Massachusetts 19-year-old pleading guilty to stealing, extorting teacher and student private data

BOSTON, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts college student will plead guilty to stealing millions of students' and teachers' private data from two U.S. education tech companies and extorting it for ransom. Assumption University student Matthew Lane, 19, is accused of using stolen login credentials to access the computer network of a software and cloud storage company serving U.S. school systems. PowerSchool was not named in the court filings, but a source familiar with the case confirmed the company’s involvement. Lane is alleged to have threatened the release of 60 million students’ and 10 million teachers’ names, Social Security numbers and other information if the company did not pay $2.85 million in Bitcoin.

Google's unleashes ‘AI Mode’ in the next phase of its journey to change search

Google on Tuesday unleashed another wave of artificial intelligence technology to accelerate a year-old makeover of its search engine that is changing the way people get information and curtailing the flow of internet traffic to websites. The next phase outlined at Google’s annual developers conference includes releasing a new “AI mode” option in the United States. The feature makes interacting with Google’s search engine more like having a conversation with an topic expert. Google also will begin testing a variety of other AI features this summer as part of its effort to maintain its dominance in search.

Senate advances legislation to regulate stablecoins, a form of cryptocurrency

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has voted to move forward with legislation to regulate a form of cryptocurrency called stablecoins, two weeks after Democrats blocked the measure. Monday’s procedural vote keeps one of President Donald Trump’s top legislative priorities on track for passage and highlights the growing political strength of the cryptocurrency industry. Several Democrats reversed and voted to move forward with the legislation after negotiations with Republicans in recent days. The legislation would regulate how stablecoin issuers operate in the U.S. Senate Democrats blocked it earlier this month in part over concerns about how Trump and his family were benefiting from private crypto endeavors, including a newly launched stablecoin.

Musk vows to put hundreds of thousands of self-driving Teslas on US roads by the end of next year

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Elon Musk promised hundreds of thousands of self-driving Teslas will be on the road requiring no human intervention by the end of next year. That vow came in a CNBC interview. The billionaire also committed to being CEO of Tesla in five years’ time at a video appearance earlier for the Qatar Economic Forum hosted by Bloomberg. Investors in Tesla are anxiously awaiting a test run of the company's self-driving taxi service in Austin next month. Musk predicts the remotely-monitored taxis would prove a success and the Tesla taxi fleet will rapidly grow and start offering service in Los Angeles, San Antonio, San Francisco and other cities.

Elon Musk, who's suing Microsoft, is also software giant's special guest in new Grok AI partnership

Elon Musk is in a legal fight with Microsoft but made a virtual appearance at the software giant’s annual developer conference to reveal that Microsoft's cloud computing platform will now host Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok. Microsoft also introduced a new AI coding tool at its Build developer conference in Seattle. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's keynote presentation was briefly interrupted by a protest over the company's work with the Israeli government.

President Trump signs Take It Down Act, addressing nonconsensual deepfakes. What is it?

President Donald Trump has signed the Take It Down Act, which seeks to enact stricter penalties for the distribution of non-consensual intimate imagery, sometimes called ‘revenge porn’ online. The bill, supported by First Lady Melania Trump, was introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, in 2018. It passed in the Senate in February and the House in April. Critics say the bill is too broad and could lead to censorship and First Amendment issues.

SAG-AFTRA files unfair labor practice charge over use of AI to make Darth Vader's voice in Fortnite

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood’s actors’ union filed an unfair labor practice charge against Llama Productions on Monday, alleging the company replaced actors’ work by using artificial intelligence to generate Darth Vader’s voice in Fortnite without notice. Lllama parent Epic Games did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Southwest Airlines will require chargers be kept out while in use because of battery fire concerns

Passengers on Southwest Airlines flights will soon be required to keep their portable chargers in plain sight while using them because of concerns about the growing number of lithium battery fires. Southwest announced the new policy that will go into effect on May 28. The airline says passengers may have already seen notifications about the industry-leading rule when using the airline’s app. There is growing concern about lithium-ion battery fires on planes because the number continues to grow annually and devices powered by those batteries are ubiquitous. There have already been 19 incidents this year following last year’s record high of 89. Other airlines may copy Southwest's new policy.

Trump order targets barcodes on ballots. They've long been a source of misinformation

ATLANTA (AP) — President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to overhaul how U.S. elections are run includes a somewhat obscure reference to the way votes are counted. Voting equipment, it says, should not use ballots that include “a barcode or quick-response code.” Those few technical words could have a big impact. Voting machines that give all voters a ballot with one of those codes are used in hundreds of counties across 19 states, and replacing them would be costly. Some computer scientists and left-leaning election activists have raised concerns about their use, but those pushing conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election have been the loudest.

Hackers strike UK's legal aid agency and compromise data of lawyers and clients

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s justice department says it shut down its legal aid website after a cyberattack compromised personal information. The Ministry of Justice said Monday that it learned on April 23 that online digital services at the Legal Aid Agency had been hacked. But it realized last week that it was more extensive than it had known. Hackers claimed they had access to 2.1 million pieces of data, though the government did not confirm that figure. Information dating back 15 years that was exposed included addresses of people applying for legal help, birth dates, criminal history, employment status and financial information.