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AI leaders such as Sam Altman, Dario Amodei and Marc Andreessen previously predicted that powerful AI would push the cost of labor and goods toward zero and cause widespread job losses. Instead, employment remains high and prices are climbing, with the Conference Board's consumer confidence index recently hitting its lowest level since 2014.
A federal court issued a preliminary injunction halting enforcement of Utah's SB 73, which required adult websites to detect and block VPN users or verify the physical location of visitors using privacy tools, and banned instructions on using VPNs to bypass age checks. The judge found the law likely violates the Constitution's restriction on states burdening people and businesses outside their borders, since it would effectively force sites to age-verify every visitor nationwide in case they were an obfuscating Utah resident.
International law enforcement agencies coordinated an operation to dismantle a ransomware group known as KillSec, which is linked to roughly 500 victims worldwide over the past two years. Investigators have identified the suspected mastermind behind the operation as a 16-year-old.
404 Media reports it has viewed a law enforcement training video showing Magnet Forensics' GrayKey Preserve tool and a new Evidence Preservation Mode that can work around Apple's inactivity reboot feature, which normally restarts iPhones after 72 hours of being locked. The video reportedly shows the tools keeping a device in an 'After First Unlock' state even after a reboot, and claims they can also stop automatic deletion of certain cached data like locations, messages and photos.
404 Media reports that forensic access tools used by law enforcement can work around the 'inactivity reboot' feature Apple added to iOS in November 2024. That feature automatically restarts an iPhone after 72 hours of being locked, a safeguard designed to make the device harder to unlock using forensic hardware. The report does not name the specific tool or vendor involved.
California Governor Gavin Newsom rejected Senate Bill 1130, which would have regulated secret recording via wearable devices like smart glasses, citing overly broad definitions and redundancy with existing law. The bill, authored by state senator Eloise Gómez Reyes, would have made California the first state to specifically regulate smart glasses, imposing fines or prison time on violators and noncompliant manufacturers.
Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation that would have required smart glasses and other wearable devices to include a light or sound signaling active recording starting in 2028. The bill also would have penalized secret recording in private spaces like changing rooms and doctor's offices, and banned tools designed to hide recording indicators. Newsom said the bill's definition of a wearable recording device was too broad, noting existing state law already bars nonconsensual recording in private spaces.
Gavin Newsom vetoed SB-1130, a bill that would have made it a misdemeanor to secretly record people with smart glasses in places like changing rooms and doctors' offices. The bill also would have required recording indicators on wearables and banned tools designed to hide them. Newsom said the bill's definition of 'wearable recording device' was too broad and could unintentionally cover common smartwatches.
Leakers Moore's Law is Dead and IT Home discovered a new AMD chip codenamed Gainsborough in recent driver files, built on TSMC's N3P process as a semi-custom design. Import records reviewed by IT Home show AMD has already shipped test equipment for the chip, which measures 25mm by 25mm, the same package size reportedly planned for AMD's upcoming Ryzen Z3 and Z3 Extreme handheld chips.
Magnet Forensics, maker of the GrayKey phone-unlocking devices used by law enforcement, has developed GrayKey Preserve and an Evidence Preservation Mode feature, according to a leaked video obtained by 404 Media. The tools are designed to freeze seized iPhones before Apple's inactivity reboot—which locks down a phone after 72 hours unused—kicks in, and to prevent automatic deletion of data like cached locations and recently removed photos or messages.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of bills barring employers from basing termination or disciplinary decisions solely on AI, and requiring disclosure when AI triggers mass layoffs or relocations. The laws also ban surveillance tools in workplace bathrooms and prevent lawyers from fully outsourcing core legal work to AI systems. Newsom additionally signed an order mandating state agencies use the term 'artificial intelligence' rather than 'super intelligence.'
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 947, the 'No Robo Bosses Act,' which bars California employers from relying solely on automated systems to fire or discipline workers. Companies that primarily use AI for such decisions must have a human reviewer confirm them using other evidence like managerial evaluations, and must notify affected employees in writing, disclose what data was used, and give them a human contact to explain the decision.