With everything going on around us, I assume were all aware of how increasingly vulnerable we are to natural disasters and emergencies, in such times, preparedness is essential. Yet, for many, having an accessible and organized disaster kit at home remains a challenge. Enter Safe-Ever, a groundbreaking home safety product line designed to seamlessly integrate with everyday life. This innovative solution transforms ordinary living items into multi-functional safety tools, ensuring they are easy to locate and use during emergencies.Most traditional disaster kits suffer from several critical shortcomings. They are often bulky and complex, making them impractical for daily use. Their stark, alarm-inducing appearances clash with home interiors, causing many to hide them away. Additionally, these kits can be challenging to locate and utilize amidst the chaos of an emergency, diminishing their effectiveness when every second counts. Safe-Ever addresses these issues by combining functionality with design, offering safety supplies that double as living products strategically placed along evacuation routes, on the desk, or near the front door.Designers:JIHYE CHOI,Doyeon Lee,Hyerin Lee,Jeonghyeon We, andKOREA DESIGN MEMBERSHIP PLUSDesk Lamp: Earthquake-ReadyFlashlight: Safe-Evers desk lamp is more than just a light source. In the event of an earthquake, it transforms into a life-saving tool. When an earthquake strikes, power outages are common, leaving you in complete darkness. The Safe-Ever desk lamp instantly converts into a portable flashlight, offering a powerful beam to illuminate evacuation routes. Its design ensures easy grip and operation, so you can quickly find your way out or signal for help in low-visibility conditions.Helmet: Debris from collapsing structures poses a significant threat during earthquakes. The lamps durable outer shell doubles as a helmet, providing robust protection for your head. With an ergonomic fit and adjustable straps, it offers maximum comfort while shielding you from falling objects, reducing the risk of head injuries.Emergency Radio: Staying informed can be a lifesaver in chaotic situations. The integrated emergency radio keeps you updated with real-time disaster broadcasts, weather reports, and evacuation alerts. It features a long-lasting battery and manual crank or solar charging options, ensuring it remains functional when you need it most.Doorbell: Fire-Safe Necklace LightNecklace Light: At first glance, the Safe-Ever doorbell is a simple home accessory. However, during a fire, it becomes an invaluable lifesaver. In fire emergencies where visibility can be severely compromised by smoke, the Safe-Ever doorbell transforms into a wearable necklace light, providing hands-free illumination to guide you through dark, smoke-filled spaces. Its lightweight design ensures freedom of movement, allowing you to carry children, pets, or essential belongings while staying visible to rescuers.Breath Towel: Inhaling smoke and toxic gases is one of the greatest dangers during a fire. The Safe-Ever doorbell includes a breath towel a wet mask embedded with a high-efficiency filter to reduce exposure to harmful particulates. The towel provides critical respiratory protection, giving you precious minutes to escape safely.Tissue Box: Everyday First AidICE Card: The Safe-Ever tissue box functions as both a practical household item and an emergency medical kit. It features a built-in In Case of Emergency (ICE) card, securely storing critical health information such as allergies, medications, medical conditions, and emergency contact numbers. During medical emergencies, this card enables responders to deliver prompt and accurate care, minimizing delays and potential complications.First Aid Kit: Hidden within the tissue box is a compact first aid kit, equipped with essential medical supplies for treating minor injuries such as cuts, abrasions, and burns. The kit includes items like adhesive bandages, antiseptic wipes, gauze pads, and medical tape, ensuring youre prepared to handle common household mishaps or provide immediate care during larger emergencies.The Safe-Ever brand prioritizes accessibility and approachability, rethinking the way safety products are perceived and used. Its design philosophy incorporates a circular logo inspired by a life-saving star, symbolizing protection and guidance. Simplified iconography, featuring roundhouse and star motifs, ensures instant recognition of the products. A rounded font enhances both readability and friendliness, while a warm orange color palette replaces traditional red tones, providing a calming sense of stability even in emergencies. However, the visibility of the color in a hazy environment like smoke should be tested, as red is a color thatEach product is housed in a thoughtfully designed box, accompanied by a clear instruction manual. The packaging is not only functional but also aesthetically aligned with modern interiors, reinforcing the idea that safety can blend effortlessly into daily life.Safe-Ever reimagines home safety by embedding it into items we use every day. This innovative approach ensures that emergency tools are always within reach and easy to use. Whether its an earthquake, a fire, or a household injury, it stands as a guardian, ready to protect lives and homes without compromising on style or convenience. With its blend of practicality and elegance, Safe-Ever transforms the way we think about disaster preparedness, making it an integral part of everyday living.The post Everyday Essential Products That Double As Saviors During Emergencies first appeared on Yanko Design.

