Science/Technology

LONDON — False and misleading information supercharged with cutting-edge artificial intelligence that threatens to erode democracy and polarize society is the top immediate risk to the global economy, the World Economic Forum said in a report Wednesday. In its latest Global Risks Report, the organization also said an array of environmental risks pose the biggest threats in the […]

SAN FRANCISCO — The falling-block video game Tetris has met its match in 13-year-old Willis Gibson, who has become the first player to officially “beat” the original Nintendo version of the game — by breaking it. Technically, Willis — aka “blue scuti” in the gaming world — made it to what gamers call a “kill screen,” […]

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — Google has agreed to settle a consumer privacy lawsuit seeking at least $5 billion in damages over allegations it tracked the data of users who thought they were browsing the internet privately. The object of the lawsuit was the “incognito mode” on Google’s Chrome browser that the plaintiffs said gave users a […]

The New York Times on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging that the companies’ artificial intelligence models infringe upon the newspaper’s intellectual property. The complaint, viewed by VOA, argues that the AI models created by OpenAI and Microsoft used “millions of The Times’s copyrighted news articles” to train chatbots that now compete with the […]

TOKYO, JAPAN — Japan’s SLIM space probe entered the moon’s orbit Monday in a major step toward the country’s first successful lunar landing, expected next month. The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is nicknamed the “Moon Sniper” because it is designed to land within 100 meters (328 feet) of a specific target on the lunar […]

PARIS — Even as human-caused climate change threatens the environment, nature continues to inspire our technological advancement. “The solutions that are provided by nature have evolved for billions of years and tested repeatedly every day since the beginning of time,” said Evripidis Gkanias, a University of Edinburgh researcher. Gkanias has a special interest in how nature […]

BERLIN — The German government Sunday faced a backlash after abruptly ending an electric car subsidy scheme in a blow to the already struggling automotive industry. The scheme is one of the casualties of a budget crisis caused by a shock constitutional court ruling in November that upended the government’s spending plans. The economy ministry said […]

WASHINGTON — The maiden liftoff of a new American rocket called Vulcan Centaur has been delayed from December 24 to January 8, the company that developed it said Thursday. The postponement stems from last-minute technical snags, but United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno said on X, formerly Twitter, that a recent dress rehearsal on the launch […]

The valuation of Elon Musk’s SpaceX hit $180 billion based on an ongoing secondary share sale, CNBC confirmed Wednesday. The company is discussing an agreement with investors to sell stock from insiders in a purchase offer at $97 a share, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The offer does not include raising new capital, as […]

NEW LONDON, CONN. — Despite some recent financial setbacks, U.S. offshore wind power has hit a milestone. A 244-meter-tall turbine is now sending electricity onto the grid from a commercial-scale offshore wind farm on pace to be the country’s first. The moment is years in the making and at the same time a modest advance in […]