GENEVA (AP) — Voters in Switzerland have cast their final ballots on Sunday on an initiative championed by the top right-wing party to cap the rich Alpine country’s population at 10 million. Early results showed Swiss voters were leaning against it.
The populist Swiss People’s Party, which has the most seats in parliament, has stirred up and fostered anti-migration sentiment over the years, notably about an influx of workers from the neighboring European Union.
Some have dubbed the proposal a “Swiss Brexit” because it could jeopardize Switzerland’s deep ties to the European Union anchored by deals that foster economic growth, cultural ties and cross-border travel, among other things. Switzerland is not one of the EU’s 27 member states, but it is all but surrounded by four of them
Recent polling from the gfs.bern agency suggested that it could be a close contest.
Preliminary results shared by the federal government showed that nearly 53% of voters rejected the proposal, with nationwide turnout exceeding 57%. Results were still pending from many of Switzerland’s 26 cantons.
The number of people living in Switzerland has soared by nearly one-quarter over the last generation, and foreigners today make up nearly one-third of the population.
Critics say the boom in migration has brought foreign labor and skills to sectors such as healthcare, finance, pharmaceuticals, and technology.
The right-wing party put forward the “sustainability initiative” measure, saying Swiss infrastructure, housing, social programs, natural resources and way of life have been strained by the spike in demographic growth.
The federal government, Parliament and EconomieSuisse, a major business association, oppose the idea.
In Geneva, Switzerland’s second-largest city and a hub of U.N. institutions and humanitarian groups, early results showed about two-thirds of voters in the region opposed the measure.
Maria Lalu, a former diplomatic mission worker from the Philippines who arrived in Switzerland in the early 1980s, said she supported the proposal. “I have nothing against immigration. I also am a stranger,” she said after casting her vote, adding that she wants immigration to be more orderly.
Schoolteacher Natascha Robert said she voted against the bid, expressing concern that approval could hurt Switzerland’s relationship with the EU. She also said Switzerland’s growing diversity is an asset.
“I think people always have something to bring us,” she said outside a polling station in the central Paquis neighborhood, emphasizing that she was born in Switzerland to two Swiss parents. “Does that mean that we have more foreigners, I feel less Swiss? Really, not.”
Swiss democracy gives voters a direct say in policymaking through referendums typically held four times a year. Most ballots are cast through the mail, and in-person voting ends at noon local time on Sunday.
A “yes” vote would require the Swiss government to take action to cap the population by 2050.
If the population reaches 9.5 million before then, the government would be forced to restrict asylum, family reunification and residency permits, and may have to scrap Switzerland’s EU deal on the free movement of people.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has reported that Switzerland had a foreign-born population of 32% as of 2024, behind only Luxembourg and Australia among the group’s 38 member countries.
International migration has long been a sensitive issue in Europe, as nations grapple with an aging population and increasing anti-foreigner sentiment. While that sentiment in other European countries centers on migrants from the developing world, most foreigners in Switzerland are Europeans.
Since Switzerland and the EU eased restrictions on citizens living and working across their borders in 2002, the Swiss population has grown by 23%, to 9.1 million as of the end of last year. Economic output has also increased, up 24% over the same period, government data show.
Swiss voters have repeatedly tackled the immigration issue over the last half-century. Only one such referendum — “Against mass immigration” in 2014 — narrowly passed, after campaigners stoked fears about overpopulation and rising numbers of Muslims in the country.
While many countries have limits on immigration, none has ever voted to limit its population, Swiss experts say.

In 1940, the imperial regimes of Germany and Japan joined what would be known as the Axis powers, bound by mutual opposition to the United States. They fought a world war, and they lost it, and their populations spent the next 85 years with shrunken militaries and a heavy reliance on their former enemy, America, for security.
Now, both countries’ wariness of America has resurfaced, alongside heightened fears about a surging world power, China, and an aggressive Russia. Tokyo and Berlin are rushing to rebuild their militaries. And, once again, they are strengthening ties.
Their cooperation is expected to gather momentum at the meeting of the leaders of the Group of 7 nations in Evian, France, this week. It already includes sharing know-how, technology and weapons, like drones and helicopters, critical to the countries’ respective efforts to rearm.
It is hardly an Axis redux. This time, Japan and Germany are banding together from a defensive posture, with Berlin supporting Ukraine’s defense against Russia, and Tokyo wary of threats posed by China and North Korea. They are joining other like-minded “middle powers,” like fellow Group of 7 members Britain, Canada and France — their enemies in World War II. And they are casting themselves as champions of international law and institutions that serve as bulwarks against the bullying behaviors of the world’s most powerful countries.

