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21 May 2026, 18:55

Spotify launches ElevenLabs-powered tool for self-publishing audiobooks

BitcoinWorld Spotify launches ElevenLabs-powered tool for self-publishing audiobooks Spotify is expanding its audiobook ambitions with a new AI-powered tool that lets authors self-publish audiobooks directly through its Spotify for Authors platform. Announced during the company’s Investor Day event on Thursday, the feature, built in partnership with voice AI startup ElevenLabs, is set to launch in beta this June on an invite-only basis, initially supporting English-language titles only. How the AI audiobook tool works The new tool integrates ElevenLabs’ expressive voice synthesis technology, allowing authors to generate audiobook narrations without needing a professional recording studio or voice actor. Spotify emphasized that authors using the AI-powered generation will not be bound to an exclusive contract, meaning they are free to distribute their generated audiobooks on other platforms as well. This move builds on a prior partnership between the two companies, which already allowed writers to submit audiobooks created on ElevenLabs’ platform to Spotify. Spotify already had a partnership with Google Play Books for digitally narrated content. However, the company appears to be leaning into ElevenLabs’ newer voice models, which offer more expressive and human-like narration, a key factor in making AI-generated audiobooks more palatable to listeners. Expanding Spotify for Authors and Audiobook+ Beyond the AI narration tool, Spotify is broadening its Spotify for Authors platform to support 10 additional languages: French, Canadian French, German, Dutch, Latin American Spanish, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Danish, and Norwegian. This expansion signals Spotify’s intent to capture a more global author and listener base. The company also announced plans to expand its Audiobook+ subscription tier this year, introducing higher listening limits and new options for students and families. Specific pricing and usage details were not disclosed. To date, Spotify has registered over one million Audiobook+ subscriptions and is on track to generate $100 million in annualized recurring revenue from the audiobook segment. New discovery features and AI-powered search Spotify is also enhancing audiobook discovery with a new natural language query feature that allows users to ask questions to find titles. This summer, the company will extend its prompt-based playlist creation feature — currently available for music and podcasts — to include audiobooks. These moves reflect Spotify’s deepening investment in the audiobook market over the past few years. The platform has grown its catalog to 700,000 titles, expanded internationally, invested in non-English content, enabled in-app purchases, and introduced audiobook charts. Earlier this year, it also launched a program for authors to sell physical books in the U.S. and the U.K. According to Spotify, these initiatives have driven a 60% year-on-year increase in listening hours, with more than half of its audiobook listeners starting within the last year. Industry context and implications The partnership with ElevenLabs is notable given that the voice AI startup released its own self-publishing platform for authors in 2025. By integrating ElevenLabs’ technology directly into Spotify for Authors, Spotify is positioning itself as a one-stop shop for independent authors looking to produce and distribute audiobooks without upfront production costs or exclusive distribution deals. For authors, this lowers the barrier to entry into the audiobook market, which has traditionally required significant investment in studio time and voice talent. For listeners, the promise of more titles with natural-sounding narration could accelerate the shift from print and e-books to audio. However, questions remain about the long-term quality and listener acceptance of AI-narrated content, especially for complex or emotionally nuanced works. Conclusion Spotify’s new ElevenLabs-powered audiobook creation tool represents a strategic push to dominate the audiobook production and distribution chain. By offering authors a free, non-exclusive way to generate audiobooks, and by expanding its platform’s language support and subscription options, Spotify is betting that ease of creation and broad distribution will drive further growth in its audiobook business. The beta launch in June will be a key test of both the technology’s quality and author adoption. FAQs Q1: When will Spotify’s AI audiobook creation tool be available? The tool will launch in beta in June 2025, on an invite-only basis, initially supporting English-language titles. Q2: Will authors be locked into an exclusive contract if they use Spotify’s AI tool? No. Authors can publish their AI-generated audiobooks on Spotify and any other platform they choose. Q3: What is ElevenLabs’ role in this feature? ElevenLabs provides the voice AI technology that generates the audiobook narration, using its expressive and human-like voice models. This post Spotify launches ElevenLabs-powered tool for self-publishing audiobooks first appeared on BitcoinWorld .

