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Block, the parent company of Cash App, has agreed to pay forty-five million dollars to settle a multistate investigation into its fraud protections. The deal also requires the company to provide live customer service — a notable concession for a platform that long resisted it. It is a reminder that fintech convenience and consumer protection do not always move at the same speed.
Shifting to artificial intelligence, Meta has introduced Muse Image, a new generative image model the company is positioning as a significant step forward in visual AI. Meta continues to push hard into the creative AI space, and Muse reflects a broader industry race to build tools that feel genuinely useful rather than merely impressive. How it competes with established players remains to be seen.
And over at Brown University, faculty and students are raising serious concerns about generative AI and what it may be doing to how students actually learn. An economics professor flagged widespread apparent misuse on a take-home exam, and a university committee has since warned that AI could weaken cognitive development. It is a tension playing out on campuses everywhere — not whether to use these tools, but whether we are using them wisely.
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