• The development of artificial intelligence technology is happening at a rapid pace.
• That's made it hard for Congress to regulate it, but Biden and Trump have tried by executive order.
• A lack of AI experts in government has also made it difficult for lawmakers to regulate the tech. 

The battle over AI isn't just happening in Silicon Valley among tech giants.

It's also happening within the halls of Congress and the White House as lawmakers try to figure out how to rein in the technology without stalling progress.

Congress hasn't been able to pass a comprehensive set of federal laws and regulations around artificial intelligence — the majority of the restrictions around the innovative advancements have been made on the state level — leading President Joe Biden and former President Trump to fill in the gaps via executive decree, which provide little to no course to fight against bad actors in the industry that cross the line.

Why does the US not have federal AI regulation?

Passing legislation in Congress can be a painfully slow and sometimes impossible process. Bills are often quashed in committee and on the chamber floors. Many legislators will require amendments of their own to be added to the bill for them to consider supporting it, disrupting the process even more.

The chaos of the current session, with Republican infighting leading to the removal of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, has made things even worse.

So far, the 118th Congress has passed just 1% of all proposed bills.

With it being increasingly difficult for Congress to pass substantive laws and establish industry regulations, presidents have used executive orders as a means of establishing precedents in groundbreaking and developing industries, such as AI.

How is the development of AI governed?

During Trump's presidency, he issued several executive orders related to AI. In 2019 he signed into effect "Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence," which was an executive order aimed to establish the need for companies to prioritize the development of AI. And in 2020, he issued "Promoting the Use of Trustworthy AI in the Federal Government," which set principles for how federal employees could safely and effectively use AI on the job.

Other than executive orders, Trump created the National Science & Technology Council's "Select Committee on AI" in 2018, which continues to advise the White House on ways the federal government can promote AI growth in the US.

More than 80 bills directly or indirectly addressing AI have been introduced in the current 118th Congress alone, but none have passed and become law, leading Biden and his administration to follow Trump's lead and set precedents using executive order.

Biden signed the executive order on "Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence" near the end of 2023. The 36-page directive set safety standards for AI researchers to follow, though critics say it provided little teeth for federal agencies to enforce it.

How do Trump's and Biden's AI policies differ?

Major AI powerhouses like Microsoft and Google have praised Biden's efforts, but Trump promised in December 2023 that he'd overturn the executive order.

"When I'm reelected, I will cancel Biden's artificial intelligence executive order and ban the use of AI to censor the speech of American citizens on day one," Trump said.

Some conservative lobbyists and think tanks have criticized Biden's regulations, arguing that the executive order abuses the Defense Production Act — a 1950 Korean War-era law empowering the president to unilaterally issue regulations and guidance to private companies during times of emergency — by violating the intended purpose of the act itself.

AI policy advocates don't seem entirely convinced of that argument.

Trump and Biden's "executive orders have contributed to a bipartisan consensus that AI ought to be trustworthy," said Jason Green-Lowe, the Center for AI Policy's executive director.

"It's changed the culture," he said. "You see sort of responsible scaling policies being rolled out on a voluntary basis by some of the more responsible labs, but then you have other companies that are just ignoring it, which right now is their legal right. Nobody's required to make sure that they're dealing with these catastrophic risks."

How are policymakers balancing regulation and innovation?

Several AI-policy experts told Business Insider that they're not completely against setting federal regulations on artificial intelligence as long as it won't cripple research.

Some experts, like Rebecca Finlay, who is the CEO of a non-profit organization called Partnership on AI, said that regulations are necessary to further innovation. Finlay's nonprofit is focused on responsibly promoting the development and regulation of AI.

"We've been very clear that you need to have regulation in place in order to advance innovation," Finlay said. "Clear rules of the road allow for more companies to be more competitive in being more innovative to do the work that needs to be done if we're really going to take the benefits of AI. One of the things that we are advocating strongly for is a level of transparency with regard to how these systems are being built and developed."

She said that she doesn't think there's a right or wrong decision between developing open or closed-source AI tools — she said she's seen "harms" from both types — as long as they're both developed responsibly.

"Rather than arguing between a binary choice between open and closed, I think it's really core that we hold all model developers and deployers accountable for ensuring that their models are developed as safely as possible," she said.

Daniel Zhang, the senior manager for policy initiatives at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, echoed Finlay's hope that regulations don't stifle research.

"We want to make sure the governance around open foundation models are, for the long term, beneficial for opening innovation," Zhang said. "We don't want to too-early restrict the development of open innovation that academia, for example, academic institutions thrive on."

What are the challenges of crafting AI regulation?

One of the biggest hurdles that legislators face in regulating AI, Finlay said, is "just keeping up to the state of the science and the technology as it is developed."

She said it's difficult for lawmakers to draft regulations because most AI companies develop their models not in a "publicly funded research environment," but they do so privately until they choose to share their advancements.

"The ideal solution would be to empower some kind of office or regulator to update the laws as they go forward," Green-Lowe, from the Center for AI Policy, said,

That's not the easiest thing to accomplish.

"We're also in a moment where people are very concerned about overreach from executive power and about the proper role of bureaucracies or the civil service," Green-Lowe said. "And so there are people in Congress who are skeptical that Congress can keep up with the changes in technology, but also skeptical that the power to do so should be delegated to an agency."

He added that failing to implement a formal way of regulating the sector would effectively let companies play by their own rules, something he and the Center for AI Policy don't purport to be the best course of action.

Another challenge comes from AI experts and researchers choosing private sector jobs instead of ones in the government, a kind of "brain drain," Zhang said.

"Most of the new AI Ph.D.'s that graduate in North America go to private industry," he said, citing Stanford's 2024 AI Index Report. "Less than 40% go to government looking to create all those AI regulations and governance structures."

Lacking staffers who can fully understand the complexity of AI and its future puts more onus on an aging US Congress to regulate the far-reaching tech, a difficult task.

Zhang said there's also a common misconception that working in government provides less access to money than working in the private sector.

"That's not a hundred percent true," he said. "For governments to appeal to those technical students, I think they just need to highlight the public service aspect and then give them the resources to be able to do their jobs.

In January, the Biden Administration released a "call to service" aimed at solving this problem.

