Latest Tech News

Stay updated with the latest in technology, AI, cybersecurity, and more

Filtered by: alt Clear Filter

A Common Virus Causes Cancer, but Most Americans Are Clueless About It

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a major source of cancer that’s now almost entirely preventable through vaccination. But sobering research out today shows that Americans are largely in the dark about HPV and its many health risks, much less the HPV vaccine. Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina conducted the study, which examined nationally representative survey data. A third of Americans don’t know that the virus exists, they found, while most who do know are still unaware

Meta accessed women's health data from Flo app without consent, says court

A jury has ruled that Meta accessed sensitive information from a woman’s reproductive health tracking app without consent. The app in question is called Flo Health. Developed in 2015 in Belarus to track menstrual cycles, it has evolved over the years as a tracking app for highly detailed, intimate aspects of women’s reproductive health. Flo Health user Erica Frasco bought a class action lawsuit against the company in 2021, following a damning report about its privacy infractions by the Wall St

Illinois limits the use of AI in therapy and psychotherapy

Illinois last week banned the use of artificial intelligence in mental health therapy, joining a small group of states regulating the emerging use of AI-powered chatbots for emotional support and advice. Licensed therapists in Illinois are now forbidden from using AI to make treatment decisions or communicate with clients, though they can still use AI for administrative tasks. Companies are also not allowed to offer AI-powered therapy services — or advertise chatbots as therapy tools — without t

OpenAI and Sam Altman Are Reportedly Working on a Neuralink Competitor

The escalating feud between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his arch nemesis, Elon Musk, may soon escalate with news that the former is starting a rival brain-computer interface (BCI) company. As the Financial Times reports, OpenAI is weighing a major investment in Merge Labs, a BCI startup seeking to become the latest Neuralink competitor by achieving $850 million valuation with the help of the company's ventures team and other interested parties. According to three insiders with knowledge of the p

Illinois bans use of artificial intelligence for mental health therapy

Illinois last week banned the use of artificial intelligence in mental health therapy, joining a small group of states regulating the emerging use of AI-powered chatbots for emotional support and advice. Licensed therapists in Illinois are now forbidden from using AI to make treatment decisions or communicate with clients, though they can still use AI for administrative tasks. Companies are also not allowed to offer AI-powered therapy services — or advertise chatbots as therapy tools — without t

Microplastics are everywhere — including in the air around plastic treaty negotiations

is a senior science reporter covering energy and the environment with more than a decade of experience. She is also the host of Hell or High Water: When Disaster Hits Home , a podcast from Vox Media and Audible Originals. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Thousands of delegates have descended upon Geneva this week for what’s supposed to be the culmination of years of negotiations that, if successful, are supposed to end in a groundbreaking

U.S. alcohol consumption drops to a 90-year low, new poll finds

A new Gallup report reveals that only 54% of American adults reporting drinking alcohol in 2025. Lea Suzuki/S.F. Chronicle The percentage of Americans who report drinking alcohol has hit a nearly 90-year low, according to a recent Gallup poll. The results of Gallup’s annual Consumption Habits survey, released Wednesday, revealed that only 54% of U.S. adults reported drinking alcohol in 2025. This figure represents a three-year decline from 67% in 2022, and falls below the previous record low o

The Pandemic Didn’t Actually Spike America’s Anxiety, Study Finds

The covid-19 pandemic was a horrific and earth-shattering world event. But it may not have scarred our collective psyche as profoundly as you would think. New research indicates that the pandemic didn’t spike Americans’ overall anxiety. Scientists at the University of Virginia led the study, which examined a decade’s worth of survey data. They found evidence that our anxiety levels didn’t significantly shift in the first years of the pandemic. People’s mental fortitude during the pandemic was p

Sam Altman Reportedly Launch Rival Brain-Chip Startup to Compete With Musk’s Neuralink

The rivalry between Sam Altman and Elon Musk is about to get weirder. Until now, the two have been fighting over whose company has the most advanced AI models. But soon, they could be battling to prove who makes the best brain chip implants. The Financial Times reported, citing unnamed sources, that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is working on co-founding a new brain chip startup called Merge Labs. The company will develop what is known as a brain-computer interface (BCI). BCIs work by implanting tiny

Coalton Playground: Type-Safe Lisp in the Browser

Coalton Playground: Type-Safe Lisp in Your Browser I wanted to share a side project I’ve been tinkering with for a while and finally got around to shipping: Coalton Playground – basically a web-based REPL for Coalton, which is this interesting statically-typed Lisp dialect. So What’s Coalton? If you haven’t heard of it, Coalton is kind of a weird (in a good way) mashup – it takes Haskell’s type system and plants it right in the middle of Common Lisp. You get all the type safety stuff like alg

