Author: Frank Salvato

A federal judge has rejected the federal government’s attempt to force Google to sell its AdX advertising exchange, allowing the technology giant to retain the core structure of an advertising operation previously found to have unlawfully suppressed competition. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema instead adopted behavioral remedies intended to open portions of Google’s advertising ecosystem to competitors, including measures involving access to real-time bidding information. The decision represents another setback for federal antitrust officials seeking structural breakups of dominant technology companies and raises a larger question about whether behavioral restrictions can meaningfully restrain entrenched digital monopolies without dismantling the integrated…

Several Georgia families living near Meta’s sprawling Stanton Springs data center have sued the technology giant and a regional development authority, alleging that years of construction activity damaged their private wells and disrupted their rural properties. The homeowners contend that extensive land clearing, blasting and excavation disturbed the underground aquifer, introducing silt and sediment into their water while construction brought dust, noise and intrusive nighttime lighting. Meta disputes the allegations, saying its facility obtains water from the local utility rather than groundwater and citing a company-commissioned study concluding that the project did not cause the reported well problems. The litigation…

Together AI, a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup, is partnering with Saudi Arabia’s state-backed Humain to develop a 250-megawatt AI data center in the kingdom, highlighting how growing American opposition to power-intensive data centers could redirect technology investment overseas. The companies expect the partnership to generate more than $5 billion in gross annualized revenue during its first year, while providing computing capacity for AI training and inference. Together AI CEO Vipul Prakash has pointed directly to U.S. community resistance, cancellations, and moratoriums as factors constraining domestic data-center development. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is aggressively expanding its AI infrastructure through Humain as…

Instagram is tightening its rules for accounts built around artificial-intelligence-generated people, requiring profiles featuring synthetic personas to identify themselves with a new “AI-generated profile” label or risk having their distribution curtailed. The policy replaces the less explicit “AI creator” designation and responds to mounting concern that increasingly realistic virtual influencers can be mistaken for actual people. Accounts that fail to disclose an AI-generated persona may lose recommendation eligibility and consequently receive less exposure through Reels, Explore, and other discovery mechanisms. The policy is deliberately narrower than a general restriction on artificial intelligence: ordinary creators can continue using AI to edit…

An apparent increase in unwanted email slipping through spam filters is serving as another reminder that automated defenses cannot eliminate the problem by themselves. The recent experience described by technology columnist Jim Rossman—who noticed more spam reaching his personal inbox—reflects the continuing contest between email providers and senders attempting to evade filtering systems. Government cybersecurity guidance reinforces the practical response: distinguish unwanted legitimate marketing from suspicious or fraudulent messages, use built-in spam-reporting tools rather than merely deleting junk, unsubscribe only from legitimate mailing lists, and avoid interacting with questionable links or attachments. Reporting spam also helps email systems identify similar…

Artificial intelligence is beginning to do something medicine has struggled to accomplish for decades: examine enormous volumes of biological information simultaneously and identify patterns that human researchers could never realistically detect on their own. That raises an uncomfortable question. If AI eventually makes it possible to discover treatments—or even cures—for diseases currently considered incurable, will the pharmaceutical industry enthusiastically embrace that revolution, or will powerful financial interests attempt to control it? There is no persuasive evidence that “Big Pharma,” acting collectively, has launched a coordinated campaign to suppress AI research into incurable diseases. Such a claim requires evidence, not suspicion.…

The rapid advance of frontier artificial intelligence is creating a potentially serious threat to the global financial system as increasingly capable models gain the ability to discover and exploit cybersecurity vulnerabilities at unprecedented speed and scale. Andrew Bailey, who leads the international body responsible for monitoring financial-system vulnerabilities while also serving as Britain’s central-bank governor, warned G20 finance ministers and central bankers that AI-assisted cyberattacks could simultaneously disrupt multiple financial institutions that rely on common technology providers and infrastructure. He urged banks and technology companies to strengthen vulnerability management and recovery capabilities, including maintaining the ability to rebuild critical systems…

SB Energy has filed for a U.S. initial public offering as the SoftBank-backed company seeks to capitalize on soaring demand for electricity and data-center capacity created by artificial intelligence. The company plans to trade under the ticker SBE and has built unusually deep financial and commercial ties with OpenAI, Nvidia and SoftBank. Its filing reveals approximately $139 million in first-half 2026 revenue, a $3.2 billion net loss and more than $430 billion in contracted data-center backlog, despite having no operational data centers yet. The offering could become a significant measure of whether investors remain willing to fund the capital-intensive AI…

The Society of Professional Journalists is undertaking its first revision of its century-old voluntary ethics code since 2014, responding to artificial intelligence, misinformation, the expansion of independent and creator journalism, and declining public confidence in the news media. The proposed 967-word code preserves its four longstanding principles—seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable and transparent—while strengthening expectations surrounding verification, fabricated content, source transparency and personal responsibility. Rather than mentioning artificial intelligence specifically, the draft establishes the broader principle that journalists remain responsible for accuracy and fairness regardless of the technologies they use. The revision also…

Meta has remotely disabled photo and video capabilities on thousands of smart glasses after detecting users had tampered with the LED designed to alert bystanders when recording is taking place. The company says fewer than one-tenth of 1 percent of its glasses have been altered, but with millions sold, the affected devices likely number in the thousands. The enforcement follows reports of people covertly recording strangers, including incidents involving harassment and social-media content produced without subjects’ consent. Meta has strengthened its software so cameras stop functioning when the recording indicator is covered, damaged, or otherwise manipulated, while also pursuing sellers…