"We are calling on AI and AI-enabling experts to join us to advance this research and ensure the next generation of AI models is safe, secure, and trustworthy," the administration said.

• A Chinese jet released flares close to an Australian military helicopter.
• This intercept is not the first 'unsafe and unprofessional' incident involving Chinese aircraft.
• China routinely engages in unsafe intercepts of US and allied aircraft.

The Australian government said Monday that a Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force fighter jet released flares dangerously close to an Australian Defence Force helicopter over the weekend.

The PLAAF jet intercepted the Royal Australian Navy MH-60R helicopter attached to HMAS Hobart in the Yellow Sea and "released flares across the flight path of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) helicopter," the Australian government said in a statement.

The Australian warship was in the area in support of Operation Argos, which is aimed at enforcing sanctions on North Korea.

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said a Chinese J-10 fighter aircraft popped flares about 300 meters in front of the helicopter and about 60 meters above it, per reporting from the AP.

Canberra called China's flight conduct in this interaction "unsafe and unprofessional."

"This was an unsafe manoeuvre which posed a risk to the aircraft and personnel," the statement said. "While there were no injuries sustained by ADF personnel or damage caused to the MH-60R helicopter, the safety and wellbeing of our ADF personnel continues to be our utmost priority."

Beijing has yet to publicly respond to the allegations.

This isn't the first incident involving a Chinese jet engaging in troubling behavior in the vicinity of an Australian aircraft.

In June 2022, a Chinese J-16 patrolling the South China Sea released flares and chaff, or strips of aluminum intended to confuse the radar on a missile, close enough to an Australian P-8 that the strips got caught in its engine.

The US released records in October 2023 reporting numerous instances of aggressive flight conduct from China.

The 2023 Department of Defense report on Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China found that from fall 2021 to 2023, there were over 180 cases of "coercive and risky air intercepts against U.S. aircraft in the region" linked to Chinese aircraft.

This number of cases recorded over the course of two years is more than in the past decade.

"The PLA's behavior contravenes flight safety protocols and the international maritime rules of the road, and increases the risk of a major accident, incident, or crisis, including the potential for loss of life," the report said.

• I started working as soon as I graduated from college 40 years ago. 
• I've made some bad decisions, thinking I could make up for them later in life. 
• At 62, it feels like I'm going to be working forever as a freelancer. 

Fresh out of college more than 40 years ago, I threw myself into a career in marketing, public relations, and communications. I worked in higher education, healthcare, and operated my own agency not once, but twice. My professional life has taken me around the country and to Europe.

Professionally, I've been there, done that. And apparently, I'll be doing it for the rest of my life.

I made bad decisions thinking I could make up later

I've been fortunate to have the education to warrant good salaries. A lot of people spend their entire adult lives in minimum-wage jobs that offer little hope of being able to retire comfortably if at all. Despite differences in lifetime earnings, we all heard the recommendations of experts for decades about what you need to do to retire.

I admit to making decisions that flew in their face, always believing I could make up ground later.

I allowed my now ex-husband to talk me into cashing in a growing 401k more than 15 years ago in an emergency. He promised that his retirement plan would be "more than enough" to support us in our old age. In my 50s, I used most of my divorce payout and cashed in a minor state retirement fund to buy a house in Slovenian to experience life in another country.

I wasn't so focused on rebuilding my life that I forgot about how close I was to the traditional retirement age. But I was tired of career-building and wanted to see the world. By making that choice, I faced the fact that I'd never be able to retire unless I remarried well or won the lottery. The first was never going to happen. The second would require that I actually play the lottery, which I don't.

Although I could never retire, I could change the type of work I'd done for 30 years. So, I took a job doing something I had no training for. I worked as a paralegal for a personal injury attorney friend. I thought I would be there three years but ended up doubling that. At least that stint produced a new, albeit small 401k I'm saving for later.

My current job doesn't necessarily pay well

Shortly before the pandemic hit, it was time to venture back out on my own, once again with no safety net, like a hefty savings account or a spouse's income. This time, I chose to write, because it's something I love to do, which is a good thing if you have to work for the duration of your earthly existence.

Nearly five years later, I'm still freelancing, writing content for a client agency, regularly contributing to a magazine, and pitching stories to other publications. I also carve out time to pursue my creative writing. None of them pay particularly well.

I supplement with my share of my ex's retirement, but only for as long as he's alive. And at the age of 62 and one month, I made another move financial advisors tell you not to do: I started drawing my Social Security. It's mine. I earned it. Why not use it now to free myself from the remainder of my debts and make my life a little easier?

Ernest Hemingway once said that retirement is the ugliest word in the English language. Maybe that's because he never wanted to put his typewriter away to gather dust. I get that. My cobbled income isn't enough for me to retire and never will be. But I'll always eke out enough to keep traveling and writing about it. For this boomer, that's enough.

• Apple is increasingly emphasizing the growth of its services business.
• Apple's definition of "services" includes advertising, which Apple routinely says is a major driver of its services growth.
• But Apple's definition of advertising may surprise you.

Apple is the iPhone, and the iPhone is Apple. But as we've pointed out many times, iPhone sales won't grow forever. Last quarter, they actually dropped.

Which is why, for the last several years, Apple has been taking pains to highlight its growing "services" business.

"Services," per Apple's description, is a fast-growing grab-bag of stuff, all of which doesn't directly involve Apple hardware: money Apple makes from App Store sales; money Apple makes selling warranties and cloud storage; and money Apple makes selling you music and TV subscription services.

Services also means advertising sales, which Apple points out almost every time it talks to investors: In 14 of the company's last 16 quarterly filings, it has cited "advertising" as one of the three reasons service revenue has increased.

If you're a normal person, you'd think that means, you know … advertising. In Apple's case, that means selling the promotional slots it sells on results pages in its App Store. (This can be alternately useful or frustrating, depending on your perspective: When I recently searched the App Store for "Twitter," the top result was an ad for Facebook; when I typed in "Facebook," the top result was an ad for TikTok.)

But in Apple's case, "advertising" also means a much, much bigger business: the money Google pays Apple to be the default search engine on iPhones and other devices — more than $20 billion in 2022 alone.

