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If the controversy is that AI steals works in its training, the European Union has the solution: license them

March 15, 2026 by usatoday24

A few weeks ago the Washington Post published this image of the “Panama Project”: It is a warehouse with hundreds of thousands of books waiting their turn to be scanned and destroyed in the process. It is part of an internal program Anthropic to train its AI and the result of tens of millions of dollars in purchases to digitize all those works without permission from their authors. They are not the only ones who “they borrow” copyrighted content to train their artificial intelligences and the European Union is clear about something: stop stealing protected content and properly license works to train AI. And AI companies defend themselves by saying that no one is going to think about small companies. Europe is clear: if you want to train AI, pay the author It is curious how the entertainment industry and the regulation of countries shook hands at the beginning of the 2000s with those ads of “you wouldn’t steal a purse. You wouldn’t steal a car. Don’t steal a movie.” They portrayed copying a CD or downloading a movie as if you were breaking into the Pentagon’s systems. Years later, that same industry turns a deaf ear given what big technology companies are doing to train AI. The Washington Post document states that others such as Meta, Google and OpenAI They had also participated in the race to obtain data in bulk for your models. There are kicking examples, like the 81.7 TB of copyrighted books that you have downloaded Meta or that OpenAI will use animation from all the studios to train its AI (earning reproaches by Ghigli and more Japanese studies and complaining that Deepseek has looted ChatGPT). Given the context, it is time to say that the European Parliament has grown tired of this and has one of the things he is best at: legislating. In this case, it makes perfect sense for Europe to take this measure, and the agency issued a report non-binding law that urges the European Commission to develop rules that set minimum standards for these AI companies. “Generative AI should not operate outside the rule of law” Basically, if they use protected content for their training, they must license it and also compensate the authors. with the title “Protecting creative work with copyright in the age of AI”the European Parliament demands a series of measures apart from licensing the works. They are the following: Calls for the transparent and remunerated use of protected content to train generative AI. AI vendors are expected to recognize and pay for the copyrighted work they used to train their systems. Measures so that owners of works with rights can exclude their protected work from training. The reason that they argue MEPs is that “generative AI should not operate outside the rule of law. If copyrighted works are used to train artificial intelligence systems, creators have the right to transparency, legal certainty and fair compensation.” The European Group of Societies of Authors and Composers, or GESAC, points in the same direction. In statements to EuronewsAdriana Moscoso del Prado, general manager of GESAC; assures that “this vote adds to the growing recognition at the EU level of what is at stake. Innovation, equity and cultural sovereignty must go hand in hand.” AI companies fight back From the CCIA, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, it was noted that this is not a measure to protect artists, but rather “a compliance tax.” That is, something that must be fulfilled no matter what and that goes against progress. The group argued that such a measure would not go against large companies, but against small ones. They say that many will have difficulty negotiating complex licensing agreements with major publishers, “holding back Europe’s digital competitiveness on the global stage” and stating that what they would need to do is improve existing laws in the European Union, including the AI Law and the Copyright Directive. In any case, there is nothing on the table at the moment. As we say, it is a self-initiative report by Parliament and is not binding. The Commission can now consider whether to do so or not, but it makes one thing clear: Parliament’s position on any future AI measures by the Commission. The problem is that generative AI has already plundered millions of copyrighted works on which it can build its next interactions. The software has tons of information to pivot on and can evolve in other areas, like stopping hallucinating, for example. And it is another example of the two speeds of this matter: the technological ones taking the first steps and the legislators behind them seeing what can be done when the act they want to legislate on was already carried out years ago. Images | Washington Post, Anti-Piracy Campaign (edited) In Xataka | The AI industry is only sustainable by violating copyright laws. So he’s trying to eradicate them

China is filling up with “quadricycles” that do not require a driving license. And they are a problem for road safety

