Follow this section to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow Go to your personalized feed WHY FOLLOW? Smart Alerts: Get notified about major news as it happens. Follow this tag to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow Go to your personalized feed WHY FOLLOW? Smart Alerts: Get notified about major news as it happens. Australia's new social media law took effect on Dec. 10, 2025, raising the age to open or maintain social media accounts to 16.

An error with the cloud computing giant's billing operation caused some customers' monthly bills to rise from a few cents to billions of dollars. A glitch with Amazon Web Services' billing operation led some customers to believe they owed the world's fifth most valuable company billions of dollars. Bill Radjewski, who runs CollegeFootballData.com, was one of the affected customers. This morning, he woke up to a jarring email alert from AWS: He had racked up more than $1.5 billion in usage fees, and his August 1 bill was on track to be upwards of $3 billion. "I've had this account for 6+ years and in that time my monthly spend has never exceeded $0.02," Radjewski tells WIRED.

Google Search AI poses'unacceptable risk' to kids, report finds A new report from a California-based nonprofit says the artificial intelligence features built in to Alphabet's Google Search pose an unacceptable risk" to children. The artificial intelligence features built in to Alphabet's Google Search pose an "unacceptable risk" to children, according to a new report from the Youth AI Safety Institute at Common Sense Media, a California-based nonprofit. The study found that on test accounts configured for minors, the ubiquitous search engine's AI features failed to detect suicide risks, said an eating disorder symptom was normal, and provided instructions for creating deepfakes, or sexually explicit fake content. The report added that unlike standalone chatbots, Google's AI tools are built directly into the default search experience on school and personal devices, currently offering administrators or parents no way to disable them. The report specifically evaluated AI Overviews, which generate automated answers above traditional search results, and AI Mode, a conversational feature that lets users chat back and forth with the search engine. Rather than matching searches to a list of external links, the new features use generative AI to answer complex questions directly on the search page -- a format critics say presents the automated summaries as if they are definitive answers.

Netflix says it's already used AI in'roughly 300' titles this year Netflix says it's already used AI in'roughly 300' titles this year Don't expect that number to shrink any time soon. Netflix hasn't made any secret of its interest in artificial intelligence, and now we have a sense of how those tools are being used in its content. In 2026, GenAI workflows have been used in roughly 300 of our titles, with the largest concentration of work in post-production, according to the shareholder letter detailing its second-quarter financials. The company named three projects -- (India), (Brazil) and (US) -- that used generative AI to create highly complex sequences, but the tech is becoming more widespread at this point. We already knew that Netflix had applied generative AI in at least one original show as of last July, but between making acquisitions and launching new specialized studios, its ambitions clearly extended further.

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. A U.S. Coast Guard vessel enters Gashouse Cove as an ongoing search continues in San Francisco. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search.

Despite positioning itself as an anti-hookup app, users tell WIRED that Goose has fake profiles, harsh acceptance standards, and problems with inclusivity. When Erick Hall heard that Goose, a new "anti-algorithm" dating app, was less focused on hookups, he was drawn to its mission. The New York City -based OnlyFans creator, who has over 800,000 followers on X, explains he has to hook up "all the time" for work. Because Goose was marketing itself as an alternative to that, he was curious what it had to offer. During the sign-up process he chose a few selfies where he was fully clothed; in one, wearing a black shirt, a baseball cap, and blue jeans, he pulled his shirt upward showing off his abs.

I'm sick of "opt-out" toggles for automatically enabled generative AI features. It's past time to make "opt in" the default setting for sensitive features. In early July, Meta rolled out a new feature where anyone using its AI app could tag public Instagram accounts and generate images using their likenesses. Meta's decision to turn the feature on by default, so that Instagram users had to actively opt out, was controversial. Multiple Instagram creators posted viral videos explaining how to opt out and expressed frustration.

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. California DMV's test fraud claims spark frustration, anger People wait in line to enter the DMV office off Waterman Avenue in San Bernardino on Wednesday. The agency says some drivers are suspected of using "various cheating methods" on the written portion of the license test. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here .

A new poll shows Xavier Becerra with a hefty lead in the California governor's race. Voters also expressed strong opposition to AI data centers and nuanced views on environmental policies and affordability.

There's now only one worth buying--but you can still access new features on older models you might already own. Google's smart speaker approach has always been minimalist. With the Google Home Speaker's arrival in June, the tech giant's lineup is now simpler than ever: just a single speaker and two smart displays. That's not the only change Google has made to its smart home ecosystem this year. It also rolled out a new AI-powered assistant, Google Gemini for Home, replacing the longtime Google Assistant.