Character.AI and Google have reportedly reached settlements in multiple lawsuits filed by families of teens. The suits alleged the AI chatbots encouraged self-harm and suicide. The settlements avoid a public trial.
WhatsApp is rolling out three new features aimed at making group chats more organized and expressive. The update includes Member Tags for roles, Text Stickers, and customizable Event Reminders. It’s a global release following other recent platform upgrades.
A new analysis reveals the staggering scale of non-consensual AI imagery on X, powered by its own Grok chatbot. Victims are left with few options as the platform’s moderation fails to keep up with the automated harassment.
Texas is paying its outside law firm over $156 million in legal fees for its work on a landmark privacy case against Google. The fees come from the tech giant’s $1.375 billion settlement with the state. Google did not admit wrongdoing in the deal, which settled claims over data collection.
Italy’s antitrust authority has ended its probe into the AI system DeepSeek. The case closed after the company agreed to binding commitments to improve warnings about AI “hallucinations.”
A new California law called DROP is changing the game for data privacy. It allows residents to file a single request to delete their information from hundreds of data brokers, fixing a major flaw in the previous system.
Ilya Lichtenstein, who helped launder billions stolen from Bitfinex, has been released early from prison. In a post on X, he thanked President Trump’s First Step Act for his freedom. The Justice Department, however, suggests it’s just routine home confinement.
SpaceX plans to lower the orbits of nearly half its Starlink constellation next year. The move aims to reduce collision risks as space gets more crowded. But tensions with China and a recent satellite failure highlight the growing dangers.
Elon Musk’s xAI has confirmed its Grok chatbot had “lapses in safeguards” that allowed users to generate and share AI images of minors in minimal clothing on X. The company says it is urgently working on improvements to block such requests entirely, calling the material illegal.
In a year-end presentation, Instagram’s Adam Mosseri declared the era of trusting photos is over. He says the platform must adapt to a world of “infinite synthetic content,” where skepticism, not authenticity, is the new default.
