders-employees-to-purge-workspaces-of-lgbtqi-symbols">purging of any paraphernalia</a> related to the LBGTQ movement.
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My commute into DC—the city looks amazing this time of year. Grateful to meet with Senators this week and honored to be nominated by <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> to lead the world’s greatest space agency 🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/NyOlwR7oWI">pic.twitter.com/NyOlwR7oWI</a>
&mdash; Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) <a href="https://twitter.com/rookisaacman/status/1906700302083826101?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
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But as <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/03/momentum-seems-to-be-building-for-jared-isaacman-to-become-nasa-administrator/">Ars Technica reported</a> last week, momentum appears to be building for Isaacman to take over. That's despite senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) — who chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and is expected to reside over swearing-in procedures — voicing some concerns.
First and foremost, given Isaacman's extremely close proximity to SpaceX CEO and unelected White House hatchet man Elon Musk, concerns over NASA ditching its plans to return to the lunar surface in <a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-gutting-plans-moon-landing-artemis">favor of visiting Mars</a> first could lead to tensions during Isaacman's hearing.
Isaacman has traveled to space twice during two all-private missions involving SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsules. This past August, he became the <a class="underline hover:text-the-byte hover:no-underline transition-all duration-200 ease-in-out" href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-prepares-private-spacewalk">first-ever civilian</a> to embark on a spacewalk.
That kind of close association with Musk could end up being a major hindrance — or a carte blanche. Musk has gained a tremendous amount of influence over the federal government's budget allocations through his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, including at NASA.
In fact, recent reporting suggests that he and his space firm are looking to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/elon-musk-nasa-mars-space-travel-d3978a7b">assume control over much of what's left</a> of the space agency.
Isaacman himself has largely stayed out of the limelight and his own stance on critical matters, perhaps most notably NASA's plans to return to the Moon, <a href="https://futurism.com/incoming-nasa-administrator-jared-isaacman-no-idea">remains unclear at best</a>.
His relationship with SpaceX, however, could prove a sticking point. In a <a href="https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/bbdae8a26e62760d/3edd888b-full.pdf#page=4">March 12 letter</a> to NASA's chief legal officer Iris Lan, he argued that any possible conflicts of interest wouldn't be an issue.
"In the event that an actual or potential conflict of interest arises during my appointment, I will consult with an agency ethics official and take the measures necessary to resolve the conflict, such as recusal from the particular matter or divestiture of an asset," he wrote.
Whether that will be enough to appease Congress remains to be seen.
However, as Ars reports, the space travel community appears to have his back. A group of more than two dozen former astronauts sent Cruz a letter in support of Isaacman, arguing that he's "uniquely qualified to lead NASA at the critical juncture."
How all of this will play out is anybody's guess. Morale at the space agency is at historically low levels given its plundering by the Trump administration. Workers were given far less notice of their impending firing than contractually agreed upon and were even denied time-off awards.
That kind of callous treatment had many employees furious.
"Everybody’s lost confidence," one employee who remains at the agency <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/24/science/nasa-layoffs-policy-office/index.html">told CNN</a>. "What was the urgency? It just seems cruel."
In short, it'd be an understatement to say that Isaacman has a lot of fires to put out. Questions surrounding his close relationship with SpaceX are bound to come up — especially if NASA does decide to nix its Moon program to fulfill Musk's personal wish to send astronauts to Mars.
According to Ars senior reporter Eric Berger, chances are we'll hear more about Isaacman's swearing-in soon.
"One-on-one meetings with US senators are a precursor to a committee hearing for Isaacman to become NASA administrator," he <a href="https://x.com/SciGuySpace/status/1906701157851857076">tweeted in response</a> to Isaacman's latest post. "The timeline is not firm, but such a hearing could come in late April, with confirmation in May."
More on Isaacman: <a href="https://futurism.com/incoming-nasa-administrator-jared-isaacman-no-idea">Incoming NASA Administrator Brags That He Has No Idea What's Going On</a>

Like a G6

It's quite a commute.

