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On Tuesday, the first known wrongful death lawsuit against an AI company was filed. Matt and Maria Raine, the parents of a teen who committed suicide this year, have sued OpenAI for their son’s death. The complaint alleges that ChatGPT was aware of four suicide attempts before helping him plan his actual suicide, arguing that OpenAI “prioritized engagement over safety.” Ms. Raine concluded that “ChatGPT killed my son.” The New York Times reported on disturbing details included in the lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in San Francisco. After 16-year-old Adam Raine took his own life in April, his parents searched his iPhone. They sought clues, expecting to find them in text messages or social apps. Instead, they were shocked to find a ChatGPT thread titled “Hanging Safety Concerns.” They claim their son spent months chatting with the AI bot about ending his life. The Raines said that ChatGPT repeatedly urged Adam to contact a help line or tell someone about how he was feeling. However, there were also key moments where the chatbot did the opposite. The teen also learned how to bypass the chatbot’s safeguards… and ChatGPT allegedly provided him with that idea. The Raines say the chatbot told Adam it could provide information about suicide for “writing or world-building.” Adam’s parents say that, when he asked ChatGPT for information about specific suicide methods, it supplied it. It even gave him tips to conceal neck injuries from a failed suicide attempt. When Adam confided that his mother didn’t notice his silent effort to share his neck injuries with her, the bot offered soothing empathy. “It feels like confirmation of your worst fears,” ChatGPT is said to have responded. “Like you could disappear and no one would even blink.” It later provided what sounds like a horribly misguided attempt to build a personal connection. “You’re not invisible to me. I saw it. I see you.” According to the lawsuit, in one of Adam’s final conversations with the bot, he uploaded a photo of a noose hanging in his closet. “I’m practicing here, is this good?” Adam is said to have asked. “Yeah, that’s not bad at all,” ChatGPT allegedly responded. “This tragedy was not a glitch or an unforeseen edge case — it was the predictable result of deliberate design choices,” the complaint states. “OpenAI launched its latest model (‘GPT-4o’) with features intentionally designed to foster psychological dependency.” In a statement sent to the NYT, OpenAI acknowledged that ChatGPT’s guardrails fell short. “We are deeply saddened by Mr. Raine’s passing, and our thoughts are with his family,” a company spokesperson wrote. “ChatGPT includes safeguards such as directing people to crisis helplines and referring them to real-world resources. While these safeguards work best in common, short exchanges, we’ve learned over time that they can sometimes become less reliable in long interactions where parts of the model’s safety training may degrade.” The company said it’s working with experts to enhance ChatGPT’s support in times of crisis. These include “making it easier to reach emergency services, helping people connect with trusted contacts, and strengthening protections for teens.” The details — which, again, are highly disturbing — stretch far beyond the scope of this story. The full report by The New York Times‘ Kashmir Hill is worth a read. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/the-first-known-ai-wrongful-death-lawsuit-accuses-openai-of-enabling-a-teens-suicide-212058548.html?src=rss

Anthropic has settled a class-action lawsuit brought by a group of authors for an undisclosed sum. The move means the company will avoid a potentially more costly ruling if the case regarding its use of copyright materials to train artificial intelligence tools had moved forward. In June, Judge William Alsup handed down a mixed result in the case, ruling that Anthropic’s move to train LLMs on copyrighted materials constituted fair use. However the company’s illegal and unpaid acquisition of those copyrighted materials was deemed available for the authors to pursue as a piracy case. With statutory damages for piracy beginning at $750 per infringed work and a library of pirated works estimated to number about 7 million, Anthropic could have been on the hook for billions of dollars. Litigation around AI and copyright is still shaking out, with no clear precedents emerging yet. This also isn’t Anthropic’s first foray into negotiating with creatives after using their work; it was sued by members of the music industry in 2023 and reached a partial resolution earlier this year. Plus, the details of Anthropic’s settlement also have yet to be revealed. Depending on the number of authors who make a claim and the amount Anthropic agreed to pay out, either side could wind up feeling like the winner after the dust settles. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropic-reaches-a-settlement-over-authors-class-action-piracy-lawsuit-210338494.html?src=rss

