AP Technology

January 30, 2025

Meta agrees to pay $25 million to settle lawsuit from Trump after Jan. 6 suspension

WASHINGTON (AP) — Meta has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against the company after it suspended his accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. That’s according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the settlement. It’s the latest instance of a large corporation settling litigation with the president, who has threatened retribution on his critics and rivals. And it comes as Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg have joined other large technology companies in trying to ingratiate themselves with the new administration. Two people said that terms of the agreement include $22 million going to Trump’s future presidential library.

Did DeepSeek copy ChatGPT to make new AI chatbot? Trump adviser thinks so

Did the upstart Chinese tech company DeepSeek copy ChatGPT to make the artificial intelligence technology that shook Wall Street this week? That’s what ChatGPT maker OpenAI is suggesting, along with U.S. President Donald Trump’s top AI adviser. Neither has disclosed specific evidence of intellectual property theft but the comments could fuel a reexamination of some of the assumptions that led to a panic in the U.S. over DeepSeek’s advancements. OpenAI said in a statement that China-based companies “are constantly trying to distill the models of leading U.S. AI companies” but didn’t call out DeepSeek specifically. DeepSeek didn’t return a request for comment.

US cybersecurity agency’s future role in elections remains murky under the Trump administration

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s cybersecurity agency has played a critical role in helping states shore up the defenses of their voting systems, but its election mission appears uncertain amid sustained criticism from Republicans and key figures in the Trump administration. President Donald Trump has yet to name anyone to lead the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. And for the first time since the agency was formed, there are no plans for anyone in its leadership to address the annual gathering of the nation’s secretaries of state, beginning Thursday in Washington. Trump’s allies remain angry over its efforts to counter misinformation about the 2020 presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic.

DeepSeek says it built its chatbot cheap. What does that mean for AI’s energy needs and the climate?

Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek stunned markets and AI experts with its claim that it built its immensely popular chatbot at a fraction of the cost of those made by American tech titans. That immediately called into question the billions of dollars U.S. tech companies are spending on a massive expansion of energy-hungry data centers they say are needed to unlock the next wave of artificial intelligence. Could this new AI mean the world will need significantly less energy for this technology than everyone thinks? The answer has profound implications for the climate crisis. Artificial intelligence uses massive amounts of energy, much of it from the burning of fossil fuels which causes climate change.

General purpose AI could lead to array of new risks, experts say in report ahead of AI summit

LONDON (AP) — A new report says advanced artificial intelligence systems have the potential to create extreme new risks, such as fueling widespread job losses, enabling terrorism or running amok. The international report released Wednesday catalogs the range of dangers posed by the technology. It was being released ahead of a major AI summit in Paris next month. The paper is backed by 30 countries including the U.S. and China, even as the two countries battle over AI supremacy. The study’s lead author says the report is a “synthesis” of existing research intended to help guide officials working on drawing up guardrails for the rapidly advancing technology.

Microsoft reports 10% quarterly profit growth as it works to show AI investments paying off

Microsoft said Wednesday that its profit for the October-December quarter grew 10% from the same time last year as it works to capitalize on the huge amounts of money it has spent to advance its artificial intelligence technology. The company reported net income for the quarter of $24.1 billion, or $3.23 per share, beating Wall Street expectations of $3.11 per share. The Redmond, Washington-based software maker posted revenue of $69.6 billion in the quarter, up 12% from the previous year, also beating expectations. Analysts polled by FactSet Research expected Microsoft to generate revenue of $68.87 billion, and currently project revenue of $69.81 billion for the January-March quarter.

Meta posts sharply higher Q4 profit, revenue, topping Wall Street’s expectations

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Meta Platforms Inc. posted sharply higher profit and revenue for its fourth quarter on Wednesday, thanks to higher ad revenue on its social media properties. Its shares shot up in after-hours trading even as it forecast increasing expenses on its artificial intelligence efforts. The Menlo Park, California-based company earned $20.83 billion, or $8.02 per share, in the October-December quarter. That’s up 49% from $14.02 billion, or $5.33 per share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue grew 21% to $48.39 billion from $40.11 billion. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $6.76 per share on revenue of $47 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

AI-assisted works can get copyright with enough human creativity, says US copyright office

Artists can copyright works they made with the help of artificial intelligence, according to a new report by the U.S. Copyright Office that could help clear the way for the use of AI tools in Hollywood, the music industry and other creative fields. The nation’s copyright office receives about half a million copyright applications per year covering millions of individual works. It has increasingly been asked to register works that are AI-generated. The report issued Wednesday clarifies the office’s approach as one based on what the top U.S. copyright official describes as the “centrality of human creativity” in authoring a work that warrants copyright protections.

DeepSeek’s new AI chatbot and ChatGPT answer sensitive questions about China differently

HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese tech startup DeepSeek’s new artificial intelligence chatbot has sparked discussions about the competition between China and the U.S. in AI development, with many users flocking to test the rival of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Observers are eager to see whether the Chinese company has matched America’s leading AI companies at a fraction of the cost. The chatbot’s ultimate impact on the AI industry is still unclear, but it appears to censor answers to sensitive topics, a practice commonly seen on China’s internet. For example, when it was asked on Tuesday about Beijing’s bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square in 1989, it said the event was beyond its scope and suggested talking about something else.

DeepSeek has rattled the AI industry. Here’s a quick look at other Chinese AI models

HONG KONG (AP) — The Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek has rattled markets with claims its latest AI model performs on a par with those of OpenAI, despite using less advanced but more energy-efficient computer chips. DeepSeek’s emergence has raised concerns among some experts and investors that China may have overtaken the U.S. in the artificial intelligence race despite restrictions on its access to the most advanced chips. DeepSeek is one of many Chinese companies working on AI to make China the world leader in the field by 2030 and best the U.S. in the battle for technological supremacy. Like the U.S., China is investing heavily in artificial intelligence, semiconductors and processing capacity.