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If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Zohran Mamdani should feel extremely flattered. Andrew Cuomo, who lost to Mamdani in New Yorks Democratic mayoral primary last month, just kicked off his campaign as an independent in the general electionwith a launch video that could generously be described as an homage to Mamdanis acclaimed video style. While the clip may signal Cuomos willingness to play the social media game on Mamdanis terms, it seems destined to simply highlight and magnify the contrast between their efforts. Perhaps the most striking thing about Cuomos new launch video is the stark difference from his previous one. Released back in March, the former governors opening salvo in the primary was a 17-and-a-half minute dirge about the dire straits in which New Yorkers currently find themselves, and Cuomos unique ability to lead them into the light. Speaking indoors and direct-to-cameraas he did during the daily briefings that boosted his national profile in the early days of COVIDCuomo struck a moderate tone about the threatening feel of the city and the importance of supporting the NYPD. He closed by essentially asking New Yorkers to complete his redemption arc, without dwelling at all on what hes done that needs redeeming. (Cuomo resigned in 2021 after 13 women accused him of sexual harassment, which he has denied, attributing his resignation to “political pressure and media frenzy.”) That video, however, debuted before Mamdani earned wide praise for his steady output of engaging campaign videos. Short, splashy, and sunny (in both light and tone), not to mention overwhelmingly New York-centric, Mamdani’s clips gave voters a flavor of the candidates personality and policy promises. They often racked up views in the millions. The extent to which Mamdanis video teamwhich includes director of digital Andrew Epstein, videographer Donald Borenstein, and production agency Melted Solidshelped Mamdani win is hard to gauge without polling. However, judging by Cuomos first video since losing to Mamdani in the primary, the former governor seems convinced those videos helped quite a lot. From doom and gloom to hope and change Cuomos campaign relaunch video, released just after confirming his candidacy on Monday, clocks in at a breezy 90 seconds. The new clip features the former governor out on the leafiest streets of Manhattans Upper East Side, shaking hands and taking selfies with supporters. All the while, he and the city are bathed in lighting that suggests someone on his team simply ordered the Mamdani filterand that New York has magically morphed into a less threatening place than it was four months ago. Its quite a departure from Cuomos previous video. “Youre not going to out-Mamdani Mamdani, a representative for Cuomos campaign told Fast Company in a statement. However, we readily admit that our social media game during the primary wasnt resonating. We own that and we made some changes to better reach New Yorkers.” Fast Company also reached out to Mamdani’s team for comment, but did not hear back before press time. The problem with Cuomos new Mamdani-fied approach is that, by the very nature of its clear imitation, it lacks authenticity and smacks of desperation. Footage of Mamdani greeting his supporters on the street may have resonated with voters not because theyd never seen a candidate do such a thing before but because of how much those supporters light up when they see him and how he appears to effortlessly mirror their energy. Mamdanis videos also wisely include audio of those supporters interacting with the candidate, rather than relegating them to b-roll footage as Cuomo didmaking them feel less like flesh-and-blood people than political props. Its also difficult to take the newfound positivity of Cuomos video seriously when he still cant resist mispronouncing his opponents name in it, at this late date, after previously doing so repeatedly, with Mamdani correcting him in real time on the primary debate stage last month. (A new Mamdani video that debuted Tuesday morning begins with an outtake of the candidate gently correcting Brooklyn Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn on her pronunciation of his surname, adding You know what happened to the last guy that got it wrong, and then both sharing a hearty laugh.) Reactions speak louder than words Social media observers immediately clocked the familiar feel of Cuomos campaign relaunch videoalong with the visible boom mic in one early shotand called it out on both X and Bluesky. The @DNC has clearly decided that Zohran won because of slick, man on the street Social Media videos. Not his overwhelmingly popular policy, charisma, compassion. Oh and Cuomo still doesn't say it right: It's Mamdani. https://t.co/ZIo55ICJY1— marty (@MartyOropeza) July 14, 2025 Cuomo announces his general election run by proving the Mamdani sauce ain't so easy to cook up on the spot with half the ingredients— Corey Atad (@coreyatad.com) 2025-07-14T18:49:22.168Z The most brutal response, however, may have come from Mamdani himself. Even before Cuomo confirmed he would remain in the face, Mamdani caught wind of his opponent filming an ad, and tweeted about it. We got him making man on the street videos with a guy in Carhartt, Mamdani noted. By next week, he’ll be sipping adeni chai and eating khaliat al nahl. After the eventual video surfaced online, Mamdani apparently decided not to say anything, but rather let his supporters enthusiasm do the talking. He replied to Cuomos tweet of the video with just a link to the donation section of his own website. Mamdanis reply has so far received nearly three times as many retweets as Cuomos, and roughly 32 times as many likes. Perhaps well find out next whether Cuomo is as inspired to approximate his opponents social media dunking prowess as he is Mamdanis videos.
