Category: Technology

Green hydrogen is being touted around the world as a clean energy solution to take the carbon out of high-emitting sectors like transport and industrial manufacturing. The India-led International Solar Alliance launched the Green Hydrogen Innovation Centre earlier this year, and India itself approved $2.3 billion for the production, use and export of green hydrogen. Global cooperation on green hydrogen manufacturing and supply is expected to be discussed by G20 leaders at this week's summit in New Delhi. What is green hydrogen? Hydrogen is produced by separating that element from others in molecules where hydrogen occurs. For example, water — well known by its chemical symbol of H20, or two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom — can be split into those component atoms through electrolysis. Hydrogen has been produced…

Yuriy Fedorenko got his call sign Achilles for bravery and independence. Before the war, he was working full time as a Kyiv city council deputy; today, he is fighting against Russian forces in Donbas as commander of an attack drone squadron. Anna Kosstutschenko has his story. VOA footage by Pavel Suhodolskiy ...

A California tech startup is using artificial intelligence, or AI, to mask the accents of call center workers to reduce discrimination, but some say diversity is being erased. Matt Dibble has the story. ...

Cambodia's ex-leader Hun Sen returned to Facebook on Sunday, claiming the social media giant had "rendered justice" to him by refusing to suspend his account after he posted violent threats on the platform. In a post, Hun Sen said Facebook had rejected a recommendation from its Oversight Board to suspend his account after he had posted a video threatening to beat up his rivals. It is the latest twist in a months-long row that has seen the prolific user quit Cambodia's most popular social media site, deactivate his account, and threaten to ban the platform. "I have decided to use Facebook again... after Facebook rejected recommendations of a group of bad people and rendered justice to me," he wrote on Sunday, referencing the Oversight Board. Hun Sen's hugely popular page…

Tesla on Friday unveiled a restyled Model 3 with a longer driving range in China and other markets including Europe, the Middle East, Australia and Japan, putting pressure on rivals who are expected to announce new electric vehicles in the next few days. In China, the world's largest auto market, the refreshed version of the Model 3 came with a starting price 12% higher than the previous, base rear-wheel drive model, reversing a trend toward price cuts which had sparked a price war between Tesla and its Chinese EV rivals. The updated version of the Model 3 was Tesla's first new or restyled car since it launched its global best-seller, the Model Y, in 2020. Tesla plans to start production of its Cybertruck later this year. The rollout of the…

Chinese tech giant Baidu rolled out its ChatGPT-like ERNIE Bot to the public Thursday. But the app is highly censored, offering state-approved answers to taboo questions and sometimes refusing to process them altogether when AFP tested the service. Here are some of ERNIE's answers to questions about sensitive topics in China: Taiwan Asked about the status of Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own, ERNIE told AFP that it is "not a country." "Taiwan is part of the sacred territory of the People's Republic of China. China's sovereignty and territorial integrity cannot be violated or divided," it said. "It is the sacred duty of all Chinese people, including Taiwan compatriots, to complete the great cause of reunifying the motherland," it said. "We do not promise to give…

Ukrainian troops using Android mobile devices are coming under attack from Russian hackers, who are using a new kind of malware to try to steal information critical to the ongoing counteroffensive. Cyber officials from the United States, along with counterparts from Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand, issued a warning Thursday about the malware, named Infamous Chisel, which aims to scan files, monitor communications and “periodically steal sensitive information.” The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, describes the new malware as “a collection of components which enable persistent access to an infected Android device … which periodically collates and exfiltrates victim information.”   A CISA report published Thursday shared additional technical details about the Russian campaign, with officials warning the malware could be employed against other targets. Thursday’s…