Billionaire SpaceX Customer Flies Private Jet Into DC to Become New Head of NASA

<h2>Arctic Blast</h2>
A rocket by German startup Isar Aerospace tore into the sky over Norway's Arctic Andoeya Spaceport, a European launch base for small satellites, over the weekend — only to plummet back down to the ground, exploding in a dramatic fireball.
Fortunately, while the spaceport's "crisis management" was triggered, nobody was hurt.
As <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2025/03/30/europe-satellite-launches-german-isar-aerospace/82731586007/">Reuters reports</a>, the rocket, dubbed Spectrum, was meant to kick off Europe's efforts to keep up with steep international competition when it comes to launching satellites into orbit. The company says it's the first rocket designed for orbital flight that has ever been launched from continental Europe, excluding Russia.
Elon Musk's SpaceX, in particular, has made major headwinds in establishing a massive constellation of Starlink satellites.
"Europe urgently needs to ensure its sovereignty in space," said Marie-Christine von Hahn, managing director of Germany's BDLI aerospace industries association, in a statement, as quoted by Reuters. "Elon Musk's Starlink is not without alternatives — nor should it be."
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Video of Isar Aerospace Spectrum hitting the ground. 
Video from <a href="https://twitter.com/vgnett?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@vgnett</a> <a href="https://t.co/lnCe90a17l">pic.twitter.com/lnCe90a17l</a>
&mdash; VSB - Space Coast West (@spacecoastwest) <a href="https://twitter.com/spacecoastwest/status/1906297425062428674?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
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<h2>Launch, Rinse, Repeat</h2>
While the launch may have resulted in an epic fireball — in glorious footage of a rocket exploding in front of gorgeous, snow-covered mountains — Isar Aerospace claims it was an important step in the right direction.
"With this test flight, we were able to successfully gather valuable data and experience for future missions," the company <a href="https://x.com/isaraerospace/status/1906307144728649990">tweeted</a>. "Thanks to strict safety procedures from both Isar Aerospace and Andøya Spaceport, all personnel remained safe at all times."
"Isar Aerospace met its set goals: After ignition of its first stage, Spectrum successfully lifted off," the company wrote in a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/30/europe/isar-aerospace-orbital-rocket-launch-norway-intl/index.html">statement</a>, "for its first test flight lasting approximately 30 seconds. This allowed the company to gather a substantial amount of flight data and experience to apply on future missions."
It's a particularly noteworthy development, given Europe's <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2025/03/16/european-armies-seek-to-urgently-end-dependence-on-us_6739212_19.html">broader goals of reducing its dependence</a> on the United States, particularly when it comes to security.
"We will be able to serve customers from around the world to bring their satellites into space and to help Europe solve a major blind spot in its security architecture: access to space," said Isar Aerospace CEO and cofounder Daniel Metzler in a statement.
"Launch, learn, repeat," the company <a href="https://x.com/isaraerospace/status/1906418985173758236">wrote</a>, echoing SpaceX's <a href="https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2023/04/26/starship-the-iterative-design-methodology/385278/">iterative design methodology</a>.
More on Starlink: <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-faa-spacex-contract">It Looks an Awful Lot Like Elon Musk Is Awarding a Huge Government Contract to Himself</a>

Arctic Blast

We've never seen a rocket explode with this kind of view before.