OpenAI, cofounder Sam Altman to take on Neuralink with new startup

OpenAI and its cofounder Sam Altman are preparing to back a company that will compete with Elon Musk’s Neuralink by connecting human brains with computers, heightening the rivalry between the two billionaire entrepreneurs. The new venture, called Merge Labs, is raising new funds at an $850 million valuation, with much of the new capital expected to come from OpenAI’s ventures team, according to three people with direct knowledge of the plans. Altman has encouraged the investment and will help

OpenAI and Sam Altman are reportedly creating a startup rival to Elon Musk's Neuralink

Sam Altman is preparing to co-found a new company funded by OpenAI that will go up against Elon Musk's Neuralink, The Financial Post reported. The startup, called Merge Labs, will use AI for its brain-computer interface and compete directly with Neuralink, along with other nascent companies in the field like Precision Neuroscience and Synchron. The name Merge Labs comes from a term Altman used in 2017 called "the merge" that describes the moment human brains and computers come together. The com

What Is Creatine, and Should You Be Taking Most Studied Supplement (2025)

First, it was mushrooms in your coffee. Then protein in your soda. The latest wellness staple sneaking into your pantry is creatine. In the days of yore, creatine supplements were a muscle-bro staple, relegated to the lockers of collegiate linebackers and bodybuilders. Lately, it has muscled its way into Pilates studios, gym girlies’ TikToks, and longevity wellness retreats. TikTok content This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from. “Creatine has been gaining popularity amo

Let’s discuss: What is your smartphone’s battery health percentage?

Andy Walker / Android Authority 🗣️ This is an open thread. We want to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments and vote in the poll below — your take might be featured in a future roundup. I have a few older phones in my collection. I’ve rattled on about how I love each of them for a host of reasons: the Nokia 9 PureView for its quirky camera, the Galaxy Note 9 for its complete feature kit and S Pen, and the P30 Pro, which is somehow still nearly outlasting my Galaxy S24 FE on a sing

AT&T starts offering $240 loyalty discount to some users — here’s who’s eligible

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR AT&T is sending some existing Fiber broadband customers a $20 monthly loyalty discount for 12 months, for a total savings of $240. The offer appears to be rolled out at random; eligibility doesn’t require being a long-time customer. This follows uproar caused by Verizon’s pricing changes and other carriers rolling out retention and loyalty discounts. Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority? Set us as a preferred source in Google Search to

Sam Altman’s new startup wants to merge machines and humans

is a news editor with over a decade’s experience in journalism. He previously worked at Android Police and Tech Advisor. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. If you’ve enjoyed Elon Musk’s ongoing beef with Sam Altman and OpenAI, get ready for a whole new chapter: soon they’ll be rivals not just in AI, but in brain-computer interfaces too. The Financial Times reports that Altman and OpenAI are backing a new company called Merge Labs developing

Sam Altman, OpenAI will reportedly back a startup that takes on Musk’s Neuralink

Sam Altman is in the process of co-founding a new brain-to-computer interface startup called Merge Labs and raising funds for it with the capital possibly coming largely from OpenAI’s ventures team, unnamed sources told the Financial Times. The startup is expected to be valued at $850 million. A source familiar with the deal tells TechCrunch that talks are still early and OpenAI has not yet committed to participation, so terms could change. Merge Labs is also reportedly working with Alex Bla

OpenAI adds new ChatGPT third-party tool connectors to Dropbox, MS Teams as Altman clarifies GPT-5 prioritization

Want smarter insights in your inbox? Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get only what matters to enterprise AI, data, and security leaders. Subscribe Now Today, many eyes are on OpenAI CEO and co-founder Sam Altman‘s ongoing public feud with Elon Musk on the latter’s social network, X. But Altman’s recent statements regarding the ongoing rollout of his company’s latest and greatest large language model (LLM), GPT-5, are probably more important to customers and enterprise decision-makers. A

Your Oura Ring just got a major update for free - especially for women's health tracking

Nina Raemont/ZDNET ZDNET's key takeaways Oura launched features for pregnant and perimenopausal users on Tuesday. The science-backed features provide further context during periods of drastic biological change. The features are personalized, and the brand stresses data protection and privacy. Pregnant and perimenopausal women are getting more ways to track and understand their health, thanks to several new features Oura announced on Tuesday. The smart ring brand launched a redesigned Pregn

