United News of Bangladesh

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has expressed concerns over the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, cautioning that while the technology holds immense potential, it could also lead to unforeseen disruptions in industries and employment. During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on February 4, Gates highlighted both the benefits and uncertainties of AI. Bill Gates says he is stepping down from Microsoft board He noted that in the coming decade, intelligence would no longer be a rarity but widely accessible, enhancing fields such as healthcare and education. However, he also warned that such progress could bring significant changes. One of Gates’ most striking predictions involved AI’s potential to reshape the traditional work structure. He questioned whether people might eventually work only two or three days a week as AI takes over complex tasks previously handled by humans. While this shift could offer more flexibility, it also raises concerns about widespread job displacement. Acknowledging the unpredictable nature of AI’s evolution, Gates admitted that many people find the situation unsettling, describing it as "completely new territory." Bill Gates says he has COVID, experiencing mild symptoms Despite his concerns, Gates recognizes AI’s transformative impact on industries like healthcare and education. As AI-powered diagnostics and tutoring become more accessible, these essential services could become both more efficient and affordable. However, the bigger challenge remains—can humanity steer AI’s development before it begins shaping society in unforeseen ways? Source: With input from Economic Times

Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, has started a series of performance-based layoffs today, targeting approximately 5% of its global workforce. This move is part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's strategy to "raise the bar" on performance and streamline operations. Layoff Details Affected employees are being notified via their work and personal emails, detailing severance packages. Access to company systems is revoked within an hour of notification. In the United States, notifications began at 5 a.m. Pacific Time. Due to local labour regulations, employees in Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands are exempt from these immediate cuts and will follow local performance management processes instead. Meta to invest up to $65 billion in AI projects in 2025 Global Impact While the initial notifications are concentrated in the U.S., employees in other regions, including parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, are scheduled to receive their notifications between 11 and 18 February. The layoffs are expected to affect nearly 4,000 employees worldwide. Strategic Shift Towards AI Concurrently, Meta is expediting the hiring of machine learning engineers and other critical engineering roles. This accelerated hiring process is set to take place between 11 February and 13 March, aligning with the company's strategic priorities for 2025. Employee Sentiment The layoffs have generated anxiety among Meta's workforce. Some employees have expressed concerns about a culture of fear and the potential negative impact on morale. There is apprehension that the performance-based cuts could unfairly label departing employees, affecting their future job prospects. Meta abandons diversity programmes amid shifting US policy Industry-Wide Trend Meta's decision mirrors a broader trend in the tech industry, where companies are reassessing their workforce in response to economic pressures and the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence. Other tech giants, including Google and Microsoft, have also implemented layoffs and restructured their operations to focus on AI-driven initiatives. As Meta navigates this transition, the company emphasizes its commitment to maintaining a high-performance culture while investing in future technologies that will shape the next era of digital interaction. Source: Agencies 

The geopolitics of artificial intelligence will be in focus at a major summit in France where world leaders, executives and experts will hammer out pledges on guiding the development of the rapidly advancing technology. It's the latest in a series of global dialogues around AI governance, but one that comes at a fresh inflection point as China's buzzy and budget-friendly DeepSeek chatbot shakes up the industry. U.S. Vice President JD Vance — making his first trip abroad since taking office — will attend the Paris AI Action Summit starting Feb. 10, while China's President Xi Jinping will be sending his special envoy, signaling high stakes for the meeting. Here's a breakdown: Summit basics Heads of state and top government officials, tech bosses and researchers are gathering in Paris for the two-day summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The event aims to address how to harness artificial intelligence’s potential so that it benefits everyone, while containing the technology’s myriad risks. