This week, Google reportedly sent an email to parents to let them know that the Gemini AI chatbot will soon be available for children under 13 years old. The New York Times cites an email that states the chatbot would be available starting next week for certain users. Only children who participate in Family Link would have access to Gemini, for now. The email reportedly told parents their children would be able to ask Gemini questions or assist with tasks like doing homework. The move comes days after the nonprofit Common Sense Media declared that AI companions represent an "unacceptable risk" for people under 18.

In an April article in WIPO Magazine, Assistant General Counsel Jalyce Mangum said that the "Office has registered more than a thousand works where applicants have followed our guidance to disclose and disclaim AI-generated material." Crucially, Mangum said the office considers "whether AI is enhancing human expression or is the source of the expressive choices." Now, we know that more than 1,000 such works have been registered. Many artists have taken a hard line against artificial intelligence, protesting its use in any creative endeavor. Mashable has reported on the backlash to the use of AI in films like The Brutalist and Late Night With the Devil, a recent resurrection project that uses the likeness of Agatha Christie, the restoration of The Wizard of Oz for The Sphere, and the controversial Studio Ghibli image trend that utilized ChatGPT.

In a couple of weeks, Google's annual developer conference will kick off on May 20. The event is probably the most important on the company's calendar, offering a glimpse at everything it has been working on over the past year. Judging from rumors and information Google has trickled out, I/O 2025 should be one of the more exciting tech keynotes in recent memory. Plus, this year Google has a dedicated Android showcase planned a whole week earlier. If you want to know what to expect from the company later this month, read on.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent responds to economic uncertainty, breaking down President Donald Trump's fiscal and cryptocurrency goals on'My View with Lara Trump.' FIRST ON FOX: One of the major players in the crypto and artificial intelligence (AI) industries attempting to cozy up to the Trump administration is a longtime Democratic operative and donor who has backed anti-Trump efforts and candidates while working for companies stacked with Democratic activists. Chris Lehane, a veteran political strategist dating back to the Clinton administration, has donated over 150,000 to Democrats, FEC records show, and many of those Democrats have been outspoken Trump critics for several years. Lehane has been a major backer of Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, who voted to convict Trump during his impeachment trial in 2021 and against several of Trump's Cabinet nominees. He also hosted a San Francisco fundraiser for the Virginia senator, along with Open AI's Sam Altman, in March. Warner has been a key figure in the resistance to the Trump administration, including being a vocal critic of the Trump administration's "sloppy" Signal chat controversy and pushing back on the administration's DOGE push against waste, fraud and abuse in government.

SAVE UP TO 30% OFF: As of May 2, you can get up to 30% off select Echo devices at Amazon. If you're looking for a Bluetooth speaker that's affordable and doubles as a voice assistant and smart home hub, you should probably forgo the stacks and opt for an Amazon Echo. There's even a cool Star Wars Echo Bundle available that comes with an Echo Dot and a Star Wars Tie Fighter Echo Dot stand. Here are some of the best Echo devices that are currently on sale at Amazon. The Amazon Echo Dot (2022) is a surprisingly good speaker, given its size.

Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) operates on a core underlying assumption: The United States should be run like a startup. So far, that has mostly meant chaotic firings and an eagerness to steamroll regulations. But no pitch deck in 2025 is complete without an overdose of artificial intelligence, and DOGE is no different. AI itself doesn't reflexively deserve pitchforks. It has genuine uses and can create genuine efficiencies. It is not inherently untoward to introduce AI into a workflow, especially if you're aware of and able to manage around its limitations.

"This is a war crime." A representative of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition accused "Israel or one of its allies" of conducting what the group says was a drone attack on its ship carrying aid to Gaza. The Israeli government has not responded to the allegations.

Sam's Club is going register-free and introducing an all-digital, AI-powered shopping experience for its customers, a move that has privacy advocates worried that the new AI tool could be used to unfairly target some customers with higher-priced items based on their shopping habits. The all-digital approach started with the reconstruction of a Sam's Club in Grapevine, a suburb of Dallas, that was severely damaged in 2022 by a tornado. When the retail location opened two years later it was the first of its kind to ditch its registers for a "Scan and Go" program that allowed customers to scan each item placed in their physical cart and pay through a mobile app. This program has since been piloted in nine Dallas metro locations and one store in Missouri, Retail Dive reported. Instead of handing a receipt to a Sam's Club employee to review before leaving the store, customers walk through an arch that's equipped with AI-powered cameras to capture images of the items in the cart and electronically match them with the items paid for through the app. Sam's Club did not disclose when the AI technology would be coming to California stores but Sam's Club has outlets in Torrance, Fountain Valley, El Monte and Riverside.

SAVE 250: As of May 2, get the Shark AI Ultra robot vacuum (AV2501S) for 299.99, down from its usual price of 549.99 at Amazon. A robot vacuum is something that still seems like it came out of a sci-fi movie. You mean this machine is going to tidy up the house all on its own? Whether you know how much fun it can be to slap a pair of googly eyes on yours or revel in the feeling of a house successfully cleaned with little or no input form you, you should consider getting a robot vacuum, especially when it's a great model at an even better price. As of May 2, get the Shark AI Ultra robot vacuum (AV2501S) for 299.99, down from its usual price of 549.99 at Amazon. This robot vacuum is a serious multitasker that you can leave largely on its own to handle all types of messes, whether that's pet hair or tough, ground-in dirt or crumbs left on the kitchen floor.

Google is about to make it a lot easier to do research on the go. On May 20, it will officially launch native NotebookLM apps on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, and you can register now to have them automatically downloaded to your device. NotebookLM is Google's AI "research assistant" that debuted as a web browser-based service last year. It's often described as a smart notebook -- one where you can dump PDFs, articles, YouTube links, plain text, Google Docs or Slides, and so on, and then ask the AI to summarize key points, answer questions, or even turn your source material into a mini podcast. Also: Google's viral AI podcast tool can chat in over 50 languages now and it aced my Spanish test NotebookLM is powered by the latest Gemini models.