Tim Cook will step down as Apple CEO and hand reins over to the iPhone maker's hardware leader
Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down from the job that he inherited from the late Steve Jobs, ending a 15-year reign that saw the company’s market value soar by more than $3.6 trillion during an iPhone-fueled era of prosperity. The 65-year-old Cook will hand the CEO duties to Apple’s head of hardware products, John Ternus, on Sept. 1 while remaining involved with the Cupertino, California, company as executive chairman. Although he never shook the perception that he lacked Jobs’ vision, Cook leveraged the popularity of the iPhone and other breakthroughs orchestrated by his predecessor to lift Apple to heights that seemed unfathomable when it was on the brink of bankruptcy during the mid-1990s.
French prosecutors summon Elon Musk over allegations of child abuse images and deepfakes on X
PARIS (AP) — Elon Musk has been summoned to Paris as part of an investigation into alleged misconduct on the social media platform X. French authorities are looking into the spread of child sexual abuse material and deepfake content. Musk and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino have been invited for voluntary interviews. It's unclear if they will attend. The investigation is still ongoing after a search at X's French premises in February. French prosecutors have alerted U.S. authorities, but the Justice Department reportedly declined to assist. Reporters Without Borders has also filed a complaint against X for allowing disinformation.
Google testimony challenges key claim in Indonesian corruption trial
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Former Google executives have testified that Google’s investment in Indonesia's GoTo was not linked to the Education Ministry’s Chromebook procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic. This testimony challenges allegations against Nadiem Anwar Makarim, the former education minister and Gojek co-founder. Makarim was arrested in September, accused of causing $125 million in state losses through the procurement. Prosecutors claim he pushed Google to invest in Gojek's parent company, PT AKAB, and favored Chromebooks despite their ineffectiveness in areas without internet. Makarim denies wrongdoing, and the verdict could be announced soon.
A humanoid robot sprints past the human half-marathon world record in Beijing race
BEIJING (AP) — A humanoid robot has won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing, running faster than the human record. The robot from the Honor team completed the 13-mile race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, surpassing Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo's human record of about 57 minutes. The event took place Sunday, with the robot using autonomous navigation to secure the win. This year's race featured over 300 robots from more than 100 teams, including international participants. The competition highlights China's advancements in a technological competition with the U.S. Speeding up the development of products like humanoid robots and their applications is part of the 2026-2030 plan by Beijing for the world’s second-largest economy.
Trump wants to stop states from regulating AI. This Utah Republican isn't listening
RIVERTON, Utah (AP) — Doug Fiefia once worked at Google. Now he's a Utah state representative running to be a state senator. And like some other tech employees who've gone into politics, he's made regulating the artificial intelligence industry a campaign centerpiece. That's put him on a collision course with President Donald Trump’s administration. Earlier this year, it helped block the lawmaker's state proposal requiring companies to include child safety protocols. The White House wants a single national AI standard. But with no progress on that front in Congress, state lawmakers are struggling to address concerns about the game-changing technology.
White House chief of staff meets with Anthropic CEO over its new AI technology
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to discuss the company's new AI model, Mythos. The model has gained attention for its advanced capabilities and potential use by the federal government. A White House official says the administration is engaging with AI labs about their models. The meeting Friday follows tensions between the Trump administration and Anthropic over the use of AI technology in federal agencies. Anthropic has limited the Mythos model's use to select customers due to its ability to surpass human cybersecurity experts in finding vulnerabilities.
Wanna bet? Washington steps up scrutiny of prediction markets
WASHINGTON (AP) — A controversy has erupted over prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi. On April 3, bets were placed on Polymarket on when a U.S. airman would be rescued from Iran. After Rep. Seth Moulton criticized this, Polymarket halted the betting. Well-timed trades have sparked bipartisan concern in Washington about the ethics and regulation of prediction markets. Lawmakers are proposing bills to prevent insider trading and regulate these markets. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also under scrutiny for its oversight role. The debate continues on how to address these markets effectively.
Polish leader Tusk claims Russia-linked crypto firm backed Nawrocki's presidential bid
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk claims a cryptocurrency firm with “Russian money” has sponsored politicians from Poland's former government. Tusk spoke on Friday as the Polish parliament voted on a veto by President Karol Nawrocki, who blocked legislation regulating Poland's crypto-assets market. The parliament failed to overrule the veto. Tusk alleges some politicians opposing regulation benefited from financing by Zondacrypto, a cryptocurrency exchange. He says Zondacrypto sponsors political events and supports specific political forces, including the far right. Tusk claims Nawrocki knew about the company’s origins when vetoing the regulations. Nawrocki’s office says he opposed the “flawed regulatory model.”
What to Stream: Charlize Theron, 'Marty Supreme,' Kehlani, Kate Hudson and Lainey Wilson
Timothée Chalamet starring as a ping-pong master in “Marty Supreme” and a Netflix comedy competition show hosted by Kevin Hart are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you. Also among the streaming offerings worth your time for the week of April 20 as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Charlize Theron expanding her already robust action movie resume with the survivalist thriller “Apex,” Kate Hudson’s basketball drama “Running Point” returning for Season 2 and a Netflix documentary on country star Lainey Wilson.
ChatGPT maker OpenAI shifts its focus to business users amid Anthropic pressure
OpenAI executives say they will introduce a new artificial intelligence model for “high-value professional work” as the company faces heightened competition with rival Anthropic in attracting corporate customers to adopt AI assistants in their workplaces. OpenAI boasts of more than 900 million weekly users of its core ChatGPT product, but Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said about 95% of them “don’t pay anything” for the popular chatbot. While all those interactions build habits and reliance, they also strain the costly computing resources needed to power the company’s AI systems and highlight the need for big business customers to help pay the bills.
