Microsoft Fabric reaches the US government cloud, with general availability from October
Microsoft Fabric reaches the US government cloud, with general availability from October

Microsoft has launched its Fabric data platform in Government Community Cloud High on public preview, with general availability from 1 October, pitched at agentic AI workloads. Europe has no equivalent accredited tier, because its cloud certification s…

A US court says Google keeps its ad exchange. The Commission said only a sale would work
A US court says Google keeps its ad exchange. The Commission said only a sale would work

A US federal judge has ruled that Google will not have to sell its advertising exchange, leaving the remedies from three American antitrust cases largely behavioural. The European Commission fined Google €2.95B last September and said only divestment o…

Meta’s new AI model edges closer to OpenAI and Anthropic, its AI Chief says
Meta’s new AI model edges closer to OpenAI and Anthropic, its AI Chief says

Meta has released Muse Spark 1.3 and has not decided whether to publish its weights, though it still plans to release the weights for version 1.2. The AI Act exempts genuinely open-source general-purpose models from part of Article 53, but that exempti…

New York bans AI in primary school, three months after Norway did
New York bans AI in primary school, three months after Norway did

New York City is imposing a one-year moratorium on generative AI for pupils from 2-K through eighth grade, removing student-facing AI software and companion chatbots for around 600,000 children. Norway banned generative AI in its primary schools in Jun…

Microsoft finally puts a dollar figure on Azure, and narrows what Azure means
Microsoft finally puts a dollar figure on Azure, and narrows what Azure means

Microsoft will report Azure revenue in dollars each quarter for the first time, having grown it 42% to $29.42B in the June quarter under a new two-segment structure. The European Commission reached a preliminary position in June that Azure should be de…

Tesla’s driver assist faces new pressure after two fatal crashes where the cars stopped dead
Tesla’s driver assist faces new pressure after two fatal crashes where the cars stopped dead

Electrek has matched two fatal US freeway crashes to redacted Tesla reports showing a driver assistance system verified as engaged with the car stopped at 0mph in a live lane. The Netherlands approved FSD Supervised in April under UN Regulation 171, se…

Justice Department sides with OpenAI in publishers’ copyright fight
Justice Department sides with OpenAI in publishers’ copyright fight

The Justice Department filed a statement of interest backing OpenAI’s fair use defence in the consolidated publisher copyright cases, arguing that licensing costs would threaten national security. EU law has no fair use doctrine, and the AI Act applies…

Brussels is asking publishers whether Google’s AI opt-out is any use
Brussels is asking publishers whether Google’s AI opt-out is any use

Google gave publishers a way to opt out of its AI search features in June without affecting their ordinary search rankings. The European Commission has spent the summer trying to work out whether that option actually gives publishers any meaningful cho…

ICE plans to buy Boston Dynamics robot dogs without running a competition
ICE plans to buy Boston Dynamics robot dogs without running a competition

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has posted plans to buy a fleet of Boston Dynamics robot dogs. The listing puts the spend at $1m to $2m. It also says ICE does not intend to compete the purchase. Joseph Cox found the plan for 404 Media on Friday….

Florida and Texas both moved against Flock cameras in a single week
Florida and Texas both moved against Flock cameras in a single week

Florida has ordered every automated licence plate reader off its state highways. Agencies have 30 days to take them down. Texas froze state funding for the same cameras four days earlier. Two states run by Republican governors moved against Flock Safet…