Microsoft's multibillion-dollar investment in the ChatGPT developer OpenAI could face a merger investigation in the European Union, officials have said. Microsoft is the largest minority investor in OpenAI Global LLC, a "capped profit" subsidiary company that is controlled by OpenAI Inc, the non-profit majority owner of the organisation. Its investment, given in the form of cloud-computing credits as well as cash, officially gives it no control of the company itself, but the possibility of a maximum of a 100-times return on its capital. The European Commission said on Tuesday it was "checking whether Microsoft's investment in OpenAI might be reviewable under the EU merger regulation". OpenAI's unusual corporate structure was thrust into the limelight last year, when its chief executive, Sam Altman, was ousted and then reappointed in a bitter struggle with the non-profit's board.

A senior Hezbollah commander said the terrorist organization does not want an expanded war with Israel Tuesday, the same day that it launched a drone attack against an Israeli army base. Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group, claimed the Tuesday attack was in retribution for an Israeli strike that killed Wissam al-Tawil, who commanded Hezbollah's Radwan forces. Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem released a televised speech stating that his group does not seek an all-out war with Israel, "but if Israel expands it, the response is inevitable to the maximum extent required to deter Israel." President Biden's administration has sought to prevent Israel's war against Hamas from boiling over into a regional conflict. Nevertheless, Iran's proxy terrorist groups have carried out more than 100 attacks on U.S. and Israeli targets since October.

Microsoft Corp.'s 13 billion investment into OpenAI Inc. risks a full-blown investigation by European Union deals watchdogs, after a mutiny at the ChatGPT creator laid bare deep ties between the two companies. The European Commission said on Tuesday that it's examining whether Microsoft's involvement should be vetted under the bloc's merger rules -- paving the way for a formal probe and even a potential unwinding if it's found to hamper fair competition. The EU move, part of a broader look at artificial intelligence, follows a similar step by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority. "Virtual worlds and generative AI are rapidly developing," said Margrethe Vestager, the EU's antitrust commissioner. "It is fundamental that these new markets stay competitive, and that nothing stands in the way of businesses growing and providing the best and most innovative products to consumers."

The Israeli army and Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, have again traded fire across the border. The Iran-backed Hezbollah on Tuesday launched a drone attack on an Israeli command base. Israel retaliated with air strikes, while it is also reported to have killed three Hezbollah members in a targeted strike. The rise in attacks across the Israel-Lebanon border is stoking fear that the war in Gaza threatens to spark a regional conflagration. Hezbollah said that it had targeted the "enemy's northern command centre in the city of Safed with several drones" in retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah field commander Wissam al-Tawil in Lebanon on Monday, as well as an attack on Hamas's deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut last week.

Amid the growing clamor in Congress to regulate AI, the company is bringing in reinforcements. After years of outreach to lawmakers, OpenAI in fall 2023 disclosed its first in-house lobbyist, and reported that it is working with global law firm DLA Piper, according to federal disclosures. OpenAI to date has not advocated for or against any specific bill, Makanju says, but she anticipates that will change in 2024, especially with the Schumer effort that is underway. Makanju's team is also growing around the world, with more than 20 people in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Brazil.

When people hear the words "social engineering," they usually think of the supposed nefarious designs of government or an opposing political party. These days, there's a general sense of social upheaval brought on by some invisible force, and we're anxious to blame someone. I can't help feeling that, to some extent, we're tilting at windmills while the real source of social engineering is in our pockets, on our laps, in a myriad of devices and soon, highly lifelike social robots for the home. The future is coming at us fast these days. In October 2023, Boston Dynamics, the robotics company that makes advanced robots that can dance better than some people, announced it had endowed Spot, its highly utilitarian doglike robot, with ChatGPT.

The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes a heavy focus on the continued development of artificial intelligence for the military, an investment that could be pivotal in the continued competition with China. "I think there are two key areas of the NDAA that point to a great strategic direction for the United States. The first is recognizing the threat China poses in both the physical and the cognitive domain of conflict, in the cold war we are currently in with them and the hot war they may consider in the future. AI, and protecting AI is a crucial part of that strategic calculus," Christopher Alexander, the chief analytics officer of Pioneer Development Group, told Fox News Digital. Alexander's comments come after President Biden signed the Pentagon spending bill into law last month, the yearly "must pass" legislation that lays out U.S. military spending.

Conservative MP Robin Walker, chair of the education select committee, told the BBC's Today programme that the government should focus on the increasing number of students missing up to half their time in school - so-called severe absences.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama claims the looming 2024 presidential election keeps her up at night, and warned, "We cannot take this democracy for granted." Obama appeared on an episode of Jay Shetty's "On Purpose" podcast, which was released on Monday. While the podcast is ostensibly about mental health, the conversation became explicitly political when she was asked about concerns that occupy her mind. "What is the thing that keeps you up at night now, or what is your biggest fear now, after having overcome so many?" the podcast host asked. "It has less to do with me personally and more to do with the world that we're in," Obama said.

Linehaul transportation costs make up a significant portion of overall Amazon transportation costs. To manage these costs, Amazon has developed a variety of tools to manage linehaul capacity mix and procurement. One key input to all of these models is the forecast of transportation marketplace rates, which however are notoriously difficult to forecast - they are driven a number of factors: the ever-changing network of tens of thousands of drivers, shippers of all sizes with a mix of occasional, seasonal, and regular demand, a huge set of brokers, traditional and digital exchanges, and local, regional, national, and international economic factors of all kinds. In addition, the transportation marketplace frequently goes through fundamental shifts - whether because of wars, pandemics, fuel prices, or due to shifting international trade patterns. Although Amazon has purchased externally-created forecasts for some time, these forecasts are neither explainable nor sufficient/accurate to the specific Amazon needs. To address this challenge, we built a forecasting model based on time series data to predict weekly marketplace rates for the North America market, at both the national and the regional levels. Our approach incorporates an innovative statistical technique capable of efficiently capturing significant fluctuations in transportation marketplace rates.