The punk poet has no smartphone, no email, not even a computer. Everyone should try it, he saysBack in the day, I used to feel a degree of sympathy for those who had been compelled to become computer literate. I would see these guys in the city, struggling home with a rucksack loaded with technology, ruining the line of their Hugo Boss suit. It looked like a ball and chain to me. So I stayed away. Whenever anyone mentioned computers, I would say: What do I need a computer for? I'm a poet."Later, when mobile phones came out, I was sitting on public transport next to two girls when I heard one of them say to the other: My boss has just bought me a new mobile phone." I thought, yeah, I bet he has. If he'd put an iron collar around your neck, would you be happy about that, too? Continue reading...
Platforms accused of encouraging compulsive use by gamifying users' attention and romantic investmentMany of us have had bad experiences of being swiped left, ghosted, breadcrumbed and benched on internet dating apps - though few people have ever thought to take their heartbreak to court.On Valentine's Day, six dating app users filed a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing Tinder, Hinge and other Match dating apps of using addictive, game-like features to encourage compulsive use. Continue reading...
When piles of unsolicited mail and catalogues thud through the letterbox, ask yourself: how do they get your details and how can you stop it?Do catalogues from companies you have never heard of regularly land with a thud on your doormat? These deliveries of junk mail may make you wonder how the senders got your name and address - and if your personal details are being shared without your say-so.One Guardian Moneyreader gotin touch after being inundated with unsolicited post which, shethinks, began when she orderedfrom fashion retailer Boden for the first time. Withinweeks she was sent catalogues from more than a dozen other upmarket brands selling clothes, food and furniture, ranging from Me+Em to The Fold, Biscuiteers, Daylesford Organic andLoaf. Continue reading...
Local WhatsApp group started by two mothers concerned about online safety attracts more than 4,000 membersMore than 4,000 parents have joined a group committed to barring young children from having smartphones, as concerns grow about online safety and the impact of social media on mental health.The WhatsApp group Smartphone Free Childhood was created by the former school friends Clare Fernyhough and Daisy Greenwell in response to their fears around children's smartphone use and the norm" of giving children smart devices when they go to secondary school. Continue reading...
Company to sell existing shares in tender offer' led by venture firm Thrive Capital, in similar deal as early last yearMicrosoft-backed OpenAI has completed a deal that values the artificial intelligence company at $80bn or more, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing multiple people with knowledge of the deal.The company would sell existing shares in a so-called tender offer led by venture firm Thrive Capital, the report said. Employees will be able to cash out their shares of the company rather than a traditional funding round, which would raise money for the business, the report added. Continue reading...
Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and TikTok outline methods they will use to try to detect and label deceptive AI contentMajor technology companies signed a pact Friday to voluntarily adopt reasonable precautions" to prevent artificial intelligence tools from being used to disrupt democratic elections around the world.Executives from Adobe, Amazon, Google, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and TikTok gathered at the Munich Security Conference to announce a new framework for how they respond to AI-generated deepfakes that deliberately trick voters. Twelve other companies - including Elon Musk's X - are also signing on to the accord. Continue reading...
Four games that were previously exclusive to the Xbox console will be made available for the PS5 and Nintendo Switch, as the company focuses on its software productsFour of Xbox's previously exclusive games will be making the jump to PlayStation and Nintendo's consoles, Microsoft has announced. It was also suggested that the company will share details of the next version of its Xbox console before the end of 2024.In a video podcast with other Xbox executives, the CEO of Microsoft's gaming division, Phil Spencer, did not name the four titles in question, but said they are each more than a year old. Two are live-service games and two are smaller titles, with multiplayer pirate adventure Sea of Thieves and musical action game Hi-Fi Rush two likely candidates. It was confirmed that neither last year's space opus Starfield nor the forthcoming Indiana Jones game will be multiplatform. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology review on (#6JNZR)
Bluetooth earbuds fit around side of the ear without blocking it for full awareness with music and callsBose's latest earbuds are very different from its previous noise-cancelling champs, designed to let the sound of the outside in, rather than blocking it out and attaching to your ear, more like jewellery than gadgets.They are the latest evolution of Bose's open audio tech that uses small speakers to play music into your ears without blocking them, last seen on the excellent Frames audio glasses that have been discontinued. Continue reading...