When sitting on a regular chair, I am probably the most uncomfortable when Im on a regular sitting posture, with feet on the ground and back against the chair. Well, since I am also vertically challenged, there are times when my feet dont even reach the floor when Im sitting upright. So my favorite positions are always leg crossed over the other, leg under the other leg, or crossed legs like youre about to do yoga. However, not all chairs are built to accommodate other positions other than the knees straight back upright kind of sitting.Designer: Chandra PrakashNow, we have a concept for a low cross-legged seating chair called The Lap Chair. The designers idea is to evoke the feeling of sitting on your mothers lap (if you ever did that when you were younger). The chair has an ergonomic form that lets you adapt different positions when sitting on it, including various cross-legged positions. It also has a minimalist design, focusing more on the functionality and the comfort and warmth that you would want from a chair. They did a 30 minute sitting session study to see what are the common postures we take when sitting and adapted this to their concept. For the prototype, they used flexy plywood with melamine coating and MS pipe for the legs. The chair is lower than most of the chairs we see around and also has a wider backrest and seat to accommodate our legs when were doing our comfortable cross-legged pose. It has an ergonomic back support that is designed for optimal spinal alignment. The wide seat is spacious enough for when youre working, reading, or relaxing, and you can even put some stuff beside you if youre not going full cross-legged. It is also gently curved so it can adapt to your different sitting styles.Now if you want to sit regularly, I dont know how a low chair can make you that comfortable, especially if youre a tall person. So the assumption is that if you get this chair, youre the kind of person (like me) whos more likely to sit cross-legged and other non-regular positions. If this gets made into an actual consumer chair, I would probably be one of the people who would line up to get this and sit to my hearts content. The post Lap Chair concept lets you sit cross-legged on low chair first appeared on Yanko Design.

Prosocial AI supports a hybrid future where human and machine intelligences co-evolve, guided by shared principles and grounded in truth.Read More

Welcome toIndie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If youre a developer and would like your app featured, getin contact.Inscreen taps into Apples Screen Time API, and aims to help users be more mindful about the time theyre spending on their devices. Rather than forcefully blocking app access, Inscreen takes a different approach, and keeps you aware of how much time youre spending on each app.How it worksWhen you install Inscreen, you can choose which apps you find distracting, set a daily limit for those apps, and youre all set up. Once configured, the app will begin sending you alerts if youre spending too much time in one of your distracting apps.Inscreen is largely based on the idea of cognitive behavioral therapy, an approach which helps people recognize behavioral patterns. With Inscreens consistent reminders, users will gradually become more mindful of how theyre using apps, naturally reducing screen time without outright blocking any apps.It also offers great insights within the app, allowing you to have a top-down view of your device usage. Itll give you an overview, a breakdown of how you spent your time, as well as a daily progress tracker, allowing you to easily see where you succeeded or failed.Inscreen is more than just a screen time tracker. Rather, its a delightful way of reflecting on your smartphone consumption.Inscreen is available on the App Store for iPhones running iOS 17.6 and later. It costs $3.99/month, $29.99/year, or $99.99 lifetime. A three day free trial is available, so you can try it out before you commit to anything.Follow Michael:X/Twitter,Bluesky,InstagramAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Rumors about foldable iPhones have circulated for many years, but recent reports have suggested that Apple is finally getting closer to announcing its new product. Apple is reportedly working on two foldable products, a clamshell foldable iPhone and a giant 20-inch foldable iPad, but the foldable iPhone is on track to debut first.Screen detailsApples first foldable iPhone is reportedly going to be a clamshell folding device, something akin to the Galaxy Z Flip or Motorola Razr with a display size similar to a typical phone, just with the ability to fold inwards and be smaller in your pocket. Recent reports from The Wall Street Journal have suggested that the foldable iPhone will have a screen size larger than the iPhone 16 Pro Max, meaning itll offer an at least 7-inch display:The company is also planning two foldable devices, the people said. A larger device, intended to serve as a laptop, would have a screen that unfolds to be nearly as large as some desktop monitors, at about 19 inches. A smaller model would unfold to a display size that would be larger than an iPhone 16 Pro Max, intended to serve as a foldable iPhone, the people said.Some internal challenges with developing a foldable have included reducing crease visibility, improving the hinge, and creating a good material for the display cover. Apple aims to have all of this figured out by the time they release.Foldable marketApples first foldable iPhone will reportedly bolster a declining foldable market, according to the Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC).From 2019 to 2023, the foldable market enjoyed a staggering 40% year over year growth rate. However, the group believes thatll slow significantly