What’s at stake: The hurry before the president-elect’s inauguration on January 20 underscores the EU’s insecurity over his potential actions when he returns to the White House, following his recent threats. These include refusing to rule out taking Greenland by force and suggesting Canada and the Panama Canal should become part of the US.

Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google are each donating $1 million to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, joining the roster of technology companies shelling out to back the incoming US president’s festivities later this month.

Thursday's edition of Forbes Daily covers updates on California wildfires, Anthropic's new funding, most profitable sports teams, Eric Schmidt's AI project and more.

Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. Overhyped tech sectors of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence have seen a recent resurgence in the past year. Most of AI’s rise can be attributed to the hype and fear that surrounds its use.

After bankrolling Donald Trump’s campaign and becoming one of the US president-elect’s main surrogates, Elon Musk is increasingly engaging in European politics from supporting the far-right in Germany to attacking the British prime minister.

Trump’s inauguration has raised a record $170 million, but events are at capacity, which means some who donated more than $1 million have been placed on wait lists. Others, meanwhile, are donating millions without expecting anything in return, like access to the swearing-in ceremony or private dinners.

OpenAI has cut off a developer who built a device that could respond to ChatGPT queries to aim and fire an automated rifle. The device went viral after a video on Reddit showed its developer reading firing commands aloud, after which a rifle beside him quickly began aiming and firing at nearby walls.

AI models are a privacy nightmare that are often borked by the safety team. Here’s how to get around the censorship and use AI anonymously.

Paresh Dave, senior writer at Wired, joins Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino for Tech Bytes: Week in Review.