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Tag - big-tech

 
 

BIG TECH

During an internal sales meeting in July 2025, Judson Althoff, Microsoft's chief commercial officer at the time, touted the company¡¯s rapid artificial intelligence growth in China.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 18, 2026
Microsoft makes big AI inroads in China by selling OpenAI models
The tech giant counts ByteDance, Ant Group, Meituan and Tencent Holdings among its Chinese customers.
A growing number of young consumers are turning to analog and single-purpose devices like cyberdecks and e-readers as a form of resistance to AI-first platforms and automated digital systems.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2026
What is the hottest Gen-Z tech trend? Anti-AI
Many of the models now being hunted online were released before their new owners were born.
Visitors attend Google's I/O 2026 developer conference in Mountain View, California, on May 19. The event primarily focused on the next generation of artificial intelligence and developer tools.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2026
Google¡¯s AI shift is causing a collective freak-out
The new dark art of search engine optimization is known as GEO (generative is now the first word) and it paradoxically has a more human flavor than the era of backlinks.
Google and Apple are among a group of technology companies that have expressed opposition to a proposed law in Canada allowing police more access to citizens¡¯ data.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 27, 2026
Apple and Google blast Canada¡¯s plan to give police more access to citizen data
The Canadian government is defending the Lawful Access Act, saying it¡¯s designed to ensure police have the legal tools to ¡°prevent, investigate and respond¡± to modern crime.
Apple CEO Tim Cook applauds as the iPhone 17 series goes on sale at the Apple Store in New York City last September.
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2026
Apple grandmaster Tim Cook is playing 3D chess with AI
The smartphone is the most valuable choke point in the modern economy. It¡¯s the primary entry to the electronic world ¡ª and Apple dominates.
Liberal Democratic Party cybersecurity affairs leader Masaaki Taira speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 19, 2026
Japan¡¯s Mythos response ¡®must involve Big Tech,¡¯ says LDP cybersecurity chief
Anthropic allows only a limited number of companies and groups to access the AI model given the risks it poses.
Alphabet, the parent of Google, sold ?576.5 billion ($3.6 billion) in bonds in the largest ever yen deal by a non-Japanese company as competition to fund data centers and AI infrastructure intensifies.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 15, 2026
Alphabet sells biggest yen bond on record by foreign issuer
The Google parent sold ?576.5 billion ($3.6 billion) of bonds as competition to fund centers and AI infrastructure intensifies.
Alphabet¡¯s Gemini artificial intelligence model is considered one of the best in the industry.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 11, 2026
AI wins have Alphabet poised to become world¡¯s biggest company
Over the past year, Alphabet?has gone from an artificial intelligence afterthought to the one firm in the market with dominant positions in nearly every aspect of the technology.
Mitsubishi UFJ is enhancing its services partly by leveraging expertise from technology giants.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 7, 2026
MUFG to form strategic partnership with Google
The two firms will develop a service to assist customers in online shopping and payments with the help of artificial intelligence.
A top Google scientist warned EU antitrust regulators that its proposal ?requiring the company to share search engine data with rivals risked exposing ?users' private information.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 6, 2026
Top Google scientist says EU data measures pose privacy risk for users
The European Commission, which acts as the EU competition enforcer, has in recent years cracked down on Big Tech via a slew of legislation.
Under Mark Zuckerberg, Meta plans to use employee computer activity data to train AI systems while investing heavily in automation that could replace human workers.
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2026
Meta is making workers train their AI replacements
Meta plans to put tracking software on its employees¡¯ computers to track their mouse movements, clicks and keystrokes.
The Google logo during the CERAWeek energy conference 2026 in Houston, Texas, on March 24. A reported agreement between Google and the U.S. Department of Defense requires the tech giant to help adjust its AI safety settings and filters at the government's request.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 28, 2026
Google inks deal allowing Pentagon to use AI models for classified work
A reported agreement requires the tech giant to help adjust its AI safety settings and filters at the government¡¯s request.
The California State Capitol building in Sacramento. A pressure campaign waged by tech companies, spearheaded by the California Chamber of Commerce and the big tech trade group Chamber of Progress,  has quashed a California legislative measure that pitted giants such as Apple and Google against smaller rivals.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 28, 2026
Apple and Google crushed California bill helping smaller rivals
The bill had sought to stop major technology platforms from favoring their own products over those of competitors in places such as Apple¡¯s App Store.
Elon Musk attends the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January. Musk¡¯s Grokipedia exemplifies how privately controlled AI chatbots are placed to shape public opinion through opaque algorithms without transparency or oversight.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2026
Who¡¯s whispering in your chatbot¡¯s ear?
Chatbots do not simply curate existing information; they generate and frame it.
More than 200 children¡¯s specialists, advocacy groups and schools sent a letter raising concerns about what they view as a lack of substance in AI-generated YouTube videos.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 2, 2026
Google faces calls to prohibit AI videos for kids on YouTube
More than 200 children¡¯s specialists, advocacy groups and schools sent a letter raising concerns about what they view as a lack of substance in AI-generated YouTube videos.
Mark Zuckerberg exits the Los Angeles Superior Court on Feb. 18.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 31, 2026
Meta¡¯s $280 billion tailspin sparks ¡®tobacco moment¡¯ questions
Wall Street is grappling with the possibility that social media companies could face a similar risk to the shrinking of the tobacco industry following stronger regulations.
Lori Schott is embraced by lawyer Laura Marquez-Garrett outside the court after the jury found Meta and Google liable in a key test case accusing Meta and Google's YouTube of harming children's mental health through addictive social media platforms, in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 26, 2026
Meta and Google found liable in first social media addiction trial
The landmark decision could signal hefty risks for the companies as they fight thousands of similar claims.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address at Meta Connect in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 17, 2025.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 25, 2026
Meta ordered to pay $375 million in New Mexico trial for child exploitation
The state¡¯s attorney general had accused Meta of misleading users about the safety of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp and of enabling child sexual exploitation.
The Los Angeles Superior Court building. A landmark trial being heard there over social media addiction is a critical test for thousands of similar cases, with potentially billions of dollars at stake, and it could ultimately force media companies to change how they interact with youths, one of their key audiences.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 10, 2026
Meta and Google pivot in addiction trial to accuser¡¯s history
Lawyers for Meta have indicated they plan to demonstrate that her psychological trauma came from turmoil in her family and school life rather than social media.
This former GM and Foxconn factory in Lordstown, Ohio, seen here in October, is set to be converted by SoftBank for data center equipment manufacturing.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 3, 2026
SoftBank¡¯s Ohio power plant delivers an AI sticker shock
The underlying message is that the old model of just building giant power plants to meet whatever new peak demand forecast we dream up is unsustainable.

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