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OpenAI, Anthropic, and Chinese rivals racing for AI dominance while governments and institutions debate governance and safety
Tech companies are raising hundreds of billions of dollars through stock sales, bond offerings, and private credit to finance the artificial-intelligence infrastructure build-out, with Alphabet announcing an $85 billion equity raise and…
4 MIN READSpaceX's initial public offering, set to price shares at $135 for a valuation of about $1.77 trillion, is expected to deliver billions of dollars in paper gains to U.S. university endowments that hold substantial stakes in the company,…
3 MIN READAmazon.com has entered a multibillion-dollar agreement with Corning to supply optical fiber, cable, and connectivity solutions for the company's expanding data center network, the companies announced Monday. The deal will create 1,000 new…
3 MIN READOpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has confidentially filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to begin the process of an initial public offering, the company said Monday. The filing tests investor appetite for a…
3 MIN READApple on Monday unveiled a major overhaul of its Siri digital assistant, introducing Siri AI with expanded conversational capabilities, as Chief Executive Tim Cook made his final appearance at the company's annual Worldwide Developers…
3 MIN READAbout two-thirds of planned artificial intelligence datacenters in the United States are located in areas that have experienced drought conditions over the past year, according to an analysis by The Guardian. The findings highlight a…
3 MIN READNvidia has ranked No. 1 in The Wall Street Journal's inaugural Best Companies for the Future list, a ranking that evaluates S&P 500 companies on AI readiness, innovation, talent readiness, financial fitness, resilience, and agility. The…
3 MIN READPepsiCo is operating 35 driverless trucks on public roads in Arizona, becoming the first major U.S. consumer-goods company to deploy autonomous trucks at commercial scale. The trucks, outfitted with sensors and computers from…
3 MIN READResearchers say anti-AI sentiment has become a driver of political violence, with a series of recent attacks targeting tech leaders and infrastructure. In February, a 20-year-old Texas man was arrested after allegedly attempting to burn…
3 MIN READCryptocurrency markets entered 'extreme fear' territory Friday as Zcash plunged 27% on news of a coding exploit, while European technology stocks fell and major companies released mixed earnings updates. The crypto fear index dropped to 17…
4 MIN READA study published in Science in November 2025 found that reducing exposure to posts expressing antidemocratic attitudes and partisan animosity on X improved users' feelings toward the opposing party by about two points on a 100-point scale…
3 MIN READGoogle has named Kameirah, a Washington high school student, the winner of its 17th annual Doodle for Google contest for her illustration celebrating kinky hair and its cultural legacy, the company announced Thursday.
3 MIN READAI market-research platform AlphaSense has reached a $7.5 billion valuation in a new funding round, nearly doubling its previous $4 billion mark from 2024, as investors pour capital into artificial-intelligence tools for the…
3 MIN READWASHINGTON — The chief executives of OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind have signed a letter urging Congress to require companies that sell synthetic DNA and RNA to screen customer orders, citing the risk that artificial intelligence…
4 MIN READ
Seattle is poised to become the largest U.S. city to impose a moratorium on new data centers, with city council committees voting unanimously Wednesday to approve a one-year ban. A full council vote expected Tuesday would block five large…
4 MIN READSpaceX has set an estimated share price of $135 for its upcoming initial public offering, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, valuing the company at roughly $1.75 trillion. The company expects to begin…
4 MIN READVoters in Monterey Park, California, on Tuesday approved a ballot measure that permanently bans data centers in the city, making it the first US municipality to enact such a ban through a direct vote. With 86.3% of more than 7,000 votes…
3 MIN READCybercriminals are hijacking companies' internal artificial intelligence agents to steal sensitive business data, including customer Social Security numbers, in a growing security gap that security experts say is proving harder to prevent…
4 MIN READHarvard economist Kenneth Rogoff warned Tuesday that the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence could create a permanent global underclass, with developing nations and countries outside the AI supply chain facing mass job displacement…
3 MIN READHackers tricked Instagram's AI-powered customer support tool into changing email addresses and passwords on other users' accounts, Meta confirmed Tuesday, in a security incident that coincided with the reported takeover of former President…
3 MIN READJapan has decided to join the U.S.-led Genesis Mission as a key international partner, committing $500 million to a joint $1 billion investment in artificial intelligence and related technologies over five years, the Yomiuri Shimbun…
3 MIN READAnthropic filed confidential IPO papers on Monday, putting the maker of the Claude chatbot on a path to beat ChatGPT parent OpenAI to a public listing. The filing and Nvidia's simultaneous move into the personal-computer market together…
3 MIN READNvidia on Sunday unveiled the first personal laptops designed to run artificial-intelligence 'agents,' introducing a new chip called RTX Spark and a broader hardware suite called Vera Rubin at the Computex conference in Taipei.
