OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA — From his home in northern California, Nick Russell, a former farm manager, is monitoring the Los Angeles-area fires.

He knows that about 600 kilometers south, people in Los Angeles are relying on his team’s live neighborhood-by-neighborhood updates on fire outbreaks, smoke direction, surface wind predictions and evacuation routes.

Russell is vice president of operations at Watch Duty, a free app that tracks fires and other natural disasters. It relies on a variety of data sources such as cameras and sensors throughout the state, government agencies, first responders, a core of volunteers, and its own team of reporters.

An emergency at his house, for example, would be “much different” from one at his neighbor’s house .4 kilometers away, Russell said. “That is true for communities everywhere, and that’s where technology really comes in.”

Watch Duty’s delivery of detailed localized information is one reason for its success with its 7 million users, many of whom downloaded the app in recent weeks.

It acts as a virtual emergency operations center, culling and verifying data points.

Watch Duty’s success points to the promise that technologies such as artificial intelligence and sensors will give residents and first responders the real-time information they need to survive and fight natural disasters.

Google and other firms have invested in technology to track fires. Several startup firms are also looking for ways to use AI, sensors and other technologies in natural disasters.

Utility firms work with Gridware, a company that places AI-enhanced sensors on power lines to detect a tree branch touching the line or any other vibrations that could indicate a problem.

Among Watch Duty’s technology partners is ALERTCalifornia, run by the University of San Diego, which has a network of more than 1,000 AI-enhanced cameras throughout the state looking for smoke. The cameras often detect fires before people call emergency lines, Russell said.

Together with ALERTCalifornia’s information, Russell said, “we have become the eyes and ears” of fires.

Another Watch Duty partner is N-5 Sensors, a Maryland-based firm. Its sensors, which are placed in the ground, detect smoke, heat and other signs of fire.

“They’re like a nose, if you will, so they detect smoke anomalies and different chemical patterns in the air,” Russell said.

Watch Duty is available in 22 states, mostly in the western U.S., and plans to expand to all states.

While fire has been its focus, Watch Duty also plans to track other natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis, Russell said.

“Fire is not in the name,” he said. “We want to be that one-stop shop where people can go in those times of duress, to have a source that makes it clear and concise what’s happening.” 
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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order related to AI to “make America the world capital in artificial intelligence,” his aide told reporters in the White House’s Oval Office.

The order sets a 180-day deadline for an Artificial Intelligence Action Plan to create a policy “to sustain and enhance America’s global AI dominance in order to promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security.”

Trump also told his AI adviser and national security assistant to work to remove policies and regulations put in place by former President Joe Biden.

Trump on Monday revoked a 2023 executive order signed by Biden that sought to reduce the risks that artificial intelligence poses to consumers, workers and national security.

Biden’s order required developers of AI systems that pose risks to U.S. national security, the economy, public health or safety to share the results of safety tests with the U.S. government, in line with the Defense Production Act, before they were released to the public.

Trump also signed an executive order creating a cryptocurrency working group tasked with proposing a new regulatory framework for digital assets and exploring the creation of a cryptocurrency stockpile.

The much-anticipated action also ordered that banking services for crypto companies be protected, and banned the creation of central bank digital currencies that could compete with existing cryptocurrencies.

The order sees Trump fulfill a campaign trail pledge to be a “crypto president and promote the adoption of digital assets.”

That is in stark contrast to Biden’s regulators that, in a bid to protect Americans from fraud and money laundering, cracked down on crypto companies, suing exchanges Coinbase, Binance, Kraken and dozens more in federal court, alleging they were flouting U.S. laws.

The working group will be made up of the Treasury secretary, attorney general and chairs of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, along with other agency heads. The group is tasked with developing a regulatory framework for digital assets, including stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency typically pegged to the U.S. dollar.

The group is also set to “evaluate the potential creation and maintenance of a national digital asset stockpile … potentially derived from cryptocurrencies lawfully seized by the Federal Government through its law enforcement efforts.”

In December, Trump named venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks as the crypto and artificial intelligence czar. He will chair the group, the order said.

Finally, Trump signed pardons for 23 anti-abortion protesters on Thursday in the Oval Office of the White House.

The pardons came a day before anti-abortion protesters were due to descend on Washington for the annual March for Life.
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London — Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS are facing fresh scrutiny from Britain’s competition watchdog, which announced investigations Thursday targeting the two tech giants’ mobile phone ecosystems under new powers to crack down on digital market abuses. 

The Competition and Markets Authority said it launched separate investigations to determine whether the mobile ecosystems controlled by Apple and Google should be given “strategic market status” that would mandate changes in the companies’ practices. 

The watchdog is flexing its newly acquired regulatory muscles again after the new digital market rules took effect at the start of the year. The CMA has already used the new rules, designed to protect consumers and businesses from unfair practices by Big Tech companies, to open an investigation into Google’s search ads business. 

