california - CybAI news

16 Jan

Why It’s So Confusing to Determine Air Quality in Los Angeles Right Now

stp2y0 CommentsRAG modelsair quality, apple, california, environment, google, health, los angeles, wildfires

AirNow’s fire map includes data from PurpleAir sensors (that’s what the small circles represent), and Watch Duty, a nonprofit app for tracking fires, also displays PurpleAir data. But likely due to different calculations and processing delays, the air quality index reported by the same sensors can vary greatly from map to map. For what’s known as PM2.5 pollution, or tiny inhalable particles of smoke and dust, a PurpleAir sensor located south of Los Angeles International Airport simultaneously returned on Monday an air quality index of 28 on AirNow’s website, 20 on WatchDuty, and 5 on PurpleAir’s official page.Each of those…

18 Dec

EPA gives thumbs up to California’s new gas-powered car sale ban

stp2y0 CommentsNewscalifornia, cars, electric vehicles, environmental protection agency, epa, EVs, gas, gasoline, news, regulations, smog, tomorrow, vehicles

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved California’s plan to phase out and ban the sale of new gas-powered cars and light trucks by 2035. reported the EPA gave California the waivers it needed to enact the devised and approved by the California Air Resources Board in 2022.The EPA also approved California’s plan to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from heavy-duty vehicles in order to reduce the amount of smog in the air. The state will require an initial 75 percent reduction in NOx pollution followed by a 90 percent reduction a few years later.The ACC II provides a year-to-year…

10 Dec

A new California bill would add warning labels to social media platforms

stp2y0 CommentsNewscalifornia, gear, Mental health, news, social media

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan a new bill, , that would require social media companies to put a warning label on their platforms to disclose their mental health risks.Citing social media platforms’ “harnessing of addictive features and harmful content for the sake of profits,” Attorney General Bonta says that consumers should have access to information about platforms that could impact their mental health. The current bill lacks detail on how much information these warning labels should have or how they should appear, but mentions the Cyberbullying Protection Act and the Online Violence Prevention Act as possible…

06 Dec

California will require fingerprint screening for Uber drivers to provide rideshares to minors

stp2y0 CommentsNewsapps, california, gear, news, rideshare, uber

California is introducing new requirements aimed at protecting young passengers traveling alone in taxis and rideshares. The California Public Utilities Commission is requiring drivers to pass a fingerprint background check in order to provide a ride to an unaccompanied minor. According to , transit companies will also be responsible for the cost of these background checks. Companies will have 30 days to comply with this policy.This ruling will mostly impact Uber, which began rolling out last year and added further to the accounts this year. Uber for Teens, which allows minors between the ages of 13 and 17 to hail…

17 Nov

X sues California over deceptive AI-made election content ban

stp2y0 CommentsNewsai, bill, california, Court, courts, deepfake, election, elon musk, law, lawsuit, legislation, legislations, news, politics, tomorrow, X

Elon Musk’s X is taking the state of California to court over a new law that prevents the spread of AI-generated election misinformation. reports that X filed a lawsuit against AB 2655, also known as the Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act of 2024, in a Sacramento federal court.California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law on September 17, creating accountability standards for using false political speech faked with AI programs close to an election. The legislation prevents the distribution of “materially deceptive audio or visual media of a candidate within 60 days of an election at which the…

17 Oct

SpaceX is suing the California Coastal Commission for not letting it launch more rockets

stp2y0 CommentsNewscalifornia, lawsuit, Legal, news, Space, spacex, tomorrow

Last week, the California Coastal Commission rejected a plan for SpaceX to launch up to 50 rockets this year at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. The company responded yesterday with a lawsuit, alleging that the state agency's denial was overreaching its authority and discriminating against its CEO.The Commission's goal is to protect California's coasts and beaches, as well as the animals living in them. The agency has control over private companies' requests to use the state coastline, but it can't deny activities by federal departments. The denied launch request was actually made by the US Space…

11 Oct

Steam now tells gamers up front that they’re buying a license, not a game

stp2y0 CommentsNewscalifornia, digital content, gaming, license, news, steam

Steam appears to have started posting a notice in its shopping cart that purchases on its storefront are only for a license and not a game, according to a notice spotted by Engadget. It looks like an attempt by the company to get ahead of a new California law coming next year that forces companies to admit that buyers don't actually own digital content.When you open your shopping cart with items inside and before going to payment, a notice at the bottom right states: "A purchase of a digital product grants a license for the product on Steam." This is…

29 Sep

California Gov. Newsom vetoes bill SB 1047 that aims to prevent AI disasters

stp2y0 CommentsNewsai, california, legislation, news, tomorrow

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed bill SB 1047, which aims to prevent bad actors from using AI to cause "critical harm" to humans. The California state assembly passed the legislation by a margin of 41-9 on August 28, but several organizations including the Chamber of Commerce had urged Newsom to veto the bill. In his veto message on Sept. 29, Newsom said the bill is "well-intentioned" but "does not take into account whether an AI system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making or the use of sensitive data. Instead, the bill applies stringent standards to even the…

26 Sep

New California law will force companies to admit you don’t own digital content

stp2y0 CommentsNewscalifornia, entertainment, gaming, Legal, news

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed AB 2426, a new law that requires digital marketplaces to make clearer to customers when they are only purchasing a license to access media. The law will not apply to cases of permanent offline downloads, only to the all-too-common situation of buying digital copies of video games, music, movies, TV shows or ebooks from an online storefront. spotted the development, which could see marketplaces facing fines for false advertising in the state if they don't use clear language to explain the limitations of what access entails. In other words, you won't be seeing language…

25 Sep

California’s ‘click to cancel’ subscription bill is signed into law

stp2y0 CommentsNewsadobe, california, click to cancel, gear, news, subscriptions

Governor Gavin Newsom has signed California's "click to cancel" Assembly Bill 286 into law to make it easier for consumers to opt out of subscriptions. The bill, introduced in April 2024, forces companies that permit online or in-app sign-ups to allow for online or in-app unsubscribing as well."AB 2863 is the most comprehensive ‘Click to Cancel’ legislation in the nation, ensuring Californians can cancel unwanted automatic subscription renewals just as easily as they signed up — with just a click or two,” said California Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo.Like many, you may have signed up for a thing online and when you…