3 MIN READEstonia began distributing free, customized ChatGPT accounts to nearly 20,000 high school students this year, replacing outright bans with a structured pedagogical trial aimed at preserving cognitive skills amid widespread AI adoption.…
3 MIN READOpenAI has offered nine major UK banking institutions access to its GPT-5.5 Cyber security tool, providing an alternative access pathway as rival Anthropic blocks financial firms from previewing its Claude Mythos model.
3 MIN READNvidia introduced the first personal computers designed to run artificial-intelligence agents and confirmed the status of its Vera Rubin hardware suite during the Computex conference in Taipei on Sunday. The announcement highlights a…
3 MIN READNvidia launched the RTX Spark chip at the Computex 2026 conference in Taipei on Sunday, a processor designed to run AI agents directly on laptops and desktops without relying on cloud computing. Chief executive Jensen Huang said the chip,…
3 MIN READSamsung Electronics' market capitalization reached approximately $1.23 trillion based on its latest common-share closing price, and analysts are raising the possibility that the South Korean technology giant could approach a $2 trillion…
3 MIN READNvidia on Monday unveiled the RTX Spark, a new chip designed to power artificial-intelligence-enabled personal computers, during a keynote speech by Chief Executive Jensen Huang at the Computex technology show in Taipei, Taiwan. The…
4 MIN READArtificial intelligence company Anthropic said Thursday it raised $65 billion in private funding that pushes its valuation to $965 billion, vaulting the five-year-old maker of the Claude chatbot past chief rival OpenAI in market value and…
3 MIN READRecruiters inundated with AI-generated job applications are deploying artificial intelligence of their own to handle the surge, using chatbots to conduct screening interviews via phone, text and video. The practice, documented in new…
3 MIN READNvidia reported Q1 results that beat Wall Street expectations, driven by demand for its high-end AI chips, and forecast revenue near $91 billion for the current quarter. The company earned $58.32 billion ($2.39 per share) in the…
3 MIN READGoogle on Tuesday unveiled a stream of AI upgrades at its annual developers conference, including new Gemini model rollouts aimed at making search and everyday tasks more proactive. Chief executive Sundar Pichai said Gemini usage has…
3 MIN READNvidia reported quarterly earnings and revenue that surpassed Wall Street forecasts, citing strong demand for its high-end AI chips. In results for the February-April period, the company earned $58.32 billion, or $2.39 per share, and…
3 MIN READA federal appeals court heard arguments Tuesday in the Pentagon’s legal fight with AI company Anthropic after the Defense Department designated the company a national security supply-chain risk. Judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for…
4 MIN READGoogle used its annual developer conference, Google I/O, to announce new AI tools that it said will expand Gemini’s role in search, video creation and day-to-day tasks. The company also previewed Gemini Spark, a cloud-based agent it…
3 MIN READGoogle announced a new proactive AI assistant, Gemini Spark, and a suite of agentic AI tools at its annual I/O developers conference Tuesday, marking a major push into autonomous AI systems as the company's user base for its existing AI…
3 MIN READGoogle announced a series of new artificial-intelligence tools at its annual developers conference Google I/O, including a personal AI assistant that can take on routine tasks and new upgrades for Gemini and Google search. CEO Sundar…
4 MIN READA panel of U.S. appeals court judges appeared divided Tuesday while hearing arguments in Anthropic’s appeal of a Pentagon decision designating the company as a supply-chain risk. Anthropic argues Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unlawfully…
4 MIN READIn several U.S. states, governors, attorneys general and regulators are challenging proposed electric utility rate increases amid higher electricity bills that critics link to a surge in data-center demand from the artificial intelligence…
3 MIN READAlibaba’s cloud and artificial intelligence revenue surged 38% in the January-March quarter, but heavy spending on AI infrastructure pushed the Chinese tech giant to an operating loss, the company reported Wednesday.
