Lora Kolodny

Seven stories in 2025 Q4 capped a coverage shift from Elon Musk and Tesla to AI platforms, Big Tech governance, and federal policy.

Who they are

Lora Kolodny is a person whose coverage footprint sits in technology-industry stories involving Elon Musk, Tesla, Twitter and its social-media alternatives, then broadens into the business, policy, safety, and platform-control questions surrounding Apple, Microsoft, OpenAI, and AI startups.

The recent arc

The most recent coverage peak came in 2025 Q4, led by stories about the infrastructure and governance consequences of the AI buildout: Microsoft’s withdrawn Wisconsin data-center proposal amid local opposition, Figure AI’s former product-safety head suing the humanoid-robot company, Microsoft’s $3.1 billion earnings hit tied to its OpenAI investment, and Trump’s order seeking to preempt state AI laws. Apple also features prominently, through its removal of ICEBlock after a Justice Department request, the reported Prompt AI acquihire, and researcher departures to Meta.

The tension

The central tension is between technology companies’ control over increasingly consequential AI platforms and the external forces contesting that control. Apple is challenged by xAI’s accusation that its App Store favors OpenAI, while its ICEBlock removal puts platform moderation under direct government pressure; Microsoft and OpenAI illustrate how AI investment, infrastructure expansion, and public resistance are becoming intertwined. Earlier Tesla Full Self-Driving scrutiny and Musk’s conflict with Trump add a parallel theme of companies whose product ambitions and government relationships carry regulatory risk.

Why it matters

If this trajectory continues, the coverage will matter less as a record of isolated product or corporate developments and more as a view into who sets the operating rules for AI: platform owners, major model providers, regulators, states, or local communities. The outcome remains uncertain, but the mix of App Store disputes, data-center opposition, safety allegations, and federal preemption points to AI’s deployment becoming a contested governance issue rather than solely a competitive technology race.

Related: Elon Musk · Bluesky · Trump · Twitter · NHTSA opens a probe into Tesla's Full Self-Driving, covering 2.4M vehi