Technology

Mediaite reports: Democratic congressional candidate Esther Kim Varet’s AI-generated actors accused Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) of parroting policy “prompts” dictated by President Donald Trump and corporate interests in a mocking, tech-savvy ad. The ad features AI avatars that appear to be powered by Google DeepMind’s latest video model, Veo 3, that troll Kim for being “as fake” as they are …

The Global Times reports: The China Media Group (CMG) World Robot Competition – Mecha Fighting Series, the first-ever humanoid robot fighting tournament, kicked off in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province on Sunday, as contestants, including robots developed by Unitree Robotics armed with a wide range of combat skills, gathered for a livestreamed showdown, while putting on display Chinese robotics firms’ …

The Washington Post reports: Engagement with digital technology was associated with a 58 percent reduced risk of cognitive impairment in people middle-aged and older, according to a study in the journal Nature Human Behavior. Researchers conducted a systematic review of 57 studies to see whether exposure to technology has helped or harmed cognition among the first generation of adults with …

USA Today reports: Southwest Airlines is introducing a new battery policy in its cabins starting next week, which will require passengers to keep portable chargers visible when they’re in use onboard. “Using portable charging devices while stored in a bag or overhead bin will no longer be permitted,” Laura Swift, a Southwest spokesperson, told USA TODAY in a statement. “Nothing …

Axios reports: Google’s newest AI video generator, Veo 3, generates clips that most users online can’t seem to distinguish from those made by human filmmakers and actors. Veo 3 videos shared online are amazing viewers with their realism — and also terrifying them with a sense that real and fake have become hopelessly blurred. Unlike OpenAI’s video generator Sora, released …

The Hill reports: A Republican tax bill released late Sunday seeks to block states from regulating artificial intelligence (AI) models for the next 10 years. The bill text from the House Energy and Commerce Committee would bar states from enforcing laws or regulations governing AI models, AI systems or automated decision systems. The bill, which comes as Republicans gear up …

Reuters reports: Google has agreed to pay $1.375 billion in a settlement in principle reached with the state of Texas over allegations the company violated users’ data privacy, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Friday. The agreement settles two lawsuits that covered three products for allegedly violating Texas consumer protection laws. “In Texas, Big Tech is not above the …

404 Media reports: An AI avatar made to look and sound like the likeness of a man who was killed in a road rage incident addressed the court and the man who killed him: “To Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who shot me, it is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances,” the AI avatar of Christopher …

The Washington Post reports: Skype users bade farewell to the online communication service Monday, reminiscing about late-night calls with friends, long-distance dates and free catch-ups with far-flung family — along with pixelated faces and “Can you hear me?” moments. Microsoft, its owner, has shuttered the service to focus on its alternative calling service, Teams. The decision to scrap Skype, announced …

Ars Technica reports: In a Black Mirror-esque turn, some cash-strapped actors who didn’t fully understand the consequences are regretting selling their likenesses to be used in AI videos that they consider embarrassing, damaging, or harmful. Among them is a 29-year-old New York-based actor, Adam Coy, who licensed rights to his face and voice to a company called MCM for one …

Wired reports: On Saturday, about 12,000 human athletes ran in a half marathon race in Beijing, but most of the attention was on a group of other, unconventional participants: 21 humanoid robots. The event’s organizers, which included several branches of Beijing’s municipal government, claim it’s the first time humans and bipedal robots have run in the same race, though they …

404 Media reports: The Los Angeles Police Department obtained video footage from a Waymo driverless car as part of its investigation into a hit-and-run in which a separate, human-driven car hit a pedestrian. The LAPD published the footage, which has a note on it that reads “Waymo Confidential Commercial Information,” on its YouTube page to ask the public for help …

The New York Times reports: Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in some online advertising technology, a federal judge ruled on Thursday, adding to legal troubles that could reshape the $1.88 trillion company and alter its power over the internet. Judge Leonie Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia said in a ruling that …

404 Media reports: American police departments near the United States-Mexico border are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for an unproven and secretive technology that uses AI-generated online personas designed to interact with and collect intelligence on “college protesters,” “radicalized” political activists, and suspected drug and human traffickers, according to internal documents, contracts, and communications 404 Media obtained via public …

Wired reports: Let’s say a laptop costs $400 at import in the US. A retailer would then add an average gross margin rate of 30 percent—how much revenue the retailer retains after deducting the cost to produce or acquire the item—and that laptop will now cost $571. That’s the price you’ll pay at a big box store. China exports a …

The Washington Post reports: Amazon’s new AI-enabled assistant Alexa+ is launching Monday but not all of the features the company showcased at a splashy event last month are ready, and not every Alexa owner will get access to them right away. The delayed features that documents say don’t yet meet Amazon’s standards for public release include the ability to order …

Ars Technica reports: Since Amazon announced plans for a generative AI version of Alexa, we were concerned about user privacy. With Alexa+ rolling out to Amazon Echo devices in the coming weeks, we’re getting a clearer view at the privacy concessions people will have to make to maximize usage of the AI voice assistant and avoid bricking functionality of already-purchased …

USA Today reports: First lady Melania Trump today made her first public comments against the publication of non-consensual sexually explicit images at a roundtable on Capitol Hill on Monday, a day before she joins President Donald Trump for his first joint congressional address of his second presidency. The remarks are in support of the Take it Down Act, which was …

The Associated Press reports: A private lunar lander carrying a drill, vacuum and other experiments for NASA touched down on the moon Sunday, the latest in a string of companies looking to kickstart business on Earth’s celestial neighbor ahead of astronaut missions. Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander descended from lunar orbit on autopilot, aiming for the slopes of an ancient …

NPR reports: Skype, the pioneering and once ubiquitous free video calling service, will be history come May. It was so popular that people used it as a verb: “I’ll Skype you in the morning.” Microsoft, which acquired Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion, announced in a post on X on Friday that the iconic voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) service would soon …