January 18, 2026 by usatoday24

The two times I have been to China, two things about its automobile fleet have caught my attention: the furor for electric cars in terms of brands, models and dealerships, because you can almost find one on every corner of any central street in the big cities. And on the other side of the coin, I was also struck by the enormous amount of motorbikes (scooter is saying a lot) and cars without licenses parked in any side and circulating any manner. Don’t call it a light quadricycle, rather say laotoule. There they are known as “laotoule”, something like that like the joy of the old man. Because if in Spain the light quadricycles you see are usually driven by older people, in China too. They began to be seen back in the 90s from tuk-tuk modifications three wheels in rural areas, although today they have capacity for up to five people and a very diverse aesthetic. From occasional mobility to a vehicle for everything. Although the older ones are the star group, they are not the only ones: they are vehicles with very clear profiles of occasional use and short and (relatively) simple trajectories. As collects China Dailythese vehicles are the main means of transportation for running errands or picking up elderly grandchildren, but in recent years they have expanded their range to younger people: they offer a closed space and solve the problem of having to travel at a low cost. According to the China Electric Vehicle Associationannual sales of these lightweight non-highway quadricycles increased from 1.1 million in 2017 to 2.1 million in 2023, of which 1.4 million went to seniors. According to an investigation According to Banyuetan, the magazine linked to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, these cars are flooding rural roads and urban peripheries. And its proliferation has aroused the suspicion of the authorities. The legal vacuum of laotoule. Because unlike Spain, where any motor vehicle requires a technical sheet and a license plate, in China they have been marketed as if they were devices for personal mobility, something like a scooter or an electric wheelchair. Thus, the bulk of laotoule are sold without registration or approval or the need to pass your MOT. In fact, they are increasingly sold online. like low cost imitations of luxury cars. There is even a Porsche Cayenne without a license. Because there are brands and models of Chinese electric cars to bore, in a light quadricycle version, too. In fact, There are even Maseratis and Porsche Cayenne modelsor rather, Maserati style and Porsche style, because they are not official from the respective houses. And because the Maserati costs about 3,200 euros in exchange. Is take a look at the Alibaba website and find models for all tastes, such as this Mini. Also There is a version without a license of Xiaomi’s second electric car, the ambitious Xiaomi YU7as you can see below these lines. From afar they hit the mark, up close already such. Under that attractive bodywork they hide electric motors of low or medium power and a top speed of up to 70 km/h. Tap to go to the post. The card-free version of the Xiaomi YU7 The real problem is road safety. Leaving aside industrial property issues, laotoules look like miniature cars but they are not: they lack basic elements that are found in passenger cars, such as steel frames or airbags. The Banyuetan report echoes of a fatal hit by a 59-year-old driver in a laotule in Hebei, northern China. From prohibition to regulation. Some local administrations have already made a move: since January 1, 2024, cities such as Luoyang or Beijing banned circulation on public roads to low-speed three- and four-wheel electric vehicles. However, there is a middle way: China issued a regulation of technical specifications and safety requirements for electric vehicles, finally classifying laoutoule as motor vehicles. From here and as explained by Lu Yong, researcher in the low-speed electric vehicle sector for Sixth Tone: “We must recognize the real demand for low-speed vehicles and strengthen the design at national level, both for industry development and traffic management. Clear and enforceable rules must be quickly introduced for both product and driving standards, as well as for road access.” In Xataka | China has so many electric cars running on its streets that it is going to use them to generate energy for homes In Xataka | China is the only country in the world where car prices are falling. So much so that the Government is taking measures

