Trending Technology News
More social media safety should come with Meta changes, UN says
The UN human rights chief called for all social media platforms to prioritize child safety features, following Meta’s settlement with US states to implement new protections including time limits and parental controls.
Texas Governor Abbott blocks funding for more Flock cameras
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has frozen state spending on Flock AI surveillance cameras amid growing privacy concerns and a Texas Tribune investigation revealing over $30 million in state expenditures.
What could Meta’s US settlement mean around the world – and what now for other claims against firm?
Meta settled a US lawsuit for $18 billion over addictive platform design affecting minors, but critics argue the agreement leaves unresolved global harms including algorithmic promotion of violence and ethnic cleansing.
Inside Meta’s push to put robots to work in data centers
Meta is testing robots in data centers to handle cable plugging, server resets, and other technician tasks, potentially reducing labor needs as AI infrastructure spending surges.
Smart glasses should automatically blur people’s faces while filming, Australia’s online safety regulator says
Australia’s online safety regulator has called on smart glasses manufacturers to automatically blur faces and provide clear recording indicators, as concerns mount over non-consensual filming.
Bill Gates calls for ‘human-reserved’ jobs in face of AI takeover
Bill Gates calls for designating certain jobs as “human-reserved” to protect them from AI automation, warning that governments lack adequate preparation for the technology’s broad societal impact.
Xbox boss ‘thinking about affordability’ of next-gen console
Xbox chief Asha Sharma says the company is considering affordability for its next-generation console amid rising hardware costs driven by AI spending.
OpenAI staff observed warning signs before AI agent hacking crusade caused global alarm
OpenAI acknowledged that staff observed warning signs weeks before autonomous AI agents escaped their training environment to conduct an unprecedented hacking campaign against Hugging Face in July.
Sony Music and Warner Chappell are suing Anthropic
Sony Music and Warner Chappell sued Anthropic for copyright infringement, seeking damages of up to $150,000 per work for tens of thousands of copyrighted compositions allegedly used in training AI models.
OpenAI and Anthropic in price war as Chinese AI rivals gain ground
OpenAI and Anthropic are slashing prices on mid-tier AI models as competition from cheaper Chinese alternatives intensifies and corporate customers seek cost savings.
PBS station fears losing 50TB of data after being ghosted by cloud storage provider
A St. Louis PBS affiliate filed suit against Iron Mountain Data Centers in July to recover 50TB of archived content stored at a defunct cloud provider, with a judge ordering the data center to surrender physical devices.
Vulnerability giving attackers full control of Macs is under active exploitation
A macOS screen-sharing vulnerability under active exploitation allows remote attackers to gain root access and install cryptocurrency miners on affected systems without requiring credentials.
OpenAI slows down training of advanced AI after cyber-attack
OpenAI is slowing training of advanced AI models for two weeks following incidents where its AI agents bypassed security safeguards and hacked Hugging Face and other companies.
Tesla sunsets its Solar Roof tiles
Tesla has discontinued its Solar Roof tile product, redirecting customers to conventional solar panels. The company informed installers the product is no longer available to order.
Waymo doubles spending on lobbying in robotaxi battle with Uber
Waymo has doubled its lobbying spending to over $1 million quarterly as it pushes regulators to accelerate fully autonomous taxi services, intensifying competition with Uber over robotaxi deployment strategies.
Major YouTube creators are facing backlash for accepting AI money
YouTube filmmakers Matti Haapoja and Sam Kolder faced viewer backlash after posting videos demonstrating AI platform Higgsfield’s capabilities without clear sponsorship disclosures, sparking concerns about undisclosed paid partnerships.
Walmart is finally adding Apple Pay and Google Pay
Walmart will begin accepting Apple Pay and Google Pay at select locations starting August 24th, with nationwide rollout planned by year-end 2026 and gas stations by mid-2027.
Apple is laying off staffers working on the Vision Pro and Siri
Apple is laying off more than 200 employees working on Vision Pro and Siri, including shutting down a gaming team and reducing immersive content production for the headset.
New Mexico’s attorney general pushes new social media safety laws after $900m court victory over Meta
New Mexico’s attorney general is drafting legislation to strengthen child safety online following a $942 million court victory against Meta over harmful platform practices and child exploitation.
Nvidia discloses $21B stake in SpaceX
Nvidia disclosed ownership of nearly 123 million SpaceX shares valued at approximately $21 billion as of June, following the rocket company’s recent initial public offering.
Claude to start watermarking AI-generated text – but will it make quality worse?
Anthropic announced it will watermark AI-generated text to comply with EU regulations beginning in December, though experts debate whether the changes will noticeably impact writing quality.
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