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The Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek could not be accessed on Wednesday in Apple and Google app stores in Italy, the day after the country’s data protection authority requested information on its use of personal data. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said it had also requested information from DeepSeek about data processing in relation to Irish users. DeepSeek last week launched a free AI assistant that it says uses less data at a fraction of the cost of incumbent services. By Monday, the assistant had overtaken U.S. rival ChatGPT in downloads from Apple’s App Store, sparking panic among tech stock investors. “The news of the withdrawal of the app was only a few hours ago, I cannot say whether it is due to us or not,” the head of the Italian data regulator, Pasquale Stanzione, was quoted as saying by news agency ANSA. “Our office will launch an in-depth investigation to see if GDPR rules are being respected,” Stanzione added, according to ANSA, referring to European Union data protection regulation. The Italian regulator, known as the Garante, said on Tuesday it wanted to know what personal data is collected, from which sources, for what purposes, on what legal basis, and whether it is stored in China. It gave DeepSeek and its affiliated companies 20 days to respond. Stanzione also said the regulator was seeking reassurances on safeguarding for underage users of the app, on the avoidance of bias and avoiding electoral interference. A notice displayed to Italian customers on Apple’s App Store said the app was “currently not available in the country or area you are in.” A message on the Google app platform said the download “was not supported” in Italy. DeepSeek seemed to be still operational for Italian users who had previously downloaded the application, and was available for download and working on Wednesday in other European Union countries and in Britain. In Germany, an interior ministry spokesperson said the government was monitoring AI applications for potential interference before the February 23 national election. “Of course, the security authorities are concerned with AI applications and possible manipulation, possible influence on the formation of public opinion through AI applications, especially now in view of the Bundestag elections,” the spokesperson said, without naming any specific models. Italy’s Garante is one of Europe’s most active watchdogs on the use of AI. Two years ago it briefly banned the use of Microsoft-backed ChatGPT over suspected breaches of EU privacy rules. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission is the lead EU regulator for most of the top U.S. internet firms due to the location of their EU operations in Ireland, but DeepSeek has not designated Ireland as its EU headquarters. ($1 = 0.9618 euros) Elvira Pollina, Reuters
Category:
E-Commerce
President Donald Trump said his 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico are coming on Saturday, but he’s still considering whether to include oil from those countries as part of his import taxes.“We may or may not,” Trump told reporters Thursday in the Oval Office about tariffing oil from Canada and Mexico. “We’re going to make that determination probably tonight.”Trump said his decision will be based on whether the price of oil charged by the two trading partners is fair, although the basis of his threatened tariffs pertains to stopping illegal immigration and the smuggling of chemicals used for fentanyl.The risk of tariffs on Canadian and Mexican oil could undermine Trump’s repeated pledge to lower overall inflation by reducing energy costs. Costs associated with tariffs could be passed along to consumers in the form of higher gasoline pricesan issue that Trump placed at the center of his Republican presidential campaign as he vowed to halve energy costs within one year.“One year from January 20, we will have your energy prices cut in half all over the country,” Trump said at a 2024 town hall in Pennsylvania.AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of the electorate, found that 80% of voters identified gas prices as a concern. Trump won nearly 6 in 10 voters who said they worried about prices at the pump.The United States imported almost 4.6 million barrels of oil daily from Canada in October and 563,000 barrels from Mexico, according to the Energy Information Administration. U.S. daily production during that month averaged nearly 13.5 million barrels a day.Matthew Holmes, executive vice president and chief of public policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said Trump’s tariffs would “tax America first” in the form of higher costs.“This is a lose-lose,” Holmes said. “We will keep working with partners to show President Trump and Americans that this doesn’t make life any more affordable. It makes life more expensive and sends our integrated businesses scrambling.”But Trump showed no concerns that import taxes on the United States’s trading partners would have a negative impact on the U.S. economy, despite the risk shown in many economic analyses of higher prices.“We don’t need the products that they have,” Trump said. “We have all the oil you need. We have all the trees you need, meaning the lumber.”The president also said that China would pay tariffs for its exporting of the chemicals used to make fentanyl. He has previously stated a 10% tariff that would be on top of other import taxes charged on products from China.Oil prices were trading at roughly $73 a barrel on Thursday afternoon. Prices spiked in June 2022 under President Joe Biden to more than $120 per barrel, a period that overlapped with overall inflation hitting a four-decade high that fueled a broader sense of public dissatisfaction with the Democratic administration.Gas prices are averaging $3.12 a gallon across the United States, roughly the same price as a year ago, according to AAA.Later on Thursday, Trump threatened more tariffs against countries looking at alternatives to the U.S. dollar as a means of global exchange.The president previously made the same threat in November against the so-called BRICS group, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested that sanctions against his country and others mean that nations need to develop a substitute for the dollar.“We are going to require a commitment from these seemingly hostile Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy,” Trump posted on social media. Josh Boak, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
The Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) just got a new logo, and theres more to it than meets the eye. The updated logo dropped just in time for the upcoming Super Bowl, when an influx of out-of-state fans will bustle through MSY on their way to the Caesars Superdome arena. MSY is taking advantage of the increased publicity, using it as an opportunity to scrap its old logoa blobby, clunky take on the fleur-de-lis thats more of an eyesore than an homagefor a sleeker, more intriguing graphic. From left: The new logo outshines its predecessor [Image: courtesy Louis Armstrong International Airport] Called the Plane de Lis, the new mark is packed full of winks to the city of New Orleans and the airport itself. As the name suggests, its meant to evoke both an airplane and a fleur-de-lisa stark contrast to the former logo, which simply shoehorned a plane into a scene dominated by the iris design. The Plane de Lis is celebratory, almost musical, MSY wrote on its Facebook page. Its a plane taking flight, upward and optimistic, modern and memorable. [Image: courtesy Louis Armstrong International Airport] The new logos wings resemble two sprays of water shooting upward, a reference to the fluidity and influence of the Mississippi River, according to MSYs new brand guidelines. The teardrop-shaped tip of the fleur-de-lis is inspired by the body of a plane taking flight. And, the guidelines note, the logos negative space [mimics] the interior architectural details of MSYlikely referring to the crisscrossing white beams that decorate the airports ceiling. [Image: courtesy Louis Armstrong International Airport] To complete the brand transformation, MSY ditched its previous tech-adjacent blue color scheme for a more upbeat palette, anchored in Pantone Julep, similar to kelly green. Accent colors include Fresh Fern, Beignet, French Quarter Rouge, and Fleury Pink. [Image: courtesy Louis Armstrong International Airport] These new details really shine in a series of speciality patterns made for the brand. Designers used only the logo and its accompanying colors to create a textile-esque wrought iron pattern, which lends the whole project a luxe, high-end feel. MSYs fresh look is a decided improvement, tapping into New Orleanss cultural history without any forced overdesigning.
Category:
E-Commerce
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