Russia has been using sham websites to obtain the personal information of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and their family members, U.S. defense officials say, in what they believe is an attempt to detain the family members who are living in occupied Ukraine and deport them to Russia. Two U.S. defense officials say a Russian information warfare unit has created at least two phishing websites, WarTears.org and ForeignCombatants.ru, that are posing as support websites for friends and family members of missing, captured or fallen Ukrainian soldiers. Petro Yatsenko, spokesman for Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, confirmed to VOA that the two websites are scams. He said there are dozens of similar phishing websites that try to collect data from the families. “They exploit the extremely vulnerable…

A global operation led by the FBI has dismantled one of the most notorious cybercrime tools used to launch ransomware attacks and steal sensitive data. U.S. law enforcement officials announced on Tuesday that the FBI and its international partners had disrupted the Qakbot infrastructure and seized nearly $9 million in cryptocurrency in illicit profits. Qakbot, also known as Qbot, was a sophisticated botnet and malware that infected hundreds of thousands of computers around the world, allowing cybercriminals to access and control them remotely. “The Qakbot malicious code is being deleted from victim computers, preventing it from doing any more harm,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a statement. Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, and Don Alway, the FBI…

Meta on Tuesday said it purged thousands of Facebook accounts that were part of a widespread online Chinese spam operation trying to covertly boost China and criticize the West. The campaign, which became known as "Spamouflage," was active across more than 50 platforms and forums including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X, formerly known as Twitter, according to a Meta threat report. "We assess that it's the largest, though unsuccessful, and most prolific covert influence operation that we know of in the world today," said Meta Global Threat Intelligence Lead Ben Nimmo. "And we've been able to link Spamouflage to individuals associated with Chinese law enforcement." More than 7,700 Facebook accounts along with 15 Instagram accounts were jettisoned in what Meta described as the biggest ever single takedown action at…

The tech industry is rushing to unlock the potential of artificial intelligence, and AI hackathons — daylong collaborations using the technology to tackle real-world problems — are increasing in popularity. From the state of Washington, Natasha Mozgovaya has more. ...

Toyota said Tuesday it has been hit by a technical glitch forcing it to suspend production at all 14 factories in Japan. The world's biggest automaker gave no further details on the stoppage, which began Tuesday morning, but said it did not appear to be caused by a cyberattack. The company said the glitch prevented its system from processing orders for parts, resulting in a suspension of a dozen factories or 25 production lines on Tuesday morning. The company later decided to halt the afternoon shift of the two other operational factories, suspending all of Toyota's domestic plants, or 28 production lines. "We do not believe the problem was caused by a cyberattack," the company said in a statement to AFP. "We will continue to investigate the cause and to…

OpenAI on Monday said it was launching a business version of ChatGPT as its artificial intelligence sensation grapples with declining usership nine months after its historic debut. ChatGPT Enterprise will offer business customers a premium version of the bot, with "enterprise grade" security and privacy enhancements from previous versions, OpenAI said in a blog post. The question of data security has become an important one for OpenAI, with major companies, including Apple, Amazon and Samsung, blocking employees from using ChatGPT out of fear that sensitive information will be divulged. "Today marks another step towards an AI assistant for work that helps with any task, is customized for your organization, and that protects your company data," OpenAI said. The ChatGPT business version resembles Bing Chat Enterprise, an offering by Microsoft, which…

Organized cybercrime is set to pose a threat to Canada's national security and economic prosperity over the next two years, a national intelligence agency said on Monday. In a report released Monday, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) identified Russia and Iran as cybercrime safe havens where criminals can operate against Western targets. Ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure such as hospitals and pipelines can be particularly profitable, the report said. Cyber criminals continue to show resilience and an ability to innovate their business model, it said. "Organized cybercrime will very likely pose a threat to Canada's national security and economic prosperity over the next two years," said CSE, which is the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. National Security Agency. "Ransomware is almost certainly the most disruptive form of cybercrime facing Canada…