Rocket Falls in Icy Wasteland, Explodes in Epic Fireball

Tonight, SpaceX is scheduled to launch a first-of-its-kind mission that will carry four private astronauts — or depending on how you see it, glorified space tourists — to fly above the Earth's poles.
Named "Fram2" after the Norwegian ship that made expeditions to both the Earth's poles over a century ago, the mission will use a SpaceX <a href="https://futurism.com/chunk-spacex-rocket-crashed-garden">Falcon 9 rocket</a> to carry a Crew Dragon capsule containing the crew to an altitude between 264 to 280 miles.
The mission commander is the same person who's financing it: Malta-based crypto entrepreneur Chun Wang, who founded the Bitcoin mining pool F2Pool.
Wang is joined by three of his pals: Norwegian cinematographer Jannicke Mikkelsen, who will be the vehicle commander; German robotics researcher Rabea Rogge, the mission's pilot; and Australian polar explorer Eric Philips, the mission specialist and medical officer. None of them have ever flown into space before.
Inexperienced as they may be, the crew will be venturing to where no astronauts have ever gone before: directly above the Earth's poles. During their three-to-five-day stay in space, the Crew Dragon spacecraft will attempt to fly at a 90 degree orbital inclination, putting its path perfectly perpendicular to the Earth's equator.
Historically, there was little reason to fly at these steep inclinations, which burns more fuel and can put a spacecraft's path, when launched from the US, over heavily populated areas. There's also less protection from space radiation over the poles. Until now, the crewed mission that came closest to polar orbit was the Soviet Vostok 6 mission, which reached an inclination of about 65 degrees, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/30/science/fram2-space-tourism-spacex/index.html">according to CNN</a>.
Besides its unique trajectory, Fram2 boasts a bevy of scientific objectives, with the crew expected to carry out 22 experiments. Some of the research includes monitoring how humans adapt to motion sickness in space, growing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/mar/26/perfect-space-crop-australian-company-to-attempt-to-grow-first-mushrooms-in-orbit">mushrooms in microgravity</a>, and testing the use of blood flow restriction exercise. The mission is also collaborating with startups to explore whether space conditions can disrupt sleep patterns and women's hormone levels (half of the crew members, Mikkelsen and Rogge, are women.)
Perhaps the most spectacular item on the bucket list is observing an atmospheric phenomenon known as the Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement, or <a href="https://www.space.com/what-is-steve">STEVE</a>, a streak of light in the night sky that often accompanies the northern lights, which has seldom been observed from space.
Some experts, however, are dubious about the actual scientific value of some aspects of Fram2.
"There's nothing unique to a polar orbit, (and) the science advantages are kind of overblown," John Prussing, professor emeritus of aerospace engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, told CNN. 
"This is a private mission. You need something to say that's different and exciting about it," echoed Christopher Combs, associate dean of research at the Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design at the University of Texas at San Antonio. It's "a notch above gimmick," Combs told CNN, "but not exactly a groundbreaking milestone."
Fram2 is slated to lift off from Florida as early as 9:46 PM EST tonight, but delays are common.
More on spaceflight: <a href="https://futurism.com/fireballs-spacex-crew-dragon">Fireballs Appear Around the World as Parts of SpaceX Crew Dragon Scream Back to Earth</a>

Pole Position

A world's first.

