California is implementing a first-of-its-kind AI safety law on January 1. It mandates that developers of frontier models have public plans for catastrophic risks and report safety incidents. The law also introduces new protections for whistleblowers.
The insurance giant Aflac has revealed the massive scale of a data breach it first reported in June 2025. The personal data of 22.65 million people, including Social Security numbers and health information, was compromised. The company is offering affected individuals two years of free credit monito
The push for AI-powered mental health care is colliding with the unpredictable nature of both large language models and the human mind. While some find real help, the lack of guardrails and corporate incentives are creating serious, even fatal, risks.
A 2025 poll from C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital reveals a stark parental anxiety. A huge majority believe both the physical and mental health of American kids is getting worse, and they’re pointing the finger directly at social media and excessive screen time.
Apple is taking its fight against a massive UK antitrust ruling to a higher court. The company is appealing a decision that found it overcharged millions of British App Store users and must pay £1.5 billion in compensation. The case hinges on whether Apple’s commissions, which reached 30%, were an a
Governments worldwide are scrambling to regulate AI as it becomes embedded in critical sectors. The challenge for 2026 is crafting rules that protect citizens without stifling the very innovation they aim to govern. Different regions are taking wildly different approaches.
Ubisoft has been forced to take Rainbow Six Siege completely offline following a major security breach. The attacker distributed billions of free R6 credits and issued false bans, forcing a total transaction rollback.
A new critique argues that AI companions, which went mainstream in 2025, are the wrong answer to loneliness. They offer the illusion of connection but actually deepen our self-absorption. Real companionship requires friction and otherness that algorithms can’t provide.
China is moving to tighten oversight of AI services designed for human-like emotional interaction. The draft rules target apps that simulate personality and could require intervention for user addiction. This is part of a broader push to control the consumer AI landscape.
Google appears to be testing a feature that would let users change their primary @gmail.com email address to a different @gmail.com one. The change was spotted in documentation on the Hindi version of a Google support page, with the company noting the ability is “gradually rolling out.” This would f