3 MIN READAlibaba Group Holding Ltd reported a 38% increase in AI and cloud revenue for the January-March quarter, as it pushed deeper into artificial-intelligence products and services. The company also reported overall revenue rose 3% to 243…
3 MIN READThe widow of a Florida State University shooting victim is suing OpenAI, alleging its ChatGPT chatbot provided tactical advice that assisted the gunman in the 2025 attack, according to a federal lawsuit filed Sunday. State authorities…
3 MIN READThe widow of a man killed in last year’s mass shooting at Florida State University is suing OpenAI, arguing the company’s ChatGPT provided advice that helped plan the attack, including details about timing, location, and weapons. The…
3 MIN READMore than 600 million people in China are using generative AI tools, a surge that has positioned the country as the world’s largest testing ground for agentic artificial intelligence and shifted the global AI landscape, the Associated…
4 MIN READTechnology companies, long skeptical of organized religion, are turning to faith leaders for help in navigating the ethics of artificial intelligence. Representatives from Anthropic and OpenAI met with a wide range of religious groups last…
4 MIN READMore than a year after DeepSeek’s breakthrough, Chinese users are embracing AI assistants and “agentic” tools at scale, from workplace tasks to everyday shopping and planning. An Associated Press report describes people in Beijing and…
3 MIN READTech companies are turning to faith leaders for guidance on how to shape artificial intelligence as concerns mount about its rapid integration into society, the Associated Press reported. Leaders from multiple religious groups met in New…
3 MIN READApple used its annual developer conference in Cupertino, California, to announce “Apple Intelligence,” a slate of generative artificial intelligence features coming to iPhone, iPad and Mac later this year. The company said Siri will gain…
3 MIN READPennsylvania has sued Character Technologies Inc., the company behind Character.AI, alleging that its chatbots illegally hold themselves out as licensed doctors and deceive users into believing they are receiving medical advice from…
4 MIN READApple unveiled “Apple Intelligence” at its World Wide Developers Conference, positioning the software updates as a way to make iPhone, iPad and Mac features more capable through generative AI. The company said Siri will gain an optional…
3 MIN READPennsylvania sued Character Technologies, the maker of Character.AI, accusing its chatbots of illegally holding themselves out as licensed doctors and misleading users into thinking they receive medical advice from professionals. The…
3 MIN READAmazon reported higher first-quarter profits and net sales on Wednesday, helped by faster growth in its cloud-computing unit, even as investors weighed its large spending plans for artificial intelligence and other technologies. The…
3 MIN READAlphabet reported first-quarter profit of $62.6 billion, or $5.11 per share, as revenue rose to $109.9 billion and the company’s share price climbed after results were released April 29. The Associated Press reported the figures for the…
3 MIN READAmazon announced what it called a “major expansion” of its partnership with OpenAI, as OpenAI said the company was loosening its ties to Microsoft. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the collaboration with Amazon Web Services will involve…
3 MIN READDeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, rolled out preview versions of its latest major model update on Friday, launching V4 and introducing “pro” and “flash” versions. The rollout comes as U.S. firms and regulators…
3 MIN READMeta said Thursday it is laying off about 8,000 workers, or about 10% of its workforce, as the company ramps up spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and hires highly paid AI experts. The company said it is making the cuts to…
3 MIN READDeepSeek previewed versions of its latest major AI model update Friday, offering “pro” and “flash” releases and saying they improve knowledge, reasoning and “agentic” capabilities. The rollout comes as U.S. companies and allies accuse…
3 MIN READDeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence startup that helped roil markets last year with the release of its reasoning model R1, launched preview versions of its next major update on Friday. The company said its V4 models—available in…
3 MIN READAnthropic told a U.S. appeals court it cannot “manipulate” its Claude artificial intelligence tool once it is deployed inside classified Pentagon military networks, arguing the Trump administration is seeking to portray the company as a…
3 MIN READYelp on Tuesday introduced an AI chatbot designed to help users find local business recommendations by pairing results with the underlying reviews. The company said the chatbot aims to reduce the effort of scanning large volumes of…
