AI

'Strategic distraction?' Trump ramps up AI memes ahead of midterms

BY ANUJ CHOPRA

  • For a president facing multiple challenges, Trump has averaged about 20 posts a day on Truth Social this year, researchers say, with many of those posts -- sometimes part of late-night tirades -- featuring AI-generated imagery.
  • From handcuffed extra-terrestrials to an orbital missile command center -- US President Donald Trump is unleashing a relentless stream of AI-generated imagery that analysts view as an effort to dominate the attention economy ahead of perilous midterm elections.
  • For a president facing multiple challenges, Trump has averaged about 20 posts a day on Truth Social this year, researchers say, with many of those posts -- sometimes part of late-night tirades -- featuring AI-generated imagery.
From handcuffed extra-terrestrials to an orbital missile command center -- US President Donald Trump is unleashing a relentless stream of AI-generated imagery that analysts view as an effort to dominate the attention economy ahead of perilous midterm elections.
Artificial intelligence has transformed Trump's Truth Social feed into a cascade of memes skewering his political rivals and glorifying himself, with the communications style echoed across his administration.
The attention-grabbing posts come as Trump's approval ratings slide to new lows ahead of elections in November, in which his Republican Party is seeking to maintain its narrow control of Congress.
Trump is "facing many problems that he has failed to solve," including an unpopular war with Iran and inflation, Todd Belt, director of the political management program at George Washington University, told AFP.
"So, he's flooding the information environment with positive images of himself, particularly images that make him look large and in charge."
For a president facing multiple challenges, Trump has averaged about 20 posts a day on Truth Social this year, researchers say, with many of those posts -- sometimes part of late-night tirades -- featuring AI-generated imagery.
During one particularly active stretch last weekend, one post showed Trump riding horseback beside George Washington, next to a race car, with the White House in the background.
Another depicted an enlarged image of Trump towering over Greenland beneath the words "Hello, Greenland!"
Trump has raised alarm by repeatedly threatening to take over Denmark's autonomous territory, saying it is vital for national security.

'Diverting attention'

Another image showed Trump looming over warships, dressed as a military commander clad in gold armor, as fighter jets flew overhead.
Trump may be attempting to control the narrative with such AI-generated imagery, some observers say, even as he triggers backlash -- such as with his now-deleted post depicting himself as Jesus Christ.
"Trump's AI trial balloons are yet another strategic distraction, reducing public dialogue to the most banal issues in hopes of diverting attention from more important topics of the day," Nora Benavidez, senior counsel at the advocacy group Free Press, told AFP.
"If we are busy debating his likeness to Christ or some other AI-generated savior image, Trump hopes we might not have the time or energy or solidarity to challenge his latest war or rising unaffordability and gas prices."
Other analysts say the AI messaging could seek to rally his support base and campaign through trolling.

'Illusion is powerful'

"Trump is posting these to generate emotion," Cory Alpert, a researcher at the University of Melbourne, wrote in a report.
"His followers are not seeing actual truth, but a version of reality that they want to believe is true. The illusion is powerful." 
Underscoring the strategy's potential appeal to younger voters, similar AI-driven messaging has also been adopted by other arms of the Trump administration as well as by some of the president's political rivals.
It is unclear how much of the Truth Social feed is posted by Trump himself, by his White House team or a combination of both. The White House did not respond to AFP's request for comment.
"The White House is certainly aware of the stakes of the midterm elections, and the president's sensational AI renderings reflect the need to attract attention to initiatives he believes are successful," Walter Scheirer of the University of Notre Dame told AFP.
"Whether these AI fantasies and the less than spectacular circumstances they're based on resonate with voters will be determined in November."
ac/des

taxi

Europe opening up to self-driving taxis

BY LAURENCE BENHAMOU

  • Consulting firm BCG expects three million, including 850,000 in China and 350,000 in the United States, but only 120,000 in Europe.
  • Self-driving taxis, already booming in the United States and China, are emerging in Europe, with major companies launching trials this year in several capitals and the European Union set to step on the accelerator Monday.
  • Consulting firm BCG expects three million, including 850,000 in China and 350,000 in the United States, but only 120,000 in Europe.
Self-driving taxis, already booming in the United States and China, are emerging in Europe, with major companies launching trials this year in several capitals and the European Union set to step on the accelerator Monday.
In China and the United States, private fleets of "robotaxis" -- driverless cars loaded with sensors -- more than doubled in 2025 to reach 8,000 vehicles across more than two dozen major cities, according to a May report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Seven years behind schedule, trials will finally start across Europe over the coming months.
In France -- where no trials are scheduled for the moment -- planning high commissioner Clement Beaune recently criticised the EU for in his words "lagging behind".
European regulations say a "safety driver" must be on board the vehicle, their hands on their lap -- as was the case in the early days of testing in China and the United States.
The EU will now accelerate the process by adopting a "testbed", a simplified testing approach that will let companies avoid having to obtain approval on a country-by-country basis.
European transport ministers are set to make the decision official on Monday, Anne-Marie Idrac, the bloc's senior official for autonomous vehicle development, told AFP.

London, Munich, Madrid, Zagreb...

The first trial in Europe started on April 8 in Croatia, where Chinese company Pony.ai -- in partnership with US group Uber and Croatian startup Verne, backed by the automaker Rimac -- has been operating about 10 robotaxis in Zagreb.
In London, three groups will launch trials this year: robotaxi world leader Waymo, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet; its competitor Wayve, in partnership with Uber; and the Chinese company Apollo Go, a subsidiary of the tech giant Baidu.
In Madrid, the Chinese group WeRide has just announced a test with Uber.
Uber will also deploy robotaxis in Munich, using technology from the Chinese company Momenta.
In Switzerland, Apollo has partnered with Swiss Post for a pilot programme in the country's east.
Italian-French-US automaker Stellantis and Pony.ai are to conduct a test in Luxembourg.
Ride-hailing platforms Uber, Lyft and Bolt often partner in such projects.
Waymo claims it has around 3,000 driverless taxis spread across a dozen US cities, a similar number to Apollo, whose taxis are deployed in 27 Chinese cities and in Dubai.
Pony.ai has 1,700 vehicles and is targeting 3,500 by the end of 2026, compared to 1,000 for WeRide.
In China, ride-hailing platform Didi and carmaker SAIC operate robotaxis in several major cities.
In the United States, Tesla and Amazon-owned Zoox have established themselves in several cities.
By 2035, the IEA forecasts there will be between 700,000 and three million robotaxis in 40 to 80 major cities.
Consulting firm BCG expects three million, including 850,000 in China and 350,000 in the United States, but only 120,000 in Europe.
Goldman Sachs is betting on around six million vehicles for a $415-billion market.

Crossroads

In Europe, strict safety regulations and strong public-transport culture have put the brakes on robotaxi development, according to specialist Herve de Treglode.
But "London is ready, Madrid too. We may see commercial service by 2027," he said.
"In the US and China, they don't do six months of testing and then stop. They roll out in a neighbourhood, remove the safety driver, then launch commercial service with massive investments."
One potential snag: companies want to put driverless taxis in highly profitable, densely populated urban areas; many politicians want them in suburban and rural areas, to compensate for public-transport gaps.
"It's high time we came up with a strategy," Laurence Debrincat of the Paris regional transport authority said last month, pushing for the suburban-and-rural approach.
The founder of French ridesharing firm Ecov, Thomas Matagne, summed up the crossroads decision-makers are facing.
"Should we leave the sector to the market, at the risk of concentrating it in densely populated areas? Or should the government invest to roll out (robotaxis) in the general interest?"
leb/ved/cw/jhb/giv

games

US gamers getting older as industry reports growth

BY ALEX PIGMAN

  • "It mirrors in large part the demographics of the nation," ESA president and chief executive Stanley Pierre-Louis told AFP, noting that more than half of all players in the United States are now 35 or older.
  • Video games are having a moment in the United States -- but the players are getting older.
  • "It mirrors in large part the demographics of the nation," ESA president and chief executive Stanley Pierre-Louis told AFP, noting that more than half of all players in the United States are now 35 or older.
Video games are having a moment in the United States -- but the players are getting older.
The average American video game player is now 37 years old -- up from 29 about two decades ago -- as the industry reports activity climbing back to their highest levels since the pandemic-era boom, a new report reveals.
The findings, from the Entertainment Software Association's annual Essential Facts report, challenge enduring stereotypes about who plays games while underscoring the industry's recovery from a post-pandemic slowdown.
"It mirrors in large part the demographics of the nation," ESA president and chief executive Stanley Pierre-Louis told AFP, noting that more than half of all players in the United States are now 35 or older.
The steadily rising average player age reflects both the aging of a generation that grew up with consoles and a wave of older adults who have since picked up the hobby.
The gender split also defies the stereotypical image of the young male gamer. 
Men account for 53 percent of players and women 46 percent, with women actually outnumbering men among Baby Boomers, the ESA said.
Overall, 67 percent of Americans play video games for at least an hour a week -- a figure broad enough to encompass everything from blockbuster console titles to casual mobile games like Wordle.
Revenues -- totaling $60.7 billion in 2025 -- have rebounded to their highest point since 2021, when pandemic lockdowns drove an outsized surge in both players and spending. 
After a pullback as restrictions lifted, the industry has returned to growth, Pierre-Louis said.

