Ask Americans how they feel about AI and most say they have concerns. Communities have mounted resistance to data center projects, stalling them across the US. On social media, anger at AI companies and executives is unrestrained – sometimes to the point of condoning violence. But look at the issues that most campaigns are focused […]
Though Tim Cook is shedding his CEO title for the role of Apple’s executive chairman, it appears he’ll keep one of his most important duties: that of the company’s Trump whisperer. “As executive chairman, Cook will assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world,” Apple writes in a press […]
On Monday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta revealed the evidence of alleged price-fixing by Amazon. The state filed a request to the Supreme Court in February for a preliminary injunction to stop Amazon’s behavior while the lawsuit it originally filed in 2022 proceeds, and is now making that 16-page document available, “largely unredacted.” It lays […]
Though it’s very common for entertainment writers to describe some narrative elements of the films and shows that they’re covering, a Japanese court has determined that the practice can sometimes be tantamount to copyright infringement. Last Thursday, the Tokyo District Court ruled that 39-year-old Wataru Takeuchi was guilty of violating Japanese law that prohibits the […]
This week’s Current Climate newsletter also looks at whether urbanists should embrace robotaxis and how the Middle East war may impact the renewable energy transition
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more stories on Big Tech versus politics in Washington, DC, follow Tina Nguyen and read Regulator. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started A long time […]
Jorge L. Alonso, a federal district court judge for the Northern District of Illinois, said that the Trump Administration violated the First Amendment when it pressured Facebook and Apple to remove ICE-tracking groups and apps. Judge Alonso granted the plaintiffs, Kassandra Rosado, who runs the ICE Sightings – Chicagoland Facebook group, and Kreisau Group, the […]
The Trump administration has spent nearly two months fighting with AI company Anthropic. It’s dubbed the company a “RADICAL LEFT, WOKE COMPANY” full of “Leftwing nut jobs” and a menace to national security. But some of the ice may reportedly be melting between the two, thanks to Anthropic’s buzzy new cybersecurity-focused model: Claude Mythos Preview. […]
Prediction market exchanges have created an environment where just about any piece of information is potentially monetizable: How well will BTS’s new song perform this week? How hot will Los Angeles get? Will Donald Trump be impeached? Users can wager on all of that and, on some platforms, more gruesome and violent outcomes in the […]
“This is no different from Comfort Women or the Holocaust,” wrote South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on X last week, quoting a post with a video of Israeli Defense Forces soldiers throwing a body off a rooftop in Gaza. The president’s post kicked off an internet firestorm for a thousand different reasons, not least because […]