Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — An Arkansas law requiring that the Ten Commandments be prominently displayed in public school classrooms was struck down by a federal judge Monday.The law is among those pushed by Republicans, including President Donald Trump, to incorporate religion in public schools. Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas all have enacted similar laws requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms. And as such, each mandate has faced legal challenges that many expect to eventually be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.Here is a closer look at the status of the mandates, which have stirred the long-running debate over…

Proton VPN has steadily improved to become one of the best VPNs for privacy, and in our testing, it delivered fast speeds and reliably unlocked international streaming across multiple countries. Based in Switzerland, it operates under strict privacy laws and a clear no-logs policy.Launched in 2017, Proton VPN has quickly become one of the biggest names in the industry, combining strong security features with competitive pricing alongside household names like ExpressVPN and NordVPN.The service will especially appeal to those seeking a VPN for privacy purposes. On top of that, minimal personal info is required when signing up. ProtonVPN subscription Need a low-cost…

After their dramatic falling-out, it doesn’t seem as though Anthropic and the Pentagon are getting back together. Instead, the Pentagon is building tools to replace Anthropic’s AI, according to a Bloomberg conversation with Cameron Stanley, the chief digital and AI officer at the Pentagon. “The Department is actively pursuing multiple LLMs into the appropriate government-owned environments,” he said. “Engineering work has begun on these LLMs, and we expect to have them available for operational use very soon.” Anthropic’s $200 million contract with the Department of Defense (DOD) broke down over the last several weeks after the two parties failed to…

If two lawmakers on Capitol Hill get their way, making prediction market bets on the Oscars or the Super Bowl halftime show would be illegal.”If you bet on who’s performing at the Super Bowl Halftime Show, and lose your money to someone who controlled the answer, you’re getting ripped off,” said Democratic Rep. Greg Casar of Texas.”Wouldn’t the government protect consumers from markets that were transparently rigged?” said Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. “The people who benefit in these markets are always the powerful.”Murphy and Casar introduced a bill on Tuesday that would ban a slew of prediction markets…

BuzzFeed, the U.S.-based media company known best for its quizzes, listicles, and, for a time, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism division, is reinventing itself for the AI era. At least, that’s the pitch. At the SXSW conference in Austin, BuzzFeed co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti introduced the company’s next media foray: a spin-off called Branch Office, which will explore artificial intelligence in consumer-facing apps designed for creativity and connection. The new company is an extension of the experiments BuzzFeed has run for years using AI technology, Peretti explained, in a halting presentation that began with slideshow glitches, before moving on to…

Google announced on Tuesday that it’s expanding Personal Intelligence, its feature that allows its AI assistant to tailor its responses by connecting across your Google ecosystem, such as Gmail and Google Photos, to all users in the U.S. Previously only available to paid users, Personal Intelligence is available in AI Mode in Search, the Gemini app, and Gemini in Chrome. “Whether you’re looking for a specific brand of sneakers you previously purchased, or planning a family getaway based on your hotel confirmations and past travel memories, Personal Intelligence helps you find exactly what you need without having to give all…

OpenAI signed a deal to work with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to sell its AI products to the U.S. government for classified and unclassified work. AWS has confirmed the deal to TechCrunch. The Information was the first to report. The partnership comes after OpenAI signed a deal with the Pentagon to allow the military to use its AI models in its classified network — a win that came in the midst of conflict between Anthropic and the Department of Defense (DOD). Anthropic has since been named a supply-chain risk by the DOD after it refused to back down on allowing…

Two national church-state advocacy groups are warning the Duval County School Board to end its practice of opening board meetings with prayer. The groups received separate citizen complaints, which prompted them to send letters to board members.Both groups — the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which sent the board its letter on Friday, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which sent a similar letter in November — say that to start school-sponsored events like board meetings with prayer is a violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. That’s the doctrine preventing the government from “establishing” a religion and…

AI scientist, entrepreneur, and investor, Rana el Kaliouby, is worried that AI could become another ‘boys’ club’ in the tech industry. At the SXSW conference in Austin on Sunday, el Kaliouby shared her view that a lack of diversity in the field could lead to economic disadvantages for women in tech, with further ramifications. “I think AI today is a boys’ club. I think diversity is not a very popular conversation topic these days, but I think it’s so important because AI is creating incredible economic opportunity,” el Kaliouby said on stage, when asked if the perception of AI being…

Microsoft is continuing a major leadership shakeup by creating a new combined team for its commercial and consumer Copilot products, under a new executive. The company is also moving Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman to its superintelligence team, focused on building frontier AI models.The reorganization underscores how high the stakes have become to dominate AI in Big Tech. Microsoft is trying to solve two problems at once: turning its sprawling lineup of Copilot products into a coherent platform for both businesses and consumers, while also reducing its reliance on OpenAI by building its own frontier models.The structural changes also reflect…