🚫 Texas to ban social media for anyone under 18

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☀️ On this day: On May 26, 1995, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates issued his influential "Internet Tidal Wave" memo, declaring the Internet as "the most important single development" since the IBM PC. This marked a strategic pivot for Microsoft, emphasizing the Internet's centrality to the company's future and leading to an intensified focus on web technologies and browser development.

What’s happening:

• 🚫 Texas to ban social media for anyone under 18

• 🧠 Valve’s secret brain tech drops in 2025

• ⚠️ AI tool aims to cut deadly med mistakes in OR

• ⚰️ Google’s AI is quietly killing the open web

• 🧪 Microsoft launches AI platform for scientific discovery

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Hand-picked news:

🚫 Texas to ban social media for anyone under 18 ↗️LINK

• What: Texas is advancing a bill to ban all minors from social media platforms, requiring age verification and allowing parents to delete their kids’ accounts. It would be the strictest law of its kind if passed.

• Why: Supporters cite growing mental health concerns among youth linked to social media. Critics, including the ACLU, argue the bill violates First Amendment rights and could cut young people off from vital information.

• Impact: If signed into law, Texas would join a wave of states passing or considering similar restrictions. Legal battles are expected, with tech companies and advocacy groups poised to challenge the constitutionality of the ban.

🧠 Valve’s secret brain tech drops in 2025 ↗️LINK

• What: Starfish Neuroscience, founded by Valve CEO Gabe Newell, plans to release its first brain chip by late 2025. It’s designed to record and stimulate brain activity with low power and small size, aiming for less invasive applications than Neuralink.

• Why: The chip targets neurological disorders by enabling access to multiple brain regions without needing a battery. Starfish is seeking partners to build full implant systems powered wirelessly.

• Impact: While not gaming-focused yet, the tech reflects Newell’s long-term interest in brain-computer interfaces. Starfish’s ambitions could influence future medical treatments — and eventually, immersive digital experiences.

⚠️ AI tool aims to cut deadly med mistakes in OR ↗️LINK

• What: A team at UW Medicine developed AI-powered smart glasses to detect medication errors in operating rooms, specifically vial swap mistakes. The system scans syringe and vial labels to ensure they match, alerting staff if there’s a discrepancy.

• Why: Medication errors, especially in high-pressure settings like surgery, still harm millions yearly despite safety protocols. Nurse anesthetist John Wiederspan and Dr. Kelly Michaelsen aim to add a reliable AI “second set of eyes” without increasing staff burden.

• Impact: Tested with 99.6% accuracy, the device may soon get FDA approval. Experts call it a breakthrough, though stress it must supplement—not replace—human vigilance and raise privacy and over-reliance concerns.

⚰️ Google’s AI is quietly killing the open web ↗️LINK

• What: Google’s new AI features—AI Overviews and AI Mode—are changing how users interact with search. AI Overviews summarize web content at the top of results, while AI Mode fully replaces traditional search with chatbot-style answers, minimizing the need to click links.

• Why: These tools aim to streamline search by offering quick, generated responses. But in doing so, they reduce traffic to websites, threatening the ecosystem that provides Google with its training data and ad revenue base.

• Impact: Publishers risk losing visibility and revenue as Google prioritizes keeping users within its ecosystem. This shift could undermine the open web and redefine the economics of online content creation.

🧪 Microsoft launches AI platform for scientific discovery ↗️LINK

• What: At Build 2025, Microsoft introduced Microsoft Discovery, an AI-driven platform designed to support every phase of scientific research—from idea generation to experimentation—via specialized AI agents.

• Why: The platform aims to automate data-heavy, routine tasks, freeing researchers to focus on innovation. It’s built on a graph-based knowledge engine and offers modular customization with industry-specific tools and data.

• Impact: Microsoft Discovery could reshape R&D by integrating AI deeply into scientific workflows. But its transformative potential depends on AI’s ability to move from automation to genuine creative problem-solving.

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Today’s Poll:

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Yesterday’s Poll Result:

Do you think an AI capable of blackmail can ever be aligned with human values?

• A) No – That’s a fundamental failure - 66% 🏆

• B) Possibly – With enough constraints and oversight - 34%

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