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...
New York sues Counter-Strike game developer saying ‘loot boxes’ promote gambling
NEW YORK — New York’s attorney general has sued video game developer Valve, claiming the “loot boxes” found in Counter-Strike and other popular video game franchises illegally promote gambling. State Attorney General Letitia James said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York state court that games such as Counter-Strike...
Computer science majors and professors grapple with AI advancements
These are not your father’s computer science students. And for good reason. To find a job in the fast-growing, fast-moving field, college graduates are required to possess more than simple coding skills and the ability to troubleshoot. Artificial intelligence is driving a demand for a more advanced, polished graduate who...
Discord postpones age verification rollout amid criticism, promises transparency
Discord, the popular platform for gamers to communicate online, is postponing its controversial age verification policy after receiving swift backlash from users with concerns about their privacy. The global rollout of the system is now delayed to the second half of 2026, Discord’s Chief Technology Officer and co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy...
Social media companies face legal reckoning over mental health harms to children
For years, social media companies have disputed allegations that they harm children’s mental health through deliberate design choices that addict kids to their platforms and fail to protect them from sexual predators and dangerous content. Now, these tech giants are getting a chance to make their case in courtrooms around...
A robotic dog made in China gets an Indian university kicked out of an AI summit
NEW DELHI — A private Indian university was booted from a top artificial intelligence summit in New Delhi on Wednesday after one of its staffers displayed a commercially available robotic dog made in China, claiming it was the university’s own innovation. According to two government officials, Galgotias University was ordered...
Landmark trial accusing social media companies of addicting children to their platforms begins
LOS ANGELES — The world’s biggest social media companies face several landmark trials this year that seek to hold them responsible for harms to children who use their platforms. Opening statements for the first, in Los Angeles County Superior Court, began on Monday. Instagram’s parent company Meta and Google’s YouTube...
In Minneapolis, all-encompassing immigration story tests a newsroom in midst of digital transition
With the eyes of a nation fixed on the unrest in Minneapolis, the events haven’t left local journalists overmatched. Over the past month, the Minnesota Star Tribune has broken stories, including the identity of the immigration enforcement officer who shot Renee Good, and produced a variety of informative and instructive...
TikTok settles as social media giants face landmark trial over youth addiction claims
LOS ANGELES — TikTok agreed to settle a landmark social media addiction lawsuit just before the trial kicked off, the plaintiff’s attorneys confirmed. The social video platform was one of three companies — along with Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube — facing claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm...