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is attending, along with company officials from 80 countries, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft President Brad Smith and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Tesla chief Elon Musk, who attended the inaugural 2023 summit at former codebreaking base Bletchley Park in England, and DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng have been invited, but it’s unclear if either will attend. Panel talks and workshops at the Grand Palais venue on Monday will be followed by a dinner at the Elysee presidential palace for world leaders and CEOs. Leaders and company bosses are expected to give speeches at Tuesday’s closing session. What's at stake? More than two years after ChatGPT 's debut, generative AI continues to make astounding advances at breakneck speed. The technology that powers all-purpose chatbots is transforming many aspects of life with its ability to spit out high-quality text, images or video, or carry out complex tasks. The 2023 summit in the U.K. resulted in a non-binding pledge by 28 nations to tackle AI risks. A follow-up meeting hosted by South Korea last year secured another pledge to set up a network of public AI safety institutes to advance research and testing. AI safety is still on the agenda in Paris, with an expert group reporting back on general purpose AI's possible extreme dangers. US lawmakers seek ban on DeepSeek from government devices But this time organizers are expanding the discussion to more countries, and widening the debate to a range of other AI-related topics. Like previous editions, this summit won't produce any binding regulation. “The summit comes at a time when many are trying to position themselves in the international competition,” Macron told reporters, according to La Provence newspaper. “It’s about establishing the rules of the game. AI cannot be the Wild West.” The deliverables Organizers are working on getting countries to sign a joint political declaration gathering commitments for more ethical, democratic and environmentally sustainable AI, according to Macron’s office. But it's unclear whether the U.S. would agree to such a measure. A public-interest partnership named “Current AI" is to be launched with an initial $400 million investment. The initiative aims at raising $2.5 billion over the next five years for the public-private partnership involving governments, businesses and philanthropic groups that will provide open-source access to databases, software and other tools for “trusted” AI actors, according to Macron's office. Macron's team wants to shift the focus away from the race to develop better-than-human artificial intelligence through sheer computing power and, instead, open up access to data that can help AI solve problems like cancer or long COVID. “We now have this incredible opportunity to figure out not only how we should mitigate the potential harms from artificial intelligence, but also how we can ensure that it’s used to improve people’s lives,” said Martin Tisné, the summit’s envoy for public interest AI. Trump's team U.S. President Donald Trump has spoken of his desire to make the U.S. the “world capital of artificial intelligence” by tapping its oil and gas reserves to feed the energy-hungry technology. Meanwhile, he has moved to withdraw the U.S. — again — from the Paris climate agreement and revoked former President Joe Biden's executive order for AI guardrails. Trump is replacing it with his own AI policy designed to maintain America's global leadership by reducing regulatory barriers and building AI systems free of “ideological bias.” The U.S. position might undermine any joint communique, said Nick Reiners, senior geotechnology analyst at the Eurasia Group. Workday lays off 1,750 employees, or about 8.5% of its workforce “Trump is against the very idea of global governance,” Reiners said. “It’s one thing to get countries to agree that AI should have guardrails and that AI safety is something worth caring about. But they’ve widened the scope to talk about the future of work and the environment and inclusivity and so on — a whole range of concepts. So it’s hard to imagine getting a widespread agreement on such a broad range of subjects.” China's role Chinese leader Xi is sending Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing, who's been elevated to the role of Xi's special representative. It's a big step up from the 2023 Bletchley meeting, when the Chinese government sent the vice minister of science and technology. It signifies that Xi wants China to play a bigger role in global AI governance as Trump pulls back, Reiners said. DeepSeek ’s release last month stunned the world because of its ability to rival Western players like ChatGPT. It also escalated the wider geopolitical showdown between Beijing and Washington over tech supremacy. Trump said DeepSeek was a “ wake-up call ” for the U.S. tech industry and his AI advisor David Sacks accused DeepSeek of training its model on stolen OpenAI data. The DeepSeek chatbot app now faces investigations, and in some cases, bans in the U.S. and a number of other countries over privacy and security concerns. Yet the rise of DeepSeek, which built its open source AI model at a fraction of the cost and with fewer chips, also puts China's interests in line with France's. French organizers said “the summit aims at promoting an ambitious French and European AI strategy" as advances in the sector have been led by the U.S. and China. Macron hopes to make room for others, including French startup Mistral, which also uses an open source AI model. “DeepSeek is being seen as a kind of vindication of this idea that you don’t have to necessarily invest hundreds of billions of dollars in in chips and data centers,” Reiners said. Transatlantic tensions Another showdown could involve Brussels, which has long been a thorn in the side of U.S.-based Big Tech companies, cracking down with antitrust penalties against the likes of Google, Apple and Meta. Trump lashed out at last month's World Economic Forum with “very big complaints” about the EU’s multibillion-dollar fines, calling them a tax on American companies. Researchers link China's DeepSeek chatbot to a state telecom, raising privacy concerns More recently, the European Union's artificial intelligence regulation has met resistance from the companies. The EU recently unveiled a non-binding "code of practice” for its AI Act but Meta's top lobbyist said the company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, won’t sign up. The EU guidelines, intended to standardize how the AI Act's regulations are applied across the 27-nation bloc, are “unworkable” and the continent’s regulatory environment is “pushing Europe to the sidelines,” Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan told a Brussels event.