Model from ChatGPT maker simulates physical world in motion' up to a minute long based on users' subject and style instructionsOpenAI revealed a tool on Thursday that can generate videos from text prompts.The new model, nicknamed Sora after the Japanese word for sky", can produce realistic footage up to a minute long that adheres to a user's instructions on both subject matter and style. According to a company blogpost, the model is also able to create a video based on a still image or extend existing footage with new material. Continue reading...
Move comes after Swedish court rules that informing webmasters about delisted content is breach of privacyGoogle has quietly stopped telling publishers when it has removed websites from its search results under European right to be forgotten" rules after a ruling in a Swedish court which the search engine is applying globally.Previously, when an individual applied to have records about them expunged under EU data protection laws, Google would notify the publisher of the original articles. Continue reading...
In rural Norway, a young woman's boyfriend forgets who she is overnight. In Detroit, a man is arrested for a crime, but he was never there. In a Spanish town, disturbing pictures of young girls have appeared, but no one knows who is behind them.In this new series from the Guardian, we'll explore what it is that connects all these stories: the collision between people and artificial intelligence.Coming soon ... Continue reading...
Glaad's first survey on the state of inclusion in gaming finds that 17% of US players identify as LGBTQ+, but only 2% of games feature an openly queer characterIn its first report on the state of LGBTQ+ inclusion in video games, US advocacy organisation Glaad (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) has said that games are yet to catch up with TV and film when it comes to queer representation. The study of US-based players found that 17% of gamers identify as LGBTQ+ a significant increase on the 10% reported in a 2020 Nielsen Games study, and 10% more than the proportion of the US general population thought to be LGBT+.By contrast, only 2% of games feature an openly LGBTQ+ character. That compares with 28% of films released in 2022, and 11% of primetime TV characters in 2022 and 2023, per other Glaad reports. Continue reading...
More than 120,000 PlayStation users have paid 3.29 to pet virtual hamsters, dogs and beavers. What's behind this madness?Game development is an expensive and time-consuming business. Right now, 2,000 people are working on the next instalment in Ubisoft's blockbuster Assassin's Creed series, across 18 studios around the globe, and it's a project that will take 2 to 3 years. Imagine how any of those people might feel to learn that last year, a self-taught programmer racked up nearly 280,000 from a series of games he made while sitting in his pants on hot days in a two-bedroom flat in Harlesden. And that each one took him about 30 minutes.The first one, I'll be honest, probably took seven or eight hours," says TJ Gardner. But the subsequent ones - Stroke the Beaver, for example - would have taken about half an hour." Continue reading...
The new mixed-reality' headset gave me a glimpse of the future - and I'm not sure it's a future we should wantIf you ever worry that technology might be getting a little too intelligent and robots are poised to take over the world, I have a quick and easy way to deflate those fears: call up a company and try to ask them a simple question. You will be put through to an automated voice system and spend the next 10 minutes yelling NO, I DIDN'T SAY THAT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN'T QUITE CATCH THAT?' I DON'T WANT ANY OF THOSE OPTIONS! PUT ME THROUGH TO A HUMAN, GODDAMMIT!That was certainly my experience calling up Apple and trying to reconfirm my Vision Pro demo, which had been abruptly cancelled due to snow. But if my phone experience felt ancient, the Apple Vision Pro headset itself felt like a startling glimpse of the future. As it should: the thing costs $3,499.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian US columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Corded phones are hard to find these days. But for some gen Z diehards, they offer nostalgia and real connectionLandlines are nearing obsolescence. For many young people, they've gone the way of CD-Roms, cassette tapes and the humble printer. On TikTok, parents film their children holding wall phones like archival pieces, unsure of how to place a call. Payphones are long gone, too. But not everyone's ready to hang up the curly-corded receiver.Nicole Randone, a 24-year-old from Westchester, New York, takes calls from her bedroom using a purple Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen-branded landline first sold in 2003, when she was three years old. One of my first memories is the tan landline that my parents had mounted to the kitchen wall," Randone said. I always fantasized about the day I'd have one in my own room." Continue reading...