Self-regulation

As lawmakers in the United States and Europe weigh tougher regulations on screen time, age verification and in-game spending, Pierre-Louis argued the US gaming industry's track record of voluntary self-regulation sets it apart.
That voluntary framework, he said, has given the industry credibility with US lawmakers that social media platforms lack.
Those platforms, he noted, "traditionally didn't have the same level of parental tools that video games had" -- a gap that has fueled the regulatory backlash now engulfing companies such as Meta and TikTok.
"Safety is not a competitive issue in our industry -- it's one of collaboration," Pierre-Louis said. 
"Being on the ecosystem and staying on the ecosystem means you feel like you're in a trusted environment."

'Satisfaction'

The ESA was founded in 1994 partly in response to congressional concern over violent content in games, and almost immediately established the Entertainment Software Rating Board, which assigns age ratings from E for Everyone to M for Mature for titles sold in North America. 
The system also flags details about online interactions and in-game purchases.
Major console platforms including Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch now offer parental control tools that allow families to restrict what games children can access, cap spending and limit screen time -- capabilities Pierre-Louis said have been refined over decades in direct response to parent and policymaker feedback.
The argument, however, faces increasing pushback in the United States.
The gaming industry is facing growing scrutiny as platforms expand into social media-like features, with ESA member Roblox especially under pressure over child safety issues with regulators and in courts.
Legislative proposals range from mandatory age verification for games with chat features to bills that would impose national safety standards.
For the industry, such legislation should not be necessary.
"It's a matter of how do we get everyone up to speed on what the video game industry has been doing, so that there's satisfaction around the practices and trust and safety mechanisms we have in place," Pierre-Louis said.
arp/sst

investments

SpaceX signs pre-IPO deal to provide AI computing to Google

  • The deal resembles one struck with AI giant Anthropic, in which SpaceX leased compute capacity at its Colossus data centers in Memphis, Tennessee for $1.25 billion a month.
  • SpaceX on Friday signed a blockbuster cloud computing agreement under which Google will pay the Elon Musk-founded rocket company $920 million per month for access to a massive cluster of AI chips, according to a disclosure in its initial public offering filing.
  • The deal resembles one struck with AI giant Anthropic, in which SpaceX leased compute capacity at its Colossus data centers in Memphis, Tennessee for $1.25 billion a month.
SpaceX on Friday signed a blockbuster cloud computing agreement under which Google will pay the Elon Musk-founded rocket company $920 million per month for access to a massive cluster of AI chips, according to a disclosure in its initial public offering filing.
The deal, which will bolster SpaceX's finances ahead of its IPO on June 12, covers a computing infrastructure of approximately 110,000 Nvidia GPUs -- the crucial hardware needed to power Google's Gemini AI models.
The filing says Google will begin paying the full monthly rate in October 2026, with a reduced fee applying during a ramp-up period until then. 
The agreement runs through June 2029, implying total payments of roughly $30 billion over the life of the contract.
The deal resembles one struck with AI giant Anthropic, in which SpaceX leased compute capacity at its Colossus data centers in Memphis, Tennessee for $1.25 billion a month.
The facilities were originally built to power Musk's rival AI venture, xAI.
SpaceX's IPO filing revealed that xAI last year posted an operating loss of $6.4 billion on total revenue of $3.2 billion.
"This is a short-term, timely agreement to ensure we have bridge capacity to meet surging customer demand for our agent platform, Gemini Enterprise, which has been even higher than we expected," a Google Cloud spokesperson said in an email to AFP.
The filing adds that after December 31, "the agreement may be terminated by either party upon 90 days' notice."
The deals with Google and Anthropic come just days ahead of SpaceX's IPO, which will be the biggest in history, valuing the company at $1.8 trillion.
That valuation is largely based on faith that Musk can deliver on his ambitions to vastly expand his Starlink satellite business, put data centers into space using SpaceX rockets, as well as begin colonizing Mars.
arp/ksb

AI

Nvidia's Huang arrives in South Korea with 'surprises', bets on robotics

  • Huang said robotics would be the "next major sector here in South Korea", and that the country is "extraordinary at manufacturing, mechatronics, and also artificial intelligence".
  • Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang arrived in Seoul Friday for a packed schedule of meetings with tech leaders, promising "some surprises" for South Korea while predicting robotics will be the country's next major growth sector.
  • Huang said robotics would be the "next major sector here in South Korea", and that the country is "extraordinary at manufacturing, mechatronics, and also artificial intelligence".
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang arrived in Seoul Friday for a packed schedule of meetings with tech leaders, promising "some surprises" for South Korea while predicting robotics will be the country's next major growth sector.
The visit comes about seven months after Huang's last trip to South Korea, when he pledged to supply the government and major firms including Samsung Electronics, SK Group and Naver with around 260,000 advanced chips for physical and agentic artificial intelligence.
"I have brought a lot of business to Korea. I have some surprises," he said after landing at Gimpo International Airport, declining to elaborate or "it would not be a surprise".
Huang said robotics would be the "next major sector here in South Korea", and that the country is "extraordinary at manufacturing, mechatronics, and also artificial intelligence".
"The fusion of all of that technology is perfect robotics."
He then visited a gaming cafe run by South Korean esports organisation T1, where he met star gamer Lee "Faker" Sang-Hyeok as excited fans gathered and filmed them.
Nvidia helped popularise graphics processing units (GPUs) in the late 1990s, laying the foundation for modern high-performance gaming.
Huang described South Korea as an ideal market for esports, saying the country's gamers had chosen the best GPUs to win, and that "those were Nvidia GPUs".
He later joined some of South Korea's top business leaders for a typical corporate dinner of of grilled pork belly and soju at a restaurant in Seoul's Hongdae district.
A large crowd gathered outside to catch a glimpse of the executives, who included SK Group's chair Chey Tae-won, LG Group's Koo Kwang-mo and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin.
Wearing a leather jacket, Huang was seen learning how to eat grilled pork wrapped in lettuce leaves, a popular Korean dish.
At one point, Huang and Chey stepped outside the restaurant to hand out packets of honey-banana chips launched by SK hynix and convenience store chain Seven-Eleven last year.
The snack's square shape was designed to resemble a high-bandwidth memory (HBM) semiconductor chip, a product that has become central to the global AI boom.
During his visit to Korea, Huang is also expected to throw out the first pitch at a baseball game and appear on one of the most popular TV shows in South Korea.
The visit comes as demand for Samsung and SK hynix memory chips has soared, helping support South Korea's economic growth.
SK hynix -- the main supplier of HBM products to Nvidia -- topped $1 trillion in market value last month, joining rivals Samsung and US-based Micron Technology as an AI-driven rally lifted chip stocks.
sjh/ami

