2025-09-13 21:00:00
Few video game adaptations understand their source material quite like the Exit 8 film. It takes the rules and structure of the game - which strands players inside of a looping hallway in a Tokyo subway station - and then builds on them with actual characters and a story. And according to director Genki Kawamura, one of the reasons that the movie feels so fresh could be because of how he approached it. "I wasn't necessarily thinking about a film adaptation of a video game," he tells The Verge. "I was thinking about how to create a new cinematic experience that blurs the lines between video game and cinema."
The two are very similar, and the …
2025-09-13 08:19:28
While interviewing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman this week, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson brought up his belief in a conspiracy theory that former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji was “definitely murdered.” The researcher’s death in November 2024, which was ruled a suicide by the San Francisco police, followed his release of statements online and in a New York Times article calling out OpenAI’s tech for alleged copyright violations.
In their back-and-forth about a half-hour into the chat, Carlson bluntly explains his reasons for believing the theory, and that “[Balji’s] mother claims he was murdered on your orders.” Altman brings up the police reports and their findings after an investigation, later remarking, “I feel strange and sad debating this, and having to defend myself seems totally crazy, and you are a little bit accusing me,” even as Carlson denies doing so.
Balaji had said that he was able to, using mathematical analysis, support the conclusion that “OpenAI’s use of copyrighted data violated the law and that technologies like ChatGPT were damaging the internet.” He had been set to testify in the Times’ lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft. However, intellectual property lawyers cited in a report by Fortune said his arguments appeared to misunderstand copyright law, and it notes that he hadn’t released new inside information about the company, which some former employees turned whistleblowers have.
Balaji’s mother has said she believes he was murdered to benefit OpenAI and other artificial intelligence companies, citing the absence of a note and findings of experts she’s hired. She appeared on Carlson’s show earlier this year, in an episode titled “Mother of Likely Murdered OpenAI Whistleblower Reveals All, Calls for Investigation of Sam Altman.” Her view has been promoted since Balaji’s death by Elon Musk and many people around him, as well as several elected officials.
You can watch the relevant segment of the interview here, but this is what Carlson and Altman said that stuck out:
Carlson: “…he was definitely murdered, I think… there were signs of a struggle, of course. The surveillance camera, the wires had been cut. He had just ordered take-out food, come back from a vacation with his friends on Catalina Island. No indication at all that he was suicidal. No note and no behavior. He had just spoken to a family member on the phone.
And then he’s found dead with blood in multiple rooms. So that’s impossible. Seems really obvious he was murdered. Have you talked to the authorities about it?”
Altman: I have not talked to the authorities about it.
Carlson: “Um, and his mother claims he was murdered on your orders. “
Altman: “Do you believe that?”
Carlson: “I- I’m, Well, I’m I’m asking.”
Altman: “I mean… you, you just said it, so do you, do you believe that?
Carlson: “I think that it is, um, worth looking into. And I don’t… I mean, if a guy comes out and accuses your company of committing crimes, I have no idea if that’s true or not, of course. Um, and then he is found killed, and there are signs of a struggle. I… I don’t think it’s worth dismissing it…I don’t think we should say, well, he killed himself when there’s no evidence that the guy was depressed at all. Um, I think… and if he was your friend, I would think he would want to speak to his mom or…
Altman: “I did offer, she didn’t want to.”
Carlson: “So, do you feel that, you know, when people look at that and they’re like, you know, it’s possible that happened. Do you feel that that reflects the worries they have about what’s happening here? Like people are afraid that this is like…”
Altman: “I haven’t done too many interviews where I’ve been accused of, like…”
Carlson: “Oh, I’m not accusing you at all. I’m just saying his, his mother says that.”
2025-09-13 08:11:57
Elon Musk is pressing Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to look into Blizzard employees who criticized Charlie Kirk after his death. Musk’s post quotes an X thread listing names and screenshots of the developers.
“What’s going on here, @satyanadella?” Musk said. “These are Microsoft employees,” he added in another post.
Musk’s direct question to Nadella follows a broader censorship crackdown from Republicans targeting individuals celebrating Kirk’s death or criticizing him. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) said he would use “Congressional authority and every influence with big tech platforms to mandate immediate ban for life of every post or commenter that belittled the assassination of Charlie Kirk.”
Former Blizzard developer Mark Kern, who goes by “Grummz” online and frequently posts about right-wing issues on X, quoted the original thread, claiming that the screenshotted posts showed Blizzard employees “trashing” Kirk. Musk then quoted the post himself with his question to Nadella.
“We’re aware of the views expressed by a small subset of our employees regarding recent events,” Microsoft said in a post on X. The post is not a reply to Musk but was shared on its main @Microsoft page. “We take matters like this very seriously and we are currently reviewing each individual situation. Comments celebrating violence against anyone are unacceptable and do not align with our values.” (The screenshots in the thread shared by Musk do not celebrate the shooting against Kirk.) Nadella has not replied to Musk publicly as of this writing.
