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The entertainment giant Paramount will merge with Skydance, closing out a decades-long run by the Redstone family in Hollywood and injecting desperately needed cash into a legacy studio that has struggled to adapt to a shifting entertainment landscape. It also signals the rise of a new power player, David Ellison, the founder of Skydance and son of billionaire Larry Ellison, the founder of the software company Oracle. Shari Redstone’s National Amusements has owned more than three-quarters of Paramount’s Class A voting shares through the estate of her late father, Sumner Redstone. She had battled to maintain control of the company that owns CBS, which is behind blockbuster films such as “Top Gun” and “The Godfather.” Just weeks after turning down a similar agreement with Skydance, however, Redstone agreed to a…

Inadequate funding and controversial measures in a budget bill could threaten what Americans know about themselves through federal data gathering, statisticians and demographers warn in a new report and a letter to U.S. congressional leaders. “Our bottom-line assessment is that federal statistics are at risk,” says the report released this week by the American Statistical Association in partnership with George Mason University. The report says a majority of the 13 principal U.S. statistical agencies have lost more than 14% of their purchasing power in the last 15 years, limiting their ability to innovate. Better protections against political meddling also are needed for the agencies that calculate everything from the monthly unemployment rate to the once-a-decade head count that determines the distribution of political power and $2.8 trillion in government funding,…

The scammers are winning. Sophisticated overseas criminals are stealing tens of billions of dollars from Americans every year, a crime wave projected to get worse as the U.S. population ages and technology like AI makes it easier than ever to perpetrate fraud and get away with it. Internet and telephone scams have grown “exponentially,” overwhelming police and prosecutors who catch and convict relatively few of the perpetrators, said Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention at AARP’s Fraud Watch Network. Victims rarely get their money back, including older people who have lost life savings to romance scams, grandparent scams, technical support fraud and other common grifts. “We are at a crisis level in fraud in society,” Stokes said. “So many people have joined the fray because it is pretty easy to…

Twice each month, executives at the dating app company Hinge gather for a team meeting. But rather than dive into discussions about metrics or revenue, they begin by simply talking. For the first 30 minutes of the two-hour meeting, these coworkers reveal hopes and anxieties — what they worry about, what they’re grateful for, what they’re feeling. Even at a company focused on connecting people, forging real relationships in the workplace takes effort, Hinge CEO Justin McLeod told an audience at the South by Southwest conference earlier this year. He was co-presenting at the event with Ann Shoket, whose initiative to combat workplace loneliness is called “10 Minutes to Togetherness.” As America navigates what Surgeon General Vivek Murthy described last year as a loneliness epidemic, employers and employees across the…

More than 3 million people passed through U.S. airport security on Sunday (07), the first time that number of passengers have been screened in a single day as travel surges, according to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. The record, which was widely predicted to happen at some point over the July Four holiday weekend, topped the June 23 mark of more than 2.99 million screened passengers. Eight of the 10 busiest days in TSA’s history have come this year as the number of travelers tops pre-pandemic levels. TSA was created after the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and replaced a collection of private security companies that were hired by airlines. The agency operates under the Department of Homeland Security, which said that agents on Sunday checked 35 passengers every…

Samsung is dressing up its wearable devices in technology’s latest fashion — artificial intelligence. The South Korean electronics giant on Wednesday revealed that both its first-ever premium smartwatch and a smart ring heralding its entry into a niche market will include AI features that are supposed to help people monitor and manage their health. Both the Galaxy Watch Ultra, priced at $650, and the Galaxy Ring, priced at $400, are extensions of a push that Samsung launched six months ago when it introduced its first smartphones to feature AI technology as a main attraction. The high-end smartwatch costs twice as much as Samsung’s latest standard model, the Galaxy Watch 7, which will sell for $300. Tethering AI to people’s essential devices has become an accelerating trend. The technology already has…