Apple doesn't come out and say that, exactly. Which makes sense because Apple has been reluctant to talk about the money it gets from Google, period. So far, the only concrete numbers about the payouts have come from disclosures in the US government's antitrust case against Apple.

But each year, in Apple's annual report, when it breaks down each of its business lines, Apple does say that "the Company's advertising services include third-party licensing arrangements." Like renting out its search exclusivity to Google. (Apple declined to comment, but two analysts I checked with confirmed my reading of that disclosure.)

Apple does have a traditional advertising business, and it does appear to be growing: The folks at BI sister company EMarketer think it will hit $6.3 billion this year, up from $5.4 billion last year.

And that's not nothing. For context: That's more than the $4.5 billion in ad sales Twitter generated in 2021, its last full year before Elon Musk bought the company; it's also more than the $4.6 billion Snap generated in 2023.

But in Apple terms traditional ads still don't mean that much — they make up perhaps 6% of Apple's annual services revenue. The Google deal, meanwhile, represents more than 20% of that number.

So, the next time you see Apple talk about the strength of its advertising business, bear in mind that it's likely referring to its Google business.

• RSA CEO Rohit Ghai advises security services to verify users' identities and device integrity.
• Ghai sees the intersection of 5G and AI as the most exciting area for innovation.
• This article is part of "5G and Connectivity Playbook," a series exploring some of our time's most important tech innovations.

Emergent 5G technology is faster and more secure than ever. It has also created a new world when it comes to cybersecurity.

"Most actors try to attack new technology because they have new things that haven't been patched," Rohit Ghai, the CEO of security company RSA, told Business Insider. "Over the last two years, there has been a pretty dramatic focus on cybersecurity in critical networks."

To limit vulnerabilities and protect users accessing 5G networks on unmanaged devices, for instance, Ghai says security services should verify that the people using devices are who they claim to be and ensure that the devices are not compromised.

"There's a huge amount of intellectual property and corporate data that sits on mobile devices," Ghai said. "Making sure that data is not compromised — there's a huge area of vulnerability from a 5G-network perspective."

Everyone can take basic steps to protect their accounts and devices. Ghai points to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's four recommendations of recognizing and reporting phishing, using strong passwords, using multifactor authentication, and updating software.

BI spoke with Ghai ahead of the annual RSA conference focused on cybersecurity. It's taking place from Monday to Thursday in San Francisco.

The following has been edited for clarity and length. 

How have 5G and connectivity transformed your business?

At the highest level, the change we're focused on is protecting corporate IT networks since the advent of 5G. Two things have happened: There is a lot more focus on end devices. Protecting and securing business workflows that are happening on the end user mobile devices is a huge, new area because of 5G.

Secondly, the threat actors are now targeting 5G. In the last two to three years, critical infrastructure and industrial companies have become targets. They are now more invested in cybersecurity, more concerned about cybersecurity, and want to protect against threat actors.

What are your tips and advice for adding 5G and connectivity to your business?

We have to realize technology is a double-edged sword. With new capabilities, the bad guys can exploit the new technologies.

Whenever you deploy new technology, you have to keep up with patching and updates and make sure security updates are applied quickly.

The other component is identity. The perimeter has dissolved in the new 5G era of networking. Where there is no inside or outside, you need to apply a zero-trust strategy for cybersecurity.

What are the most exciting innovations and advancements in 5G today?

The most exciting area is the intersection of 5G and AI. An example is an autonomous car. A car has intelligence and the ability to consult back and seek services that were not possible in the past.

It comes with a lot of risk, as I said. You have to make sure any of the 5G mobile devices that are unmanaged are protected and not jailbroken or under control. Any edge device, be it a phone or a car, can be compromised. A threat actor can take control and use that for malicious activity. They can use mobile phones to get access to corporate networks and steal data.

Asking if those end-point devices have been compromised and being able to answer that question in a very robust way ensures we can take advantage of 5G services.

What are the biggest trends in 5G cybersecurity?

Applying AI — that's a big trend. 5G networks are very, very dynamic. It's changing all the time. Current approaches to security must be able to keep up with the dynamic nature of the network.

The other change is using identity and access governance to make sure privileged access to IT and OT [operational technology] networks is managed. Most cybersecurity attacks on critical infrastructure happen because of compromised credentials.

What are the cybersecurity risks of 5G?

What 5G does is create a large edge network. In that regard, it expands the attack surface. Thinking about the human network, if there are 100 employees, each employee is part of the attack surface. If you have a network and edge devices, the more devices, the larger the attack surface. 5G exponentially increases the attack surface.

How are 5G attacks carried out?

Most attacks start with an identity compromise. It's not a very new pattern. Somehow, they get in. Then, they move laterally in the network to other computing devices. They stay inside. They don't attack right away. They actually hide, moving laterally from one computer to another and another. Then they go after the data or the ransomware or whatever it is they're targeting.

That same pattern follows in 5G networks. It's just that they're exploiting different types of vulnerabilities and moving quickly because of speed.

What does the future of 5G cybersecurity look like?

You have more and more cybersecurity intelligence that lives on the edge and determines whether edge devices are safe, vulnerable, or attacked in any way. Shifting that intelligence from a central nervous system to a more distributed architecture is where the future of cybersecurity is heading.

Another shift is the concept of passwordless.

Passwords are a very old kind of capability that's been used in human networks for centuries. In the 5G network, we have the opportunity to not start with a password-based solution where an edge device is using a password to authenticate into the network. Since 5G is a new technology, we should start with a passwordless approach. Passwords cause security problems and are complicated to manage.

We're introducing and working with an industry standard called FIDO [fast identity online]. I think that has a lot of promise to enable passwordless.

• Lauren Spencer is a top-performing OnlyFans content creator.
• The 50-year-old said that her earnings totaled around $150K last year.
• She gave Business Insider a behind-the-scenes look into how she runs her enterprise.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lauren Spencer. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I established my OnlyFans page in 2020. My monthly account statements show I'm among the platform's top earners. After OnlyFans takes its 20% cut, I take home an average of $150K a year.

Before the pandemic, my husband and I ran a house-cleaning business in our native UK, making around $85K a year.

But, when COVID struck, we couldn't visit people's homes. We needed a change of direction.

