TNB Tech Minute: U.S. Targets China With New AI Rules
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Waymo is making a multi-billion dollar bet that its self-driving cars are the future of driving. Will it pay off? Find out in Driverless, Waymo and the Robotaxi Race, a new series in the WSJ's Future of Everything feed. Here's your TNB Tech Minute for Monday, January 13th. I'm Belle Lynn for The Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. is imposing some of its strongest measures yet to limit Chinese advances in artificial intelligence, requiring companies to get government approval to export certain information about their AI models and set up large AI computing facilities overseas.

The rules out today are a final push by the Biden administration in a years-long effort to use export controls to stem China's advances in chipmaking and AI.

They have sparked a backlash from companies, including NVIDIA. The rules impose caps on how many advanced AI chips can be exported to certain countries and require a license to export the data that underpins the most sophisticated AI systems.

Apple is defending itself in the first hearing of a $1.8 billion class action lawsuit in the UK. The lawsuit accuses the iPhone maker of abusing its dominance in the digital economy and overcharging customers on its app store.

Lawyers representing the class action said today that Apple excluded potential rivals from competing for customers on devices running its iOS system by forcing developers to sell their apps exclusively through its own App Store and charging commissions of 30% for purchases.

Apple said it faces competitive pressure from rival device manufacturers and alternative transaction channels, and that other companies such as Alphabet's Google charge a similar commission rate for app developers in its Play Store.

And Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin postponed the inaugural launch of its new rocket early today after running into technical problems. On a company livestream, Blue Origin commentators didn't detail the challenges the launch team ran into, but one said around 2.30 a.m. ET that there were a few anomalies that kept the vehicle on the ground.

The company aims to reset for another try soon, according to a post it made on X. For a deeper dive into what's happening in tech, check out Tuesday's Tech News Briefing Podcast.