GoKawiil
Tech News
In an interview with Time magazine, President Trump reportedly said he does not want data centers built near his own properties, even as his administration promotes rapid AI infrastructure expansion nationwide. The comment surfaced amid broader discussion of his views on AI and energy policy.
Canada Rocket Company, one of three firms awarded government funding under the Launch the North program, says it will bypass building a small rocket and move directly to developing a medium-lift launch vehicle. CEO Hugh Kolias said the decision followed consultations with about 150 engineers, including senior Starship staff, who argued a small rocket wouldn't meaningfully reduce development risk. The initial government awards to NordSpace, Reaction Dynamics, and Canada Rocket Company totaled CAD 8.33 million, with larger funding signaled for the future.
The U.S. Treasury Department has issued new regulations allowing eligible children to be automatically enrolled in so-called 'Trump accounts' without parents needing to sign them up first. Parents will still need to claim the accounts afterward to gain full control over them.
A new AP-NORC poll finds just 17% of U.S. adults approve of President Trump's handling of the cost of living, while only 26% approve of his overall economic performance, a new low. The survey also found 65% of adults blame Trump's policies, including tariffs, for persistently high prices rather than outside factors.
Slovenia's domain registry, Register.si, reported 44,000 .si domain registrations in September, up from fewer than 2,000 in August, including 11,000 in a single day on 30 September. Registry spokesperson Klara Herman called the surge 'unprecedented' and linked it to President Trump's 11 September UN speech urging that AI be rebranded 'super intelligence,' or SI—matching Slovenia's country-code suffix.
Reports indicate the Trump administration has adopted the phrase 'super intelligence' as its preferred label for advanced AI systems, with business leaders reportedly expected to use the term. The shift reframes how government officials and allied executives publicly describe AI capabilities.
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.'
Tim Cook and his successor as Apple CEO, John Ternus, were missing from a White House gathering of top tech executives convened by President Trump to discuss artificial intelligence. Leaders from Meta, Tesla, Nvidia and other major tech firms attended, but Apple did not respond to questions about why it was left out, and the White House also declined to comment. Cook had attended a state dinner at the White House just days earlier alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping.
White House aides say they are increasingly worried about the 2026 midterms, with national polling showing a historically low 37 percent approval rating for Trump in a Wall Street Journal survey. Trump has told aides he believes Republicans could still outperform expectations, citing internal polling showing narrower deficits in individual House races, while some advisers privately predict heavy losses. Officials reportedly began seeking foreign policy wins, including a US-Denmark agreement on Greenland and a touted Venezuela oil deal, to help drive midterm turnout.
Executives from Google, Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, xAI and Nvidia signed the 'White House Accord on Super Intelligence' at a luncheon hosted by President Trump. The pact asks companies to build internal safety controls, empower internal safety teams, partner with external monitors for independent assessment, and have board committees track the work, but it carries no binding regulatory force.
The Trump administration unveiled America.gov, a free chatbot meant to consolidate roughly 29,000 government websites into a single tool answering questions about tasks like applying for a passport, registering to vote, or tracking a tax refund. The bot, powered by Google's Gemini and xAI's Grok, currently only provides guidance and directs users to relevant forms and sites rather than processing personal information, though officials say it will handle form submissions and applications like Medicare enrollment next year. Users quickly tested the chatbot and found it gave answers—such as confirming Joe Biden won the 2020 election and that climate change is real—that contradict statements made by Trump and his administration.
The Trump administration launched America.gov, an AI chatbot Trump called 'one of the most revolutionary product launches of all time.' Social media users have since pointed out that the chatbot's responses to questions about the United States are factual and neutral, sometimes contradicting Trump's own claims or framing.