BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — Microsoft said Friday it’s still trying to evict the elite Russian government hackers who broke into the email accounts of senior company executives in November and who it said have been trying to breach customer networks with stolen access data. The hackers from Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service …
NASA, US Navy Prepare Astronauts for Moon Mission
Although NASA has delayed the launch of a crewed mission to orbit the moon until 2025 at the earliest, four selected astronauts are training in preparation for the first such journey in more than 50 years. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh caught up with the crew of Artemis II during training and …
Europe’s Digital Markets Act is Forcing Tech Giants to Make Changes
LONDON — Europeans scrolling their phones and computers this week will get new choices for default browsers and search engines, where to download iPhone apps and how their personal online data is used. They’re part of changes required under the Digital Markets Act, a set of European Union regulations that six …
LogOn: Seattle Startup Builds Drones for First Responders
A Seattle startup’s drones are helping first responders by providing them with “eyes and ears” in hazardous environments. Natasha Mozgovaya in Seattle has the story. …
Meta’s Facebook, Instagram Back Up After Global Outage
Washington — Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram were back up on Tuesday after a more than two-hour outage that was caused by a technical issue and impacted hundreds of thousands of users globally. The disruptions started at around 10:00 a.m. ET (1500 GMT), with many users saying on rival social media platform …
Nigeria Takes Bold Steps to Erase Digital Gender Gap
The World Bank says digital entrepreneurship is paving the way for economic empowerment across Nigeria and reducing poverty through internet access. In a January report, the Bank says internet access reduced extreme poverty by 7% in the West African country. But it noted a digital gender gap where women are …
AI’s Newest Advance: Realistic High-Definition Video From a Few Words
The latest innovation in artificial intelligence is photo-realistic video created from just a few words. Deana Mitchell has the story. …
Apple Fined Nearly $2 Billion by European Union Over Music Streaming Competition
London — The European Union leveled its first antitrust penalty against Apple on Monday, fining the U.S. tech giant nearly $2 billion for breaking the bloc’s competition laws by unfairly favoring its own music streaming service over rivals. Apple banned app developers from “fully informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper …
Ukrainian YouTuber Finds Her AI Clone Selling Russian Goods on Chinese Internet
washington — Speaking Mandarin and promoting love for China, countless videos of foreign-looking women made with artificial intelligence started popping up on Chinese social media platforms around the Lunar New Year earlier this month. The avatars in the videos are created with online images that are stolen, reproduced and repurposed so …
Odysseus Lunar Lander Makes History, Then Tips Over
A lunar landing more than 50 years in the making is a partial success. Plus, the U.S. says Russia may launch a nuclear weapon into orbit. The Kremlin calls it spin. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. …
Musk Teases AI Chatbot ‘Grok,’ With Real-time Access To X
Elon Musk unveiled details Saturday of his new AI tool called “Grok,” which can access X in real time and will be initially available to the social media platform’s top tier of subscribers. Musk, the tycoon behind Tesla and SpaceX, said the link-up with X, formerly known as Twitter, is …
NASA Spacecraft Discovers Tiny Moon Around Asteroid
The little asteroid visited by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft this week had a big surprise for scientists. It turns out that the asteroid Dinkinesh has a dinky sidekick — a mini moon. The discovery was made during Wednesday’s flyby of Dinkinesh, 480 million kilometers (300 million miles) away in the main …
FTX Founder Convicted of Defrauding Cryptocurrency Customers
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s spectacular rise and fall in the cryptocurrency industry — a journey that included his testimony before Congress, a Super Bowl advertisement and dreams of a future run for president — hit rock bottom Thursday when a New York jury convicted him of fraud in a scheme …
World Leaders Agree on Artificial Intelligence Risks
World leaders have agreed on the importance of mitigating risks posed by rapid advancements in the emerging technology of artificial intelligence, at a U.K.-hosted safety conference. The inaugural AI Safety Summit, hosted by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Bletchley Park, England, started Wednesday, with senior officials from 28 nations, …
India Probing Phone Hacking Complaints by Opposition Politicians, Minister Says
India’s cybersecurity agency is investigating complaints of mobile phone hacking by senior opposition politicians who reported receiving warning messages from Apple, Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. Vaishnaw was quoted in the Indian Express newspaper as saying Thursday that CERT-In, the computer emergency response team based in New Delhi, had …
US Pushes for Global Protections Against Threats Posed by AI
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday that leaders have “a moral, ethical and societal duty” to protect people from the dangers posed by artificial intelligence, as she leads the Biden administration’s push for a global AI roadmap. Analysts, in commending the effort, say human oversight is crucial to preventing …
US Pushes for Global Protections for Threats Posed by AI
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris says leaders have “a moral, ethical and societal duty” to protect humans from dangers posed by artificial intelligence, and is pushing for a global road map during an AI summit in London. Analysts agree and say one element needs to be constant: human oversight. VOA’s …
Electric Vehicles Hit the Roads in Malawi
Drivers in Malawi are getting an opportunity to purchase electric vehicles through a local startup company. The handful of buyers so far say they no longer have to struggle daily to get fuel at pump stations. Lameck Masina reports from Blantyre. …
UK Summit Aims to Tackle Thorny Issues Around Cutting-Edge AI Risks
Digital officials, tech company bosses and researchers are converging Wednesday at a former codebreaking spy base near London to discuss and better understand the extreme risks posed by cutting-edge artificial intelligence. The two-day summit focuses on so-called frontier AI — the latest and most powerful systems that take the technology …
UK Kicks Off World’s First AI Safety Summit
The world’s first major summit on artificial intelligence (AI) safety opens in Britain Wednesday, with political and tech leaders set to discuss possible responses to the society-changing technology. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will …
Electric Vehicle ‘Fast Charger’ Seen as Game Changer
With White House funding to put more electric cars on the road, some states are using the money to build out their part of a fast-charging EV network. Deana Mitchell has the story. …
Biden Signs Sweeping Executive Order on AI Oversight
President Joe Biden on Monday signed a wide-ranging executive order on artificial intelligence, covering topics as varied as national security, consumer privacy, civil rights and commercial competition. The administration heralded the order as taking “vital steps forward in the U.S.’s approach on safe, secure, and trustworthy AI.” The order directs …