2025-09-13 06:03:11
While I generally respect The Wall Street Journal, every once in a while it sees fit to remind me that it is, in fact, owned by Rupert Murdoch. This time, it printed something dangerously close to anti-trans blood libel in the wake of Charlie Kirk's shooting.
In its live-update blog yesterday, the Journal wrote, "Ammunition engraved with transgender and antifascist ideology was found inside the rifle authorities believe was used in Kirk's shooting, according to an internal law enforcement bulletin and a source familiar with the investigation." That language was echoed in social media posts.
The right wing, including sitting members of Con …
2025-09-13 05:52:40
In wake of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s public killing, around two dozen Republican lawmakers are pushing for House leadership to create a new select committee that would investigate “The money, influence, and power behind the radical left’s assault on America and the rule of law.” The letter amounts to a request for subpoena power to dig into political opponents in the media and funding ecosystem that the right deems unduly hostile.
In a letter led by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), the lawmakers urge House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) to “take every step to follow the money and uncover the force behind the NGOs, donors, media, public officials, and all entities driving this coordinated attack.” The lawmakers are requesting a new committee composed of members with prosecution and law enforcement backgrounds, who would have subpoena power to carry out investigations to “get to the truth behind the coordinated global network funding and fueling this attack on Americans.”
The letter is dated Thursday, prior to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s identification of the suspect behind Kirk’s slaying. Law enforcement officials have yet to declare a motive for the attack as of Friday afternoon. But according to the lawmakers calling for the select committee, “The patterns are undeniable: we are witnessing a sustained breakdown of law and order, fueled not by chance, but by anti-American ideology.”
“We can no longer pretend to be bound together by shared ideals”
The group says that Kirk was listed on the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)’s “Hate Map” prior to his killing, and claims, “We have seen dangerous networks like Antifa organize, fund, and deploy sophisticated terror campaigns attacking law enforcement and destroying American cities.” It blames “radical organizations” and figures like George Soros for “funding and putting in place District Attorneys and Judges to then coordinate releasing criminals to the streets,” pointing to the recent fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska by a man with a criminal record on a Charlotte light rail car. And it links “coordinated lawlessness and disorder” to the “opening of our borders.” Donald Trump suggested on Fox News on Friday that there could be a racketeering case against Soros, who he accused without presenting evidence of funding “professional agitators” like those who heckled him at a DC restaurant.
The push follows a wave of statements from Republican officials promising consequences for people who celebrated or made light of Kirk’s death, though many of those statements are likely protected by the First Amendment. “We can no longer pretend to be bound together by shared ideals when a well-funded, vitriolic cadre of our fellow Americans and foreign interests are at war with the very values of faith in God, fidelity to our Constitution, and respect for the principles of liberty and Western Civilization that define us as Americans,” the group wrote, “including, notably, the free speech practiced and exemplified by Charlie Kirk.”
2025-09-13 05:12:22
Discord denies that the suspect accused of killing Charlie Kirk used the messaging platform to discuss his crime, following the service getting mentioned by law enforcement in a press conference — and after accusations that it helped radicalize the alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson. In a statement to The Verge, Jud Hoffman, Discord’s vice president of trust and safety, said the company has “found no evidence that the suspect planned this incident or promoted violence on Discord.”
During a press briefing on Friday, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said investigators spoke with Robinson’s roommate, and that the roommate “stated that his roommate, referring to Robinson, made a joke on Discord.” Investigators then asked to see the Discord messages and proceeded “to take photos of the screen as each message was shown,” Cox said. Cox added that the photos “consisted of various messages, including content of messages between the phone contact named Tyler with an emoji icon.” Some of the messages captured by authorities contained references to “having left the rifle wrapped in a towel” and “engraving bullets,” according to Cox.
While Cox’s statement makes it sound like the roommate reported Robinson had, using Discord, made a joke, Discord’s spokesperson says it actually means the roommate had been chatting on Discord with a third party and discussed Robinson making comments somewhere else.
“The messages referenced in recent reporting about planning details do not appear to be Discord messages,” Hoffman said. “These were communications between the suspect’s roommate and a friend after the shooting, where the roommate was recounting the contents of a note the suspect had left elsewhere.”
It’s a fine distinction, but one that helps Discord downplay any involvement in the killing. The popular platform has been used by multiple mass shooters in past years to discuss violent and hateful rhetoric, and in one case to offer details about the attack itself. That’s earned it scrutiny from figures including New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office probed whether it and streaming service Twitch contributed to violence.
Since Kirk’s shooting, Discord has also become a target of right-wing influencers like Andy Ngo, who claim some “young high-profile shooters” are “radicalized and groomed” on the platform. Conservative influencer Laura Loomer similarly linked the suspect’s alleged use of Discord to the man who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump, saying it’s “the same platform the Butler assassin was communicating with people in.” On Friday, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) urged the FBI to look into “radicalization networks,” claiming that online platforms like Discord “are being exploited by extremists for recruitment and radicalization.”
Hoffman told The Verge that Discord has since removed Robinson’s account for violating its off-platform behavior policy. “We strongly condemn violence of any kind, including political violence, and we will continue to coordinate closely with law enforcement,” Hoffman said.
