California’s new AI safety law shows regulation and innovation don’t have to clash 

California’s new AI safety law shows regulation and innovation don’t have to clash 

SB 53, the AI safety and transparency bill that California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law this week, is proof that state regulation doesn’t have to hinder AI progress.   So says Adam Billen, vice president of public policy at youth-led advocacy group Encode AI, on today’s episode of Equity.  “The reality is that policy makers themselves know that we have to do something, and…

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Instagram head says company is not using your microphone to listen to you (with AI data, it won’t need to)

Instagram head says company is not using your microphone to listen to you (with AI data, it won’t need to)

Instagram head Adam Mosseri posted on his account on Wednesday to dispel the myth that the social networking giant is actively “listening” to its users surreptitiously, in order to target them with relevant ads. The idea that Meta would secretly turn on the microphones on users’ phones to record their conversations is an age-old conspiracy…

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Opera launches its AI-centric Neon browser

Opera launches its AI-centric Neon browser

Browser maker Opera launched its AI-centric browser Neon Tuesday, with the ability to create apps through AI prompts and create repeatable prompts through a feature it calls cards. With this Opera joins a growing number of companies like Perplexity and The Browser Company that are trying to make agentic browsers happen. The company first announced…

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DeepSeek: Everything you need to know about the AI chatbot app

DeepSeek: Everything you need to know about the AI chatbot app

DeepSeek has gone viral. Chinese AI lab DeepSeek broke into the mainstream consciousness this week after its chatbot app rose to the top of the Apple App Store charts (and Google Play, as well). DeepSeek’s AI models, which were trained using compute-efficient techniques, have led Wall Street analysts — and technologists — to question whether the U.S. can maintain its…

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California Governor Newsom signs landmark AI safety bill SB 53

California Governor Newsom signs landmark AI safety bill SB 53

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed SB 53, a first-in-the-nation bill that sets new transparency requirements on large AI companies. SB 53, which passed the state legislature two weeks ago, requires large AI labs – including OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google DeepMind – to be transparent about safety protocols. It also ensures whistleblower protections for employees at those companies.   In addition, SB 53 creates a mechanism…

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