I'd done a little work for a sex chatline to supplement our income when my kids were young. It made sense to try going back into the adult industry. After discovering foot fetishes were especially in demand, I decided to try to cater to people in that audience.

Financially, I'm in a better spot now that I'm on OnlyFans. I also don't have to pay staff like we did in our previous business.

Content creators are in charge of their own promotion

My husband and I only have to rely on each other. He does much of the camera work, so we're together all day. It's helped strengthen our marriage.

But the hours are very long. I work on and off from 6:30 a.m. until 9 p.m., seven days a week, usually averaging about nine hours a day.

In the early morning, I'll typically spend two hours replying to client emails and posting pictures, videos, and voicemails on social media platforms like Instagram and X.

On OnlyFans, content creators are responsible for promoting themselves. It's vital to be seen online as much as possible. The more famous you get, the more money you make.

I'll work out between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. before resuming work. My busiest time is between 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. when I create more content. This mostly involves doing live streams and custom videos.

Next, I'll take a couple of hours of break before returning to answering emails, social media promotion, and scheduling posts. Sometimes, I'll mentor other creators — mostly new girls — through OnlyFans' referral program. I give them advice. In return, my OnlyFans account is credited with 5% of their first year of earnings.

There's no need to hire a studio or professional photographer

The cost to the OnlyFans users varies. Group livestreams are included in the $10 monthly subscription. You can also pay $50 for a 10-minute private livestream in my room. I also offer 10-minute custom movies for $100.

My expenses are low. We film on my iPhone 12 Pro-Max and never use a studio or professional photographer.

But I pay for the premium service on X and an online takedown service to guard against stolen content. There are also accountancy fees.

I'll occasionally buy lingerie, shoes, and clothing. But I often recoup the cost of my stockings and socks. I can charge foot fetishists up to $60 for a pair of my socks, which I mail worldwide.

My fans say that I look like a real woman they can relate to

I'm 50 now, and it's surprising to me that I'm so popular. But my fans say I'm more real than other OnlyFans creators. I've never had anything done.

As for family and friends, they're happy that I'm happy and doing well. They know I couldn't earn this kind of money elsewhere.

I work from home, with a flexible schedule, doing something fun with high-profit margins and minimal outgoings.

I never pay for pedicures at a nail salon

My husband and I have already been able to buy a four-bedroom house. We paid all cash.

I'm aware that I have to look after myself — especially my feet. You won't ever find me walking barefoot on a rough surface.

Every night, I soak my feet in warm, soapy water. Then, I use a buffer to soften the skin on my heels and toes. I put moisturizing cream on my feet with Vaseline to lock it in.

People ask me if I ever get professional pedicures. It wouldn't be worth my while. Many fans like to watch me remove my nail polish and paint my nails again. They often choose the color. Hot pink is the most popular shade.

Do you have a powerful story to share with Business Insider? Please send details to jridley@businessinsider.com.

• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway should buy Tesla stock, according to Elon Musk.
• "He should take a position in Tesla. It's an obvious move," Musk tweeted about Buffett on Sunday.
• Detailed below is why Warren Buffett probably won't invest in Tesla, despite the encouragement.

Warren Buffett should buy Tesla stock, according to Elon Musk.

"He should take a position in Tesla. It's an obvious move," Musk tweeted about Buffett on Sunday, in response to a tweet that suggested Berkshire Hathaway should sell its entire $135 billion stake in Apple and instead purchase Tesla.

The comments came a day after Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting, in which the company revealed that it did trim some of its stake in Apple by about 10%.

But Musk's dream of Berkshire Hathaway giving Tesla its stamp of approval and buying the stock is probably never going to happen.

That's because previous comments made by Buffett and the late Charlie Munger did not shine a favorable light on the ultra-competitive automotive industry. 

To be fair, Buffett and Munger are no strangers to investing in electric vehicle makers, as Berkshire Hathaway did acquire a 10% stake in BYD back in 2008, so anything could happen.

But despite their successful BYD investment, Buffett and Munger said at Berkshire Hathaway's 2023 annual shareholder meeting that investing in the automotive industry is just too hard.

"Charlie and I for long have felt that the auto industry is just too tough. It's just a business where you've got a lot of worldwide competitors they're not going to go away. And it looks like there are winners at any given time, but it doesn't get you a permanent place," Buffett said at the time.

"I think I know where Apple's going to be in five or ten years… I don't know what the car companies are going to be in five or ten years," Buffett added.

Those sentiments were backed up by Munger, who said that while electric vehicles are experiencing wild growth, they also come with huge capital costs and risks.

"It's imposing huge capital costs and huge risks, and I don't like huge capital costs and huge risks," Munger said.

This isn't the first time Musk suggested Berkshire Hathaway should invest in Tesla. 

• House Speaker Mike Johnson might start cracking down on Republicans who defy him.
• That could include removing lawmakers from their committee assignments.
• MTG, who's forcing a vote to try to oust Johnson this week, doesn't seem to mind.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is daring House Speaker Mike Johnson to kick her off of her committees again.

"Being kicked off committees is nothing new for me," the Georgia Republican wrote in a post on X. "Badge of honor. Don't threaten me with a good time."

Her Monday morning missive may have come in response to reporting from Punchbowl News indicating that Johnson is open to kicking Republicans off of their committees if they vote against certain procedural votes that usually pass on party lines — something that hard-right members of the conference have increasingly done in the last 16 months in order to protest party leadership.

A person familiar with Johnson's remarks told Business Insider that they were hypothetical and referred to changes that House Republicans may make under the next Congress, rather than in the immediate future.

Additionally, Johnson can't remove Greene or any other member — or change the rules of the House — unilaterally and would need to hold a House-wide vote on the matter.

But the Georgia congressman's comments illustrate the degree to which she's returned to her roots as an outside agitator, rather than a sober-minded legislator.

Greene was barred from serving on committees by House Democrats at the beginning of her first term, owing to her past espousal of violent rhetoric and conspiracy theories, only for Republicans to place her on committees when they took over.

Greene is poised to force a vote on ousting Johnson this week — though it's almost certain to fail, given House Democratic leaders' vow to protect him from Greene's effort.

Just two other Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona — have signed onto Greene's motion to vacate. Most other Republicans have argued that whatever their concerns are with Johnson's leadership, now is not the time to plunge the House back into chaos.