SpaceX Launching First-Ever Astronauts Over Earth's Poles Tonight

Experts have <a href="https://futurism.com/stephen-hawking-ai-replace-humans">long warned</a> that artificial intelligence is making its way into <a href="https://futurism.com/msn-is-publishing-more-fake-news">every corner</a> of <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/02/13/ai-artificial-intelligence-us-government-elon-musk-doge-trump/">our lives</a> — but we didn't necessarily expect it to seep into our actual dreams.
According to a new survey <a href="https://amerisleep.com/blog/dreaming-of-ai/">funded by the mattress company Amerisleep</a>, one in five people are regularly having dreams about AI. Unsurprisingly, most of those dreams were rooted in anxiety — and often, they were nightmares.
The mattress makers asked 1,000 people in the United States a battery of questions regarding AI and dreams. While a majority (56 percent) said they dream about AI less than once per month, nearly one in five said they have one AI dream in the same time period, and 16 percent said they have more than one. Nearly 10 percent, meanwhile, said they have at least one dream about the technology per week.
Though one in five of total survey respondents said they have AI dreams, that figure went up based on various demographics. Nearly a quarter of surveyed Gen Z-ers, or those born after 1997, said they've dreamed about AI — and of those, one in six said they have nightmares about losing their jobs to the technology (the survey summary didn't say how many Millennials and Gen Xers dreamt about AI).
According to Amerisleep's analysis, more than a quarter of participants said their biggest subconscious concern seemed to be about AI taking over the world. An additional 26 percent said they dreamt about speaking to AI as if it were a person, while 19 percent of total respondents said that losing jobs to the tech was a common dream scenario.
And speaking of, "Dream Scenario" star Nicholas Cage has, coincidentally enough, also been talking about AI nightmares recently.
During his <a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/nicolas-cage-slams-ai-robots-cannot-reflect-human-condition-1236294371/">acceptance speech</a> at the Saturn Awards in February, for which he won "best actor in a film" for the picture, the inimitable thespian suggested that he found the rise of AI — and its ability to worm its way into our subconscious — one of the most "disturbing" things occurring in the world.
"I am a big believer in not letting robots dream for us," Cage said. "Robots cannot reflect the human condition for us."
Obviously, the <a href="https://lithub.com/on-the-jealous-rivalry-between-nicolas-cage-and-his-uncle-francis-ford-coppola/">lowkey Coppola</a> was using "dream" in a more metaphysical sense to refer to art — but the sentiment stands, especially in light of the surreal dream-focused movie for which he was taking home the award.
"That is a dead end if an actor lets one AI robot manipulate his or her performance even a little bit, an inch will eventually become a mile and all integrity, purity and truth of art will be replaced by financial interests only," the icon said. "We can’t let that happen."
The "Mandy" star was, as he often is, right on the money with that one — and in light of this new survey about AI dreaming, <a href="https://futurism.com/studio-ghibli-openai-mizayazaki-ai-art-disgusting">that sort of warning</a> feels more prescient than ever.
More on weird AI side effects: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/chatgpt-dependence-addiction">Something Bizarre Is Happening to People Who Use ChatGPT a Lot</a>

Dreamscapes

We now know that androids do, in fact, dream of electric sheep. 

Large Numbers of People Report Horrific Nightmares About AI

Who said there's an <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/03/18/nx-s1-5330454/egg-shortages-record-prices-usda-canada">egg crisis</a>?