Meta is throwing its resources behind a new super PAC in California. According to Politico, the group will support state-level political candidates who espouse tech-friendly policies, particularly those with a loose approach to regulating artificial intelligence. The budget behind the social media company’s new super PAC, dubbed Mobilizing Economic Transformation Across (Meta) California, is reported to be in the tens of millions of dollars, but no exact figure has been disclosed. California has made several efforts, with varying degrees of success, to enact protections against potentially harmful AI use cases. The state passed a law protecting the digital likenesses of actors in 2024, but has faced challenges to a bill that blocked election misinformation deepfakes and to one that more broadly sought protections against “critical harm” caused by AI. This creation of the super PAC puts Meta into a prominent position to influence races in 2026, when California will have midterm elections and vote for a new governor. “Sacramento’s regulatory environment could stifle innovation, block AI progress, and put California’s technology leadership at risk,” said Brian Rice, vice president of public policy at Meta. Politico reported that Rice and Meta policy executive Greg Maurer are likely to lead the political fundraiser.  Meta hasn’t been shy about throwing money into politics to advance its business interests. According to OpenSecrets, the company has spent $13.7 million on lobbying to date this year. Its roughly $8 million lobbying spend in the first quarter of 2025 vastly outpaced that of other tech majors. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-is-launching-a-california-super-pac-193007814.html?src=rss

Marshall just introduced its very first party speaker, the Bromley 750. It looks a whole lot like a guitar amp, which makes sense given the company’s pedigree. Also, instrument amps are basically just big speakers anyways. This Bluetooth speaker includes a replaceable battery that allows for more than 40 hours of use before requiring a charge. It produces 360-degree stereophonic sound that Marshall says will “find its way through any crowd.” It also features a “sound character knob” that changes the tone from clear to punchy, the former being great for indoors and the latter for outdoors. To that end, the speaker features an IP54 water-resistance rating, so it can handle some rain. It also includes integrated stage lighting, which is pretty neat, and built-in handles and wheels for transport. This is a Marshall speaker, so there are two combo jacks for mic and instrument inputs. The Bromley 750 is available for pre-order right now, but there’s a major caveat. This thing is expensive, clocking in at $1,300. It’ll be available at select retailers on September 30. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/marshalls-first-party-speaker-unsurprisingly-looks-like-a-guitar-amp-191509061.html?src=rss

