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Proposed bill would ban AI chatbot companions for minors

admin - Latest News - October 29, 2025
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Senators have introduced bipartisan legislation to crack down on tech companies that make AI chatbot companions available to minors, after complaints from parents who blamed the products for pushing their children into sexual conversations and even suicide. NBC News’ Julie Tsirkin talks to Mandi Furniss who blames an AI chatbot for pushing her son toward self-harm and says tech companies need to be held accountable for the services they offer.



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Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleOct. 29, 2025, 5:00 AM EDTBy Rob Wile and Steve KopackInvestors are nearly certain that the Federal Reserve will announce a quarter-point cut to its benchmark interest rate Wednesday afternoon. What happens next is anyone’s guess.Typically, in times of a labor market slowdown the Fed lowers rates to spur economic activity. During times of rising inflation, the Fed often hikes rates to put a lid on rising prices. With data simultaneously showing a weakening employment picture and a stubborn price growth, the Fed faces a dilemma as it determines where to set the rate that helps determine how much consumers and businesses pay to borrow money. “There is no risk-free path for policy as we navigate the tension between our employment and inflation goals,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said earlier this month. He made similar remarks when the Fed cut rates for the first time this year, in September. Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the annual inflation rate for consumer prices had climbed from 2.9% to 3% in September — well above the Fed’s 2% target. The Fed’s view of the economy remains impaired by a lack of other data, which is paused due to the government shutdown. One of those measures, the personal consumption expenditures index (PCE), is the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge. The August PCE report, published prior to the shutdown, also showed a reading north of the 2% goal. Many economists attribute a significant portion of ongoing price pressures to President Donald Trump’s tariffs.“The tariffs are the biggest tax increase since the late 1960s,” said Luke Tilley, chief economist at Wilmington Trust financial group.Meanwhile, jobs data suggests the U.S. is experiencing one of the weakest labor markets of the 21st century. The unemployment rate, at 4.3% as of August, is relatively low on a historical basis. But it is taking those without jobs an average of nearly six months to land a new position, as hiring rates have collapsed to levels last seen in the years following the 2008 global financial crisis. The government shutdown, now on the verge of its fourth week, has complicated matters by preventing the Bureau of Labor Statistics from releasing more current economic data. Without fresh numbers, “the Fed’s task is further complicated,” BNP Paribas economists wrote in a note on Tuesday. There are few private-sector sources of data and none can fully replicate the official government data. For instance, payroll processor ADP released its employment survey, which pointed to a significant decline in private employment in August and September. But that data only covers about 20% of the private labor force and does not count federal, state or local government employment. Part of the problem is that economic growth appears to be powering ahead thanks in great part to investments in artificial intelligence. Estimates of gross domestic product, the standard measure of economic growth, have soared to nearly 4%. Major stock market indexes, meanwhile, continue to set new records — also largely as a result of AI investments, fueling concerns about a bubble. The mere expectation that the Fed will further lower interest rates has also historically led to support for stock prices.“Something’s gotta give,” Fed governor Christopher Waller said on Oct. 16. Waller, a Trump nominee who is a finalist to succeed Powell as chair, has a permanent vote on the Fed’s rate-setting committee. “Either economic growth softens to match a soft labor market, or the labor market rebounds to match stronger economic growth,” he added. But even Waller, who in the summer called on the Fed to lower rates as soon as possible, urged caution: “We need to move with care when adjusting the policy rate to ensure we don’t make a mistake that will be costly to correct.” Other analysts believe that the tension between elevated inflation and weakening labor data is easing — though for reasons that do not bode well for the broader economy. In a note published Monday, Neil Dutta, head of economics at Renaissance Macro research group, said that as jobs growth continues to falter, price pressures will, too, as households grow more cautious about spending.“Labor market slack continues to build and there is reason to expect inflation to cool as a result,” Dutta wrote. The Fed is scheduled to make its next interest rate decision Dec. 10.Rob WileRob Wile is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist covering breaking business stories for NBCNews.com.Steve KopackSteve Kopack is a senior reporter at NBC News covering business and the economy.
