Every day, billions of people rely on technologies from Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple to navigate the world. We use them to communicate, work, shop, find information and stay entertained. But, according to media researcher Bjorn Beijnon, these technologies are doing far more than helping us get things done: They are increasingly shaping how we understand ourselves and the world around us. Beijnon will defend his Ph.D. on the subject at the University of Amsterdam on June 19.

The new Siri AI is conversational, omnipresent, and actually helpful.

The new Siri AI is conversational, omnipresent, and actually helpful.

Three Amazon employees have filed a civil-rights complaint alleging the company retaliated against them for publicly supporting Seattle regulations on data centers. "The complaint was filed on the workers' behalf by Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, an independent group of corporate employees at Amazon that since 2018 has organized around climate issues," reports The New York Times. "It said the company started investigations and told the employees that they could face discipline, in one case up to potential termination, in an act of intimidation that violated the city's civil rights protections against discrimination for political beliefs." Amazon says it launched the internal investigations to determine whether the employees appeared to be speaking on the company's behalf rather than as private citizens. "As we looked more closely at how these employees represented themselves, and how their comments were received by others, it became clear that they may have been speaking in their capacity as Amazonians and not as private citizens," said an Amazon spokesperson. They said that the company does not allow retaliatory behavior and that when the investigation is concluded, Amazon "may or may not take action based on what we find." The New York Times reports: Five Amazon tech workers affiliated with Amazon Employees for Climate Justice testified at several different hearings before the Seattle City Council and two of its committees. Their testimony in the company's hometown drew national attention, and it put the tech giant in the awkward position of responding to public criticism of data centers and artificial intelligence from its own employees. Patrick Schloesser, who has worked as a software engineer at Amazon Web Services since 2020, said in an interview with The New York Times that Amazon told him he was under investigation last week, when he was called into a meeting with no notice. He had testified at two City Council hearings in early June. "I had this rising sense of anger that Amazon is attempting to infringe on my rights to speak out politically in my city," he said. "If we allow corporations to decide which speech is or is not allowed, that absolutely hurts democracy." [...] [...] The Amazon employees testified that Seattle should consider conditions on allowing new data centers, such as requiring new renewable energy sources of power, banning the use of nondisclosure agreements between the city and developers, and limiting public subsidies. They offered to help create new rules based on their experience as tech workers. "Seattle needs to set the terms so the way any new data centers get built here actually moves us closer to the future we want," Darius Irani, who has worked as a software engineer in Amazon's grocery business since 2021, said at a June 3 hearing before the Council's Parks and City Light Committee. He suggested requiring public reporting of water and power use, banning shell companies and harnessing the heat emitted from the chips in data centers to warm nearby buildings. Amazon told news organizations at the time that it respected 'our colleagues' right to voice their opinions and that the company did not have plans to build data centers within the city limits. On June 9, the Council unanimously voted for a one-year moratorium on new, large data centers in order to give it time to develop regulations. The next day, an Amazon employee relations staff member met the three workers in individual meetings and told them that they were under investigation for their testimony, according to the complaint. Mr. Irani said he was repeatedly questioned about his testimony and who else at Amazon was present at the hearings. "It feels like they say one thing publicly and try to silence and intimidate me privately, which I think is wrong," Mr. Irani said.

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The biggest World Cup ever is pushing fans, players, and host cities to their limits—and experts say this is only the beginning.

The biggest World Cup ever is pushing fans, players, and host cities to their limits—and experts say this is only the beginning.

Getting the future right is now big business. But at a festival in Berkeley, forecasters worry that sports markets could take the whole industry down.

Getting the future right is now big business. But at a festival in Berkeley, forecasters worry that sports markets could take the whole industry down.

Building more apartments will not solve Australia's housing affordability crisis unless policymakers address rising house prices and investor activity, new research shows. Australia's housing affordability crisis is being driven less by a shortage of apartments than by systemwide price pressures originating in the market for freestanding homes, according to new research.

Financial markets are governed by a combination of rational and irrational forces, statistical probabilities and "animal spirits." It takes fluency in both to understand the market, let alone beat it. Yet market actors, including asset traders, now frequently use machine-learning techniques to help generate predictions of future asset prices.

Anthropic still can’t distribute Claude Mythos or Fable 5 after running afoul of the Trump administration. But no one can say exactly what the company did wrong.

Anthropic still can’t distribute Claude Mythos or Fable 5 after running afoul of the Trump administration. But no one can say exactly what the company did wrong.

On today’s Uncanny Valley, we dive into the dysfunction in Meta’s newly formed AI unit and why it’s been driving already-low employee morale even further into the ground.

On today’s Uncanny Valley, we dive into the dysfunction in Meta’s newly formed AI unit and why it’s been driving already-low employee morale even further into the ground.

Pre-sales of Grand Theft Auto VI, the feverishly anticipated video game release, will begin June 25, Rockstar Games said Thursday.

We have built tools that save us hours at work. So why do so many people feel worse for using them? The answer has less to do with AI and more to do with what we have always believed work is supposed to cost us.

The software engineers filed a complaint with Seattle’s civil rights office accusing Amazon of illegally retaliating against them for expressing their personal political beliefs.

The software engineers filed a complaint with Seattle’s civil rights office accusing Amazon of illegally retaliating against them for expressing their personal political beliefs.

Millions of Californians, in every part of the state, live with an uneasy day-to-day preoccupation: Housing is so expensive here, food and gas and utilities are so expensive—would it make sense to pull up stakes and leave for another state?