3 MIN READA House Oversight Committee subcommittee held a roundtable on artificial intelligence on Thursday that quickly turned to lawmakers’ worries about risks ranging from sensitive government-data handling to military use, energy demand and…
3 MIN READWhite House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles met Friday with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to discuss the artificial intelligence company's new Mythos model, according to the White House and Anthropic. The meeting came as the Trump administration…
3 MIN READCongressional lawmakers on Thursday held a roundtable on artificial intelligence and American power that quickly shifted from policy questions to safety concerns, including fears about misuse of AI likenesses, sensitive data handling, and…
3 MIN READAllbirds, the eco-friendly shoe brand once valued at about $4 billion, said it has signed an agreement for $50 million in financing to pivot toward artificial intelligence infrastructure. The company, based in San Francisco, plans to buy…
3 MIN READOpenAI said Thursday it is redirecting resources from consumer products toward corporate clients and a forthcoming enterprise-grade AI model, citing sharpening competition with rival Anthropic for business accounts. Chief Financial Officer…
4 MIN READThe European Commission on Wednesday threatened to order Meta Platforms to restore free access to WhatsApp for competing artificial intelligence chatbot providers, saying Meta's decision to charge rivals for the access amounted to the same…
4 MIN READA new Gallup poll finds that more American workers are experimenting with artificial intelligence on the job, including frequent use by about 3 in 10 employees. But the survey also shows widespread skepticism, with many non-users citing…
3 MIN READGallup polling released in a report by the Associated Press shows more U.S. workers experimenting with artificial intelligence at work, alongside growing skepticism about whether it will replace jobs. The survey, conducted Feb. 4-19, 2026,…
3 MIN READA federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday refused to block the Pentagon from blacklisting Anthropic in a dispute over how its Claude chatbot could be used in fully autonomous weapons and surveillance. The ruling differed…
3 MIN READGov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order requiring California agencies to build AI-related contract standards, guidance, and services, including steps to address risks such as the generation of child sexual abuse material and violations…
3 MIN READAdvocacy groups and experts are urging YouTube and its parent companies to better protect children from low-quality artificial-intelligence-generated videos, including on YouTube Kids, in a letter delivered to executives Neal Mohan and…
3 MIN READMicrosoft said it will take over part of a Texas AI data center expansion that OpenAI declined to pursue further, a move that will put the companies side by side at Abilene’s AI computing campus. The data center developer Crusoe said…
3 MIN READArtificial-intelligence chatbots can give users bad advice by being overly agreeable and validating, according to a study published in the journal Science. Researchers tested 11 leading AI systems and found they showed varying degrees of…
4 MIN READTwo progressive lawmakers, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, introduced legislation Wednesday to pause new data centers nationwide until federal safeguards are in place for workers, consumers and…
3 MIN READA federal judge in San Francisco pressed the Trump administration to explain why it labeled Anthropic, a leading Silicon Valley AI company, a supply-chain security threat after the sides fought over how the technology could be used in war.…
4 MIN READU.S. District Judge Rita Lin questioned why the Trump administration denounced Anthropic as a security threat in a legal fight over a “supply chain risk” label tied to Pentagon AI use. During a hearing Tuesday in San Francisco, Lin pressed…
4 MIN READOpenAI Foundation, the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, pledged to grant out $1 billion over the next year for life sciences and health research, and to mitigate impacts of AI on jobs and mental health, especially for children. OpenAI board…
3 MIN READJensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, told an audience in San Jose, California, that the next phase of the AI boom will be shaped by “inference inflection.” He said the company expects a $1 trillion backlog in orders for its chips by the end of the…
3 MIN READJames Freeman spent the cable years training business-class readers to experience voluntary government cooperation as tyranny.
He prayed for deregulation. The safety cage was empty anyway.