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The latest version of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok is echoing the views of its billionaire creator, so much so that it will sometimes search online for Musk’s stance on an issue before offering up an opinion.The unusual behavior of Grok 4, the AI model that Musk’s company xAI released late Wednesday, has surprised some experts.Built using huge amounts of computing power at a Tennessee data center, Grok is Musk’s attempt to outdo rivals such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini in building an AI assistant that shows its reasoning before answering a question.Musk’s deliberate efforts to mold Grok into a challenger of what he considers the tech industry’s “woke” orthodoxy on race, gender and politics has repeatedly got the chatbot into trouble, most recently when it spouted antisemitic tropes, praised Adolf Hitler and made other hateful commentary to users of Musk’s X social media platform just days before Grok 4’s launch.But its tendency to consult with Musk’s opinions appears to be a different problem.“It’s extraordinary,” said Simon Willison, an independent AI researcher who’s been testing the tool. “You can ask it a sort of pointed question that is around controversial topics. And then you can watch it literally do a search on X for what Elon Musk said about this, as part of its research into how it should reply.”One example widely shared on social mediaand which Willison duplicatedasked Grok to comment on the conflict in the Middle East. The prompted question made no mention of Musk, but the chatbot looked for his guidance anyway.As a so-called reasoning model, much like those made by rivals OpenAI or Anthropic, Grok 4 shows its “thinking” as it goes through the steps of processing a question and coming up with an answer. Part of that thinking this week involved searching X, the former Twitter that’s now merged into xAI, for anything Musk said about Israel, Palestine, Gaza or Hamas.“Elon Musk’s stance could provide context, given his influence,” the chatbot told Willison, according to a video of the interaction. “Currently looking at his views to see if they guide the answer.”Musk and his xAI co-founders introduced the new chatbot in a livestreamed event Wednesday night but haven’t published a technical explanation of its workingsknown as a system cardthat companies in the AI industry typically provide when introducing a new model.The company also didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment Friday.“In the past, strange behavior like this was due to system prompt changes,” which is when engineers program specific instructions to guide a chatbot’s response, said Tim Kellogg, principal AI architect at software company Icertis.“But this one seems baked into the core of Grok and it’s not clear to me how that happens,” Kellogg said. “It seems that Musk’s effort to create a maximally truthful AI has somehow led to it believing its own values must align with Musk’s own values.”The lack of transparency is troubling for computer scientist Talia Ringer, a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who earlier in the week criticized the company’s handling of the technology’s antisemitic outbursts.Ringer said the most plausible explanation for Grok’s search for Musk’s guidance is assuming the person is asking for the opinions of xAI or Musk.“I think people are expecting opinions out of a reasoning model that cannot respond with opinions,” Ringer said. “So, for example, it interprets ‘Who do you support, Israel or Palestine?’ as ‘Who does xAI leadership support?”Willison also said he finds Grok 4’s capabilities impressive but said people buying software “don’t want surprises like it turning into ‘mechaHitler’ or deciding to search for what Musk thinks about issues.”“Grok 4 looks like it’s a very strong model. It’s doing great in all of the benchmarks,” Willison said. “But if I’m going to build software on top of it, I need transparency.” Matt O’Brien, AP Technology Writer
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Chinese firms are scrambling to buy Nvidia’s H20 artificial intelligence chips, two sources told Reuters, as the company said it planned to resume sales to the mainland days after its CEO met U.S. President Donald Trump. Nvidia’s AI chips have been a key focus of U.S. export controls designed to keep the most advanced chips out of Chinese hands over national security concerns. The U.S.