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Science & Tech
A person holds a placard on the day justices hear oral arguments in a bid by TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, to block a law intended to force the sale of the short-video app by Jan. 19 or face a ban on national security grounds, outside the U.S. Supreme Court, in Washington, U.S., January 10, 2025.
On Friday, the Supreme Court appeared poised to uphold the TikTok ban, largely dismissing the app’s argument that it should be able to exist in the US under the First Amendment’s free speech protections and favoring the government's concerns that it poses a national security threat.
Put simply, they see it as an issue of national security, not free speech.
“Congress doesn’t care about what’s on TikTok. They don’t care about the expression,” claimed Chief Justice John Roberts during questioning, clarifying “That’s shown by the remedy. They’re not saying TikTok has to stop. They’re saying the Chinese have to stop controlling TikTok.”
What’s the threat? US lawmakers are concerned about the Chinese government having access to enormous amounts of Americans’ data – and fear the app could be used to spread Beijing’s agenda. Facebook and other American social media platforms are notably banned in China – with Beijing taking a similar view to that of the US government. The justices seemed worried that TikTok could be used for espionage or even blackmail.
What does upholding the ban mean for the app? If the court rules against the app, it would mean that Bytedance, Tiktok’s parent company, must divest from the company before Jan. 19 or face a national ban on national security grounds. The app would no longer be available on the Google or Apple app stores.
But it won’t disappear from your phone if you already have it downloaded. The ban would only affect future downloads. Without the ability to update the app, however, it will likely degrade, and TikTok may block US users before that happens to avoid further legal issues. Incoming President Donald Trump has pledged to save the app, but there is no clear legal method to do so.
The decision could be an early reflection of one of this year’s Top Risks 2025 from our parent company, Eurasia Group: the breakdown of the US-China relationship. The world’s biggest superpowers increasingly distrust one another, and Trump’s return to office is likely to exacerbate the decoupling — increasing the risk of instability and crisis.
Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.
What do you make of Meta ending its fact-checking program?
Well, it's a direct response to Trump's victory and a little late. They probably could have done it a few weeks ago, but they wanted to line up their new board members with people that are more aligned with Trump and also their new head of public policy. Now that Nick Clegg, who was much more oriented to Harris, is gone. So, they're like everybody else, heading to Mar-a-Lago and wanting to get on board with the new administration. That is what's happening. And of course, it means implications for those concerned about safety features on social media are going to grow. This is a complete shift of the pendulum in the other direction.
What is the fallout from Justin Trudeau's resignation?
It's not surprising. He's been there for 10 years. His popularity had really fallen off a cliff. And that was even before Chrystia Freeland, his deputy prime minister, shot him in the face a few weeks ago. So, it was clear that he was going to go. The most important implication is that after elections coming up, you're likely to have a conservative government run by Pierre Poilievre, which will be much more aligned with Trump. I don't consider Poilievre's policies to be very America First-ish for Canada. He's not quite that kind of a politician. But he will be, I think, very supported by Trump, Elon Musk and right-wing populists in the United States.
So, in that regard, as you think about re-upping the US-Mexico-Canada relationship, agreement-trade relationship, you talk about tariffs and all the rest, I suspect that relationship will be more normalized and more stable for the Canadians going forward.
As Trump is about to kick off his second term, who are his friends around the world?
A lot more than he had last time around. I mean, you could focus on Argentina and President Milei. In the recent G20 Summit, Trump wasn't there yet, but Milei was. And I mean his talking points were as if Trump was in the room. Of course, Giorgia Meloni, who just made her trip to Mar-a-Lago, she's very strongly pro-EU. But she's also very aligned personally with Trump. And that is going to be a strong relationship for them.
Germans are going to have their election shortly. Friedrich Merz is likely to win. And I suspect he's going to be much closer to Trump, certainly than outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been. The Gulf States, Israel, that was Trump's first trip as president back in 2017, will be his early trip. I am very sure in this presidency, very strong relations. Don't sleep on Narendra Modi in India either. That's it for me. I'll talk to you all real soon.
Hard Numbers: Exaggerated claims, Cash grab, Microsoft’s building plans, Chip stocks soar
In this photo illustration, the US Federal Trade Comission logo is displayed on a smartphone with stock market percentages in the background.
1 million: Software company accessiBe has been charged $1 million by the Federal Trade Commission to settle charges that it lied about its AI tool being able to make websites accessible for people with disabilities. “Overstating a product’s AI or other capabilities without adequate evidence is deceptive,” said FTC consumer protection chief Samuel Levine.
56 billion: Generative AI companies raised $56 billion across 885 separate deals in 2024, according to new data from the financial website PitchBook. That’s up nearly 200% from 2023’s $29.1 billion total. Only $6.2 billion went to non-US firms, which means Silicon Valley is still king in the world of AI.
