Camila Nogueira

Artificial intelligence data centers generate enough heat to raise temperatures in surrounding areas, according to new research examining how these facilities influence land surface temperatures over time. 

Scientists found that land near AI data centers can warm by an average of 2°C (3.6°F) within months after operations begin, with extreme increases reaching 9.1°C (16.4°F). The warming effect can extend as far as 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the facilities and may already affect more than 340 million people who live within that distance.

Continue reading →

A Los Angeles jury has found that Meta and Google built addictive online platforms that harmed a young user, awarding $6 million to a woman who said she became hooked on YouTube at age 6 and Instagram at age 9 and later experienced depression, anxiety and body dysmorphia.

The verdict came Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court after nearly nine days of deliberations by a 12-person jury following a five-week trial. Jurors concluded that Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, and Google, which owns YouTube, were negligent and failed to provide adequate warnings about dangers connected to their platforms. Jurors also determined the companies acted with “malice, oppression, or fraud.”

Continue reading →

Canada’s immigration system is increasingly relying on artificial intelligence to process applications as officials try to manage large volumes of cases. Government officials say the technology helps sort and review files faster, yet cases involving AI-generated errors, rising delays, and applicants using similar tools have drawn attention to how the system operates.

One case brought the issue into public view when a permanent residence applicant received a refusal letter containing job duties she had never performed.

Continue reading →

Kleiner Perkins has raised $3.5 billion to invest in artificial intelligence startups across industries, including software, health care, transportation, and autonomy.

The venture capital firm, with more than 50 years of history in Silicon Valley, built its reputation through early investments in companies such as Google and Amazon.com Inc. The new capital will support AI companies through two funds designed for different stages of growth.

Continue reading →

The United States has banned new consumer internet routers manufactured outside the country after the Federal Communications Commission added foreign-made consumer routers to its Covered List of communications equipment considered to pose “an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States.” Routers connect computers, phones, TVs, and other devices to the internet in homes and businesses, and influence connection speeds and wireless coverage.

The decision places routers alongside foreign-made drones that were banned in the United States at the end of last year. Under the new policy, consumer-grade Wi-Fi routers produced outside the country can no longer receive FCC equipment authorization, a requirement for most electronic devices before they can be imported, marketed, or sold in the United States.

Continue reading →

Apple is preparing iOS 27, the next version of its mobile operating system expected to arrive in 2026, with new artificial intelligence features, system performance improvements, and support for the company’s first foldable iPhone. Among the developments surrounding the update is the possibility that Apple’s Messages app could serve as a platform for conversational AI.

When Apple first introduced Apple Intelligence, the company took a negative stance toward building a chatbot-style Siri. That position has changed as development continues on the next generation of Apple’s AI systems. Apple is now expected to introduce a dedicated Siri chatbot application powered by the next generation of Apple Foundation Models. The chatbot version of Siri is intended to compete with conversational AI tools from Claude, OpenAI, and Gemini.

Continue reading →

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a powerful iPhone hacking technique known as DarkSword, a tool capable of compromising hundreds of millions of devices through infected websites.

The technique was discovered by researchers from Google, iVerify, and Lookout, who revealed on Wednesday that attackers have used it in active campaigns. The exploit can instantly and silently compromise vulnerable iPhones that visit malicious web pages. DarkSword targets devices running iOS 18, Apple’s previous operating system, which still powered close to a quarter of all iPhones as of last month, according to Apple’s own numbers.

Continue reading →

During the Senate Intelligence Committee’s annual Worldwide Threats hearing on Wednesday, FBI Director Kash Patel told lawmakers that the bureau purchases commercially available information that can track the movement and location history of individuals in the United States.

“We do purchase commercially available information that’s consistent with the Constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us,” Patel told senators.

Continue reading →

Nvidia announced new computing platforms intended for satellites and orbital data centers during its GTC 2026 AI conference in San Jose on March 16. The California-based company introduced the Space-1 Vera Rubin Module, a system built to bring advanced artificial intelligence processing into orbit and support applications such as geospatial intelligence, satellite constellations, and autonomous space operations.

The computing system operates in environments with strict size, weight, and power (SWaP) constraints, a requirement for spacecraft hardware. Nvidia said the platform provides data-center-class performance for satellites and other space missions while supporting computing workloads across space and ground infrastructure.

Continue reading →

Three teenage girls from Tennessee have filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, accusing its Grok chatbot of turning their real photographs into AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) that circulated across online platforms.

The complaint was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. It names Musk and xAI leaders and accuses the company of releasing Grok with features capable of producing sexually explicit images involving real people, including minors. The plaintiffs include two minors and a third victim who is now an adult but was underage when the events described in the lawsuit occurred.

Continue reading →

A cybersecurity investigation involving a remote job applicant known as “Jo” revealed the inner workings of a North Korean remote employment operation that U.S. officials say generates hundreds of millions of dollars each year for Pyongyang. 

The case began with a routine interview for an artificial intelligence role at the Virginia-based security firm Nisos and expanded into a three-month investigation that uncovered suspected North Korean operatives, a laptop farm operating from Florida homes, technical connections to China, and a network that authorities say funnels money toward the country’s weapons programs.

Continue reading →

Shantanu Narayen announced that he will transition from his role as chief executive of Adobe after serving in the position for more than eighteen years. The company said the transition will occur once the board of directors appoints a successor. Narayen will remain with the company as chair of the board after leaving the CEO role.

Adobe disclosed the leadership plan on March 12, 2026, in San Jose, California. The board has begun a search for the company’s next chief executive and will review both internal and external candidates. Frank Calderoni, Adobe’s lead independent director, will lead the process as chair of a special committee formed to guide the selection.

Continue reading →

Security researchers have uncovered a malware operation that has infected about 14,000 routers and network devices, most of them produced by Asus, and incorporated them into a distributed proxy network used to carry internet traffic for cybercrime.

The malware, called KadNap, was discovered by researchers at Black Lotus Labs, the research division of Lumen Technologies. According to Chris Formosa, a researcher at Black Lotus Labs who spoke with Ars Technica, the malware spreads by exploiting vulnerabilities that device owners have not patched.

Continue reading →

The Social Security Administration’s inspector general is investigating allegations that a former member of the Department of Government Efficiency copied sensitive Social Security databases and attempted to take the information to a private-sector job.

The investigation began after a whistleblower complaint alleged that the former software engineer said he possessed two restricted Social Security Administration databases and stored at least one of them on a thumb drive. The inspector general’s office opened the inquiry and informed members of Congress as well as the Government Accountability Office, which is conducting its own audit of DOGE's access to federal data systems.

Continue reading →

Artificial intelligence researcher Yann LeCun has launched a new startup focused on a different direction for machine intelligence. The company, Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs (AMI Labs), has raised $1.03 billion in a seed financing round at a $3.5 billion pre-money valuation. The venture is developing “world models,” an AI architecture designed to learn predictive representations of environments through observation of the real world.

LeCun is one of the most recognized figures in artificial intelligence research. He received the 2018 Turing Award alongside Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio for contributions to deep learning. Before launching the new company, he served as Chief AI Scientist at Meta from 2013 until his departure earlier this year. 

Continue reading →