Citing successes other police departments across the country have seen using drones, the Los Angeles Police Commission said it would allow the LAPD to deploy unmanned aircraft on routine emergency calls. The civilian oversight body approved an updated policy Tuesday allowing drones to be used in more situations, including "calls for service." The new guidelines listed other scenarios for future drone use -- "high-risk incident, investigative purpose, large-scale event, natural disaster" -- and transferred their command from the Air Support Division to the Office of Special Operations. Previously, the department's nine drones were restricted to a narrow set of dangerous situations, most involving barricaded suspects or explosives. Bryan Lium told commissioners the technology offers responding officers and their supervisors crucial, real-time information about what type of threats they might encounter while responding to an emergency.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent kicked off Michael Milken's annual financial bash in Beverly Hills by doubling down on President Trump's economic policy of trade reform, tax cuts and deregulation -- promising the "America First" agenda would be "the blueprint for a more abundant world." The former hedge fund manager, in a brief speech Monday that opened the Milken Institute Global Conference, said that all three elements of the policy must be taken together in order to be understood. "They are interlocking parts of an engine designed to drive long-term investment in the American economy," he said, in remarks at the Beverly Hilton. "Tariffs are engineered to encourage companies like yours to invest directly in the United States. Hire your workers here, build your factories here, make your products here. You'll be glad you did, not only because we have the most productive work force in the world, but because we will soon have the most favorable tax and regulatory environment as well," he said.

David Chiu announced Thursday that his office is suing the operators of 16 A.I.-powered "undressing" websites that help users create and distribute deepfake nude photos of women and girls. The lawsuit, which city officials said was the first of its kind, accuses the websites' operators of violating state and federal laws that ban deepfake pornography, revenge pornography and child pornography, as well as California's unfair competition law. The names of the sites were redacted in the copy of the suit made public Thursday. Chiu's office has yet to identify the owners of many of the websites, but officials say they hope to find their names and hold them accountable. Chiu said the lawsuit has two goals: shutting down these websites and sounding the alarm about this form of "sexual abuse."

Laguna Beach High School administrators have launched an investigation after a student allegedly created and circulated "inappropriate images" of other students using artificial intelligence. It is not clear how many students are involved in the scandal, what specifically the images contained or how they were distributed. In an email to parents on March 25, Principal Jason Allemann wrote that school leadership is "taking steps to investigate and directly address this issue with those involved, while also using this situation as a teachable moment for our students, reinforcing the importance of responsible behavior and mutual respect." The Laguna Beach Police Department is assisting with the investigation, but a department spokesperson declined to provide any details on the probe because the individuals involved are minors. The Orange County high school joins a growing number of educational institutions grappling with the use of artificial intelligence in the classroom and in social settings.

If an eighth-grader in California shared a nude photo of a classmate with friends without consent, the student could conceivably be prosecuted under state laws dealing with child pornography and disorderly conduct. If the photo is an AI-generated deepfake, however, it's not clear that any state law would apply. According to the district, the images used real faces of students atop AI-generated nude bodies. Lt. Andrew Myers, a spokesman for the Beverly Hills police, said no arrests have been made and the investigation is continuing. Michael Bregy said the district's investigation into the episode is in its final stages.

Which three-word phrase should always be spoken cautiously? All of them, actually, but that last one -- depending on your choice of ride, a full tank of gas can now cost you within fumes-sniffing distance of a hundred bucks. How did it come to this -- again? Los Angeles is a complex place. In this weekly feature, Patt Morrison is explaining how it works, its history and its culture.

MIT researchers have created a new system that automatically cleans "dirty data" -- the typos, duplicates, missing values, misspellings, and inconsistencies dreaded by data analysts, data engineers, and data scientists. The system, called PClean, is the latest in a series of domain-specific probabilistic programming languages written by researchers at the Probabilistic Computing Project that aim to simplify and automate the development of AI applications (others include one for 3D perception via inverse graphics and another for modeling time series and databases). According to surveys conducted by Anaconda and Figure Eight, data cleaning can take a quarter of a data scientist's time. Automating the task is challenging because different datasets require different types of cleaning, and common-sense judgment calls about objects in the world are often needed (e.g., which of several cities called "Beverly Hills" someone lives in). PClean provides generic common-sense models for these kinds of judgment calls that can be customized to specific databases and types of errors.

Picture this: You use your hotel's app on your phone to ask for extra towels. Your phone rings and you hear that your delivery is ready. Open the door and you find a 3-foot-tall bellhop has arrived with your linens. Were you picturing a robot? Because at certain Hilton and Marriott hotels across California, a robot is what you'd find.

Like the recent horror favorites "The Babadook" and "Hereditary," director Lee Cronin's "The Hole in the Ground" exploits the common terrors of parenthood. Though it's not quite in the same league as those movies, this is an impressive feature debut for a filmmaker with more in mind than just monsters and jump-scares. Co-written by Cronin and Stephen Shields, "The Hole in the Ground" stars Seána Kerslake as Sarah O'Neill, mother to Chris (James Quinn Markey), a precocious boy who peppers his mom with questions about why they left his father, and why they're moving to a small Irish town in the middle of nowhere. Not long after the O'Neills arrive, Chris' nagging evolves into flagrant misbehavior. After a local eccentric warns Sarah that her son is "not him," she suspects he's been replaced by a changeling -- perhaps sprung from the enormous sinkhole on their property.

Armani Beauty unveiled its first dedicated pop-up in West Hollywood earlier this month, celebrating its unveiling with a roster of celebrities, including Dakota Fanning and Katherine Schwarzenegger, and a handful of product exclusives. The all-red 2,000-square-foot Armani Box is so far the only place in the U.S. to have the brand's new Power Fabric High Coverage Stretchable Concealer and the Foundation Balm, which will roll out nationally in March. Also, there's a vending machine on hand that delivers take-home samples as well as other technology such as mirrors that show the shopper what a particular lip color will look like on the person. Tim Quinn, Giorgio Armani Beauty celebrity makeup artist, said the Melrose Place location was "an iconic spot for someone to discover" and that although the offering was "soup to nuts, skin care through fragrance," the pop-up has a focused and curated feel. "The brand is known for foundation," said Quinn, adding that he often recommends his clients have three different foundations -- one each for weekends, evenings and workdays.