computers

France's data centre ambitions bump up against rural fears

BY KEVIN TRUBLET

  • While planners say "it's all beautiful, it's all fantastic", locals fear environmental impacts, "disruption during the construction work" and potential expansion of the village with new houses or even blocks of flats, he added.
  • France's ambition to compete in the global rush to build artificial intelligence data centres is dividing a small village outside Paris, where a massive planned facility stokes both hope for an economic dividend and fears of disruption.
  • While planners say "it's all beautiful, it's all fantastic", locals fear environmental impacts, "disruption during the construction work" and potential expansion of the village with new houses or even blocks of flats, he added.
France's ambition to compete in the global rush to build artificial intelligence data centres is dividing a small village outside Paris, where a massive planned facility stokes both hope for an economic dividend and fears of disruption.
Lying between the capital and the ancient royal palace at Fontainebleau, Fouju is a community of just 650 people.
But it is set to host a 50-billion-euro ($58 billion) "AI Campus" project, announced to great fanfare at a summit of government and tech leaders in the French capital early last year.
President Emmanuel Macron vaunted France's reliable nuclear power and available land for construction as he welcomed leaders to the event.
Emirati investment fund MGX, France's state investment bank, AI startup Mistral and American chipbuilder Nvidia are funding the Fouju development, whose website says it will "host next-generation computing infrastructure... for companies specialising in new technologies and developing AI".
Some locals are worried by an opinion from the regional environment authority (MRAe), which dubbed the campus a project of "extraordinary" scale.
"We're asking ourselves a lot of questions," said 68-year-old Giuliano Del Negro, who attended a recent meeting held to inform residents about the plans.
While planners say "it's all beautiful, it's all fantastic", locals fear environmental impacts, "disruption during the construction work" and potential expansion of the village with new houses or even blocks of flats, he added.
Having moved there to enjoy the countryside peace and quiet, "we'd like Foujou to stay the way it is", Del Negro said.

New tax millions

Another local, who only gave his name as Laurent, countered that the data centre "will generate money and jobs".
But even he baulked at the prospect of a prison supposed to be built alongside the data centre in a neighbouring municipality.
Fouju mayor Jonathan Wochenmayer said the village could take on some "sizeable projects" using the millions of euros expected to flow from the data centre each year.
For now, the municipality's annual budget amounts to just 650,000 euros, with 90 percent going towards its operating costs.
Plenty of ideas are already in the air about how to spend the windfall: new pavements, renovating the school or offering home-help services.
The project's backers also insist that the data centre, whose first phase is scheduled for completion in 2028, will create between 300 and 500 jobs.

Power consumption

Local environmental group FNE 77 countered in a response to the public call for comments that "the project's economic value is questionable".
"Significant" potential tax income would come "at the price of significant disruption... which has been played down" in the planning documents, the association added.
"We're not against any and all data centres, because it's true that we need them, but not monsters like this one," said FNE 77 chief Jean-Francois Dupont, who lives around 10 kilometres (six miles) from Fouju.
For him, the data centre project is born of "infatuation with all things digital" and "developing AI at breakneck speed in all directions".
Dupont is more concerned with the pollution set to be created by the site's 613 backup generators, which will need regular testing.
He fears that the data centre could also create a local hotspot in the summer months, and release so-called "forever chemicals" (PFAS) from the 680 powerful cooling systems needed to keep its servers running.
The MRAe estimated the total power consumption of the 11 planned buildings of 20 metres (65 feet) in height at around 850 megawatts -- the same as 200,000 typical French homes.
"It's a disaster, environmentally speaking," worried Eveline Biaggini, 53, a theatrical costume director and former candidate for mayor in Fouju.
Serving mayor Wochenmayer acknowledged that there was currently no plan to re-use all the heat set to be emitted by the data centre.
But he expects less disruption from the project than from alternatives proposed for the area, which would have drawn more road traffic.
"If the data centre weren't here, it would have been somewhere else. I think it will be positioned in an area that will have the least impact on the residents nearby," Wochenmayer said, highlighting the 2.8km separating the village from the site.
Nevertheless, around 100 people gathered at the end of May to hold a protest picnic against the plans.
ktr/tgb/phz

AI

Anthropic calls for pause of global AI development

BY ALEX PIGMAN

  • Trump also signed an executive order this week that allows the government 30 days to conduct a preliminary review of the most powerful US AI models before their release.
  • Artificial intelligence company Anthropic suggested Thursday a global pause on building the most powerful AI systems as the latest models are beginning to show signs they could escape human control.
  • Trump also signed an executive order this week that allows the government 30 days to conduct a preliminary review of the most powerful US AI models before their release.
Artificial intelligence company Anthropic suggested Thursday a global pause on building the most powerful AI systems as the latest models are beginning to show signs they could escape human control.
The San Francisco-based company, which makes the Claude family of AI models, said in a report that a worldwide slowdown in cutting-edge AI development would "likely be a good thing" -- but warned that if only one company stopped, rivals would simply race ahead.
"We believe it would be good for the world to have the option to slow or temporarily pause frontier AI development to enable societal structures and alignment research to keep up with the advance of the technology," it said.
Getting a real pause to work would mean multiple major AI companies in multiple countries -- most notably the United States and China -- all agreeing to stop at the same time, under rules everyone could actually verify, Anthropic said.
That idea may prove somewhat unpopular with the likes of Elon Musk, as the hotly anticipated stock market debut of his SpaceX company -- which owns his artificial intelligence venture xAI -- is expected to make him the world's first trillionaire.
"Without a global coordination mechanism, companies and governments will have to make difficult decisions about safety while under competitive and geopolitical pressures," Anthropic said.
The company has faced pushback from others in the industry -- and officials in the White House -- who say its focus on worst-case scenarios overstates the risks and amounts to a strategy for slowing rivals under the cover of safety concerns.
Still, the White House has acknowledged the power of the company's Mythos model -- which has not been made available to the general public due to its cybersecurity capabilities and is currently deployed only to a small number of vetted organizations.
The proposal would face an uphill battle in Washington and Silicon Valley, where US officials and tech executives have repeatedly argued that any slowdown in AI development risks handing China a decisive strategic edge in what many see as the defining technology race of the century.
US President Donald Trump, however, said he discussed the possibility of cooperating with China on AI safety issues during his recent visit to Beijing.
Trump also signed an executive order this week that allows the government 30 days to conduct a preliminary review of the most powerful US AI models before their release.

'Human role narrowing'

Anthropic compared the problem to nuclear arms control treaties, but said it would be even harder to get a handle on since AI training is far easier to hide than a missile silo, and the temptation to quietly keep going would be enormous.
"You want the option to be able to take your foot off the gas and put your foot on the brake," Anthropic's co-founder Jack Clark told Britain's BBC Newsnight on Thursday.
"Right now, it's like the AI industry has a gas pedal, but it doesn't have a brake pedal."
The company said it plans to bring together government officials, scientists, advocacy groups and competing AI firms in coming months to figure out how such a system could work.
The call for coordination comes alongside internal data showing that AI is already dramatically speeding up the development of AI itself, Anthropic said.
That acceleration creates a feedback loop that Anthropic warned could eventually lead to what researchers call "recursive self-improvement."
That's the idea of an AI system that becomes capable of essentially teaching itself to get smarter, without much human help.
"We are not there yet, and recursive self-improvement is not inevitable," th Anthropic report said, while adding that it could arrive sooner than most governments and institutions are ready for.
"The evidence suggests that the human role is narrowing at each step in the AI development process," the company said.
arp/sla/cms/ami

school

New York City's rules for AI in schools spark fury

BY THOMAS URBAIN

  • Days later, teachers' union New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) called for "developmentally appropriate limits on screen time and artificial intelligence in New York schools."
  • New York City's first set of rules for the use of artificial intelligence in public schools is being called weak by many parents who favor a stricter approach.
  • Days later, teachers' union New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) called for "developmentally appropriate limits on screen time and artificial intelligence in New York schools."
New York City's first set of rules for the use of artificial intelligence in public schools is being called weak by many parents who favor a stricter approach.
The city's framework, published in March, uses a traffic light system to determine which tasks AI will be used for, with a red light blocking AI for grading students or deciding their placements and academic path through school.
A yellow light calls for careful judgment in student use, allowing students to use AI for research, exploration and creative projects.
But parents -- who voiced anger at a public meeting that lasted seven hours -- want to pump the brakes, saying the rules fail to address major concerns, from the nascent technology's environmental damage to harming child mental health and cognitive development.
Several local organizations have called for a two-year moratorium on the use of AI in New York's public schools, which educate more than 900,000 students.
"The guidance lacked a lot of detail. It didn't address many major concerns," said Liat Olenick, co-founder of Climate Families NYC.
"It didn't limit student use of AI in any way -- so, completely insufficient, inadequate."
Olenick's group is demanding a more rigorous rulemaking process that takes direction from neuroscientists, climate scientists and education experts who can "really assess whether any of these tools belong in schools."
Asked for comment by AFP, the city's Department of Education said their regulations are only the first step, promising a more comprehensive guidebook later this year.

