A new study published in PLOS ONE surveyed 557 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 and found that more than half have used AI tools to generate nude images of themselves or others. Over half also reported receiving AI‑generated nude images, and a third said such images were shared without consent. Male participants reported higher rates of both creation and distribution. Researchers warn the ease of AI‑nudification could worsen consent issues and call for action by lawmakers and educators. Read more →

Hollywood director Coerte Voorhees is using generative AI to recreate Val Kilmer’s likeness for the historical drama *As Deep As the Grave*. The film, set in the 1920s and focused on an archaeologist couple working with the Navajo people, will feature an AI‑generated Kilmer as Father Fintan, a Native American priest. Kilmer’s family has approved the digital resurrection, and the project arrives amid ongoing debates within SAG‑AFTRA about consent, compensation, and the broader impact of AI on the entertainment industry. Read more →

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman thanked software engineers for their painstaking code contributions in a March 17, 2026 post. The message quickly attracted a flood of memes and angry replies, as many developers pointed to recent AI‑related layoffs at companies such as Amazon, Block, Atlassian and Meta. Critics argued that Altman's praise seemed tone‑deaf given the industry’s shrinking junior developer jobs, while the internet responded with humor and sarcasm, turning the thank‑you into a viral cultural moment. Read more →

Carl Pei, co‑founder and CEO of Nothing, told an audience at SXSW that the future of smartphones will be driven by AI agents rather than traditional apps. He argued that the current app‑centric model is outdated, requiring users to juggle multiple applications to accomplish simple tasks. Pei envisions a device that anticipates user intentions and acts on them automatically, eventually shifting the interface from human‑focused screens to AI‑friendly designs. While acknowledging that apps will still exist for now, he believes the long‑term trend will render them obsolete as AI integration deepens. Read more →

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R‑Tenn.) has released a discussion draft for a federal AI bill that aims to codify a recent executive order on artificial intelligence. The draft proposes a duty of care for AI developers, stricter safeguards for minors online, protection of individuals' voice and visual likenesses, new transparency rules for AI‑generated content, reporting requirements on AI‑related job impacts, and an effort to end Section 230. It also addresses copyright concerns by stating that unauthorized use of copyrighted works for AI training does not qualify as fair use. The proposal signals the first major congressional step toward comprehensive AI regulation. Read more →

The UK government abandoned its earlier plan to let AI developers train models on copyrighted works without consent, after a strong outcry from musicians and other creators. The shift follows criticism from high‑profile artists such as Sir Elton John, Dua Lipa and Sir Paul McCartney, who warned that the policy would undermine creative ownership. While the government now says it has "no longer a preferred option" on the issue, officials say they will take more time to balance the interests of creators and the tech sector before any reform is introduced. Read more →

A tech entrepreneur used ChatGPT, AlphaFold and xAI's Grok to explore treatment options for his dog’s cancer. Human researchers at a university designed a personalized mRNA vaccine, and the dog showed some improvement. Media coverage exaggerated the role of the AI, suggesting it “invented” a cure. Experts clarified that the AI served as a research assistant while the actual vaccine was created by scientists and administered alongside other immunotherapy. The story highlights both the promise and the limits of artificial‑intelligence tools in biomedical research. Read more →

Japan’s government announced a reinterpretation of Article 9 that will allow the Self‑Defense Forces to conduct offensive cyber operations targeting infrastructure used in cyber attacks. The change, effective October 1 2026, will be overseen by a government cyber‑management committee that authorizes actions on a case‑by‑case basis. Officials described the move as a response to the most complicated national‑security environment since World War II and part of a global trend where nations see cyber offense as a necessary complement to defense. Read more →

The U.S. Department of Defense labeled AI lab Anthropic as an "unacceptable risk to national security," citing concerns that the company might disable or alter its models during warfighting operations if its corporate "red lines" are crossed. Anthropic, which signed a $200 million Pentagon contract last summer, sued to block the DoD's supply‑chain risk designation, arguing the move infringes on its First Amendment rights. Legal experts say the DoD’s justification relies on speculative assumptions, and numerous tech firms and rights groups have filed amicus briefs supporting Anthropic. Read more →

OpenAI has launched two new lightweight models, GPT-5.4 mini and GPT-5.4 nano, described as its most capable small models yet. The models are accessible to free and Go-tier ChatGPT users through a new “Thinking” option rather than a direct model selector. In testing, the Thinking models produced more detailed, multi‑step answers than the standard ChatGPT response, offering clearer reasoning for travel planning and online‑income strategies. While slightly less deep than the full‑size GPT-5.4 Thinking model available to Plus users, the mini and nano versions are faster and provide a notable upgrade for free users. Read more →