A major outage of Sony’s PlayStation Network (PSN) on Saturday has left tens of thousands of gamers unable to access online services, stores and multimedia apps. “We are aware some users might be currently experiencing issues with PSN,” PlayStation said on its social media platforms, confirming users’ mounting complaints around the globe. Reports of connectivity issues spread quickly across social media, with users frustrated by error messages and login failures. “PSN down on a Friday night is criminal,” a London-based user named Ramos wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Musk’s aggressive cost-cutting tactics that shook Washington and Backfired at Twitter According to the Downdetector outage tracking site, users started to report issues with PSN late Friday. Shortly after, Sony responded to users’ concerns, confirming the problems without providing details on the possible cause of the outage. The Sony website confirmed problems with its PlayStation Network services. The PlayStation support webpage said “some services are experiencing issues,” including its account management and gaming and social services, as well as PlayStation Video, PlayStation Store and PlayStation Direct. Last October the PlayStation network was down for several hours.

When Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, he swiftly implemented drastic cost-cutting measures—laying off thousands, halting rent payments, and even auctioning off office furniture—in a bid to revive the platform. Now, Musk has taken the same hardline approach to the federal government, wielding significant influence with President Donald Trump’s support. However, those who witnessed his leadership at Twitter warn that Washington should brace for turmoil—ideologically driven downsizing, fear-based management, legal battles, and widespread disruption. Since taking charge of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk has consolidated authority over vast areas of governance, sidelined experienced officials, accessed sensitive databases, and provoked constitutional disputes over executive power. US lawmakers seek ban on DeepSeek from government devices Emily Horne, a former Twitter policy communications head who later joined the Biden administration, describes Musk’s leadership style as: “Take over, purge perceived opposition without hesitation, and dismantle operations to reshape them in his vision.” Whether Musk’s radical overhaul at Twitter has succeeded remains unclear. The platform, now rebranded as X, has suffered a decline in revenue and user engagement, with Musk himself voicing frustration over its slow financial recovery. “It’s failing,” said Ross Gerber, a minority X shareholder who has written off his investment, predicting that Musk will struggle in Washington as well. “The federal government will chew him up and spit him out.” Despite financial setbacks, X continues to attract a large global user base and bolster Musk’s political clout. However, as he pushes for mass layoffs in federal agencies, banks that funded his Twitter acquisition are scrambling to offload the debt, while advertisers remain hesitant to return to X. Musk’s approach extends beyond mere efficiency; it’s also about eliminating what he sees as a “woke” agenda. Long before Trump made opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) a campaign focus, Musk dismantled Twitter’s DEI programs and dismissed the employees overseeing them. “The culture of Twitter died,” said Theodora Skeadas, a former employee laid off soon after Musk’s $44 billion takeover. “That could be the fate of many government agencies too.” Another tactic Musk has carried over to government: demanding public displays of loyalty. Former Twitter executive Rumman Chowdhury recalls how Musk required engineers to print out their code for in-person review by less-experienced evaluators—a move she sees as intimidation rather than productive oversight. “It’s a fear-driven strategy,” Chowdhury said. “And judging by Twitter/X’s performance, it’s not effective long-term.” Musk later sought to rehire some of the engineers he had fired. His confrontational style also alienated advertisers. Within months of his Twitter acquisition, advertising revenue plummeted by 50% as brands feared he was relaxing content moderation excessively. Rather than attempting to win them back, Musk lashed out, threatening to publicly shame departing advertisers and later telling them to “go f*** themselves” at a conference. “That was self-sabotage,” said ad consultant Tom Hespos, who subsequently advised clients to avoid even posting on X to protect their brands. In August, Musk escalated his battle by suing companies like Unilever, Mars, and CVS Health, accusing them of an “illegal boycott.” He later expanded the lawsuit to include brands such as Lego, Shell, and Nestlé. His legal entanglements extend beyond advertisers—he is still embroiled in disputes with over 2,000 