Sam Altman is right and wrong about the future of photos

I’m annoyed, not for the first time, by something Sam Altman has said. But this time it’s because I’m annoyed at how much I agree with what he’s saying — even though I think his statement is kind of bullshit. In a recent interview, journalist Cleo Abram asked Altman how people will be able to tell what’s real and what’s not in an age of convincing AI-generated content. Specifically, she references the bunnies. You know the ones I mean: caught in some Ring-camera-ish footage of a backyard, disco

Topics: ai altman know real think

275M patient records breached—How to meet HIPAA password manager requirements

In 2024, the healthcare sector experienced over 700 data breach incidents, which is higher than any other industry, including finance. These breaches exposed more than 275 million patient records, with password-related vulnerabilities serving as the primary attack vector in most of the cases. While threat actors use various penetration methods, compromised credentials remain the most consistent and damaging entry point. These statistics reflect a fundamental threat to patient and organizationa

'Japanese Walking' and Walking Pads Keep Trending, but Is That Actually Exercise? We Asked Fitness Experts

Whether you're using an under-desk treadmill or walking pad or going on a "hot girl walk" outdoors, it's safe to say that people are interested in walking as exercise. And now, "Japanese walking," or interval walking training, is having a moment. The Washington Post reports that Japanese walking originated from a 2007 study in Japan, which concluded that high-intensity interval walking may protect middle-aged and older people from increases in blood pressure and decreases in muscle strength and

What does it mean to be thirsty?

Because these brain areas are difficult to study — due not only to their location, but also to their composition, with many different cell types and crisscrossed circuitry — it’s only in the last decade or so that neuroscientists have begun to understand how thirst fundamentally works. The body, researchers have found, is filled with sensors that feed clues to the brain about how much water or salt an organism needs to consume. How those sensors work, or what they even are, continues to elude sc

The Food Is Trashy, But Dollar Stores Aren’t Ruining Our Diets, Study Claims

Some good news for bargain hunters out there: New research shows that while the food bought at dollar stores is generally less healthy, customers’ diets aren’t suffering greatly as a result. Scientists at Tufts University and the USDA-Economic Research Service collaborated for the study, which tracked the food purchasing habits of nearly 200,000 American families. They found that a growing number of people are buying food from dollar stores, particularly people with lower incomes. At the same t

As Fears About AI Grow, Sam Altman Says Gen-Z Are the ‘Luckiest Kids in History’

Over the weekend, the New York Times dropped a story about how computer science graduates are so hard up for jobs that they can’t even find work at Chipotle. The reason? Many people are blaming AI, which has increasingly eaten into the job market for entry-level coders. Not everybody is worried about this, however. Sam Altman, the CEO of one of the most successful AI companies in the world, says that recent college grads should really be grateful for their current situation. Fortune originally

Users Were So Addicted to GPT-4o That They Immediately Cajoled OpenAI Into Bringing It Back After It Got Killed

Last week, OpenAI startled the world by announcing that its long-awaited GPT-5 would replace all of its previous models, The move sparked outrage. Apart from being severely underwhelmed by the performance of OpenAI's newest offering, power users immediately started to beg CEO Sam Altman to bring back preceding models, often for a reason that had little to do with intelligence, artificial or otherwise: they were attached to it on an emotional level. "Why are we getting rid of the variants and 4

Trellis (YC W24) Is Hiring: Automate Prior Auth in Healthcare

Trellis helps healthcare providers treat more patients faster—while eliminating pre-service paperwork. We do this by automating document intake, prior authorizations, and appeals at scale to streamline operations and accelerate care. Trellis is a spinout from Stanford AI lab and is backed by leading investors including YC, General Catalyst, Telesoft partners, and executives at Google and Salesforce. The Role Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) at Trellis work directly with healthcare providers

FDA Rehires Controversial Biologics Chief Just Days After Trump Fired Him

The circus was performing at the Food and Drug Administration this weekend, apparently. The FDA has hired Vinay Prasad to oversee the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research—less than two weeks after he left that same role. Endpoints News was the first to report on Prasad’s rehiring on Saturday. He was initially reportedly fired by President Donald Trump himself, following growing pressure from Laura Loomer and other conservative voices who criticized him over the agency’s regulation of a

Apple Fitness+ access now available for free through GLP-1 weight-loss program

Apple Fitness+ access is coming to another partner platform. FuturHealth, a personalized weight-loss service, announced today that it’s offering complimentary Apple Fitness+ access to all program members at no additional cost. Fitness+ provides guided workout sessions with tight Apple Watch integration FuturHealth provides a subscription weight-loss program that offers “access to weight loss medication, our digital weight loss platform, ongoing guidance from clinicians and personalized nutritio