'Missed the mark'

At the end of May, New York school Chancellor Kamar Samuels told education site Chalkbeat that leaders had "missed the mark" in their communications, saying his office would carefully review parents' feedback for incorporation into future rules.
Days later, teachers' union New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) called for "developmentally appropriate limits on screen time and artificial intelligence in New York schools."
In particular, the union wants a ban on direct contact with AI for students who are younger than the second grade, and no unsupervised use before graduating high school.
"Educators are not anti-technology. We are pro-child," NYSUT president Melinda Person said.
Many parents and teachers have raised concerns that local authorities are under the influence of the AI industry, which has broadly been pushing its wares for government use.
Naveed Hasan is a computer programmer, a parent and a member of Panel for Education Policy, an oversight board for New Yorks' public school system.
"In some cases we are the only customers for these vendors, so we should be able to dictate the terms of engagement and what we expect should benefit the kids first, as opposed to benefiting some other person, right?" Hasan said. 
"If New York City, with this gigantic budget, can't do this, who can?"
tu/rh/vmt/ev/sla/mjf

Biden

Dissing critics with humor, Hunter Biden finds social media stardom

  • Another comment that drew widespread amusement was his remark that "I've never stolen an erection in my life" -- a sarcastic jibe at another online attacker whose claim about stolen elections was misspelled with an "r" instead of "l."
  • Drug use, sobriety, erections...
  • Another comment that drew widespread amusement was his remark that "I've never stolen an erection in my life" -- a sarcastic jibe at another online attacker whose claim about stolen elections was misspelled with an "r" instead of "l."
Drug use, sobriety, erections... The son of former US president Joe Biden has become an unlikely social media sensation as he takes aim at critics with a mix of self-deprecating humor, biting retorts and salty language.
Hunter Biden, plagued for years with legal troubles and drug addiction, has lashed out at trolls on Elon Musk's platform X in a series of posts that have gone viral since he relaunched his old account.
Earlier this week, 56-year-old Biden marked "7 years sober" by offering gratitude to supporters of his recovery program in a short clip on the platform. 
When one X user dismissed this, claiming cocaine reportedly discovered in the White House in 2023 "was your bag," Biden fired right back. 
"It most definitely was not. I would never have forgotten my drugs," Biden joked in a retort garnering more than 18 million views.
Another X user posted an apparent digitally altered image depicting Biden with a drug pipe in his mouth.
"I know this may sound petty, but I can't stand it when people... photoshop a meth pipe in my mouth. A crack pipe doesn’t have that little bowl at the end," Biden deadpanned in response.
"This is why we can't trust AI. Please make the appropriate edit. Thank you for your attention to this matter," he added, signing off in a style reminiscent of another social media sensation -- President Donald Trump.
In his reply to another skeptic on X, Biden wrote: "Why does everyone keep saying this? I smoked crack. I would never have wasted cocaine by putting it up my nose."
Another comment that drew widespread amusement was his remark that "I've never stolen an erection in my life" -- a sarcastic jibe at another online attacker whose claim about stolen elections was misspelled with an "r" instead of "l."
For years, Biden has faced bitter scrutiny from Republicans, who viewed him as his father's Achilles Heel.
Hunter Biden received an unconditional pardon from Joe Biden in December 2024, after Trump defeated the Democratic election candidate, vice president Kamala Harris.
When he relaunched his X account last month, Biden junior opened with a blunt introductory post: "I'm Hunter Biden. You've never actually heard from me."
ac/sms

SpaceX

SpaceX IPO: rockets, AI losses and Musk in control

BY ALEX PIGMAN

  • The sky-high valuation for SpaceX -- nearly $1.8 trillion -- is based on the idea that his legendary run will continue and that Musk can achieve his goal of data centers in space and putting people on Mars.
  • SpaceX is inviting investors to bet on Elon Musk's vision of AI data centers in space and humans on Mars.
  • The sky-high valuation for SpaceX -- nearly $1.8 trillion -- is based on the idea that his legendary run will continue and that Musk can achieve his goal of data centers in space and putting people on Mars.
SpaceX is inviting investors to bet on Elon Musk's vision of AI data centers in space and humans on Mars.
It's gamble that comes with limited voting rights, restricted ability to sue, and a business that is currently losing billions of dollars a year.

Magic touch

Musk's celebrity and his track record turning Tesla and SpaceX into global giants have earned him a reputation as the man who sees where technology is heading -- and builds a world-class business from it.
The sky-high valuation for SpaceX -- nearly $1.8 trillion -- is based on the idea that his legendary run will continue and that Musk can achieve his goal of data centers in space and putting people on Mars.
But nothing at the core of the business as it stands today lines up with that valuation, with the company growing fast but losing money.
Revenue hit $18.7 billion in 2025 -- up 33 percent from the year before -- but costs grew even faster, producing a net loss of $4.9 billion. In the first quarter of 2026, it lost another $4.3 billion.
Yet SpaceX's IPO filing claims it could pull in over $28.5 trillion in revenue.
The real money, in SpaceX's telling, is in internet connectivity through its Starlink satellite service and above all artificial intelligence, provided by data centers rocketed into space.
Yet xAI -- the AI unit of SpaceX -- has struggled to keep pace with rivals. Its standalone AI revenue stands at around $500 million, a fraction of OpenAI's and Anthropic's revenue.

Musk in control

Musk will keep an iron grip on the rocket and AI giant even after it brings in a legion of new investors.
Ordinary investors who buy SpaceX stock will get what are called Class A shares, which give them one vote each on company decisions. 
Musk, meanwhile, holds a different kind of share -- Class B -- that carries 10 votes apiece. His votes will simply swamp everyone else's with about 82 percent of the total voting power in the company.
Known as a dual-class structure, tech giants like Google, Meta and Snap have used the same playbook to keep their founders in charge after going public.

Don't sue me

Frustrated by years of shareholder lawsuits against publicly traded Tesla, Musk has ensured that SpaceX is built inside a legal fortress.
SpaceX requires shareholder lawsuits to be filed in a specialized Texas business court. 
If a judge refuses, disputes go to private arbitration with no jury and no class actions -- stripping investors of the main legal tool used to take on large corporations.
The filing acknowledges there is "risk" a court could reject these provisions if challenged, but until one does, that is the rule.

Regular investor

Tapping into his legion of fans, SpaceX will set aside 30 percent of the IPO shares for everyday investors, not just big Wall Street firms.
In a normal IPO, institutions usually get most of the shares, so this is a bigger-than-usual chance for regular people to buy in.
Why does that matter? Because it changes who gets to own the stock on day one. 
If more shares go to individual investors, the company is trying to spread ownership beyond hedge funds and mutual funds, some of whom may balk at the company's financials.
It can also make the stock more volatile at first. If a lot of excited people rush to buy, the price can jump quickly.

No choice but to buy

More than 60 percent of US stocks are owned by passive funds that copy a market index like the Nasdaq 100. 
Nasdaq changed its rules in May to allow SpaceX to join the index within 15 trading days -- down from the previous three months. 
The index funds, whose investors include US retirement plans, will have to find room for the new entrant, creating a big wave of buying for SpaceX and selling of other stocks.
Moreover, only 4 percent of the $1.77 trillion company will be made available for purchase -- an exceptionally thin offering.
It means all those funds -- and Musk fans -- buying SpaceX will be chasing a very small pool of available stock, which could push the price up sharply.
arp/ksb

AI

Tim Berners-Lee calls for AI to preserve 'original values' of web

BY OLIVIER DEVOS

  • - Web free for all - Berners-Lee originally proposed his world-changing invention as a way for scientists around the world to share information about their research.
  • World Wide Web pioneer Tim Berners-Lee says he wants to see artificial intelligence preserve "the original values" of his invention while allowing users to filter personal data sent to tech giants.
  • - Web free for all - Berners-Lee originally proposed his world-changing invention as a way for scientists around the world to share information about their research.
World Wide Web pioneer Tim Berners-Lee says he wants to see artificial intelligence preserve "the original values" of his invention while allowing users to filter personal data sent to tech giants.
The primacy "of the person, of the individual" was at the heart of the internet and should apply to AI too, he told AFP Wednesday in an interview on the sidelines of the SXSW tech festival in London.
The British physicist-turned-computer scientist conceived the web in 1989 while working at CERN, the European particle physics lab in Switzerland.
Berners-Lee hailed AI as an "exciting" development -- but one that would benefit from being regulated.
AI models "use the fact that the web has got so much data on it to be trained", he said.
"It's important that people use this technology to make sure that their customers, their citizens, have got control over their own data," he said.
Berners-Lee said that AI does not have anything like the World Wide Web Consortium, the international internet standards organisation he founded.
As a result, AI pioneers have not been able to "benefit from the collaboration that they would get if they did have something like that".