the changes already approved by the EU for our driving license

January 12, 2026 by usatoday24

Europe approved it and now we have three years to collect the ideas, adapt them to our country and implement them. It was decided in November and should mark the DGT’s agenda until 2028 because the idea of the European Union is that the driving licenses of all the countries that make up it have the same rights and obligations. When and what? November 5, 2025. That was the date on which the European Commission approved Directive (EU) 2025/2205 of the European Parliament and of the Council of October 22, 2025 on driving licenses, which amends Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Directive (EU) 2022/2561 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repeals them. Directive 2006/126/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Regulation (EU) No 383/2012. If you have missed this tremendous title, what you should know is that all the changes to be applied are summarized in the first point of the directive, which specifies that common standards are established for the entire European Union for the following points: a) the models, standards and categories of driving licenses b) the issuance, validity, renewal and reciprocal recognition of driving licenses c) certain aspects of the exchange, replacement, cancellation, withdrawal, suspension and restriction of driving licenses d) certain aspects applicable to novice drivers, in particular in relation to the accompanied driving system and the trial period. How does it affect us? It is something that remains to be defined because we already know how the issue of European directives and applications in member countries works. And the fact is that, although a country has the obligation to implement the changes, the truth is that It’s not always done on time.at the risk of a reprimand from Europe or, in the worst case, economic sanctions. That said, the most important points in which we should see changes in the driving license are the following: Same validity in all member countries and communication in the withdrawal of points from the driving license between countries Extension of the validity of permits to 15 years (instead of the current 10 years) on licenses A and B Extension of the trial period (new driver) to two years Access to the B driving license from the age of 17 Access to permit C (trucks) at 18 years old and permit D (buses) at 21 years old all the same. If the European Union is interested in anything, it is in standardizing the validity of driving licenses throughout Europe. Right now, countries do not have clear communication with each other and a driver with a driving license without points can drive without restrictions in another country. Likewise, work is being done to ensure that the withdrawal of points for an infraction in a foreign country impacts the driver’s daily life and has consequences in their country. That is, if we are deducted points for an infraction in Germany, that punishment will be reflected on our license when we drive through Spain. In this homogenization, there has also been debate about the validity of the driving license, the time it can remain active and whether at some point it should be withdrawn. The latter is specified in the directive that it’s discriminatory Therefore, it is left in the hands of the member countries to maintain the relevant physical and psychological tests. In addition, the validity periods should be extended to 15 years as a general rule when, right now, it is 10 years. Two seasons as a beginner and access at 17 years old. Although there are no plans on the table for changes to Spanish regulations, the truth is that the new directive has some changes as far as younger drivers are concerned. Firstly, access to a driving license is reduced to 17 years of age for the B license (which allows driving cars) as long as the driving is accompanied by a co-driver with the following characteristics: Be over 24 years old Have more than five years of experience as a driver Have a valid driving license Comply with alcohol and drug limits In addition, drivers who receive a driving license when these years are implemented will be considered new drivers for two years. That, in Spain, has a direct impact on the limits in current alcohol controls. We need drivers. Furthermore, the European Union is experiencing a drought of truck and bus drivers. Right now it is estimated that the European Union has a deficit of more than 100,000 bus drivers and In Spain alone, 37,000 drivers will be needed this year as those who are now active retire. Let’s not talk about the truckers, with a hole of more than three million. To alleviate this crisis, the European Union wants to lower the limits for driving a truck (C license) to 18 years, something that is already active in Spain. For the D license (buses for the transport of more than eight passengers) you must be 21 years of age. Right now in our country it is necessary to be 24 years old or have, at least, the certificate of professional aptitude (CAP) in the accelerated initial qualification modality to obtain it sooner. The DGT collects all the possibilities here active at this time. Photo | Jack Delulio and Alexander Popov In Xataka | The DGT does not have an “ITV for V-16 beacons”, but the fact that many people believe that it does reveals how confusing everything is being.

NVIDIA has paid $20 billion to “license” Groq’s technology. He actually bought it

December 26, 2025 by usatoday24

NVIDIA has reached an agreement to “license” assets from Groq and will pay 20 billion dollars for said assets. The company—not to be confused with Elon Musk’s chatbot, Grok—has been designing and manufacturing AI chips for model inference for years. The quotes around “licensing” are important, because this is not a deal: it is a stealth acquisition. what has happened. on Wednesday the news appeared that NVIDIA had agreed to sign a licensing agreement with AI startup Groq. This news was confirmed by those responsible for Groq themselves. on your blogin which they talked about a “non-exclusive license agreement for inference technology to accelerate AI inference on a global scale.” But what both companies say is one thing and what this really is is quite another. How to buy a company without buying it. As part of the agreement, the company’s CEO and co-founder, Jonathan Ross, will go to work for NVIDIA, as will Sunny Madra – its current president – and other senior executives who “will join NVIDIA to help NVIDIA advance and scale this licensed technology.” At Groq they point out that they will continue to operate as an “independent company” led by Simon Edwards, who was their chief financial officer (CFO) and will now become the CEO. NVIDIA keeps (almost) everything. In September Groq raised a financing round of 750 million dollarswhich placed its valuation at $6.9 billion. Disruptive, Blackrock and other companies participated. Alex Davis, CEO of Disruptive, indicated on CNBC that NVIDIA will keep all of Groq’s assets except for one: Groq’s newly launched cloud business. NVIDIA’s biggest “pseudo-acquisition”. This operation is by far the most important for NVIDIA, which bought the Israeli company Mellanox —which designs chips—for $6.9 billion in 2019. In an internal email obtained by CNBC, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang explained that “although we are adding talented employees to our ranks and licensing Groq’s intellectual property, we are not acquiring Groq as a company.” The phrase is significant but sensitive, and NVIDIA may want to escape regulators’ scrutiny with this type of pseudo-acquisition. They already made another pseudo-acquisition before. Last September NVIDIA made an identical move by “betting” 900 million dollars by server startup Enfabrica. As in this case, they called to that operation a licensing agreement for its technology, but as in this case what happened is that the CEO of Enfabrica, Rochan Sankar, and other employees, ended up being part of the NVIDIA staff. What is Groq?. Although the name is confused with that of the xAI chatbot, this AI startup does something very different from that model. Groq was founded in 2016 by a group of former Google engineers led by Jonathan Ross and Douglas Wightman. Ross was one of the designers of Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), and Wightman was part of the Google X team and would end up becoming Groq’s first CEO until his departure in 2016. What Groq does. The company has designed AI chips that are specifically specialized in inferring AI models, or in other words, accelerating the execution of those models. While NVIDIA and other companies are especially focused on chips for model training, an equally critical phase, they are not as prepared for inference. Chatbots at full speed. That’s where Groq comes in, who allows extraordinary acceleration of inference and ensure that when we chat with models they “write” at very high speeds. This is when very high token/s speeds are obtained, far above other infrastructures. Not only that, Groq is also cheaper thanks to its specialized chips, so if you want your chatbot to respond at full speed, Groq chips are a fantastic option. How to be a monopoly without saying it. This investment by NVIDIA demonstrates its intention to diversify its business and not stay stuck in its own solutions. The huge operation gives it a major competitive advantage because none of the big AI companies today had focused specifically on inference chips. Groq did from the beginning, and with this “deal” it seems clear that NVIDIA’s dominance in this sector can be strengthened. Is, some analysts saya defensive move rather than a strategic one, and they may be right: Google is getting stronger and stronger with its TPUsand that now Groq is basically part of NVIDIA – although they don’t want to say it that way – will allow it to compete better against the aforementioned Google and the rest of the rivals that are beginning to challenge that dominance. Image | Groq | NVIDIA In Xataka | AMD’s problem is not that it doesn’t make good GPUs for AI. It’s not even close to NVIDIA

