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Tag: Technology

  • How Google’s A.I. Overviews Are Rewriting the Rules of Digital Commerce

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    As Google’s AI Overviews move from experiment to default, brands face a fundamental shift in visibility, control and customer acquisition. Unsplash+

    The rules of online visibility have changed. For decades, digital commerce strategy rested on a relatively stable bargain: brands optimized for ranking and bids, Google surfaced links and ads and consumers clicked through to evaluate options. That model is being rewritten with a new gatekeeper standing between brands and customers. Artificial intelligence has become an intermediary in search that increasingly answers questions, frames comparisons and influences decisions before users ever reach a brand’s site. 

    Google’s AI Overviews, the generative summaries that now appear at the top of many search results, are fundamentally altering how consumers discover products, compare services and make purchasing decisions. Since late 2024, Google has expanded its reach across more query types, industries and regions, signaling that generative search is moving from experiment to default behavior. Instead of presenting users with a list of links to explore, search now often begins with a synthesized answer that sets the context, priorities and perceived winners before any click occurs. 

    The shift is becoming commercially consequential. In recent months, advertisers and agencies have begun to observe paid placements appearing within or adjacent to AI Overviews. Beyond reshaping organic discovery, early signals show ads beginning to appear within or adjacent to these summaries, introducing a new, and largely opaque, layer of paid visibility. While such placements remain limited for now, their presence at all raises a larger issue: advertisers currently have little insight into where their ads surface within A.I.-driven results, how those placements perform or how they influence buyer intent. As a result, a growing portion of search visibility is effectively operating outside of traditional reporting frameworks. 

    This coincides with a broader recalibration of Google’s search experience. As regulators scrutinize Google’s market power and users increasingly expect instant, synthesized answers, Google has strong incentives to keep people on the results page longer. AI Overviews serve that goal. For brands, however, this creates a growing measurement and control gap at precisely the moment when search remains one of the most expensive and performance-critical channels in digital commerce.

    A recent analysis by Adthena of more than 21 million search results suggests that this is not a gradual transition. The expansion of AI Overviews is accelerating, affecting visibility across nearly every major industry and creating what many brands are already experiencing as a measurement and control gap in search performance. With search engine results pages (SERPs) evolving in real time, brands face a narrowing window to understand where their ads and content appear, how A.I.-driven placements reshape performance and what strategic adjustments are required before competitors adapt faster. 

    The numbers tell a stark story

    Between April and September of last year, AI Overviews expanded their footprint dramatically across the search landscape. Finance saw the fastest growth, with visibility increasing at 9.9 percent, while healthcare maintained the highest overall presence with an 8.3 percent jump. Travel rose 5.8 percent, and even traditionally slower-moving sectors such as retail and automotive still recorded steady growth of around 2 percent.

    At first glance, these percentages may seem modest, but the impact is anything but. Early performance indicators suggest that paid search click-through rates could decline by eight to 12 percentage points, translating into a 20 percent to 40 percent relative drop in traffic for businesses that rely on search advertising. That’s not a rounding error. That’s a fundamental disruption to customer acquisition.

    More concerning than frequency is placement. AI Overviews initially appeared on longer, informational queries—classic top-of-funnel searches. Increasingly, they are triggering on shorter, high-volume keywords associated with comparison and purchase intent. This effectively compresses the funnel, placing A.I.-generated summaries in the same high-value real estate historically occupied by paid ads. 

    Consider what this means in practical terms. A search for “best business accounting software,” for example, may now surface an A.I.-generated synthesis before a user encounters a single paid listing or organic result. That summary often becomes the first, and sometimes final, touchpoint influencing a decision. 

    How the impact differs by industry

    The pattern varies significantly by industry, revealing which sectors face the most immediate pressure.

    Finance leads the disruption. AI Overview visibility in financial services climbs from 11 percent on single-word searches to nearly 79 percent on longer queries. For banks, investment firms and fintech companies, this means A.I. is now mediating the majority of comparison and research queries, precisely the searches that have driven customer acquisition for years.

    Healthcare remains saturated. Even short medical queries frequently trigger AI Overviews, though there’s a notable pullback on complex medical queries (down 21 percent). This suggests increased caution around sensitive health topics, creating both risk and oportunity for providers and pharmaceutical brands navigating compliance and trust. 

    Retail sees A.I. dominating product discovery. Retail AI Overviews peak at 84 percent on nine to 10-word searches, shifting advantage towards brands that publish detailed, educational content rather than those relying primarily on ad spend.  

    Travel faces a planning-stage takeover. AI Overviews rose 5.8 percent across mid-length queries, such as season travel planning, where paid listings once captured high-intent traffic. Airlines, hotels and booking platforms are competing with A.I. summaries that shape itineraries before users click. 

    What this means for the bottom line 

    The financial implications extend well beyond simple traffic loss. Businesses are facing a threefold challenge:

    1. Rising acquisition costs. As click-through rates decline, the cost per acquisition for paid search campaigns increases. Marketing budgets that once delivered predictable returns are now generating fewer conversions at higher costs.
    2. Diminished message control. AI Overviews synthesize information from multiple sources, often without clear attribution. Brand positioning gets filtered through A.I.’s interpretation, which may miss nuances, emotional cues or unique value propositions that create differentiation from competitors.
    3. Competitive displacement. The brands gaining visibility in AI Overviews aren’t necessarily those with the largest ad budgets. They’re the ones providing comprehensive, information-rich content that A.I. systems favor. This levels the playing field in some ways, but it also means established market leaders can lose ground to better-optimized competitors.

    Still, disruption creates opportunities for businesses willing to adapt quickly. For example, in industries like gaming and automotive, long tail informational queries, search terms that include specific words that reflect higher purchase intent with four or more words, often show paid ads securing strong placement above AI Overviews. These mid- and upper-funnel moments remain underexploited by many other competitors.

    What business leaders can do now

    Mitigating the impact of AI Overviews on their search campaigns and overarching business visibility requires structural changes. 

    Map A.I. exposure precisely. You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Identify exactly which search terms trigger AI Overviews, how frequently they appear, and on which devices. Industry benchmarks won’t help here, the impact varies widely depending on specific keywords, customer journey and device mix.

    Rebuild content by authority, not promotion. The brands winning visibility in AI Overviews aren’t outspending competitors, they’re out-educating them. AI systems reward comprehensive, comparison-rich content that genuinely answers customer questions. Content strategies must shift from promotional messaging to authoritative resources. Think less about what you want to say and more about what your customers need to know.

    Differentiate ads where A.I. cannot. Generic ad copy fades next to A.I. summaries. Ads need to offer something AI Overviews cannot: immediate value through deals, guarantees and limited-time offers. Take a contextual approach and layer in human elements such as real customer stories, accessible experts or personalized services, that build the trust A.I. summaries inherently lack.

    Segment by device. Mobile and desktop search show dramatically different AI Overview patterns. Mobile screens give less real estate and higher AI Overview saturation. Test device-specific campaigns with tailored creative, adjusted bids and potentially different keyword strategies for mobile versus desktop traffic.

    Build a testing culture, not a one-time fix. Google keeps adjusting when and where AI Overviews appear. The businesses that win will be those that monitor changes weekly and adjust tactics monthly. Set up dashboards, establish review cadences and empower teams to shift budget toward what’s working without waiting for quarterly planning cycles.

    Play the long game. A.I.-mediated search is the new foundation of digital discovery. The companies that thrive will treat this as an opportunity to own their customer relationships rather than rent attention through intermediaries. Invest in owned assets: authoritative content, direct customer channels and brand strength that transcends any single platform’s algorithm.