Web free for all

Berners-Lee originally proposed his world-changing invention as a way for scientists around the world to share information about their research.
He named this new network the World Wide Web (WWW), joining forces with Belgian Robert Cailliau in 1990 to develop it.
The web was based on two pillars: the HTML language that allows the creation of a website, and the HTTP hypertext system that lets the user request and then receive a web page.
Determined to make the web freely available to everyone, he did not patent his programme, ensuring it took off and spread rapidly.
With the use of personal data by AI models preoccupying authorities, particularly in Europe, Berners-Lee has made data protection his main cause in recent years, notably through the startup Inrupt.
"Without data, (AI models) can't exist. And they've had unfettered access to everybody's data now, and if we don't watch it, we're going to get to a really bad spot," warned the company's co-founder John Bruce.
Launched in 2018, Inrupt relies on secure data wallets that remain in the hands of users.
It is also working to create an AI assistant called Charlie that will be able to filter users' requests to tools such as ChatGPT or Claude.
"When you ask a question... it looks at what the question is... and decides which information to send" to the AI tool, Berners-Lee said.
If there is personal information in there, Charlie will "tweak it" so the AI tool "gets a picture... but then it can't really use that to identify you".
"Charlie is about preserving the original values of the web," he added.
ode/har/sbk/hol

internet

Meta lashes Australia's bid to make tech giants pay for news

  • "Our position is clear: this law is poorly designed, grossly unfair, and will fail to deliver a diverse and sustainable news industry," said Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
  • Tech giant Meta on Thursday attacked Australia's "grossly unfair" bid to make social media companies pay for news, saying it is vehemently opposed to the draft laws.
  • "Our position is clear: this law is poorly designed, grossly unfair, and will fail to deliver a diverse and sustainable news industry," said Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
Tech giant Meta on Thursday attacked Australia's "grossly unfair" bid to make social media companies pay for news, saying it is vehemently opposed to the draft laws.
Traditional media companies around the world are in a battle for survival as readers increasingly consume their news on social media.
Australia wants big tech companies to compensate local publishers for sharing articles that drive traffic on their platforms.
"Our position is clear: this law is poorly designed, grossly unfair, and will fail to deliver a diverse and sustainable news industry," said Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
"We are vehemently opposed to this legislation. 
"It is discriminatory, economically incoherent, and will not deliver the sustainable news sector that Australian journalists and audiences deserve."
The laws specifically target Meta, Google and TikTok.
Those companies will first be given a chance to strike content deals directly with local news publishers. 
If they refuse, they faced a compulsory levy that amounted to 2.25 percent of their Australian revenue.
The three firms were singled out based on a combination of their Australian revenues and large numbers of domestic users.
"It is a discriminatory tax, applied only to a handful of foreign companies," Meta said. 
"Call it what it is: a discriminatory, retroactive tax targeting a handful of foreign companies while competitors offering comparable services face no equivalent obligation."

Struggling newsrooms

The draft laws, unveiled earlier this year, aimed to close a loophole that allowed social media companies to simply strip news from their platforms.
When Canberra mooted similar laws in 2024, Meta announced that Australian users would no longer be able to access the "news" tab.
Meta had previously announced it would not renew content deals with news publishers in the United States, Britain, France and Germany.
Supporters of such laws argue that social media companies attract users with news stories and hoover up online advertising revenue that would otherwise go to struggling newsrooms.
"Large digital platforms cannot avoid their obligations under the news media bargaining code," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in April. 
Journalism needed to have a "monetary value attached to it", Albanese said at the time. 
"It shouldn't be able to be taken by a large multinational corporation and used to generate profits with no compensation."
Australia's University of Canberra has found that more than half the country uses social media as a source of news.
The draft laws will be introduced into parliament later this year.
Australia has been at the forefront of global efforts to regulate big tech companies and social media platforms.
In December, it banned under 16s from a raft of popular social media platforms, launching a world-first crackdown designed to protect children from online bullying and "predatory algorithms".
sft/oho/tc

internet

Meta lashes Australia bid to make tech giants pay for news

  • "Our position is clear: this law is poorly designed, grossly unfair, and will fail to deliver a diverse and sustainable news industry," said Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
  • Tech giant Meta on Thursday attacked Australia's "grossly unfair" bid to make social media companies pay for news, saying it is vehemently opposed to the draft laws.
  • "Our position is clear: this law is poorly designed, grossly unfair, and will fail to deliver a diverse and sustainable news industry," said Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
Tech giant Meta on Thursday attacked Australia's "grossly unfair" bid to make social media companies pay for news, saying it is vehemently opposed to the draft laws.
Traditional media companies around the world are in a battle for survival as readers increasingly consume their news on social media.
Australia wants big tech companies to compensate local publishers for sharing articles that drive traffic on their platforms.
"Our position is clear: this law is poorly designed, grossly unfair, and will fail to deliver a diverse and sustainable news industry," said Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
"We are vehemently opposed to this legislation. 
"It is discriminatory, economically incoherent, and will not deliver the sustainable news sector that Australian journalists and audiences deserve."
Social media companies including Meta, Google and TikTok will first be given a chance to strike content deals with local news publishers. 
If they refused, they faced a compulsory levy that amounted to 2.25 percent of their Australian revenue.
The draft laws, unveiled earlier this year, have been designed to stop social media companies from simply stripping news from their platforms.
When Canberra mooted similar laws in 2024, Meta announced that Australian users would no longer be able to access the "news" tab.
Supporters of such laws argue that social media companies attract users with news stories and hoover up online advertising revenue that would otherwise go to struggling newsrooms.
Australia's University of Canberra has found that more than half the country uses social media as a source of news.
The draft laws will be introduced into parliament later this year.
sft/oho/tc

US

EU wants to favour European firms for AI, cloud in sovereignty push

BY RAZIYE AKKOC AND FRéDéRIC POUCHOT

  • But the plans risk further antagonising the United States, which has pushed back hard at the European Union's fines and rules against American tech companies.
  • The EU on Wednesday unveiled its plan for slashing dependence on American and Asian technology, including favouring European firms in the most sensitive public contracts for cloud computing and AI. The long-awaited "tech sovereignty" package is part of a raft of new EU rules aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing across different sectors and catching up with rival companies in the United States and China.
  • But the plans risk further antagonising the United States, which has pushed back hard at the European Union's fines and rules against American tech companies.
The EU on Wednesday unveiled its plan for slashing dependence on American and Asian technology, including favouring European firms in the most sensitive public contracts for cloud computing and AI.
The long-awaited "tech sovereignty" package is part of a raft of new EU rules aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing across different sectors and catching up with rival companies in the United States and China.
But the plans risk further antagonising the United States, which has pushed back hard at the European Union's fines and rules against American tech companies.
Big Tech lobby group CCIA Europe, whose members include US giants, slammed the moves on AI and cloud as "discriminatory" and "protectionist".
The issue is existential for the EU, with companies from outside the bloc providing more than 80 percent of its digital products, services, infrastructure and intellectual property, according to the European Commission.
Brussels worries its soft underbelly has been exposed after crises over chips and rare earths with China last year, coupled with fears that US President Donald Trump could one day pull the plug on American cloud computing via a "kill switch".
EU tech sovereignty chief Henna Virkkunen, however, acknowledged that cutting reliance on foreign technology providers wouldn't happen "overnight".

