🌏 AI booms and glooms

Good morning, Quartz readers!

Here’s what you need to know

Boeing’s banner spacecraft launch faced another delay — indefinitely. The aerospace giant doesn’t know when it will ever launch the Starliner, and that’s not great news for one of its last hopes for a possible PR win.

The U.S. White House opposed a major cryptocurrency bill. The legislation, which passed yesterday in the House, would create guardrails for digital assets markets.

U.K. regulators are investigating Microsoft’s latest AI feature. Announced this week, Recall uses artificial intelligence to build a searchable “photographic memory” of a user’s laptop activity — and now watchdogs are looking into whether it violates consumers’ privacy.

Red Lobster wants to claw back a comeback from bankruptcy. The seafood chain released a letter saying it’s not going out of business yet, despite having filed for Chapter 11 protections.

Buy now, pay later programs are getting treated like credit cards. The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reclassified BNPL lenders as credit card providers, allowing customers to dispute charges and demand refunds when they use them.

Nvidia’s AI party isn’t even close to over

Nvidia’s earnings smashed Wall Street’s expectations again, signaling that the AI boom is still very much booming.

The chipmaker’s sales ballooned 262% year over year in its first quarter to $26 billion. Investors’ expectations have been sky-high since March, when Nvidia unveiled its newest chip, Blackwell. Ahead of the earnings, the chipmaker’s stock notched a new high this week — and then soared past $1,000 for the first time ever in after-hours trading yesterday.

Driving the stock gains are excitement around Nvidia’s AI ambitions — which include AI factories — and an upcoming 10-to-1 stock split in June. Quartz’s Britney Nguyen has everything you need to know from yesterday’s earnings call — including yet another new chip.

The U.S. hits the brakes on Chinese EV imports

🗓️ August 1: The official date the United States will start quadrupling tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, along with related products like lithium-ion batteries.

Earlier this month, the White House announced heightened tariffs on Chinese exports — and on EVs in particular. The goal is to prevent Chinese automakers from flooding the market with cheap cars. Now those tariffs have a start date.

But Beijing is hitting back — and threatening “resolute measures” to defend itself against escalating tariffs. Quartz’s Will Gavin details how the rest of the world is responding.

More from Quartz

💊 Biogen is buying up an immune drug developer for $1.8 billion

☝️ Citi was fined $79 million over inadequate controls for ‘fat finger’ trading errors

💸 President Biden opposed major crypto bill hours before voting

✈️ American Airlines’ starting flight attendant salary qualifies for food stamps 

🤖 Mark Zuckerberg has assembled an AI advisory council 

👾 Gamestop’s army of retail investors now includes at least one presidential candidate

Surprising discoveries

Harps are headed to the emoji dictionary. Perfect for when you need to say “BRB, off to strum my lyre.”

The coronavirus has a doppelganger — and it’s a supernova. It turns out the objects we see in microscopes and telescopes can be strikingly similar.

Cicada cocktails are stirring up some controversy. Well, at least cicada shots are, as three trillion screeching insects descend on the eastern U.S. this summer.

Former (and not-so-former) U.S. presidential candidates are really getting into meme stocks. Vivek, meet BuzzFeed; RFK Jr., meet GameStop.

An emotional support alligator is missing in Georgia. His name is Wally, and his owners would like him home, please.

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Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, lyre strums, and cicada sommeliers to [email protected]. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner and Gabriela Riccardi.