This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro

Why Anthropic is suing the US government, a solemn reminder of how even the most advanced technology is no match for Mother Nature, and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine's plea for protecting children from the harmful effects of technology.

That's what's on tap in the latest edition of "This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro."

Listen now.

As the US gears up for a possible military confrontation with Iran; the federal government has issued a warning for US companies and government agencies, to tighten up cyber defenses to ensure our networks here at home, can withstand possible state-sponsored cyber attacks.

But though the current buildup of military force against Iran is fairly recent; our adversarial relationship with that country goes back many years, perhaps exemplified best by the release of the Stuxnet worm that sabotaged Iran's nuclear program, in 2011.

Listen now to find out more, and also what you can do right now, to harden your company or government agency’s defenses against persistent threats from Iran.

More smart traffic cameras, better coordinated Emergency response, and smoother bus rides are all on the way within the year, as Summit County's $50 million dollar, high speed broadband fiber ring network project nears completion.

That's the word today from Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro's Chief of Staff, Brian Nelsen, who is our featured guest on this week's edition of This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro.

Listen now for more information on how getting all of the county's governmental agencies and municipalities hooked up to high speed fiber is going to improve their operations, and what that means for you.

This week, we're featuring an in-depth discussion about the harm social media is doing to kids and teens; addiction, depression, anxiety, and in some cases—even suicide.

It is in sharp focus now, because two separate lawsuits went to trial this week, alleging that the big companies running social media platforms, including Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads), and Alphabet (YouTube), know that they are causing harm, and aren't doing enough to stop it.

While the two suits are similar, they are not exactly the same, so we asked CBS News Tech Contributor, and former CNET Editor, Ian Sherr, to help us sort it all out.

Listen now:

It was quite a week for news related to the world's richest man; Elon Musk, who announced he was merging X-AI with SpaceX, caused quite a stir on Wall Street, and simultaneously faced serious legal issues when French Prosecutors raided the X office in France.

They are investigating allegations including complicity in possessing and spreading pornographic images of minors, and sexually explicit deepfakes, as well as denial of crimes against humanity such as the Holocaust. 

But they are not alone.

An investigation into Musk's AI tool, Grok, also launched in the UK where authorities are also concerned about the production of harmful sexualized videos and images.

In addition , there are growing questions about what's next for Tesla, as Musk recently announced they're  discontinuing some Tesla models, so they focus more attention on building robots.

To find out more about that; I had a conversation with CBS News Automotive industry expert, Jeff Gilbert.