The owner of an Audi A3 was fined three times for driving without a license. On the fourth, the court took away the car

December 21, 2025 by usatoday24

What prevents a driver from driving without a license? Obviously, the law. But going down to a purely practical field, what prevents a driver without a driving license from going to the garage at home, taking his car, turning the key and putting it in first gear to take the car to work, take a walk or go out? That’s what has happened in Vigo where Justice has only found the way out for one woman: to take away her Audi. The Provincial Court, tired of imposing sanctions on him that emphasized that he was prohibited from driving, has decided to confiscate his Audi to avoid greater harm. By then the sentences had had “no deterrent effect,” in the words of the ruling. Either you give it to me or I’ll take it from you There are not many violations for which they can keep our car. There are not many reasons why they can revoke our driving license. Surely you have already found one of them. Bingo. A positive for alcohol or drugs leaves, for the moment, the car immobilized and depending on the severity of the positive, it can leave us without a driving license. In cases that the car is immobilizeda passenger who does not test positive may well take charge. alcohol control Or a family member or friend can come pick it up, as long as the immobilized car is not hindering driving. If neither of these two cases occur, the tow truck comes and takes it to the municipal warehouse. The next day, the car can be removed. By a person who has a driver’s license, of course. But, as we said, what really prevents a person from taking their car again when they arrive at the garage at home? The limits have been found by the resident of Vigo who stars in a story collected by The Voice of Galicia. The Provincial Court has ended up confiscating his Audi to prevent him from driving again without a license and in the process has answered the question of how many times is too many times. They explain in the Galician media that on March 15, 2025, she was caught driving without a valid driving license because all her points had previously been removed. Taking charge of the case, the Criminal Court sentenced him to six months and one day in prison for a crime against traffic safety. But he applied a less common decision: seized his Audi A3. The reason is that the convicted woman was the fourth time she had faced justice for similar events. To the point that the judge in charge pointed out that his record includes three other similar convictions in just 11 months. On those three previous occasions, the driver was fined for driving without a driving license. In the third, in addition to the financial penalty, he was imposed 60 days of work for the benefit of the community. On the fourth occasion lost the Audi A3 with whom he was driving. Upon hearing the verdict, the accused appealed to the Pontevedra Court, alleging that the three previous convictions for the same reason (driving without a license) are not enough to apply the aggravating circumstance of multiple recidivism. In addition, he requested that a mitigating circumstance be applied for drug addiction and asked that the car be returned because he considered that the measure was disproportionate and unjustified. For its part, the Pontevedra Court has confirmed that the seizure of the vehicle was a correct measure because the three previous convictions had had “no deterrent effect.” In addition, he emphasizes that the car itself was a “potentially dangerous instrument” since the driver had been detected driving without lights at night or under the influence of drugs. Photo | Audi and DGT In Xataka | In 1896 a man decided to drive at the reckless speed of 13 km/h. And he received the first fine in history

He cheated the whole world, posing as Astronaut for years. I had no driving license

