By Donie O’Sullivan, CNN In its annual “worldwide threat assessment,” top US intelligence officials have warned in recent years of the threat posed by so-called deepfakes — convincing fake videos made using artificial intelligence. “Adversaries and strategic competitors,” they warned in 2019, might use this technology “to create convincing—but false—image, audio, and video files to
Continue Reading By Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN Business After asking Microsoft’s AI-powered Bing chatbot for help in coming up with activities for my kids while juggling work, the tool started by offering something unexpected: empathy. The chatbot said it “must be hard” to balance work and family and sympathized for my daily struggles with it. It then
Continue Reading By Chris Isidore, CNN Tesla is recalling all 363,000 US vehicles with its so-called “Full Self Driving” driver assist software due to safety risks, another blow to the feature that is central to the automaker’s business model. “Full self-driving,” as it currently stands, navigates local roads with steering, braking and acceleration, but requires a human
Continue Reading By Alicia Wallace, CNN Americans continued to add to their debt at the end of last year — and grew their credit card balances at record rates, according to data released Thursday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Total US household debt hit a record $16.9 trillion during the fourth quarter, an increase
Continue Reading By Anna Bahney, CNN Mortgage rates climbed higher for the second consecutive week, following four weeks of declines. Inflation is running hotter, making rates more volatile, with the expectation that they will move in the 6% to 7% range over the next few weeks. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.32% in the week ending February
Continue Reading By Brian Fung, CNN YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said Thursday she is “stepping back” from her leadership role at the company after nearly a decade of running the video-sharing platform. In a blog post, Wojcicki said she plans to “start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about.” Wojcicki
Continue Reading By Nimi Princewill and Stephanie Busari, CNN President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday directed Nigeria’s central bank to reissue old 200-naira ($0.43) banknotes withdrawn just days ago as concerns grow that the botched introduction of new money could disrupt general elections later this month. Violent protests have erupted in recent weeks as millions of people struggled
Continue Reading By Paul R. La Monica, CNN Inflation doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. And that’s weighing on Wall Street. Stocks tumbled Thursday after the US government’s Producer Price Index report showed that prices at the wholesale level rose faster than expected in January. The Dow fell more than 430 points, or 1.3%. The
Continue Reading By Kara Scannell and Allison Morrow, CNN A federal judge said Thursday that there may be “probable cause” to believe that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried engaged in attempted witness tampering and other activities that could land him in jail. There “may very well be probable cause to believe that he has committed or attempted to
Continue Reading By Parija Kavilanz, CNN The fierce storms and heavy rain that have pounded California in recent weeks could be the lifeline that one industry — and the communities that rely on it for their own survival — desperately needs. After years of drought, California has received an epic amount of rain already in 2023. While
Continue Reading By Chris Isidore, CNN Tesla has fired more than 30 supporters of a nascent union at its Buffalo facility, just days after the organizing effort was announced, according to the union. The union, Tesla Workers United, has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging the company illegally fired its supporters. The complaint
Continue Reading By Pete Muntean and Gregory Wallace, CNN The first tool that mechanic trainees at Maryland’s Vehicles for Change program pick up is not a wrench, but a pair of virtual reality goggles. First, students watch an instructor virtually demonstrate a skill; then they follow prompts to complete a procedure themselves in VR. After that, students
Continue Reading By Anna Bahney, CNN US home building fell again in January, marking five straight months of declines, even as mortgage rates moderated and inflation cooled. Housing starts, a measure of new home construction, fell by 4.5% in January from December. That’s down 21.4% from a year ago, according to data released Thursday by the Census
Continue Reading By Alicia Wallace, CNN A key inflation metric showed wholesale prices picked up in January from December but continued to cool on an annual basis, according to data released Thursday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Producer Price Index, which measures what suppliers are charging businesses, rose 6% for the year ending in January.
Continue Reading By Nicole Goodkind, CNN It’s never wise to underestimate the power of the American consumer, which has kept America’s economy humming through a year and a half of inflation chaos. A white-hot retail sales report Wednesday demonstrated the resilience of US shoppers in the face of rising prices. That could help companies continue to grow
Continue Reading By Wayne Chang and Simone McCarthy, CNN China has imposed sanctions on two American defense manufacturers over arms sales to Taiwan, a day after Beijing pledged to take “countermeasures” in response to Washington’s handling of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that entered American airspace and was shot down by US forces earlier this month. Lockheed
Continue Reading By Michelle Toh, CNN Starbucks will open more than 400 stores across Asia Pacific in 2023, marking its biggest expansion in the region in five years. The coffee chain plans to add the new outlets in India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos and the Philippines, where it aims to expand beyond major cities. It will open
Continue Reading By Manveena Suri, Kunal Sehgal and Rhea Mogul, CNN Indian tax officials have ended their days-long search of the BBC’s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai, the British broadcaster announced Thursday. Officials had spent three days raiding the spaces following the country’s ban on a BBC documentary that was critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
Continue Reading By Hanna Ziady, CNN The BBC says it will not be “put off” from reporting in India after the government prevented a documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from airing in the country and raided the broadcaster’s offices. Indian tax authorities spent three days searching BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai last week. The
Continue Reading By Michelle Toh, CNN ASML, the Dutch chip equipment maker, has accused a former employee in China of stealing data related to its proprietary technology, in a case that highlights its importance in the global semiconductor supply chain as tension grows between the United States and China. The breach may have violated certain export control
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