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Choosing the best Android phone depends on the features you prioritize and your target price range. There are many Android phone brands, each with distinct approaches to hardware and software, and price tags vary widely. 

To help you sort through the Android landscape, we've tested more than a dozen current phones to land on a definitive list of the top Android phones you can buy now. For transparency, we don't aim to point out which Android phones have the most features or the highest benchmark scores; you can look at a publicly available specs sheet for that. Rather, based on our testing, we favor those with the best balance of high-quality features, performance, and value.

Our top pick among the best Android phones is the Samsung Galaxy S24, a stellar overall phone that would suit the vast majority of Android users. If you're looking for something with a more modest price tag, we recommend the Google Pixel 7a as our top budget option. 

Our top picks for the best Android phones

Best overall: Samsung Galaxy S24 – See at Amazon

Best budget: Google Pixel 7a – See at Amazon

Best camera: Google Pixel 8 Pro – See at Amazon

Best battery life: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra – See at Amazon

Best small phone: Samsung Galaxy S24 – See at Amazon

Best foldable phone: OnePlus Open – See at Amazon

Best overall

With its three cameras, unmatched performance, interesting AI features, and sleek minimalist design, the Samsung Galaxy S24 outclasses the Android competition in its price range. There is simply no finer Android phone you can buy in the current 2024 season. And if you prefer larger displays, the Galaxy S24 Plus is basically a larger version of the Galaxy S24 with a couple of extra benefits, like more RAM and faster charging. 

Specifically, the Galaxy S24's versatile triple-camera system and sheer performance set it apart from its main competitor, the Google Pixel 8. The Galaxy S24 runs on the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor as the $1,300 Galaxy S24 Ultra, and it's among the few phones in the $800 range with three cameras. The Galaxy S24's MSRP is $100 more than the Pixel 8's, but it's worth the added cost if you're looking for a premium Android phone and are willing to pay for one to begin with.

Indeed, we feel you wouldn't regret paying a little more for the Galaxy S24's performance today, and a few years from now — it imparts more confidence than other Android phones that it'll stay snappy and smooth for a considerable amount of time.

The Galaxy S24 takes great photos, but it should be said its camera quality is the weakest in the premium phone market. Even though Samsung successfully addressed the near-neon oversaturated colors, the lighting in Galaxy S24 photos can be inconsistent. It results in occasionally bland, depthless photos or overexposure in brighter details, and it happens more often than we'd like.

Still, the Galaxy S24's cameras are good enough, and the 3x zoom lens offers versatility that most other Android phones in this price range don't match. If you often use your current phone's zoom lens or wish you had one to take better photos of far-away subjects, the Galaxy S24 is an excellent choice in the $800 range.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy S24 review, and see our guide to the best Samsung Galaxy S24 cases to protect the phone.

Best budget

Google's Pixel 7a is essentially a premium device with high-end performance, features, and camera quality that's dressed in more modest materials. In return for the slightly diminished aesthetic of thick display borders and plastic back, the Pixel 7a costs $499. That said, it can often be found with a discount, and its starting price could drop significantly with the expected imminent release of a new Pixel A-series phone around Google I/O this month. 

The Pixel 7a's MSRP is on the high side for a budget pick, but it comes with several worthwhile premium features, like a more recent flagship processor (Google's Tensor G2), wireless charging, a smoother high refresh-rate display, and the option of fast mmWave 5G connectivity, all of which combine to make the Pixel 7a our top pick among the best budget Android phones. 

In our intensive battery test, the 6.1-inch Pixel 7a's 60% result is astonishingly good for a phone of this size; it matches some premium phones with bigger screens, like the 6.7-inch Galaxy S24 Plus (60%).

The Pixel 7a's 64MP main camera and 13MP ultrawide camera produce excellent photos and video. In fact, we found little difference in camera quality between the Pixel 7a and some high-end devices, many of which cost twice as much. 

Read our full Google Pixel 7a review, and see our guide to the best Google Pixel 7a cases to protect the phone.

Best camera

The Android phone with the best camera system is Google's Pixel 8 Pro because, quite simply, it takes the best photos out of all the Android phones we've tested so far. We also get the most confidence that photos will look good after every snap than with other Android phones. 

The Pixel 8 Pro's cameras capture memories in beautifully natural colors while maintaining the best balance of brightness and contrast. As the best Google Pixel phone for video and photography, it produces results less prone to overexposure than competitors and offers gorgeous depth thanks to superior dynamic range. 

We also found that the Pixel 8 Pro isn't as dependent on optimal lighting conditions as Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra to capture sharp photos of moving subjects, like kids and pets. Indeed, images taken in less ideal lighting conditions with the Galaxy S24 Ultra can appear somewhat blurry and grainy. 

The Pixel 8 Pro's three cameras include a 50MP main camera, a 48MP 5x zoom camera, and a 48MP ultrawide camera, and they offer plenty of versatility. 

The Pixel 8 Pro uses a highly effective digital zoom between its main and 5x lenses. It combines the main and ultrawide cameras to produce a photo nearly as sharp as a dedicated optical lens at 3x zoom. 

Still, Google's solution for digital zoom isn't quite as high quality as a dedicated zoom lens, like the Galaxy S24 Ultra's 3x zoom lens. And Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra takes slightly better photos at 10x zoom, too. With that said, we stand by our pick for the Pixel 8 Pro, as overall photo quality is still better and more balanced on the Pixel 8 Pro. 

The Pixel 8 Pro also takes high-quality videos with equally excellent color, brightness, and contrast as its photos.

Read our full Google Pixel 8 Pro review, and see our guide to the best Google Pixel 8 Pro cases to protect the phone. 

Best battery life

Phones with bigger displays almost always have the best battery life, and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra with a 6.8-inch display and 5,000mAh battery obtained the best result in our battery stress test among flat Android phones, ending the test with a whopping 66% remaining. 

That's a phenomenal result. The traditional Android phone with the next best score is the Google Pixel 8 Pro with 62%. Indeed, most phones with large displays score between 60% and 62%.

The battery stress test simulates a blend of lighter and heavier workloads. It includes five runs of the intensive Geekbench 6 app, two runs of the intensive 20-minute 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test, two hours of video streaming, and one hour of music streaming while connected to a Bluetooth speaker.