Dallas — Kishore Khandavalli began his career in the U.S. on an H-1B skilled foreign worker visa.
“I was one of the first ones,” Khandavalli told CBS News.
He now runs a software consulting company in Dallas, where nearly half of his 380 employees have H-1B visas.
“There’s a skills gap between the people that are available in the market, the 3%, and the skills that the market is needing,” explained Khandavalli on why he doesn’t give all the positions he has to Americans.
According to Khandavalli, there essentially isn’t enough available U.S. talent in his sector.
“Especially with the upcoming technologies,” Khandavalli said.
So, he was concerned when President Trump in September 2025 announced his administration was increasing the H1-B visa fee from about $215, all the way up to $100,000.
On June 8, a federal judge invalidated the White House’s $100,000 fee policy in response to a lawsuit brought by 20 states.
In his 42-page decision, U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin wrote: “The substance and application of the $100,000 payment reveal that it is a tax, regardless of what the payment is called.”
He added that “there are no statutory powers authorizing [the Trump administration] to implement a $100,000 tax on H-1B petitions.”
Khandavalli hasn’t hired any new foreign workers since Mr. Trump implemented the new fee.
“With this new rule, I would have lost about $1 million a year,” Khandavalli said.
Much of his business relies on workers from India, which is home to 73% of H-1B visa holders, according to 2023 numbers from the Pew Research Center.
CBS News traveled there months after the president signed the order and visited the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India, after learning that several students there planned to move to the U.S. on student visas, and then try and get an H-1B.
One doctoral student, Ravi Bushan, told CBS News he has dreamed of working in the U.S. his entire life.
“It would be a career transformation for me,” Bushan said.
However, his approach has shifted.
“With the changes in the visa formalities, and the shifts in the way immigration is now seen in the U.S., now I’m looking at diversifying my options, looking at other places,” Bushan said.
Back in Texas, Khandavalli is worried more changes could come as the Trump administration is appealing this week’s decision to remove the $100,000 fee.
He says if there is another barrier to the visa, he could potentially “have to send the work overseas.”
Such a possibility could threaten a pipeline that both skilled foreign workers and American businesses have relied on for decades.
“Without the H-1B program being affordable to all the businesses, I’m concerned that the talent might leave the country,” Khandavalli said. “I’m concerned about how we’re going to innovate in the coming three, four, five years.”

NEW YORK (AP) — OpenAI received a subpoena from several states as part of a probe into the safety of users of its chatbot as it prepares to offer stock to the public for the first time.
The company behind the popular chatbot, ChatGPT, said it will respond to the inquiry “constructively” and that it already has in place measures to protect its customers.
“AI is a new and powerful technology, and we work every day to safely bring its benefits to people in a responsible way,” an emailed statement from a spokesperson said. “We take the concerns raised by state attorneys general seriously.”
OpenAI has drawn criticism for ChatGPT allegedly offering encouraging words to users thinking of killing themselves or engaging criminal acts. It also has come under scrutiny for how its uses health data and other personal information of its customers.
On Thursday, the company was sued by a Canadian blaming the chatbot for her daughter’s decision to hang herself. Earlier in June, the Florida attorney general sued the company after two separate shootings where alleged gunmen were reported to have asked ChatGPT questions while planning their crimes.
OpenAI said in a statement that its models repeatedly encouraged the individuals to seek real-world support, including from mental health professionals. The company also said it has cooperated with law enforcement in both shooting cases.
The new probe comes just a few day after it filed documents with U.S. security regulators for a highly anticipated initial public offering of stock. Artificial intelligence rival SpaceX celebrated its own IPO on Friday. The rocket maker founded by Elon Musk also runs an AI business responsible for a rival chatbot called Grok.
How governments should respond to the potential for good and possible dangerous of AI is becoming a big political issue.
Regulators Europe opened investigations into Musk’s Grok over antisemitic content and sexualized material, include deepfake nudes. And another chatbot company preparing an IPO, Anthropic, was directed by the Trump administration Friday to shut down two of its online models to users abroad for national security reasons.
The OpenAI subpoena was earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The Associated Press sent emails to a dozen state attorneys general Saturday asking for details of the probe but has not received any responses.
In its statement, OpenAI highlighted measures it has taken to keep children using its chatbot safe.
“Today’s ChatGPT includes a more protective experience for minors and people experiencing difficult situations, with safeguards that direct them to real-world resources and trusted human contacts,” the statement read in part. “We believe kids should be treated like kids, which is why we built age prediction, released parental tools to guide their children’s use of AI, and disallowed advertising that targets kids.”

A coalition of state attorneys general has opened an investigation into OpenAI.
The company was served with a subpoena from New York’s attorney general on Friday, according to The Wall Street Journal. That subpoena sought documents related to a broad range of topics including the company’s advertising, user engagement and retention, model sycophancy, handling of consumer data and health data, and treatment of minors and seniors.
“AI is a new and powerful technology, and we work every day to safely bring its benefits to people in a responsible way,” an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement. “We take the concerns raised by state attorneys general seriously and intend to engage constructively with their offices.”
The spokesperson also said, “Today’s ChatGPT includes a more protective experience for minors and people experiencing difficult situations, with safeguards that direct them to real-world resources and trusted human contacts. We believe kids should be treated like kids, which is why we built age prediction, released parental tools to guide their children’s use of AI, and disallowed advertising that targets kids.”
The company did not specify which states are involved in the investigation or share more details about what information was requested. TechCrunch has also reached out to New York attorney general’s office for confirmation.
OpenAI recently defeated its co-founder Elon Musk in a high-profile trial, after Musk accused the company of violating its founding agreement. (Musk’s lead attorney said he will appeal the decision.)
However, OpenAI still faces lawsuits over everything from alleged copyright infringement to ChatGPT’s alleged role in user suicides. Earlier this month, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, claiming that OpenAI and Altman “ignored internal and external safety warnings, put children at great risk, and allowed a dangerous product to reach millions of Floridians.”
Altman recently apologized to the community of Tumbler Ridge, Canada after a mass shooting; he acknowledged that OpenAI failed to alert law enforcement after the company flagged and banned the suspected shooter’s ChatGPT account.
The company announced this week that it has filed confidentially to go public.
This post has been updated with a statement from an OpenAI spokesperson.