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President Trump issued an executive order Monday banning federal funding for any research abroad that involves a field of scientific study known as "gain-of-function" research. Here's what it means.

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Here are the hints and answers for Connections for May 6, #695.

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• Perplexity AI's new WhatsApp integration offers instant fact-checking without leaving the app
• Perplexity responds with fast, sourced explanations in over 20 languages
• The feature aims to help navigate misleading posts in private group threads

Web browser battles are getting an AI makeover, and Perplexity is sending a Comet to the fight. The AI-fueled web browser is set to launch this month, as first spotted by Testing Catalog.

Hints about the AI search engine developer's plan for a browser have been seen here and there in recent weeks, including a a new homepage, separate from Perplexity’s main website, a Learn Comet button on some people's Perplexity web interface, and even a briefly viewable promotional video that Perplexity soon took down.

Based on the drip of information, it looks like Perplexity is pitching Comet as a Google Chrome alternative that can aid in any research you need done online. Comet will apparently integrate with Google services, as well as access your history and follow along with your browsing to respond in context to your requests. So, you might ask Comet to “find that thing I was looking at about sea otters last Tuesday,” and it will dig up the article about how they hold hands to keep from losing each other. No more keyword-guessing or digging through all of your open tabs like an archaeologist of your own disorganized mind.

The eye on taking Chrome's crown isn't hyperbole, either. Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas has already boasted about how Comet will beat Chrome when it comes to reopening old tabs, declaring that "Chrome is on its way out."

On Comet, you can simply ask in English what you want it to reopen specifically. No need to remember fancy shortcuts. Chrome is on its way out. https://t.co/qCg6CoKCx2April 30, 2025

Comet AI

Perplexity is attempting to get ahead of the biggest obvious concern some might have about Comet, namely, privacy. The idea of a browser that reads what you’re looking at and remembers what you did last week might sound convenient to some, but like dystopian surveillance to others. Comet will have privacy settings, including native ad-blocking, and an opt-out for data sharing.

Meanwhile, the competition isn’t standing still. Microsoft is stuffing increasingly bold AI features into Edge, and of course, Google Chrome is expected to unveil many new AI integrations at Google I/O this year. Comet will need to make its AI assistance feel intuitive to stand out. If Comet's AI can help you stay focused, organized, and smart about navigating the chaos of the internet, it could entice a lot of new users. If not, it risks being seen as more of an unhelpful Chrome extension.

Perplexity needs to get past people asking if they really need another browser, and promise to resolve your frustrations with your current one. If you’re tired of being bombarded with ads and manually digging through your history, Comet, when it comes, might offer a welcome change.

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Commentary: Do you want a phone with fun features or one with longer software support?

Attorneys general from 17 states and D.C. are challenging an executive order Trump signed on his first day in office pausing approvals, permits and loans for all wind energy projects.

(Image credit: Seth Wenig)

the website that her husband Ron Gordon made to celebrate mathematically themed days.

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Square root days happen only a few times in a century, and the man who brought the day fame is celebrating his sixth one.

(Image credit: Linda Gordon)

• Minisforum MS-A2 fits in your hand but flexes harder than most full-sized desktops
• Dual 10GbE ports and 16 cores - this box is built for serious work, not games
• Soldered CPU prevents upgrading, but that's not a concern in this case

Compact systems have long been viewed as underpowered, but Minisforum’s MS series flips that notion.

The company’s latest flagship, the MS-A2 mini PC, uses AMD’s Ryzen 9 9955HX or 7945HX chips, both 16-core mobile CPUs that boost up to 5.4GHz and draw up to 100W,tapping into desktop territory while retaining thermal efficiency.

With a chassis measuring just 196 x 189 x 48 mm, this mini PC comes with soldered CPUs, which prevents future upgrades, but it incorporates integrated cooling to maintain performance at high power levels.

A networking king

Networking, often an afterthought in compact PCs, is a standout feature in the MS-A2. Designed with advanced use cases such as home labs, media servers, and edge AI deployments in mind, this device supports dual 10GbE via SFP+ and dual 2.5GbE LAN.

The Minisforum MS-A2 features three NVMe-capable slots, including two M.2 2280 slots and one U.2-compatible bay. Despite losing one M.2 slot compared to the earlier MS-A1, the device still offers up to 15TB of fast storage through U.2 and NVMe slots, along with RAID support.

Support for discrete GPUs - though limited to low-profile models via a PCIe 4.0 x8 slot - adds credibility to its workstation claims.

