OpenAI outlined limits on using its tools in politics during the run-up to elections in 2024, amid mounting concern that artificial-intelligence systems could mass-produce misinformation and sway voters in high-profile races. OpenAI's ChatGPT and Dall-E are some of the most powerful AI chatbot and image-generation applications available. The growth of such tools has raised worry that software made by OpenAI and its peers could be used to manipulate voters with false news stories and computer-generated images and video.

Google laid off hundreds of employees in several areas of the business on Wednesday, a sign of further cost reductions at the search giant as it continues to reverse a pandemic hiring spree. The cuts affected employees in divisions including those working on Google's Assistant program, hardware and internal software tools, the company said. The exact size and scope of the layoffs couldn't immediately be determined.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise has agreed to buy Juniper Networks, a 14 billion deal that would merge two legacy network-operations companies as they seek to capitalize on the rise of generative artificial intelligence. The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the companies were nearing a deal.

The European Union is considering whether to launch a review of Microsoft's investment in ChatGPT maker OpenAI under the bloc's merger regulations, a month after the U.K. said it was also weighing whether the tech partnership could have an impact on competition. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, made the disclosure on Tuesday as it sought input from interested parties on the level of competition in virtual worlds and generative artificial intelligence, and feedback on what competition law can do to keep these new markets competitive.

OpenAI's management chaos in November could have long-lasting effects on its business as some of the company's customers say it was a wake-up call about the risks of being too reliant on one company's tech. Executives at companies that use OpenAI's software say they are increasingly looking to also use others' technology to protect themselves from the risks of problems at any one. OpenAI's competitors are using the opportunity to sign up wary customers.

Perplexity, a startup going after Google's dominant position in web search, has won backing from Jeff Bezos and venture capitalists betting that artificial intelligence will upend the way people find information online. Started less than two years ago, Perplexity has fewer than 40 employees and is based out of a San Francisco co-working space. The company's product, which it calls an answer engine, is used by about 10 million people monthly.

In a complaint filed Wednesday, the Times said the technology companies exploited its content without permission to create their AI products, including OpenAI's humanlike chatbot ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot. The tools were trained on millions of pieces of Times content, the suit said, and draw on that material to serve up answers to users' prompts.

The OpenAI CEO lost the confidence of top leaders in the three organizations he has directed, yet each time he's rebounded to greater heights

Every company betting that artificial intelligence will transform how we work and live has a big--and growing--problem: AI is inherently ravenous for electricity. Some experts project that global electricity consumption for AI systems could soon require adding the equivalent of a small country's worth of power generation to our planet. That demand comes as the world is trying to electrify as much as possible and decarbonize how that power is generated in the face of climate change.

Shortly after the launch of ChatGPT, the Atlantic drew up a list of the greatest threats to the 166-year-old publication from generative artificial intelligence. At the top: Google's embrace of the technology. About 40% of the magazine's web traffic comes from Google searches, which turn up links that users click on. A task force at the Atlantic modeled what could happen if Google integrated AI into search. It found that 75% of the time, the AI-powered search would likely provide a full answer to a user's query and the Atlantic's site would miss out on traffic it otherwise would have gotten.