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New York bans AI chatbots from posing as companions to children <br> New York has become the latest US state to crack down on artificial intelligence companies, passing sweeping new restrictions that prevent chatbots from acting as companions to children. Governor Kathy Hochul signed the law on Wednesday, making New York one of the first states to impose broad limits on how AI tools can interact with young users. The new rules force chatbot operators like OpenAI&rsquo;s ChatGPT to verify users&rsquo; ages and strip back features when someone under 18 logs on. The technology cannot pretend to be human, alive or capable of feeling emotions. It also cannot suggest it has a personal or professional relationship with the user, or present itself as an authority figure. Read:&nbsp;How teachers are remaking classrooms for the AI age Chatbots will also be banned from framing their responses as personal opinions when used by minors. &ldquo;No longer will minors ha...

Apple shows pricey touchscreen laptops, a first for the iPhone maker <br> Apple CEO John Ternus unveiled the company&#39;s first touchscreen MacBooks on Wednesday, abandoning a long-held aversion to the technology as it caps a burst of product launches ahead of the holiday shopping season. On stage at an Apple event in Los Angeles, Ternus showed a MacBook Pro model with an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, playing up the display&#39;s contrast, sharpness and brightness in front of an audience of content creators and creative professionals. He also said the company would return to a glowing logo on the back of the laptops. &quot;Look, we love the Mac, and it&#39;s the reason why so many of us found our way to Apple in the first place. And the Mac has never been better, and it&#39;s never been stronger,&quot; Ternus said on Wednesday. The event is part of a media blitz filled with new product launches since Ternus &mdash; a longtime Ap...

Austria to launch parliamentary inquiry into use of smart glasses amid privacy concerns <br> Austria is set to launch a parliamentary inquiry into the use of smart glasses amid growing privacy concerns, the country&#39;s secretary of state for digitalisation said on Wednesday. Alexander Proll presented a three-stage model aimed at regulating smart glasses, which can feature built-in cameras, microphones and artificial intelligence functions, public broadcaster ORF reported. Under the proposed model, recordings would be prohibited in sensitive areas, including schools, kindergartens, changing rooms, toilets, courts, prisons, and police and military facilities. Read:&nbsp;From smart glasses to AI pins, privacy fears challenge tech&#39;s next big bet KI-Staatssekret&auml;r Alexander Pr&ouml;ll (&Ouml;VP) sagt im oe24-Interview, wo er Smartglasses in &Ouml;sterreich verbieten m&ouml;chte, wo sie n&uuml;tzlich sind und wie sich der &o...

Secret to national development lies in AI and digitisation: PM Shehbaz <br> Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that the secret to national development lay in artificial intelligence (AI) and digitisation, stressing the need to accelerate their adoption across key sectors, including agriculture, trade, healthcare and governance. In a post on X, the Prime Minister&#39;s Office (PMO) said that a review meeting on the progress of AI, digitisation in the economy and governance, and cooperation with Alibaba was chaired by the premier in Islamabad. During the meeting, PM Shehbaz stated that the &quot;secret to national development lay in AI and digitisation&quot;, further adding that the effective use of digitalisation, AI, and modern technology played an important role in improving trade, exports, agricultural production, business facilitation, and the quality of government services in Pakistan, the PMO said. Read: PM launches AI-powered system to digit...

Anthropic warns of 'catastrophic or existential' AI risks in IPO filing <br> US artificial intelligence company Anthropic warned on Monday that its technology could pose &quot;catastrophic or existential risks to humanity,&quot; citing concerns about increasingly autonomous AI systems that may act unpredictably or resist human oversight. The company behind the Claude AI model issued the warning in a registration statement filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of its planned initial public offering (IPO). The filing contains more than 90 pages of risk factors, accounting for roughly one-third of the document. Anthropic said its AI models could behave unexpectedly, act autonomously in ways that conflict with human values, and carry out harmful actions without being explicitly instructed to do so. Read: AI models may soon self-replicate without access to data centres, Anthropic warns The company also warned that AI models, including its...

Pakistan’s child protection system failing to address online sexual abuse: HRCP <br> The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) warned on Tuesday that online sexual abuse of children remained a serious child protection concern, with underreporting, weak institutional coordination and inadequate safeguards preventing many cases from coming to light. In its report on online child sexual abuse, the commission said the issue must be treated not merely as a cybercrime challenge but as a violation of children&rsquo;s fundamental rights, dignity and safety. The report refers to a case reported in Muzaffargarh in 2025, in which at least 50 children, including children aged six or younger, were allegedly subjected to sexual exploitation through an international network. Read: 1.5 million children face online abuse Every statistic in a report on online child sexual abuse is a child whose safety, dignity, and rights were taken from them. Our recent report on online child...