🤖 Kids are choosing AI over real friends

🚫 Walmart says no to personalized AI pricing

🎬 The Musk documentary ad ban lasted about a day

📳 Apple loses record $5.7 billion haptics patent case

💻 Microsoft quietly gives up on “AI PCs”

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A UNC study of more than 2,300 sixth- through eighth-graders found rapidly rising AI use, with one in five students saying they used chatbots for emotionally intimate companionship.

Researchers found students who used AI more often reported higher social anxiety and depressive symptoms, while heavier use for friendship predicted greater loneliness later, despite users seeking connection.

One mother said her 12-year-old spent every available iPad minute with a chatbot and skipped FaceTime calls, showing how quickly an always-agreeable digital companion can crowd out real relationships.

Walmart says it will not use AI, customer identity, or personal data to set individualized prices, promising shoppers will see the same prices regardless of who they are.

CEO John Furner said electronic shelf labels will not change prices by shopper, while Walmart also denied using cameras or facial recognition to determine what customers pay.

The pledge comes as regulators scrutinize personalized pricing, even though Walmart holds patents involving machine learning and pricing, making its public commitment a notable line in the sand.

Meta and YouTube reversed course and will now run paid ads for "Musk," Alex Gibney's four-hour documentary, one day after The Hollywood Reporter revealed that four major platforms had rejected them.

The platforms flagged the trailer as "political content," apparently over a shot of Musk at a 2024 Trump rally. Meta now calls it an error, while YouTube says its automated system temporarily restricted the ad.

TikTok and X still won't run the ad. For a film about how Musk tries to control public conversation, a social media ad blackout works as unplanned free promotion.

A federal jury in San Diego ordered Apple to pay Taction more than $5.7 billion, finding the Taptic Engine in iPhones and Apple Watches infringed two of the company's haptics patents.

Taction sued in 2021, saw a judge toss the case in 2023, then won a revival at the Federal Circuit last year. The jury found Apple's infringement wasn't willful, which rules out enhanced damages.

Law360 calls it the largest patent award in U.S. history. Taction waited five and a half years to reach trial, and Apple's appeal means the actual check could take even longer.

Microsoft and Qualcomm have stopped using the “Copilot+ PC” label on new Surface devices and other hardware, stepping back from branding they pushed heavily when the AI PC category launched in 2024.

Executives from Microsoft Surface and Qualcomm said the devices still include the same AI features and Copilot tools, meaning the change affects marketing more than the underlying software or hardware capabilities.

The shift comes as Microsoft introduces 8GB Surface models below its original Copilot+ requirements, suggesting buyers may care more about getting a new PC than buying an “AI PC.”

A) Yes - 93% 🏆

B) No - 7%