Category: Technology

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NEW YORK — The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft on Wednesday, accusing them of using millions of the newspaper's articles without permission to help train artificial intelligence technologies.  The Times said it is the first major U.S. media organization to sue OpenAI and Microsoft, which created ChatGPT and other AI platforms, over copyright issues.  "Defendants seek to free-ride on The Times’s massive investment in its journalism by using it to build substitutive products without permission or payment," according to the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court.  The Times is not seeking a specific amount of damages but said it believes OpenAI and Microsoft have caused "billions of dollars" in damages for illegally copying and using its works.  OpenAI and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment. ...

Jerusalem — Israel's government agreed to give Intel a $3.2 billion grant for a new $25 billion chip plant it plans to build in southern Israel, both sides said on Tuesday, in what is the largest investment ever by a company in Israel.  The news comes as Israel remains locked in a war with Palestinian militant group Hamas in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. It also is a big show of support by a major U.S. company and a substantial offer by Israel's government at a time when Washington has increased pressure on Israel to take further steps to minimize civilian harm in Gaza.  Shares of Intel, which has a bit less than 10% of its global workforce in Israel, opened up 2.73% at $49.28 on…

Washington — A U.S. import ban on certain Apple smartwatch models came into effect Tuesday, after the Biden administration opted not to veto a ruling on patent infringements. The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) decided in October to ban Apple Watch models over a patented technology for detecting blood-oxygen levels. Apple contends that the ITC finding was in error and should be reversed, but last week paused its US sales of Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. The order stemmed from a complaint made to the commission in mid-2021 accusing Apple of infringing on medical device maker company Masimo Corp's "light-based oximetry functionality." "After careful consultations, Ambassador (Katherine) Tai decided not to reverse the... determination and the ITC's decision became final on December 26, 2023," the president's…

For water managers in drought-stricken regions, accurate forecasts of water availability are critically important. Matt Dibble shows how remote sensing technology is helping in the Rocky Mountains in this edition of LogOn. ...

Paris — Even as human-caused climate change threatens the environment, nature continues to inspire our technological advancement. "The solutions that are provided by nature have evolved for billions of years and tested repeatedly every day since the beginning of time," said Evripidis Gkanias, a University of Edinburgh researcher.  Gkanias has a special interest in how nature can educate artificial intelligence. "Human creativity might be fascinating, but it cannot reach nature's robustness — and engineers know that," he told AFP. From compasses mimicking insect eyes to forest fire-fighting robots that behave like vines, here's a selection of this year's nature-based technology. Insect compass Some insects — such as ants and bees — navigate visually based on the intensity and polarisation of sunlight, thus using the sun's position as a reference point.  Researchers replicated their eye…

HERZLIYA, Israel — Nearly 7,000 miles away in Portland, Oregon, venture capitalist George Djuric said he was compelled to visit Israel during the country's war with Palestinian militant group Hamas and to pledge support for the high-tech sector. Djuric, chief technology officer at yVentures who arrived in the United States as a 3-year-old refugee from Bosnia during the Bosnian war in the mid-1990s, this week joined some 70 other U.S. tech executives and investors on a trip to Israel. "Coming here is a chance to stand in solidarity with Israel and also support the tech ecosystem, which is the world's second largest after Silicon Valley," he said. "As a technology fund, it makes sense for us to be here." Although not Jewish, Djuric said he was drawn to Israel by the…

NEW YORK — Artists under siege by artificial intelligence that studies their work and then replicates their styles, have teamed with university researchers to stymie such copycat activity. U.S. illustrator Paloma McClain went into defense mode after learning that several AI models had been trained using her art, with no credit or compensation sent her way. "It bothered me," McClain told AFP. "I believe truly meaningful technological advancement is done ethically and elevates all people instead of functioning at the expense of others," she said. The artist turned to free software called Glaze created by researchers at the University of Chicago. Glaze essentially outthinks AI models when it comes to how they train, tweaking pixels in ways that are indiscernible to human viewers but which make a digitized piece of art…

washington — The U.S. Department of Commerce said Thursday that it would launch a survey of the U.S. semiconductor supply chain and national defense industrial base to address national security concerns from Chinese-sourced chips.  The survey aims to identify how U.S. companies are sourcing so-called legacy chips — current-generation and mature-node semiconductors — as the department moves to award nearly $40 billion in subsidies for semiconductor chip manufacturing.  The department said the survey, which will begin in January, aims to "reduce national security risks posed by" China and will focus on the use and sourcing of Chinese-manufactured legacy chips in the supply chains of critical U.S. industries.  A report released by the department on Thursday said China had provided the Chinese semiconductor industry with an estimated $150 billion in subsidies in…