former Twitter employees. Last week, a judge paused a deadline requiring government workers to accept a severance offer Musk had proposed, echoing his controversial “fork in the road” ultimatum at Twitter in 2022. Lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordan, who represents many ex-Twitter employees, said Musk’s reluctance to settle disputes cost X “an insane amount of money” in legal fees. “If this is how he’s running the federal government, I’d be seriously worried about its finances.” Neither X nor DOGE responded to requests for comment from the Associated Press. Musk’s extreme cost-cutting at Twitter also involved simply not paying debts, leading landlords in San Francisco and the UK to sue for unpaid rent. While the British case settled privately, the U.S. case was dismissed under unclear terms. Musk has since brought one of X’s real estate executives into the government. Even if Musk’s cuts had been an undeniable success at X, applying the same strategies to government agencies—where services must continue uninterrupted—poses a different challenge. Legal experts warn that Musk and Trump are overstepping congressional spending authority, predicting that lawsuits will stall their efforts. “All of this is legally questionable,” said University of Michigan law professor Nicholas Bagley. “And that’s before considering civil service protections that prevent politically motivated firings. There will be a lot of bold rhetoric, but in practice, they’ll achieve much less.” Some allies have urged Musk to slow down. Tech investor Paul Graham recently advised him via X to “take your time and be careful.” “The government isn’t just another company,” Graham warned. “Companies come and go—it’s fine. But we’re talking about the system itself here.” Minority X shareholder Gerber acknowledges Musk’s ability to foster loyalty within his companies but doubts his methods will succeed in Washington. “You can’t just fire everyone,” Gerber said. “This is going to be a historic battle.”

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has introduced legislation to prohibit the use of the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek on federal government devices, citing security risks. Representatives Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat from New Jersey, and Darin LaHood, a Republican from Illinois, introduced the “No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act” on Thursday. The bill seeks to bar federal employees from using the AI app on government-issued electronics, following concerns that the Chinese government could leverage the technology for surveillance and misinformation. A similar restriction is already in place for the social media platform TikTok. “The Chinese Communist Party has demonstrated time and again that it will exploit technology to undermine our national security, spread disinformation, and collect data on Americans,” Gottheimer said in a statement. “We cannot allow the CCP to infiltrate our government networks and jeopardize sensitive information.” The proposal follows DeepSeek’s December launch of an AI model that reportedly rivals those developed by US tech firms like OpenAI, Meta, and Alphabet, but at a significantly lower cost. A January research paper highlighting DeepSeek’s capabilities raised concerns among policymakers and tech leaders. Researchers link China's DeepSeek chatbot to a state telecom, raising privacy concerns Security analysts have also flagged potential risks. A report by research firm Feroot, cited by The Associated Press, found that DeepSeek’s software code could transmit user login details to a Chinese state-owned telecom company barred from operating in the US Gottheimer emphasized the urgency of banning the app. “This was enough of a warning sign to take immediate action,” he told the AP. “Americans need to understand the privacy risks, especially as AI chatbots are used to handle sensitive information, contracts, and proprietary data.” He also urged Congress to further investigate DeepSeek’s surveillance potential. The US-China rivalry in technology continues to escalate, with Washington imposing restrictions on Chinese firms like Huawei, limiting microchip exports, and pressuring TikTok’s Chinese parent company to divest. In 2023, the Biden administration banned TikTok from federal devices. “This bipartisan bill is a commonsense step to prevent the app from accessing government networks while closing security loopholes,” LaHood said. Judge says Elon Musk's claims of harm from OpenAI are a 'stretch' but welcomes possible trial The legislation would apply to DeepSeek and any AI app developed by its parent company, High-Flyer, with exceptions for national security and research. Several countries have already restricted DeepSeek. Italy blocked access to the app last month, while Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, and Texas have all barred its use on government systems.

