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U.S. government agencies will be able to use Meta Platforms’ artificial intelligence system Llama, a senior administration official said, as the Trump administration pushes to integrate commercial AI tools into government operations. The General Services Administration, the government’s purchasing arm, will add Llama to its list of approved AI tools for federal agencies, said Josh Gruenbaum, the GSA’s procurement lead, in an interview ahead of announcing the initiative. Agencies will then be able to experiment with Llama, a free tool, with GSA’s assurance that it meets the government’s security and legal standards. Llama is a large language model capable of processing data, including text, video, images and audio. GSA has also signed off in recent months on AI tools from Meta’s competitors, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic and Open AI. The companies agreed to sell their paid products at steep discounts and meet the government’s security requirements, GSA has said. “It’s not about currying favor,” Gruenbaum said when asked whether tech executives are giving the government discounts to get President Donald Trump’s approval. “It’s about that recognition of how do we all lock in arms and make this country the best country it could possibly be.” Federal agencies will be able to deploy the tool to speed up contract review or more quickly solve information technology hiccups, among other tasks, he said. Courtney Rozen, Reuters
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Japanese automaker Nissan is developing vehicles with self-driving technology as it works to turn around its struggling auto business.In a recent demonstration of the technology developed by British company Wayve, a Nissan Ariya sedan outfitted with 11 cameras, five radars and a next-generation sensor called LiDAR maneuvered its way through downtown Tokyo, braking for red lights as well as pedestrians and other cars at intersections.It’s set to be available in 2027, although Nissan did not give the models or other details.It’s an already-crowded field. The self-driving car market is estimated to reach $2 trillion by 2030, according to market researcher IndustryARC, riding on the back of advances in AI, sensor technologies and data processing capabilities.Japan’s top automaker, Toyota Motor Corp., has a partnership deal with Waymo, another self-driving technology developed by Google. Waymo has also arrived in Japan, in partnership with a cab company, but it’s still in the testing stage.Other automakers are also working on autonomous driving technology, including Honda Motor Co., General Motors and Mercedes-Benz, as well as companies outside the auto industry like Amazon and its subsidiary Zoox.Nissan’s push comes at a time when the overall Japanese auto market is facing serious challenges because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Nissan especially is struggling. It has slashed jobs and appointed a new chief executive, Ivan Espinosa, to attempt a turnaround. The maker of the March subcompact, Leaf electric cars and Infiniti luxury brand posted losses for the April-June period, following a fiscal year of red ink. Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama Yuri Kageyama, AP Business Writer
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E-Commerce
Alphabet’s Google will seek to avoid a forced sale of part of its online advertising business in its latest face-off with U.S. antitrust enforcers at a trial starting on Monday in Alexandria, Virginia. The trial is the government’s next best shot at curbing what a judge has ruled is Google’s monopoly power, after losing a separate bid to make Google sell its Chrome browser earlier this month. Online publishers and rival ad tech developers, some of whom have separately sued Google for damages, will be watching the case closely. The U.S. Department of Justice and a coalition of states are seeking to make Google sell its ad exchange, AdX, where online publishers pay Google a 20% fee to sell ads in auctions that happen instantly when users load websites. The government also seeks to require Google to make the mechanism that decides the winner of those auctions open source. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who will preside over the trial, ruled in April that Google holds unlawful monopolies in web advertising technology. After this week’s trial, she will decide what remedies to impose on the company. The company has asked Brinkema to take the same cautious approach as a judge in Washington, D.C., who recently rejected most of the DOJ’s proposals in a separate case over Google’s monopoly in online search. The cases against Google are part of a larger bipartisan crackdown by the U.S. on big tech firms, which began during President Donald Trump’s first term and includes cases still pending against Meta Platforms, Amazon and Apple. Google says the DOJ’s proposal is technically unworkable and would lead to prolonged uncertainty for advertisers and publishers. Google had previously offered to sell AdX, however, during private negotiations to end an EU antitrust investigation, Reuters reported last year. Google’s internal studies on that potential sale may come into evidence at this week’s trial. Instead of selling AdX, Google has now proposed changing its policies to make it easier for publishers to use and support competing platforms. The DOJ has said such requirements alone are not adequate to restore competition. A former News Corp executive and executives at DailyMail.com and Advance Local, which operates local news outlets in eight states, are among those expected to testify at the trial. Some of those witnesses testified last year when the DOJ convinced Brinkema that Google locked publishers into using its publisher ad server – a platform used by websites to store and manage their digital ad inventory – by unlawfully tying the platform to Google AdX. Doing so allowed Google to engage in practices that were not in publishers’ interests, such as giving Google’s advertisers the first and last opportunity to bid on ads, Brinkema wrote in her April ruling. If the DOJ’s proposals have not bolstered competition within four years, Google should also be required to sell its publisher ad server, the government said in court papers. Jody Godoy, Reuters
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E-Commerce
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