by Alexi Duggins, Hannah Verdier, Hollie Richardson a on (#6JN4S)
In this week's newsletter: A new podcast tries to get to the bottom of one of Hollywood's greatest lunch-based mysteries. Plus: five of the best podcasts about the occult Don't get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereHere Comes the Guillotine
Chiselled jaws, pouty lips, hunter eyes: everything is up for grabs in the quest to increase sexual market value'. But how did this extreme cosmetic craze become mainstream?For James, it started with muscles. He was about 16 and had become self-conscious about his physique, fearing that he wasn't buff enough to attract girls. He found his way to a bodybuilding forum and began to work out. He can't remember when it happened, but at some point trolls began to infiltrate the forum. They were visitors from another online community with a different focus.Their general vibe was quite mean," says James, who prefers notto use his real name. They'd take images people had posted of their impressive physiques and be like: You guys forgot to work out your faces!'" Continue reading...
Datacentres are part of Ireland's vision of itself as a tech hub. There are now more than 80, using vast amounts of electricity. Have we entrusted our memories to a system that might destroy them?In the doldrum days between Christmas and New Year, we take a family trip to see a datacentre. Over the past two decades, datacentres have become a common sight on the outskirts of Dublin and many other Irish cities and towns. Situated in industrial business parks, they are easy to miss. But these buildings are critical to the maintenance of contemporary life: inside their walls stand rows and rows of networked servers; inside the servers, terabytes of data flow.It's a seven-minute drive from where we live now in Artane, Dublin, to the Clonshaugh datacentre, situated in a business park behind Northside shopping centre. Although we live close by, we haven't driven this way before, and our route takes us through a number of the local authority estates that my husband lived in as a boy. These estates are set on either side of a long, straight road pocked with chicanes to deter joyriders. Even though the housing development sprawls for miles on either side - with large wind-blasted green spaces in between - the houses huddle, squashed together. It looks as if someone has transplanted a warren of inner-city Victorian terraces to this desolate terrain. Continue reading...
Decision to move rocket company comes after Musk said he would hold shareholder vote to move Tesla to Texas as wellRocket company SpaceX has moved its state of incorporation to Texas from Delaware, CEO Elon Musk has announced.SpaceX has moved its state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas! If your company is still incorporated in Delaware, I recommend moving to another state as soon as possible," Musk said on the platform. Continue reading...
US tech giant says it has detected threats from foreign countries that used or attempted to exploit generative AI it had developedUS adversaries - chiefly Iran and North Korea, and to a lesser extent Russia and China - are beginning to use generative artificial intelligence to mount or organize offensive cyber operations, Microsoft said on Wednesday.Microsoft said it detected and disrupted, in collaboration with business partner OpenAI, many threats that used or attempted to exploit AI technology they had developed. Continue reading...
The company had predicted it would grow by 5% in 2024, but later said that the real increase would be a factor of 10 lowerLyft beat estimates for fourth-quarter profits on Tuesday as the ride-share platform reaps the benefits of growth in rides to stadiums and airports as well as heavy cost-cutting.Company shares surged more than 60% in extended trading but erased most of those gains after Lyft's chief financial officer corrected a major mistake in the earnings report. The company had predicted it would grow by 500 basis points (5%) in 2024, but later said that the real increase would be a factor of 10 lower - 50 basis points (0.5%). In 2023, the stock gained about 36%. Continue reading...
