Head of Boeing’s 737 MAX Program Leaves After Midair Incident

WASHINGTON — Boeing said on Wednesday it was replacing the head of its troubled 737 MAX program effective immediately, the first major executive departure since the January 5 midair panel blowout of a new Alaska Airlines MAX 9.  Ed Clark, who had been with the plane-maker for nearly 18 years, departed as Boeing has been dealing …

US Chip Controls Threaten China’s Technology Ambitions

Furious at U.S. efforts that cut off access to technology to make advanced computer chips, China’s leaders appear to be struggling to figure out how to retaliate without hurting their own ambitions in telecoms, artificial intelligence and other industries. Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government sees the chips — which are used in everything from phones …

Biden Eyes AI Dangers, Says Tech Companies Must Make Sure Products are Safe

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday it remains to be seen whether artificial intelligence (AI) is dangerous, but underscored that technology companies had a responsibility to ensure their products were safe before making them public.  Biden told science and technology advisers that AI could help in addressing disease and climate change, but it was …

Ukraine’s Destruction Brought to Life Through Virtual Reality Exhibit

An exhibition currently on display in Poland uses virtual reality to show the level of destruction Russia’s war has brought on Ukraine. For some visitors, the VR videos that can be viewed at the “Through the War” display have been overwhelming. Lesia Bakalets reports from Warsaw. Daniil Batushchak. …

US-Trained Woman Teaching Digital Skills to Children in Rural Kenya

The digital divide is one of the biggest challenges to education in sub-Saharan Africa, where the United Nations says nearly 90% of students lack access to household computers, and 82% to the internet. In Kenya, the aid group TechLit Africa aims to change that by building scores of computer labs. Juma Majanga reports from Mogotio, …

TikTok Fined $15.9M by UK Watchdog for Misuse of Kids’ Data

Britain’s privacy watchdog hit TikTok with a multimillion-dollar penalty Tuesday for misusing children’s data and violating other protections for users’ personal information. The Information Commissioner’s Office said it issued a fine of $15.9 million to the short-video sharing app, which is wildly popular with young people. It’s the latest example of tighter scrutiny that TikTok …

Australia Bans TikTok on Government Devices

Australia said Tuesday it will ban TikTok on government devices, joining a growing list of Western nations cracking down on the Chinese-owned app due to national security fears.    Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the decision followed advice from the country’s intelligence agencies and would begin “as soon as practicable”.    Australia is the last member of the …

Virgin Orbit Files for Bankruptcy, Seeks Buyer

Virgin Orbit, the satellite launch company founded by Richard Branson, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will sell the business, the firm said in a statement Tuesday.    The California-based company said last week it was laying off 85% of its employees — around 675 people — to reduce expenses due to its inability to secure sufficient funding.    …

Germany Could Block ChatGPT if Needed, Says Data Protection Chief

Germany could follow in Italy’s footsteps by blocking ChatGPT over data security concerns, the German commissioner for data protection told the Handelsblatt newspaper in comments published on Monday. Microsoft-backed MSFT.O OpenAI took ChatGPT offline in Italy on Friday after the national data agency banned the chatbot temporarily and launched an investigation into a suspected breach …

NASA to Reveal Crew for 2024 Flight Around the Moon

NASA is to reveal the names on Monday of the astronauts — three Americans and a Canadian — who will fly around the Moon next year, a prelude to returning humans to the lunar surface for the first time in a half century.    The mission, Artemis II, is scheduled to take place in November 2024 with the four-person …

Twitter Pulls ‘Verified’ Check Mark From Main New York Times Account

Twitter has removed the verification check mark on the main account of The New York Times, one of CEO Elon Musk’s most despised news organizations. The removal comes as many of Twitter’s high-profile users are bracing for the loss of the blue check marks that helped verify their identity and distinguish them from impostors on …

Dutch Refinery to Feed Airlines’ Thirst for Clean Fuel 

Scaffolding and green pipes envelop a refinery in the port of Rotterdam where Finnish giant Neste is preparing to significantly boost production of sustainable aviation fuel.  Switching to non-fossil aviation fuels that produce less net greenhouse gas emissions is key to plans to decarbonize air transport, a significant contributor to global warming.  Neste, the largest …