NASA's Perseverance Rover has stumbled across an extremely strange rock that's "astonished" scientists while exploring the rim of the Jezero crater on Mars.
Nicknamed "<a href="https://science.nasa.gov/blog/shocking-spherules/">St. Pauls Bay</a>," the rock is made up of hundreds of densely packed, millimeter-sized dark spheres — not unlike an insect's slimy egg cluster. 
These "spherules," as they're known, are somewhat heterogeneous. As seen in a closeup taken with Perseverance's SuperCam Remote Micro Imager, some of them appear more elliptical while others are more angular. Stranger still, some spherules have tiny pinholes through their centers. 
In short, they're nothing like the rocks that make up the surrounding landscape, which are lighter and flatter.
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I&#39;m finding bumpy rocks on this side of Mars, too!
While different than yours, these spheres are created when droplets of molten rock are thrown into the air by volcanoes or meteorite impacts. The droplets cool as they travel, forming round shapes. <a href="https://t.co/w0b59yw3Sk">https://t.co/w0b59yw3Sk</a> <a href="https://t.co/ueJY9mM0Ku">pic.twitter.com/ueJY9mM0Ku</a>
&mdash; NASA&#39;s Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere/status/1905400665654132776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
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NASA scientists have encountered puzzling spherules in the past. As far back as 2004, the Mars Opportunity rover, during its expedition in the Meridiani Planum, spotted what's come to be known as "<a href="https://science.nasa.gov/resource/martian-blueberries-2/">Martian Blueberries</a>" — loose, smoothly surfaced pebbles, each roughly an inch across. And last year, Perseverance found light-colored sedimentary rocks with an uneven "<a href="https://science.nasa.gov/blog/perseverance-finds-popcorn-on-planet-mars/">popcorn-like</a>" texture.
In keeping with the appetizing analogues, these latest instances of spherules, found on a slope of the Jezero's crater's western rim called Witch Hazel Hill, are more like geological Dippin' Dots.
Whereas previous spherules were thought to be concretions — the result of groundwater flowing through sediment and depositing minerals that clump around small nuclei of rocks, forming a larger ovoid over time — it's not clear what formed St. Pauls Bay. 
Some spherules form when droplets of molten rock spewed in a volcanic eruption rapidly cool. Mars, home to the largest volcano in the solar system, has a long history of volcanism, so this could be the case. But spherules can also form by rocks that are vaporized in a meteorite strike, which condense into an ovoid in the aftermath; Mars is <a href="https://phys.org/news/2024-06-analysis-nasa-insight-mars-meteoroids.html">routinely bombarded by space rocks</a>.
Right now, it's impossible to determine St. Pauls Bay's origins because it's a float rock, a type of loose rock that's not part of the surrounding bedrock and originated from somewhere else.
The search, however, is far from over.
"The team are now working to link the spherule-rich texture observed at St. Pauls Bay to the wider stratigraphy at Witch Hazel Hill, and initial observations have provided tantalizing indications that it could be linked to one of the dark-toned layers identified by the team from orbit," Alex Jones, a Mars researcher at Imperial College London, <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/blog/shocking-spherules/">wrote in a NASA blog</a>. "Placing these features in geologic context will be critical for understanding their origin, and determining their significance for the geological history of the Jezero crater rim and beyond!"
More on Mars: <a href="https://futurism.com/evidence-huge-ocean-mars-surface">Readings Show Evidence of Huge Ocean Under Mars' Surface</a>