    Fundamentally, the search landscape has already changed. The strategic question is no longer whether to adapt, but how quickly organizations can adapt to a model where discovery, comparison and intent are mediated by machines. The companies that recognize it as a strategic imperative will find opportunities their competitors miss. They’ll move quickly, testing and learning rather than waiting for perfect information. They’ll diversify their approach, optimizing paid search performance while simultaneously investing in owned assets like comprehensive content, direct customer relationships and brand strength. And they’ll view AI Overviews not as an obstacle to overcome but as a new dimension of the search landscape to master, requiring evolved paid search strategies that work with A.I. rather than against it.

    The top spot on Google’s search results page still matters. But now, earning it requires a completely different playbook. The businesses that recognize this shift early, invest in visibility they can measure and build authority that A.I. systems reward, will be better positioned to compete as generative search becomes the default interface for digital commerce.

    How Google’s A.I. Overviews Are Rewriting the Rules of Digital Commerce

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    Phillip Thune

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  • NASA delays first Artemis moonshot with astronauts due to extreme cold at launch site

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA has delayed astronauts’ upcoming trip to the moon because of near-freezing temperatures expected at the launch site.

    The first Artemis moonshot with a crew is now targeted for no earlier than Feb. 8, two days later than planned.

    NASA was all set to conduct a fueling test of the 322-foot (98-meter) moon rocket on Saturday, but called everything off late Thursday because of the expected cold.

    The critical dress rehearsal is now set for Monday, weather permitting. The change leaves NASA with only three days in February to send four astronauts around the moon and back, before slipping into March.

    “Any additional delays would result in a day for day change,” NASA said in a statement Friday.

    Heaters are keeping the Orion capsule warm atop the rocket, officials said, and rocket-purging systems are also being adapted to the cold.

    Commander Reid Wiseman and his crew remain in quarantine in Houston and their arrival at Kennedy Space Center in Florida is uncertain.

    NASA has only a handful of days any given month to launch its first lunar crew in more than half a century. Apollo 17 closed out that storied moon exploration program in 1972.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • ‘Rare arctic outbreak’ causes NASA to delay Artemis II fueling test

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    KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — The “rare arctic” chill that has been sweeping Florida has caused NASA to push back its wet dress rehearsal of the Artemis II moon rocket, the U.S. space agency stated on Friday morning.

    What You Need To Know

    • It means the new date for the wet dress rehearsal will be early next week
    • The new earliest launch date is now Sunday, Feb. 8, but that is tentative

    “Over the past several days, engineers have been closely monitoring conditions as cold weather and winds move through Florida. Managers have assessed hardware capabilities against the projected forecast given the rare arctic outbreak affecting the state and decided to change the timeline. Teams and preparations at the launch pad remain ready for the wet dress rehearsal,” NASA stated.

    This means that the original wet dress rehearsal has been changed from Saturday, Jan. 31, to Monday, Feb. 2.

    This also means that the earliest launch date to send four humans to the moon will not be Friday, Feb. 6, but now no earlier than Sunday, Feb. 8.

    Scroll down to see the launch attempt dates for Artemis II.

    However, the new launch date is tentative and based on how the wet dress rehearsal turns out. The rehearsal is to test the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion capsule.

    The U.S. space agency explained what the testing of the Artemis II rocket will be like.

    “The upcoming wet dress rehearsal is a prelaunch test to fuel the rocket. During the rehearsal, teams demonstrate the ability to load more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellants into the rocket, conduct a launch countdown, and practice safely removing propellant from the rocket without astronauts inside the spacecraft,” stated NASA.

    Once the test is complete and if all goes well (include Mother Nature playing nice), then the Artemis II will see four people — NASA’s Cmdr. Gregory Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut mission specialist Jeremy Hansen — go to the moon for a flyby mission.

    The quartet has been in quarantine in Houston since Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.

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    Anthony Leone

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  • Taiwan’s economy grows at fastest rate in 15 years, turbocharged by the AI boom

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    TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s economy expanded at an 8.6% annual rate last year, the fastest pace in 15 years, as its export-focused industries were buoyed by the frenzy over artificial intelligence and a surge of shipments to the U.S..

    The advanced estimate released by Taiwan’s statistics agency on Friday was much better than economists had forecast. It was the strongest growth rate since 2010.

    Taiwan set a trade deal earlier this month with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. It lowered U.S. tariffs on imports from the island to 15% from 20% in exchange for pledges of at least $250 billion of investment in the U.S. in areas such as semiconductors and AI. That could power higher exports, further charging the economy this year, economists say.

    “We expect AI-related demand to continue underpinning Taiwan’s export performance into 2026, supporting overall economic growth amid sustained global AI investment,” Bank of America economists Xiaoqing Pi and Helen Qiao wrote in a recent note.

    Taiwan is a major manufacturer of AI servers, computer chips and precision instruments. Its exports jumped nearly 35% last year from a year earlier, led by technology-related shipments. Shipments to the U.S. surged 78%.

    The AI boom has also propelled Taiwan’s leading technology companies to record profits and revenues. Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia as its key client and is one of the largest companies in the world by market value — and electronics giant Foxconn, which makes AI servers for Nvidia and assembles products for Apple.

    However, growth this year will likely slow since it’s building on a high base, economists say.

    Deutsche Bank estimates Taiwan’s economy will grow 4.8% in 2026. Growing concerns that the AI boom may be a bubble are a key risk given Taiwan’s dependence on tech exports.

    Uncertainty over U.S. tariffs under Trump are another worry. So are tensions with Beijing. China claims Taiwan, a self-ruled island, as its own territory. China conducted large-scale military drills around Taiwan in late December, renewing concerns over a possible blockade or seizure by Beijing.

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  • SpaceX hits milestone after launching more than 11,000 Starlink satellites

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    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — It was a chilly morning for anyone who stayed up late to watch SpaceX launch nearly 30 Starlink satellites launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station very early Friday morning.

    With Friday morning’s launch of the Starlink 6-101 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, more than 11,000 Starlink satellites are now in orbit around the Earth

    What You Need To Know

    • More than 11,000 Starlink satellites have been launched since 2019

    Going up

    This is only the fifth mission for the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster and all four of its missions have been Starlink launches.

    After the stage separation, the first-stage rocket will land on the droneship Just Read the Instructions that will be in the Atlantic Ocean.

    About the mission

    The 29 satellites from the Starlink company, owned by SpaceX, will be heading to low-Earth orbit to join the thousands already there.

    Once deployed and in their orbit, they will provide internet service to many parts of Earth.

    And we do mean thousands. Dr. Jonathan McDowell, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been recording Starlink satellites and their launches.

    And according to his records, there have been 11,034 Starlink satellites that have been launched since the very first batch in 2019.

    But not all of them are fully operational. Or at all. Some are no longer in working order because of age, technical mishaps, or being directed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

    Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:

    • 9,573 are in orbit
    • 8,297 are in operational orbit

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    Anthony Leone

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  • Liberia’s largest gold miner repeatedly spilled dangerous chemicals, records show

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    JIKANDOR, Liberia — For generations, families in Jikandor village fished and drank from the river that runs through Liberia ’s dense rain forest. Now toxic pollution is making them leave.

    They blame the largest gold miner in Liberia, Bea Mountain Mining Corporation. When dead fish float to the surface, they said, they know to tell authorities. But for years there has been little response.

    “If we don’t move, we will die,” village chief Mustapha Pabai said.

    Over several years, cyanide, arsenic and copper repeatedly leaked from Bea Mountain’s substandard facilities at levels that Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency described as above legal limits. That’s according to EPA reports that were taken down from its site but later retrieved, as well as interviews with government officials, experts and former company employees.

    They provide the most comprehensive accounting yet of the spills. The EPA documents also show that Bea Mountain failed to alert regulators promptly after a spill in 2022 and previously blocked government inspectors as they tried to access the company’s laboratory and view results of testing.

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    This story was reported in collaboration with The Gecko Project, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on environmental issues. The reporting was supported by the Pulitzer Center. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters, and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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    The incidents point to failures in corporate responsibility that “can only be described as sustained negligence,” said Mandy Olsgard, a Canadian toxicologist who reviewed the EPA reports obtained in an investigation by The Associated Press and The Gecko Project.