80 billion: To support its AI ambitions, Microsoft plans to spend $80 billion to construct data center infrastructure in 2025. In a blog post published on Friday, the company specified that more than half of that will go toward facilities in the US, “reflecting our commitment to this country and our confidence in the American economy.”
4: Microsoft’s announcement sent chip stocks flying Monday, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rising 4% on the news. The biggest gainers included computer memory company Micron and equipment manufacturer Applied Materials. Contract chipmaker Foxconn also posted positive earnings to start the week, boosting high-profile customer Nvidia 5% in the process.
The Meta AI logo appears on a smartphone screen in this illustration photo in Reno, United States, on December 30, 2024.
Meta faced its first major controversy just days into the new year – all due to AI characters.
On Dec. 27, the social media company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp told the Financial Times that it sees a future in which artificial intelligence bots populate its platforms alongside humans. “They’ll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform,” said Connor Hayes, Meta’s vice president of product for generative AI. “That’s where we see all of this going.” This is part of a broader strategy to make the platforms “more entertaining and engaging.”
After this news, some users started complaining about the AI-generated personalities already on Facebook and Instagram. One was called “Liv” and was described as a “proud Black queer momma of 2 & truth-teller,” who disclosed in a chat with a Washington Post columnist on Jan. 3 that none of her creators were, in fact, Black. There was “Grandpa Brian,” who told a CNN reporter last week that he was created based on interviews with retirees at a New York City nonprofit called Seniors Share Wisdom, which isn’t a real organization. There’s also Becca, who posts AI-generated content about dogs, and an alien named Alvin.
But Meta was quick to clarify that these off-putting AI personas are not the ones Hayes was talking about. They’re old and have been on Facebook and Instagram for more than a year. Meta spokesperson Liz Sweeney told CNN that these accounts were “part of an early experiment we did with AI characters” and the company has rapidly deleted the remaining bunch. Additionally, she said Hayes was outlining a general vision, not a specific product announcement.
The incident demonstrates that many humans have a real aversion to sharing spaces — even digital spaces — with bots. If Meta wants to fill its platforms with bots, then they better be useful, fun, engaging, truthful, and not weird.
FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the U.S. Treasury building in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2023.
The US Treasury Department last week sanctioned a Russian organization and its founder for attempting to interfere in the 2024 presidential election using artificial intelligence.
According to a government press release, the Moscow-based Center for Geopolitical Expertise, or CGE, linked to Russia's intelligence agency GRU, built a server to host generative AI tools and content to avoid detection by foreign web hosting companies. The CGE maintained a network of 100 fake news websites created using AI.
The CGE also manipulated a video to produce “baseless accusations concerning a 2024 vice presidential candidate in an effort to sow discord amongst the US electorate,” the Treasury Department said. While officials didn’t specify whether the video targeted Democratic VP nominee Tim Walz or Republican VP nominee JD Vance, a previous report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence indicated that a Russian group was behind a video containing false sexual assault allegations against Walz, who previously worked as a high school teacher in Minnesota.
The Treasury Department sanctioned both the CGE and its director Valery Mikhaylovich Korovin. Russian officials have denied the allegations.
But there are still outstanding questions about the nature of this AI-generated disinformation network: Is this effort part of the existing Storm-1516 propaganda group that Clemson University and Microsoft have previously warned about? Was the Walz video the only one that Russian actors deployed? And did these fake news sites and doctored videos have any measurable impact on the election?
Artificial intelligence is bound to have a big year again in 2025. Not only do we expect the technology to improve, and for companies to release new and innovative applications, but we also expect that government policymakers and regulators will not want to be left behind without a say.
As the political landscape changes, these are the top trends that AI experts are watching this year:
1. New administration, new rules
The incoming administration under Donald Trump is expected to take a more hands-off approach to AI regulation than Joe Biden did. Xiaomeng Lu, director of geo-technology at Eurasia Group, said she expects Trump to “care less” about AI. “Exactly how much less will depend on the power dynamics among President Trump and his newly appointed AI advisors,” she says.
While nominated White House AI Czar David Sacks and AI Policy Advisor Sriram Krishnan are more focused on “promoting and facilitating AI innovation” than preventing specific harms of the technology, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios and Deputy Lynne Parker (a former Biden official) are much more “balanced” in their approach, Lu notes.
Mina Narayanan, a research analyst at Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology, expects that while Trump is lighter-touch in AI regulation than Biden was, she doesn’t think there will be a major shift. “In particular, I believe the incoming administration will continue to prioritize promoting AI safety, strengthening the domestic AI ecosystem, and maintaining global leadership on AI,” she said.
