Science/Technology
U.S. regulators want a federal judge to break up Google to prevent the company from continuing to squash competition through its dominant search engine after a court found it had maintained an abusive monopoly over the past decade. The proposed breakup floated in a 23-page document filed late Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice […]
Canada announced Wednesday it won’t block access to the popular video-sharing app TikTok but is ordering the dissolution of its Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind it. Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said it is meant to address risks related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc. “The […]
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA — What should have been a quick trip to the International Space Station may turn into an eight-month stay for two NASA astronauts if they have to switch from Boeing to SpaceX for a ride home. There’s lingering uncertainty over the safety of Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, NASA officials said Wednesday, and the […]
WASHINGTON — The US Supreme Court was hearing arguments on Monday in a social media case involving free speech rights and government efforts to curb misinformation online. The case stems from a lawsuit brought by the Republican attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri, who allege that government officials went too far in their efforts to get […]
Americans planning on voting for president in November shouldn’t trust popular artificial intelligence-powered chatbots for even the most basic information about the election, a study released this week by a team of journalists and academic researchers said. When five of the most well-known AI chatbots were asked to provide answers to the sort of basic […]
Apple says it will disable a blood-oxygen monitoring feature on its two most popular watches in the U.S. beginning Thursday to comply with a court-ordered revival of a sales ban stemming from a patent dispute. The decision to turn off the blood-oxygen sensor for consumers who buy either the Apple Watch Series 9 or Ultra […]
SYDNEY — The Australian government is considering new laws to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in “high-risk” areas such as law enforcement and self-driving vehicles. Voluntary measures also are being explored, such as asking companies to label AI-generated content. The country has outlined its plan to respond to the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, or […]
LONDON — False and misleading information supercharged with cutting-edge artificial intelligence that threatens to erode democracy and polarize society is the top immediate risk to the global economy, the World Economic Forum said in a report Wednesday. In its latest Global Risks Report, the organization also said an array of environmental risks pose the biggest threats in the […]
SAN FRANCISCO — The falling-block video game Tetris has met its match in 13-year-old Willis Gibson, who has become the first player to officially “beat” the original Nintendo version of the game — by breaking it. Technically, Willis — aka “blue scuti” in the gaming world — made it to what gamers call a “kill screen,” […]
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — Google has agreed to settle a consumer privacy lawsuit seeking at least $5 billion in damages over allegations it tracked the data of users who thought they were browsing the internet privately. The object of the lawsuit was the “incognito mode” on Google’s Chrome browser that the plaintiffs said gave users a […]
