TECHNOLOGY

The owner of X Elon Musk on Thursday predicted the future with AI would be an "age of abundance" with a "universal high income" instead of a universal basic income but warned of "humanoid robots" that might chase humans.

The abbreviation of artificial intelligence (AI) has been named the Collins Word of the Year for 2023, the dictionary publisher said on Tuesday.

From Hollywood's death-dealing Terminator to warnings from genius Stephen Hawking or Silicon Valley stars, fears have been fueled that artificial intelligence (AI) could one day destroy humanity.

British mobile phone giant Vodafone announced Tuesday the sale of its Spanish division to investment fund Zegona for up to 5.0 billion euros ($5.3 billion), as part of an ongoing overhaul.

Facebook and Instagram users in Europe will be able to buy subscriptions to use the social networks without being tracked for targeted advertising from next month, Meta announced Monday, to comply with tougher EU rules.

Elon Musk has said that corrections to posts on X would no longer be eligible for payment as the social network comes under mounting criticism as becoming a conduit for misinformation.

The UK government will welcome foreign political leaders, tech industry figures, academics and others this week for a two-day summit billed as the first of its kind on artificial intelligence (AI).

Tesla mechanics in Sweden walked off the job on Friday to protest against the electric carmaker's refusal to sign a collective wage agreement, the metalworkers union said.

X is tinkering with video and audio calling at the platform formerly known as Twitter, according to a post Wednesday by owner Elon Musk.

Global carmaker Stellantis said Thursday it will buy a 20 percent stake in Chinese electric car maker Leapmotor, making it the latest European brand seeking a foothold in the country's highly competitive market via partnerships with local manufacturers.

With a drone camera, a survivor is spotted in the rubble. "My idea is to help people such as firefighters with my machines," Izu, 61, told AFP. It was Attraclab that co-developed the small delivery robot squeezing through the cardboard rubble at the Japan Mobility Show and designed the remote-control stretcher on wheels or tracks.

A year ago Elon Musk purchased X, formerly known as Twitter, taking the platform on a journey that has resulted in lost money, advertisers and trust.

Tokyo's rebranded auto show returns this weekend just as China looks set to overtake Japan as the world's biggest car exporter after Toyota, Nissan and others got stuck in the electric vehicle slow lane.

Music streaming giant Spotify on Tuesday said it registered 26 percent growth in active users for the third quarter as it reported a rare quarterly profit.

Twitter won fame in the Arab uprisings nearly a decade ago as a pivotal source for real-time crisis information, but that reputation has withered after the platform's transformation into a magnet for hate speech and disinformation under Elon Musk.

Netflix on Wednesday said subscriber numbers grew nearly 11 percent to 247 million in the recently ended third quarter as it cracked down on password sharing and refined an ad-supported tier.

The EU announced probes Thursday into Facebook owner Meta and TikTok, seeking more details on the measures they have taken to stop the spread of "illegal content and disinformation" after the Hamas attack on Israel.

Artificial intelligence models lack transparency, according to a study published Wednesday that aims to guide policymakers in regulating the rapidly-growing technology.

After years earning bumper profits by producing parts for fossil fuel-powered cars, German suppliers to the crucial auto industry are struggling as the transition to electric mobility gathers pace.

The social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, said Tuesday it has started charging new users in New Zealand and the Philippines for basic features such as posting messages in a trial aimed at reducing spam.

Chinese internet giant Baidu unveiled the newest version of its AI chatbot ERNIE on Tuesday, claiming it rivals the capabilities of OpenAI's latest ChatGPT. Baidu led Chinese tech firms in rolling out generative artificial intelligence apps, which are trained on vast amounts of data and interactions with users to answer questions, even complex ones, in human-like language.

Mike Skinner of The Streets has returned "rejuvenated" with a new album and his own self-made movie, optimistic for the future of music as it sits on the cusp of an AI revolution.

Xbox-maker Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, whose video games include "Call of Duty" and "Candy Crush", are set to seal one of the biggest technology tie-ups after overcoming final hurdles Friday.

The US Internal Revenue Service is asking that Microsoft pay a whopping $29 billion in unpaid taxes from 2004 to 2013, the company said in an official filing on Wednesday.

The EU's top internet enforcer took to X, the rebranded Twitter, on Wednesday to trumpet a rival platform, as a duel with Elon Musk over disinformation ratcheted up.

From fake accounts impersonating journalists to war-themed video games fueling false narratives, tech platforms are struggling to contain a tsunami of misinformation around Palestinian-Israeli hostilities after rolling back content moderation policies.

US market regulators on Thursday asked a judge to order Elon Musk to comply with a subpoena to answer questions about his purchases of Twitter shares last year.

Elon Musk's social media platform X has stripped headlines from news articles shared by users, in a move likely to further worsen relations with media groups.

Meta is proposing to offer European users a subscription-based version of Instagram and Facebook if they would rather not be tracked for ads, a source said on Tuesday.