Egg-Citing

Totally out of place.

Scientists Puzzled When Mars Rover Finds Egg-Like Rock

Despite SpaceX already being NASA's largest private contractor, Elon Musk is still hellbent on assuming control over the space agency.
As the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/elon-musk-nasa-mars-space-travel-d3978a7b">Wall Street Journal reports</a>, the mercurial CEO is doing much in his power to push NASA to <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-scrap-nasa-moon-program">skip its planned journeys to the Moon</a> and focus on Mars instead, highlighting his <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-city-mars-death-catastrophe">long-term ambitions</a> of establishing a human presence there.
Exerting his will at the agency could soon become even easier, with billionaire tech founder — and deep-pocketed <a class="underline hover:text-futurism hover:no-underline transition-all duration-200 ease-in-out" href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/first-person-footage-astronaut-spacex-spacewalk">SpaceX space tourist</a> — Jared Isaacman expected to be sworn in as NASA administrator <a href="https://x.com/SciGuySpace/status/1906701157851857076">within the coming months</a>.
Per the WSJ, Musk has reached out to Isaacman to reiterate his desire to work together to get humans to Mars.
The space agency has already suffered greatly due to Musk's efforts to gut the federal government with the help of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency. NASA <a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-disgusted-elon-musk-layoffs">was hit with mass layoffs</a> earlier this year, with affected workers <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/24/science/nasa-layoffs-policy-office/index.html">given short notice and denied time-off awards</a>.
According to the WSJ's sources, the White House is still considering <a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-sls-moon-rocket-might-be-canceled">canceling NASA's Space Launch System</a> (SLS), a behemoth rocket that's being designed to send astronauts to the Moon before the end of this decade.
It would be a major change of course for the agency, as plans are already well underway. Just last week, the core stage of NASA's SLS rocket for its upcoming crewed Artemis II mission around the Moon was <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2025/03/24/nasas-artemis-ii-core-stage-integration-complete-at-kennedy/">stacked with its solid rocket boosters</a>, taking a major step towards its anticipated launch roughly a year from now.
Freeing up those funds to spend them on its efforts to return to Mars instead could raise plenty of eyebrows, given Musk's <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-doge-gutting-nhtsa-tesla">enormous conflict of interest</a>. SpaceX officials have been informing people outside the company that the space agency's resources will be reallocated toward Mars efforts, the WSJ reports.
That kind of reassignment could be of great benefit to Musk's company, which is already working on a large rocket designed for interplanetary travel called Starship.
Musk's DOGE has also aimed at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/us/politics/trump-firings-faa.html">gutting the Federal Aviation Administration</a>, which has been responsible for ensuring that Starship launches follow air safety laws.
According to the WSJ, key SpaceX officials are already gaining power at the space agency. Longtime SpaceX executive Michael Altenhofen, who is close to Isaacman, was installed as a senior advisor in January.
But is NASA really ready to ditch plans that have been decades in the making? A spokeswoman didn't rule out the possibility that NASA is still committed to "return Americans to the lunar surface," in a statement to the WSJ.
However, given Musk's animosity toward NASA's Artemis program, the country's upcoming return to the lunar surface could be on thin ice.
"No, we’re going straight to Mars," Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1875023335891026324">tweeted in January</a>. "The Moon is a distraction."
In a <a class="underline hover:text-futurism hover:no-underline transition-all duration-200 ease-in-out" href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1871997501970235656">separate tweet</a> a week earlier, Musk  accused the space agency's Moon program of being "extremely inefficient as it is a jobs-maximizing program, not a results-maximizing program."
Musk has even called for the <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-calls-destroying-space-station-soon">early abolishment of the International Space Station</a>, which <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-argument-iss-destroy">angered former astronauts</a>.
During his inaugural address, Trump also <a href="https://www.space.com/space-exploration/us-will-plant-american-flag-on-mars-trump-tells-congress">declared</a> that his administration would be "launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars," indicating he's very much aligned with Musk's vision.
But pulling off an enormous U-turn this far into NASA's plans to return to the Moon could prove extremely expensive and a major setback. Besides, gutting the Artemis program will likely draw the ire of powerful bipartisan supporters in Congress.
"Starship? I want success out of it," representative Brian Babin (R-TX) wrote in a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-02-12/nasa-s-boeing-built-sls-moon-rocket-won-t-be-easy-to-cancel?sref=YfHlo0rL">February statement</a>. "But for us to beat the Chinese... it’s going to have to be SLS that does it."
More on NASA: <a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-disgusted-elon-musk-layoffs">NASA Disgusted by Elon Musk's Disrespect</a>

Mars Uber Alles

Is NASA really getting ready to cancel the Artemis program?

