Author: Jaxon Bennett

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Artificial intelligence myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Meta and artificial intelligence start-up Character.ai are being investigated by Texas attorney-general Ken Paxton over whether the companies misleadingly market their artificial intelligence chatbots as therapists and mental health support tools. The attorney-general’s office said it was opening the investigation into Meta’s AI Studio, as well as the chatbot maker Character.AI, for potential “deceptive trade practices”, arguing that their chatbots were presented as “professional therapeutic tools, despite lacking proper medical credentials or oversight”, according to a statement on Monday.“By posing as sources of…

Large tech groups including Meta, Alphabet and Nvidia have significantly increased their spending on personal security as tech bosses play an ever more public role in US politics and confront hostility towards corporate executives.The security budgets for the CEOs of 10 big tech companies analysed by the Financial Times rose to more than $45mn in 2024. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Nvidia, and Palantir all increased their protection budget by more than 10 per cent year on year. Security experts say the spending and concern around threats to tech bosses has only increased this year after high-profile attacks in the US targeting…

These spikes threaten cascading power outages, affecting homes and businesses that feed off the same grid network. Last summer, utility providers in Virginia had to grapple with a sudden surge in power after a cluster of facilities switched to back-up generators as a safety precaution, leading to an excess supply that risked grid infrastructure.With abundant power the priority, operators have also ended up in areas with significant water constraints. Hyperscale and colocation sites in the US consumed 55bn litres of water in 2023, according to researchers at the LBNL. Indirect consumption tied to energy use is markedly higher at 800bn…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.‘The New Geography of Innovation’, by Mehran GulThe US has created most of the technologies that define our age: personal computers, smartphones, search engines and social networks. In his sprightly written and anecdote-rich book exploring tech hotspots around the world, Mehran Gul sets out to answer the question: is that now changing? Anyone familiar with Betteridge’s law of headlines may not be surprised by the answer: No. With the partial exception of China, Gul argues that the US still out-innovates the rest of…

Today on the show, Aiden Reiter talks with Lex editor John Foley about three things to watch this summer: 24-hour trading, tech earnings and Tesla’s new approach to robotaxis. Also, they go short Bank Holidays, and long properly measuring GDP. For more on 24-hour trading, check out Jennifer Hughes’ guest appearance on the FT’s Behind the Money podcast. Link here.Sign up for the FT Weekend Festival at ft.com/festival and use the promo code “FTPodcasts” for 10 per cent off. For a free 30-day trial to the Unhedged newsletter go to: https://www.ft.com/unhedgedoffer.You can email Robert Armstrong and Katie Martin at unhedged@ft.com.View…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Booming AI demand helped Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to its highest quarterly net profit, but the world’s largest chip manufacturer gave a more cautious outlook, citing risks from US tariffs and foreign exchange volatility.TSMC reported NT$398.3bn (US$13.5bn) in net earnings on Thursday for the second quarter, a 60.7 per cent jump year-on-year, along with a 39 per cent jump in revenues to NT$933.8bn. Chief executive CC Wei attributed the record results to “continued robust demand” for AI and high-performance computing applications.The company…

Hi everyone, this is Lauly, waving hello from drizzly Tokyo, where I am on a short business trip.It’s been a while since I last visited this vibrant city. That was in spring 2023, shortly after the lifting of Covid quarantine controls. We had a company team-building event that almost every overseas correspondent attended. We took a dinner cruise on a traditional boat in Tokyo Bay and later sang karaoke. Touching down in Haneda Airport yesterday reminded me how joyful it is to see colleagues that you work closely with despite living far away.I am hosting this week’s #TechAsia from Tokyo…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The US Federal Communications Commission is poised to introduce a ban on companies that use certain Chinese technology and equipment from building submarine communication cables that connect to America.The US telecoms regulator will next month vote on a new rule aimed at tackling potential Chinese espionage by ensuring that new cables that land in the US are less vulnerable to threats from Beijing and other adversaries. “Submarine cables are the unsung heroes of global communications, carrying 99 per cent of all Internet…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Artificial intelligence myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.OpenAI plans to take a cut from online product sales made directly through ChatGPT, as the Sam Altman-led group looks to further develop ecommerce features in the hunt for new revenues.The San Francisco-based company currently displays products on the platform with an option to click through links to online retailers. It also announced a partnership with payments group Shopify in April, shortly after it launched an enhanced shopping experience on the platform to better display products and reviews. According to multiple people…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldThe writer is a fellow at Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence and the Cyber Policy Center. She is the author of ‘The Tech Coup’Look at the news cycle and it seems as if everyone is talking about AI and technology regulation. That is certainly the case in my bubble. But despite dominating headlines, technology barely ranks among voters’ top policy priorities and many politicians remain reluctant to engage with tech policy. The gap between the societal impact of…