While you're unlikely to change your charging habits too much, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has the most potential out of any Android phone we've tested to last a couple of days of light use. The Galaxy S24 Ultra's battery life also offers more confidence that it'll last through your typical day.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review, and see our guide to the best Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra cases to protect the phone.  

Best small phone

Not only is the Samsung Galaxy S24 the best Android phone overall, it's among the most compact and lightest Android phones available in the US. It has a 6.2-inch display, but the black borders are the display are so narrow that it keeps the phone incredibly compact. It's also incredibly lightweight at only 5.9 ounces.

The Galaxy S24 surprised us with its battery life. It ended our battery test with 59%, which is a good score for a small or large phone. The Galaxy S24 Plus, for example, scored 60% in the same test.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy S24 review, and see our guide to the best Samsung Galaxy S24 cases to protect the phone.

Best foldable phone

When it comes to foldable phones, we prefer the book-style design over clamshell flip-style designs. Book-style foldables are significantly more expensive, but they offer vastly greater functionality with their tablet displays, and you don't have to worry as much about battery life or performance as you do with clamshell foldables. 

The first foldable phone we'd recommend to anyone who asks is the OnePlus Open, thanks to its premium, solid design and build quality, large-than-average cover and tablet displays, and excellent performance. The OnePlus Open's cameras are stellar, too, even if they're a little dependent on ideal lighting conditions, and battery life proved solid in our tests.

We've tested and considered other book-style phones, including the Google Pixel Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. However, the OnePlus Open's build quality and large 7.6-inch tablet display sets it apart from the others with 7.6-inch tablet displays. To be sure, the other foldables we mentioned have great build quality, but the OnePlus Open is simply a step above. 

We also love the OnePlus Open's large 6.3-inch cover display, as it's wider than the Galaxy Z Fold 5's awkwardly narrow cover display and larger than the Google Pixel Fold with its stout 5.8-inch cover display. The Open offers a comfortable experience familiar to a regular phone's display, which is important, as you don't want to feel like you constantly need to unfold the phone for basic tasks, like replying to a message or quickly searching the web.

Read our hands-on assessment of the OnePlus Open, and see our guide to the best foldable phones for other top options. 

Which is the best Android phone?

The best Android phone we recommend to most people is the Samsung Galaxy S24. For its $800 starting price, it offers an ideal balance of performance, camera quality, camera options, and features. 

How we test Android phones

We test Android phones as if they were our daily drivers for at least several days, often much longer. That way, we can get the best anecdotal feel for their performance, battery life, cameras, and new features. Our extensive experience covering, reviewing, and comparing phone models from various companies at different price points means we know what to expect, and any failings become apparent quickly. 

We also conduct standard tests on all the phones we review and include in our guides.

For performance, we put the phones through a gamut of benchmarking apps to check for performance discrepancies between phones, at least on paper. These benchmark tests also help us evaluate how many years a phone could maintain its performance compared to other phones. We've used Geekbench 6 for general performance and the 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test to get a sense of extended heavy gaming performance. 

For camera testing, we photograph a set gamut of scenes with every phone; you may have seen our barn photos repeatedly. We take photos and videos with each lens on each phone and compare them to their direct competitors. We even compare premium phone cameras to budget options to evaluate the difference. 

For battery life, we run each phone through a stress test that simulates a mixture of typical daily workloads, like streaming a video and music, and high-intensity workloads, like playing demanding games. The battery stress test includes five runs of the Geekbench 6 app, two runs of the 3DMark Wildlife Stress Test, two hours of video streaming at a set average brightness, and one hour of music streaming with a Bluetooth speaker connected. At the end of the test, we note the remaining battery percentage on the phone.

Other Android phones we tested

Aside from the Android phones listed or mentioned above, we've tested all the latest flagship phones from Samsung and Google for our guides to the best Samsung phones and best Google Pixel phones, along with most of the current mid-range and budget phones from both companies.

From Motorola, we've tested the latest Motorola Razr foldable phones, and we're now fully testing the 2024 Moto G and Moto G Power. 

We've also tested the latest OnePlus 12 phones. We were convinced they'd feature in this guide, but we faced issues when using the Geekbench 6 benchmarking app, which we use to test battery life. 

For some reason, both the OnePlus 12 and OnePlus 12R obtained significantly lower scores in Geekbench 6 than we'd expect from their processors, which put our battery test results for the phones in doubt. The odd benchmark results also questioned whether we were experiencing the intended performance and full potential of both OnePlus devices. 

We've been communicating with OnePlus to figure out the issue and retesting the OnePlus 12 and OnePlus 12R with every new Android update and Geekbench 6 app update. In the dozens of tests we've run with Geekbench 6 on both OnePlus 12 phones, we've only seen one instance that produced expected results.

FAQs

Who owns Android? 

In simple terms, Google owns the Android operating system.

Google bought the company that developed the software, Android Inc., in 2005, and other companies like Samsung and OnePlus can run Android on their phones because Google makes it freely available as an open-source operating system for anyone to use on their phones. Even you, the reader, could build your own phone that legally runs the Android operating system.  

The Android operating system looks and works differently on phones from different companies because phone makers modify it by adding their own software layers on top of Android for users to interact with.

For example, while Samsung phones run the core Android operating system that gives them access to the Google Play Store apps, they also run Samsung's user interface (UI) layer called One UI, which adds a distinctive look and feel to the company's phones. 

Which Android phone gets the most updates?

The best support window for Android phones is the seven years of Android operating system and security updates offered by the Google Pixel 8 phones and Samsung Galaxy S24 series.

Relative to the Pixel 8 phones, Google offers a smaller support window for two of the earlier phones we've included above, the Pixel 7a and Pixel Fold, both of which will get three years of Android updates and five years of security updates from their respective release dates. 

Best overall

Samsung's Galaxy S23 Plus is our top pick because we don't have to spend time talking about compromises like we do on most other Android phones — if you have a necessity in an Android phone, it's more than likely that the Galaxy S23 Plus has it, and it has it in high quality. The only trade-off for such a complete experience is its $1,000 starting price.

