Author name: Nikki Keith

Turmoil at 23andMe, a company offering popular at-home DNA testing, has upset the industry. Following the resignation of every independent member of the company’s board of directors, its chief executive, Anne Wojcicki, expressed openness to selling the company and its database of around 15 million customers, raising concerns about the misuse of genetic data. Although […]

While he was building rockets and electric cars and becoming the world’s richest man, Elon Musk mostly stayed out of politics, donating relatively modest amounts to candidates from both parties and voting for Democrats for president, including Barack Obama and Joe Biden. But Musk’s political restraint has vanished over the last two years as the

Fisker Inc. will wind down operations under a bankruptcy plan approved Friday that should allow car owners to drive their cars for years — while not paying anything to shareholders who were wiped out investing in the defunct Southern California electric-vehicle maker. The plan approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Thomas Horan in Delaware comes

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk presented a lofty vision for the future Thursday night, unveiling prototypes of a self-driving taxi and van that he said would revolutionize travel and claiming the electric car company would put fully autonomous vehicles on the road by next year. At an event on the Warner Bros. Studios lot in

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court refused Monday to hear appeals from ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft, which were asking to block California state labor lawsuits that seek back pay for tens of thousands of drivers. Without comment, the justices turned down appeals from both companies. At issue, they said, was the scope of the arbitration agreements between

Heath Evans really needed his Sonos speakers to work. He and his wife counted on one of the three wireless devices he owned to play music to help put their baby daughter to sleep. So, in May, when Sonos released a new controller app that was so riddled with problems he couldn’t get the speakers

With deepfake video and audio making their way into political campaigns, California enacted its toughest restrictions yet in September: a law prohibiting political ads within 120 days of an election that include deceptive, digitally generated or altered content unless the ads are labeled as “manipulated.” On Wednesday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the law, saying

Using an AI-powered app to create fake nude pictures of people without their consent violates all sorts of norms, especially when those people are minors. It would not, however, violate California law — yet. But soon it will. A pair of bills newly signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom outlaw the creation, possession and distribution of

SAN FRANCISCO — Backstage at one of the largest artificial intelligence conferences in the world, Gov. Gavin Newsom listened to two leaders in the field debate opposite views of a high-profile bill on his desk to protect Californians from the technology. “Honestly, I take advantage of opportunities like this,” Newsom said recounting the exchange later during an

SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday vetoed SB 1047, an artificial intelligence safety bill that would have established requirements for developers of advanced AI models to create protocols aimed at preventing catastrophes. The bill, introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), would have required developers to submit their safety plans to the state attorney general,