T-Mobile to buy almost all of U.S Cellular in deal worth $4.4 billion with debt

T-Mobile is buying U.S. Cellular’s wireless operations and certain spectrum assets in a deal valued at $4.4 billion, and further consolidating the industry. T-Mobile will get U.S. Cellular’s wireless operations and about 30% of spectrum assets across several spectrum bands. T-Mobile will also enter into a new master license agreement on more than 2,000 towers and extend the lease term for the approximately 600 towers where T-Mobile is already a tenant.

US consumer confidence rises in May after three months of declines

WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer confidence in the U.S. rose in May following three straight months of declines, but Americans remain anxious about elevated inflation and interest rates. The Conference Board, a business research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose in May to 102 from 97.5 in April. Analysts were expecting the index to decline again. The measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for income, business and the job market climbed to 74.6 from a dismal 68.8 in April. A reading under 80 can signal a potential recession in the near future. Consumers’ view of current conditions rose to 143.1 in May from 140.6 in April.

OpenAI forms safety committee as it starts training latest artificial intelligence model

OpenAI says it’s setting up a new safety and security committee and has begun training a new artificial intelligence model to supplant the GPT-4 system that underpins its ChatGPT chatbot. The San Francisco startup said in a blog post Tuesday that the committee will advise the full board on “critical safety and security decisions” for its projects and operations. The safety committee is being unveiled as debate swirls around AI safety at the company, after a researcher resigned and then leveled high-profile criticism at OpenAI for letting safety “take a backseat to shiny products.”

US opens up banking to private Cuban businesses as it aims to boost private sector

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is lifting some financial restrictions on Cuba in a move designed to boost private businesses on the island. One of the key changes announced Tuesday would allow Cuban private business owners to open bank accounts in the United States and then access them online from Cuba. The U.S. also is again allowing something called U-turn transactions, where money is transferred from one country to another but is routed through the United States. The changes come as Cuba is struggling with one of the worst economic and energy crises in its history. Hundreds of thousands of people have migrated, many of them to the United States.

Wu-Tang Clan’s unreleased ‘Once Upon a Time in Shaolin’ is headed to an Australia museum

NEW YORK (AP) — The sole physical copy of Wu-Tang Clan’s unreleased “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” is headed to Australia’s Museum of Old and New Art. Only a handful of ears have listened to Wu-Tang Clan’s seventh studio album to date. But next month, lucky MONA visitors may be able to hear part of it, too. In addition to putting the famed piece of music history on display, MONA said it would host private listening sessions featuring select tracks from the album between June 15 and June 24. Tickets, set to be released Thursday, are free — but there’s only a small number available.