I'm not here to start a moral panic about this violent survival game. Its transgressions are simply that there's nothing here I haven't seen before Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThe biggest story of the year so far in games has been Palworld, the Pokemon-with-guns" early access game that broke and rebroke concurrent player records on PC. It's showing a few signs of being unsustainable, as those player numbers have dropped off in recent weeks and the developers reveal the eye-watering cost of keeping servers online for so many people (almost $6m a year), but it's still in with a shot of being 2024's biggest game in terms of pure revenue.There's something a little unsavoury about Palworld that has other developers and critics wrinkling their noses. It's not just the ick of turning guns on creatures that are, unlike Minecraft's blocky animals, designed to look cute. Its character designs are so close to Pokemon's that it has sparked allegations of plagiarism, with some 3D models of the game's creatures aligning improbably closely with those from recent Pokemon games. (The Pokemon Company is investigating, while Pocketpair's CEO, Takuro Mizobe, said that Palworld cleared legal reviews", and that the studio has absolutely no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies".) Its lead developer has also been cheerfully outspoken about using AI tools, which is a super-unpopular opinion among everyone who works on games in 2024, except certain company executives. Continue reading...
Australian financial regulator says it referred crypto scheme to police for alleged possible fraud' and believed matter was under active consideration'
by Richard Luscombe in Parkland, Florida on (#6JMB3)
Voices of people lost to gun violence have been re-created using AI to call for action, now six years to the day after the Parkland shooting that killed 17Six years ago today, Joaquin Oliver was killed in a hallway outside his Florida classroom, one of 17 students and staff murdered in the worst high school shooting in the US. On Wednesday, lawmakers in Washington DC will hear his voice, recreated by artificial intelligence, in phone calls demanding to know why they've done nothing to tackle the plague of gun violence.It's been six years and you've done nothing. Not a thing to stop all the shootings that have happened since," the message from Oliver, who was 17 when he died in the 2018 Valentine's Day's tragedy at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, says. Continue reading...
Amid a recruitment struggle, branches are using huge hits like Fortnite as marketing tools. Some veterans see the practice as unethical - especially given the age of the gaming audienceIn a small room tucked into a US navy facility outside Memphis, Tennessee, uniformed personnel sit hunched over monitors, their eyes focused on screens as they speak into headsets with clipped efficiency. Computer towers and glowing red keyboards crowd their desks. This is top-of-the-line gear, used for executing combat missions and coordinating strategy - but not with fleets stationed across the world. These sailors are playing video games. On the other end of their headsets and screens are young gamers they hope to inspire.In 2019, we did a big look at where we were spending our money, looking at where the next generation is," says Lt Aaron Jones, captain of the navy's esports team, as we sit in his office after touring the facility. A naval press officer hovers a few feet away. This is where they are," Jones continues. Whether it's Twitch or YouTube or Facebook Gaming, this is what they love." Continue reading...
After a year in invite-only beta mode, anyone can sign up for the new social network. Whether they will want to stay is another matter Don't get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article hereLast week, Bluesky opened up its doors. After a year in an invite-only closed beta, anyone who wants it can now sign up for an account with only an email address.Even if the value of an invitation had lessened somewhat in recent months (I have five sitting unused, and not for want of trying), there was clearly some pent-up demand. In just two days, the service has seen more than a million new signups. For comparison, it took Bluesky more than three months from the release of its iOS app last February until it hit 70,000 users.We weren't using invites to try to be exclusive. We were using them to manage growth while we built out what is essentially a foundation, the rails for this new kind of distributed network.We had to build the app protocol beneath Bluesky, the AT Protocol, that lets different developers, companies, or people come in and modify their experiences. Some of it is going to be rolling out soon.The silent majority of every successful text-based social media site is lurkers. These are sane, normal people with sane, normal lives ... The influencer is building a business. They are making #content ... The commenter is trying to have a conversation with another human being. They are hoping, however misguidedly, to have a meaningful interaction online ... The reply guy can be thought of as the most important subclass of commenter; they are specific. They are usually interacting with or on behalf of a favored internet user ... Finally, we have the poster, sometimes referred to as a poaster. The poster is required for every social network to function.If you want to read the complete version of the newsletter please subscribe to receive TechScape in your inbox every Tuesday. Continue reading...
