Apple's Google artificial intelligence partnership will launch a Siri overhaul using Gemini's large language models, the tech giants announced.

Hume AI's CEO, Alan Cowen, will join Google DeepMind along with several top engineers as part of a major licensing deal. Google DeepMind is hiring the CEO and several top engineers from Hume AI, a startup working on emotionally intelligent voice interfaces, as part of a new licensing agreement, WIRED has learned. Financial details of the deal are confidential, but Hume AI says the company will continue to supply its technology to other frontier AI labs. The deal is the latest sign that AI companies expect voice mode to become an increasingly important interface for interacting with customers--and that understanding a user's emotions and mood based on their voice interactions is key. Hume AI expects to bring in $100 million in revenue in 2026 as it works with AI labs on tuning AI models to be more capable and useful voice helpers, says John Beadle, cofounder and managing partner of AEGIS Ventures, which invested in Hume AI.

SEOUL - South Korea introduced on Thursday what it says is the world's first comprehensive set of laws regulating artificial intelligence, aiming to strengthen trust and safety in the sector, but startups fretted that compliance could hold them back. Seoul is hoping that the new AI Basic Act will position the country as a leader in the field. It has taken effect in South Korea sooner than a comparable effort in Europe, where the EU AI Act is being applied in phases through 2027. Global divisions remain over how to regulate AI, with the U.S. favoring a more light-touch approach to avoid stifling innovation. China has introduced some rules and proposed creating a body to coordinate global regulation. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

Grok's Leering Pictures Are the Newest Version of an Old Problem Image-based abuse predates Elon Musk's latest sleazy bot, but AI is making it worse. Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. There's a picture of myself that I had saved on my desktop for years; I suppose we could call it a caricature. A little more than a decade ago, someone on a Nazi messageboard pulled a photo of me from social media, then updated it with some antisemitic flair: a little cartoon rat sitting on my shoulder, a yellow pinned on its tiny body. Referencing what Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust is meant to be a humiliation; the goal isn't hard to figure out, given that the whole star patch thing is near-medieval in both its imagery and its aims.

A new EPIC report says data brokers, ad-tech surveillance, and ICE enforcement are among the factors leading to a "health privacy crisis" that is eroding trust and deterring people from seeking care. When immigration agents enter hospitals and private companies are allowed to buy and sell data that reveals who seeks medical care, patients retreat, treatment is delayed, and health outcomes worsen, according to a new report that describes a growing "health privacy crisis" in the United States driven by surveillance and weak law enforcement limits. The report, published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), attributes the problem to outdated privacy laws and rapidly expanding digital systems that allow health-related information to be tracked, analyzed, breached, and accessed by both private companies and government agencies. EPIC, a Washington-based nonprofit focused on privacy and civil liberties, based its findings on a review of federal and state laws, court rulings, agency policies, technical research, and documented case studies examining how health data is collected, shared, and used across government and commercial systems. "Unregulated digital technologies, mass surveillance, and weak privacy laws have created a health privacy crisis," the report says.

How much is US support for Israel costing Trump? What is a Palestinian without olives? Why are Gaza's homes collapsing in winter? 'The end of the world as we know it': Is the rules-based order finished? Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the quiet part out loud at the World Economic Forum: what many call the global rules-based order was either collapsing or had collapsed already.

It is the year 2029 and an LA cop finds himself accused of murdering his wife. I rish writer Marco van Belle delivers an entertaining script for this real time futurist thriller-satire set in LA in 2029, in a world (as they say) where AI is wholly responsible for assessing criminal guilt or innocence. Veteran Russian-Kazakh film-maker Timur Bekmambetov directs, bringing his usual robust approach to the big action sequences, and Chris Pratt stars as the LAPD cop accused of murder. The film's ostensible target is the insidious power of AI, though the movie partakes of today's liberal opinion doublethink, in which we all solemnly concur that AI is very worrying while not having the smallest intention of doing anything about it. Pratt plays Detective Chris Raven, an officer with a drinking problem but nonetheless a poster boy for LA law enforcement in 2029 for having brought in the first conviction under the city's creepy new hi-tech justice system, ironically entitled Mercy (it doesn't appear to be an acronym).

Activists are demanding a way to hold the memory-chip maker accountable to its promises to protect the environment and embrace communities of color in central New York. Days after Micron broke ground on a $100 billion chip factory in New York state, a coalition of environmentalists, labor unions, and civil rights groups are urging the US tech giant to sign a deal that would make a series of promises to be a good neighbor legally enforceable. Micron's megafab to make memory chips is on track to become the biggest commercial development in state history and the largest chipmaking complex in the country . Officials held a groundbreaking ceremony in the city of Clay, near Syracuse, last Friday. The first chips could arrive in five years, though the entire site won't be finished for 20 years.

Cause of death revealed for chess grandmaster who died'unexpectedly' at age 29 Savannah Guthrie in total'PANIC': Today co-workers' brutal true thoughts about her revealed while she's on sick leave... leaving her asking the same humiliating question'The woman is your average mother after too many vinos': Hilarious'drunk' Victoria Beckham dancing videos go viral as fans point out how'happy' Nicola Peltz looks to be with her Palm Beach's old money elite expose the outrageously dirty secret of newbie Netflix reality stars... and name'tackiest' most hated influencer, as turf war explodes America accuses Britain of'letting us down' by giving away Chagos islands as Reeves takes a jab at Trump in Davos America's spirits industry hit again as two iconic brands shut down . Kate and William's second honeymoon era! Subtle gestures on latest engagement that show couple are more in love than ever Inside dramatic FBI raid on Jake Paul's $8million Calabasas mansion: His own mom reveals explosive never-before-told full story Trump warns Iran the whole country will be'blown up' if he is assassinated David and Victoria Beckham'will only speak to son Brooklyn again if he SPLITS from wife Nicola Peltz' Tommy Lee Jones's daughter was pregnant three months before her shock death, court documents reveal Blake Lively's'greatest friend ever' Taylor Swift calls Justin Baldoni a'b****' in juicy texts, explosive court papers claim I suffered EIGHT miscarriages... then I made a simple diet swap and got pregnant with twins at 43 AI'reveals' what it thinks about people in towns across the UK - and claims residents in Middlesbrough are the most stupid while those in Grimsby are the least sexy READ MORE: Is AI making us STUPID? Daily Mail's Wellness Explained examines A damning study asked ChatGPT its opinions on towns and cities across the UK - revealing the bias built in to the popular AI model. Researchers from the University of Oxford questioned ChatGPT on a range of attributes across the UK - including intelligence, racism, sexiness, and style. When asked which UK towns and cities are the most intelligent, ChatGPT claims that Cambridge tops the list.

Silicon Valley's battle against AI regulation is already shaping the next US election cycle. Silicon Valley is already pouring tens of millions of dollars into the midterm elections taking place across the US in 2026, as the tech industry's war over AI regulation moves decisively into American politics. Technology executives, investors, and companies tied to the AI boom are funding a new network of AI-focused super PACS, which is poised to make AI a major issue in this year's state and federal elections races. The election spending marks a sharp escalation of the AI regulation debate that has divided Silicon Valley for years. In the absence of federal action, state lawmakers in New York, California, and Colorado have passed laws in the past year requiring large AI developers to disclose safety practices and assess risks such as algorithmic discrimination.