The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating allegations that Apple News suppresses right-leaning content, while Apple's AI-powered Siri revamp has been delayed again, according to recent reports. In other tech news, OpenAI disbanded its mission alignment team, xAI revealed interplanetary ambitions, and Amazon launched a new feature for the Kindle Scribe.
The FTC's concerns, revealed in a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, stem from reports by the Media Research Center, a right-leaning think tank, which accused Apple of excluding conservative outlets from the top articles in the Apple News feed. FTC chair Andrew Ferguson, a known Big Tech critic, stated in the letter, "I abhor and condemn any attempt to censor content for ideological reasons." The FTC is examining whether Apple News is adhering to its terms of service and representations to consumers.
Meanwhile, Apple's plans for a revamped Siri, first unveiled in 2024, have faced further setbacks. According to a report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the launch of the new Siri, initially expected with the upcoming iOS 26.4 update in March, will now be rolled out more gradually. Some features may be postponed until the May iOS update or even the release of iOS 27 in September, due to testing challenges.
In other developments, OpenAI disbanded its mission alignment team, which was formed in September 2024. The team's former leader has been assigned a new role as the company's chief futurist. An OpenAI spokesperson described the team's purpose as a "support function to help employees and the public understand our mission and the impact of AI." The news was first reported by Platformer.
xAI, Elon Musk's AI lab, took the unusual step of publicly releasing a full 45-minute all-hands meeting video on X. The video revealed details about the company's product roadmap and its ongoing ties to the X platform. The meeting also addressed employee departures, which Musk described as layoffs resulting from a changing organizational structure.
Finally, Amazon launched a new "Send to Alexa Plus" feature for the Kindle Scribe, allowing owners to use Alexa to summarize documents, create tasks, and set reminders. The feature began rolling out to the latest Kindle Scribe and Kindle Scribe Color owners on February 12.
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