Europe 'not closed'

Three US tech companies -- Amazon Web Services, Microsoft's Azure and Google Cloud -- provide around 70 percent of cloud services in Europe.
Virkkunen insisted the bloc was "not closing anyone out", but told journalists that for "very critical" sectors like defence, it was "very important" that Europeans provide the services.
This will be done through a scheme with four levels ranging from a general obligation to keep data in Europe to stricter requirements in the most sensitive areas, such as security and defence.
"We cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable and our services secure," EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said.
But CCIA Europe's Daniel Friedlaender said the new law would be "effectively giving national capitals carte blanche to shut out trusted global vendors from every major technology-producing nation outside the union".
The Business Software Alliance, a US-based digital lobby group, warned that the cloud sovereignty requirements "could restrict market access based on ownership and control structures rather than objective security outcomes".

Fresh chips

The package includes:
-- the AI and cloud rules that aim to encourage the construction of data centres in the EU
-- boosting demand for European-made semiconductors with a new chips proposal after a 2023 law yielded little success
-- a push for the public sector to use more open-source software solutions that ensure greater control and flexibility, and avoid being locked in.
The EU is estimated to spend 264 billion euros ($306 billion) annually on US cloud software, according to a 2025 report by the French consultancy Asteres.
The sovereignty push is partly fuelled by worries over Europeans' data, since the Trump-era 2018 Cloud Act allows Washington to demand access to data from US-based providers regardless of where it is held.
Brussels hopes the rules will triple the bloc's data centre capacity in five to seven years, with a rating scheme to integrate them into Europe's energy system in a "sustainable" manner.

US firms will remain 'dominant'

There are fears the new rules could provoke retaliation by Trump. But an EU lawmaker who has worked closely on tech sovereignty told reporters Tuesday that Europe "should not bow down to pressure".
"We set our rules in Europe, according to the needs and the demands of the European citizens," said Matthias Ecke of the Socialists and Democrats, though he expects US providers to remain "dominant" despite the EU push.
The centrist Renew group said the commission's proposal needed to be "stronger" if it wanted to increase Europe's independence.
The proposal will become law after approval by EU states and the EU parliament.
Brussels is making clear its determination already.
The European Commission said last week it wants to reserve for European firms a share of the mobile satellite frequencies currently used by US operators.
The latest moves also reflect a change in Brussels from just regulating Big Tech towards actively favouring European technology.
In the latest example, the EU parliament said France's Qwant would become the default search engine on its Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox browsers from Thursday in a bid to cut reliance on foreign digital tools.
fpo-raz/ec/sbk

election

French content creators gear up to influence presidential election

BY LEA DAUPLE

  • His hard-left rival, Jean-Luc Melenchon, a veteran of French presidential campaigns and leader of France Unbowed (LFI), has fully integrated content creators into his communications strategy.
  • Politicians want to meet them, the media want to hire them -- content creators, seen as a key to reaching their young followers, are readying to be players in the 2027 presidential campaign. 
  • His hard-left rival, Jean-Luc Melenchon, a veteran of French presidential campaigns and leader of France Unbowed (LFI), has fully integrated content creators into his communications strategy.
Politicians want to meet them, the media want to hire them -- content creators, seen as a key to reaching their young followers, are readying to be players in the 2027 presidential campaign. 
Sam Zirah, with more than two million subscribers on YouTube, first made a name for himself by interviewing reality TV contestants, but now invites political figures onto his show. 
He believes his interviews, which focus more on the guest's personal life, are "complementary" to those offered by major media outlets.
Municipal elections in March that were a curtain raiser for the presidential campaign gave voters a taste of what's to come for the role of stars on YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and Instagram in the 2027 vote. 
Zirah interviewed Paris mayoral candidates and hinted he has since been lining up meetings with television groups ahead of the presidential polls. 
His segments, including with the winner, Emmanuel Gregoire, dug into personal relationships and family tragedies. 
"The personal is political," said the YouTuber, who is in his thirties, insisting that his interviews are nonetheless not softball. 
In practice, however, content creators generally offer their guests longer formats and less aggressive questioning. The payoff is access to a younger audience. 
More than half of under-25s cite social networks and video platforms as their main source of news, according to a survey by media regulator Arcom published in January 2026.
Two of the main contenders for France's top job are already embracing influencers and social media as part of their strategy. 
Far-right darling Jordan Bardella of the National Rally (RN), who is barely in his thirties, is an internet native with a vast following in his own right. 
His hard-left rival, Jean-Luc Melenchon, a veteran of French presidential campaigns and leader of France Unbowed (LFI), has fully integrated content creators into his communications strategy.
For Pascal Lardellier, a specialist in political communication at the University of Burgundy Europe, influencers will "play a fundamental role" in the presidential election. 
In his view, they can "bring young people back to politics", especially those particularly prone to abstaining from voting.

'Cats or dogs'

Traditional media outlets, also hunting for new audiences, are working more and more with young creators.
Public broadcaster France TV has been collaborating for several years with HugoDecrypte who, at 29, has 3.7 million followers on YouTube and 5.5 million on Instagram.
For the campaign, private television channel TF1 has already launched a series of political interviews coproduced with YouTuber Gaspard G, whose first episode, featuring Melenchon, aired in early April.
Melenchon, who never misses a chance to lambast traditional media, is reluctant to appear on television -- even though it was on TF1 that he announced his presidential bid.
In February he launched press conferences reserved for new media and influencers, which led to accusations that he was "filtering" journalists.
Influencer Anna Baldy, who analyses current events under the pseudonym Grande bavardeuse ("Major Chatterbox"), was among those invited to the press conference.
"We're not naive when we're invited somewhere," she said. Political figures "know it's the only way to talk to young people", added the recent university graduate. 
She also believes that influencers, especially when they're just starting out, are more easily seen as manipulable than journalists from established outlets.
Baldy is thinking about how she will cover the 2027 campaign, but believes she will not interview candidates, an exercise she considers challenging.
"I don't think I'm mature enough to do it yet, and I don't feel like asking Jordan Bardella whether he prefers cats or dogs," she said. 

Alienation risk

Bardella is so widely followed on social media that he has "himself become an influencer", said Lardellier.
The RN can also count on a network of influencers who relay its ideas, though others, like famous YouTuber Squeezie, had called for blocking the party in the 2024 legislative elections.
Speaking out carries the risk of alienating followers who vote differently, with Zirah and Baldy saying they do not plan to endorse any candidate. 
A source close to one presidential candidate, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said recently the campaign was approached by a female influencer wanting to boost the election hopeful.
"Today, support like that is more important than that of a member of parliament," the source told AFP.
"Content creators and new media will be part of our strategy, on a level with an outlet like TF1."
led/sw/ah/phz

AI

Trump signs AI order giving government access to powerful models

BY ALEX PIGMAN

  • "Voluntary frameworks are not enough, however" and the government must be empowered "to block the release of systems that pose an unacceptable national security risk," he added. arp/bl-sst/sla
  • US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order creating a voluntary framework under which AI developers will share advanced models with the government before public release.
  • "Voluntary frameworks are not enough, however" and the government must be empowered "to block the release of systems that pose an unacceptable national security risk," he added. arp/bl-sst/sla
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order creating a voluntary framework under which AI developers will share advanced models with the government before public release.
The central provision allows companies such as OpenAI, Google or Anthropic to give the government access to their most powerful models for up to 30 days before planned release.
The order was triggered by concerns over Anthropic's Mythos model, which the AI startup has held back from the public due to its ability to expose vulnerabilities in computer systems, including those of banks, governments and hospitals.
The 30-day window represents a compromise. The original draft called for up to 90 days of pre-release government access, while tech companies had pushed to cut that figure to just 14 days.
For OpenAI chief Sam Altman, the executive order "gets the balance right."
"The US should lead on AI by continuing to develop the very best models, making sure they're safe, and getting cyber tools into the hands of trusted defenders," Altman said.
Kent Walker, Google's head of public affairs, called the order an "important step forward" that will ensure "defenders have the AI tools they need to keep America secure."
And Anthropic, which has repeatedly clashed with the Trump administration, called the order "an important step in strengthening America's leadership in AI."