From ChatGPT to the impacts of machine learning on the music and film industry, academia and politics, generative artificial intelligence dominated technology news in 2023. Deana Mitchell takes a look. ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An international astronaut will join U.S. astronauts on the moon by decade's end under an agreement announced Wednesday by NASA and the White House. The news came as Vice President Kamala Harris convened a meeting in Washington of the National Space Council, the third such gathering under the Biden administration. There was no mention of who the international moonwalker might be or even what country would be represented. A NASA spokeswoman later said that crews would be assigned closer to the lunar-landing missions, and that no commitments had yet been made to another country. NASA has included international astronauts on trips to space for decades. Canadian Jeremy Hansen will fly around the moon a year or so from now with three U.S. astronauts. Another crew would actually…

TOKYO — Toyota Motor's Daihatsu unit will halt shipments of all of its vehicles, Japan's biggest automaker said on Wednesday, after an investigation into a safety scandal found issues at 64 models, including almost two dozen sold under Toyota's brand. An independent panel has been investigating Daihatsu after it said in April it had rigged side-collision safety tests carried out for 88,000 small cars, most of those sold as Toyotas. But the latest revelations suggest the scope of the scandal is far greater than previously thought and could potentially tarnish the automakers' reputation for quality and safety. Daihatsu is Toyota's small-car unit and produces a number of the so-called "kei" smaller cars and trucks that are popular in Japan. The latest issues also impacted some Mazda and Subaru models sold in…

WASHINGTON — Blue Origin launched its first rocket in more than a year on Tuesday, reviving the U.S. company's fortunes with a successful return to space following an uncrewed crash in 2022. Though mission NS-24 carried a payload of science experiments, not people, it paves the way for Jeff Bezos' aerospace enterprise to resume taking wealthy thrill-seekers to the final frontier. The New Shepard suborbital rocket blasted off from the pad at Launch Site One, near Van Horn, Texas, at 10:42 a.m. After separating from the booster, the gumdrop-shaped capsule attained a peak altitude of 107 kilometers above sea level, well above the internationally recognized boundary of space known as the Karman line, which is 100 kilometers high. The booster then successfully landed vertically on the launchpad, against the majestic backdrop…

Researchers in Australia have developed a method to make hydrogen from seawater without a costly desalination process. This could mark a breakthrough in the production of clean hydrogen from a plentiful, eco-friendly source. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more.  ...

LONDON — European Union authorities are looking into whether Elon Musk's online platform X breached tough new social media regulations in the first such investigation since the rules designed to make online content less toxic took effect. "Today we open formal infringement proceedings against @X" under the Digital Services Act, European Commissioner Thierry Breton said in a post on the platform Monday. "The Commission will now investigate X's systems and policies related to certain suspected infringements," spokesman Johannes Bahrke told a press briefing in Brussels. "It does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation." The investigation will look into whether X, formerly known as Twitter, failed to do enough to curb the spread of illegal content and whether measures to combat "information manipulation," especially through its Community Notes feature, was effective.…

Lahore, Pakistan — Artificial rain was used for the first time in Pakistan on Saturday in a bid to combat hazardous levels of smog in the megacity of Lahore, the provincial government said. In the first experiment of its kind in the South Asian country, planes equipped with cloud seeding equipment flew over 10 areas of the city, often ranked one of the worst places globally for air pollution. The "gift" was provided by the United Arab Emirates, said caretaker chief minister of Punjab, Mohsin Naqvi. "Teams from the UAE, along with two planes, arrived here about 10 to 12 days ago. They used 48 flares to create the rain," he told the media. He said the team would know by Saturday night what effect the "artificial rain" had. The UAE…

Madrid — More than 80 Spanish media organizations are filing a $600 million lawsuit against Meta over what they say is unfair competition in a case that could be repeated across the European Union. The lawsuit is the latest front in a battle by legacy media against the dominance of tech giants at a time when the traditional media industry is in economic decline. Losing revenue to Silicon Valley companies means less money to invest in investigative journalism or fewer resources to fight back against disinformation. The case is the latest example of media globally seeking compensation from internet and social media platforms for use of their content. The Association of Media of Information (AMI), a consortium of Spanish media companies, claimed in the lawsuit that Meta allegedly violated EU data protection…

Immigrants from Belarus, Ukraine and other Eastern European countries are actively exploring the American IT startup market. One immigrant-run venture capital firm is helping them find investments. Evgeny Maslov has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Michael Eckels. ...

Detroit, Mich — Tesla is recalling more than 2 million vehicles across its model lineup to fix a defective system that’s supposed to ensure drivers are paying attention when they use Autopilot. Documents posted Wednesday by U.S. safety regulators say the company will send out a software update to fix the problems. The recall comes after a two-year investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into a series of crashes that happened while the Autopilot partially automated driving system was in use. Some were deadly. The agency says its investigation found Autopilot's method of ensuring that drivers are paying attention can be inadequate and can lead to foreseeable misuse of the system. The recall covers nearly all of the vehicles Tesla sold in the U.S. and includes models Y, S,…

WASHINGTON — U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo vowed Monday to take the “strongest action possible” in response to a semiconductor chip-making breakthrough in China that a House Foreign Affairs Committee said “almost certainly required the use of U.S. origin technology and should be an export control violation.” In an interview with Bloomberg News, Raimondo called Huawei Technology’s advanced processor in its Mate Pro 60 smartphone released in August “deeply concerning” and said the Commerce Department investigates such things vigorously. The United States has banned chip sales to Huawei, which reportedly used chips from China chip giant Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., or SMIC, in the phone that are 7 nanometers, a technology China has not been known as able to produce. Raimondo said the U.S. was also looking into the specifics of…