to around 5% growth in 2024, and the market will actually begin facing a sales decline beginning in 2025:DSCCs latest report on the foldable and rollable/slidable display market for all display applications shows that the foldable smartphone market has stalled. After enjoying at least 40% growth per year from 2019-2023, DSCC now believes the foldable smartphone display market will rise just 5% in 2024 and fall by 4% in 2025. Demand has stalled at around 22M panels.However, the group believes that Apple stepping into the market could cause a rapid increase in foldable demand, as the company could bring new functionality to the table. Ive personally heard many people state that they like the concept of the Galaxy Z Flip, but just cant ditch their iPhone.Release dateAccording to multiple sources, Apples first foldable iPhone will debut in the second half of 2026, likely alongside the iPhone 18 lineup. This presumes there arent any more developmental delays. In mid 2024, Apple assigned a new V68 codename to the project suggesting that this product has moved past just the prototyping stage, and we should expect to see it in our hands in the not-too-distant future.My favorite iPhone accessories on Amazon:Follow Michael:X/Twitter,Bluesky,InstagramAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Content warning: this story discusses suicide, self-harm, sexual abuse, eating disorders and other disturbing topics.In October of last year, a Google-backed startup called Character.AI was hit by a lawsuit making an eyebrow-raising claim: that one of its chatbots had driven a 14-year-old high school student to suicide.As Futurism's reporting found afterward, the behavior of Character.AI's chatbots can indeed be deeply alarming and clearly inappropriate for underage users in ways that both corroborate and augment the suit's concerns. Among others, we found chatbots on the service designed to roleplay scenarios of suicidal ideation, self-harm, school shootings, child sexual abuse, as well as encourage eating disorders.(The company has responded to our reporting piecemeal, by taking down individual bots we flagged, but it's still trivially easy to find nauseating content on its platform.)Now, Character.AI which received a $2.7 billion cash injection from tech giant Google last year has responded to the suit, brought by the boy's mother, in a motion to dismiss. Its defense? Basically, that the First Amendment protects it against liability for "allegedly harmful speech, including speech allegedly resulting in suicide."InTechCrunch's analysis, the motion to dismiss may not be successful, but it likely provides a glimpse of Character.AI's planned defense (it's now facing an additional suit, brought by more parents who say their children were harmed by interactions with the site's bots.)Essentially, Character.AI's legal team is saying that holding it accountable for the actions of its chatbots would restrict its users' right to free speech a claim that it connects to prior attempts to crack down on other controversial media like violent video games and music."Like earlier dismissed suits about music, movies, television, and video games," reads the motion, the case "squarely alleges that a user was harmed by speech and seeks sweeping relief that would restrict the publics right to receive protected speech."Of course, there are key differences that the court will have to contend with. The output of Character.AI's bots isn't a finite work created by human artists, like Grand Theft Auto or an album by Judas Priest, both of which have been targets of legal action in the past. Instead, it's an AI system that users engage to produce a limitless variety of conversations.A Grand Theft Auto game might contain reprehensible material, in other words, but it was created by human artists and developers to express an artistic vision; a service like Character.AI is a statistical model that can output more or anything based on its training data, far outside the control of its human creators.In a bigger sense, the motion illustrates a tension for AI outfits like Character.AI: unless the AI industry can find a way to reliably control its tech a quest that's so far eluded even its most powerful players some of the interactions users have with its products are going to be abhorrent, either by the users' design or when the chatbots inevitably go off the rails.After all, Character.AIhas made changes in response to the lawsuits and our reporting, by pulling down offensive chatbots and tweaking its tech in an effort to serve less objectionable material to underage users.So while it's actively taking steps to get its sometimes-unconscionable AI under control, it's also saying that any legal attempts to curtail its tech fall afoul of the First Amendment.It's worth asking where the line actually falls. A pedophile convicted of sex crimes against children can't use the excuse that they were simply exercising their right to free speech; Character.AI is actively hosting chatbots designed to prey on users who say they're underage. At some point, the law presumably has to step in.Add it all up, and the company is walking a delicate line: actively catering to underage users and publicly expressing concern for their wellbeing while vociferously fighting any legal attempt to regulate its AI's behavior toward them."C.AI cares deeply about the wellbeing of its users and extends its sincerest sympathies to Plaintiff for the tragic death of her son," reads the motion. "But the relief Plaintiff seeks would impose liability for expressive content and violate the rights of millions of C.AI users to engage in and receive protected speech."More on Character.AI: Embattled Character.AI Hiring Trust and Safety StaffShare This Article