'Unnecessary'

The signing comes after a turbulent few weeks in which the White House appeared close to unveiling the measure, only to pull back abruptly.
According to Politico and other media, David Sacks, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist who served as Trump's AI and crypto czar, called the president to warn that the measure would slow innovation and hurt the United States in its AI race with China -- blindsiding White House staff who believed Sacks supported the order.
Sacks wrote on X last week that "unnecessary regulation is the biggest threat to innovation in America," adding that winning the AI race required clearing "bureaucratic hurdles" from state legislatures and "woke" Washington politicians.
The order also instructs the Treasury, the National Security Agency and the CISA cybersecurity agency to form an "AI cybersecurity clearinghouse" in voluntary collaboration with industry and critical infrastructure operators to identify software vulnerabilities and find ways to fix them.
Trump scrapped an AI oversight order from his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden on his first day back in the White House.
Biden's 2023 order required AI companies to share safety test results with the government and leaned heavily on voluntary commitments -- already a light-touch approach that fell short of what many experts had called for.
By contrast, the European Union's AI Act -- which entered into force in 2024 -- sets binding rules for high-risk AI systems, including mandatory transparency requirements and, for the most powerful models, obligations around safety testing and incident reporting.
"This is an important step in the right direction," said Anthony Aguirre, CEO of the Future of Life Institute, which advocates for AI safety.
"Voluntary frameworks are not enough, however" and the government must be empowered "to block the release of systems that pose an unacceptable national security risk," he added.
arp/bl-sst/sla

technology

'20 minutes of terror': AI boosts US voice impersonation scams

BY BILL MCCARTHY AND ANUJ CHOPRA

  • "Nothing could have prepared me to hear my son's voice, and nothing could have convinced me that this was a scam until I saw my son with my own eyes," Benz told AFP, her voice trembling.
  • Liz Benz still believes the distressed caller's voice was her son's -- the tone, enunciation and cadence all matched her 16-year-old. 
  • "Nothing could have prepared me to hear my son's voice, and nothing could have convinced me that this was a scam until I saw my son with my own eyes," Benz told AFP, her voice trembling.
Liz Benz still believes the distressed caller's voice was her son's -- the tone, enunciation and cadence all matched her 16-year-old. 
But it was an AI clone, making the American mother yet another victim of a growing wave of impersonation scams.
Rapidly evolving artificial intelligence technology has demolished the boundaries between reality and fiction, handing cybercriminals strikingly convincing voice cloning tools to steal from people by mimicking loved ones.
Buffalo-based Benz was jolted from her couch by a call from an unknown number. On the line was someone sounding like her son Fred, crying for help.
She was told Fred's friend had been shot and killed, and her son –- who was out at a local football game -– was being held hostage. 
The 46-year-old insurance broker and mother of six was instructed to deliver cash to a nearby Walmart to pay off the man holding him.
Eventually, a selfie from Fred smiling at the game returned her to reality: the call, she realized, was an elaborate scam.
"Nothing could have prepared me to hear my son's voice, and nothing could have convinced me that this was a scam until I saw my son with my own eyes," Benz told AFP, her voice trembling.
"It was a good 20 minutes of terror."

 'Anyone can do it'

US authorities and consumer advocates are increasingly warning of scams built around impersonating family members.
The FBI said in April that Americans lost over $893 million last year to AI-enabled hoaxes, including voice cloning scams.
Simple internet searches can surface a wide array of voice cloning apps, many available for free, that create realistic AI replicas using small samples -- sometimes only seconds -- of a person's real voice.
"It used to be somewhat hard to make these things. Now anyone can do it in seconds," said Brian Long, chief executive of Adaptive Security, a company offering trainings on AI fraud protection.
"One guy in a room with a keyboard can make an infinite number of attackers," Long told AFP, adding that AI tools can build entire scripts off of snippets of audio captured from social media or voicemail recordings.
Benz's story highlights a familiar script: an emotionally charged call purportedly from a loved one in trouble -- arrested, in a car accident or caught up in a crime -- who needs money.
Then scammers typically pile on pressure, adding voices claiming to be attorneys, courtroom clerks or bank tellers -- a cast of fictitious characters in a chaotic, urgent-sounding call.
 - 'Distressed voice' -
Many family-emergency scams do not even require a perfect voice clone.
"A distressed voice saying 'mom, help me' or 'dad, I've been in an accident' may only need to sound believable for a few seconds," Amit Gupta, the vice president of product management at cybersecurity firm Pindrop, told AFP.
"The objective is not perfect voice replication. The objective is creating enough emotional uncertainty and urgency that the victim acts before verifying."
Since taking her story public, Benz said she has received a flood of messages from other victims, many of whom opt to stay anonymous because of the shame attached.
Elderly people are particularly vulnerable, with experts warning of rising cases of "grandparent scams."
The FBI said Americans over 60 reported more than $7.7 billion in losses last year, a significant jump over 2024.
"These are professionals, and when they get people on the phone, they are dealing with amateurs," said Philadelphia attorney Gary Schildhorn, who faced a similar attack in 2020.
Like Benz, he has since partnered with Adaptive Security to raise public awareness about the threat.
In 2023, Schildhorn testified before the US Senate about his experience with a scam call in which a voice impersonating his son Brett claimed he needed to post bail after a drunk-driving arrest.
The call sent Schildhorn, now 73, rushing to his bank.
"When I get to the bank, my phone rings. It's my son," he told AFP. "He's going, 'You've been scammed,'" Schildhorn said.
"I go, 'Brett, I will go to my grave swearing that it was your voice, it was your cadence, it was words you would use. There was no accent. It was you on the phone.'"
bmc-ac/ksb

SpaceX

Will SpaceX IPO make Elon Musk a trillionaire?

BY ELODIE MAZEIN

  • Robinson said Musk could take on an "aura of God" for some people should he become the world's first trillionaire -- but might develop a bit of a god complex himself as a result.
  • He is already the richest man in the world, but when SpaceX finally makes its hotly anticipated stock market debut, Elon Musk could become the planet's first trillionaire.
  • Robinson said Musk could take on an "aura of God" for some people should he become the world's first trillionaire -- but might develop a bit of a god complex himself as a result.
He is already the richest man in the world, but when SpaceX finally makes its hotly anticipated stock market debut, Elon Musk could become the planet's first trillionaire.
Forbes magazine on Tuesday estimated Musk's net worth at nearly $835 billion, as compared with $342 billion in its annual rich list in March 2025.
He is far beyond Google co-founder Larry Page, who is second at $298 billion.
SpaceX's market debut, expected around June 12, will "all but guarantee his net worth rising above $1 trillion," Forbes said in early April, when the company first filed to list on the Nasdaq.
The valuation of the company, founded in 2002, is expected to range from $1.7 trillion to $2 trillion, up from a range that topped out at $1.5 trillion in March.
On Tuesday, platforms for trading unlisted shares valued the group at about $1.5 trillion, with an individual share going for about $129 on Forge Global (up from $53 in mid-December) and $118 on Nasdaq Private Market.
The 54-year-old Musk currently holds 12 percent of common SpaceX shares and about 94 percent of Class B shares (each one retains 10 votes), according to a filing submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to AFP calculations, after the company goes public, Musk would hold about 42 percent of SpaceX capital and 79 percent of all voting rights -- or the equivalent of $735-840 billion, given the latest valuation estimates.
"Current trends are an incredible and continued centralization and concentration of wealth" in the hands of about 3,000 billionaires, William Robinson, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told AFP.
"At the top end of those billionaires, the concentration is accelerating."

'Tech oligarchy'

Robinson noted that at the same time, five billion people on Earth are living below the poverty line, creating an "extreme inequality" that can spawn civil wars and other crises.
He says the "new billionaire class" -- more precisely, the "tech oligarchy" -- holds a structural power over states, economies and society that echoes the rise of Nazism and fascism 100 years ago.
In February, SpaceX took over Musk's artificial intelligence outfit xAI, which itself had absorbed the X social network (formerly Twitter) a year before.
Musk also own about 12 percent of electric car maker Tesla, whose market capitalization currently sits at about $1.58 trillion. 
In mid-February, Musk said his net worth was almost entirely tied up in Tesla and SpaceX shares, and that less than 0.1 percent of his fortune was in cash.
Analysts expect to see a 2027 merger of SpaceX and Tesla, which is increasingly focused on robotics, energy and autonomous transport.
The two companies are already jointly developing some projects, such as the giant semiconductor manufacturing plant Terafab.
"We continue to believe that SpaceX and Tesla will eventually merge into one company in 2027 with the groundwork already in place for both operations to become one organization," said analysts at Wedbush Securities, noting that Tesla is a minor shareholder in SpaceX via its investment in xAI.
Musk also holds shares in The Boring Company, a tunnel construction service, and Neuralink, which is developing implantable brain-computer interfaces.
Robinson said Musk could take on an "aura of God" for some people should he become the world's first trillionaire -- but might develop a bit of a god complex himself as a result.
His net worth could balloon even more if he meets the criteria of the compensation plan drawn up in 2025 by Tesla's board of directors.
Should he meet the numerous financial and operational benchmarks, he could pocket another roughly $1 trillion over the course of 10 years.
At SpaceX, he stands to make more than $130 billion from two compensation plans -- but one of the conditions involves establishing a permanent human colony on Mars of at least one million people.
elm/sst/sla