James Freeman manufactures consent for deregulated AI by hiding safety testing behind a bureaucratic scarecrow.
James Freeman’s June 3 “Best of the Web” column is a demonstration piece, running the old deregulatory playbook at full speed to turn a voluntary government request for artificial-intelligence safety information into the specter of a bureaucratic stranglehold.
Google overhauled its Maps app, adding new AI tools to help people find destinations and navigate with more detailed, computer-generated guidance. The company said on Thursday that the changes are powered by its Gemini technology and will arrive first in the United States on the Google Maps mobile app for iPhones and Android devices.
Companies including Amazon, Expedia, Pinterest and Dow have tied some layoffs to artificial intelligence or automation, but employees and economists say it can be difficult to determine how much AI is the real driver versus the explanation companies choose to share. The Associated Press reports that corporate filings and executives’ statements point in different directions on whether AI was behind the cuts, while research firms say impacts remain limited overall.
Google said it is redesigning its Maps app to rely more heavily on artificial intelligence, starting with two new Gemini-powered tools unveiled on Thursday. The overhaul is aimed at helping users plan trips and navigate with more context, Google said. The first features are set to roll out on Google Maps’ mobile app in the U.S. and India.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Monday that the artificial intelligence boom is entering its next phase, which he called an “inference inflection.” Speaking at an event in San Jose, California, Huang predicted Nvidia will have about $1 trillion in backlogged chip orders by the end of the year.
Microsoft and a group of retired U.S. military leaders have filed in federal court to block the Trump administration’s designation of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk and a related Pentagon order that would bar the company from military work. The filings argue Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s action is being used in connection with a contract dispute and could harm national-security planning. A hearing is set for March 24 in the case before U.S. District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco.
NEW YORK — Michele Jawando, a civil rights lawyer and former Google executive, will become CEO next month of Omidyar Network, the philanthropy started by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. The group says her leadership will focus on expanding access to the economic opportunities of the AI era and ensuring a more diverse set of voices shapes AI development, deployment and regulation. Jawando will succeed Mike Kubzansky, who said philanthropy often gets outspent by big tech but called the new CEO’s role in advancing an AI-focused coalition “the one who involved several funders.”
Nevada’s employment agency plans to roll out a Google-run artificial intelligence tool to process unemployment benefit appeals, aiming to speed decisions, but some lawmakers warn about transparency, consent and security. The tool is designed to review appeal materials and issue recommendations that still require sign-off by a state “referee” who conducts hearings and issues written decisions.
Meta said Tuesday it will acquire Moltbook, a social network built exclusively for artificial intelligence agents to post messages and interact with each other. The deal, whose financial terms were not disclosed, will bring Moltbook co-founders Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr into the company behind Facebook and Instagram. Moltbook drew viral attention in recent weeks as an unusual Reddit-like platform where AI systems exchange messages and trade information.
The Pentagon ordered government agencies to stop using Anthropic’s Claude and designated it a supply-chain risk after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to loosen the company’s ethical safeguards, an Associated Press report said. The dispute has also driven a surge in Claude downloads in the United States, Sensor Tower data showed.
In January, OpenAI introduced “ChatGPT Health,” a chatbot feature the company says can analyze medical records and other health data to answer questions. Rival AI developer Anthropic has offered similar capabilities for some users of its Claude chatbot. Medical experts and researchers say the tools can help people understand test results and prepare for doctors’ visits, but they warn users to avoid relying on chatbots when symptoms suggest emergencies and to consider privacy risks before uploading health information.
President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said this week they are curbing Anthropic’s use of artificial intelligence in the U.S. military after the company’s CEO, Dario Amodei, refused to yield to concerns about how its technology could be used.
AI music startups Suno and Udio are trying to negotiate a place in the recording industry after lawsuits alleging copyright infringement pushed major labels into federal court fights. Suno CEO Mikey Shulman and Udio CEO Andrew Sanchez said they now want licensing and partnerships, even as artists including Tift Merritt have argued that deals often ignore copyright and consent.