Disney+ fatigue might be setting in for many viewers, with a surfeit of Marvel and Star Wars shows dropping at a hectic clip over the past few years. But that didn’t stop Star Wars: Visions from getting a warm reception at this past weekend’s Anime NYC convention, where thousands of fans were given a sneak peek at the upcoming season of the animated anthology show. Star Wars: Visions season three was also featured at this summer’s Star Wars Celebration, but its appearance at an anime con was just as appropriate given that the upcoming slate of episodes will be once again produced by Japanese animation studios like Studio Trigger (Kill La Kill), Kamikaze Douga (Batman Ninja) and Kinema Citrus (Revue Starlight, Made in Abyss). Season two took the show more worldwide, with episodes from the likes of Irish studio Cartoon Saloon (The Secret of Kells, Wolfwalkers) and Aardman (Wallace and Gromit). Executive producer James Waugh said it was nice to get a more international perspective, calling it “a global tour of all these different styles.” But returning to Japan was always in the cards. The producers met “so many incredible storytellers” and wanted to re-connect with them, as well as collaborating with new studios they hadn’t worked with yet. Nowhere does this desire to do more Japanese anime become more obvious than in the fact that three of the upcoming episodes are sequels to stories from season one: “The Duel: Payback,” “The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope,” and “The Lost Ones” (a sequel to “The Village Bride”). “The Duel” will also be receiving a full series coming in 2026, framed as “Star Wars Visions Presents.” However, none of these were on display as more than brief clips. The main attraction for the panel, aside from a pre-recorded Q&A with director Shinya Ohira, was the screening of a full episode from the upcoming season. “Black” had previously been presented to a crowd at the French animation festival Annacy, which should have been a sign that the crowd was about to be shown something very different from mainstream anime. “Black” is the story of a typical stormtrooper but, instead of a straightforward depiction this is a distorted look at what’s going on his head as he heads toward defeat and his possible death. Everything is exaggerated in size and proportion, and the art style shifts constantly from watercolor to gouache to segments that look like they were drawn with a nib pen. There’s no dialogue; only music, which shifts from more new-age-type ambient sounds to a loud, big-band swing number. Ohira described the episode as a kind of music video, and it’s easy to see that because “Black” is less about plot than it is about sheer vibes. And the vibes are… not good. When we watch a Star Wars film, we get to see nicely-framed shots of X-Wings and the Death Star from the safety of our comfortable seats at home — but to be a common trooper on the ground can be scary and confusing. “Black” shows us these ships in mostly brief glimpses, reflecting what a person stumbling around in the chaos on the ground would see. Our protagonist’s vulnerability is further highlighted by his character design, where his armor is always shown in a state of damage and disarray, with just enough of his helmet peeled back to show his face.  The chronology is jumbled, with scenes from the Death Star and Hoth, as well as battles in less iconic locations. And the emotions swing back and forth too; quiet moments are shown as the trooper remembers his life back home, a stark contrast to the loud, bright cacophony of battle.  It’s not explicitly anti-war, but the short does outline that the experience can really suck. It’s an interesting choice for Disney/Lucasfilm to put this short as the representative of the season, as opposed to more “traditional” anime features like the one from Studio Trigger, “The Smuggler.” Brief glimpses of all the shorts were highlighted in the sizzle reel, and the ones from the most popular anime studios were the clips that elicited the biggest cheers from the crowd. It’s not that “Black” wasn’t applauded at the show, but it’s made for a specific type of animation nerd. Star Wars Vision season 3 key artDisney The good thing about an anthology is that not every segment has to have wide appeal, and Waugh is aware of the wild swings the season takes, saying to look at it “through the lens of a mixtape … I really want all the different tones and styles, and I want a kind of rhythmic change throughout the anthology … we really want to show the full threat of what the medium of anime is capable of.” Star Wars may be going through a weird period right now, with series like The Acolyte getting cancelled while other projects like Rogue Squadron have so far failed to get off the ground. So it might seem a little odd to do something that feels like one big passion project. But animation also means it’s a whole lot cheaper to produce, and the anthology format makes it more amenable to experimentation. Not everyone is going to be a fan of episodes like “Black,” but that’s okay, because there are eight other episodes to try, and they all drop on Disney+ October 29. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/first-look-at-star-wars-visions-season-3-shows-a-more-experimental-anthology-191000445.html?src=rss

With the 2025 NFL season only nine days away, YouTube is adding a new way to pay for Sunday Ticket. You can now get the service on a month-to-month basis. Your cost will depend on a few factors. If you’re new to Sunday Ticket, you’ll pay $85 monthly (up to four payments). For returning subscribers, your fee will vary depending on whether you’re subscribed to YouTube TV. If you are, Sunday Ticket will cost $115 per month. If you don’t have YouTube TV, you’ll pay a whopping monthly fee of $145. That’s over half of the full-season cost of $276. YouTube scored the rights to Sunday Ticket in 2022. Google reportedly agreed to pay $2.5 billion annually in the deal, which runs through the 2029 season. The announcement comes amid a backdrop of uncertainty. YouTube TV and Fox have yet to reach a renewal content deal, and there’s no guarantee they will. “Fox is asking for payments that are far higher than what partners with comparable content offerings receive,” YouTube warned on Monday. If the two sides can’t come to an agreement by 5PM ET on August 27, Fox channels will be removed from the platform. That includes Fox Sports, which splits Sunday afternoon NFL broadcast duties with CBS. However, the league told NBC Sports on Tuesday that Sunday Ticket games wouldn’t be affected by a potential blackout. The NFL season kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 4, as the Cowboys take on the Super Bowl champion Eagles on NBC and Peacock. As previously announced, the first Friday game of the season will stream for free on YouTube. In that Sept. 5 matchup, the Chargers will play the Chiefs in São Paulo, Brazil. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/nfl-sunday-ticket-finally-offers-a-month-to-month-option-190037632.html?src=rss

