In a significant move, HP has acquired AI Pin maker Humane for $116 million, less than half of the $240 million the startup raised in venture capital funding. As a result, Humane will discontinue sales of its $499 AI Pins, and the devices will no longer connect to Humane's servers after February 28. Customers who purchased an AI Pin within the last 90 days are eligible for a refund, but those who bought the device before then are not.

Following the acquisition, several Humane employees received job offers from HP with significant pay increases, ranging from 30% to 70%, plus HP stock and bonus plans. However, other Humane employees, particularly those who worked closely with the AI Pin devices, were notified that they would be losing their jobs.

In other news, Apple has finally unveiled its long-awaited iPhone SE refresh, three years after the last major update to the budget-minded smartphone. The iPhone 16e features an A18 processor, enabling it to run Apple Intelligence, and has ditched the Touch ID home button in favor of Face ID. The device also swaps out the Lightning port for USB-C and starts at $599, with shipping set to begin on February 28.

Duolingo, the popular language-learning platform, has "killed" its iconic owl mascot with a Cybertruck in a surprising marketing stunt. The company launched a campaign to "save" Duo, encouraging users to complete more lessons, with the tagline "Duo or die." The stunt has been well-received, with many users engaging with the campaign.

OpenAI has announced that it will no longer censor ChatGPT, allowing the AI model to provide multiple perspectives on controversial subjects in an effort to remain neutral. This move marks a significant shift in OpenAI's approach to AI development.

In a legal battle, Uber is suing DoorDash, accusing its delivery rival of stifling competition by intimidating restaurant owners into exclusive deals. Uber alleges that DoorDash bullied restaurants into only working with them.

Mira Murati, former CTO of OpenAI, has come out of stealth with her new AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab. The startup, which includes OpenAI co-founder John Schulman and former OpenAI chief research officer Barret Zoph, aims to build collaborative "multimodal" systems.

Elon Musk's xAI has released its latest flagship AI model, Grok 3, which boasts new capabilities for the Grok iOS and web apps. Musk claims that the new family of models is a "maximally truth-seeking AI" that sometimes goes against what is politically correct.

In a security breach, Valve removed a video game from Steam that was designed to spread malware. Security researchers found that the game had been modified to trick gamers into installing an info-stealer called Vidar.

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan's charity has made a U-turn on its internal DEI programs, announcing that it will end these initiatives and stop providing "social advocacy funding" for racial equity and immigration reforms. This move comes just weeks after the organization assured staff that it would continue to support DEI efforts.

Amazon has announced that it will discontinue its app store for Android in August, focusing instead on its own devices. Developers will no longer be able to submit new apps to the store.

A study by the Pew Research Center has found that Americans' views of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are more negative than positive, with 54% of U.S. adults holding an unfavorable view of Musk and 67% feeling negatively toward Zuckerberg.

Finally, a new BBC report has raised concerns about the potential impact of noise-canceling headphones on the brain, suggesting that they may be rewiring the brains of users to tune out background noise and potentially leading to the brain forgetting how to filter sounds itself.

This week's news highlights the rapidly evolving landscape of technology, from significant acquisitions to innovative marketing stunts and concerns about AI development and its impact on society.