Italy Temporarily Blocks ChatGPT Over Privacy Concerns

Italy is temporarily blocking the artificial intelligence software ChatGPT in the wake of a data breach as it investigates a possible violation of stringent European Union data protection rules, the government’s privacy watchdog said Friday. The Italian Data Protection Authority said it was taking provisional action “until ChatGPT respects privacy,” including temporarily limiting the company …

Namibia Looks East for Green Hydrogen Partnerships

The administrator of the National Energy Administration of China, Zhang Jinhua, on Friday paid a visit to Namibia President Hage Geingob. The visit is aimed at establishing cooperation in the area of green hydrogen production. Namibia is positioning itself as a future green hydrogen producer to attract investment from the globe’s leading and fastest growing …

Call for Pause in AI Development May Fall on Deaf Ears

A group of influential figures from Silicon Valley and the larger tech community released an open letter this week calling for a pause in the development of powerful artificial intelligence programs, arguing that they present unpredictable dangers to society. The organization that created the open letter, the Future of Life Institute, said the recent rollout …

Is Banning TikTok Constitutional?

U.S. lawmakers and officials are ratcheting up threats to ban TikTok, saying the Chinese-owned video-sharing app used by millions of Americans poses a threat to privacy and U.S. national security. But free speech advocates and legal experts say an outright ban would likely face a constitutional hurdle: the First Amendment right to free speech. “If …

Russia Using TikTok to Push Pro-Moscow Narrative on Ukraine

New data is suggesting at least some U.S. adversaries are taking advantage of the hugely popular TikTok video-sharing app for influence operations. A report Thursday by the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD) finds Russia “has been using the app to push its own narrative” in its effort to undermine Western support for Ukraine. “Based on …

Chinese Hacking Group Highly Active, US Cybersecurity Firm Says

A Chinese hacking group that is likely state-sponsored and has been linked previously to attacks on U.S. state government computers is highly active and focusing on a broad range of targets that may be of strategic interest to China’s government and security services, a private American cybersecurity firm said in a report Thursday. The hacking …

Tech Leaders Sign Letter Calling for ‘Pause’ to Artificial Intelligence 

An open letter signed by Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and other prominent high-tech experts and industry leaders is calling on the artificial intelligence industry to take a six-month pause for the development of safety protocols regarding the technology. The letter — which as of early Thursday had been signed by nearly 1,400 people …

Blinken Urges Democracies to Use Technology to Help Citizens

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday urged democracies around the world to work together to ensure technology is used to promote democratic values and fight efforts by authoritarian regimes to use it to repress, control and divide citizens. Blinken made the comments as he led a discussion on “Advancing Democracy and Internet Freedom …

Biden Says GOP Policies Would Surrender Tech Economy to China

President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Republicans’ ideas for cutting the budget could undermine U.S. manufacturing and help China dominate the world economy.  Speaking at a semiconductor maker in North Carolina to highlight his own policies, Biden is trying to shape public sentiment as he faces off with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., about raising …

Curbed by US Sanctions, Huawei Unveils New 4G Smartphones

At a March 23 product launch in Shanghai, Chinese tech giant Huawei unveiled its signature P60 series of smartphones with high-end cameras and its Mate X3 series mobile phones equipped with folding screens. There were demonstrations. There were speeches. But something was missing from the Huawei offerings: 5G, which gives phones the speedy internet access …

Ford Battery Plant Using Chinese Tech Raises Alarms in Congress

Ford Motor Company’s plan to create batteries for the rapidly expanding electric vehicle (EV) market could encounter congressional speed bumps because of the carmaker’s plan to use technology created by a Chinese company with ties to the communist government. Ford executive chairman William Clay Ford Jr. announced in February that the company would spend $3.5 …

Twitter Celebs Balk at Paying Elon Musk for Blue Check Mark

William Shatner, Monica Lewinsky and other prolific Twitter commentators — some household names, others little-known journalists — could soon be losing the blue check marks that helped verify their identity on the social media platform.  They could get the marks back by paying up to $11 a month. But some longtime users, including 92-year-old Star …

Twitter: Parts of its Source Code Leaked Online

Some parts of Twitter’s source code — the fundamental computer code on which the social network runs — were leaked online, the social media company said in a legal filing on Sunday that was first reported by The New York Times.  According to the legal document, filed with the U.S. District Court of the Northern …