Ask Alexa or Siri about the weather. But if you want to save someone’s life? Call 911 for that. Voice assistants often fall flat when asked how to perform CPR, according to a study published Monday. Researchers asked voice assistants eight questions that a bystander might pose in a cardiac arrest emergency. In response, the voice assistants said: “Hmm, I don’t know that one.” “Sorry, I don’t understand.” “Words fail me.” “Here’s an answer … that I translated: The Indian Penal Code.” Only nine of 32 responses suggested calling emergency services for help — an important step recommended by the American Heart Association. Some voice assistants sent users to web pages that explained CPR, but only 12% of the 32 responses included verbal instructions. Verbal instructions are important because immediate…

Tesla Inc TSLA.O is set to defend itself for the first time at trial against allegations that failure of its Autopilot driver assistant feature led to death, in what will likely be a major test of Chief Executive Elon Musk's assertions about the technology. Self-driving capability is central to Tesla’s financial future, according to Musk, whose own reputation as an engineering leader is being challenged with allegations by plaintiffs in one of two lawsuits that he personally leads the group behind technology that failed. Wins by Tesla could raise confidence and sales for the software, which costs up to $15,000 per vehicle. Tesla faces two trials in quick succession, with more to follow. The first, scheduled for mid-September in a California state court, is a civil lawsuit containing allegations that…

Thailand said this week it is preparing to sue Facebook in a move that could see the platform shut down nationwide over scammers allegedly exploiting the social networking site to cheat local users out of tens of millions of dollars a year. The country’s minister of digital economy and society, Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, announced the planned lawsuit after a ministry meeting on Monday. Ministry spokesperson Wetang Phuangsup told VOA on Thursday the case would be filed in one to two weeks, possibly by the end of the month. “We are in the stage of gathering information, gathering evidence, and we will file to the court to issue the final judgment on how to deal with Facebook since they are a part of the scamming,” he said. Some of the most common…

Meta is being accused of endangering lives by blocking news links in Canada at a crucial moment, when thousands have fled their homes and are desperate for wildfire updates that once would have been shared widely on Facebook. The situation "is dangerous," said Kelsey Worth, 35, one of nearly 20,000 residents of Yellowknife and thousands more in small towns ordered to evacuate the Northwest Territories as wildfires advanced. She described to AFP how "insanely difficult" it has been for herself and other evacuees to find verifiable information about the fires blazing across the near-Arctic territory and other parts of Canada. "Nobody's able to know what's true or not," she said. "And when you're in an emergency situation, time is of the essence," she said, explaining that many Canadians until now…

Google, Facebook, TikTok and other Big Tech companies operating in Europe must comply with one of the most far-reaching efforts to clean up what people see online. The European Union’s groundbreaking new digital rules took effect Friday for the biggest platforms. The Digital Services Act is part of a suite of tech-focused regulations crafted by the 27-nation bloc, long a global leader in cracking down on tech giants. The DSA is designed to keep users safe online and stop the spread of harmful content that's either illegal or violates a platform's terms of service, such as promotion of genocide or anorexia. It also looks to protect Europeans' fundamental rights like privacy and free speech. Some online platforms, which could face billions in fines if they don't comply, already have made…

The U.S. Justice Department is suing Elon Musk's SpaceX for refusing to hire refugees and asylum-recipients at the rocket company. In a lawsuit filed on Thursday, the Justice Department said SpaceX routinely discriminated against these job applicants between 2018 and 2022, in violation of U.S. immigration laws. The lawsuit says that Musk and other SpaceX officials falsely claimed the company was allowed to hire only U.S. citizens and permanent residents due to export control laws that regulate the transfer of sensitive technology. "U.S. law requires at least a green card to be hired at SpaceX, as rockets are advanced weapons technology," Musk wrote in a June 16, 2020, tweet cited in the lawsuit. In fact, U.S. export control laws impose no such restrictions, according to the Justice Department. Those laws…

With White House funding to help get more electric cars on the road, some states are creating local rules to get top technologies into their charging stations. Deana Mitchell has the story. ...

