SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son is planning a $1-trillion industrial complex in Arizona with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to build robots and AI, aiming to bring high-end tech manufacturing back to the US. The project, codenamed Project Crystal Land, has been discussed with US federal and state government officials, including Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, for possible tax breaks. SoftBank is also seeking interest from tech companies like Samsung Electronics, while TSMC is already investing $165 billion in US chipmaking factories.
https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/06/21/business/foreign-business/softbanks-son-pitches-1-t-arizona-ai-hub/2136949The US Air Force is developing a program to deploy nearly 1,000 autonomous drones, including the "Fury", alongside manned fighter jets like Lockheed Martin's F-35 and Boeing's next-generation F-47. General Atomics showcased its "YFQ-42A" drone at the Paris air show, designed for potential use in the Pacific if China invades Taiwan. Boeing recently demonstrated its Ghost Bat drones working with human pilots during a test with the Royal Australian Air Force, showcasing their potential to transform a single fighter jet into a combat team. European defense firms like SAAB and Airbus are also developing "wingman" drone initiatives as part of the Future Combat Air System partnership between Dassault Aviation, Airbus, and Indra Sistemas.
https://www.fakti.bg/en/world/980032-drone-war-for-european-manufacturers-ukraine-is-the-right-placeMedia agencies must leverage AI-powered verification tools to combat disinformation and maintain public trust. Collaborative efforts, such as those between VNA and ANTARA, demonstrate how newsrooms can harness AI responsibly. To ensure journalism serves the public interest with accuracy and integrity, media organizations must balance technology with human values, fostering ongoing dialogue with technologists, ethicists, and the public to assess AI's impact on media practices.
https://opengovasia.com/2025/06/21/vietnam-balancing-ai-innovation-and-ethics-in-journalism/The US Department of Transportation is investigating the safety of autonomous vehicles (AVs) using data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Waymo, and The Robot Report. AVs use a combination of sensors, machine learning, and real-time decision-making to drive without human input. However, companies like Waymo still rely on human drivers during testing as part of their safety practices. According to NHTSA data, AVs have been involved in over 3,900 crashes from 2019 through mid-2024, resulting in 496 injuries or fatalities. The crash rate per 1,000 vehicles has narrowed from 85.5 in 2022 to an estimated 35.6 in 2024, but is still almost double that of human-driven vehicles. Disengagements, where the vehicle hands control back to a human driver, are common due to issues such as control errors, planning failures, and perception gaps. To improve safety, companies like Waymo are building AI models that can recognize patterns, predict how others might behave, and make smarter decisions in real time. However, the industry faces challenges such as data collection and reporting inconsistencies, public trust, and the need for standardized benchmarks to compare performance results.
https://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/nation/examining-the-safety-of-self-driving-technology/article_10b2a592-a9ed-599a-8ab5-c63152e4f37e.htmlApple has been sued by shareholders who claim the company overstated its progress in artificial intelligence, with some alleging that the company's AI-related investments and partnerships were exaggerated or misrepresented. The lawsuit, filed in California, seeks damages and an injunction to prevent Apple from making similar claims in the future.
https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/apple-sued-by-shareholders-for-allegedly-overstating-ai-progress-11750448039733.htmlA group of Democratic lawmakers from Austin has called on Tesla to delay the rollout of its self-driving technology, citing concerns over safety and efficacy in various weather conditions. The lawmakers' request comes amid federal investigations and recalls following collisions involving Tesla's autonomous vehicles, as well as those of Alphabet's Waymo and Amazon's Zoox.
https://channelnewsasia.com/business/tesla-invites-select-few-texas-robotaxi-trial-front-seat-safety-monitors-5194841Foxconn and Nvidia are planning to use humanoid robots to build Nvidia's next-generation AI servers at a new Foxconn facility in Houston. The deployment is expected to be finalized in the coming months, with the introduction of the robots anticipated for Q1 2026.
https://indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/foxconn-to-build-nvidia-ai-servers-using-humanoid-robots-from-next-year-report-2743877-2025-06-20Perplexity AI has launched a real-time video generator that can create videos with sound and speech, using images as input. The feature uses artificial intelligence to analyze the image and generate a video clip in seconds. This technology can be used for various applications such as creating animated explainer videos, social media content, and even educational materials.
https://www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/perplexity-ai-launches-real-time-video-generator-with-sound-and-speech-how-the-feature-works-11750435356653.htmlDozens of YouTube and TikTok pages have been broadcasting AI-generated messages pretending to be comments from the pope, with young people being particularly susceptible to using chatbots to get headlines and updates. The Catholic Church has promoted ethical thinking on new technologies under Pope Francis' predecessor Leo, who initiated the Rome Call for AI Ethics in 2020, signed by Microsoft, IBM, the United Nations, Italy, and several universities.
https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/06/20/world/americas-emea/pope-warns-of-ai-risks-to-young-brains/2136963