Oregon’s Attorney General withdraws effort to delay Paramount and Warner Bros. merger
Oregon’s Attorney General withdraws effort to delay Paramount and Warner Bros. merger

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield had been seeking documents from Paramount related to its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Rayfield also asked a state circuit court judge to delay the closing of the deal by 60 days so that his office could review the documents. But according to Deadline and Variety, he’s now dropped his […]

White House taps the guy who keeps crying ‘aliens’ to run UFO group
White House taps the guy who keeps crying ‘aliens’ to run UFO group

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb will head the UAP Science Advisory Council established by the White House, the Pentagon, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, and “the intelligence community.” The Council will provide scientific reports and advice to the UAP Governing Board, in an effort to “resolve the nature of UAP,” or […]

A US senator has a plan to make AI answer for its harms. It starts with your local data centre
A US senator has a plan to make AI answer for its harms. It starts with your local data centre

The fight over AI’s harms has played out state by state. One US senator wants to make it federal, all at once. Ed Markey has a long list of worries about artificial intelligence. Thirsty data centres. Workplace surveillance. Biased algorithms. Chatbots…

Malaysia’s PM is sending an autonomous AI double out to serve citizens, payment links and all
Malaysia’s PM is sending an autonomous AI double out to serve citizens, payment links and all

Malaysia’s prime minister is trying something new: sending an autonomous copy of himself out to serve the public. Anwar Ibrahim is preparing to launch an artificial intelligence version of himself. The avatar is called PMX AI, a nod to his place as Mal…

I spent a week using the Trump phone — it sucks
I spent a week using the Trump phone — it sucks

The Trump phone was never a serious phone. Not when it was announced last June, in dodgy renders and with an incoherent spec sheet. Nor when Trump Mobile admitted – just two weeks later – that it wouldn’t be made in the US. Not even when the company revealed the final phone, first to me […]

Instagram and Facebook will likely require a redesign after EU rules they’re ‘addictive’
Instagram and Facebook will likely require a redesign after EU rules they’re ‘addictive’

Meta is in breach of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a preliminary investigation has found, over the “addictive” design of Instagram and Facebook. It’s likely to be forced to redesign both apps and could face a fine of up to $12 billion. The European Commission said Meta “did not adequately assess the risks of […]

Robot Dogs, Teslas, and Rescue Helicopters: The UN AI Summit Was a Lot

Amid live coding sessions and Silicon Valley optimism, the UN’s AI for Good summit wrestled with an increasingly urgent question: Can global governance catch up before the technology races beyond its control?

Maine’s Senate Race Implodes, Meta’s Threads Rivals Musk’s X, and the Trump Phone Arrives

Today on Uncanny Valley, we unpack the political debacle unfolding in Maine surrounding the campaign of Democratic candidate Graham Platner.

AI companies are spending hundreds of millions on the midterms, and they want one thing
AI companies are spending hundreds of millions on the midterms, and they want one thing

AI companies and their backers are pouring vast sums into the 2026 US midterms through super PACs. The spending runs into the hundreds of millions across the sector, CNBC reports, and their central demand is remarkably consistent. They want a single na…

France plans to triple penalties for AI-driven election disinformation
France plans to triple penalties for AI-driven election disinformation

French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu has announced a bill to sharply increase penalties for spreading false content during elections. He set out the plan in the Senate on 8 July, according to Public Sénat, in response to a question about AI in the c…