The new investigations will examine whether Apple or Google’s mobile operating systems, app stores and browsers give either company a strategic position in the market. The watchdog said it’s interested in the level of competition and any barriers preventing rivals from offering competing products and services. 

The CMA will also look into whether Apple or Google are favoring their own apps and services, which it said “often come pre-installed and prominently placed on iOS and Android devices.” Google’s YouTube and Apple’s Safari browser are two examples of apps that come bundled with Android and iOS, respectively. 

And it will investigate “exploitative conduct,” such as whether Apple or Google forces app makers to agree to “unfair terms and conditions” as condition for distributing apps on their app stores. 

The regulator has until October to wrap up the investigation. It said it could force either company to, for example, open up access to key functions other apps need to operate on mobile devices. Or it could force them to allow users to download apps outside of their own app stores. 

Both Google and Apple said the work “constructively” with the U.K. regulator on the investigation. 

Google said “Android’s openness has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps. It’s the only example of a successful and viable open source mobile operating system.” 

The company said it favors “a way forward that avoids stifling choice and opportunities for U.K. consumers and businesses alike, and without risk to U.K. growth prospects.” 

Apple said it “believes in thriving and dynamic markets where innovation can flourish. We face competition in every segment and jurisdiction where we operate, and our focus is always the trust of our users.”
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Before he had been in office for 48 hours, President Donald Trump sent a clear signal that to outpace China, his administration will be pursuing an aggressive agenda when it comes to pushing the United States forward on the development of artificial intelligence and the infrastructure that powers it.

On his first day in office, Trump rescinded an executive order signed in 2023 by former President Joe Biden that sought to place some guardrails around the development of more and more powerful generative AI tools and to create other protections for privacy, civil rights and national security.

The following day, Trump met with the leaders of several leading technology firms, including Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI; Larry Ellison, chairman of Oracle; and Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, to announce a $500 billion private sector investment in AI infrastructure known as Stargate.

“Beginning immediately, Stargate will be building the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of advancements in AI, and this will include the construction of colossal data centers,” Trump said in a media event at the White House on Tuesday.

Specifically, Stargate will invest in the creation of as many as 10 huge data centers in the United States that will provide the computing for artificial intelligence systems. The first data center is already under construction in Texas. The massive private sector investment will create up to 100,000 U.S. jobs, the executives said.

Keeping AI in the US

“What we want to do is, we want to keep it in this country,” Trump said. “China is a competitor, and others are competitors. We want it to be in this country, and we’re making it available. I’m going to help a lot through emergency declarations, because we have an emergency. We have to get this stuff built.”

The assembled tech leaders took the opportunity to praise the new president.

“I think this will be the most important project of this era,” Altman said. “We wouldn’t be able to do this without you, Mr. President.”

Janet Egan, a senior fellow in the technology and national security program at the Center for a New American Security, said that all the signals Trump is sending indicate he is serious about maintaining the United States’ current advantages in the development of advanced AI.

“I think this shows that he’s going to have a really clear mind as to how to partner closely with the private sector to enable them to speed up and run fast,” Egan said. “We’ve also seen him take direct action on some of the bottlenecks that are impeding the development of AI infrastructure in the U.S., and a particular focus is energy.”

OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has relied on Microsoft data centers for its computing. The firm reportedly discussed with the Biden administration the regulatory hurdles of planning and permitting when building data centers.

In a policy paper released earlier this month, OpenAI cited the competition with China, laying out its policy proposals to “extending America’s global leadership in AI innovation.”

“Chips, data, energy and talent are the keys to winning on AI — and this is a race America can and must win,” the paper said. “There’s an estimated $175 billion sitting in global funds awaiting investment in AI projects, and if the U.S. doesn’t attract those funds, they will flow to China-backed projects — strengthening the Chinese Communist Party’s global influence.”

Patrick Hedger, director of policy at NetChoice, a technology trade association, told VOA that the Stargate announcement “immediately signaled to me that private capital is more than willing to come off the sidelines these days with the new Trump administration.”

As part of his flurry of executive actions on Monday, Trump eliminated several preexisting executive orders placing limits on fossil fuel extraction and power generation. In the White House event on Monday, Trump also noted that AI data centers consume vast amounts of electricity and said he would be clearing the way for Stargate and other private companies to invest in new energy generation projects.

China competition

While Trump eliminated many of Biden’s executive orders immediately on Monday, he does not appear to have taken action against some of the former president’s other AI-related initiatives. Last year, Biden took several steps to restrict China’s access to cutting-edge technology related to AI, specifically, restricting the ability of companies that sell advanced semiconductors and the machinery used to produce them to Chinese firms.

On that issue, Egan said, Trump and Biden appear to be on the same page.

“I think it’s important to also note the continuity in how Trump’s approaching AI,” she said. “He, too, sees it as a national security risk and national security imperative. … So, I think we should expect to see this run-fast approach to AI complemented by continued efforts to understand and manage emerging risks. Particularly cyber, nuclear, biological risks, as well as a more muscular approach to export controls and enforcement.”