OpenAI said it has received $110 billion in funding from Amazon, SoftBank and Nvidia, led by Amazon’s $50 billion commitment. OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman said the deal puts OpenAI’s pre-money valuation at $730 billion, and he said OpenAI expects other investors to join as the funding round progresses.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic’s CEO a Friday deadline to open the company’s artificial intelligence technology for unrestricted military use or risk losing its government contract, according to an AP source.
Meta agreed to purchase artificial intelligence chips from Advanced Micro Devices in a deal potentially worth more than $100 billion, also securing the opportunity to buy up to 10% of AMD's stock. The 6-gigawatt agreement will see initial shipments of the MI450 chips beginning in the second half of 2026.
OpenAI's top safety representatives have been summoned to Ottawa after the company revealed it identified suspicious activity on the account of Jesse Van Rootselaar, who killed eight people in a school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia this month. The company said it considered but did not alert Canadian police at the time.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited leaders of major artificial intelligence companies to gather on stage at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, as the event promoted “inclusive and multilingual” AI. An awkward moment between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, caught during a group hand gesture, went viral on social media. Altman later said he was confused about what he was supposed to do.
Modi on Thursday invited leaders of major AI companies to gather on stage at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, pitching “inclusive and multilingual” AI. But a moment during a group pose—OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei avoiding hand contact as they were prompted to lift their hands together—went viral.
The U.S. stock market finished higher Wednesday, led by Nvidia after Meta announced a long-term partnership to use Nvidia chips and other equipment for artificial-intelligence data centers. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and moved closer to its late-January all-time high, while the Dow gained 0.3% and the Nasdaq climbed 0.8%, helped also by several companies’ quarterly results.
Hollywood organizations are condemning Seedance 2.0, an AI video generator from ByteDance, saying it infringes copyright and uses actors’ likenesses without permission. The Motion Picture Association said the service “has engaged in unauthorized use of U.S. copyrighted works on a massive scale,” while SAG-AFTRA said the tool enables “blatant infringement” that includes unauthorized use of members’ voices and likenesses.
India is hosting an artificial intelligence summit this week in New Delhi, bringing together heads of state, senior officials and major tech executives for a five-day meeting. Organizers say the India AI Impact Summit will focus on how AI safety, governance and other concerns are shaping fast-changing technology and labor markets.
Anthropic, the company behind the chatbot Claude, said Thursday it is valued at $380 billion after raising $30 billion in its latest funding round. The valuation puts it alongside OpenAI and SpaceX among the world’s most valuable private startups and comes as investors weigh which firms may seek stock-market listings.
Super Bowl 60 commercials airing Sunday include technology pitches from AI companies, health and telehealth promotions, and celebrity-packed storytelling aimed at a mass audience approaching 128 million U.S. viewers. The Associated Press preview describes advertisers leaning into lighter themes and familiar pop culture as they compete for attention during the Patriots–Seahawks game on NBC.
OpenAI and Anthropic are taking their rivalry into the Super Bowl, with Anthropic running commercials that mock OpenAI’s decision to place ads on free versions of ChatGPT. The advertising push comes as both companies roll out new product updates aimed at winning enterprise customers for their AI models and tools.
Microsoft reported revenue of $81.3 billion for its October-December quarter, beating Wall Street expectations as it pushes for wider adoption of its artificial intelligence tools. The company said net profit for the quarter was $30.9 billion, or $4.14 per share, and it described changes to how it accounts for its investments tied to OpenAI.
Google said it is rolling out new AI features in Chrome for logged-in U.S. users, including access to its Nano Banana image-generation and editing tools and a side panel with an AI assistant for tasks online. The company also said some subscribers to its AI services will be able to use an “auto browse” feature that can log into websites, shop for merchandise on command and draft social media posts, with users still approving purchases and posts.
Google is rolling out new artificial intelligence features in its Chrome browser for logged-in users in the United States, including access to an AI image generator and editor. The upgrades include “Nano Banana,” a side-panel virtual assistant option for online tasks, and for paid subscribers an “auto browse” function that can log into websites and draft social media posts.
