Emerging Tech

U.S. President Joe Biden’s first National Security Memorandum on artificial intelligence directs the federal government to take steps to ensure AI supports the national security mission. Stakeholders were supportive.

The Albuquerque City Council has approved a resolution directing administration to create an artificial intelligence working group to develop an official city policy shaping the technology’s use. Residents will be among its members.

This is the third consecutive year Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind., has been honored as one of America’s best “Green” colleges. The Princeton Review cites Rose-Hulman in the 2025 edition of the Guide to Green Colleges.

The county is already home to six operational Best Buy Teen Tech Centers, but that number is slated to double. The facilities give middle and high school students a chance to learn tech skills that could translate to jobs in entertainment, fashion and other L.A.-centric industries.

School districts nationwide have widely adopted platforms to track what students search online; roughly half of U.S. K-12 public schools use a system from GoGuardian. Critics, however, raise concerns about privacy, free speech, lack of transparency, and what happens to student data.

The Port of Walla Walla Commission is expected to decide later this month whether to sell 500 acres of land to Advance Phase for $32 million. Should the company go ahead with its $4.8 billion plan to build 16 data centers, it would rival similar ones developed in Oregon.

Republican control of the Senate would likely tilt tech policy, ranging from regulation of artificial intelligence to expansion of high-speed Internet, toward industry-friendly terms, according to analysts.

The ALERTCalfornia camera system notified first responders of the fire on La Panza Ranch south of Highway 58, and state firefighters extinguished it. Mapping estimated its size at 16 acres.

Created by executive order at the start of the year, Virginia has now set its AI Task Force in motion, aiming to support and advise policymakers on the technologies. Ten members have been named; more may follow.

Work is set to commence this month on the fourth phase of the Robotics Technology Park, run by state agency Alabama Industrial Development and Training. It will focus on building and working with electric vehicles. Opening is expected in spring 2026.

The federal security agency rolled out updated security checkpoints with the recent reopening of a modernized terminal at Portland International Airport. The technology’s use is optional and photographs are not saved in the system.

Gov tech supplier Civic Marketplace is offering a procurement platform backed by AI for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. The deal could promote more use of cooperative purchasing, according to backers.

Washington, D.C., CTO Stephen Miller describes a large-scale modernization project that aims to reorient government services so residents can quickly get what they need no matter how they got there.

A report from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers and the National Association of State Procurement Officials illustrates how AI can support government procurement. It examines use cases and obstacles, too.

Hilary Ronen, a supervisor at the consolidated city-county, has drafted legislation that would compel officials to list how and where artificial intelligence is used. Transparency is a main goal: “We’re not prohibiting any uses” of AI, she said.

Plus, the first easily accessible 3D data set of the moon, Scottsdale, Ariz., rolls out drones as first responders, and the amount Amazon has lost on devices powered by Alexa.

The city’s Chamber of Commerce will host the session this week, examining using the unmanned aircraft to deliver medical supplies and vital health-care services. The endeavor will include partners in health-care and education.

Transit providers in rural areas are experimenting with data-sharing technology to improve services, by introducing modern features like trip planning to form more coordinated, regionwide systems. One system is already seeing results.