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Nov. 13, 2025, 5:00 AM ESTBy Gary GrumbachALEXANDRIA, Va. — When acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan walks into federal court here in Virginia on Thursday morning, it will be Halligan — not the criminal defendants she hopes to prosecute — at the center of the court’s attention.Former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both frequent targets of President Donald Trump, filed separate motions in their respective cases, arguing that Halligan is unlawfully serving as acting U.S. attorney and therefore the indictments against them should be thrown out. In a rare joint hearing, attorneys for Comey and James will argue this together before U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie, who is traveling up from the District of South Carolina.Currie is hearing this joint oral argument session, not a judge from the Eastern District of Virginia, to avoid any potential intradistrict conflict of interest.Halligan, who was part of Trump’s legal team in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case but has no prior prosecutorial experience, was sworn in to the job as interim U.S. attorney in one of the nation’s busiest federal court districts on Sept. 22. That’s three days after Erik Siebert, the U.S. attorney who had been serving in the role since Jan. 21, resigned after being pressured to indict Comey and James.The indictments against Comey and James came after Trump publicly urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against Comey, James and another of the president’s adversaries, Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Comey and James both pleaded not guilty to their respective charges.“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” the president wrote in a Sept. 20 Truth Social post. “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”According to federal statute, individuals may only serve for 120 days after being appointed U.S. attorney, unless confirmed by the U.S. Senate before then. The Senate had not confirmed him, but district judges of the Eastern District of Virginia exercised their own independent appointment authority to legally retain Siebert as an interim U.S. attorney beyond the 120-day limit.It is that 120-day limit that James and Comey’s attorneys argue should not start back at zero with the appointment of Halligan.“If the Attorney General could make back-to-back sequential appointments of interim U.S. Attorneys, the 120-day period would be rendered meaningless, and the Attorney General could indefinitely evade the alternate procedures that Congress mandated,” Comey’s attorney Patrick Fitzgerald wrote in a motion to dismiss the indictment against his client.Comey was charged in late September with making a false statement to Congress during a September 2020 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Asked by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, about testimony he gave in 2017 asserting that he did not authorize the leak of information to the media about an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation, Comey said, “I stand by the testimony.”Trump first clashed with Comey during his first term over the then-FBI director’s handling of the federal investigation Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia. Comey was fired in May 2017 and has been an outspoken critic of Trump since then.The Justice Department laid out in court papers that it believes the indictment of Comey — signed only by Halligan and unsealed days before the five-year statute of limitations expired — should survive this challenge to Halligan’s appointment regardless of what Currie decides, because of U.S. Code 3288, the statute that governs this very issue.“Whenever an indictment or information charging a felony is dismissed for any reason after the period prescribed by the applicable statute of limitations has expired, a new indictment may be returned in the appropriate jurisdiction within six calendar months of the date of the dismissal of the indictment or information,” the statute reads in part.This six-month grace period, legal experts tell NBC News, may be the DOJ’s key to a continued prosecution of the former FBI director. The bank fraud charge that James, who sued Trump and his businesses for fraud in 2022, is facing is well within the 10-year statute of limitations.Bondi has taken steps in recent weeks to shore up Halligan’s position.On Oct. 31, Bondi issued a formal order retroactively appointing Halligan to the position of “special attorney” within the Department of Justice as of Sept. 22 — three days before Comey was indicted — and wrote, “Should a court conclude that Ms. Halligan’s authority as Special Attorney is limited to particular matters, I hereby delegate to Ms. Halligan authority as Special Attorney to conduct and supervise the prosecutions” of Comey and James.”Halligan is also facing several Bar Association complaints in Florida and Virginia, filed by the left-leaning watchdog group Campaign for Accountability.“Ms. Halligan’s actions appear to constitute an abuse of power and serve to undermine the integrity of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and erode public confidence in the legal profession and the fair administration of justice,” the complaint says.Several other U.S. attorneys appointed by Trump are also facing legal challenges to their appointments.In late September, a federal judge in Nevada ruled that acting U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah should be disqualified from serving in that role due to violating the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.In August, a federal judge in New Jersey ruled that Alina Habba was “not lawfully holding the office of United States Attorney” due to the 120-day interim appointment expiration, and that her actions since July as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey may be declared void.Gary GrumbachGary Grumbach is an NBC News legal affairs reporter, based in Washington, D.C.
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