The creative director of noughties online role playing game Free Realms was a passionate advocate of principles over personalityNoted game designer Laralyn McWilliams, 58, died as the result of complications from heart surgery on 5 February in Seattle, Washington. She was creative director of Free Realms, Sony Computer Entertainment's family-friendly online world, lead designer on 2004's Full Spectrum Warrior, and the recipient of the 2021 Lifetime Achievement award at the Game Developers Choice awards.McWilliams was born in Vicenza Italy in 1965, into an American military family, and moved frequently throughout her youth. She found her home in the games she played, and Myst was particularly significant to her, a world to which she returned again and again. She earned a BA in psychology from Vassar College, and a JD from St Louis University of Law. While she worked hard for those accolades, she never forgot the joy that games brought, and she wanted to return to those worlds and bring that same joy to others. She taught herself game design and became a master of her trade, creating games for Disney, Dreamworks and many others. She was a rare all-rounder, having worked on everything from first-person shooters to casual games. Continue reading...
FBI director has publicly identified the risk posed by a Chinese cyber operation that is believed to have compromised thousands of internet-connected devicesRelations between the US and China - particularly over Beijing's threats to annex Taiwan - have plummeted in recent years, prompting growing concern about the potential for hostilities or all-out conflict. So recent revelations that a Chinese hacking network known as Volt Typhoon had been lying dormant inside US critical infrastructure for as long as five years have sparked considerable alarm.The network exploited US technological and security weaknesses. But rather than stealing secrets, US and allied intelligence services said it was focused on pre-positioning" itself for future acts of sabotage. Continue reading...
Biden's presidential election campaign says it will continue meeting voters where they are, including on social mediaThe chair of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, a senior Democrat, said he is concerned about the decision by the campaign of president Joe Biden to join TikTok.On Sunday, Biden's reelection campaign used the Super Bowl to kick off its new TikTok account in an effort to reach young voters ahead of the presidential election in November. Continue reading...
by Kim Willsher, and Lisa O'Carroll in Brussels on (#6JJVR)
Network operating in western Europe is paving way for new wave of online manipulation' in crucial election year, French agency saysFrench military and cybersecurity experts say they have identified a Moscow-based network spreading propaganda and disinformation in western Europe.France's Viginum agency, which was set up in 2021 to detect digital interference from foreign entities aimed at influencing public opinion, says Russia is paving the way for a new wave of online manipulation in the run-up to the European elections and other crucial votes this year. Continue reading...
Network had different problems over the weekend and Monday but service now said to be recoveringMobile operator Three has apologised as more than 10,000 customers experienced outages after problems with its service over the last few days.The company, which has more than 10 million UK customers, issued apologies in posts on X on Saturday, Sunday and Monday regarding a string of problems affecting voice calls and the ability to use mobile data. Continue reading...
BYD is increasingly dominating the world market and now wants to persuade UK motorists to snap up its vehiclesIt is the car brand that has become the biggest seller of electric vehicles (EVs) in the world - yet many people will struggle to recognise the name. Now Chinese company BYD (it stands for build your dreams") is on a mission to get more UK consumers to snap up its affordable" vehicles.It is one of the latest Chinese companies to hit the UK car market, claiming its prices are competitive and launching three vehicles since it arrived here last year. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#6JJA2)
Super-premium phone-tablet is the thinnest and lightest folder' yet - but compromises on cameraHonor's Magic V2 is the best designed folding phone-tablet yet. It feels just like a regular phone when closed but then opens up like a book to reveal a large, plush screen.Launched in China last year, the Magic V2 has now made it to Europe but not at a price that could be considered affordable. At 1,700 (2,000), it is placed between the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and OnePlus's slightly cheaper Open.Main screen: 7.92in (402ppi) 120Hz OLED flexible displayCover screen: 6.43in (404ppi) 120Hz OLEDProcessor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2RAM: 16GBStorage: 512GBOperating system: MagicOS 7.2 (Android 13)Camera: 50MP + 50MP ultrawide + 20MP 2.5x tele; 2x 16MP selfieConnectivity: 5G, dual sim + esim, USB-C, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, GNSSWater resistance: noneDimensions folded: 156.7 x 74 x 10.1mmDimensions unfolded: 156.7 x 145.4 x 4.8mmWeight: 237g Continue reading...
