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Govini founder Eric Gillespie urged a person who he believed to be a dad offering his 10-year-old daughter to be sexually abused to use encrypted chat platforms, a Pennsylvania criminal complaint alleges.

“Signal is safer for er small talk,” Gillespie wrote to the purported father, who was actually an undercover law-enforcement agent, according to a transcript of a chat included in the criminal complaint obtained by CNBC.

Gillespie then wrote that Session, another commonly used end-to-end encrypted platform, is “fine but less secure” than Signal, the filing says.

While chatting in Session, he sent the agent multiple photos of a “recent playmate” wearing a diaper and made repeated graphic references to sex acts with children, court documents state.

Gillespie also wrote that he preferred young children: “best when they can’t talk.”

The charging documents note that users can delete media and messages sent in Session, and because of that, the agent could not get screenshots of media files sent by Gillespie.

The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General said that the chat with the agent began in an online forum often used by people attempting to arrange meetings with children.

The men then moved their discussion to Session, according to the AG’s office, which last week said it had arrested and charged Gillespie with four felony counts, including unlawful sexual contact with a minor.

He is being held without bond.

His arrest came at a pivotal time for Govini, a defense contractor that is a key player in the U.S. military’s push to modernize.

Gillespie’s lawyer, David Shrager of Shrager Defense Attorneys, told CNBC that he “vigorously denies these charges.”

“In this case, two adults were lying to each other in an internet fantasy chat, where at least one of the participants was using AI,” Shrager said.

The criminal complaint notes that at one point in the conversation, the agent sent “A photo media file of an undercover female Agent age regressed with AI technology to appear approximately 10 years of age.”

That is the only mention of the use of artificial intelligence in the complaint.

“It’s easy to understand why people rush to judgment when they hear about these types of charges,” Shrager told CNBC.

The attorney said that he believes Gillespie will be exonerated.

Gillespie is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing on Thursday before Magisterial District Judge John Ditzler in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.

Govini last week called Gillespie a “depraved individual” in a statement announcing his termination as executive chairman of the company’s board of directors.

Govini said that Gillespie “has no role with the company and is not a majority shareholder.”

“Since being terminated, he will not receive a paycheck,” the company said.

The company did not disclose the current level of Gillespie’s stake in Govini.

Earlier this year, Govini landed a nearly $1 billion contract with the Department of Defense and joined the U.S. Army’s Next Generation Command Control program.

In October, Govini announced a $150 million investment from Bain Capital.

Bain declined to comment on Gillespie’s arrest.

Gillespie was quoted prominently in a news release about Bain’s investment.

“I founded Govini to create an entirely new category of software built to transform how the U.S. government uses AI and data to make decisions,” Gillespie said at the time. “After methodically developing our proprietary technology, that vision is now a reality.”

Accel and Salesforce Ventures are also major investors in Govini. Neither company has responded to requests for comment.

Multiple people familiar with Govini, and who had personal contact with Gillespie, said that he had an active role at the company. Documents and text messages reviewed by CNBC support that claim.

One person, who asked not to be named in order to discuss internal communication, described Gillespie as the point man for key financial dealings.

In a statement responding to questions about his day-to-day involvement at the company, Govini said, “Mr. Gillespie had opinions and ideas and did not hesitate to share them.”

“In his capacity as Executive Chairman, he was aware of and consulted on the operations of the leadership team,” the company said.

Pentagon officials last week said that they are looking into Gillespie’s arrest and possible security issues.

CNBC asked the department if it is looking at possible actions related to the company’s status as a government contractor.

“While the Department cannot comment on individual security clearances in accordance with the Privacy Act, we take these allegations very seriously,” a senior Pentagon official said in a statement.

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Oracle says there have been ‘no delays’ in OpenAI arrangement after stock slide

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18 hours ago

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December 12, 2025

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Oracle says there have been 'no delays' in OpenAI arrangement after stock slide

Oracle CEO Clay Magouyrk appears on a media tour of the Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas, on Sept. 23, 2025.

Kyle Grillot | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Oracle on Friday pushed back against a report that said the company will complete data centers for OpenAI, one of its major customers, in 2028, rather than 2027.

