The United States Senate is poised to vote on legislation this week that, for the next two years at least, could dramatically expand the number of businesses that the US government can force to eavesdrop on Americans without a warrant. Some of the nation's top legal experts on a controversial US spy program argue that the legislation, known as the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), would enhance the US government's spy powers, forcing a variety of new businesses to secretly eavesdrop on Americans' overseas calls, texts, and email messages. The Section 702 program, authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, was established more than a decade ago to legalize the government's practice of forcing major telecommunications companies to eavesdrop on overseas calls in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. On the one hand, the government claims that the program is designed to exclusively target foreign citizens who are physically located abroad; on the other, the government has fiercely defended its ability to access wiretaps of Americans' emails and phone conversations, often years after the fact and in cases unrelated to the reasons the wiretaps were ordered in the first place....

While Microsoft investing big in AI is nothing new ' see OpenAI ' the deal with G42, an AI holding company, comes with other entanglements that likely needed to be cleared before the announcement of the deal. In a release, Microsoft says the partnership is backed by assurances to both U.S. and UAE governments in a first-of-its-kind agreement to apply best practices to ensure the secure and responsible development of AI. It was also reported the deal followed negotiations between the U.S. and G42 to divest from China and pivot to American technology. Earlier this year, the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent a letter urging the Department of Commerce to investigate G42. The investment further illustrates Microsoft's market assault to become the dominant tech power in AI. It is the third-largest investment by Microsoft into an AI company ' behind only OpenAi and Cruise ' per Crunchbase data. Santa Clara, California-based chip startup Rivos raised more than $250 million in a Series A-3 funding led by Matrix Capital Management. The company develops power optimized chips targeting the data analytics and generative AI markets....