Are you an Apple user who found the iPhone 16 launch event to be dull, disappointing, a let-down? Did it seem like it focused on niche products, like the black Apple Watch Ultra 2, before it got to the main meat … of what turned out to be relatively minor …
Read More »Facebook flagged and removed emergency wildfire information as 'spam'
Facebook is reportedly taking down important safety information as wildfire season spreads across the western part of the country. An investigation by The Washington Post found dozens of instances of the tech giant flagging and removing posts since June, in areas that saw a total of 20 active fires. Posts …
Read More »Microsoft Bing amps up its ability to stop explicit deepfake images from appearing in Search results
Microsoft Bing now has more power to scrub AI-generated or deepfake images, a form of nonconsensual intimate image (NCII) abuse, from appearing on the search engine, as the company announces a new nonprofit partnership. A collaboration with victim advocacy tool StopNCII, Microsoft is supplementing its user-reporting with a more “victim-centered” …
Read More »X beefs up safety staff, a few dozen people at a time
X (formerly Twitter) is re-investing in its trust, safety and security teams pre-election, after CEO Elon Musk controversially dissolved the platform’s oversight council nearly two years ago. The company has opened up two dozen new safety and cybersecurity positions at sites across the United States, TechCrunch reported, a lean addition …
Read More »Meta Horizon Worlds is letting preteens back into the world of virtual hangouts
Meta is cracking the door back open for minors interested in the company’s virtual offerings, with new parent-approved entry to the platform’s Horizon Worlds. Children (or “preteens,” as Meta refers to them) between the ages of 10 to 12 on parent-managed Meta accounts will be able to request access to …
Read More »How Big Tech is approaching explicit, nonconsensual deepfakes
In pursuit of technological innovation, generative AI‘s advocates have thrust the tools for highly-realistic, nonconsensual, synthetic forgeries, more commonly known as deepfake porn, into the hands of the Average Joe. Ads for “nudify” undressing apps may appear on the sidebars of popular websites and in between Facebook posts, while manipulated …
Read More »The AI bubble has burst. Here's how we know.
When you live in tech bubble central, signs of a tech bubble become easier to spot every time. Drive to Silicon Valley on any of the Bay Area’s main arteries right now, and you’ll notice nearly every billboard pumping a product “driven by AI.” On the same drive five years …
Read More »Google announces new tactics to curb explicit deepfakes
The explosion of nonconsensual deepfake imagery online in the past year, particularly of female celebrities, has presented a difficult challenge for search engines. Even if someone isn’t looking for that material, searching for certain names can yield a shocking number of links to fake explicit photos and videos of that …
Read More »Like Microsoft, Massive AT&T outage also happened because of a bad update
If you’re wondering if the recent global IT outage – caused by a bad update to cybersecurity company CrowdStrike’s software which brought down millions of Windows PCs – is an isolated case, we can assure you that it is not. In fact, something similar already happened earlier this year. A …
Read More »Online child sex abuse material, boosted by AI, is outpacing Big Tech's regulation
Generative AI is exacerbating the problem of online child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), as watchdogs report a proliferation of deepfake content featuring real victims’ imagery. Published by the UK’s Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), the report documents a significant increase in digitally altered or completely synthetic images featuring children in explicit …
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