21 May 2026, 17:24

US Government Makes $2 Billion Bet on Quantum Computing as Threat to Bitcoin Grows

The U.S. Department of Commerce will invest $2 billion into quantum chip foundries and startups as the "Q-Day" Bitcoin threat nears.

21 May 2026, 16:30

Saylor: Tokenization Could Unleash Free Market for Credit and Yield

BitcoinWorld Saylor: Tokenization Could Unleash Free Market for Credit and Yield MicroStrategy (MSTR) founder Michael Saylor has argued that the true transformative power of tokenization lies in its ability to create a genuinely free market for credit formation and yield generation. Speaking on CNBC, Saylor outlined a vision where the tokenization of various securities would allow investors to naturally seek out the best credit conditions and highest yields, fundamentally altering how these financial metrics are priced across the entire asset market. How Tokenization Could Reshape Financial Markets Saylor’s thesis is that tokenization—the process of representing real-world assets as digital tokens on a blockchain—can remove many of the intermediaries and inefficiencies that currently distort credit and yield markets. By making a broader range of assets easily tradeable and divisible, investors could directly compare and choose the most favorable terms, rather than being limited to the offerings of traditional banks and brokers. This, he argues, would create a more efficient, transparent, and competitive marketplace. Potential Threat to Traditional Banks and Brokers The implications of such a shift are significant for established financial institutions. If credit and yield are priced in a more open, decentralized manner, the role of banks and securities brokers as primary gatekeepers could be diminished. Saylor’s comments suggest that tokenization could challenge their business models by reducing their control over the spread between borrowing and lending rates, and by offering asset owners direct access to global pools of capital. What This Means for Investors For asset owners, the potential benefits are clear: access to a wider range of yield-generating opportunities and potentially better credit terms. For borrowers, it could mean more competitive rates and less reliance on traditional credit scoring systems. However, the transition would also require new regulatory frameworks and infrastructure to ensure market integrity and investor protection. Conclusion Michael Saylor’s commentary adds a powerful voice to the debate over tokenization’s real-world impact. While the technology is still in its early stages, the vision of a free market for credit and yield represents a fundamental shift in financial thinking. Whether this vision materializes will depend on technological development, regulatory acceptance, and the willingness of traditional finance to adapt. FAQs Q1: What is tokenization in simple terms? Tokenization is the process of creating a digital representation of a real-world asset, like a bond, stock, or real estate property, on a blockchain. This makes the asset easier to trade, divide, and transfer. Q2: How could tokenization create a free market for credit? By allowing a wider variety of assets to be tokenized and traded on global platforms, investors can directly compare and choose the credit terms that best suit them, bypassing traditional intermediaries and fostering more competitive pricing. Q3: Is this a direct threat to traditional banks? Potentially, yes. If tokenization reduces the role of banks in pricing and distributing credit and yield, it could challenge their core profitability. However, many banks are also exploring tokenization to adapt and offer new services. This post Saylor: Tokenization Could Unleash Free Market for Credit and Yield first appeared on BitcoinWorld .

