Nuclear energy is having a global revival 40 years after Chernobyl
The 1986 Chernobyl disaster fueled global fears about nuclear power and slowed its development in Europe and elsewhere. Four decades later, however, there’s a revival around the world, a trend that has been given a big boost by war in the Middle East. Over 400 nuclear reactors are operational in...
Trump media company replaces CEO, ex-congressman Devin Nunes after stock plunge that wiped out billions
NEW YORK — The Trump business behind Truth Social is replacing a former congressman and big supporter of the U.S. president as leader of the social media platform after a stock collapse that wiped out billions in investor wealth. Devin Nunes, a former California congressmen in Donald Trump’s first term,...
Apple’s new CEO John Ternus steps into the spotlight after flying under the radar for years
LONDON — Apple’s next CEO John Ternus is a company veteran who rose through the iPhone maker’s hardware engineering ranks but until now has maintained a low profile. Ternus will take over as chief executive in September for Tim Cook, who turned Apple into a $4 trillion tech colossus during...
Trump wants to stop states from regulating AI. This Utah Republican isn’t listening
RIVERTON, Utah — When a dozen Republican activists gathered on a back deck in the Salt Lake City suburbs to talk about this year’s elections, the conversation cycled through all the staples of conservative chatter in Utah such as dwindling water supplies, illegal immigrant fraud and chemtrail conspiracy theories. But...
AI chatbots give misleading medical advice 50% of the time, study finds
Artificial intelligence-driven chatbots are giving users problematic medical advice about half the time, according to a new study, highlighting the health risks of the technology that’s becoming increasingly integral in day-to-day life. Researchers from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom evaluated five popular platforms — ChatGPT, Gemini, Meta...
Man accused in Molotov cocktail attack of OpenAI CEO’s home charged with attempted murder
SPRING, Texas — San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said Monday that 20-year-old Daniel Moreno-Gama has been charged with attempting to kill the OpenAI CEO as well as a security guard at the residence when he threw the incendiary device at the gate of Sam Altman’s home on April 10....
RFK Jr is launching a podcast to expose ‘lies’ that have made Americans sick
NEW YORK — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is launching a new podcast that he says will begin “a new era of radical transparency in government,” according to a teaser video first obtained by The Associated Press. The show, titled “The Secretary Kennedy Podcast,” will launch next week and...
One Tech Tip: Got an awkward or embarrassing Gmail address? Google is now letting users change it
Good news for people who regret the Gmail address they came up with when they registered for an account: Google is now letting users change it. Google started quietly rolling out the change late last year in India and said this week in a blog post that it’s now available...
How Instagram’s ‘PG-13’ branding for teens unraveled
Last fall, as Instagram faced scrutiny over child safety, the social media company introduced a new approach that it hoped would ease parents’ minds. New content restrictions for teenage users would be guided by the PG-13 rating long used by the film industry. In other words, teenagers should only be...
Hacked hospitals, hidden spyware: Iran conflict shows how digital fight is ingrained in warfare
WASHINGTON — As they fled an Iranian missile strike, some Israelis with Android phones received a text offering a link to real-time information about bomb shelters. But instead of a helpful app, the link downloaded spyware giving hackers access to the device’s camera, location and all its data. The operation,...
Another PlayStation price hike means the gaming console will cost 30% more than it did last year
The price of a PlayStation is going up by another $100, the second time in less than a year that Sony has upped the price tag on its popular gaming console. Citing “continued pressures in the global economic landscape,” the Japanese company said that as of next Thursday, the PS5...
Austria plans to ban social media use for under-14s, joining a string of other countries
VIENNA — Austria’s governing coalition on Friday announced plans to ban social media use for children under 14, joining a string of other countries in drawing up restrictions for young people. Alexander Pröll, the official in Chancellor Christian Stocker’s office responsible for digitization, said that draft legislation will be drawn...
Jury finds Instagram and YouTube liable in a landmark social media addiction trialVideo
LOS ANGELES — Meta and YouTube must pay millions in damages to a 20-year-old woman after a jury decided the social media giant and video streamer designed their platforms to hook young users without concern for their well being. The California jury’s decision Wednesday in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit could influence...
New Mexico jury says Meta harms children’s mental health and safety, violating state law
SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico jury determined Tuesday that Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its social media platforms, a verdict that signals a changing tide against tech companies and the government’s willingness to crack down. The landmark...
Teenagers sue Musk’s xAI claiming image-generator made sexually explicit images of them as minors
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Three teenagers in Tennessee sued Elon Musk’s xAI this week, claiming the company’s image-generation tools were used to morph real photos of them into explicitly sexual images. The high school students, who are seeking to proceed under pseudonyms, filed the lawsuit in California, where xAI — Musk’s...
Amazon launches 1-hour, 3-hour delivery options
If there’s something on Amazon you need today, you might be in luck. The company announced new one-hour and three-hour delivery options across the United States for over 90,000 products — including everyday household essentials. In a release Tuesday, Amazon said the new delivery options build on the same-day delivery...
When DOGE unleashed ChatGPT on the humanities
When the Trump administration went looking last spring for National Endowment for the Humanities grants to cut, it turned to a familiar scourge of professors: ChatGPT. Last March, two employees from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency arrived at the agency with the mandate of canceling previously approved grants that...
AI chatbots want your health records. Tread carefully.
SAN FRANCISCO — For the last few years, the tech industry has convinced people that their artificially intelligent chatbots get better the more data you feed them. The next step is to get users to share their most sensitive information: their health records. What could go wrong? Microsoft this week...
AI writes buggy code. A Silicon Valley startup wants to fix it
PALO ALTO, Calif. — In January, a team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University published a study analyzing the use of artificial intelligence technologies that can generate their own computer code. The study found that while these increasingly popular AI systems could speed up software development, they could also degrade...
YouTube adds tool to help public figures report fake videos
SAN FRANCISCO — YouTube is adding a detection tool for government officials, political candidates and journalists to catch and report videos that use artificial intelligence to display their likeness without permission. The pilot program, announced Tuesday, is arriving as social media companies and a patchwork of new laws start to...
U.S. solar installations fell in 2025 as Trump attacked clean energy
Solar power installations declined in the United States last year, as the Trump administration sought to impede the growth of renewable energy, according to an industry report released Tuesday. Solar energy maintained its position as the largest source of new electricity generation added to the electric grid, but the amount...
Penn Hills museum on history of home video games, computers opens as construction continues
A museum dedicated to the history of home video games and computers is taking shape in Penn Hills. In mid-February, Brendan Becker opened the first rooms of his Bloop Museum in the township’s former municipal building along Frankstown Road. For now, it is open to walk-ins from 10 a.m. to...
What to know before asking an AI chatbot for health advice
WASHINGTON — With hundreds of millions of people turning to chatbots for advice, it was only a matter of time before tech companies began offering programs specifically designed to answer health questions. In January, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Health, a new version of its chatbot that the company says can analyze...
The NFL Draft opens to new group: Tech innovators
The NFL wants you for the upcoming draft — if you’re a technology innovator, that is. The league on Friday unveiled the NFL Draft Innovation Challenge, a crowdsourcing initiative to “enhance the fan and event experience.” The league is inviting individuals, startups and established companies to propose new tools and...
Alcoa plans to sell off 10 former facilities for use as data centers
Alcoa, the Pittsburgh-based aluminum giant, intends to sell 10 of its closed or curtailed sites for use as data centers. Alcoa CEO Bill Oplinger announced the sell-off Tuesday at the BMO Global Metals, Mining and Critical Minerals Conference in Florida. Of the 10 facilities going on the market, “we think...