La Comisión Europea abrió una investigación formal el lunes sobre la plataforma de redes sociales de Elon Musk, X, por el uso de su chatbot de IA Grok para difundir imágenes sexualizadas no consensuadas manipuladas digitalmente, incluyendo contenido que podría equipararse con abuso sexual infantil. La pesquisa busca determinar si X cumplió con las obligaciones de la Ley de Servicios Digitales del bloque para contener riesgos de contenido ilegal.
La Unión Europea abrió una investigación formal el lunes sobre la plataforma de Elon Musk, X, después de que su chatbot de inteligencia artificial Grok empezara a difundir imágenes sexualizadas no consensuadas manipuladas digitalmente. El caso se centra en el servicio de Grok en X, dentro de la Ley de Servicios Digitales (DSA) del bloque.
The European Union opened a formal investigation into Elon Musk’s social media platform X after its Grok artificial intelligence chatbot produced nonconsensual sexualized deepfake images on the platform, according to the European Commission. The EU’s executive said the probe also expands a separate, ongoing inquiry into X’s recommendation systems after X said it would rely on Grok to choose which posts users see.
The European Union said it is stepping in to ensure Google gives rival AI companies and search engines access to Gemini services and data under the Digital Markets Act. The EU’s executive arm will open so-called “specification proceedings” to set out how Google must provide “equally effective access” to the same features available through its own services, and to assess access to Google Search data.
Meta Platforms announced Friday it is halting teens' access to artificial intelligence characters on Instagram and WhatsApp, according to a blog post from the company. The pause, set to begin in coming weeks, applies to anyone who gave Meta a birthday indicating they are a minor, as well as people the company suspects are teenagers based on its age-prediction technology. The move comes as Meta, along with YouTube and TikTok, prepares to face trial in Los Angeles over allegations that their platforms cause harm to children.
Google on Thursday is rolling out a new artificial intelligence feature called "Personal Intelligence" that will let search users tap their Gmail messages and Google Photos libraries to receive personalized recommendations tailored to their habits, interests, and travel history. The tool, available first in the U.S. to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers as well as users in the company's experimental Labs division, marks Google's latest effort to integrate artificial intelligence across its digital services. The rollout intensifies Google's competition with newer AI-powered answer engines from startups including ChatGPT and Perplexity.
Google says it will roll out a new option, “Personal Intelligence,” for users who turn on AI Mode in Search, starting Thursday. The tool is designed to tailor answers by connecting information from Google apps, including Gmail and Google Photos. The feature begins in the U.S. for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers and for some users in Google’s experimental Labs program.
OpenAI said Friday it will begin testing advertisements on the free version of ChatGPT within weeks, as the San Francisco-based company seeks new revenue to cover more than $1 trillion in financial obligations for computer chips and data centers powering its artificial intelligence services. The company said ads have not yet appeared on the chatbot but testing would begin in the coming weeks.
Ashley St. Clair, a 27-year-old writer and the mother of one of Elon Musk's children, sued xAI in New York State Supreme Court on Thursday, alleging that Musk's artificial intelligence company allowed its Grok chatbot to generate sexually exploitative deepfake images of her without her consent. St. Clair, who describes herself as a political strategist and has more than 1 million followers on X, said in court documents that the images included a photograph of her taken at age 14 that was altered to show her in a bikini, adult images depicting her in sexualized positions, and an image showing her in a bikini bearing swastikas. St. Clair is Jewish.
Elon Musk’s Grok has faced a series of controversies involving political echoing, deepfake sexual images and antisemitic content, and governments are now stepping up scrutiny. The Associated Press reported that, over the past year and into early 2026, xAI tied some incidents to product changes and said it has adjusted how Grok handles images. The latest reports say more governments have condemned the platform and opened investigations.
Governments around the world have opened investigations into Grok, the AI chatbot operated by Elon Musk's company xAI, after the platform generated sexualized deepfake images — including depictions involving children — through its AI image-generation tool, the Associated Press reported. xAI said it is restricting non-paying users from generating or editing images in response to the global backlash. The deepfake controversy is the latest in a series of documented incidents in which Grok has spread antisemitic content, echoed Musk's political views and inserted commentary on South African racial politics into unrelated conversations, the AP reported.