    The reports also expose the Liberian government’s failures to hold the company to account. The government holds a 5% stake in the mining operations. Under Liberian law, the state can suspend or terminate licenses if a miner doesn’t fulfill its obligations. But weak enforcement is common, with the World Bank citing limited government capacity.

    In response to the investigation, the country’s recently dismissed minister of mines, Wilmot Paye, said he was “appalled by the harm being done to our country” and that the government was reviewing all concession agreements. The outspoken minister was dismissed in October.

    The gold that Bea Mountain mines is sold to Swiss refiner MKS PAMP, which is in the supply chains of some of the world’s largest companies including Nvidia and Apple. The investigation could not confirm what companies ultimately used the gold.

    MKS PAMP said it had commissioned an independent assessment of the New Liberty mine, the largest of five mines that Bea Mountain operates in Liberia, in early 2025, and said it found no basis to cut ties but identified areas for improvement related to health and safety. A follow-up visit is planned for 2026.

    MKS PAMP declined to share the assessment’s findings, citing confidentiality. It said it would end the relationship if Bea Mountain doesn’t improve.

    Between July 2021 and December 2022, the most recent period for which figures could be obtained, Bea Mountain exported more than $576 million worth of gold from Liberia. It contributed $37.8 million to government coffers during that time.

    Bea Mountain is controlled by Murathan Günal through Avesoro Resources. Murathan is the son of Turkish billionaire Mehmet Nazif Günal, whose business interests include the Mapa Group. Avesoro Resources and Mapa Group did not respond to requests for comment.

    Extracting gold from ore often involves cyanide, a chemical that at high levels can cause severe neurological damage and can be fatal if ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Cyanide must be treated before it enters and when it leaves a tailings dam, a storage site for mining waste.

    Other toxic substances, including arsenic, often found in gold mining also pose serious health risks if not properly controlled.

    The Günals took over Bea Mountain in 2016, acquiring it from Aureus Mining, a UK-listed gold producer, after years of warnings.

    In 2012, Canadian consultancy Golder Associates found a risk of contamination of local rivers from the New Liberty mine’s tailings dam and warned that seepage would breach Liberia’s drinking water standards. Two years later, the Digby Wells consultancy flagged cyanide and arsenic as key risks and suggested measures to prevent contamination.

    In 2015, a year before production began, a third consultancy, SRK, warned that arsenic could exceed World Health Organization standards for drinking water if not properly managed.

    Before production began, the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank, paid $19.2 million for an equity stake in Bea Mountain’s parent company to develop the New Liberty mine. But the U.S. representative on the IFC board abstained, warning in a 2014 letter that the project lacked basic safeguards and raising concerns about the tailings dam and gaps in the environmental assessment.

    It was not clear whether the IFC still holds a stake, and it didn’t respond to questions.

    Bea Mountain had pledged to follow strict water management rules and adopt the Cyanide Management Code, a global standard recommending pollution limits and requiring independent audits.

    The first spill documented by the EPA came in the first month of full production. In March 2016, just before the Günals’ purchase of Bea Mountain, cyanide and arsenic leaked from the New Liberty mine. Dead fish floated downstream. Residents reported skin rashes.

    The company paused operations but publicly downplayed the spill, saying “there has been no adverse impact on any human settlement.”

    It was the first of four EPA-confirmed cases at the mine in which Bea Mountain exceeded government pollution limits.

    In June 2020, EPA inspectors found Bea Mountain operating an unapproved wastewater system, and detected water contaminated with high levels of copper and iron. When inspectors tried to look at the company’s water testing data, Bea Mountain refused.

    “Physical access to the laboratory was also not approved,” the EPA said in one report.

    That month, Bea Mountain withdrew from the Cyanide Management Code without ever undergoing an audit, said Eric Schwamberger, a senior official at the International Cyanide Management Institute that oversees the code. He called such withdrawals uncommon.

    In May 2022, dead fish drifted down Marvoe Creek, which flows past Jikandor village and into the Mafa River that runs to the Atlantic. The EPA reported that a spill from Bea Mountain’s tailings dam had suffocated the fish “due to exposure to higher than permissible limits” of cyanide.

    The company knew about the pollution but failed to notify the community and the EPA “until downstream communities first started observing dead fish species,” the EPA report said. Companies are required to report such spills within 72 hours.

    More than 10 miles (16 kilometers) downstream in Wangekor village, residents said they hauled in dead fish before any warning reached them. They believed the bounty was “a gift from God,” said Philip Zodua, a representative of communities along the river.

    Six residents of villages downstream of the Bea Mountain mine asserted that they and their families fell ill after eating fish from the river in June 2022.

    One villager, Korto Tokpa, said she saw children collecting dead and dying fish. “They all were sick, vomiting, throwing up and going to the toilet the whole night” after consuming them, she said.

    However, no tests were carried out on the villagers. Independent environmental scientists and toxicology experts said there is insufficient evidence to identify pollution as the cause of the reported illnesses.

    “Without proper testing and transparent data, the true risks cannot be understood, and communities are left carrying all the uncertainty,” said Olsgard, the toxicologist. “It is the company’s responsibility to fill these gaps urgently.”

    When EPA inspectors arrived at the mine to test the water days after the spill, they found arsenic and cyanide levels well above legal limits.

    Schwamberger said the cyanide concentrations reported by the EPA, from water flowing out of the tailings dam, were more than 10 times the concentration “that would typically be considered to be lethal to fish.”

    In February 2023, another spill occurred. The EPA documented “a huge quantity of raw copper sulfate” leaking into the environment. Six of nine water samples breached legal limits for cyanide and copper.

    An EPA official involved in the May 2022 investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter, said the mine’s tailings dam had been originally built too small, a design flaw that later caused it to overflow.

    While EPA inspectors repeatedly recommended fines after the spills, only one penalty was issued by the regulator, a $99,999 fine in 2018 that was later reduced to $25,000. It was not clear why.

    In a written response to questions from the AP and The Gecko Project, the EPA acknowledged three “pollution incidents” between 2016 and 2023 in which laboratory tests found “higher than permissible levels” of cyanide. It also confirmed fish deaths were caused by cyanide, copper sulfate and arsenic leaking from the mine’s tailings dam. It was not clear why the EPA did not acknowledge the fourth spill.

    The EPA said the spills it documented occurred before the agency’s current leadership took office in 2024. It said it had ordered Bea Mountain to hire an EPA-certified consultant and reinforce the tailings dam, and that the measures were implemented. It did not say when that occurred.

    “No entity is above the law,” the agency said.

    Following an EPA recommendation, a legally binding agreement was reached in May 2025 for Bea Mountain to relocate and compensate Jikandor village, the community closest to the mine.

    Bea Mountain is now exploring new gold reserves elsewhere in Liberia.

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    Aviram reported from London.

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  • FAA recommends 44 launches per year for SpaceX’s Starship

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    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — SpaceX passed another milestone in its effort to bring its Super Heavy Starship rocket to the Space Coast.

    What You Need To Know

    • The report recommended that SpaceX could pursue up to 44 launches per year from Kennedy Space Center
    • This also includes 88 landings, 44 for Starship and 44 for the Super Heavy rocket booster
    • Super Heavy is the rocket booster part of the vehicle; the spacecraft is called Starship

    On Friday, the FAA released a 444-page “Record of Decision” on a final environmental impact statement.

    The report recommended that SpaceX could pursue up to 44 launches per year from Kennedy Space Center. This also includes 88 landings, 44 for Starship and 44 for the Super Heavy rocket booster.

    The agency previously released an environmental impact statement to allow up to 76 launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

    SpaceX would still need to complete mitigation work and get approval for a launch license from the FAA before those launches could begin.

    Some residents have voiced concerns about beach access or noise related to the launches.

    The agency acknowledged impacts on commercial flights, in particular, international flights, due to the need for ground stops and re-routing.

    The FAA also considered that launches could cost the National Parks Service revenue due to required closures of parts of the Canaveral National Seashore.

    And that sonic booms could expose some Brevard County residents to noise during late-night operations, but still stuck with the recommendations to approve.

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    Spectrum News Staff

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  • As an uncertain 2026 begins, virtual journeys back to 2016 become a trend

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    LONDON — The year is 2016. Somehow it feels carefree, driven by internet culture. Everyone is wearing over-the-top makeup.

    At least, that’s how Maren Nævdal, 27, remembers it — and has seen it on her social feeds in recent days.

    For Njeri Allen, also 27, the year was defined by the artists topping the charts that year, from Beyonce to Drake to Rihanna’s last music releases. She also remembers the Snapchat stories and an unforgettable summer with her loved ones. “Everything felt new, different, interesting and fun,” Allen says.

    Many people, particularly those in their 20s and 30s, are thinking about 2016 these days. Over the past few weeks, millions have been sharing throwback photos to that time on social media, kicking off one of the first viral trends of the year — the year 2026, that is.

    With it have come the memes about how various factors — the sepia hues over Instagram photos, the dog filters on Snapchat and the music — made even 2016’s worst day feel like the best of times.

    Part of the look-back trend’s popularity has come from the realization that 2016 was already a decade ago – a time when Nævdal says she felt like people were doing “fun, unserious things” before having to grow up.

    But experts point to 2016 as a year when the world was on the edge of the social, political and technological developments that make up our lives today. Those same advances — such as developments under U.S. President Donald Trump and the rise of AI — have increased a yearning for even the recent past, and made it easier to get there.

    Nostalgia is often driven by a generation coming of age — and its members realizing they miss what childhood and adolescence felt like. That’s certainly true here. But some of those indulging in the online journeys through time say something more is at play as well.

    It has to do with the state of the world — then and now.

    By the end of 2016, people would be looking ahead to moments like Trump’s first presidential term and repercussions of the United Kingdom leaving the EU after the Brexit referendum. A few years after that, the COVID-19 pandemic would send most of the world into lockdown and upend life for nearly two years.

    Janelle Wilson, a professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, says the world was “on the cusp of things, but not fully thrown into the dark days that were to come.”

    “The nostalgia being expressed now, for 2016, is due in large part to what has transpired since then,” she says, also referencing the rise of populism and increased polarization. “For there to be nostalgia for 2016 in the present,” she added, “I still think those kinds of transitions are significant.”

    For Nævdal, 2016 “was before a lot of the things we’re dealing with now.” She loved seeing “how embarrassing everyone was, not just me,” in the photos people have shared.

    “It felt more authentic in some ways,” she says. Today, Nævdal says, “the world is going downhill.”

    Nina van Volkinburg, a professor of strategic fashion marketing at University of the Arts, London, says 2016 marked the beginning of “a new world order” and of “fractured trust in institutions and the establishment.” She says it also represented a time of possibility — and, on social media, “the maximalism of it all.”

    This was represented in the bohemian fashion popularized in Coachella that year, the “cut crease” makeup Nævdal loved and the dance music Allen remembers.

    “People were new to platforms and online trends, so were having fun with their identity,” van Volkinburg says. “There was authenticity around that.”

    And 2016 was also the year of the “boss babe” and the popularity of millennial pink, van Volkinburg says, indications of young people coming into adulthood in a year that felt hopeful.

    Allen remembers that as the summer she and her friends came of age as high school graduates. She says they all knew then that they would remember 2016 forever.

    Ten years on, having moved again to Taiwan, she said “unprecedented things are happening” in the world. “Both of my homes are not safe,” she said of the U.S. and Taiwan, “it’s easier to go back to a time that’s more comfortable and that you felt safe in.”

    In the last few days, Nævdal decided to hide the social media apps on her phone. AI was a big part of that decision. “It freaks me out that you can’t tell what’s real anymore,” she said.

    “When I’ve come off of social media, I feel that at least now I know the things I’m seeing are real,” she added, “which is quite terrifying.”

    The revival of vinyl record collections, letter writing and a fresh focus on the aesthetics of yesterday point to nostalgia continuing to dominate trends and culture. Wilson says the feeling has increased as technology makes nostalgia more accessible.

    “We can so readily access the past or, at least, versions of it,” she said. “We’re to the point where we can say, ’Remember last week when we were doing XYZ? That was such a good time!’”

    Both Nævdal and Allen described themselves as nostalgic people. Nævdal said she enjoys looking back to old photos – especially when they show up as “On This Day” updates on her phone, She sends them to friends and family when their photos come up.

    Allen wished that she documented more of her 2016 and younger years overall, to reflect on how much she has evolved and experienced since.

    “I didn’t know what life could be,” she said of that time. “I would love to be able to capture my thought process and my feelings, just to know how much I have grown.”

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  • Blue Origin puts a pause on New Shepard launches to focus on the moon

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    NATIONWIDE— Space will not be a destination for paying customers for a while, at least not through Blue Origin.

    What You Need To Know

    • Blue Origin stated it wants to focus on its “lunar capabilities”
    • NASA has tapped Blue Origin and other companies for the Artemis III mission

    The company announced Friday that it would pause its reusable New Shepard rocket flights for at least two years.

    Those are the ones that sent passengers, including Katy Perry, Gayle King, Jeff Bezos, Michael Strahan, and William Shatner, above the Kármán line to experience weightlessness.

    The majority of the passengers have not been celebrities who went beyond the line to the edge of space, at 62 miles/100 kilometers above the planet’s surface.

    Blue Origin had run more than a dozen of those flights, with the most recent one having lifted off just over a week ago, on Jan. 22.

    The company stated it will shift resources to accelerate its “lunar capabilities.”

    “Blue Origin today announced it will pause its New Shepard flights and shift resources to further accelerate development of the company’s human lunar capabilities. The decision reflects Blue Origin’s commitment to the nation’s goal of returning to the Moon and establishing a permanent, sustained lunar presence,” stated Brett Griffin, director of Blue Origin’s public relations.

    In October 2025, then NASA acting Administrator Sean Duffy said the U.S. space agency is considering Blue Origin and other companies to handle the task of returning humans to the moon’s surface because SpaceX’s Starship was behind schedule.

    “Now, SpaceX had the contract for Artemis III. By the way, I love SpaceX and it’s an amazing company, but the problem is, they are behind. They pushed their timelines out and we are in a race against China. The president and I want to get to the moon in this president’s term. So, I’m going to open up the contract and I’m going let other space companies compete with SpaceX, like Blue Origin. Whatever one gets us there first to the moon, we are going to take. If SpaceX is behind and Blue Origin can do it before them, good on Blue Origin,” he wrote on X at the time.

    During a September 2025 media tour of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket facility in Florida, Spectrum News asked U.S. Rep. Mike Haridopolos, who is the chairman of the U.S. Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, if NASA had any backup plans if Starship was behind schedule.

    He only said that the only focus at that time was Artemis II, which will see four astronauts flyby the moon in NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft.

    Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lunar lander is set to have an uncrewed launch to land on the moon sometime in 2026, and the Blue Moon Mark 2 lunar lander will be taking humans back to the moon’s surface for the Artemis V mission.

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  • TikTok star known for bringing meals and respect to people on Skid Row dies at 58

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    Shirley Raines, a social media creator and nonprofit founder who dedicated her life to caring for people experiencing homelessness, has died, her organization Beauty 2 The Streetz said Wednesday. She was 58.

    Raines was known as “Ms. Shirley,” to her more than 5 million TikTok followers and to the people who regularly lined up for the food, beauty treatments and hygiene supplies she brought to Los Angeles’ Skid Row and other homeless communities in California and Nevada.