The Galaxy S23 Plus' performance goes beyond expectations for high-end Android phones in 2023 by running on a specially optimized processor that's exclusive to the Galaxy S23 series — the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Optimized for Galaxy. The gains aren't massive over other Android phones running the standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, like the OnePlus 11, but the Galaxy S23 Plus does occasionally open apps a little faster in side-by-side testing.

The rear triple-lens camera on the Galaxy S23 Plus delivers photos anyone would be happy with, and Samsung has also improved the selfie camera year-over-year, with surprisingly good HDR, portrait mode, colors, contrast, and brightness. Battery life on the Galaxy S23 Plus is excellent; among comparably sized Android phones, its 59% result in our intensive battery test was bested only by the Google Pixel 8 Pro, which scored 62%, and the OnePlus 11, which scored 61%. 

The Galaxy S23 Plus has a fairly large screen at 6.6 inches, which may be too large for some people, but its light weight at 6.91 ounces makes it incredibly comfortable in the hand. And, as expected for a high-end Android phone, the Galaxy S23 Plus' display runs at a silky smooth 120Hz, which pairs beautifully with the phone's powerful processor — every swipe and animation on the screen glides effortlessly. 

Read our full Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus review.

Best budget

The Google Pixel 7a is essentially a premium device with high-end performance, features, and camera quality that's dressed in somewhat less-premium materials. In return for the slightly diminished aesthetic of thick display borders and a plastic back, the Pixel 7a costs $499.

The Pixel 7a's MSRP is on the high side for a budget pick, especially compared to the $349 Pixel 6a. But unlike the Pixel 6a, the Pixel 7a comes with several premium features, like a recent flagship processor (Google's Tensor G2), wireless charging, a smoother high refresh-rate display, and the option of fast mmWave 5G connectivity — all of which combine to justify the price gap between the Pixel 7a and the Pixel 6a and make the newer model the top pick in our best budget Android phone guide. 

In our intensive battery test, the 6.1-inch Pixel 7a's 60% result is astonishingly good for a phone of this size — it matches and outperforms some premium phones with bigger screens, like the 6.6-inch Galaxy S23 Plus (59%) and 6.8-inch Galaxy S23 Ultra (54%).

While the Pixel 7a's 64MP main camera and 13MP ultrawide camera are ostensibly a significant upgrade from the Pixel 6a's 12MP cameras, in our testing, we found little discernible difference between the excellent photos the two budget phones produce. There's also little difference in camera quality between the Pixel 7a and some high-end devices, many of which cost twice as much. 

Read our full Google Pixel 7a review.

Best camera

Samsung's Galaxy S23 Ultra is the ultimate camera phone with its four lenses, including a 200-megapixel (MP) main camera, a 12MP ultrawide, a 10MP 3x zoom, and a 10MP 10x zoom.

Despite the very high-resolution main camera, you might not notice much of a difference in photo quality compared to other premium phones with around 50MP cameras — most high-end devices achieve a similarly good balance of color, brightness, contrast, and sharpness. 

What sets the Galaxy S23 Ultra apart from the other best Samsung phones, and from any other phone for that matter, is its fourth 10x optical zoom lens. It takes crisp, clear photos and videos in full detail significantly further than any other phone, making it the most versatile camera phone you can buy in the US.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a built-in stylus, the S Pen, which comes in handy for editing photos on the phone's giant 6.8-inch screen — it offers precision and functionality that simply can't be achieved with a fingertip. 

Read our full Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review.

Best battery life

Phones with bigger displays almost always have the best battery life, and the Google Pixel 8 Pro with a 6.7-inch display obtained the best result in our battery stress test among Android phones, ending the test with 62% remaining. 

The battery stress test is designed to simulate a blend of lighter and heavier workloads. It includes five runs of the Geekbench 6 app, two runs of the intensive 20-minute 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test, two hours of video streaming, and one hour of music streaming while connected to a Bluetooth speaker.

The Pixel 8 Pro's 62% is a great result, but it's not far ahead of other Android phones with similar screen sizes. The Galaxy S23 Plus (6.6 inches) ended the test with 59% remaining, and the OnePlus 11 (6.7 inches) with 61%. Surprisingly, the Galaxy S23 Ultra with a 6.8-inch display did remarkably poorly with 54% remaining at the end of our test. 

At the end of the day, the Pixel 8 Pro's result doesn't mean it'll last significantly longer than the Galaxy S23 Plus or the OnePlus 11 — you'll still need to charge the Pixel 8 Pro whenever you usually charge your phones. That's to say, if you're not a Google Pixel fan, you can pick either the Galaxy S23 Plus or OnePlus 11 and be just as happy with battery life. Choice is one of the best things about the Android ecosystem.  

Best small phone

The Android phone market is flooded with large screens, and you'd think fans of smaller phones are underserved, but not when the 6.1-inch Samsung Galaxy S23 is around. 

One of the best Samsung phones you can buy, the Galaxy S23 is essentially a smaller version of our pick for the best overall Android phone, the 6.6-inch Galaxy S23 Plus — it offers the same high-end performance, the same cameras, and the same design. 

Its battery life isn't quite as good as the Galaxy S23 Plus (47% vs. 59%), but that's understandable and expected in smaller phones. The only baffling compromise is its 25W charging speed compared to the Galaxy S23 Plus' 45W charging speed, and it also has a lower base storage option at 128GB. 

At its starting price of $800, the Galaxy S23 is still on the expensive side, so we alternately recommend the Google Pixel 7a, which also has a 6.1-inch screen and currently starts at $499. 

Read our full Samsung Galaxy S23 review.

Best foldable phone

The Google Pixel Fold, Google's first entry into the foldable phone market, immediately stood out on its release as the premier offering in the realm of Android foldable devices for one key reason: Its folded, exterior display offered a closer approximation to a traditional phone experience than any previous foldable phone. 

We find the exterior screens on Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold series awkwardly narrow to the point of providing a sub-par experience as a phone, while the Pixel Fold's 5.8-inch exterior display is wider and more functional when using apps. (The latest entry in the foldable realm, the OnePlus Open, has an exterior display that improves on both the Z Fold phones and the Pixel Fold by striking a middle ground between the narrowness of the former and the width of the latter, but we're still in the process of testing it fully.) 