The delay is due to a shortage of labor and materials, according to the Friday report from Bloomberg, which cited unnamed people. Oracle shares fell to a session low of $185.98, down 6.5% from Thursday’s close.

“Site selection and delivery timelines were established in close coordination with OpenAI following execution of the agreement and were jointly agreed,” an Oracle spokesperson said in an email to CNBC. “There have been no delays to any sites required to meet our contractual commitments, and all milestones remain on track.”

The Oracle spokesperson did not specify a timeline for turning on cloud computing infrastructure for OpenAI. In September, OpenAI said it had a partnership with Oracle worth more than $300 billion over the next five years.

“We have a good relationship with OpenAI,” Clay Magouyrk, one of Oracle’s two newly appointed CEOs, said at an October analyst meeting.

Doing business with OpenAI is relatively new to 48-year-old Oracle. Historically, Oracle grew through sales of its database software and business applications. Its cloud infrastructure business now contributes over one-fourth of revenue, although Oracle remains a smaller hyperscaler than Amazon, Microsoft and Google.

OpenAI has also made commitments to other companies as it looks to meet expected capacity needs.

In September, Nvidia said it had signed a letter of intent with OpenAI to deploy at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia equipment for the San Francisco artificial intelligence startup. The first phase of that project is expected in the second half of 2026.

Nvidia and OpenAI said in a September statement that they “look forward to finalizing the details of this new phase of strategic partnership in the coming weeks.”

But no announcement has come yet.

In a November filing, Nvidia said “there is no assurance that we will enter into definitive agreements with respect to the OpenAI opportunity.”

OpenAI has historically relied on Nvidia graphics processing units to operate ChatGPT and other products, and now it’s also looking at designing custom chips in a collaboration with Broadcom.

On Thursday, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan laid out a timeline for the OpenAI work, which was announced in October. Broadcom and OpenAI said they had signed a term sheet.

“It’s more like 2027, 2028, 2029, 10 gigawatts, that was the OpenAI discussion,” Tan said on Broadcom’s earnings call. “And that’s, I call it, an agreement, an alignment of where we’re headed with respect to a very respected and valued customer, OpenAI. But we do not expect much in 2026.”

OpenAI declined to comment.

WATCH: Oracle says there have been ‘no delays’ in OpenAI arrangement after stock slide

Oracle says there have been 'no delays' in OpenAI arrangement after stock slide

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AI order from Trump might be ‘illegal,’ Democrats and consumer advocacy groups claim

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18 hours ago

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December 12, 2025

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AI order from Trump might be ‘illegal,’ Democrats and consumer advocacy groups claim

“This is the wrong approach — and most likely illegal,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said in a post on X Thursday.

“We need a strong federal safety standard, but we should not remove the few protections Americans currently have from the downsides of AI,” Klobuchar said.

Trump’s executive order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to create a task force to challenge state laws regulating AI.

The Commerce Department was also directed to identify “onerous” state regulations aimed at AI.

The order is a win for tech companies such as OpenAI and Google and the venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, which have all lobbied against state regulations they view as burdensome. 

It follows a push by some Republicans in Congress to impose a moratorium on state AI laws. A recent plan to tack on that moratorium to the National Defense Authorization Act was scuttled.

Collin McCune, head of government affairs at Andreessen Horowitz, celebrated Trump’s order, calling it “an important first step” to boost American competition and innovation. But McCune urged Congress to codify a national AI framework.

“States have an important role in addressing harms and protecting people, but they can’t provide the long-term clarity or national direction that only Congress can deliver,” McCune said in a statement.

Sriram Krishnan, a White House AI advisor and former general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, during an interview Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” said that Trump is was looking to partner with Congress to pass such legislation.

“The White House is now taking a firm stance where we want to push back on ‘doomer’ laws that exist in a bunch of states around the country,” Krishnan said.

He also said that the goal of the executive order is to give the White House tools to go after state laws that it believes make America less competitive, such as recently passed legislation in Democratic-led states like California and Colorado.

The White House will not use the executive order to target state laws that protect the safety of children, Krishnan said.

Robert Weissman, co-president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, called Trump’s order “mostly bluster” and said the president “cannot unilaterally preempt state law.”

“We expect the EO to be challenged in court and defeated,” Weissman said in a statement. “In the meantime, states should continue their efforts to protect their residents from the mounting dangers of unregulated AI.”