The system’s design includes bifurcation support, allowing advanced users to run compute cards or media accelerators for tasks like Plex transcoding or AI inference. Paired with up to 96GB of DDR5 RAM, this setup puts the MS-A2 in serious contention as the best workstation in its size category.

The barebone version of the MS-A2 costs $839, while the version with 64GB RAM and a 1TB SSD is priced at $1,103 for US customers.

Minisforum has a history of pushing boundaries, with models like the MS-01 supporting Intel’s high-end mobile CPUs such as the Core i9-13900H, and offering features like three M.2 slots, a SATA bay, and 10GbE networking.

The MS-02 continued this trend with a bewildering array of options, including four Ethernet ports - two of which are 10GbE - and support for up to four SSDs.

Via Videocardz

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In a rare rebuke, more than a dozen former workers of the powerful data-mining and surveillance company say the firm's work with the Trump administration violates the company's founding principles.

(Image credit: Fabrice Coffrini)

Israel's cabinet has approved plans for Gaza that include expanding the war, taking territory with the intent to keep troops there, and major shifts in the way food and aid are distributed. Our correspondent in Tel Aviv tells us what are in the plans and what they could mean for Gaza.

(Image credit: Hani Alshaer)

Production in Hollywood has been suffering. But it's unclear how a 100% tariff on movies produced outside the United States would work – or who it would help.

(Image credit: Mario Tama)

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The 2025 Pulitzer Prizes were announced Monday afternoon. Percival Everett won the award for fiction for his novel James, a powerful re-imagination of Huckleberry Finn.

(Image credit: Henry Nicholls)

The question of OpenAI, its business, and intentions for the future of AI may finally be solved. In an open letter, OpenAI CEO and co-founder Sam Altman outlined plans to keep OpenAI running under the oversight of a non-profit. What's more, the profit side of the business is transitioning to a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC).

A PCB is notable because it means that while that portion of OpenAI will still be interested in making a profit, it will have a larger purpose, one that's intended to serve the good of society.

In more practical terms, Altman wrote, "We want to put incredible tools in the hands of everyone....We want to open source very capable models. We want to give our users a great deal of freedom in how we let them use our tools within broad boundaries, even if we don’t always share the same moral framework, and to let our users make decisions about the behavior of ChatGPT."

In recent years, former partner and OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk has sued OpenAI for leaving its non-profit roots behind, and others have voiced concern about OpenAI not open-sourcing key models. Altman previously admitted that he was on the wrong side of that argument, and Musk eventually lost his case.

Now, though, OpenAI and Altman seem to be moving in the direction Musk and the open-source critics want.

AI for the good

The change of heart comes as Altman admits that in the early days, "we did not have a detailed sense for how we were going to accomplish our mission" and also admitted that some at OpenAI back then thought AI "should only be in the hands of a few trusted people who could 'handle it'."

The perspective now, though, especially as Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is on the horizon, is "We want to build a brain for the world and make it super easy for people to use for whatever they want," wrote Altman.

The go-forward plan is for OpenAI's non-profit to be "the largest and most effective nonprofit in history that will be focused on using AI to enable the highest-leverage outcomes for people."

Questions remain

Altman also wants to develop "beneficial AGI" and notes the importance of safety and alignment. "As AI accelerates, our commitment to safety grows stronger. We want to make sure democratic AI wins over authoritarian AI."

Altman's come quite a long way since he was suddenly ousted in late 2023 by, among others, Ilya Sutskever, formerly OpenAI's Chief Scientist and co-founder. He returned just days later. There's a sense in the new letter that AI and the coming AGI are bigger than one person, one company, and one AI like ChatGPT.

As for what this will mean for the future of OpenAI, ChatGPT, and AGI, it is unclear. The PCB may be focused on the public good, but it will still be interested in making a profit. How the non-profit overseer impacts that is unclear.

OpenAI says it will be talking to attorneys generals in California and Delaware, who helped it come to this decision, along with its biggest commercial partner, Microsoft (Copilot's base models are GPT-based), about the implementation of its new plan.

"We believe this sets us up to continue to make rapid, safe progress and to put great AI in the hands of everyone," wrote Altman.

We'll see.

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The annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower is set to peak early on May 6 and will be viewable in the dark predawn skies.

(Image credit: NASA/MSFC/B. Cooke)

After weeks of confusion, the Trump administration confirmed that it terminated visa records for thousands of international students because of past brushes with law enforcement, many of them minor.

(Image credit: Lisa Poole)

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Microsoft has announced that the pioneering online video calling service that's been around for more than two decades will go offline on Monday.

(Image credit: David Ramos)

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