July 26, 2025 by usatoday24

“With you, Captain Robert J. Hunt, the youngest astronaut in the United States.” Applause. A man with NASA’s blue monkey took the stage and, for more than two hours, captivated the audience with his stories of secret missions aboard ATLANTIS SPACE FREE NASA. At one point he took two blackened collapse and said they had stayed like this during the atmospheric reentry of one of his trips to space. Years of lies. It was January 1989. His two -hour talk at the Boston experimental aircraft association would be the last after years of being entertained by politicians and all kinds of institutions. It had been passed by NASA’s Combat Pilot and Astronaut without anyone being discovered its complex network of lies. Until, days after that last talk, he broke hearts and ended up imprisoned. The origin of a fake. Robert Hunt’s obsession for space began at age seven, seeing Apollo’s moon landing 11. His father shared a similar fascination, but for military life. He was a plumber who called himself “Colonel Hunt”, although he would never have been in the army. With 14, Robert began in another of his specialties: the art of deception. At that age he sold yellow -painted sparrows to a neighbor telling him that they were canaries. After the institute, he enlisted the Navy, but was expelled after a psychological evaluation after only two months. Disappointed, decided to “continue the dream” on his own, according to The journalist Jeff Maysh recounts. He began to sneak into military bases and live his fantasies. On one occasion, he was caught by groking near the Air Force Two, the plane of the then vice president George Hw Bush, which triggered an FBI investigation. Creating Captain Hunt. In the 80s, Hunt married several times, presenting himself as a university graduate, professional baseball player and inventor of a spray diaper cream called “Love My Baby”, supposedly about to be bought by Johnson & Johnson for 2.5 million dollars. The secret ingredient, according to him, was “shark oil.” The jump to fame came when he decided to become a national hero. He falsified documents and a career as a Navy helicopter pilot was invented. Then, he bought Astronaut wings for $ 20 and proclaimed himself “the youngest astronaut in the United States.” His plan was to go to space. Robert Hunt had no pilot license or driving license, but the “Captain Hunt” had flown a F/A-18 Hornet in Libya and had formed as an astronaut at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. His goal, he confessed later, was to become the first imposter in space: make the lie so great that it ended up being reality. In December 1988, the farce reached its peak during a trip to Ireland. After impressing Aer Lingus crew with his credentials, he was invited to the cabin. When landing in Dublin, it was received by officials of the Irish government. “I didn’t even have to go through customs,” he says. “They had a small band there, playing the national anthem.” He later took the tea with the mayor and received the Irish Honorary citizenship. The fall of the imposter. People realized that Captain Hunt was not in his bockals, but the castle of cards did not collapse until a policeman named Andrew Palombo related two strange complaints. On the one hand, American Express had blocked a 4,000 -dollar charge for a private jet on the Ann Sweeney credit card, an engineer who worked in Polaroid. On the other hand, a family had denounced that a man disguised as an astronaut had convinced his 18 -year -old son to enlist the Navy and then demanded $ 4,000 to cancel the enlistment using his “connections in the Pentagon.” Palombo, a decorated agent, investigated those complaints and uncovered a surprising history of deceptions. “It was like seeing him die.” On January 28, 1989, agent Andrew Palombo knocked on Robert Hunt’s door and found military paraphernalia, flight monkeys, a NASA helmet and Korean war medals, a conflict that occurred before Hunt was born. The celebrities Space Transfording Tastestesses They turned out to be burned soil tiles. Hunt declared himself guilty of theft for using his wife’s card and scams the family of the child recruit. His wife, the optical engineer Ann Sweeney, had believed all his lies. He said that discovering it was “how to see someone die.” “This guy has passed NASA Astronaut, Marina’s Combat Pilot, Cambridge Police and God knows what else,” the Palombo agent told the press. A repeat scammer. Far from reforming, Hunt did not waste time. As soon as he left prison, he announced his candidacy for mayor of Revere, Massachusetts. “I know power and how to move in it,” he told the press. After not paying the restitution to his victims, he became a fugitive of the law. His next appearance was in San Francisco. He appeared at a military base as head of the Seal Team Six, the Navy’s anti -terrorism elite. He slept in the officers of the officers and worked for three weeks at the emergency operations center. His fall was almost comic: the FBI stopped him after he parked in the reserved square of a general. Today, Robert Hunt is 63 years old and lives in New Hampshire, working on construction. Images | NASA, Susan Lapides In Xataka | Dr Love, the teenager who pretended to be a gynecologist (and other recent and great impostors)

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