European Union officials worked into the late hours last week hammering out an agreement on world-leading rules meant to govern the use of artificial intelligence in the 27-nation bloc. The Artificial Intelligence Act is the latest set of regulations designed to govern technology in Europe — that may be destined to have global impact. Here's a closer look at the AI rules: What is the AI act and how does it work? The AI Act takes a "risk-based approach" to products or services that use artificial intelligence and focuses on regulating uses of AI rather than the technology. The legislation is designed to protect democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights like freedom of speech, while still encouraging investment and innovation. The riskier an AI application is, the stiffer…

Lawmakers and parents are blaming social media platforms for contributing to mental health problems in young people. A group of U.S. states is suing the owner of Instagram and Facebook for promoting their platforms to children despite knowing some of the psychological harms and safety risks they pose. From New York, VOA's Tina Trinh reports that a cause-and-effect relationship between social media and mental health may not be so clear. ...

U.S. chipmaker Nvidia's chief executive said on Monday the company will expand its partnership with Vietnam's top tech firms and support the country in training talent for developing artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure. Nvidia, which has already invested $250 million in Vietnam, has so far partnered with leading tech companies to deploy AI in the cloud, automotive and healthcare industries, a document published by the White House in September showed when Washington upgraded diplomatic relations with Vietnam. "Vietnam is already our partner as we have millions of clients here," Jensen Huang, Nvdia's CEO said at an event in Hanoi in his first visit to the country. "Vietnam and Nvidia will deepen our relations, with Viettel, FPT, Vingroup, VNG being the partners Nvidia looks to expand partnership with," Huang said, adding…

Elon Musk has restored the X account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, pointing to a poll on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that came out in favor of the Infowars host who repeatedly called the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting a hoax. It poses new uncertainty for advertisers, who have fled X over concerns about hate speech appearing alongside their ads, and is the latest divisive public personality to get back their banned account.  Musk posted a poll on Saturday asking if Jones should be reinstated, with the results showing 70% of those who responded in favor. Early Sunday, Musk tweeted, "The people have spoken and so it shall be." A few hours later, Jones' posts were visible again and he retweeted a post about his video…

European Union negotiators clinched a deal Friday on the world's first comprehensive artificial intelligence rules, paving the way for legal oversight of technology used in popular generative AI services such as ChatGPT that have promised to transform everyday life and spurred warnings of existential dangers to humanity.  Negotiators from the European Parliament and the bloc's 27 member countries overcame big differences on controversial points, including generative AI and police use of facial recognition surveillance, to sign a tentative political agreement for the Artificial Intelligence Act.  "Deal!" tweeted European Commissioner Thierry Breton, just before midnight. "The EU becomes the very first continent to set clear rules for the use of AI."  The result came after marathon closed-door talks this week, with the initial session lasting 22 hours before a second round…

A new optical ground station has been built by the Australian National University to help the U.S. space agency, NASA, and others explore space and safely reach Mars. The Australian team has developed a new type of space communication using lasers. Researchers say the system will allow them to connect with satellites and NASA-crewed missions beyond low-Earth orbit. The project is supported by the Australian Space Agency’s Moon to Mars initiative. The Australian National University Quantum Optical Ground Station is based at the Mount Stromlo Observatory, near Canberra. It is a powerful telescope that will support high-speed advanced communications with satellites orbiting at distances from low-Earth orbit to the moon. Kate Ferguson, associate director for strategic projects at the Australian National University Institute for Space, told VOA current communication systems…

Facebook and Instagram fail to protect underage users from exposure to child sexual abuse material and let adults solicit pornographic imagery from them, New Mexico's attorney general alleges in a lawsuit that follows an undercover online investigation. "Our investigation into Meta's social media platforms demonstrates that they are not safe spaces for children but rather prime locations for predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex," Attorney General Raul Torrez said in a statement Wednesday. The civil lawsuit filed late Tuesday against Meta Platforms Inc. in state court also names its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, as a defendant. In addition, the suit claims Meta "harms children and teenagers through the addictive design of its platform, degrading users' mental health, their sense of self-worth and their physical safety," Torrez's office…

Spotify says it is planning to lay off 17% of its global workforce, amounting to around 1,500 employees, following layoffs earlier this year of 600 people in January and an additional 200 in June. The music streaming giant is continuing its effort to cut costs and work toward becoming profitable, said Spotify CEO Daniel Ek in a prepared statement. “By most metrics, we were more productive but less efficient,” he said. “We need to be both.” The layoffs come following a rare quarterly net profit of about $70.3 million in October. The company has never seen a full year net profit. “I realize that for many, a reduction of this size will feel surprisingly large given the recent positive earnings report and our performance,” Ek said. “We debated making smaller…