2. An autonomous vehicle breakthrough?
Another policy focus could center on autonomous vehicles.
“New studies have shown clear evidence of massive reductions in both bodily harm and property damage through the expanded use of AVs,” said Matt Mittelsteadt, a research center at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, a libertarian think tank. He thinks that industry advancements — such as the expansion of Google’s Waymo, a fully autonomous robotaxi service, into new markets — underscores the need for policies that are less “human-centric” and more amenable to driverless vehicles.
With Tesla CEO Elon Musk playing a major advisory role in Trump’s administration, Mittelsteadt’s hopes may well become reality.
3. Military and national security acceleration
The Pentagon will only tighten its embrace of AI in 2025. Jeremy Goldman, EMARKETER’s senior director of marketing, commerce and tech briefings, predicts “heavier investment in autonomous systems, AI-driven intelligence analysis, and next-gen cyber warfare tools.” But, he warns, “with greater use comes greater scrutiny; watchdog groups will ramp up pressure to prevent AI mission creep and unintended escalation risks.”
Joel Predd, senior engineer and co-director of the RAND Geopolitics of AGI Initiative, raised two crucial questions about AI. First, he’s watching to see whether AI will become a top priority in national security strategy. “More often than not, AI features today as a component of technology competition within a broader strategic competition with China,” he said. “The question is whether AI will emerge in 2025 as a top-most, transcendent national security issue given transformative progress in frontier models.”
Further, he told GZERO that he’s keeping a close eye on whether AI is implicated in any major national security or economic crisis, such as AI leading to increased unemployment or a non-state actor using AI to launch an advanced cyberattack. “When the NSC convenes to discuss the next crisis, will AI feature prominently in diagnosing the problem … or a solution?”
4. US-China competition intensifies
In 2025, tensions between the US and China will only intensify. “The US-China AI chip cold war isn’t cooling anytime soon,” Goldman said, noting that the Trump administration is likely to “double down on export controls” that began in earnest under Biden.
Goldman anticipates “retaliatory economic measures from Beijing, but also creative backdoor efforts by Chinese firms to sidestep restrictions through third-party partnerships.” The escalating tensions come as both nations vie for AI supremacy. The winner will have a strategic advantage not only technologically but also economically and militarily.
5. Silicon Valley gets cozy with Washington again
Silicon Valley giants are increasingly primed to play an influential role in the Trump administration. Not only is Trump staffing up with players like Musk, Sacks, and other tech mainstays, but he’s also receiving generous donations from tech companies and leaders. Amazon, Meta, Uber, Robinhood, and Perplexity, along with OpenAI founder Sam Altman (a Democratic donor), each pledged $1 million or more for Trump’s inauguration.
That could signal an increased friendliness toward tech, but even in Silicon Valley’s right-wing circles not all is easily agreed upon. “High-skilled immigration, and in particular H-1B visas, has emerged as a divisive issue,” Narayanan said. “Recently, President-elect Trump endorsed H-1B visas, which allow US employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations. This stance ignited pushback from Trump allies who criticize H-1B visas as taking jobs from US-born workers. Will the incoming administration continue supporting H-1B visas or adopt different mechanisms to strengthen the AI workforce in the US?”
The year ahead
It’s impossible to predict what lies ahead for 2025, but one thing is clear: AI’s influence on policy, national security, and everyday life will only grow more profound as the technology continues to evolve rapidly and assert itself into our work, education, and social life.
FILE PHOTO: Members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) stand guard against the M23 rebel group in Lubero, North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo October 27, 2024.
The rebel March 23 Movement, aka M23, reportedly supported by Rwanda,captured the strategic town of Masisi in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province from the army and pro-government militias on Saturday. Masisi, population 40,000, sits just 50 miles north of Goma, the provincial capital, home to two million Congolese — and is a key sanctuary for refugees.
The takeover comes just two days after M23 captured Katale, another town in North Kivu. Since 2021, the group has occupied vast areas of eastern Congo, displacing hundreds of thousands of refugees, and local leaderswarn of an escalating humanitarian crisis.
The Congo accuses Rwanda of using the rebels to loot its minerals including gold, cobalt, and tantalum, a charge Kigali denies. In December, Congo announced it was suing Apple for using such “blood minerals.” In response, Apple has stopped accepting tin, tantalum, tungste, and gold from both countries.
Meanwhile, talks between DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagamewere canceled on Dec. 15 over disagreements about the terms of a proposed peace deal, and there is no sign they are resuming. We’re watching how far M23 goes, as even the scant attention paid to central Africa in Western capitals may diminish under a tumultuous Trump administration.