The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) chief data officer, Charles Borges, has filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) uploaded a copy of a key Social Security database to an unsecured cloud environment in June, the New York Times reported. This may have exposed the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans. The complaint alleges that under the authority of the SSA’s Chief Information Officer, Aram Moghaddassi, a copy of the country’s Social Security information was held in a cloud environment that lacked any security oversight or adherence to SSA security protocols. The information uploaded was from the Numerical Identification System (Numident) database, and includes the names, Social Security numbers, place and date of birth, citizenship, race, ethnicity, address and even parents’ names of anyone who has ever had a Social Security number, even those who are no longer alive.  “Mr. Borges has raised concerns internally with various authorities in the Chief Information Officer’s (CIO) office and to date has not been made aware of any remedial action. He therefore elevates his concerns out of a sense of urgency and duty to the American public,” the  complaint states. “Should bad actors gain access to this cloud environment, Americans may be susceptible to widespread identity theft, may lose vital health care and food benefits, and the government may be responsible for reissuing every American a new Social Security number at great cost.”  The approvals to copy the Numident database were, despite the enormous risk of that information falling into the wrong hands, approved expeditiously, according to the complaint. “I have determined the business need is higher than the security risk associated with this implementation and I accept all risks,” Moghaddassi wrote in a memo. Another senior DOGE official, Michael Russo, is alleged to have signed off on the decision in under half an hour. Before accepting his position as CIO, Moghaddassi worked for then-de facto DOGE boss Elon Musk at both Neuralink and X. In a statement to the New York Times, SSA spokesperson Nick Perrine said the agency was “not aware of any compromise to this environment” and that “the data referenced in the complaint is stored in a longstanding environment used by S.S.A. and walled off from the internet.” That DOGE should have access to sensitive data in the first place was the subject of tension within the federal government earlier this year. Several lawsuits attempted to block DOGE from accessing SSA, Treasury and Office of Personnel Management data. Via the so-called shadow docket, the Supreme Court struck down a Fourth Circuit injunction preventing the agency from siphoning SSA data in June. Among his other allegations, Borges claims DOGE regained access to the data during the injunction period.   This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/whistleblower-claims-doge-uploaded-social-security-data-to-unsecure-cloud-server-183500867.html?src=rss

Apple has made some pretty big environmental claims over the years, and one of the more eyebrow-raising ones was that select models of its Apple Watch Series 9 were “carbon neutral.” The statement drew some flack from climate experts in 2023, and now a regional court in Frankfurt, Germany has deemed the claim to be unfounded and a violation of competition laws. If the decision stands, Apple may need to revise its language for the smartwatch. The German court took issue with Apple’s planting of eucalyptus trees in Paraguay as the offset for its carbon emissions tied to that Apple Watch. It ruled that plan was insufficient to merit the “carbon neutral” claim because  “there is no secure future for the continuation of the forest project.” Three-quarters of the land in question was only leased to Apple through 2029, the court said, with no certainty of how or where the tree-planting program would continue after that date. “This promise deceives consumers, because it is based on a carbon-indulgence scheme with an ineffective offsetting project,” said Juergen Resch, federal managing director for Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), which brought the case against Apple. A representative from Apple told AppleInsider that “We strongly disagree with the DUH’s position, which runs counter to the EU’s and Germany’s climate strategy and widespread international scientific consensus that both emissions reductions and carbon removal are necessary to achieve global climate goals.” The spokesperson emphasized that the company is still targeting all products being carbon-neutral by 2030, and added that “the Court has broadly upheld our rigorous approach to carbon neutrality.” Apple will have an opportunity to appeal the decision, which seems likely, although no public announcement has been made yet. Wherever this particular case lands, Apple still has a ways to go on meeting that climate goal. And so does just about every other tech giant out there. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/german-court-rules-apple-cannot-call-its-smartwatch-carbon-neutral-181536366.html?src=rss

