One of the world's most influential and controversial technology companies suffered two major legal losses this week.

Of course, I'm referring to Meta, owner of Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Threads.

Two courts in the US found the social media giant negligent. Plaintiffs argued that Meta knowingly designed apps to be addictive to young users and that it failed to protect those same users.

Meta will appeal, but make no mistake: these legal decisions will impact how social apps are designed for all of us.

The big story

Que Sora, Sora

In brief | OpenAI announced it is to pull the plug on its polarising video-generation app, Sora.

The company opened Sora to the general public last year and it soon soared to the top of app download charts.

It allowed people to create short videos of just about anything with a few lines of code, and even upload their identities to place themselves in AI-generated videos.

Controversy about Sora quickly followed, and critics were not in short supply. Companies complained their intellectual property was being used without permission, and others pointed out that the app could be used in nefarious ways.

Why it matters | Most of the issues with Sora tended to miss the bigger problems the app presented: it was expensive to operate.

Many technology analysts said that the video-generation platform consumed a huge amount of GPU power, which, in turn, took resources away from OpenAI's other core products, such as ChatGPT.

It's an important reminder that AI uses lots of resources, not only money, but compute, electricity and product support.

Other companies might soon have to make similar choices.

Quoted | "We’re saying goodbye to the Sora app. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built a community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing"

– Statement to OpenAI's Sora X account

Future in focus

• Can't look away | Why some people are glued to flight-tracking platforms

• Consumer curiosity | What you should know about Starlink's availability in the UAE

• Staying on track | How some autonomous taxis navigate GPS glitches to ensure safe travel

• Digital deception | Inflatable tanks and cardboard ayatollahs: AI fakes are flourishing in the Iran war

Predicting the future: Signal or noise?

In defiance of sanctions, a ship using the ID taken from a scrapped vessel has begun operating through the Strait of Hormuz with what is believed to be Iranian oil.

Arsenio Longo, the founder of tanker movement analytics specialists Huax, told The National that the appearance of the “zombie ship” marks the first time a vessel has been used to carry oil to tankers off Oman, and then on for further export, since the regional war began.

This is a signal: At first glance, the idea of someone smuggling something as large as a ship might be fanciful, but it's not really a surprise given how much data, such as ship registration numbers, exists in the public domain.

With that data readily available, expect the game of cat and mouse to continue for as long as the war in Iran continues.

In case you missed it

• Water-focused tech start-up wants students to 'explore solutions to global challenges'

• UAE's use of American GPUs makes US tech a 'dominant standard', Trump's AI adviser says

• Iran-linked Handala hacker group shows no sign of waning

• With gold sinking and Bitcoin swaying, war is reshaping safe-haven bets

• Heat-tracking satellite can see inside conflict zone buildings

The National produces a variety of newsletters across an array of subjects. You can sign up here.