Google Play used AI to help block 1.75 million bad apps in 2025

Engadget

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026 is Feb. 25 Google Play used AI to help block 1.75 million bad apps in 2025 It also prevented review bombing and banned 80,000 developer accounts. Google has announced that with the help of AI, it blocked 1.75 million apps that violated its policies in 2025, significantly down from 2.36 million in 2024. The lower numbers this year, it said, are because its AI-powered, multi-layer protections are deterring bad actors from even trying to publish bad apps. Google said it now runs more than 10,000 safety checks on every app and continues to recheck them after they're published. Its use of the latest generative AI models helps human reviewers discover malicious patterns more quickly, it added.


The A.I. Disruption Is Here

Slate

The A.I. Disruption Is Here A.I. is disrupting sectors once thought insulated from it, upending the markets. Please enable javascript to get your Slate Plus feeds. If you can't access your feeds, please contact customer support. Check your phone for a link to finish setting up your feed. Please enter a valid phone number.


Leading US Research Lab Appears to Be Squeezing Out Foreign Scientists

WIRED

House Democrats are demanding answers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and urging it to halt rumored changes they say could undermine its mission. One of the US government's top scientific research labs is taking steps that could drive away foreign scientists, a shift lawmakers and sources tell WIRED could cost the country valuable expertise and damage the agency's credibility. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) helps determine the frameworks underpinning everything from cybersecurity to semiconductor manufacturing. Some of NIST's recent work includes establishing guidelines for securing AI systems and identifying health concerns with air purifiers and firefighting gloves. Many of the agency's thousands of employees, postdoctoral scientists, contractors, and guest researchers are brought in from around the world for their specialized expertise.


Gen Z are scared of DRIVING: Car phobias are leaving youngsters terrified of basic tasks including parallel parking, hill starts, and merging onto a motorway, study finds

Daily Mail - Science & tech

Eric Dane dead at 53: Grey's Anatomy star dies after courageous battle with ALS... less than a year after announcing diagnosis RICHARD KAY: Andrew's fall may now be complete. The question is... Will he bring down the House of Windsor with him? Alysa Liu finally ends America's 24-year wait for a Winter Olympics figure skating gold medal as she wins nerve-shredding final The tide of sleaze rolling over Beatrice, Eugenie and Fergie is going to capsize them all. My stalker said he'd rape and dismember me. Then he turned his depraved sights on my seven-year-old daughter, says EVA LARUE.


Trump's Board of Peace faces its first test on Gaza

Al Jazeera

'The next stage of the Gaza genocide has begun' How important is the Rafah crossing reopening? Trump's Board of Peace faces its first test on Gaza NewsFeed Trump's Board of Peace faces its first test on Gaza Members of Donald Trump's Board of Peace have expressed optimism about peace and rebuilding in Gaza at its inaugural session. Despite multibillion dollar pledges, there are doubts about how it will manage the enclave's unresolved issues. Trump gives Iran 10-15 days to make deal, warns'bad things will happen' Masked protesters arrested outside Trump's Board of Peace meeting Palestinians in Gaza say'Board of Peace' will further occupation OpenAI's Sam Altman: Global AI regulation'urgently' needed


Venezuela signs amnesty law as families await prison releases

Al Jazeera

Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez signed an amnesty law that could free hundreds of people jailed over protests and political unrest dating back decades. The law marks a shift for the country, which has long denied holding any political prisoners. Trump's Board of Peace faces its first test on Gaza Trump gives Iran 10-15 days to make deal, warns'bad things will happen' Masked protesters arrested outside Trump's Board of Peace meeting Palestinians in Gaza say'Board of Peace' will further occupation OpenAI's Sam Altman: Global AI regulation'urgently' needed


Don't make us security guards, says teacher stabbed by pupil

BBC News

Don't make us security guards, says teacher stabbed by pupil A teacher who thought she was going to die when she was stabbed by a 13-year-old pupil in the schoolyard has said giving staff handheld scanners will not stop violence in schools. Liz Hopkin, who was attacked at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in 2024, said she felt really worried after the Welsh government announced it would offer school staff more guidance on what to do if they suspected a pupil had brought a weapon into school. It comes as a 15-year-old boy was charged with attempted murder after a teacher was stabbed at a school in the neighbouring county. Hopkin said teachers aren't security, while the Welsh government said the resources were about prevention, building on existing guidance. Hopkin, her colleague Fiona Elias and a pupil were attacked at the school where she worked in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, by a girl who had previously been found with a knife.


India's AI Summit Brings Big Names, Little Impact

TIME - Tech

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes a group photo with AI company leaders at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Feb. 19, 2026. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes a group photo with AI company leaders at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Feb. 19, 2026. The world's largest-ever AI summit took place in India this week, with hundreds of thousands of people, including world leaders and CEOs of AI companies, descending upon New Delhi for five days. It was the fourth in a series of summits that were initially designed as a place for governments to coordinate global action in the face of threats from advanced AI. But the India summit, like one in Paris before it, functioned more as a trade fair and an advertisement for the host nation's AI prowess than a venue for meaningful international diplomacy.


Trump gives Iran 10-15 days to make deal, warns 'bad things will happen'

Al Jazeera

Iran says'ready for war' Which are Iran's main opposition groups? Trump gives Iran 10-15 days to make deal, warns'bad things will happen' NewsFeed Trump gives Iran 10-15 days to make deal, warns'bad things will happen' US President Donald Trump has warned Iran it has 10 to 15 days to reach a deal over its nuclear program, or "really bad things" will happen. Iran's envoy to the United Nations said Tehran will respond "decisively" to any military aggression. Masked protesters arrested outside Trump's Board of Peace meeting Palestinians in Gaza say'Board of Peace' will further occupation OpenAI's Sam Altman: Global AI regulation'urgently' needed Gaza'stabilization force' commander outlines security plans Trump praises'magnificent' B-2 bombers that struck Iran in 2025


Three aid workers killed, 4 wounded in RSF drone attack in Sudan's Kordofan

Al Jazeera

Three aid workers killed, 4 wounded in RSF drone attack in Sudan's Kordofan At least three aid workers have been killed and four others wounded in a drone attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on an aid convoy in Sudan's South Kordofan state, according to the Sudan Doctors Network, in the latest carnage against civilians caught up in the nation's brutal civil war. The convoy of trucks carrying food and humanitarian supplies was targeted by the RSF, and its ally, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North, while travelling through the Kartala area on its way to the cities of Kadugli and Dilling on Thursday. The network said that this attack marked the "second such incident in less than a month, following the shelling of a United Nations aid convoy in the town of Al-Rahad," adding: "this dangerous escalation threatens the safety of humanitarian operations and further exacerbates civilian suffering". The Sudan Doctors Network reiterated its call to the "international community, the United Nations, and human rights organisations to exert urgent and effective pressure on the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces to ensure the protection of aid convoys and their workers, to open safe and sustainable humanitarian corridors, and to hold those responsible for targeting aid accountable". Al Jazeera could not independently verify the latest RSF attack, which came a month after the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) announced that it had broken a nearly two-year-long RSF siege on Dilling.