Speed and safety

Louis Rosenberg, CEO and chief scientist at Unanimous AI and a prominent figure in the field for decades, told VOA he thinks there is a bipartisan consensus that AI needs to be developed speedily but also responsibly.

“At the highest level, the accelerating risks around frontier AI is not a partisan issue,” he wrote in an email exchange. “Both parties realize that significant safeguards will be needed as AI gets increasingly intelligent and flexible, especially as autonomous AI agents get released at large scale.”

Rosenberg said the most significant question is how the U.S. can remain the global leader in AI development while making sure the systems that are deployed are safe and reliable.

“I suspect the Trump administration will address AI risks by deploying its own targeted policies that are not as broad as the Biden executive order was but can address real threats much faster,” he wrote. “The Biden executive order was very useful in raising the alarm about AI, but from a practical perspective it did not provide meaningful protections from the important emerging risks.

“Ultimately we need to find a way to move fast on AI development and move fast on AI protection. We need speed on both fronts,” Rosenberg said.

VOA Silicon Valley bureau chief Michelle Quinn contributed to this report.
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Singapore — TikTok’s short-lived shutdown in the United States has opened a wider debate in other countries regarding access to popular social media platforms by children.

TikTok went dark temporarily Sunday in the U.S. after a new law banning it went into effect. The law required TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance to sell the app’s U.S. operation due to national security concerns over its ties to Beijing.

After his inauguration on Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting the ban for 75 days, giving ByteDance additional time to find a buyer.

The order provides relief to the app’s 170 million American users, many of them young adults. More than 60% of teenagers in the U.S. ages 13 to 17 use TikTok, with most of them accessing the platform daily, according to data from the Pew Research Center.

The U.S. is not the only country looking to regulate social media and other platforms such as online gaming. While the reasons behind the restrictions vary, a growing number of countries already regulate technology or are proposing legislation to restrict its use.

In Australia, a high-profile social media ban for young adults under the age of 16 will take effect at the end of the year, prohibiting them from creating accounts on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X and Snapchat. The government said the ban was a necessary measure to protect children.

“Social media is doing harm to our kids, and I’m calling time on it,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters last November.

Websites like YouTube that do not require an account to view content will likely be excluded from the ban.

The Australian government said the onus will be on the social media companies to “take reasonable steps” to prevent children under 16 from creating accounts on their platforms. Companies that do not comply could face fines of more than $30 million. Details of how the law will be enforced remain scarce, with age verification technologies currently being trialed.

Some young Australian users of the platforms remain skeptical about how effective a ban will be.

“I think people will manage to find ways around it, maybe by lying about their age,” 15-year-old Theodore Cagé told VOA.

While Cagé concedes that social media can be a “big distraction from school,” he is against a blanket ban, favoring more measured approaches such as limiting screen time or blocking specific content.

“I reckon it definitely should be more targeted, not just a total ban on everything, because there’s a lot of good stuff out there. It’s not all bad,” he said.

The impending ban has also raised concerns that some children will be left isolated.  

“Social media serves as a lifeline for those youth who do not have supportive homes or local environments. They can find supportive communities on social media”, Lisa Given, a professor of information sciences at RMIT University in Melbourne, told VOA.

Australia’s ban will be closely watched, especially by countries in Asia that are considering their own restrictions for young users.

Indonesia’s communications minister said the Southeast Asian nation is planning a minimum age for social media use and discussed plans last week with President Prabowo Subianto. 

In neighboring Singapore, teenagers under 18 will be moved to a more restrictive Teen Accounts on Instagram starting January 21.

The city-state also issued guidelines in schools to limit screen time for children. Starting March 31, app stores in Singapore will block children under 12 from downloading apps, including TikTok and Instagram.

But in the Southeast Asian financial hub, which prides itself on technological advancements and connectivity, social media still plays a significant role in the daily lives of young people.

Platforms like Snapchat and Instagram “are pretty important for engaging in new relationships or finding new friendships,” 17-year-old Pablo Lane of Singapore told VOA. “It [social media] has had big benefits for me, just broadening the scope of people I can contact.”

China has gone further than other countries in Asia to control children’s access to online networks. In 2021, Beijing introduced new measures restricting children under 18 to just three hours a week.  

And in late 2024, new guidelines from China’s cybersecurity regulator called for mobile devices to be equipped with a “minors mode” that would limit screen time for children under 18, including an overnight curfew.

The setting, which parents can turn off, restricts 16 to 18-year-olds to two hours of phone use a day, with eight to 16-year-olds allowed just one hour.

Jeremy Daum, a senior fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center, said China is also focused on protecting children from harmful content online rather than implementing blanket bans.

“They’re really trying, from a number of different angles, to make a safe web for kids,” he Daum.

Questions remain over whether China’s model could apply elsewhere. 
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Millions of U.S. TikTok users are looking to newly sworn-in President Donald Trump, who has given the app’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, 75 days to strike a deal with a U.S. buyer.
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