Workday is cutting about 1,750 jobs, or 8.5% of its workforce. In a Wednesday memo to employees, published in a securities filing, Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach said the layoffs were necessary for ongoing growth efforts at the company — including a particular focus on artificial intelligence investments. “As we start our new fiscal year, we’re at a pivotal moment,” Eschenbach wrote. “Companies everywhere are reimagining how work gets done, and the increasing demand for AI has the potential to drive a new era of growth for Workday.” Workday aims to notify the majority of employees affected by the cuts on Wednesday. “I realize this is tough news, and it affects all of us,” Eschenbach added — encouraging employees to work from or head home for the day. Researchers link China's DeepSeek chatbot to a state telecom, raising privacy concerns The maker of human resources software also disclosed that it expects to exit certain office space, but didn't specify a timeline or which locations may be impacted. Still, Eschenbach's memo notes that the restructuring will work to expand Workday's global reach by “investing in strategic locations.” And despite the current layoffs, the maker of human resources software says that it still expects to continue hiring in certain locations and positions over the next year. Workday estimates that it will incur between $230 million and $270 million in charges related to the restructuring plan — primarily in severance payments, employee benefits and other related costs. All employees laid off in the U.S. will be offered a minimum of 12 weeks of pay, with additional weeks based on tenure, Eschenbach said Wednesday, adding that affected workers in other countries will be offered packages based on local standards. The job cuts at Workday arrive as layoffs continue across the tech sector — including from big names like Intel, Cisco and Apple over the past year — amid a broader wave of industry consolidation. Many companies have turned to restructuring as they grapple with how to stay competitive with evolving consumer spending, while also boosting AI-related investments. Workday plans to release earnings results for its full 2025 fiscal year later this month. In the third quarter, the Pleasanton, California-based company posted a net income of $193 million and revenue of $2.16 billion — up from a net income of $132 million and revenue of $2.09 billion in the period prior. Shares for Workday were up more than 2.5% by midday trading Wednesday.

The website of the Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek, whose chatbot became the most downloaded app in the United States, has computer code that could send some user login information to a Chinese state-owned telecommunications company that has been barred from operating in the United States, security researchers say. The web login page of DeepSeek’s chatbot contains heavily obfuscated computer script that when deciphered shows connections to computer infrastructure owned by China Mobile, a state-owned telecommunications company. The code appears to be part of the account creation and user login process for DeepSeek. In its privacy policy, DeepSeek acknowledged storing data on servers inside the People’s Republic of China. But its chatbot appears more directly tied to the Chinese state than previously known through the link revealed by researchers to China Mobile. The U.S. has claimed there are close ties between China Mobile and the Chinese military as justification for placing limited sanctions on the company. DeepSeek and China Mobile did not respond to emails seeking comment. The growth of Chinese-controlled digital services has become a major topic of concern for U.S. national security officials. Lawmakers in Congress last year on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis voted to force the Chinese parent company of the popular video-sharing app TikTok to divest or face a nationwide ban though the app has since received a 75-day reprieve from President Donald Trump, who is hoping to work out a sale. Italy blocks access to the Chinese AI application DeepSeek to protect users' data The code linking DeepSeek to one of China’s leading mobile phone providers was first discovered by Feroot Security, a Canadian cybersecurity company, which shared its findings with The Associated Press. The AP took Feroot’s findings to a second set of computer experts, who independently confirmed that China Mobile code is present. Neither Feroot nor the other researchers observed data transferred to China Mobile when testing logins in North America, but they could not rule out that data for some users was being transferred to the Chinese telecom. The analysis only applies to the web version of DeepSeek. They did not analyze the mobile version, which remains one of the most downloaded pieces of software on both the Apple and the Google app stores. