Tag - ai

 
Menu
Search
 
July 06, 2026
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

AI

The chat window for chatbot Grok on a laptop
WORLD
Jan 13, 2026
U.K.’s Starmer escalates threats against X, calling Grok ‘shameful’
The prime minister vowed to enforce a law that bans the sexualization of people’s images without consent.
Some tech titans like Elon Musk envision an AI-driven future of “socialism from above,” where machines generate abundance while the means of production remain in the hands of a wealthy few.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2026
Artificial intelligence, robots and Silicon Valley’s top-down socialism
The architects of AI are open about the fact that they are creating systems whose success in generating material abundance could also obliterate large swaths of the labor market.
Malaysia’s tech regulator said on Sunday that the country suspended access to Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok over AI-generated pornographic content.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 11, 2026
Malaysia suspends access to Musk’s Grok AI
On Saturday Indonesia became the first country to deny all access to the tool, which has been restricted to paying subscribers elsewhere.
Fujitsu's physical AI system, which allows robots to move autonomously and in coordination with one another, is showcased at the CES tech show in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The robots are made by external manufacturers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2026
Fujitsu showcases automotive software tech at CES
Fujitsu’s AI can help mitigate the costs and labor needed for developing programs for software defined vehicles.
An attendee shakes hands with a PaXini humanoid robot during the annual CES technology show in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 9, 2026
China’s humanoids were everywhere at America’s top tech show
The presence of China’s robotics innovations at the heart of America’s technology showcase is a constant reminder of the technological race between both countries.
Gwanghwamun square in central Seoul on Thursday. South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics reported a preliminary operating profit of 20 trillion won ($13.8 billion) in the three months through December.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 8, 2026
Samsung’s profit triples after AI supercharges memory market
South Korea’s largest company reported a preliminary operating profit of 20 trillion won ($13.8 billion) in the three months through December, up 208%.
An instructor briefs participants on case scenarios during an entrepreneur boot camp in Singapore in 2022. Companies around the world are turning to agentic AI, which is able to take actions independently and do multiple steps at once.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 8, 2026
Inside Singapore’s AI bootcamp to retrain 35,000 bankers
The unspoken intent is to limit the large-scale job losses seen at some financial firms in the U.S. and Europe as companies around the world turn to AI.
Commuters pass a billboard advertising AI employees at a London Underground station. As artificial intelligence spreads, many people are asking whether it will take their jobs.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2026
Six unresolved AI questions heading into 2026
We were promised tools to cure disease and solve climate change, but 2025 mostly delivered AI slop and a spammier internet.
A screenshot of Loverse app shows an AI-generated woman, characterized as a 25-year-old hair and makeup artist Miyu, registered as a female companion.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2026
Swipe right for AI romance
An app called Loverse aims to give users the closest depiction of the real thing — complete with all its unpredictability.
The Capmind voice memory assistant earbuds are displayed during CES Unveiled ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sunday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 7, 2026
From music to mind reading: AI startups bet on earbuds
Startups have for a while tried to beef up headphones beyond their basic functions, such as listening to music and making phone calls.
Amazon is using an experimental artificial intelligence tool to duplicate independent sellers' product listings, sometimes without their knowledge, then make purchases on behalf of Amazon customers.
BUSINESS
Jan 7, 2026
Amazon AI tool blindsides merchants by offering products without their knowledge
While Amazon’s strategy could generate sales an independent seller might not otherwise get, it raises questions about who bears responsibility when something goes awry.
Waseda University professor Shigeki Sugano discusses AIREC, an AI-driven humanoid robot project at the university's laboratory in Tokyo in February. Japan is leveraging artificial intelligence and robotics to address demographic and other challenges, particularly elderly care.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 6, 2026
Japan’s long return to artificial intelligence
Japan’s re-engagement with artificial intelligence is commonly framed as “catching up.”
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks about autonomous-driving vehicles during a Nvidia keynote address at CES 2026, an annual consumer electronics trade show, in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 6, 2026
Self-driving and AI take center stage at CES as carmakers dial back EV plans
As automakers have hit the brakes on electric vehicle plans, auto suppliers and start ups are lining up to show off their latest autonomous vehicle hardware and software.
Grok, a chatbot developed by xAI, has faced criticism over the rollout of a tool that allows users to request images of a subject with their clothes removed.
WORLD
Jan 6, 2026
‘Remove her clothes’: Global backlash over Grok sexualized images
The tool on social media platform X prompted swift probes or calls for remedial action from countries including France, India and Malaysia.
A Samsung Electronics sign at the IFA Consumer Electronics and Home Appliances trade fair in Berlin on Sept. 5, 2024. Investors are increasingly asking if we’re living through another financial bubble that’s destined to burst.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 5, 2026
Is the AI boom a bubble waiting to pop? Here’s what history says.
Investors are increasingly asking if we’re living through another financial bubble that’s destined to burst.
As U.S. tech companies expand global deals with strong backing from the Trump administration, safeguards to prevent human-rights violations remain absent.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2026
AI must not ignore human rights
If AI companies end up in a race to the bottom, what hope will there be for basic human-rights protections?
X's Grok AI tool created and published images of minors in minimal clothing, in apparent violation of its own acceptable use policy, which prohibits the sexualization of children.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 3, 2026
Grok makes sexual images of kids as users test AI guardrails
X’s AI tool created and published images of minors in minimal clothing, in apparent violation of its own acceptable use policy, which prohibits the sexualization of children.
New research shows AI chatbots are becoming more persuasive by overwhelming users with information, regardless of the accuracy, increasing the risk of political misinformation.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 2, 2026
AI Is getting dangerously good at political persuasion
The trick is using a debating tactic known as Gish galloping, a rapid-style speech tactic in which one interlocutor bombards the other with a stream of facts and stats.
As digital technologies become essential, governments must strategically invest in infrastructure, expanding its scope to include intangible assets like software and data to support economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2025
Building infrastructure for the AI age
Broadband, mobile networks and data centers are now as integral to daily life as roads and power grids.
Having made colossal profits as well as losses on previous investments, founder Masayoshi Son has pivoted SoftBank toward artificial intelligence.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 31, 2025
SoftBank lifts OpenAI stake to 11% with $41 billion investment
SoftBank had announced in April its planned investment of up to $40 billion in Open AI, and on Wednesday it said that the second tranche of $22.5 billion was completed.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Thailand gets serious about chasing high-spending tourists
Chinese tourists at Wat Arun Ratchawararam Rathawaramahawihan in Bangkok
Murakami says his novels are ‘different’ from AI literature
Haruki Murakami's first book in three years hit shelves in Japan on Friday.
Japan’s princesses face life-altering legal revisions
Princess Aiko, the daughter of Emperor Naruhito, said in a 2022 news conference upon coming of age that she hopes to “spend a long time together” with her parents.
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
X Games returns to Chiba with new team format
Skateboarder Sora Shirai practices at Makuhari Messe in Chiba on Friday afternoon. X Games Chiba begins on Saturday.
NU Festival tests Takanawa Gateway City complex’s culture cred
Veteran improvisers Kazuo Imai and Atsuhiro Ito brought some unruly energy to NU Festival, a three-day multimedia event held at the Takanawa Gateway City complex.  
Japan’s princesses face life-altering legal revisions
Princess Aiko, the daughter of Emperor Naruhito, said in a 2022 news conference upon coming of age that she hopes to “spend a long time together” with her parents.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency
New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER