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This week, Google released a family of open AI models, Gemma 3, that quickly garnered praise for their impressive efficiency. But as a number of developers lamented on X, Gemma 3’s license makes commercial use of the models a risky proposition. It’s not a problem unique to Gemma 3. Companies like Meta also apply custom, non-standard licensing terms to their openly available models, and the terms present legal challenges for companies. Some firms, especially smaller operations, worry that Google and others could “pull the rug” on their business by asserting the more onerous clauses. “The restrictive and inconsistent licensing of…

Mark Carney has been sworn in as the new prime minister of Canada, ending Justin Trudeau’s nearly 10-year tenure in the role. The 59-year-old ex-central banker took the oath of office on Friday, naming a streamlined cabinet and pledging to uphold Canada’s interests in the face of tariff threats from United States President Donald Trump. Governor General Mary Simon — the personal representative of King Charles, who is Canada’s head of state — presided over the ceremony at Rideau Hall in the capital, Ottawa. “We’re building a government that meets the moment. Canadians expect action — and that’s what this…

Weakness in sentiment reflects a deterioration in expectations for the future across multiple facets of the economy, including personal finances, employment, inflation.Consumer sentiment in the United States has plunged to a nearly two-and-a-half-year low, and inflation expectations have soared amid worries that President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which have ignited a trade war, would boost prices and undercut the economy. The deterioration in sentiment in March and inflation expectations reported by the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers on Friday were across political party affiliations with consumers saying “frequent gyrations in economic policies make it very difficult for consumers to…

NEW YORK (AP) — If it’s March, and it’s green, it must be St. Patrick’s Day. The day honoring the patron saint of Ireland is a global celebration of Irish heritage. And nowhere is that more so than in the United States, where parades take place in cities around the country and all kinds of foods and drinks are given an emerald hue.In fact, it was among Irish American communities that the day became the celebration it is, from its roots as a more solemn day with a religious observance in Ireland.But even in America, it was about more than…

Tech billionaires at Trump’s inauguration, including Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, got prime placement. But stocks have tumbled under Trump 2.0 so far.SHAWN THEW POOL/AFP/Getty mages Expectations were that billionaires would be the big winners in a Trump America 2.0. Instead, their fortunes have plummeted in the first eight weeks. Here are the biggest losers. President Donald Trump has more billionaires in his administration than any previous president, with at least nine. He counts plenty of billionaires as friends or fans: 16 visited him at Mar-a-Lago between the election and inauguration. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly just went…

Silicon Valley is bullish on AI agents. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said agents will “join the workforce” this year. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella predicted that agents will replace certain knowledge work. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said that Salesforce’s goal is to be “the number one provider of digital labor in the world” via the company’s various “agentic” services. But no one can seem to agree on what an AI agent is, exactly. In the last few years, the tech industry has boldly proclaimed that AI “agents” — the latest buzzword — are going to change everything. In the same way…

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials are tracking a rise in injuries tied to the misuse of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, including some brands that are sold in small canisters containing flavors like blueberry, strawberry and watermelon.The Food and Drug Administration on Friday warned consumers that inhaling the gas for its euphoric effects can cause dangerously low blood pressure, leading to loss of consciousness and injuries. The agency flagged a number products sold in colorful packaging at gas stations, vape shops and online including Cosmic Gas, Galaxy Gas and MassGass.Nitrous gas is traditionally used as a sedative for patients…

DeepSeek has gone viral. Chinese AI lab DeepSeek broke into the mainstream consciousness this week after its chatbot app rose to the top of the Apple App Store charts (and Google Play, as well). DeepSeek’s AI models, which were trained using compute-efficient techniques, have led Wall Street analysts — and technologists — to question whether the U.S. can maintain its lead in the AI race and whether the demand for AI chips will sustain. But where did DeepSeek come from, and how did it rise to international fame so quickly? DeepSeek’s trader origins DeepSeek is backed by High-Flyer Capital Management, a Chinese quantitative hedge fund…

FinTech funding had a red-letter week as Binance, the world’s largest digital asset exchange, secured a historic $2bn investment from Abu Dhabi-based AI and advanced technology investor MGX.The deal saw total funding skyrocket to $3.22bn across the past seven days, as 30 total deals were completed.It is the first institutional investment in Binance, the largest single investment ever made into a digital asset company, and the biggest transaction settled in digital asset.Across the sectoral front, Infrastructure & Enterprise Software and WealthTech leading with 6 deals each. Infrastructure funding stood out, landing $425.5M, headlined by Alkami ($300M, USA) and Flowdesk ($102M,…

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A northern Virginia judge determined embryos are not property that can be divided up, rejecting a previous analysis by the court saying such fertilized eggs could be considered divisible “goods or chattel” based on 19th-century slave law.Nearly 10 months after closing arguments, Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Dontaè L. Bugg wrote in an opinion letter earlier this month that he would dismiss a cancer survivor’s partition lawsuit against her ex-husband — a legal action that one property owner can take against another. The former wife, Honeyhline Heidemann, sued Jason Heidemann over access to two embryos they froze…