OpenAI has emerged as a leader in the AI industry, prompting Apple to integrate its tools into its operating systems. The integration aims to enhance productivity while upholding Apple’s core commitment to user privacy. However, balancing the two—advanced AI functionality and stringent privacy protection—will be one of Apple’s most significant challenges. ON-DEVICE TECHNOLOGY Apple’s approach to AI has always prioritized on-device processing to ensure user privacy. According to Apple’s Machine Learning research, their foundation models are designed to operate efficiently on-device, minimizing the need for data to leave the user’s device. This strategy contrasts with the server-based models employed by many other companies, where data processing occurs in the cloud, potentially exposing user data to additional risks. Despite Apple’s robust in-house AI capabilities, the company recognized the value of integrating…

Boeing’s 737 Max is a more fuel-efficient version of the American aerospace company’s popular 737, the best-selling airliner ever. Airlines have flown Max jets for just seven years, but in that short time two of them crashed, killing 346 people, and the plane has become a symbol of safety concerns swirling around Boeing. Regulators around the world grounded all Max jets in March 2019, after the second crash. That led to the ousting of Boeing’s CEO. His successor announced plans to step down after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded a particular model of the Max in January, when a panel covering an unused emergency exit blew off an Alaska Airlines Max in flight. The blowout led to government investigations, including a criminal probe by the Justice Department. Here is a…

As an actor and a writer, Rashida Jones has spent a lot of time thinking about artificial intelligence. The use of AI was a major issue at the bargaining table during last year’s Hollywood strikes. AI is also front and center in her new series “Sunny” for Apple TV+. “My feeling today — because it changes every day — is it’s here and there’s no going back. There’s an inevitability that we have to accept,” Jones said. “We need some kind of collective ethical parameters about how we use this because it is pretty scary... It’s out of our control at this point.” In ‘Sunny,” Jones plays Suzie, an expat in Japan whose husband Masa (Hidetoshi Nishijima of “Drive My Car,”) and son Zen are missing after a plane crash.…

Microsoft has relinquished its seat on the board of OpenAI, saying its participation is no longer needed because the ChatGPT maker has improved its governance since being roiled by boardroom chaos last year. In a Tuesday letter, Microsoft confirmed it was resigning, “effective immediately,” from its role as an observer on the artificial intelligence company’s board. “We appreciate the support shown by OpenAI leadership and the OpenAI board as we made this decision,” the letter said. The surprise departure comes amid intensifying scrutiny from antitrust regulators of the powerful AI partnership. Microsoft has reportedly invested $13 billion in OpenAI. European Union regulators said last month that they would take a fresh look at the partnership under the 27-nation bloc’s antitrust rules, while the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Britain’s competition…

A Delaware judge heard arguments Monday over a massive and unprecedented fee request by lawyers who successfully argued that a massive and unprecedented pay package for Tesla CEO Elon Musk was illegal and should be voided. Attorneys for a Tesla stockholder who challenged Musk’s 2018 compensation package are asking Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick to award them legal fees in the form of stock in the electric vehicle company valued at more than $7 billion at current trading prices. The 2018 compensation package for Musk that was rescinded by the judge was potentially worth more than $55 billion. After a full day of expert-witness testimony and arguments by attorneys, McCormick gave no indication on when she would rule on the fee request. The fee amount sought by plaintiffs’ attorneys dwarfs…

Virginia on Tuesday joined a growing number of states that are pushing for cellphone restrictions in public schools, citing concerns over students’ academic achievement and mental health. Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order to establish state guidance and model policies for local school systems to adopt by January. “Studies indicate that students who use their phones during class learn less and achieve lower grades,” Youngkin’s order stated. It also cited an “alarming mental health crisis” among adolescents, which is partly driven by cellphones and social media. Last year, Florida became the first state to crack down on phones in school with a new law. Indiana and Ohio passed their own laws this year, while several other states have recently introduced what is becoming known as “phone-free schools” legislation. The…

Americans are increasingly skeptical about the value and cost of college, with most saying they feel the U.S. higher education system is headed in the “wrong direction,” according to a new poll. Overall, only 36% of adults say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education, according to the report released this week by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation. That confidence level has declined steadily from 57% in 2015. Some of the same opinions have been reflected in declining enrollment as colleges contend with the effects of the student debt crisis, concerns about the high cost of tuition and political debates over how they teach about race and other topics. The dimming view of whether college is worth the time and money cuts across…