AP Technology

February 14, 2025

State Department halts plan to buy $400M worth of armored vehicles from Musk’s Tesla

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.

Trump settles suit against Elon Musk’s X over his post-Jan. 6 ban

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has settled a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s X over the social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, banning him after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. That’s according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential arrangement. The settlement was for about $10 million. Some of the money is expected to go to Trump’s legal fees, with the balance directed to his future presidential library. It’s the latest instance of a large corporation agreeing to make large payments to Trump to settle litigation, as Trump has threatened retribution on his critics and rivals.

TikTok returns to Apple and Google app stores in the US

HONG KONG (AP) — TikTok has returned to the app stores of Apple and Google in the U.S., after President Donald Trump delayed the enforcement of a TikTok ban. TikTok, which is operated by Chinese technology firm ByteDance, was removed from Apple and Google’s app stores on Jan. 18 to comply with a law that requires ByteDance to divest the app or be banned in the U.S. The popular social media app, which has over 170 million American users, previously suspended its services in the U.S. for a day before restoring service following assurances from Trump that he would postpone banning the app. On Trump’s first day in office, he signed an executive order to extend the enforcement of a ban on TikTok to April 5.

Bristling at ‘Gulf of Mexico’ name change on maps, Mexico says it might sue Google

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says her government is not ruling out filing a civil lawsuit against Google if it maintains its stance of calling the stretch of sea between northeastern Mexico and the southeastern United States the “Gulf of America.” Sheinbaum, in her morning press conference on Thursday, said the president’s decree to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico is restricted to the “continental shelf of the United States” because Mexico still controls much of the body of water. “We have sovereignty over our continental shelf,” she said.

Musk says he’ll withdraw $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI if ChatGPT maker remains nonprofit

Elon Musk says he will abandon his $97.4 billion offer to buy the nonprofit behind OpenAI if the ChatGPT maker drops its plan to convert into a for-profit company. Lawyers for the billionaire said in a filing to a California court on Wednesday that if OpenAI’s board is prepared to preserve its mission and halt its conversion, Musk will withdraw the bid. Musk and a group of investors made their offer earlier this week, in the latest twist to a dispute with the artificial intelligence company that he helped found a decade ago.

Thomson Reuters scores early win in AI copyright battles in the US

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thomson Reuters has won an early battle in court over the question of fair use in artificial intelligence-related copyright cases. The media and technology company filed a lawsuit against Ross Intelligence in 2020, arguing they had used materials from Thomson Reuters’ own legal platform Westlaw to train an AI model without permission. District Judge Stephanos Bibas issued a decision Tuesday that affirmed Ross Intelligence was not permitted under U.S. copyright law to use the company’s content in order to build its platform.

Italian government denies it spied on journalists and migrant activists using Paragon spyware

ROME (AP) — Italy’s government denies that it has spied on journalists and migrant activists using spyware, but says it will cooperate with any investigation into “vulnerabilities” after at least seven Italian cellphones were apparently hacked with military-grade surveillance technology. Meta’s WhatsApp messaging service informed dozens of people across the European Union on Jan. 31 that they had been targeted in a spyware attack using technology from Israeli cyber firm Paragon Solutions. After The Guardian newspaper broke the story, the Italian government confirmed that at least seven Italian cellphones were involved and that it had activated the National Cybersecurity Agency to investigate.

How Elon Musk $97.4 billion bid complicates matters for OpenAI

PARIS (AP) — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has dismissed a $97.4 billion takeover bid led by rival Elon Musk, but the unsolicited offer could complicate Altman’s push to transform the maker of ChatGPT into a for-profit company. “We are not for sale,” Altman said Tuesday at an artificial intelligence summit in Paris. Musk’s bid, announced Monday, is the latest in a bitter years-long battle with Altman over control of the AI startup they both helped found a decade ago as a nonprofit and is now a leading force in the global boom surrounding generative AI technology.

Looking for love this Valentine’s Day? Don’t fall for Instagram romance scams

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta Platforms is urging users to stay vigilant about “romance scams” ahead of Valentine’s Day, warning of unsolicited messages through its apps and other social media platforms, as well as general text messages. Scammers tend to pose as “attractive, single and successful individuals,” Meta says. They build trust over a period of time before asking their targets for money.

Judge tells agencies to restore webpages and data removed after Trump’s executive order

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has told government agencies to restore public access to health-related webpages and datasets they removed to comply with an executive order by President Donald Trump. U.S. District Judge John Bates in Washington agreed Tuesday to issue a temporary restraining order requested by the Doctors for America advocacy group. The judge instructed the government to restore access to several webpages and datasets the group identified as missing from websites. Agencies removed the material after the Republican president signed an order for them to use the term “sex” and not “gender” in federal policies and documents. The scrubbed material includes reports on HIV prevention and a webpage for providing clinicians with guidance on reproductive health care.