The Pixel Fold's exterior and interior screens operate at a smooth 120Hz, and the phone runs on Google's proficient Tensor G2 processor, which we've found to be essentially on par in everyday use with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor that runs Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 5, despite the latter processor's superior benchmark performance.  

If you're looking for a new phone that can double as a tablet, the Pixel Fold is more than worth your while if its $1,799 starting price tag is within your budget. 

Read our full Google Pixel Fold review.

Best Android phones compared

Specs	Galaxy S23 Plus	Pixel 7a	Galaxy S23 Ultra	Pixel 8 Pro	Galaxy S23	Pixel Fold
Starting price	$1,000	$499	$1,200	$999	$800	$1,799
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Optimized for Galaxy	Google Tensor G2	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Optimized for Galaxy	Google Tensor G3	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Optimized for Galaxy	Google Tensor G2
Release date	February 2023	May 2023	February 2023	October 2023	February 2023	June 2023
Screen size	6.6 inches	6.1 inches	6.8 inches	6.7 inches	6.1 inches	5.8-inch exterior; 7.6-inch interior
Rear cameras	50MP main, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x zoom	64MP main, 13MP ultrawide	200MP main, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x zoom, 10MP 10x zoom	50MP main, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP 5x zoom	50MP main, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x zoom	48MP main, 10.8MP ultrawide, 10.8MP 5x zoom
Storage	256GB, 512GB	128GB	256GB, 512GB, 1TB	128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB	128GB, 256GB, 512GB	256GB, 512GB

How we test Android phones

We test Android phones as if they were our daily drivers for at least several days, and often much longer. That way, we can get the best anecdotal feel for their performance, battery life, cameras, and new features.

We also conduct standard tests on all the phones we review and include in our guides.

For performance, we put the phones through a gamut of benchmarking apps to check for performance discrepancies between phones, at least on paper. These benchmark tests also help us evaluate how many years a phone could maintain its performance compared to other phones. We've used Geekbench 6 for general performance, and the 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test to get a sense of extended heavy gaming performance. 

For camera testing, we photograph a set gamut of scenes with every phone; you may have seen our barn photos over and over again. We take photos with each lens on each phone and compare them to their direct competitors. We even compare premium phone cameras to budget options to evaluate the difference. 

For battery life, we run each phone through a stress test that simulates a mixture of typical daily workloads, like streaming a video and music, as well as high-intensity workloads, like playing demanding games. The battery stress test includes five runs of the Geekbench 6 app, two runs of the 3DMark Wildlife Stress Test, two hours of video streaming at a set average brightness, and one hour of music streaming with Bluetooth headphones connected. At the end of the test, we note the remaining battery percentage on the phone.

Best Android phone FAQs

Who owns Android? 

In simple terms, Google owns the Android operating system. Other companies like Samsung and OnePlus can run Android on their phones because Google makes it freely available as an open-source operating system for anyone to use on their phones. Even you, the reader, could build your own phone that legally runs the Android operating system.  

The Android operating system looks and works differently on phones from different companies because phone makers modify the operating system by adding their own layers of software on top of Android for users to interact with.

For example, while Samsung phones run the core Android operating system that gives them access to the Google Play Store apps, they also run Samsung's user interface (UI) layer called One UI, which adds a distinctive look and feel to the company's phones. 

Which Android phone gets the most updates?

The best support window for Android phones currently is the seven years of Android operating system and security updates offered by the new Google Pixel 8 phones.

Samsung's current flagship phones offer a shorter support window; the company has said that its Galaxy S23 series phones will get four years of Android software updates and five years of security updates following their February 2023 release. 

Relative to the Pixel 8 phones, Google offers a smaller support window for two of the earlier phones we've included here, the Pixel 7a and Pixel Fold, both of which will get three years of Android updates and five years of security updates from their respective release dates. 

• Israel seems to be pressing ahead with an attack on Rafah in Gaza.
• Leaflets were dropped in the eastern part of the city urging citizens to evacuate.
• The US has pressured Israel not to move forward with the assault — or at least reduce civilian casualties.

US leadership has said an Israeli invasion of Rafah — a southern city in Gaza where refugees have fled — could be a "disaster."

But it looks like Israel is going ahead with the planned assault anyway.

On Monday, the Israeli military warned civilians in the eastern part of the Gazan city to evacuate ahead of what it called "extreme force" it'll use against "terrorist organizations" in the area.

Leaflets began to fall on the eastern part of the city around 9 a.m. local time, according to media reports. Images from Reuters and Getty Images show Palestinian civilians leaving the area.

More than 1 million Palestinians are estimated to have fled to the city since Israel began its assault on Gaza following the Hamas terror attacks on October 7, 2023.

The militant group killed over 1,100 people in the attacks, and hundreds were captured by Hamas fighters. The Israeli government has responded with crushing force, launching airstrikes into Gaza that have killed more than 35,000 people, according to Hamas-run Gaza health authorities.

International pressure has been building on Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire in the conflict, but talks appear to have broken down. Hamas rejected the latest peace offer after it didn't include a definitive end to the war, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, Israel is facing mounting pressure over its handling of the war — including from its ally, the United States.

Biden has previously urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reduce civilian casualties. Previous Israeli assaults and strikes have killed aid workers, including seven people with the World Central Kitchen whose convoy was hit by a drone strike.

In March, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said a military operation in the small city could become a "disaster."

President Joe Biden was pressed last month in an MSNBC interview to declare a "red line" for Israel's leadership; he agreed that a Rafah invasion was one.

The White House, however, later walked back Biden's statement, according to The New York Times.

In a speech at a Holocaust memorial event on Sunday, Netanyahu seemingly dismissed criticism of his handling of the war, vowing that Israel would "stand alone" if it was forced to.

"I say to the leaders of the world: No amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum will stop Israel from defending itself," Netanyahu said, according to the Associated Press.

The war in Gaza has become a divisive issue in the United States, where protests have flared on college campuses. Demonstrators have demanded that the schools divest from Israel; hundreds of protesters have been arrested.

Meanwhile, Biden is facing pressure from his left flank over his support for sending munitions and military aid to Israel. A group of pro-Palestinian voters has been racking up votes against him in the Democratic primaries, hinting that his fragile coalition to defeat GOP challenger Donald Trump could be in danger.