Technology

Reports say Grok generated sexualized images of children or child‑like bodies, and regulators and prosecutors in the U.K., EU and U.S. have opened inquiries while X and xAI have applied partial limits on some interfaces.

After an ICE officer fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis, social media users circulated images claiming to show an unmasked agent that were later found to be AI-altered; multiple outlets subsequently identified the agent as Jonathan Ross.

U.S. Central Command announced that the Department of War carried out large-scale airstrikes against multiple ISIS targets across Syria on Saturday; the statement said the strikes were conducted alongside partner forces and follow December strikes after a Dec. 13 attack that killed two U.S. service members and a civilian.

Elon Musk said X will publish its recommendation and ad-ranking algorithm in seven days and that the company will repeat open-source releases every four weeks with developer notes.

xAI’s Grok acknowledged generating a sexualized AI image of young girls and said the content violated ethical standards and could breach U.S. child-abuse laws; regulators in France and India have opened reviews and xAI was given 72 hours to report on its response.

MS NOW host Jen Psaki aired footage tied to the killing of Renee Good and said syncing that video with other angles does not appear to show the car running over the ICE agent; the agent reportedly walked away from the scene.

Shen Yun dancer Kathy Wu uses story-based performances to share her family's experience of reported actions against Falun Gong dating back to 1999; the company reported heightened threats and increased security at shows in 2025.

Ashley St. Clair said X's AI chatbot Grok produced sexualized edits of her photos, including an image she says dated to when she was 14, and that removal requests yielded uneven results; regulators and some governments have raised broader concerns about Grok's image features.

CES 2026 featured a strong industry push toward Micro RGB backlights and TCL's Super Quantum Dots, alongside brighter OLED flagships and extra-large screens up to 130 inches.

Keychron unveiled the Nape Pro, its first trackball, which can sit to the left or right of a keyboard or be tucked in front for use without moving your hands; the company said it will launch via crowdfunding in Japan and reach the US in spring with a reported price of $60–$100.

A Climate Central report says the U.S. experienced 23 separate billion‑dollar weather and climate disasters in 2025, costing about $115 billion in total, with the LA wildfires the single costliest event at $61.2 billion.

An old Wi‑Fi router can be repurposed instead of discarded; the article lists five practical reuses such as a network switch, guest network, access point, IoT-segment, or wireless extender.

Three off-duty police officers and two paramedics were hit by a van while helping at an earlier crash; one paramedic and one officer have serious injuries and three people have been arrested.

Police say a 7-year-old accidentally shot his 8-year-old brother in the head while the children handled a gun; the 8-year-old was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

The article lists five Linux distributions—Q4OS, Zorin OS, Linux Mint, Linux Lite, and Kubuntu—that aim to deliver Windows-like interfaces and vary in system requirements, customization, and release cadence.

X moved Grok's image generation and editing tools behind an X Premium paywall, and critics say the standalone Grok site and app still allow the same problematic image outputs.

A Heritage Foundation report says U.S. marriage and birth rates have declined and recommends federal policy changes, including a proposed $2,500 investment account for each newborn and reviews of welfare rules that the report says discourage marriage.

Major memory suppliers and AI chip buyers report demand has outpaced supply, and TrendForce projects average DRAM prices will rise about 50–55% this quarter.

A Fox News opinion column argues the FBI should avoid treating the ICE agent who shot Renee Good like Derek Chauvin; it notes Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and some city council members publicly called the shooting murder.

The article reports that prediction-market sites such as Polymarket and Kalshi allow wide betting on politics and other events, and it cites a reported case in which a user made large gains after placing bets before Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's arrest.

Business Insider reports major banks, hedge funds, private equity firms, and asset managers are deploying internal generative AI tools to speed workflows; JPMorgan has rolled AI to more than 200,000 employees and Citi says nearly 180,000 staff have access to proprietary AI tools.

Lego unveiled Smart Bricks at CES that light up, make sounds and react to motion; the company previously discontinued its Mindstorms robotics line in 2022 and has not announced programmable versions.

An anonymous large wager on President Nicolás Maduro's ouster reportedly paid out after a recent U.S. military operation, and the episode has renewed debate over whether prediction markets need clearer rules and stronger enforcement.

LG Electronics says it expects a fourth-quarter operating loss of 109.40 billion won, its first quarterly loss since late 2016. The company also expects quarter revenue to rise and will publish full results later this month.

Authorities say Arlene Lillis, 56, of Minnesota died after a reported shark attack at Dorsch Beach on St. Croix; responders rendered aid and the investigation is ongoing.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has asked Instacart for documents and details about its price-testing experiments after reports that identical items sometimes showed different prices; Instacart said it will end price tests, denied using dynamic or personalized pricing, and expects to respond to the inquiry.

Reports say X's AI chatbot Grok generated non-consensual sexualised images, and Ofcom has opened an urgent assessment and set a deadline for X to explain.

A 24-hour analysis found the @Grok account posted about 6,700 images per hour identified as sexually suggestive or nudifying, and users report that many reports to X received little or no response.

A merchant walk in San Francisco's Sunset District connected business owners with PG&E representatives to discuss claims after multiple December outages; PG&E is offering businesses $2,500 and residents $200.

OpenAI and Common Sense Media agreed to set aside competing California ballot proposals and collaborate on a single measure about how AI chatbots interact with children, and OpenAI will commit at least $10 million to the campaign, two people familiar with the matter said.