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Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget. So-called balcony solar setups are becoming legal across the US. Maria Diaz is a staff writer with a passion for home automation, smart home devices, and tablets. Multiple states are working to legalize backyard solar setups. After Utah, nine other states have legalized it, or are working on bills for plug-in solar.

Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget. Regulators are trying to protect you from being fired by AI - here's how Regulating AI at work is happening slowly, but it's still stuck at the state level. Radhika Rajkumar is a senior editor at ZDNET based in New York City. AI is playing a bigger role in hiring and firing decisions. New California legislation protects workers from fully automated personnel decisions.

California has enacted new legislation to protect workers from AI-powered layoffs and surveillance, governor Gavin Newsom announced. The new laws are mostly aimed at companies using AI to initiate job cuts or monitor employees, not about harnessing the tech to replace workers. However, it's some of the first legislation in the nation that gives employees rights about how AI can be deployed in the workplace. "AI should expand opportunity -- not come at the expense of workers and families," said Newsom in a statement. "As this technology reshapes the workplace, California is putting people at the center."

As AI images become common, the threat to elections draws alarm: 'How will voters know what's true?' An image of College Park, Georgia mayor Bianca Motley Broom kissing a man - who was not her husband - in a bar spread far and wide on Facebook. The fact that it's fake is spreading faster, now, but only after it had been seen by thousands of people. "I think this is a sad commentary about where we are in our democracy, and where we are in our political discourse," Motley Broom said. "It also seeks to reinforce really tired stereotypes about women in leadership."

United States Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Greg Casar of Texas introduced a new bill that would impose sweeping restrictions on the artificial intelligence industry, including banning the development of what is called artificial superintelligence. The legislation, introduced on Wednesday, comes weeks after top AI industry researchers issued dire warnings that the technology could wipe out humanity within the next decade, according to a wave of industry insiders. The legislation would also call for a temporary pause on the development of advanced AI systems until a regulatory body that can oversee and develop safety standards is put in place, as well as establishing a cabinet-level department called the Department of Artificial Intelligence that would oversee the industry. The proposed agency would be tasked with regulating what are called frontier models -- a term referring to the most advanced AI models in development. The agency would ensure the models are not dangerous, and it would be empowered to remove the models from circulation if they do, in fact, become dangerous and supervise their destruction.

A congressional representative just proposed killing America's border tower program The proposed bill comes days after an MIT Technology Review investigation revealed that over 1,050 people have died within the advertised range of surveillance towers. Delia Ramirez, a Democratic US representative from Illinois, has announced a plan to introduce new legislation to terminate the surveillance tower program along the US southern border. The announcement comes just days after publication of an investigation, "Dying on Camera," in which we looked at deaths along the border that took place close to one or more of these towers. We also showed that the Department of Homeland Security does not keep track of these deaths or other metrics on the towers' success or failure. Ramirez, who sits on the Homeland Security Committee, cited's reporting that nearly "1,100 people have died within range of a billion-dollar surveillance tower system between 2015 and 2026," adding, "The towers that we have paid a billion dollars to just don't work." The US spent billions on border surveillance.

The Australian government is seeking support from global tech giants as it works to strengthen the country's online safety laws and artificial intelligence (AI) regulations. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who met Apple CEO Tim Cook at the tech company's headquarters in Cupertino, California, on Saturday, said that "Australia can't do it alone" when it came to protecting children from the dangers of the internet. "We're putting stronger rules in place to keep Australians safe online," he said. "And now, big tech companies like Apple are stepping up too." Albanese, who is also in the United States for the United Nations General Assembly, used his trip to call for stronger AI regulation after dire safety warnings from industry leaders.

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A grassroots live tour by YouTuber Louis Rossmann highlights growing resistance to companies that keep people from controlling their devices. The train blasts through right as Louis Rossmann starts to speak. This has happened several times already at the event he's hosting on a Friday night in San Jose, California. All the speakers before him patiently paused when the train on the nearby tracks roared by, its loud horn blaring, then resumed talking. But Rossmann is mid-sentence in his rapid-fire delivery about the topic he's fiercely passionate about, and he doesn't stop. He shouts over the train.