-listed company has said the curbs would cut its revenue by $15 billion. The world’s most valuable firm is filing applications with the U.S. government to resume sales to China of the H20 graphics processing unit (GPU), and expects to get the licences soon, Nvidia said in a statement. “The U.S. government has assured Nvidia that licences will be granted, and Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon,” said the company, whose chief executive, Jensen Huang, is visiting Beijing and set to speak at an event on Wednesday. The White House, which has previously expressed concern that the Chinese military could use AI chips to develop weapons, did not respond to a request for comment. Chinese companies have scrambled to place orders for the chips, which Nvidia would then need to send to the U.S. government for approval, the sources familiar with the matter said. They added that internet giants ByteDance and Tencent are in the process of submitting applications. Central to the process is a “whitelist” put together by Nvidia for Chinese companies to register for potential purchases, one of the sources said. ByteDance and Tencent did not respond to a request for comment. Nvidia did not respond to a request for comment regarding the “whitelist”. Nvidia, which has criticised the export curbs the Trump administration imposed in April that stopped it from selling its H20 chip in China, also said it has introduced a new model tailored to meet regulatory rules in the Chinese market. Huang is set for a media briefing in Beijing on Wednesday when he attends a supply chain expo. The Nvidia CEO also visited China in April and stressed the importance of the Chinese market. “The Chinese market is massive, dynamic, and highly innovative, and it’s also home to many AI researchers,” Huang told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Tuesday. “Therefore, it is indeed crucial for American companies to establish roots in the Chinese market.” Nvidia’s shares jumped 5% in premarket trading. Rival AI chipmaker AMD, which has forecast a $1.5 billion revenue hit this year due to U.S. export curbs on China, rose more than 3%. “This is a major catalyst for Nvidia shares, as many had written off the chance of any meaningful revenue coming from China,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown. Asked at a regular foreign ministry briefing in Beijing about Nvidia’s plans to resume AI chip sales, a spokesperson said, “China is opposed to the politicisation, instrumentalisation and weaponisation of science, technology and economic and trade issues to maliciously blockade and suppress China.” SUPPLY CHAIN Nvidia has faced increased competition from Chinese tech giant Huawei and other makers of GPUs the chips used to train artificial intelligence. But Chinese companies, including big tech firms, still crave Nvidia chips for its computing platform known as CUDA. Huang’s visit is being closely watched in both China and the United States, where a bipartisan pair of senators last week sent the CEO a letter asking him to abstain from meeting companies working with military or intelligence bodies. The senators also asked Huang to refrain from meeting with entities named on the United States’ restricted export list. The move to resume sales of the H20 chips comes amid easing tensions between Washington and Beijing, with China relaxing controls on rare earth exports and the United States allowing chip design software services to restart in China. “The uncertainties between the U.S. and China remain high and despite a pause in H20s ban, Chinese companies will continue to diversify their options to better protect their supply chain integrity,” said He Hui, research director of semiconductors at Omdia. The H20 chip was developed specifically for the Chinese market after U.S. export curbs imposed on national security grounds in late 2023. The AI chip was Nvidia’s most powerful legally available product in China until it was effectively banned by Washington in April. The H20 ban forced Nvidia to write off $5.5 billion in inventories, and Huang told the Stratechery podcast that the company also had to walk away from $15 billion in sales. But now, the possibility of new licenses could represent about $15 billion to $20 billion in additional revenue this year, depending on when the approval is granted and how quick the deliveries can ramp back up, said Hargreaves’ Britzman. “There’s also a chance Nvidia can reverse some, or all, of the $5.5 billion impairment charge taken in the first quarter, providing a double boost for earnings.” Nvidia also announced the development of a new AI chip designed specifically for China, called the RTX Pro GPU. The company described it as “fully compliant” with U.S. export controls and suitable for digital twin AI applications in sectors, such as smart factories and logistics. In May, Reuters reported Nvidia was preparing to launch in China a new AI chip, based on the RTX Pro 6000D, at a significantly lower price point than the H20. The graphics processing unit would be part of Nvidia’s latest generation Blackwell-architecture AI processors and was expected to be priced well below the H20 for its weaker specifications and simpler manufacturing requirements, sources said. China generated $17 billion in revenue for Nvidia in the fiscal year ending January 26, or 13% of total sales, based on its latest annual report. Huang has consistently highlighted China as a critical market for Nvidia’s growth. Liam Mo, Anne Marie Roantree and Che Pan, Reuters
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