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US Senate passes major online child safety reforms

The U.S. Senate passed major online child safety reforms in a nearly unanimous vote on Tuesday, although the legislation, which has drawn mixed reactions from the tech industry, faces an uncertain fate in the House of Representatives. Two bills —…

AI-backed autonomous robots monitor construction progress

The construction industry is finding new uses for artificial intelligence. In a multi-story building project in the northwestern U.S. city of Seattle, autonomous robots are tasked with documenting progress and detecting potential hazards. VOA’s Natasha Mozgovaya has the story. Source:…

Manipulated video shared by Musk mimics Harris’ voice, raising concerns about AI in politics

New York —  A manipulated video that mimics the voice of Vice President Kamala Harris saying things she did not say is raising concerns about the power of artificial intelligence to mislead with Election Day about three months away. The…

Can tech help solve the Los Angeles homeless crisis? Finding shelter may someday be a click away

LOS ANGELES —  Billions of dollars have been spent on efforts to get homeless people off the streets in California, but outdated computer systems with error-filled data are all too often unable to provide even basic information like where a…

US claims TikTok collected user views on issues like abortion, gun control

WASHINGTON —  In a fresh broadside against one of the world’s most popular technology companies, the Justice Department late Friday accused TikTok of harnessing the capability to gather bulk information on users based on views on divisive social issues like…

Astronomers use Webb telescope to discover new planet

A team of astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, to observe a new, Jupiter-like planet outside our solar system – known as an “exoplanet.” It was the first new planet observed and imaged with the telescope that…

US, Taiwan, China race to improve military drone technology

washington —  This week, as Taiwan was preparing for the start of its Han Kuang military exercises, its air defense system detected a Chinese drone circling the island. This was the sixth time that China had sent a drone to…

Video game performers to strike over artificial intelligence concerns

LOS ANGELES —  Hollywood’s video game performers voted Thursday to go on strike, throwing part of the entertainment industry into another work stoppage after talks for a new contract with major game studios broke down over artificial intelligence protections. The…

CrowdStrike blames bug for letting bad data slip through, leading to global tech outage

CrowdStrike is blaming a bug in an update that allowed its cybersecurity systems to push bad data out to millions of customer computers, setting off last week’s global tech outage that grounded flights, took TV broadcasts off air and disrupted…

Meta takes down thousands of Facebook accounts running sextortion scams from Nigeria

Meta says it has taken down about 63,000 Facebook accounts in Nigeria that were engaging in financial sextortion scams — along with groups and pages that were trying to organize, recruit and train new scammers. Sexual extortion, or sextortion, involves…