SpaceX

Before SpaceX goes public, a scramble to get on bandwagon

BY THOMAS URBAIN

  • Another option is exchange-traded funds, or ETFs -- investment vehicles that anyone can buy on the stock market.
  • As SpaceX prepares its long-awaited stock market debut, investors everywhere are scrambling to get a piece of the action -- through investment funds, related company stocks, and even online prediction markets. "$14 billion has poured into SpaceX linked funds since Musk confirmed the IPO...
  • Another option is exchange-traded funds, or ETFs -- investment vehicles that anyone can buy on the stock market.
As SpaceX prepares its long-awaited stock market debut, investors everywhere are scrambling to get a piece of the action -- through investment funds, related company stocks, and even online prediction markets.
"$14 billion has poured into SpaceX linked funds since Musk confirmed the IPO...The hype is unlike anything I've seen," said an X post from Gagola Value Capital, run by two British amateur investor brothers.
But not everyone can get in yet.
Until the IPO, which is expected on June 12, the only people who can buy SpaceX shares directly are large financial players such as banks and pension funds, or very wealthy individuals.
Everyone else has to find workarounds.
One option is the so-called secondary market, where employees and early investors who already own shares in SpaceX can sell them to others privately, at whatever price the two sides agree on.
Another option is exchange-traded funds, or ETFs -- investment vehicles that anyone can buy on the stock market.
Some of these funds have found ways to invest in SpaceX. By buying into the fund, an ordinary investor gets indirect exposure to SpaceX's performance.
"We've increased assets under management by five times, and I'm fairly certain we have the largest percentage weight in SpaceX now of any ETF," said Joel Shulman, founder of ERShares, whose XVOR fund has roughly 15 percent of its holdings in SpaceX.
"This is by far the most exciting IPO that we've seen," he said.
But the investment in SpaceX itself is through a legal structure that holds the actual shares, a complicated mechanism that puts some investors off.

Private so long

The approaching initial public offering is meeting a lot of pent-up demand for a company that founder and CEO Elon Musk has kept in the headlines -- and out of the public markets -- for 20 years.
"What is unusual about SpaceX is the scale of the enthusiasm and the fact that such a large and influential company has remained private for so long," said Ludovic Phalippou, a professor at the University of Oxford's Said Business School.
"Today, investors are competing intensely to buy access to a company after much of the growth has already occurred," he added.
By the time the public gets a chance to buy in, many of the biggest gains -- the kind that made early Google or Amazon investors rich -- may already be history.
"The irony is that many investors appear willing to pay a premium simply for the privilege of gaining access," he added.
For Phalippou, this wave -- which is driving prices through the roof -- raises questions about the valuation of SpaceX, which is targeting $1.75 trillion.
That valuation is widely seen as far from the reality of SpaceX's current business, but based on the faith that Musk will deliver on science fiction-like promises that the company will get to Mars and put data centers into space. 
"A great company doesn't necessarily mean a great investment," said Jay Ritter, an IPO specialist at the University of Florida.
"A company can be a great company, but if the valuation is too high, eventually it's going to come down to Earth. And this is where I've got a concern about SpaceX," he added.
Some are managing to get into SpaceX's orbit by buying shares in other aerospace companies.
Launch company Rocket Lab has seen its market capitalization nearly triple in two months, while satellite internet specialist AST SpaceMobile has gained 78 percent in two weeks.
Others are betting on Virgin Galactic, whose space tourism business model raises questions but which has the advantage of a stock ticker (SPCE) very close to SpaceX's (SPCX).
Some traders are counting on a mix-up by certain investors between the two companies, which would benefit Virgin Galactic.
The last and smallest entry point is prediction platforms, through which investors can place money on a hypothesis.
The largest such platform, Kalshi, told AFP that $29 million have been wagered on SpaceX-related questions, from Musk's net worth at end-2026 to the possibility of a Mars landing before 2030.
tu/arp/sst

AI

As Trump cheerleads for AI, some in MAGA world fret

BY AURéLIA END

  • He dismisses regulation as a constraint on US competitiveness with China, even as more and more Americans come out angrily against AI and the huge energy-consuming data centers needed to power it.
  • President Donald Trump is an enthusiastic advocate for swift AI development in America, dismissing regulation as a curb on competing with China.
  • He dismisses regulation as a constraint on US competitiveness with China, even as more and more Americans come out angrily against AI and the huge energy-consuming data centers needed to power it.
President Donald Trump is an enthusiastic advocate for swift AI development in America, dismissing regulation as a curb on competing with China.
But some of Trump's supporters in the MAGA world are skeptical of the new technology threatening to upend society with the possibility of machines replacing humans in many walks of life.
Amy Kremer, president of a group named Humans First, says US conservatives need to wake up to what she called the danger posed by artificial intelligence.
"There are more regulations on a ham sandwich that I can buy at a street corner in New York City or Washington, DC, than there is on AI," said Kremer, a long-standing supporter of Trump and his Make America Great Again movement.
Dozens of activists, most of them conservatives, reached out recently to Trump in a letter initiated by Humans First and published by the news outlet Axios.
"America did not become the greatest nation in the world by allowing unelected elites to experiment on the public without safeguards or accountability," the letter says.
The signatories included Kremer, who has supported Trump since his first White House win in 2016, and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.

A Trump about-face

Bannon is one of the ideological gurus of the coalition that rose up around Trump as he went from flashy real estate mogul to norm-busting politician. 
Bannon has called AI "the most dangerous technology in the history of mankind."
He and other signatories of the letter urged Trump to make a decree mandating that new AI models undergo government testing before they are released to the public.
In a last-minute turnabout on May 21, Trump dropped the planned signing of a watered-down executive order on powerful AI models. The text called for voluntary industry controls on AI.
Fingers pointed at the president's allies in Silicon Valley who oppose government oversight of the technology.
But on Tuesday, Trump quietly signed an order that creates a voluntary framework under which AI developers will share advanced models for up to 30 days with the government before public release. An earlier draft stipulated 90 days.
The 79-year-old billionaire has positioned himself as an advocate for rapid AI development.
He dismisses regulation as a constraint on US competitiveness with China, even as more and more Americans come out angrily against AI and the huge energy-consuming data centers needed to power it.
"You don't hear much about it in Washington DC, but throughout the country it may be the number one issue right now," Bannon said Tuesday on his podcast, urging Washington to listen to this outcry.
This revolt by people in both of American's main parties is reminiscent of people protesting against the construction of low-income housing projects in their neighborhoods, said UCLA political science professor Megan Mullin.

Rural anger

But what makes this new movement different, she says, is that these data centers are often going up in rural areas where people are very attached to their communities and already feel "ignored or neglected by regular politics."
In rural MAGA patches, the appearance of massive data centers which can gorge on water and electricity and create few new jobs "is activating that feeling of siege and resentment for folks who live in rural communities," said Mullin.
Ever since he entered politics, Trump has sought to capitalize on the anger and frustration of such people who feel left behind by leaders they see as haughty, far-away political elites.
In the last three presidential elections, Trump triumphed in 90 percent of all rural counties in America, according to the Economic Innovation Group, a think tank.
His share of the rural vote grew from 59% in 2016 to 65% in 2020 and then 69% in 2024, according to Pew Research data.

'Simmering roots'

Mullin said she sees "some simmering roots of an AI backlash" but not a strong one yet, so it is hard to foresee how this anger will play out.
But Trump's fervent support for AI so far has not been enough to alienate his most enthusiastic backers. Kremer said of Trump, "I know his heart and soul is with the American people."
Humans First hailed the new executive order but attached a warning.
"We cannot simply rely on the Big Tech extremists to voluntarily do what is right – it is clear at this point that the only thing they care about is money and power, not the American people."
aue/dw/ksb