President Donald Trump's behemoth $500 billion AI infrastructure project, dubbed Stargate, may be doomed from the start.Trump made the sweeping announcement earlier this week, revealing that the ChatGPT maker, investment company SoftBank, tech giant Oracle, and Abu Dhabi state-run AI fund MGX would initially spend a total of $100 billion on the project, with the eventual goal of reaching half a trillion dollars in just a few years.But in reality, according to the Financial Times' sources,Stargate may be facing insurmountable financial challenges as it attempts to get off the ground."They havent figured out the structure, they havent figured out the financing, they dont have the money committed," an unnamed source told the newspaper.Did Trump put the cart before the horse by making a splashy announcement before the pieces were in place? Critics of the project think it's entirely possible.The FT's reportingis especially interesting considering this is exactly what multi-hyphenate Elon Musk, a personal enemy of Altman's, accused OpenAI of earlier this week."They dont actually have the money," the mercurial CEO tweeted just hours after the project was announced."SoftBank has well under $10B secured," Musk wrote in afollowupan hour later. "I have that on good authority."It's difficult to gauge the legitimacy of either Musk's or the FT's claims. Could Stargate actually collapse under its own weight, stumbling at the starting line without the necessary funds to build out data centers in the United States?It's true that SoftBank has had a troubled history with past investments, posting a record $32 billion loss for its Vision Fund in 2023. Many companies the lender has backed have shuttered or filed for bankruptcy, with WeWork being a particularly notable example.Musk certainly has plenty to gain from voicing his doubts, having founded his own AI company that was passed over by the Stargate program. He's has had an extremely strained relationship with Altman for years.OpenAI and SoftBank are each expected to commit $19 billion to fund Stargate, as The Informationreported on Wednesday. Effectively, each company will hold a 40 percent interest in the project.The companies behind Stargate claim that work has already begun. Construction began for an Oracle-funded data center in Abilene, Texas, in June 2023, well over a year before Stargate was announced.But other than that, details about Stargate are notably thin."Theres a real intent to do this, but the details havent been fleshed out," an unnamed source told the FT. "People want to do splashy things in the first week of Trump being in office."Share This Article

Looking for the most recent Strands answer?Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Connections puzzles.Todays NYTStrandspuzzle might be a tough one. Once you find an answer or two, the category is clear, but not all of the answers are household words. If you need hints and answers, read on.Also, I go into depth about therules for Strands in this story.If you're looking for today's Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visitCNET's NYT puzzle hints page.Read more:NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So FarHint for today's Strands puzzleToday's Strands theme is:Ore so they say.If that doesn't help you, here's a clue: Heavy metal.Clue words to unlock in-game hintsYour goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle's theme. If you're stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:RUNT, TINT, RIOT, NOIR, LUKE, BLAM, MULE, UNIT, MAIL, MOLD, COLD, MUTT, MAIN, TOME, BALEAnswers for today's Strands puzzleThese are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you've got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:IRON, COBALT, NICKEL, CADMIUM, ALUMINUM, TITANIUMToday's Strands spangramToday's Strands spangram isPUREMETAL.To find it, start with the P that's three letters to the right on the top row, and wind down. The completed NYT Strands puzzle for Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. NYT/Screenshot by CNET

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today's Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.Today's Connections puzzle isn't too tough, although as always, that purple category is out there. Still, if you sort out the other categories, you can get the purple one by default. Read on for clues and today's Connections answers.The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. And players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.Read more:Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every TimeHints for today's Connections groupsHere are four hints for the groupings in today's Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest, yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.Yellow group hint: Get a meal.Green group hint: Not together.Blue group hint: Trucker time.Purple group hint: Boogie fever.Answers for today's Connections groupsYellow group: Ways to get food.Green group: Keep apart.Blue group: Parts of a big rig.Purple group: Dance events plus a letter.Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English WordsWhat are today's Connections answers? The completed NYT Connections puzzle for Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025 NYT/Screenshot by CNETThe yellow words in today's ConnectionsThe theme is ways to get food. The four answers are farm, fish, gather and hunt.The green words in today's ConnectionsThe theme is keep apart. The four answers are cloister, seclude, separate and silo.The blue words in today's ConnectionsThe theme is parts of a big rig. The four answers are axles, hitch, tractor and trailer.The purple words in today's ConnectionsThe theme is dance events plus a letter. The four answers are bally, discog, promo and raven. (Ball, disco, prom and rave.)

2024 was a busy year for lawmakers (and lobbyists) concerned about AI most notably in California, where Gavin Newsom signed 18 new AI laws while also vetoing high-profile AI legislation.And 2025 could see just as much activity, especially on the state level, according to Mark Weatherford. Weatherford has, in his words, seen the sausage making of policy and legislation at both the state and federal levels; hes served as Chief Information Security Officer for the states of California and Colorado, as well as Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity under President Barack Obama.Weatherford said that in recent years, hes held different job titles, but his role usually boils down to figuring out how do we raise the level of conversation around security and around privacy so that we can help influence how policy is made. Last fall, he joined synthetic data company Gretel as its vice president of policy and standards.So I was excited to talk to him about what he thinks comes next in AI regulation and why he thinks states are likely to lead the way.This interview has been edited for length and clarity.That goal of raising the level of conversation will probably resonate with many folks in the tech industry, who have maybe watched congressional hearings about social media or related topics in the past and clutched their heads, seeing what some elected officials know and dont know. How optimistic are you that lawmakers can get the context they need in order to make informed decisions around regulation?Well, Im very confident they can get there. What Im less confident about is the timeline to get there. You know, AI is changing daily. Its mindblowing to me that issues we were talking about just a month ago have already evolved into something else. So I am confident that the government will get there, but they need people to help guide them, staff them, educate them.Earlier this week, the US House of Representatives had a task force they started about a year ago, a task force on artificial intelligence, and they released their report well, it took them a year to do this. Its a 230 page report; Im wading through it right now. [Weatherford and I first spoke in December.][When it comes to] the sausage making of policy and legislation, youve got two different very partisan organizations, and theyre trying to come together and create something that makes everybody happy, which means everything gets watered down just a little bit. It just takes a long time, and now, as we move into a new administration, everythings up in the air on how much attention certain things are going to get or not.It sounds like your viewpoint is that we may see more regulatory action on the state level in 2025 than on the federal level. Is that right?I absolutely believe that. I mean, in California, I think Governor [Gavin] Newsom, just within the last couple months, signed 12 pieces of legislation that had something to do with AI. [Again, its 18 by TechCrunchs count.)] He vetoed the big bill on AI, which was going to really require AI companies to invest a lot more in testing and really slow things down.In fact, I gave a talk in Sacramento yesterday to the California Cybersecurity Education Summit, and I talked a little bit about the legislation thats happening across the entire US, all of the states, and its like something like over 400 different pieces of legislation at the state level have been introduced just in the past 12 months. So theres a lot going on there.And I think one of the big concerns, its a big concern in technology in general, and in cybersecurity, but were seeing it on the artificial intelligence side right now, is that theres a harmonization requirement. Harmonization is the word that [the Department of Homeland Security] and Harry Coker at the [Biden] White House have been using to [refer to]: How do we harmonize all of these rules and regulations around these different things so that we dont have this [situation] of everybody doing their own thing, which drives companies crazy. Because then they have to figure out, how do they comply with all these different laws and regulations in different states?I do think theres going to be a lot more activity on the state side, and hopefully we can harmonize these a little bit so theres not this very diverse set of regulations that companies have to comply with.I hadnt heard that term, but that was going to be my next question: I imagine most people would agree that harmonization is a good goal, but are there mechanisms by which thats happening? What incentive do the states have to actually make sure their laws and regulations are in line with each other?Honestly, theres not a lot of incentive to harmonize regulations, except that I can see the same kind of language popping up in different states which to me, indicates that theyre all looking at what each others doing.But from a purely, like, Lets take a strategic plan approach to this amongst all the states, thats not going to happen, I dont have any high hopes for it happening.Do you think other states might sort of follow Californias lead in terms of the general approach?A lot of people dont like to hear this, but California does kind of push the envelope [in tech legislation] that helps people to come along, because they do all the heavy lifting, they do a lot of the work to do the research that goes into some of that legislation.The 12 bills that Governor Newsom just passed were across the map, everything from pornography to using data to train websites to all different kinds of things. They have been pretty comprehensive about leaning forward there.Although my understanding is that they passed more targeted, specific measures and then the bigger regulation that got most of the attention, Governor Newsom ultimately vetoed it.I could see both sides of it. Theres the privacy component that was driving the bill initially, but then you have to consider the cost of doing these things, and the requirements that it levies on artificial intelligence companies to be innovative. So theres a balance there.I would fully expect [in 2025] that California is going to pass something a little bit more strict than than what they did [in 2024].And your sense is that on the federal level, theres certainly interest, like the House report that you mentioned, but its not necessarily going to be as big a priority or that were going to see major legislation next year?Well, I dont know. It depends on how much emphasis the [new] Congress brings in. I think were going to see. I mean, you read what I read, and what I read is that theres going to be an emphasis on less regulation. But technology in many respects, certainly around privacy and cybersecurity, its kind of a bipartisan issue, its good for everybody.Im not a huge fan of regulation, theres a lot of duplication and a lot of wasted resources that happen with so much different legislation. But at the same time, when the safety and security of society is at stake, as it is with AI, I think theres, theres definitely a place for more regulation.You mentioned it being a bipartisan issue. My sense is that when there is a split, its not always predictable it isnt just all the Republican votes versus all the Democratic votes.Thats a great point. Geography matters, whether we like to admit it or not, that, and thats why places like California are really being leaning forward in some of their legislation compared to some other states.Obviously, this is an area that Gretel works in, but it seems like you believe, or the company believes, that as theres more regulation, it pushes the industry in the direction of more synthetic data.Maybe. One of the reasons Im here is, I believe synthetic data is the future of AI. Without data, theres no AI, and quality of data is becoming more of an issue, as the pool of data either it gets used up or shrinks. Theres going to be more and more of a need for high quality synthetic data that ensures privacy and eliminates bias and takes care of all of those kind of nontechnical, soft issues. We believe that synthetic data is the answer to that. In fact, Im 100% convinced of it.This is less directly about policy, though I think it has sort of policy implications, but I would love to hear more about what brought you around to that point of view. I think theres other folks who recognize the problems youre talking about, but think of synthetic data potentially amplifying whatever biases or problems were in the original data, as opposed to solving the problem.Sure, thats the technical part of the conversation. Our customers feel like we have solved that, and there is this concept of the flywheel of data generation that if you generate bad data, it gets worse and worse and worse, but building in controls into this flywheel that validates that the data is not getting worse, that its staying equally or getting better each time the fly will comes around. Thats the problem Gretel has solved.Many Trump-aligned figures in Silicon Valley have been warning about AI censorship the various weights and guardrails that companies put around the content created by generative AI. Do you think thats likely to be regulated? Should it be?Regarding concerns about AI censorship, the government has a number of administrative levers they can pull, and when there is a perceived risk to society, its almost certain they will take action.However, finding that sweet spot between reasonable content moderation and restrictive censorship will be a challenge. The incoming administration has been pretty clear that less regulation is better will be the modus operandi, so whether through formal legislation or executive order, or less formal means such as [National Institute of Standards and Technology] guidelines and frameworks or joint statements via interagency coordination, we should expect some guidance.I want to get back to this question of what good AI regulation might look like. Theres this big spread in terms of how people talk about AI, like its either going to save the world or going to destroy the world, its the most amazing technology, or its wildly overhyped. Theres so many divergent opinions about the technologys potential and its risks. How can a single piece or even multiple pieces of AI regulation encompass that?I think we have to be very careful about managing the sprawl of AI. We have already seen with deepfakes and some of the really negative aspects, its concerning to see young kids now in high school and even younger that are generating deep fakes that are getting them in trouble with the law. So I think theres a place for legislation that controls how people can use artificial intelligence that doesnt violate what may be an existing law we create a new law that reinforces current law, but just taking the AI component into it.I think we those of us that have been in the technology space all have to remember, a lot of this stuff that we just consider second nature to us, when I talk to my family members and some of my friends that are not in technology, they literally dont have a clue what Im talking about most of the time. We dont want people to feel like that big government is over-regulating, but its important to talk about these things in language that non-technologists can understand.But on the other hand, you probably can tell it just from talking to me, I am giddy about the future of AI. I see so much goodness coming. I do think were going to have a couple of bumpy years as people more in tune with it and more understand it, and legislation is going to have a place there, to both let people understand what AI means to them and put some guardrails up around AI.