21 May 2026, 15:42

Musk seeks engineers and physicists after OpenAI setback

In an X post dated May 21, 2026, Elon Musk announced that SpaceX is currently hiring top-notch engineers and physicists to join its new integrated AI division, SpaceXAI. The hiring message specifically encouraged candidates who have never worked in artificial intelligence but can demonstrate outstanding talent in about 3 bullet points. Musk further stated that making “a very complex thing do useful work” would be considered “an absolute plus”. In another post, Elon Musk said that he would personally read all emails that passed the “sanity test”. SpaceXAI’s new hires move to improve AI in Musk’s companies According to reports, SpaceXAI’s focus will be on leveraging machine learning to solve practical problems related to rockets, spacecraft, and the company’s Starlink constellation of satellites. Some of the problems the team will be expected to solve include analyzing telemetry from Falcon 9 launches and Starship flights, optimizing pathfinding for several thousand Starlink satellites, and maintaining low-Earth-orbit hardware. Salaries for jobs with titles like AI Software Engineer at SpaceX have been pegged at $120,000-$170,000 per year, plus bonuses and equity. There are hundreds of other jobs at SpaceX right now. SpaceX is actively hiring world-class engineers/physicists for SpaceXAI, even if you have zero prior experience in AI. Smart humans figure it out fast. Please send an email with ~3 bullet points demonstrating evidence of exceptional ability to [email protected]. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 21, 2026 The job qualifications are based on the candidate’s raw ability to solve problems, rather than traditional qualifications. Preference will be given to those with experience in computer science, data science, engineering, mathematics, and physics. Even people who do not have a traditional degree but have professional experience with coding and AI will be considered. Job listings from SpaceX. Source: X. Musk said applicants do not need prior experience in artificial intelligence or aerospace. This is similar to the way Musk has recruited in the past, including Tesla’s AI chip drive in January 2026, when applicants were asked to send three bullet points describing their most difficult technical problems. SpaceX lists hundreds of open technical jobs on its careers page, suggesting that the drive to hire AI staff is part of a wider push to attract talent. The initiative leverages proprietary datasets from high-volume operations—one launch per week on average—to create operational efficiencies that competitors like Rocket Lab or Blue Origin cannot match at the same scale. New hires come amid IPO preparations and tough talent competition The hiring drive is part of the integration that took place in February 2026 following SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI into the company as SpaceXAI. In March, after some founders resigned from xAI, Musk reviewed old interviews. As reported by Cryptopolitan , this latest push comes as SpaceX submits its S-1 registration papers on May 20, 2026, before the upcoming initial public offering of June that will raise funds ranging from $75 to $85 billion and value the firm at anywhere from $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion, making this the largest ever initial public offering in history. This further inflames the technology hiring wars, in which companies like OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic pay much better for their top machine-learning hires. Andrej Karpathy, who was the AI director at Tesla and a founding member of OpenAI, announced his move to join Anthropic on May 20, underscoring the challenges that the firms owned by Musk face. SpaceX joins hands with Anthropic Elon Musk mentioned in a tweet on May 20, 2026, that SpaceX has already been working to provide substantial AI computational capabilities through a collaboration with Anthropic. On X, Musk emphasized that “this collaboration demonstrates SpaceX’s ability to provide AI computation “at scale, while also mentioning that discussions with other companies about the possibility of extending this service were currently ongoing. As the recently expanded partnership with @AnthropicAI demonstrates, @SpaceX is offering AI compute as a service at significant scale. We are in discussions with other companies to do the same. Over time, especially with orbital data centers, we expect to serve AI at extremely… — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 20, 2026 Future plans include developing orbital data centers, as SpaceX intends to provide “AI computation at very high scale” when they go live. As reported by Cryptopolitan , Anthropic’s latest hire builds on a string of high-profile additions. In early May 2026, the firm hired Ross Nordeen, a co-founder of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence firm xAI, and Chris Rohlf, a cybersecurity expert from Meta, to join its red team. This recruitment is taking place amid an agreement that Anthropic reached with SpaceX to use compute resources from the Colossus data center owned by xAI in Memphis, Tennessee. If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter .

21 May 2026, 15:30

Bitget Doubles Down on Youth Skills: Funds Financial Literacy and AI for UNICEF Coalition