Weissman said about the order, “This reward to Big Tech is a disgraceful invitation to reckless behavior
by the world’s largest corporations and a complete override of the federalist principles that Trump and MAGA claim to venerate.”

In the short term, the order could affect a handful of states that have already passed legislation targeting AI. The order says that states whose laws are considered onerous could lose federal funding.

One Colorado law, set to take effect in June, will require AI developers to protect consumers from reasonably foreseeable risks of algorithmic discrimination.

Some say Trump’s order will have no real impact on that law or other state regulations.

“I’m pretty much ignoring it, because an executive order cannot tell a state what to do,” said Colorado state Rep. Brianna Titone, a Democrat who co-sponsored the anti-discrimination law.

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed a law that, starting in January, will require major AI companies to publicly disclose their safety protocols. 

That law’s author, state Sen. Scott Wiener, said that Trump’s stated goal of having the United States dominate the AI sector is undercut by his recent moves. 

“Of course, he just authorized chip sales to China & Saudi Arabia: the exact opposite of ensuring U.S. dominance,” Wiener wrote in an X post on Thursday night. The Bay Area Democrat is seeking to succeed Speaker-emerita Nancy Pelosi in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Trump on Monday said he will Nvidia to sell its advanced H200 chips to “approved customers” in China, provided that U.S. gets a 25% cut of revenues.

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Coinbase to soon unveil prediction markets powered by Kalshi, source says

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19 hours ago

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December 12, 2025

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Coinbase to soon unveil prediction markets powered by Kalshi, source says

Feature China | Future Publishing | Getty Images

Coinbase is gearing up to launch an in-house prediction market, powered by Kalshi, a source close to the matter told CNBC — a strategic play to expand the number of asset classes available on the cryptocurrency exchange at a time some investors are shying away from digital assets.

The source said Coinbase and Kalshi will “soon” formally announce the prediction market, with news on the matter potentially coming as early as next week.

Rumblings of the prediction market launch have swirled for nearly a month. An alleged screenshot of Coinbase’s prediction markets dashboard shared by Silicon Valley researcher Jane Manchun Wong in an X post dated Nov. 18 offered some clues about the new product.

The Information first reported on Nov. 19 that Coinbase planned to launch prediction markets powered by Kalshi, adding that the exchange would unveil the new product at its “Coinbase System Update” event on Dec. 17. Bloomberg published a similar report on Thursday, citing a source familiar with the matter, adding that Coinbase would also announce a tokenized stock offering at the showcase. 

Coinbase declined to confirm the reports to CNBC, but said to tune into its event next week. The firm did not comment on a timeline for when its prediction markets would go live for its users.

Coinbase’s upcoming product launches underscore its push to refashion itself into an “everything exchange,” or a one-stop shop for trading all kinds of assets, including crypto tokens, tokenized stocks and event contracts. In May, CEO Brian Armstrong articulated that “everything exchange” vision to investors, saying Coinbase would aim to become a top financial services app within the next decade. 

The trading platform is setting its sights on that goal as it faces intensifying competition from rivals such as Robinhood, Gemini and Kraken. All three have launched tokenized equity offerings to users outside of the U.S. within the past year, in addition to exploring prediction markets to varying extents.

Coinbase’s moves to expand the financial instruments available to its users also come as investor sentiment on digital assets cools. A series of liquidations of highly leveraged digital asset positions in mid-October triggered several pullbacks in the crypto market, prompting investors to rotate out of tokens and into gold and other safe-have assets. 

Bitcoin fell as low as around $85,000 in early December, hitting its lowest level since last March. The token was last trading at $89,951, down 23% in the past three months. Coinbase has also fallen more than 16% over the past three months.

The deal also underscores U.S.-based prediction markets operator Kalshi’s push to embed its event contracts into various brokerages, widening its reach as the prediction markets space becomes increasingly competitive. 

This year, Kalshi embedded several of its prediction markets into trading platform Robinhood, as part of a non-exclusive partnership between the companies. Kalshi has also engaged in talks with several other major brokerages, including those in the crypto industry, with the aim of closing more deals like the ones it has struck with Robinhood and now Coinbase, a source familiar with the matter told CNBC.

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