Elon Musk Secretly Working to Take Over NASA

So far, the AI industry has enjoyed smooth sailing. It's courted billions in <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-researchers-tech-industry-dead-end">slap-happy investments</a> and <a href="https://newsroom.ibm.com/2024-01-10-Data-Suggests-Growth-in-Enterprise-Adoption-of-AI-is-Due-to-Widespread-Deployment-by-Early-Adopters">sign-first, read-later</a> contracts, ballooning some Silicon Valley companies to the top of the <a href="https://pathstone.com/the-magnificent-seven-leading-the-ai-revolution/">financial food chain</a>.
Now it's facing its toughest challenge yet in the form of CoreWeave, the AI processing company that went public on the stock market this week and the first all-AI startup to do so. It was said to be a <a href="https://futurism.com/coreweaves-ipo-disaster-ai-industry">major test</a> for the industry — and so far it's failing, miserably.
CoreWeave stocks hit the public market with a wet thud on Friday, opening at $39, down slightly from its IPO price of $40 per share, which was already reduced from the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/coreweave-ask-47-55-per-share-ipo-sources-say-2025-03-19/">highest projection</a> of $55 per share the previous week. The company's hopes of raising <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/technology/coreweave-stock.html">$4 billion</a> in the offering thus fell way short at a soggy $1.5 billion.
That flat opening helped spurn a rough day for the <a href="https://www.investors.com/research/magnificent-seven-stocks-march-2025/">Magnificent 7</a> — the term used to describe Google, Nvidia, Amazon, Tesla, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft — which all tumbled following announcements of Donald Trump's <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-nvidia-lose-ground-markets-181400848.html">auto tariffs</a>. Nvidia, the chip giant that's tried to prop up CoreWeave, saw its stock price fall 1.5 percent on Friday, after a 2.1 percent fall on Thursday. Apple, meanwhile, fell 2.5 percent, while Amazon tumbled 4.5 percent, and Tesla dived 3.7 ahead of <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/live-blog/tesla-elon-musk-anti-trump-protests-rcna198708">worldwide protests</a> aimed at CEO Elon Musk.
Though CoreWeave isn't entirely to blame for the M7's terrible rotten day, its failure to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coreweave-ipo-stock-price-crwv-ai-nvidia-tech-stocks-2025-3">instill faith</a> in the tech industry and stave off <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/21/the-magnificent-7s-lousy-year-by-the-numbers-meta-tesla.html">mounting losses</a> still feels like a big deal.
The company's entire business model hinges on the mass adoption of <a href="https://www.investors.com/news/technology/artificial-intelligence-stocks/">generative AI</a> — a resource-intensive technology whose main impact so far has been polluting the internet with <a href="https://futurism.com/internet-polluted-ai-slop">computer generated slop</a>. If CoreWeave does well, it would be a major boost for the tech industry, kicking off <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-insights/ai-power-expanding-data-center-capacity-to-meet-growing-demand">even more demand</a> for chips and a wave of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/business/dealbook/coreweave-ipo-ai.html">AI IPOs</a>.
However, if CoreWeave can't survive despite the massive contracts it has with <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f3d9d339-42ef-4979-bf52-89ecd699dea2">Microsoft</a>, <a href="https://www.coreweave.com/blog/coreweave-announces-agreement-with-openai-to-deliver-ai-infrastructure">OpenAI</a>, and <a href="https://www.investors.com/news/technology/artificial-intelligence-stocks/">Nvidia</a>, then investors will have little reason to trust the generative AI hype going forward — something <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/business/ai-deepseek-nvidia-tesla.html">many have questioned</a> after the Chinese AI company DeepSeek suggested a<a href="https://www.theverge.com/notepad-microsoft-newsletter/637496/microsoft-satya-nadella-deepseek-chatgpt-ai-investments-notepad"> sustainable alternative </a>to US AI development. <del> 
</del>
And unfortunately for American AI hopefuls, there's little reason to think CoreWeave can hold out the next six months, let alone lead the AI revolution.
As tech critic Ed Zitron notes, CoreWeave is a company <a href="https://www.wheresyoured.at/core-incompetency/">primed for disaster</a>. Its business is far from stable, relying on those huge revenue injections over sustainable, diversified income. According to the company's financial filings, 77 percent of CoreWeave's revenue comes from just <a href="https://www.investors.com/news/technology/coreweave-ipo-ai-stocks-nvidia/?ref=wheresyoured.at">two customers</a> — meaning the company could collapse like a house of cards if just one of its clients cancels a contract.
Meanwhile, it has what Zitron calls a "fatal amount of debt" via <a href="https://fortune.com/2025/03/28/coreweave-ipo-stock-shares-price-not-a-good-proxy-for-ai-boom-bust/">loans</a> from companies like Blackstone and Magnetar. The interest alone on CoreWeave's top two loans could be as much as $1.5 billion per year thanks to some high-risk terms, suggesting a lack of faith from the company's lenders.
All told, it's a pretty lame showing given all the hype we've heard from AI tycoons. The next few months will tell whether they can keep CoreWeave — and the AI industry — afloat as the market grows impatient with <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-tinkerbell">empty promises</a>.
More on AI: <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-hype-america-financial-ruin">AI Hype Will Plunge America Into Financial Ruin, Economist Warns</a>