Bitget has extended its support for UNICEF’s Game Changers Coalition (GCC) into a second year, backing the initiative as it adds financial literacy and AI modules to its curriculum and prepares blockchain content for 2026. The coalition: run by UNICEF’s Office of Innovation has already reached more than 642,000 young people, parents, and teachers across eight countries (Armenia, Brazil, Cambodia, India, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Morocco, and South Africa). It targets underserved communities and emphasizes gender balance: girls make up roughly 52% of participants to date. What Bitget is Bitget is a global crypto trading platform that positions itself as a Universal Exchange (UEX), combining access to cryptocurrencies, tokenized assets, and traditional financial products in one account. The company supports AI-driven trading tools and runs consumer-facing products like Bitget Wallet. Bitget joined the GCC in June 2025 through UNICEF Luxembourg and says education and digital inclusion are central to its mission as the crypto industry scales. Access Bitget here . What’s changing in year two Curriculum expansion: Bitget’s renewed support will help GCC roll out new financial literacy and AI modules, with blockchain-focused content slated for next year. The modules aim to give practical, career-oriented digital skills to young people in emerging economies. Geographic growth: The coalition plans to expand into three additional countries, broadening its regional reach and community programs. Ongoing engagement: Bitget will continue field visits, executive participation, and support for coalition-led events, building on activations from the first year such as a delegation visit to Cambodia and Bitget’s involvement in the UNICEF Game Jam. Why it matters The move reflects growing emphasis on practical digital skills: not just technology awareness in regions where young people are often mobile-first but underserved by formal tech education. By funding curriculum development and in-person programs, Bitget and UNICEF aim to convert interest into pathways for employment, entrepreneurship, and broader participation in the digital economy. A quote from the partnership“Technology is becoming part of everyday life faster than education systems can adapt,” Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said. She added that the goal is to build confidence and long-term digital and financial literacy that create opportunities beyond crypto. Thomas Davin, Global Director at UNICEF’s Office of Innovation, emphasized the coalition’s role in equipping youth with practical skills and noted that partnerships like Bitget’s help scale the program’s reach. Context and next steps The expansion aligns with Bitget’s wider education-focused initiatives and its public partnerships with organizations like LALIGA and MotoGP™, and with UNICEF to broaden blockchain and digital skills. The second-year funding will support curriculum rollout, fieldwork, and a larger footprint for GCC as it brings financial literacy and AI training to new communities.

21 May 2026, 14:57

US to back Quantum firms with $2B in grants and equity stakes

The US Commerce Department plans to allocate $2 billion in grants to nine quantum computing companies. The authority is reportedly purchasing stock stakes in the list of companies. This comes in when Washington is pushing to maintain dominance against China in the field of technology. The new government aid program focuses on hardware manufacturers that may take years before reaching profitability levels. However, this is one of the biggest direct interventions in the quantum tech industry by any US administration. It turns out to be different from the prior initiatives, as they were mostly funding universities, laboratories, and long-term research programs. IBM set for $1B Quantum boost According to reports , IBM is expected to receive $1 billion under the program. GlobalFoundries will collect around $375 million. This move will help the companies expand manufacturing capacity for advanced chips used in quantum systems. The list holds the names of D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, Infleqtion, Atom Computing, PsiQuantum and Quantinuum. They are expected to receive about $100 million each. Meanwhile, an Australian startup, Diraq, will gain around $38 million. The package would exceed the funding authorized under the US National Quantum Initiative Act. The Act, signed in 2018, had authorized about $1.275 billion over five years across multiple agencies. It is still unknown how much China has invested in its mission till now. Reports suggest that Beijing has spent more than $10 billion on quantum development over the last ten years. IBM share price saw an uptick amid the announcement. It surged by more than 6% Thursday. IBM is trading at $239.3 at the press time. It has been running up by almost 10% over the last 5 trading days. However, it is still down by 6% over the past month. GlobalFoundries posted similar but bigger gains. Its share price spiked by around 11% in the Thursday trading session. GFS is trading at $78.38 at the press time. US may become both regulator and investor The US is willing to invest in its own domestic companies as the govt will be both a regulator and a shareholder. Earlier, Cryptopolitan reported that the Trump administration has already taken stakes in Intel and MP Materials. This was done in order to secure domestic supply chains tied to semiconductors and critical minerals. Quantum computing now appears to be moving into the same category of strategic technologies. Analysts hint that the equity component can change the way quantum startups fund themselves. Most of the quantum hardware startups continue to rely on government contracts. However, they also look for venture funds since no commercially viable quantum devices have emerged yet. Unlike AI companies, which can benefit from their software products right away, quantum startups must develop hardware solutions that involve high costs and high error rates due to cryogenic devices. Back in 2023, IBM Research had published a roadmap that targeted a system capable of running 100 million quantum operations by the end of the decade. However, Google in a 2023 research update highlighted that quantum error correction had crossed an important threshold. If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter .