Alphabet Class A

• Australia banned social media for under 16s a month ago — here's how it's going - The effects of a new social media ban for under 16s in Australia has been mixed so far. Some teens are embracing new habits while others are bypassing the law.
• Elon Musk's xAI probed by California DOJ over Grok's deepfake explicit images - Musk's Grok AI chatbot faces investigations from India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Ireland, Australia, the UK and France as well.
• Google launches Personal Intelligence feature in Gemini app, challenging Apple Intelligence - Google has been bolstering its AI offerings as it takes on OpenAI, and is now going directly at Apple.
• Musk says Tesla is moving Full Self-Driving to a monthly subscription - Tesla is lagging Waymo in autonomous mobility as the Alphabet-owned driverless car service topped 450,000 paid weekly rides in December.
• Big Tech is poaching energy talent to fuel its AI ambitions - Hires of energy-related talent by Big Tech was 30% higher in 2025 than pre-AI levels.
• Meta's VR layoffs, studio closures underscore Zuckerberg's massive pivot to AI - Meta began laying off employees in its Reality Labs division focused on virtual reality and shut down several VR studios as it pushes resources towards AI.
• Data center REIT CEO says real estate ‘not in an oversupply state’ - Andy Power, CEO of Digital Realty says data center real estate is not oversupplied as hyperscalers like Nvidia, Amazon, Google and Meta announce more projects.
• Trump says Microsoft will make changes to ensure consumers don't pay for power used in AI buildout - President Trump said in a social media post that Microsoft will "make major changes beginning this week" to make sure Americans don't see rising energy costs.
• Apple picks Google's Gemini to run AI-powered Siri coming this year - Google's market value surpassed Apple for the first time since 2019 as it rolls out updated artificial intelligence features.
• Walmart teams up with Google's Gemini to make it easier for shoppers to find and buy products - The retail giant also has a similar deal with OpenAI's ChatGPT and has its own AI-powered chatbot, Sparky.