Technology

FILE - The icons for the YouTube Kids and YouTube apps are displayed on a smartphone in New York on...

Advocacy groups urge YouTube to protect kids from ‘AI slop’ videos

Advocacy groups and experts condemned YouTube for serving up low-quality artificial intelligence-generated videos to its most vulnerable audience: children. In a letter to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan and Sundar Pichai, the CEO of YouTube’s parent company Google, children’s advocacy group Fairplay expresses “serious concern” about the spread of AI-generated videos on both YouTube and YouTube […]
5 months ago
FILE - The logo of Apple is illuminated at a store in the city center in Munich, Germany, on Dec. 1...

Apple’s 50-year odyssey has redefined technology, pop culture and comeback stories

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — A scrawny hippie and a nerdy engineer who became prank-playing friends vowed to change the world when they founded a Silicon Valley startup on April Fools’ Day 50 years ago and then — no joke — pulled it off. The improbable odyssey began April 1, 1976, when a then-shaggy Steve Jobs […]
5 months ago
People greet and take photos with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani at a Ramadan Iftar hosted by h...

Mamdani puts New York City government back on TikTok

Almost three years ago, New York City joined governments across the country in banning TikTok from its phones over security concerns about the Chinese social media site. On Tuesday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a bona fide social media star, took to the app to announce a reversal: “TikTok, we’re back.” The city will now allow agencies […]
5 months ago
The NASA Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft is seen at Launch Co...

Moon rocket and weather are on NASA’s side for the first astronaut launch in decades

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — After weeks of fuel leaks and other issues, NASA faced a trouble-free countdown Tuesday on the eve of astronauts’ first trip to the moon in more than half a century. Officials reported the moon rocket was doing well on the pad, and the weather looked promising. Forecasters put the odds […]
5 months ago
A federal immigration agent is seen as people wait in a TSA line at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta ...

Georgia proposal could take DNA swabs from immigrants in custody for minor offenses

ATLANTA (AP) — Over the past three decades, the collection of DNA from convicted criminals has become standard in the U.S. justice system, and many states now also swab people arrested for serious crimes. Legislation awaiting a final vote in Georgia would take that a step further by collecting DNA from people charged with less […]
5 months ago
Student use typewriters to complete a writing assignment in German at Cornell University, Friday, M...

A college instructor turns to typewriters to curb AI-written work and teach life lessons

The scene is right out of the 1950s with students pecking away at manual typewriters, the machines dinging at the end of each line. Once each semester, Grit Matthias Phelps, a German language instructor at Cornell University, introduces her students to the raw feeling of typing without online assistance. No screens, online dictionaries, spellcheckers or […]
5 months ago
President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One, Sunday, March 29, 2026, at Palm Beach Inte...

Airport cleared to be renamed for Trump as he unveils design for skyscraper library

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Florida airport was cleared to be renamed after President Donald Trump on Monday, hours before the president separately revealed plans for a Miami skyscraper planned to house his presidential library. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill allowing Palm Beach International Airport to be renamed the President Donald J. Trump International […]
5 months ago
FILE - Kid Rock comes on stage to speak and introduce Vice President JD Vance during a visit to For...

Army investigating after helicopters hovered alongside Kid Rock’s swimming pool as he saluted

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Army has launched an administrative review after two AH-64 Apache helicopters on a training run hovered near the hillside home of Kid Rock as the outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump saluted their crews. Kid Rock posted two videos on social media on Saturday. Each shows a helicopter hovering alongside […]
5 months ago
In this photo provided by NASA, astronaut Charles M. Duke Jr. collects lunar samples at Station No....

Apollo’s impatient old-timers are rooting for NASA’s return to the moon with Artemis II launch

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The people who toiled night and day to put astronauts on the moon during Apollo are thrilled that NASA is finally going back. They just wish these Artemis moonshots had happened sooner while more of Apollo’s workforce was still alive. Now in their 80s and 90s, the dwindling survivors of […]
5 months ago
NASA's Space Launch System rocket with the Orion spacecraft set for the Artemis 2 mission is seen o...

Apollo vs. Artemis: What to know about NASA’s return to the moon

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Apollo moonshots are a tough act to follow, even after all this time. As four astronauts get set to blast off on humanity’s first trip to the moon in more than half a century, comparisons between Apollo and NASA’s new Artemis program are inevitable. The world’s first lunar visitors […]
5 months ago
People take shelter in an underground metro station as air raid sirens warn of incoming Iranian mis...

Hacked hospitals, hidden spyware: Iran conflict shows how digital fight is ingrained in warfare

WASHINGTON (AP) — As they fled an Iranian missile strike, some Israelis with Android phones received a text offering a link to real-time information about bomb shelters. But instead of a helpful app, the link downloaded spyware giving hackers access to the device’s camera, location and all its data. The operation, attributed to Iran, showed […]
5 months ago
Artemis 2 crew members, from left, Mission Spc. Jeremy Hansen, of Canada, Mission Spc. Christina Ko...

