Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Creator Playbook Mashable Selects In My Bag Look Up Say More AI at School Safety Net Versus Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age All Series Soumya is a deals writer who covers consumer tech, shopping deals, and the products people use every day. With experience writing about everything from AI tools and software to smartphones and home gadgets, she enjoys breaking down product research into clear, useful recommendations. When she's not tracking deals, she's usually comparing products, digging through reviews, and figuring out what actually makes a purchase worth it. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

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."

Mashable Selects Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more In My Bag Look Up Creator Playbook Say More AI at School Safety Net Versus Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age All Series Casetify's new Hello Kitty Y2K collection just launched: Where to buy exclusive collection Soumya is a deals writer who covers consumer tech, shopping deals, and the products people use every day. With experience writing about everything from AI tools and software to smartphones and home gadgets, she enjoys breaking down product research into clear, useful recommendations. When she's not tracking deals, she's usually comparing products, digging through reviews, and figuring out what actually makes a purchase worth it. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

Once seen as nerdy but harmless innovators, men in tech are now widely regarded as red-pilled Elon Musk wannabes. It's made getting laid a whole lot harder. Engaged in a flirtatious conversation at a bar in Manhattan, 23-year-old Gary stood with a Guinness in hand as he explained to a woman why he took an engineering job at Palantir, the data analytics company cofounded by Alex Karp and Peter Thiel. Raking in a $250,000 salary would allow him to help pay off his parents' mounting medical bills, he explained. Gary wasn't met with sympathy. Medical debt, the woman told him, was "not an excuse to work somewhere like ."

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects Look Up Say More Safety Net Versus Creator Playbook In My Bag Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age Switch Off All Series Therabody's new Theragun Mini Y2K Collection looks like a translucent iMac from 1999 -- where to buy Therabody is bringing back the iconic translucent jelly look of 1999 -- complete with'Boy Meets World' star Danielle Fishel. Soumya is a deals writer who covers consumer tech, shopping deals, and the products people use every day. With experience writing about everything from AI tools and software to smartphones and home gadgets, she enjoys breaking down product research into clear, useful recommendations. When she's not tracking deals, she's usually comparing products, digging through reviews, and figuring out what actually makes a purchase worth it. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers.

Fix It Future Blink Self Made Small Talk AI at Heart Watch of the Week Amplify The Best of 2024 AI at Play Watch History Office Ladies Podcast Don't Freak Out All Series Amazon blocks Meta's Muse AI agent from shopping The online retail giant has accused Meta's AI of being a security risk. Amanda Yeo is an Assistant Editor at Mashable, covering entertainment, culture, tech, science, and social good. Based in Australia, she writes about everything from video games and K-pop to movies and gadgets. Amazon is reportedly blocking Meta's new AI agent Muse from shopping. As spotted by GeekWire, people attempting to use Muse to buy products from Amazon are now being served with a warning that doing so violates the online marketplace's terms of use.

Women hold some of the most consequential jobs in tech, but they're still not cult figures. Mira Murati was trying to speak. Giant piles of carved meat rested like sleeping babies on banquet tables draped in linens as red as a handmaid's robe. Bartenders served up a cocktail named Zero to One, a nod to the philosophy of Peter Thiel. It was a recent Saturday night in a converted church in San Francisco, and the Foundation for American Innovation, a center-right think tank, was hosting a black-tie affair to hype the new religion of AI. Murati, the founder and CEO of Thinking Machines Lab, was talking about the history of revolutions to a crowd of more than 350 people. The Albanian-born executive had for several years kept a relatively low profile as a VP and then CTO of OpenAI before participating in an unsuccessful coup against Sam Altman and then launching her own $12 billion AI startup. Now, with chatter bouncing off the church walls, Murati's efforts to get her points across were about as successful as that coup: No one seemed to be listening. The woman interviewing Murati asked more than once for people to stop talking or take their conversations outside. I whispered to the friend sitting next to me that this was the second time in a week that I'd seen a woman getting drowned out. Both of us were there to actually hear what Murati had to say. I tried to restrain myself from what I said next, but I sensed my friend was holding back too. "Her hair is amazing, though," I hissed. "Oh my God, I know," she replied immediately. Soon after, President Donald Trump's top science adviser, Michael Kratsios, took the stage.

Submit Your Questions: Why Is Silicon Valley Still a Boys' Club? How are women really faring in Silicon Valley? Submit your questions to our panel and we'll give you the scoop on September 24. In 2026, as DEI and woke were declared over, WIRED set out to investigate the state of gender in Silicon Valley. As tech titans embraced Trump and the right, as Mark Zuckerberg declared that "masculine energy" was needed and Elon Musk cut federal female workers most of all, the backlash was in full swing.

'Just ask Grok': How ISIL is using Big Tech's AI to build bombs Share'Just ask Grok': How ISIL is using Big Tech's AI to build bombs on social media Boko Haram fighters are using the artificial intelligence chatbots of Big Tech companies to help build more powerful bombs, plan attacks and solve problems during combat, according to research by the University of Cambridge. A number of members described using Sam Altman-led OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, Google's Gemini, Elon Musk's Grok, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta AI and China's DeepSeek as a routine source of technical and military advice before, during and after attacks. Researchers at Tech Against Terrorism infiltrated a pro-ISIL technical forum where supporters instructed one another on how to use AI and circumvent its safety restrictions. The findings come amid growing concern over ISIL's adoption of emerging technologies. In February, United Nations officials warned the Security Council of increased use of advanced AI by ISIL and its affiliates. At the same time, researchers and several of the technology industry's most prominent figures have warned that increasingly powerful AI systems are advancing faster than safeguards, raising concerns that unchecked advances in AI are making it easier for armed groups to exploit the technology.

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