Kate Jackson's cosy, creative existence in rural Northumberland has spawned a YouTube channel, two websites, an online shop - and financial independenceOne sunny day in 2017, Kate Jackson, then 61, took a wooden wool-spinning wheel into her garden. She propped her iPad against a brick, pressed record and started talking as she spun - about crafts, the countryside, her menagerie of animals (cats, chickens, bees and Eileen the goose). Jackson enjoyed watching videos about gardening and quilting on YouTube, so one day she thought: how hard can it be? I made a resolve to upload once a week."She called her channel The Last Homely House, which is a place to feel comfortable, secure and welcomed. That's what I wanted my channel to be." It now has 123,000 subscribers. Last May, Jackson - who lives in rural Northumberland - set up a sister channel, called The Last Homely Garden. She has an online shop, nearly 40,000 Instagram followers, and even a fan-run Facebook group. She has become the linchpin of a thriving online community. Continue reading...
US regulator sued in October to compel Musk to testify as part of an investigation into his $44bn purchase of what is now known as XElon Musk has been ordered to testify again as part of an investigation by US regulators into his 2022 purchase of the social media platform Twitter, later renamed X.A California federal court ruling released on Saturday gave the Tesla and SpaceX chief a week to agree with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) on a date and place for the interview after Musk refused to attend a previous sit-down in September. Continue reading...
Pamplona-based Cocuus is on a loud and disruptive quest to fuse science, technology and nutritionCocuus, a cutting-edge tech startup headquartered in an industrial estate on the outskirts of Pamplona, embraces the cliches of its sector every bit as willingly as the drunken tourists who blithely entrust themselves to fate, horns and hooves during the Spanish city's bull-running festival each July.Table football? Check. Lager and IPA on tap? Check. Inspirational messaging - preferably an Alice in Wonderland homage that reads, I believe in six impossible things before breakfast"? Check. What about some sci-fi memorabilia, perhaps a Tintin moon rocket and an Alien xenomorph head? Check. Obviously. Continue reading...
Marc Warner, CEO of London-based Faculty AI, sees new body as an international standard setterThe UK should concentrate on setting global standards for artificial intelligence testing instead of trying to carry out all the vetting itself, according to a company assisting the government's AI Safety Institute.Marc Warner, the chief executive of Faculty AI, said the newly established institute could end up on the hook" for scrutinising an array of AI models - the technology that underpins chatbots like ChatGPT - owing to the government's world-leading work in AI safety. Continue reading...
Midjourney's CEO David Holz says company close to hammering' images of Donald Trump, Joe Biden and others for next 12 months'The groundbreaking artificial intelligence image-generating company Midjourney is considering banning people from using its software to make political images of Joe Biden and Donald Trump as part of an effort to avoid being used to distract from or misinform about the 2024 US presidential election.I don't know how much I care about political speech for the next year for our platform," Midjourney's CEO, David Holz, said last week, adding that the company is close to hammering" - or banning - political images, including those of the leading presidential candidates, for the next 12 months". Continue reading...
The London-based food photographer created an image that makes you want to dive in and eat itWhere do we start ... all ice-cream is mashed potato?" asks Georgia Glynn-Smith, food photographer and creator of the London School of Food & Film online masterclasses. When it comes to the industry secrets on photographing food - something she has done for cookbooks by the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Mary Berry, and Tesco and M&S TV adverts, she knows it all.Anyone can photograph food, but one of the things you need to figure out is what is it that makes you hungry? Is it the melting cheese, the flutter of icing sugar, the drizzle of chocolate, the falling slice of perfectly cooked beef, the crunch of the roast potato? Focus here will make your audience want to dive in and eat it." Continue reading...
