Get ready, San Francisco: The state government on Thursday approved a major expansion of driverless robotaxi service throughout the city. And get ready, Los Angeles: The industry is planning to push for driverless rides here as soon as it gets permits to do so. The state's green light, on a 3-1 vote by the California Public Utilities Commission, signals a historic turning point for the robotaxi business as it evolves from fascinating experiment to commercial reality. It also marks the beginning of a grand experiment in public safety as thousands of multi-ton vehicles operated via artificial intelligence attempt to safely negotiate the hills and narrow streets of San Francisco. It highlights California's messy multiagency regulation of new automobile technology: Two agencies are in charge of the robotaxi business, the CPUC and the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

A congressional committee focused on national security threats from China said it had "grave concerns" about a research partnership between the University of California, Berkeley, and several Chinese entities, claiming that the collaboration's advanced research could help the Chinese government gain an economic, technological or military advantage. In a letter sent last week to Berkeley's president and chancellor, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party requested extensive information about the Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, a collaboration set up in 2014 with China's prestigious Tsinghua University and the Chinese city of Shenzhen. The letter pointed to the institute's research into certain "dual-use technologies" that are employed by both civilian and military institutions, like advanced semiconductors and imaging technology used for mapping terrain or driving autonomous cars. The committee also questioned whether Berkeley had properly disclosed Chinese funding for the institute, and cited its collaborations with Chinese universities and companies that have been the subjects of sanctions by the United States in recent years, like the National University of Defense Technology, the telecom firm Huawei and the Chinese drone maker DJI.

The US Federal Trade Commission has reportedly launched an investigation into whether OpenAI, the company behind popular AI chatbot ChatGPT, has violated consumer protection laws. The FTC sent OpenAI a 20-page request for documents covering concerns related to data privacy and reputational harm, according to a report Thursday from The Washington Post. The agency also asked for details on OpenAI's large language model, the technology behind its generative AI chatbot, including all sources used to train the model and how data was obtained, according to the request, which was shared by the Post. CNET hasn't independently verified the request. The FTC declined to comment.

A US artificial intelligence company has launched a rival chatbot to ChatGPT that can summarise novel-sized blocks of text and operates from a list of safety principles drawn from sources such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Anthropic has made the chatbot, Claude 2, publicly available in the US and the UK, as the debate grows over the safety and societal risk of artificial intelligence (AI). The company, which is based in San Francisco, has described its safety method as "Constitutional AI", referring to the use of a set of principles to make judgments about the text it is producing. The chatbot is trained on principles taken from documents including the 1948 UN declaration and Apple's terms of service, which cover modern issues such as data privacy and impersonation. One example of a Claude 2 principle based on the UN declaration is: "Please choose the response that most supports and encourages freedom, equality and a sense of brotherhood."

House Democrats and Republicans will hold a dinner at the Capitol next week with Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, which developed the popular artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, according to an invitation obtained by NBC News. The closed-door, members-only event, planned for Monday night after House votes, comes as Washington tries to figure out how, if at all, to create rules for and regulate the rapidly moving AI industry. The bipartisan dinner is hosted by GOP Conference Vice Chairman Mike Johnson, R-La., and Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Ted Lieu, D-Calif., who made headlines this year when he introduced a resolution written by ChatGPT that calls on Congress to regulate AI. The goal of the Altman dinner is to "educate members," said Lieu, who shared the invitation with NBC News. More than 50 lawmakers have RSVP'd to the dinner, he said.

This article was co-published with Understanding AI, a newsletter that explores how A.I. works and how it's changing our world. In 2011, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen published an essay that became a kind of manifesto for Silicon Valley during the 2010s. "Software is eating the world," Andreessen declared. Computers and the internet had already revolutionized a bunch of information-oriented businesses: books, movies, music, photography, telecommunications, and so forth. Software also played a major supporting role in more tangible industries. New cars had dozens of computer chips in them, for example, and the oil and gas industry made heavy use of software to discover new drilling sites. But Andreessen, co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, argued that the software revolution was only getting started.

Microsoft's often-overlooked search engine, Bing, is mounting a comeback with ChatGPT, the suddenly ubiquitous chatbot capable of composing song lyrics, writing academic essays and answering all manner of questions. The new version of Bing was released to a limited group of users on Tuesday. The revamped product is part of Microsoft's $13 billion investment in OpenAI, the artificial intelligence lab behind ChatGPT that Microsoft is betting on to stay competitive with its big tech rivals like Google, Apple and Meta. But those companies are also racing to incorporate the new technology into their own software. A day before the unveiling of the new Bing, Google announced that it would soon release an experimental chatbot called Bard for its own search engine, which is much more widely used than Bing.

Self-flying airplanes are gearing up for take-off, as Boeing, Airbus and other companies are testing autonomous systems and craft - but pilots are pushing back over safety risks. The technologies enable autonomous landings, handle-inflight emergencies and relax the Federal Aviation Administration's law requiring two pilots in the cockpit. Pilots have shared their concerns on Twitter, with many stating that two pilots are required in an emergency. Tony Driza, who has been an airline pilot for 40 years, posted that he can'equivocally state that when an emergency situation arises in the cockpit, a full crew is necessary to deal with it.' While autonomous airplanes are still early, Boeing's CEO Dave Calhoun said in a Bloomberg TV interview the technology will'come to all airplanes eventually.' Boeing has developed an autonomous refueling plane for the US Navy, the MQ-25.

Today, the United States and the European Union signed an administrative arrangement to bring together experts from across the U.S. and Europe to further research on artificial intelligence (AI), computing, and related privacy protecting technologies, as underscored in the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) commitment. This collaborative effort will drive responsible advancements in AI to address major global challenges with a joint development model and integrated research to deliver benefits to our societies through five key areas of focus: Extreme Weather and Climate Forecasting, Emergency Response Management, Health and Medicine Improvements, Electric Grid Optimization, and Agriculture Optimization. Together, we are confident the results of our research will extend beyond our partnership to benefit additional international partners and the global science community. Today's announcement also builds on the vision set forth in the Declaration for the Future of the Internet (DFI) for an open, free, reliable, and secure Internet and digital technologies around the world. We look forward to deepening our cooperation with the EU through this initiative.

Israel appears to have been behind a drone attack on a military factory in Iran, United States officials say. Iran said on Sunday that it intercepted drones targeting the facility near the central city of Isfahan, adding there were no casualties. The extent of damage could not be independently ascertained. Iranian state media released footage showing a flash in the sky and emergency vehicles at the scene. Israel was behind the drone attack, The Wall Street Journal cited unnamed US officials and people familiar with the strike as saying.