    Raines’ life made an “immeasurable impact,” Beauty 2 The Streetz wrote on social media.

    “Through her tireless advocacy, deep compassion, and unwavering commitment, she used her powerful media platform to amplify the voices of those in need and to bring dignity, resources, and hope to some of the most underserved populations,” the organization said.

    Raines’ cause of death was not released, but the organization said it would share additional information when it is available.

    Raines had six children. One son died as a toddler — an experience that left her a “very broken woman,” Raines said in 2021 when she was named CNN’s Hero of the Year.

    “It’s important you know that broken people are still very much useful,” she said during the CNN award ceremony.

    That deep grief led her to begin helping homeless people.

    “I would rather have him back than anything in the world, but I am a mother without a son, and there are a lot of people in the street that are without a mother,” she said. “And I feel like it’s a fair exchange — I’m here for them.”

    Raines began working with homeless communities in 2017. On Monday, Raines posted a video shot from inside her car as she handed out lunches to a line of people standing outside her passenger window. She greeted her clients with warm enthusiasm and respect, calling them “King,” or “Queen.”

    One man told her he was able to get into an apartment.

    “God is good! Look at you!” Raines replied, her usual cheerfulness stepping up a notch. In a video posted two weeks earlier, she handed her shoes to a barefoot child who was waiting for a meal, protecting the girl’s feet from the chilly asphalt.

    California’s homelessness crisis is especially visible in downtown Los Angeles, where hundreds of people live in makeshift shanties that line entire blocks in the notorious neighborhood known as Skid Row. Tents regularly pop up on the pavement outside City Hall. Encampments are increasingly found in suburban areas under freeway overpasses. A 2025 survey found that about 72,000 people were homeless on any given night across Los Angeles County.

    Crushow Herring, the art director of the Sidewalk Project, said Raines was both sentimental and protective of the homeless community. The Sidewalk Project uses art and peer empowerment programs to help people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles.

    “I’ve been getting calls all morning from people, not just who live in Skid Row but Angelenos who are shocked” by Raines’ death, Herring said. “To see the work she did, and how people couldn’t wait to see her come out? It was a great mission. What most people need is just feeling dignity about themselves, because if they look better, they feel better.”

    Raines would often give people on the street a position working with her as she provided haircuts or handed out goods, Herring said.

    “By the time a year or two goes by, they’re part of the organization — they have responsibility, they have something to look forward to,” he said. “She always had people around her that were motivational, and generous and polite to community members.”

    Melissa Acedera, founder of Polo’s Pantry, recalled joining Raines every Saturday to distribute food when Beauty 2 The Streetz was first getting started. Raines remembered people’s birthdays and took special care to reach out to transgender and queer people who were often on the outskirts of Skid Row, she added.

    “It’s hard not to think of Shirley when I’m there,” Acedera said.

    In 2025, Raines was named the NAACP Image Award Winner for Outstanding Social Media Personality. Other social media creators lauded her work and shared their own grief online Wednesday.

    “Ms. Shirley was truly the best of us, love incarnate,” wrote Alexis Nikole Nelson, a foraging educator and social media creator known as “blackforager.”

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  • Some blind fans to experience Super Bowl with tactile device that tracks ball

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    Some blind and low-vision fans will have unprecedented access to the Super Bowl thanks to a tactile device that tracks the ball, vibrates on key plays and provides real-time audio.

    The NFL teamed up with OneCourt and Ticketmaster to pilot the game-enhancing experience 15 times during the regular-season during games hosted by the Seattle Seahawks, Jacksonville Jaguars, San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings.

    About 10 blind and low-vision fans will have an opportunity to use the same technology at the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, California, where Seattle will play the New England Patriots on Feb. 8. With hands on the device, they will feel the location of the ball and hear what’s happening throughout the game.

    Scott Thornhill can’t wait.

    Thornhill, the executive director of the American Council of the Blind, will be among the fans at Levi’s Stadium with a OneCourt tablet in their lap and Westwood One’s broadcast piped into headphones. He was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa when he was 8, and later lost his sight.

    “It will allow me to engage and enjoy the game as close as possible as people who can see,” Thornhill told The Associated Press. “As someone who grew up playing sports before I lost my vision, I’m getting a big part of my life back that I’ve been missing. To attend a game and not have to wait for someone to tell me what happened, it’s hard to even describe how much that means to me.

    “It’s a game-changer.”

    Clark Roberts experienced it first hand.

    The Seahawks fan was invited by the team to attend its home game against Indianapolis on Dec. 14 to experience the game with the OneCourt device that is the size of a thick iPad with raised lines outlining a football field.

    “The device does two wonderful things,” said Roberts, who lost his sight when he was 24 due to retinitis pigmentosa. “It vibrates in different ways for different plays and through headphones, I was able to hear Seattle’s amazing announcer, Steve Raible. Real-time audio is the real beauty of the device because usually when I’m listening to a game, there can be a delay of up to a minute or more and that can be challenging to constantly ask family and friends what happened.

    “Can you imagine how this can open up everything, not just football?”

    OneCourt is working on it.

    It has partnered with NBA and Major League Baseball teams to provide its devices at games and is in talks to make them available with the NHL, along with other leagues and sports organizations all over the world.

    OneCourt launched in 2023 after founder Jerred Mace saw a blind person attending a soccer match while he was a junior at the University of Washington.

    The startup with headquarters in Seattle uses the NFL’s tracking data from Genius Sports and translates it into feedback for the device to create unique vibrations for plays such as tackles and touchdowns.

    The data is generated from cameras and chips embedded in balls, jerseys and elsewhere. The same technology is used by the NFL’s NextGen Stats for health and player safety, statistics and gambling.

    “It’s a testament to the maturity of the product and our company that we have gone from delivering this to a handful of teams throughout the last year or two to having it at the largest event in American sports,” OneCourt co-founder Antyush Bollini said. “The Super Bowl is such an amazing event and now blind and low-vision fans can use our technology in a way they deserve.”

    Ticketmaster’s funding for the NFL pilot went toward underwriting the device to make it available to fans for free, according to senior client development director Scott Aller.

    “This is a very, very big social impact win,” Aller said. “We hope that we can make an investment like this in every single one of our markets.”

    After some teams approached the league about improving access for all, the NFL has spent the past few months piloting the program and ultimately decided to have the device make its Super Bowl debut.

    “It’s not lost on us that we have blind to low-vision fans and we want to do right by them,” said Belynda Gardner, senior director of diversity equity and inclusion for the NFL.

    Gardner said the league has been very encouraged by the pilot and potential of this technology.

    “We’re reviewing what we learned and evaluating how it can be implemented going forward,” Gardner said. “There aren’t any definitive next steps and we will use the offseason to determine where this technology sits in the NFL’s suite of offerings.”

    Thomas Rice, a Jaguars fans, who is blind, said he had a seamless experience with the OneCourt device at a game in Jacksonville. Rice picked up the tablet at guest services at EverBank Stadium and after settling in at his seat, he felt and heard football in a new way.

    “When Trevor Lawrence threw a touchdown pass to Brian Thomas Jr., I felt the ball travel through the air,” Rice said. “When Travis Etienne ran the ball, I could feel it happen along the sideline.”

    “It was like giving me my own pair of eyes.”

    ___

    Follow Larry Lage on X

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  • One Tech Tip: Fed up with AI slop? A few platforms will let you dial it down

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    AI slop seems to be everywhere. Low-quality digital content made with artificial intelligence has flooded our feeds, screens and speakers. Is there anything we can do about it?

    If you want fewer cartoonish videos of dead celebrities, creepy or absurd images or fake bands playing synthetic tunes, a few platforms have rolled out settings and features to help minimize AI-generated content.

    Here is a guide on how to use them. But first, a caveat from Henry Ajder, who advises businesses and governments on AI and has been studying deepfakes since 2018. He warned that it’s “incredibly difficult” to entirely remove AI slop content entirely from all your feeds.

