The world's largest crypto exchange admitted to a range of violations in a massive US court action, including unlicensed money transmitting, sanctions violations and anti-money laundering (AML) violations. Its founder, Changpeng Zhao, near-universally known as CZ, personally pled guilty to his failure to maintain money-laundering controls. The failures "allowed money to flow to terrorists, cybercriminals, and child abusers through its platform", the US secretary of the treasury, Janet Yellen, said. As part of a guilty plea, Zhao agreed to pay a $50m fine and would be barred from any involvement in the business. Binance too agreed to plead guilty, accept the appointment of a monitor and pay a criminal fine of nearly $1.81bn as well as a $2.51bn order of forfeiture to settle three criminal charges.

This week, Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers discuss Sam Altman's triumphant return to OpenAI and ponder the future of the artificial intelligence industry. They also discuss the legal woes of crypto exchange Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao. In the Plus segment: Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers joins OpenAI's board of directors

This week, the Korean automaker announced it will start working with Amazon to sell some of its vehicles on the gargantuan ecommerce site. The Hyundais purchased on Amazon will not, in fact, come in a very big box, but buyers will have the choice of having their new car delivered or picking it up at a local dealership. Sales will begin in 2024, and other brands will likely hop onto Amazon after Hyundai's first steps. Online car sales are a big, though perhaps natural, progression of the always-on online marketplace. While it's becoming increasingly common to buy EVs online, the practice of buying a new car on the web really picked up steam during the pandemic, when some companies offered the option of having the car delivered right to your door soon after you clicked the Buy button.

Remember a few years back, when blockchain was going to save the world? Now, it's artificial intelligence's turn to save the world. But blockchain is coming back into vogue as the technology that may save AI. Blockchain is finally being unchained from crypto, and many now see its potential as a foundation of support and validation for another emerging technology -- AI. Blockchain -- and other distributed ledger technologies -- could even help solve AI's black box problem "by providing a transparent, immutable ledger to monitor model training and trace decision-making processes," according to the authors of a new report.

A funny thing happened in Hong Kong earlier this month. Well, funny unless you were there. The annual ApeFest, where collectors of Bored Ape NFTs (remember them?) took place in Hong Kong (for the uninitiated, NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, can be linked to products like digital artworks and traded for cryptocurrencies on the open market). Nouveau-riche investors who got rich off the back of the revolutionary technology and investment products came together to party. A number of them reported suffering from "eye burn, extreme pain and impaired vision after attending one of its events, which was lit by UV lights".

Kathy Ireland, CEO of Kathy Ireland Worldwide, spoke about the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and wants people to be aware of its potential impacts. As a businesswoman, Kathy Ireland is watching the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence with keen interest. "It's very interesting -- definitely moving rapidly -- and we've got to be alert to it," she told Fox News Digital. "As with all technology there, it can be used for good or evil. So, we've got to be alert to it and be on it. And I just can't stress enough the alertness and the protection that we all need. "Let's seek to use it for good and protect ourselves against any negative impacts that it could have." WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)? Kathy Ireland told Fox News Digital she "can't stress enough the alertness and the protection that we all need" when it comes to artificial intelligence. Since founding her business, Kathy Ireland Worldwide, in 1993, Ireland has steadily added to her portfolio to establish a $500 million company. "[It] started with a single pair of socks, moved into apparel, fashion, fashion for the home, health and wellness, telemedicine, Fintech [financial technology], merchant services, wonderful companies, entertainment.

Modern banking is a far cry from the analog processes of yesteryear. Today's smartphone-wielding customers demand hyper-personalized transactions woven seamlessly into everyday life, one-to-one personal service with their data at agents' fingertips, and instantaneous financial insights--and some are even pressing for features like blockchain integration and support for digital currencies. But the ability to serve these customers is not assured: Gartner predicts that by 2025 more than 85% of organizations will move forward with cloud principles, but will not yet be able to fully use cloud-native architectures and technologies. These tools will be key to banks' ability to move to digital ecosystem platforms and develop new services, partner with other players, work effectively with colleagues, and meet customer expectations. Financial institutions are under pressure to future-proof and accommodate emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and cloud computing--and they are also facing significant infrastructural strains.

Easily accessible artificial intelligence is changing how we communicate, work and create. Now, it is infiltrating e-commerce as AI-generated self-help books, mugs, wall art and coloring books proliferate in online marketplaces such as Amazon and Etsy. The third-party sellers aren't required to disclose what is AI-generated, and it can be nearly impossible to confirm if something is AI just by appearance. The end result is even more scam products in the already confusing online-shopping landscape. For consumers, that can mean accidentally buying something of low quality or even hurting the livelihood of real artists.

A new biography of Elon Musk was published on Tuesday and contains colourful details of the life of the world's richest man. Musk afforded widespread access to his biographer, Walter Isaacson, the author of the bestselling biography of the Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, and the book contains a series of illuminating anecdotes about Musk. Here are eight things we learned from the book. Musk, 52, was born and raised in South Africa and endured a fraught relationship with his father, Errol, an engineer. Isaacson writes that Errol " bedevils Elon".

Celebrity matchmaker Alessandra Conti tells Fox News Digital about the rise in AI bots being used to catfish people in the dating world. Let's face it – online dating has always been a bit of a circus. Between ghosting, catfishing and breadcrumbing, it's a wonder anyone finds romance at all. It's safe to say online dating is a downright chore these days. CLICK TO GET KURT'S FREE CYBERGUY NEWSLETTER WITH SECURITY ALERTS, QUICK TIPS, TECH REVIEWS AND EASY HOW-TO'S TO MAKE YOU SMARTER Remember those cringe-worthy dinner dates where you dropped a hundred bucks only to realize you'd never see the person again?