New artificial intelligence tools that write human-like prose and create stunning images have taken the world by storm. But these awe-inspiring technologies are not creating something out of nothing; they're trained on lots and lots of data, some of which come from works under copyright protection. Now, the writers, artists and others who own the rights to the material used to teach ChatGPT and other generative AI tools want to stop what they see as blatant copyright infringement of mass proportions. With billions of dollars at stake, U.S. courts will most likely have to sort out who owns what, using the 1976 Copyright Act, the same law that has determined who owns much of the content published on the internet. U.S. copyright law seeks to strike a balance between protecting…

The U.S. State Department, in coordination with other agencies from President Joe Biden's administration, is seeking a six-month extension of the U.S.-China Science and Technology Agreement (STA) that is due to expire on August 27. The short-term extension comes as several Republican congressional members voiced concerns that China has previously leveraged the agreement to advance its military objectives and may continue to do so. The State Department said the brief extension will keep the STA in force while the United States negotiates with China to amend and strengthen the agreement. It does not commit the U.S. to a longer-term extension. "We are clear-eyed to the challenges posed by the PRC's national strategies on science and technology, Beijing's actions in this space, and the threat they pose to U.S. national security…

In 2023, a new way to use AI has come online. Some companies are using the tool to make lifelike avatars of people, even those who have died.  Maxim Moskalkov reports. Camera: Andrey Degtyarev. ...

An Indian spacecraft has landed on the moon, becoming the first craft to touch down on the lunar surface’s south pole, the country’s space agency said. India’s attempt to land on the moon Wednesday came days after Russia’s Luna-25 lander, also headed for the unexplored south pole, crashed into the moon.   It was India’s second attempt to reach the south pole -- four years ago, India’s lander crashed during its final approach.   India has become the fourth country to achieve what is called a “soft-landing” on the moon – a feat accomplished by the United States, China and the former Soviet Union.   However, none of those lunar missions landed at the south pole.  The south side, where the terrain is rough and rugged, has never been explored.   The current mission,…

A Kenyan court has given Facebook's parent company, Meta, and the content moderators who are suing it for unfair dismissal 21 days to resolve their dispute out of court, a court order showed on Wednesday. The 184 content moderators are suing Meta and two subcontractors after they say they lost their jobs with one of the firms, Sama, for organizing a union. The plaintiffs say they were then blacklisted from applying for the same roles at the second firm, Luxembourg-based Majorel, after Facebook switched contractors. "The parties shall pursue an out of court settlement of this petition through mediation," said the order by the Employment and Labour Relations Court, which was signed by lawyers for the plaintiffs, Meta, Sama and Majorel. Kenya's former chief justice, Willy Mutunga, and Hellen Apiyo,…

Meta Platforms on Tuesday launched the web version of its new text-first social media platform Threads, in a bid to retain professional users and gain an edge over rival X, formerly Twitter. Threads' users will now be able to access the microblogging platform by logging-in to its website from their computers, the Facebook and Instagram owner said. The widely anticipated roll out could help Threads gain broader acceptance among power users like brands, company accounts, advertisers and journalists, who can now take advantage of the platform by using it on a bigger screen. Threads, which crossed 100 million sign-ups for the app within five days of its launch on July 5, saw a decline in its popularity as users returned to the more familiar platform X after the initial rush.…

Google, Facebook, TikTok and other Big Tech companies operating in Europe are facing one of the most far-reaching efforts to clean up what people encounter online. The first phase of the European Union's groundbreaking new digital rules will take effect this week. The Digital Services Act is part of a suite of tech-focused regulations crafted by the 27-nation bloc — long a global leader in cracking down on tech giants. The DSA, which the biggest platforms must start following Friday, is designed to keep users safe online and stop the spread of harmful content that's either illegal or violates a platform's terms of service, such as promotion of genocide or anorexia. It also looks to protect Europeans' fundamental rights like privacy and free speech. Some online platforms, which could face…