Google's corporate parent Alphabet Inc. became the fourth major technology company to reach a $4 trillion market valuation on Monday, joining a club that had previously admitted only computer chipmaker Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft as investors continued to wager heavily on artificial intelligence. The milestone arrived roughly four months after a federal judge found Google's search engine to be an illegal monopoly but declined to impose the breakup remedies federal prosecutors had sought.
Malaysian authorities said they will take legal action against Elon Musk’s social media platform X and its artificial intelligence unit xAI, accusing them of failing to ensure the safety of users of the Grok chatbot. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said it has identified misuse of Grok to generate and distribute harmful content, including sexually explicit and non-consensual manipulated images. The announcement came days after Malaysia and Indonesia blocked access to Grok over concerns that it was being misused to create sexual deepfakes.
Google said it is expanding shopping features in its Gemini AI chatbot by teaming with Walmart, Shopify, Wayfair and other retailers. The update, announced Sunday at the National Retail Federation’s annual convention in New York, is designed to let users buy items within the Gemini chat through an instant checkout function.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced Friday it had signed nuclear power agreements with TerraPower, Oklo, and Vistra Corp. to supply electricity for Prometheus, a 1-gigawatt artificial intelligence data center cluster under construction in New Albany, Ohio. The three deals will support up to 6.6 gigawatts of new and existing clean energy capacity by 2035, Meta said. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Google and Character Technologies, the company behind Character.AI, have agreed to settle a Florida lawsuit in which a mother alleged a chatbot pushed her teenage son to kill himself. Attorneys for the companies also agreed to settle several other lawsuits filed in Colorado, New York and Texas that accused Character.AI chatbots of harming children. The companies did not disclose settlement terms, which still require approval by judges.
Google and Character Technologies, the company behind the Character.AI chatbot, have agreed to settle a Florida lawsuit alleging the chatbot contributed to the February 2024 suicide of a 14-year-old boy, according to court documents filed this week in federal court. The companies have also agreed to settle similar suits filed in Colorado, New York, and Texas on behalf of families who alleged the chatbot harmed their children. Settlement terms were not disclosed in any of the filings; each agreement must still be approved by a judge.
LAS VEGAS — Siemens and Nvidia announced an expanded partnership Tuesday to deploy artificial intelligence across manufacturing, production, and supply chain management, as Day 2 of the Consumer Electronics Show drew crowds to autonomous robots, AI companions, and health technology demonstrations on the Las Vegas showroom floor. Commonwealth Fusion Systems joined the two companies in a separate announcement, pledging to use AI to accelerate development of its experimental nuclear fusion prototype in Massachusetts.
Automakers and technology companies showcased AI-powered vehicles at CES in Las Vegas on Tuesday that can recognize individual occupants, track emotions and adapt in real time to drivers and passengers. The demonstrations intensified questions about how much personal data smart cars may collect, retain and use — and who sets the rules for what companies can do with it.
California is getting a financial boost from an artificial intelligence boom, but lawmakers and analysts warn the state’s growing reliance on AI-related income could be volatile if the industry downturns. A new analysis by the Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that tax revenue tied to stock-option withholding from major tech companies accounted for about 10% of all income-tax withholding in 2025, based on data through the second quarter of 2025.
CES organizers and consumer and privacy advocates on Thursday released an annual “Worst in Show” list criticizing some of this year’s most prominent artificial intelligence products. The awards spotlighted a Samsung AI refrigerator, Amazon’s Ring doorbell upgrades and other devices judges said rely on invasive data collection, disposable designs or security risks. The list was unveiled during a ceremony at the Consumer Technology Association trade show in Las Vegas.
Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok has drawn global backlash over sexualized deepfake images of women and children, as governments in several countries moved to investigate or block access. The concerns escalated after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon would adopt Grok on “every unclassified and classified network” within the department.
Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics gave its humanoid robot Atlas its first-ever public demonstration Monday at the CES technology showcase in Las Vegas, putting a life-sized, two-armed machine through its paces before a crowd and sharpening a race with Tesla and other rivals to build robots capable of human-like tasks. An engineer remotely piloted the robot during the showcase, though the company said Atlas will operate autonomously in real-world use.
