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Google will finally be able to provide real-time driving and walking directions in South Korea, The New York Times reported. The company has received permission from the nation's Transport Ministry to export geographic data out of the country, which will allow it to provide GPS services as well as detailed listings for restaurants and other businesses. "We welcome todays decision and look forward to our ongoing collaboration with local officials to bring a fully functioning Google Maps to Korea," Google's senior executive Cris Turner told the NYT in a statement. However, the approval is contingent on the condition that strict security requirements are met, a spokesperson from the Transport Ministry said. Those conditions reportedly restrict Google from displaying sensitive military sites and longitude and latitude coordinates. South Korea has generally restricted the export of 1/5000 scale map data over national security concerns, as it's still technically at war with its neighbor North Korea. Google hasn't been able to provide mapping directions or business details since it arrived in the nation, though it has applied twice in 2007 and 2016. This lack of data sharing has reportedly been a bone of contention in trade talks with the US. Google argued that it was unfairly handicapped by the restrictions that allowed local apps like Naver to thrive. However, critics in the nation have expressed concern that Google could now come in and monopolize the market. "If Naver and Kakao are weakened or pushed out and Google later raises prices, that becomes a monopoly. Then, even companies that rely on map services logistics firms, for example become dependent [on Google]," geography professor Choi Jin-mu told Reuters. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/google-maps-will-finally-be-usable-in-south-korea-104301396.html?src=rss
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Despite an ultimatum from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Anthropic said that it can't "in good conscience" comply with a Pentagon edict to remove guardrails on its AI, CEO Dario Amodei wrote in a blog post. The Department of Defense had threatened to cancel a $200 million contract and label Anthropic a "supply chain risk" if it didn't agree to remove safeguards over mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. "Our strong preference is to continue to serve the Department and our warfighters with our two requested safeguards in place," Amodei said. "We remain ready to continue our work to support the national security of the United States." In response, US Under Secretary of Defense Emil Michael accused Amodei in a post on X of wanting "nothing more than to try to personally control the US military and is OK putting our nation's safety at risk." The standoff began when the Pentagon demanded that Anthropic its Claude AI product available for "all lawful purposes" including mass surveillance and the development of fully autonomous weapons that can kill without human supervision. Anthropic refused to offer its tech for those things, even with a "safety stack" built into that model. Yesterday, Axios reported that Hegseth gave Anthropic a deadline of 5:01 PM on Friday to agree to the Pentagon's terms. At the same time, the DoD requested an assessment of its reliance on Claude, an initial step toward potentially labelling Anthropic as a "supply chain risk" a designation usually reserved for firms from adversaries like China and "never before applied to an American company," Anthropic wrote. Amodei declined to change his stance and stated that if the Pentagon chose to offboard Anthropic, "we will work to enable a smooth transition to another provider, avoiding any disruption to ongoing military planning, operations or other critical missions." Grok is one of the other providers the DoD is reportedly considering, along with Google's Gemini and OpenAI. It may not be that simple for the military to disentangle itself from Claude, however. Up until now, Anthropic's model has been the only one allowed for the military's most sensitive tasks in intelligence, weapons development and battlefield operations. Claude was reportedly used in the Venezuelan raid in which the US military exfiltrated the country's president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife. AI companies have been widely criticized for potential harm to users, but mass surveillance and weapons development would clearly take that to a new level. Anthropic's potential reply to the Pentagon was seen as a test of its claim to be the most safety-forward AI company, particularly after dropping its flagship safety pledge a few days ago. Now that Amodei has responded, the focus will shift to the Pentagon to see if it follows through on its threats, which could seriously harm Anthropic. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropic-refuses-to-bow-to-pentagon-despite-hegseths-threats-085553126.html?src=rss
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On March 8th, AI-powered app builder Lovable is making its platform entirely free for 24 hours to mark International Women's Day.The initiative, dubbed SheBuilds and offered in partnership with Anthropic and Stripe, pairs free platform access to Lovable with USD 100 in Claude API credits and USD 250 in Stripe fee credits per participant. It's a package designed to remove the financial friction that might keep aspiring builders from experimenting. Over 30 community-hosted events across 17 countries will offer in-person support from experienced users, while an online track connects participants globally through Lovable's Discord server.Lovable is a "vibe coding" platform, a tool that lets users describe what they want in plain language to generate functional web applications without requiring traditional coding skills. Why it's a good match for Women's Day? The persistent gender gap in tech. Women make up roughly a quarter of the global tech workforce and an even smaller share of technical and leadership roles.By stripping away both the cost barrier and the coding prerequisite, SheBuilds is essentially proposing a shortcut around the traditional tech route one that sidesteps gatekeeping and asks: what would you build if technical barriers didn't exist? (As coding automation ramps up at smoldering speeds, it's uncertain what "tech work" will even mean in a year or two. Areas where women already perform strongly, like product thinking, user empathy, problem framing and communication, might actually become more valuable.)TREND BITESheBuilds is part of a broader shift in how to approach inclusion moving from symbolic gestures toward initiatives that hand people tangible tools and agency. Rather than hosting a panel discussion or releasing a branded social post, Lovable is betting that the most empowering thing it can do is get its product into more hands and let the results speak for themselves. Access, not just awareness, drives change. Takeaway for other brands: pair a cause with some genuine utility for outcomes that extend well beyond a day on the calendar.
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