    He compared AI slop to the smog generated from the industrial revolution, when there weren’t any pollution controls in place.

    “It’s going to be very, very hard for people to avoid inhaling, in this analogy.”

    Pinterest’s move to lean into the AI boom made it something of a poster child for the AI slop problem, as user complained that the online moodboard for pinning inspirational material by themes has become overrun with AI content.

    So Pinterest recently rolled out a “tuner” that lets users adjust the amount of AI content they see in their feeds.

    It rolled out first on Android and desktop operating systems, before starting on a more gradual roll out on iOS.

    “Now, users can dial down the AI and add more of a human touch,” Pinterest said, adding that it would initially cover some categories that are “highly prone to AI modification or generation” such as beauty, art, fashion and home decor.

    More categories have since been added, including architecture, art, beauty, entertainment, men’s, women’s and children’s fashion, health, home décor, and sport, food and drink.

    To use the tuner, go to Settings and then to “refine your recommendations.” and then tap on GenAI interests, where you can use toggles to indicate the categories you’d like to see less AI-content.

    It’s no surprise that AI-generated videos proliferate on TikTok, the short-video sharing app. The company says there are at least 1.3 billion video clips on its platform it has labeled as AI-generated.

    TikTok said in November it was testing an update to give users more control of the AI-generated content in their For You feeds. It’s not clear when it will be widely available. TikTok did not respond to requests for comment.

    To see if you have it on the TikTok mobile app, go to Settings, then Content Preferences, then to Manage Topics where you’ll see a set of sliders to control various types of content, such as dance, humor, lifestyle and nature.

    You can also access the controls from the For You feed, by tapping the Share button on the side of a post, then tap Why this Video, then Adjust your For You, and then Manage topics.

    There should be a new slider that allows you to dial down — or turn up — the amount of AI-generated content that you receive. If you don’t see it yet, it might be because you haven’t received the update yet. TikTok said late last year that it would start testing the feature in coming weeks.

    These controls are not available on the desktop browser interface.

    You won’t be able to get red of AI content altogether — TikTok says the controls are used to tailor the content rather than removing or replacing it entirely from feeds.

    “This means that people who love AI-generated history content can see more of this content, while those who’d rather see less can choose to dial things down,” it said.

    Song generation tools like Suno and Udio let users create music merely by typing some ideas into a chatbot window. Anyone can use them to spit out polished pop songs, but it also means streaming services have been flooded with AI tunes, often by accounts masquerading as real artists.

    Among the music streaming platforms, only Deezer, a smaller European-based player, gives listeners a way to tell them apart by labeling songs as AI.

    “Deezer has been really, really pushing the anti-AI generation music narrative,” said Henry Ajder.

    Deezer says 60,000 fully AI-generated tracks, or more than 39% of the daily total, are uploaded to its platform every day and last year it detected and labeled more than 13.4 million AI tracks. The company says the people doing it are trying to make money by fraudulent streams.

    If you can tear yourself away from Big Tech platforms, there are a new generation of apps targeting users who want to avoid AI.

    Cara is a portfolio-sharing platform for artists that bans AI-generated work. Pixelfed is an ad-free Instagram rival where users can join different servers, or communities, including one for art that does not allow AI-generated content. Spread is a new social media platform with content for people who want to “access human ideas” and “escape the flood of AI slop.”

    Watch out for the upcoming launch of diVine, a reboot of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s defunct short form video app Vine. The app has only been available as a limited prerelease for Apple iOS. It promises “No AI Slop” and uses multiple approaches to detect AI. An Android beta app is expected soon. The company plans to launch it in app stores soon but needs more time to get ready for unexpectedly high demand.

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    Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip.

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  • SpaceX hits milestone with more than 11,000 Starlink launches

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    CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — You might want to grab a light coat if you plan on staying up late to watch SpaceX launch nearly 30 Starlink satellites very early Friday morning.

    And more than 11,000 Starlink satellites have been launched. 

    What You Need To Know

    • More than 11,000 Starlink satellites have been launched since 2019

    The Falcon 9 rocket will send up Starlink 6-101 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated SpaceX.

    The launch window will open at 11 p.m. ET, Thursday, and remain open until 3 a.m. ET, Friday, which means SpaceX has during that time period to send up its Falcon 9.

    Currently, the liftoff time is 12:51 a.m ET, Friday. It was set for a Friday launch at 11:01 p.m. ET and then 11:24 p.m. ET. No word on why the liftoff time was pushed back.

    The 45th Weather Squadron gave a 95% chance of good liftoff conditions, with the only concern being the thick cloud layers rule.

    Find out more about the weather criteria for a Falcon 9 launch.

    Going up

    This is only the fifth mission for the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster and all four of its missions have been Starlink launches.

    After the stage separation, the first-stage rocket will land on the droneship Just Read the Instructions that will be in the Atlantic Ocean.

    About the mission

    The 29 satellites from the Starlink company, owned by SpaceX, will be heading to low-Earth orbit to join the thousands already there.

    Once deployed and in their orbit, they will provide internet service to many parts of Earth.

    And we do mean thousands. Dr. Jonathan McDowell, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been recording Starlink satellites and their launches.

    And according to his records, there have been 11,034 Starlink satellites that have been launched since the very first batch in 2019.

    But not all of them are fully operational. Or at all. Some are no longer in working order because of age, technical mishaps, or being directed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

    Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:

    • 9,573 are in orbit
    • 8,297 are in operational orbit

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    Anthony Leone

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  • Meta posts stronger-than-expected Q4 results though costs continue to soar

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    Meta’s fourth-quarter results jumped past Wall Street’s expectations thanks to solid advertising revenue, sending shares higher in after-hours trading Wednesday.

    The company earned $22.77 billion, or $8.88 per share, in the October-December quarter. That’s up 9% from $20.84 billion, or $8.02 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

    Revenue grew 24% to $59.89 billion from $48.39 billion.

    Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $8.21 per share on revenue of $58.5 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

    Meta’s expenses, which the company already warned will be significantly higher this year, grew 40% to $35.15 billion.

    For the current quarter, Meta is forecasting revenue in the range of $53.5 billion to $56.5 billion. That’s above analysts’ forecast of $51.4 billion. For 2026, Meta is forecasting expenses in the range of $162 billion to $169 billion, driven by infrastructure costs and employee compensation.

    Meta had 78,865 employees at the end of the year, an increase of 6% from a year earlier.

    Shares of the Menlo Park, California-based company rose $27.28, or 4.1%, to $696.01 in after-hours trading.

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  • At Davos 2026, the New A.I. Race Is About Execution

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    Davos 2026 revealed a clear pivot: as A.I. enters its infrastructure phase, competitive advantage hinges on governance, integration and execution. Photo by Fabrice Coffrini / AFP via Getty Images

    At this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, artificial intelligence was no longer framed as an emerging technology. It was treated as infrastructure. Across panels, private dinners and side conversations, the debate had clearly shifted: the question is not whether A.I. will transform economies and institutions, but who can operationalize it at scale under tightening geopolitical and social constraints.

    Polished talking points and transactional networking were expected. Instead, the prevailing tone was unusually open and collaborative. Leaders across industry, government and investment circles engaged in candid discussions about what it actually takes to build, deploy and govern A.I. systems in the real world. 

    From breakthroughs to infrastructure

    In prior years, A.I. at Davos was often positioned as a horizon technology or a promising experiment. This year, leaders spoke about it the way they talk about energy grids or the internet: as a foundational capability that must be embedded across operations. In closed-door sessions and enterprise-focused discussions, including an Emerging Tech breakfast hosted by BCG, A.I. was consistently framed as something organizations must build into their core operating model, not test at the margins.