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission unanimously denied China Mobile authority to operate in the United States in 2019, citing “substantial” national security concerns about links between the company and the Chinese state. In 2021, the Biden administration also issued sanctions limiting the ability of Americans to invest in China Mobile after the Pentagon linked it to the Chinese military. “It’s mindboggling that we are unknowingly allowing China to survey Americans and we’re doing nothing about it,” said Ivan Tsarynny, CEO of Feroot. “It’s hard to believe that something like this was accidental. There are so many unusual things to this. You know that saying ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire’? In this instance, there’s a lot of smoke,” Tsarynny said. Texas Governor orders ban on DeepSeek, RedNote for government devices Stewart Baker, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer and consultant who has previously served as a top official at the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency, said DeepSeek “raises all of the TikTok concerns plus you’re talking about information that is highly likely to be of more national security and personal significance than anything people do on TikTok," one of the world’s most popular social media platforms. Users are increasingly putting sensitive data into generative AI systems — everything from confidential business information to highly personal details about themselves. People are using generative AI systems for spell-checking, research and even highly personal queries and conversations. The data security risks of such technology are magnified when the platform is owned by a geopolitical adversary and could represent an intelligence goldmine for a country, experts warn. “The implications of this are significantly larger because personal and proprietary information could be exposed. It’s like TikTok but at a much grander scale and with more precision. It’s not just sharing entertainment videos. It’s sharing queries and information that could include highly personal and sensitive business information,” said Tsarynny, of Feroot. Feroot, which specializes in identifying threats on the web, identified computer code that is downloaded and triggered when a user logs into DeepSeek. According to the company’s analysis, the code appears to capture detailed information about the device a user logs in from — a process called fingerprinting. Such techniques are widely used by tech companies around the world for security, verification and ad targeting. The company’s analysis of the code determined that there were links in that code pointing to China Mobile authentication and identity management computer systems, meaning it could be part of the login process for some users accessing DeepSeek. Asian stocks rise as DeepSeek panic fades The AP asked two academic cybersecurity experts — Joel Reardon of the University of Calgary and Serge Egelman of the University of California, Berkeley — to verify Feroot’s findings. In their independent analysis of the DeepSeek code, they confirmed there were links between the chatbot’s login system and China Mobile. “It’s clear that China Mobile is somehow involved in registering for DeepSeek,” said Reardon. He didn’t see data being transferred in his testing but concluded that it is likely being activated for some users or in some login methods.

Elon Musk's lawyers faced off with OpenAI in court Tuesday as a federal judge weighed the billionaire's request for a court order that would block the ChatGPT maker from converting itself to a for-profit company. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said it was a “stretch” for Musk to claim he will be irreparably harmed if she doesn't intervene to stop OpenAI from moving forward with its transition from a nonprofit research laboratory to a for-profit corporation. But the judge also raised concerns about OpenAI and its relationship with business partner Microsoft and said she wouldn't stop the case from moving to trial as soon as next year so a jury can decide. “It is plausible that what Mr. Musk is saying is true. We’ll find out. He’ll sit on the stand,” she said. Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the artificial intelligence company last year, first in a California state court and later in federal court, alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a nonprofit research lab benefiting the public good. Musk had invested about $45 million in the startup from its founding until 2018, his lawyer said Tuesday. Musk escalated the legal dispute late last year, adding new claims and defendants and asking for a court order that would stop OpenAI’s plans to convert itself into a for-profit business more fully. Musk also added his own AI company, xAI, as a plaintiff. Also targeted by Musk's lawsuit is OpenAI's close business partner Microsoft and tech entrepreneur Reid Hoffman, a former OpenAI board member who also sits on Microsoft's board. Gonzalez Rogers said she has a high bar for approving the kind of preliminary injunction that Musk wants but hasn't yet ruled on the request. She did say she had “significant concerns” with two people connected to Microsoft on OpenAI's board — Hoffman and longtime Microsoft executive Deanna Templeton, who was a “non-voting observer.” “So you want me to believe that she was sitting there listening to all the discussions and not telling anybody? What would the point be for her to sit there and listen to everybody, if not to communicate what she was listening? There would be no point for her to be there, which is why she actually should not be there,” she said. Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn, has been on Microsoft’s board since shortly after the tech giant bought the job networking site. He stepped down from OpenAI's board in 2023 to avoid conflicts with his AI startup, Inflection. Musk says USAID “criminal organisation, we’re shutting it down” Templeton, who Musk also named as a defendant, was added as a non-voting member of OpenAI’s board in the aftermath of Altman’s ouster after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sought more stability on the board. But months later, she was dropped from the OpenAI board as U.S. antitrust enforcers were expressing concerns about such arrangements on corporate boards. The judge has handled a number of tech industry cases including Apple's fight with Epic Games, though she said Tuesday that Musk's case is “nothing like” that one. That case was also the last time she granted a preliminary injunction, in 2020, eight months before the case went to trial. Then-President Barack Obama appointed Gonzalez Rogers to the federal bench in 2011. Tuesday's hearing was originally set for January but was postponed after Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff said his house was destroyed in the Pacific Palisades wildfire. Musk, who did not attend the hearing, has alleged in the lawsuit that the companies are violating the terms of his foundational contributions to the charity. Judge Gonzalez Rogers called it a “stretch” to claim “irreparable harm” to Musk, and called the case “billionaires vs. billionaires.” She questioned why Musk invested tens of millions in OpenAI without a written contract. Toberoff said it was because the relationship between Altman and Musk at the time was “built on trust” and the two were very close. “That is just a lot of money” to invest “on a handshake,” the judge said. OpenAI has said Musk’s requested court order would “debilitate OpenAI’s business” and mission to the advantage of Musk and his own AI company and is based on “far-fetched” legal claims. At the heart of the dispute is a 2017 internal power struggle at the fledgling startup that led to Altman becoming OpenAI’s CEO. Emails disclosed by OpenAI show Musk had also sought to be CEO and grew frustrated after two other OpenAI co-founders said he would hold too much power as a major shareholder and chief executive if the startup succeeded in its goal to achieve better-than-human AI known as artificial general intelligence, or AGI. Musk has long voiced concerns about how advanced forms of AI could threaten humanity. Altman eventually succeeded in becoming CEO and has remained so except for a period in 2023 when he was fired and then reinstated days later after the board that ousted him was replaced. Elon Musk's DOGE commission gains access to sensitive Treasury payment systems: AP sources OpenAI has sought to demonstrate Musk’s early support for the idea of making OpenAI a for-profit business so it could raise money for the hardware and computer power that AI needs. Musk is not the only one challenging OpenAI's for-profit transition. Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms has asked California's attorney general to block it, and the office of Delaware's attorney general has said it is reviewing the conversion. It was not clear Tuesday when the case might go to trial. Musk's lawyers initially said they would be ready by June after some back-and-forth with the two sides the judge indicated it probably won't be until June 2026 at the earliest, but likely early 2027.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has banned the use of Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek on government-issued devices, making Texas the first U.S. state to impose such a restriction on the popular chatbot. The emerging AI platform has recently gained widespread attention in the U.S., shaking up the AI industry. Abbott also prohibited the use of the Chinese-owned social media apps Xiaohongshu—commonly referred to as RedNote—and Lemon8 on all state-issued devices. "Texas will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate our state's critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps," Abbott said in a statement. "Texas will continue to protect and defend our state from hostile foreign actors." Italy blocks access to the Chinese AI application DeepSeek to protect users' data The governor's office declined to provide further comments on the matter. AI startup DeepSeek has drawn significant market interest by demonstrating its ability to compete with industry leader OpenAI. In recent weeks, Xiaohongshu has seen a surge in American users, particularly after the short-lived TikTok ban. The app is widely popular in China and neighboring countries like Malaysia and Taiwan, with around 300 million active users. Many Americans had turned to it as a TikTok alternative and a way to protest the ban. Lemon8, owned by ByteDance—the parent company of TikTok—also gained traction in the lead-up to the initial TikTok ban on Jan. 19. Texas, along with several other states and the federal government, has already banned TikTok on government devices. The app's future remains uncertain as former President Donald Trump issued an executive order granting ByteDance more time to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations. ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.