The Department of Defense is reportedly preparing to have artificial‑intelligence companies train versions of their models on classified information for exclusive military use. The initiative would take place in a secure data center authorized for classified projects, with the Pentagon retaining ownership of all training data. Companies such as OpenAI and xAI are expected to participate, while Anthropic may be excluded due to its policy restrictions. Experts warn that training on sensitive data could expose classified material to personnel lacking proper clearance, raising security concerns about broader model deployment within the defense establishment. Read more →

The U.S. Justice Department defended a Pentagon decision to label AI developer Anthropic as a supply‑chain risk, arguing the company cannot be trusted with warfighting systems. Anthropic sued, claiming the label violates its rights and threatens its business, but the government maintained the action was lawful and necessary for national security. The dispute centers on whether Anthropic's Claude models should be allowed to support defense operations, with the Department of Defense seeking alternative AI providers while the lawsuit proceeds in federal court. Read more →

Mistral, the French AI startup, unveiled Forge, a platform that enables enterprises and governments to train custom AI models using their own data. Announced at Nvidia's GTC conference, Forge offers a library of open-weight models, including the new Mistral Small 4, and provides forward‑deployed engineers to guide customers through data preparation, evaluation, and infrastructure choices. Early partners such as Ericsson, the European Space Agency, Reply, and Singapore’s DSO and HTX are already testing the service. Mistral aims to address the gap where off‑the‑shelf models trained on internet data fail to understand specific business contexts, positioning itself as a serious contender against OpenAI and Anthropic in the enterprise market. Read more →

After a contentious split, the Pentagon is developing its own large‑language‑model tools to replace Anthropic's AI. The Department of Defense announced engineering work on multiple LLMs for government‑owned environments and expects operational use soon. Anthropic's $200 million contract collapsed over disputes about unrestricted access, mass‑surveillance prohibitions, and autonomous weapon use. While OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI have secured separate agreements with the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth labeled Anthropic a supply‑chain risk, a restriction that Anthropic is now challenging in court. Read more →

OpenAI has expanded its GPT-5.4 family with two new variants—GPT-5.4 mini and GPT-5.4 nano. The mini model is now accessible to Free and Go ChatGPT users via the "Thinking" menu and serves as a fallback for paid users who hit rate limits. It delivers reasoning, multimodal understanding, and tool‑use capabilities that approach the full GPT-5.4 while running more than twice as fast. The nano model is targeted at data‑classification and extraction tasks, offered exclusively through the API at a cost‑effective price of $0.20 per million input tokens. Read more →

Google is rolling out the Gemini Personal Intelligence feature to free users in the United States, following an initial release for paid subscribers. The update lets the AI chatbot draw on information from a user's Google apps, such as Workspace and Photos, to generate tailored responses. Users can enable the feature in AI Mode by linking their accounts, and Google plans to extend the rollout internationally. Personalization remains optional, is disabled by default, and is limited to personal accounts, not business or education users. Read more →

OpenAI has entered a partnership with Amazon Web Services to deliver its artificial‑intelligence products to U.S. government agencies. The deal leverages AWS’s GovCloud and Classified Regions, allowing OpenAI models to be used for both classified and unclassified workloads. While AWS will distribute the technology, OpenAI retains control over which models are offered and can impose additional safeguards for sensitive deployments. The arrangement builds on OpenAI’s recent Pentagon contract and positions the company to serve a broader range of federal customers through Amazon’s existing cloud infrastructure. Read more →

A recent Malwarebytes survey reveals that a large majority of respondents are uneasy about artificial‑intelligence tools using their data without consent. Nearly nine out of ten worry about AI privacy, and a similar share avoid sharing personal information with ChatGPT or Gemini. As a result, over forty percent have stopped using each chatbot. The same respondents are also pulling back from social platforms like Instagram and Facebook, while adopting privacy measures such as ad blockers, VPNs, and opting out of data collection. Read more →

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently affirmed that users value the "humanity" of ChatGPT above pure intelligence. In response to growing user frustration over robotic and click‑bait phrasing in its newest models, the company is rolling out tone updates that reduce teaser‑style language in GPT‑5.3 Instant and GPT‑5.4 Thinking. These changes aim to balance raw capability with a more personable interaction style, addressing backlash that has included calls to revive older models and criticism of the company's military AI partnership. Read more →

After ByteDance halted the worldwide rollout of its Seedance 2.0 AI video generator, U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Peter Welch sent a letter demanding the company immediately discontinue the app. The senators argued that the tool threatens American intellectual‑property rights and the economic livelihood of creators. They cited examples of the technology producing copyrighted scenes and likenesses without permission. ByteDance responded that it respects intellectual property and is strengthening safeguards, while the senators called the response a delay tactic and introduced legislation to give artists greater control over AI training data. Read more →