    Enterprise leaders stressed that A.I. can no longer live in pilots or innovation labs. It is becoming a core operating layer, reshaping workflows, governance structures and executive accountability. One panelist put it bluntly: in the future, there may not be Chief A.I. Officers, because every Chief Operating Officer will effectively be responsible for A.I. The real work now is redesigning roles, incentives and processes around systems that are always on and deeply embedded, rather than treating A.I. as a bolt-on feature.

    The rise of agentic systems

    Another notable shift was the focus on agentic A.I. systems. Instead of tools that merely assist human work, these systems are designed to plan, decide and act across entire workflows. In practical terms, that means A.I. that does more than answer questions: it can determine next steps, call other tools or services and close the loop on tasks.

    This evolution is forcing a rethink of traditional software-as-a-service models. Many founders and executives spoke about rebuilding products as A.I.-native platforms that actively run processes, rather than software that passively supports human operators. As these systems take on greater autonomy, questions of liability, oversight and human intervention are moving from the margins of product design to the center of both enterprise architecture and regulation.

    Workforce pressure and the hollowing of entry-level work

    Concerns about labor displacement were far less theoretical than in previous years. Executives spoke openly about hiring freezes and the quiet erosion of traditional entry-level roles. Routine analysis, reporting and coordination work—the tasks that used to anchor junior jobs—is precisely where A.I. systems are advancing fastest. 

    In response, reskilling is shifting from talking point to strategy. Rather than assuming A.I. capability can be “hired in,” organizations are building structured pathways to retrain existing employees into A.I.-augmented roles. A parallel trend is intrapreneurship: with experimentation costs lowered by A.I., companies are encouraging employees to propose pilots and launch internal ventures, channeling entrepreneurial energy inward instead of losing it to startups.

    Governing speed, not stopping it

    Despite the urgency to deploy A.I., some of the most grounded conversations in Davos centered on governance. These were not abstract ethics debates, but rather operational discussions about how to move quickly without creating unacceptable legal, reputational or societal risks.

    The emerging consensus has formed around what many described as “controlled speed”: rapid iteration paired with mechanisms that make systems observable and correctable in real time. Leaders described embedding governance directly into workflows through auditability, data controls, red teaming, human-in-the-loop checkpoints and clear ownership for A.I. outcomes. 

    In policy-facing sessions, including gatherings of world leaders, similar themes surfaced around embedding accountability into A.I. deployments at scale, rather than trying to slow progress from the outside.

    A.I. as a geopolitical asset and the rise of sovereign A.I.

    One of the clearest through-lines was the link between A.I. and geopolitical power. At a TCP House panel, Ray Dalio captured a widely shared view: whoever wins the technology race will win the geopolitical race. Across Davos, speakers framed A.I. capability as a determinant of national influence, economic resilience and security.

    This framing is driving a wave of sovereign A.I. initiatives. Governments are investing in domestic data centers, local model training and tighter control over critical infrastructure to reduce strategic dependency. The goal is not isolation so much as resilience, a balance between domestic capability and selective global partnerships. At the Semafor CEO Signal Exchange, for instance, Google’s Ruth Porat warned of the risk of an emerging A.I. power vacuum if the United States fails to move quickly enough, creating space for competitors to set the terms of the next era.

    For enterprises, these dynamics translate into concrete decisions around data residency, model dependency and vendor concentration in a more multipolar world.

    Diverging regional strategies

    Regional differences in A.I. strategy were hard to miss. Europe’s regulatory-first approach is shaping global norms, but many participants voiced concern that it may constrain commercial leadership. Europe is becoming a reference point for risk mitigation and rights protection, even as questions persist about whether it can also serve as the primary engine of A.I.-driven growth.

    By contrast, the United States and parts of the Middle East are advancing aggressively through coordinated policy, capital investment and large-scale infrastructure build-outs. Discussions around semiconductors, satellites and cybersecurity reinforced how tightly A.I. deployment is now coupled with national resilience and defense considerations. Regions that move fastest on infrastructure and deployment are likely to set technical, regulatory and commercial defaults that others will eventually be forced to adopt.

    Domain-specific A.I., with biohealth in front

    While general-purpose models remain central, much of the energy in Davos was focused on domain-specific A.I. Healthcare, biotechnology, energy and agriculture stood out as sectors where A.I. promises enormous value alongside heightened risk. Biohealth, in particular, was central to discussions of drug discovery, diagnostics and clinical decision support.

    Across these domains, participants stressed that success depends on deep collaboration between engineers, domain experts and regulators. Transparency, verifiability and accountability were repeatedly described as prerequisites for A.I. systems that touch public safety, critical infrastructure or social trust. In one AgriTech-focused session, for example, speakers emphasized that A.I.’s role in food security hinges as much on governance and data integrity as on optimization.

    A human signal amid rapid change

    Beyond the technical themes, the tone of Davos 2026 was striking in its human-centric nature. Panel after panel emphasized deploying A.I. in the service of humanity, not just efficiency or profit. Many speakers pushed back against deterministic or doom-driven narratives, highlighting that humans still write the models, set the rules and decide what A.I. ultimately serves.

    An Oxford-style debate hosted by Cognizant and Constellation Research captured this spirit. Participants were divided into “Team Humanity” and “Team A.I.,” and the format was deliberately interactive, not about winning an argument, but about changing minds on humanity’s purpose in an A.I. age. That focus on agency and responsibility ran through both formal sessions and late-night conversations.

    Davos does not dictate the future of technology. It reflects what people with power and capital are already preparing for. This year, the signal was clear: A.I. has entered its infrastructure phase. Competitive advantage will come from how organizations govern it, integrate it into work, retrain their people and navigate sovereignty and dependency risks, not from who can demo the flashiest model.

    Amid the urgency, what stood out most was the human element of thoughtful, collaborative people trying to build something better. In a moment defined by rapid change, that may be the most important signal of all.

    At Davos 2026, the New A.I. Race Is About Execution

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  • Google adds AI image generation to Chrome, side panel option for virtual assistant

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    Google is empowering its Chrome browser with the ability to alter imagery and a virtual assistant to help with online tasks as part of its push to turbocharge its digital services with more artificial intelligence technology.

    The features rolling out include making Google’s AI image generator and editing tool, Nano Banana, available to Chrome’s logged-in users on desktop computers in the United States. The expanded access to Nano Banana through the leading web browser may further blur the lines between real-life pictures and fabricated images.

    The browser’s expansion will also offer an option for Chrome’s U.S. users to open a side panel so an AI-powered assistant can help with an assortment of chores while a user remains engaged with other online tasks.

    Subscribers to Google’s AI Pro and Ultra services will also be able to activate an “auto browse” function that will log into websites, shop for merchandise on command and prepare posts on social media. Users will still have to manually complete purchases from the shopping carts prepared by AI and approve drafted social media posts.

    The AI in Chrome relies on the Gemini 3 model that Google released late last year and is now being baked into many of the services that helped its corporate parent, Alphabet, recently surpass a market value of $4 trillion.

    Earlier this month, Google tapped into Gemini to bring more AI features to Gmail as part of an effort to make that service behave more like a personal assistant and then funneled more of the technology into its search engine. in hopes of providing more relevant answers tailored to users’ individual tastes and habits.

    The upgrades to Google’s search engine plug into the company’s “Personal Intelligence” technology that leverages AI to learn more about people’s lives. Google is promising to roll out a Personal Intelligence option in Chrome at some point later this year.

    Chrome’s AI makeover is rolling out just a few months after a federal judge rejected the U.S. Department of Justice’s push to force Google to sell the browser as part of the penalty for running an illegal monopoly in search. The judge rebuffed the proposed breakup partly because he believes AI already is reshaping the competitive landscape as smaller rivals such as OpenAI and Perplexity deploy the technology in chatbots and their own web browsers.

    Before releasing its AI browser Atlas last October, OpenAI had expressed interest in buying Chrome if the breakup had been ordered. Perplexity, which offers an AI browser called Comet, even submitted a $34.5 billion bid for Chrome before the judge opted against a sale mandate.