Meet the Artemis crew in NASA’s first astronaut mission to the moon in more than a half-century

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The four astronauts making NASA’s next lunar leap bear little resemblance to the Apollo era. The Americans who blazed the trail to the moon more than half a century ago were white men chosen for their military test pilot experience. This first Artemis crew includes a woman, a person of […]
5 months ago
FILE - In his image provided by NASA, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke is helped out of the SpaceX Crew-1...

He suddenly couldn’t speak in space. NASA astronaut says his medical scare remains a mystery

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The astronaut who prompted NASA’s first medical evacuation earlier this year said Friday that doctors still don’t know why he suddenly fell sick at the International Space Station. Four-time space flier Mike Fincke said he was eating dinner on Jan. 7 after prepping for a spacewalk the next day when […]
5 months ago
FBI Director Kash Patel, listens during a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence hearing ...

Pro-Iranian hacking group claims credit for hack of personal account of FBI Director Kash Patel

WASHINGTON (AP) — A pro-Iranian hacking group claimed Friday to have hacked an account of FBI Director Kash Patel and has posted online what appear to be years-old photographs of him, along with a work resume and other personal documents. Many of those records appeared to be more than a decade old. “Kash Patel, the […]
5 months ago
Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone poses for a photo on Feb. 24, 2026 in Yahoo’s San Francisco office. (AP Pho...

Yahoo turns to AI-powered answer engine Scout to lead it back it its roots in online search

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Internet trailblazer Yahoo is exploring technology’s next frontier with Scout, an answer engine powered by artificial intelligence. Scout seems insightful, based on its response to a question posed by The Associated Press about why one of Silicon Valley’s brightest stars faded away a decade ago. “Yahoo’s journey illustrates how a company […]
5 months ago
Kim Osterman shows photos of her son Max, who she says died after taking fentanyl he bought from a ...

Woman whose son died from drugs bought on social media celebrates verdicts against Meta, YouTube

THORNTON, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado woman whose son died from a fentanyl-laced pill he bought through social media celebrated a pair of verdicts this week against Meta and YouTube that she said opened the door for companies to be held responsible for harms to children using their platforms. “The truth is out, and it’s […]
5 months ago
Pages from the Anthropic website and the company's logos are displayed on a computer screen in New ...

Federal judge temporarily blocks the Pentagon from branding AI firm Anthropic a supply chain risk

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge has ruled in favor of artificial intelligence company Anthropic in temporarily blocking the Pentagon from labeling the company as a supply chain risk. U.S. District Judge Rita Lin on Thursday said she was also blocking President Donald Trump’s directive ordering all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic. Lin’s […]
5 months ago
FILE - Zoe Kent edits a social media video on the TikTok app, Jan. 20, 2025, at her farm in Bucyrus...

Having a conversation and creating best practices for your child’s social media use

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — In a pivotal moment that underscored how powerful and immersive social platforms can be for children and teens, a jury in California this week found both Meta and YouTube liable for mental health harms to kids using their services. The jury’s decision in the first-of-its-kind lawsuit — centered on social […]
5 months ago
millionaires' tax wa bill ferguson...
Jason Sutich

Gov. Ferguson signs Washington’s first AI chatbot safety law for minors

Governor Bob Ferguson signed a new bill into law this week, regulating artificial intelligence chatbots to improve safety amongst young users.
5 months ago
Lori Schott, center, is embraced as she holds up a photo of her daughter Annalee Schott, after the ...

As juries turn against social media for harming kids, Big Tech’s invincibility starts to show cracks

For years, parents, teenagers, pediatricians, educators and whistleblowers have pushed the idea that social media is detrimental to young people’s mental health and can lead to addiction, eating disorders, sexual exploitation and suicide. For the first time, juries in two states took their side. In Los Angeles on Wednesday, a jury found both Meta and […]
5 months ago
Meta attorney Kevin Huff makes closing arguments, Monday, March 23, 2026, in state court, in Santa ...

Verdicts against social media companies carry consequences. But questions linger

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Two landmark jury verdicts against social media companies have arrived at the front of a wave of lawsuits alleging that the popular platforms endanger the mental health of children. Financial penalties total $381 million in the two cases involving tech giant Meta in New Mexico and both Meta and YouTube […]
5 months ago

Parents see hope in back-to-back rulings that social media providers failed to protect young users

Walker Montgomery was just 16 when someone pretending to be a teenage girl messaged him through Instagram and seduced him into cybersex. Within hours he was dead. Caught up in a sextortion scheme, the Mississippi teen killed himself. —- EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs […]
5 months ago
First lady Melania Trump arrives, accompanied by a robot, to attend the "Fostering the Future Toget...

Melania Trump shares the spotlight with a robot at an education and technology event

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Melania Trump often commands the attention of any room she enters but all eyes — and cameras — were trained on her humanoid companion on Wednesday. The humanoid accompanied the first lady as she arrived at the White House East Room for the final day of a summit she had […]
5 months ago
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., hold a news conference...

Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez push bill to impose AI data center moratorium

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two high-profile progressive lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday that would pause new data centers in the United States until national safeguards are in place to protect workers and consumers and ensure the technologies don’t harm the environment. The legislation by Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders […]
5 months ago