AI Is Watching, Hackers Are Stealing & Robots Are Coming

In this episode of the JMore Tech Talk Show, host John C. Morley covers a wide-ranging set of developments from late 2025 and early 2026, spanning TikTok's quiet restructuring, Facebook's legal losses, AI safety disputes, emerging cyber threats, and the accelerating arrival of humanoid robots. The thread connecting these stories, Morley argues, is a trio of concerns: access, autonomy, and authority—what technology can reach, what it can do on its own, and what it has permission to activate.

TikTok's Settlement and Quiet Ownership Restructuring

TikTok has reached a settlement with Alabama involving allegations around young users, addictive platform designs, and misrepresentation of safety. The settlement guarantees at least $100 million and could reach $300 million. But the bigger development is that TikTok is now operating in the U.S. through a majority American-owned entity called TikTok US DS, a joint venture that happened quietly behind the scenes. The ownership structure breaks down as follows: Oracle holds 15% and manages U.S. data security and recommendation algorithms; Silver Lake holds 15% as a managing private equity investor; MGX holds 15%, representing Abu Dhabi-based state investment funds; other global and U.S. investors, including affiliates of the Dell family office, hold the remaining portion of th