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  • Spanish league offers 50 euros for each tip-off on establishments illegally broadcasting games

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    The Spanish league is stepping up its fight against audio-visual fraud by offering 50 euros ($59) for each verified tip on the establishments broadcasting games without proper permission, it said Wednesday.

    Bars, restaurants, betting places and similar establishments need to subscribe to a specific package to be able to show the games. The league said such broadcasts have a letter on the corner of the screen to identify them, allowing fans to tell whether they are legal or not.

    If people see that an establishment is showing an unauthorized broadcast, they should email La Liga with images to help it verify the infraction.

    The league also said it has a channel where fans can anonymously denounce illegal broadcasts.

    La Liga has been one of the most active European leagues fighting piracy and audio visual fraud.

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  • UK proposes forcing Google to let publishers opt out of AI summaries

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    LONDON — Britain’s competition watchdog said Wednesday that Google should give news sites and content creators the choice to opt out of having their online content scraped to feed its AI overviews.

    It’s part of a set of proposals from the Competition and Markets Authority aimed at loosening the U.S. tech giant’s stranglehold on the U.K’s online search market.

    The watchdog last year labeled Google a “strategic” player in online search advertising, using new digital powers to promote more competition by forcing changes to the company’s business practices.

    The CMA’s report noted that news publishers have suffered a drop in traffic since Google rolled out its AI Overviews – summaries that appear at the top of some search queries – because fewer users are clicking through to the original articles.

    The watchdog said Google should give publishers “meaningful choice” over how their content is used in AI-generated responses; be more transparent about the process; and properly cite content used in AI results.

    Google said it was looking forward to engaging with the watchdog and would continue discussions with website owners.

    “We’re now exploring updates to our controls to let sites specifically opt out of Search generative AI features,” Ron Eden, Google’s principal for product management, said in a blog post.

    “Our goal is to protect the helpfulness of Search for people who want information quickly, while also giving websites the right tools to manage their content.

    Will Hayter, the CMA’s executive director for digital markets, said in a blog post that the measures would support the “long-term sustainability” of publishers and “help people verify sources in AI-generated results and build trust in what they see.”

    The CMA also recommended that Google rank its search results fairly, and not give priority to websites that have advertising or other business deals with Google. And it proposed making it easier for people to switch their default search engine by requiring choice screens on Android devices and the Chrome browser.

    The watchdog will make its final decision after gathering feedback in a consultation that ends on Feb. 25.

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  • ASML made record $11.5 billion profit in 2025 thanks to AI-driven demand, plans to cut 1,700 jobs

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    THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch semiconductor chip machine maker ASML recorded a record net profit of 9.6 billion euros ($11.5 billion) in 2025 on sales of 32.7 billion euros fueled by AI-driven demand, the company reported Wednesday as it also announced plans to slash its workforce by about 1,700, about 4% of its workforce.

    The growth comes despite Dutch government restrictions on exports of machines that can be used to make chips that can be integrated into weapons systems. The measures, initially announced in 2023 and later expanded, are seen as part of a U.S. policy that aims at limiting China’s access to such technology.

    “In the last months, many of our customers have shared a notably more positive assessment of the medium-term market situation, primarily based on more robust expectations of the sustainability of AI-related demand. This is reflected in a marked step-up in their medium-term capacity plans and in our record order intake,” ASML President and Chief Executive Officer Christophe Fouquet said in a statement.

    In a message to employees, the company said it was cutting jobs in order to become more streamlined and efficient. It said ASML was “choosing to make these changes at a moment of strength for the company. Improving our processes and systems will allow us to innovate more and innovate better, generating further responsible growth for ASML and our stakeholders.”

    The job cuts are intended to sharpen ASML’s focus on engineering and innovation by streamlining the company’s technology and IT departments, the message said.

    The company said it expects 2026 to be “another growth year for ASML’s business” driven by sales of its extreme ultraviolet lithography systems.

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  • How the lessons learned from the Challenger disaster apply to Artemis rockets

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    NATIONWIDE — As NASA prepares for the wet dress rehearsal of its Artemis II moon rocket and capsule, many are noticing similarities between the cold temperatures this week and how they played a part in the demise of the space shuttle Challenger and its crew 40 years ago.

    However, an expert at Florida Tech explains why the cold weather should not impact Artemis II.

    What You Need To Know

    • A lot of lessons were learned after the Challenger incident
    • Get more space coverage here  ▶

    • 🔻Scroll down to watch interviews with Don Platt, director of Florida Tech’s Spaceport Education Center🔻

    The Artemis II will see NASA’s Cmdr. Gregory Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut mission specialist Jeremy Hansen do a flyby of the moon in the Orion spacecraft.

    However, the wet dress rehearsal of Orion and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that is currently set for Saturday will see cold temperatures of 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4.4 Celsius).

    Forty years ago on Jan. 28, the space shuttle Challenger blew up 73 seconds after launch, killing its crew. The explosion took the lives of Michael J. Smith, Francis R. “Dick” Scobee, Ronald E. McNair, Ellison S. Onizuka, S. Christa McAuliffe, Gregory B. Jarvis, and Judith A. Resnik.

    The explosion was caused when the O-rings failed at cold temperatures. The rings on the rocket create a seal to prevent exhaust gases from leaking.

    The O-rings were rated to be flown at 39 degrees Fahrenheit (3.9 Celsius) or higher. But when the launch happened at 11:38 a.m. ET, the temperature was at 36 degrees Fahrenheit (2.2 Celsius).

    With the chilly temperatures that are currently sweeping through the Sunshine State, many are worried about Artemis II’s wet dress rehearsal for Saturday and the earliest launch attempt on Friday, Feb. 06.

    However, Don Platt, director of Florida Tech’s Spaceport Education Center, shares how the lessons learned after the Challenger incident were already applied to other shuttle missions, which do impact Artemis II.

    “Well, even in the shuttle program itself, there was about a three-and-a-half-year delay or so, after the Challenger disaster, and so that time was spent reviewing the entire shuttle program, but specifically reviewing these these segment joints that I just talked about and redesigning how the O-rings, these rubber seal material segments fit into that joint. And they added additional redundancy, essentially another layer,” Platt said.

    He continued how these improvements are still being used.

    “Now, of course, you know, after these 40 years, NASA has spent a lot of time looking at ways to improve the joint and materials have, of course, come a long way since the 1980s as well. And so now the the feeling is that the SLS solid rocket booster joints are robust and will not be a major concern at temperatures even down into the 30s and 20s,” Platt shared.

    He explained that with crewed missions, where humans will be on board a spacecraft, extra caution takes place, especially during wet dress rehearsals.

    And this caution goes beyond the SLS rocket and the Orion capsule. It also includes other things.

    [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7XHOPa2x0U[/embed]

    “And all of the components that connect to the rocket to provide propellent into the rocket and to provide electrical power, to make sure that all the interfaces for when the astronauts take the elevator up into the top of the rocket, all of that stuff is working fine and everybody knows exactly what they’re doing,” he said, adding, “You don’t want to have some sort of thing pop up there when they’re actually ready to go and and ready to get into the vehicle and and fly to the moon.”

    In many ways, the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022 was a wet dress rehearsal for the Artemis II, Platt said. It was during this test flight of the Orion capsule that an issue with the heat shield was discovered.

    A material called Avcoat that was on the heat shield broke off in chunks during the re-entry phase of Artemis I.

    The Avcoat material is designed to protect a spacecraft from extreme temperatures by burning away as it heats up, instead of sending that heat to the capsule itself.

    However, during re-entry, it broke up into chunks instead of burning away. This issue pushed back the Artemis II and III missions, but NASA has stated it has resolved the problem.

    Platt shared how the Artemis missions will have a profound impact on people.

    [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9jmlwQzsK8[/embed]

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