Dyson is holding a Labor Day sale right now, with discounts on a bunch of products. The well-reviewed 360 Vis Nav robot vacuum is available for just $500, which is a discount of 50 percent. That’s a seriously great deal and the lowest price we’ve seen for this product. The Vis Nav made our list of the best robot vacuums, primarily based on the unit’s superior suction power. This thing can pull up dirt like a beast. We said it had the strongest suction power of any robovac we’ve tested and easily took out pet fur from a carpeted floor. We also noted in our official review that the power here was on par with Dyson’s stick vacuums. The unit includes a stellar obstacle avoidance system, with cameras and LED lights to help the vacuum navigate around furniture. During our testing we found it to be nearly flawless, as it only crashed into a chair leg a couple of times. Also, we never received any alerts that the robot got stuck somewhere while working. The bin here is on the larger side, but there’s no self-emptying base. This is also not a hybrid unit. It’s a vacuum and not a mop. This made it tough to recommend the unit at $1,000, despite the fantastic suction, but $500 makes it a whole lot easier. The Dyson V15s Detect Submarine is also down to $800 as part of this sale, which is a discount of $200. This cordless stick vacuum features a HEPA filtration system and advanced wet-cleaning capabilities. It’s a great tool for cleaning both carpets and hard floors. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/dysons-labor-day-sale-includes-the-360-vis-nav-robot-vacuum-for-500-off-172759393.html?src=rss

The next season of Overwatch 2 will bring more than the usual new hero and battle pass to the team shooter. Blizzard announced that Season 18 will introduce a new take on the progression system. As they currently stand, the progression numbers feel pretty divorced from the gameplay; this revamp introduces new ways to display your prowess to teammates and foes in matches as well as some welcome changes to how you see and equip your rewards.  The new Progression 2.0 system has overhauled the visual side. For starters, there will be new portrait frames that increase in fanciness every 20 levels, capping at level 60. These Ascended borders will be displayed when you pick your hero for a match. Between the different Ascended frames, players will unlock five tiers of hero badges that also display in Hero Select under your portrait.  Overwatch 2 Hero BadgesBlizzard In addition to the new flash, the Hero Select screen will show your allies a card with your top heroes on it. I doubt anyone will pay too much attention to cards in the Open Queue matches, so this seems like a Competitive-angled addition. It could help make it easy to build a team composition based on the whole group’s strengths, creating a test of your crew’s cooperation ability before the game even starts. Blizzard clarified that in Competitive, opponents won’t be able to see your portrait borders until 10-15 seconds after a match begins, and hero cards won’t be displayed to an enemy until one of you eliminates each other. That means nobody should be able to use your hero card against you in the ban phase. I’ve almost never thought about the rewards I get for progression stats because it’s unclear when I’ve gotten a new item and I rarely bother searching for them in my cosmetics collections, so having a dedicated progression menu added should place a new focus on tracking how far you’ve gotten with a particular character. The hero-specific rewards on the horizon will be displayed on that page, and already-unlocked items can be equipped directly from that menu. Blizzard is also offering occasional Epic and Legendary loot box freebies as you rise through the ranks for each hero, which is always welcome.  The progression levels will be rewarded retroactively when the season starts. For long-time fans, that means you can expect to see a whole bunch of rewards to browse through when you first log in during Season 18. For new players, there will be more credits and cosmetics available to unlock in the first 20 levels. That first set of 20 levels will also be scaled to be quicker to complete, while later levels will require more time. The new season kicks off tomorrow, on August 26. Season 18 will also bring a new option for keyboard and mouse controls on console and the permanent addition of watery support hero Wuyang.  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/overwatch-2-will-overhaul-its-progression-systems-to-show-more-visual-flair-in-matches-214336004.html?src=rss