Seine-Port is introducing restrictions on phone use in streets, shops and parks - but young people say there's little else to doA picture of a smartphone with a red line through it serves as a warning in the window of a hairdresser's shop in a French village that has voted to ban people scrolling on their phones in public. Everyone is struggling with too much screen time," said Ludivine, a cardiology nurse, as she had her hair cut into a bob, leaving her phone out of sight in her bag. I voted in favour, this could be a solution."Seine-Port, in the Seine-et-Marne area south of Paris, with a population of fewer than 2,000 people, last weekend voted yes in a referendum to restrict smartphone use in public, banning adults and children from scrolling on their devices while walking down the street, while sitting with others on a park bench, while in shops, cafes or eating in restaurants and while parents wait for their children in front of the school gates. Those who might check their phone's map when lost are instead being encouraged to ask for directions. Continue reading...
Arab, Muslim and pro-Palestinian organizations expressed alarm about company's policy on Zionist' in meetingMeta is considering expanding and revisiting" its hate speech policy around the term Zionist", the Guardian has confirmed. The company reached out to and met with more than 10 Arab, Muslim and pro-Palestinian organizations on Friday to discuss the company's plans to review the policy to ensure the term Zionist" is not being used as a proxy for Jewish or Israeli people, according to an email the Guardian reviewed.The policy as it exists allows Zionist" to be used in political discourse but removed when it's used explicitly as a proxy for Jews or Israelis in a dehumanizing or violent way", according to an email a Meta representative sent to the organizations inviting them to the Friday meeting. The email further stated the company was considering reviewing it in light of posts users and stakeholders" have recently reported, the Meta representative wrote. The Intercept first reported the potential change in policy. Continue reading...
Researchers find large language models, which power chatbots, can deceive human users and help spread disinformationThe UK's new artificial intelligence safety body has found that the technology can deceive human users, produce biased outcomes and has inadequate safeguards against giving out harmful information.The AI Safety Institute published initial findings from its research into advanced AI systems known as large language models (LLMs), which underpin tools such as chatbots and image generators, and found a number of concerns. Continue reading...
A group known as Volt Typhoon, geared toward sabotage, quietly burrowed into critical US infrastructure networksAn advanced group of Chinese hackers taking aim at critical US infrastructure has been active for as long as half a decade, American and allied intelligence agencies said in a joint statement on Wednesday.The US National Security Agency, US cyber watchdog CISA, the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration said that the group known as Volt Typhoon had quietly burrowed into the networks of aviation, rail, mass transit, highway, maritime, pipeline, water and sewage organizations. Continue reading...
Ahead of London fashion week, optimists believe new tools can open up an industry that can be elitist - and costly to enterThe impact of artificial intelligence on the creative industries is a subject that has prompted widespread anxiety about job losses and the death of imagination, and the world of fashion is no exception.But this month's London fashion week, marking the event's 40th anniversary, will showcase a host of AI-generated outfits and industry insiders have expressed a growing optimism about what the technology can do for the sector - from improving diversity to shortening the path from design desk to shop floor. Continue reading...
It seems like something from the far-off future, but this threat is already here,' says chair of Federal Communications CommissionThe US government on Thursday outlawed robocalls that use voices generated by artificial intelligence, a decision that sends a clear message that exploiting the technology to scam people and mislead voters won't be tolerated.The unanimous ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) targets robocalls made with AI voice-cloning tools under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a 1991 law restricting junk calls that use artificial and prerecorded voice messages. Continue reading...
Microsoft analysts cite reports saying disruption by group known as Cotton Sandstorm also reached audiences in UK and CanadaIranian state-backed hackers interrupted TV streaming services in the United Arab Emirates to broadcast a deepfake newsreader delivering a report on the war in Gaza, according to analysts at Microsoft.The tech company said a hacking operation run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, a key branch of the Iranian armed forces, had disrupted streaming platforms in the UAE with an AI-generated news broadcast branded For Humanity". Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian