AI fakery is quickly becoming one of the biggest problems confronting us online. Deceptive pictures, videos and audio are proliferating as a result of the rise and misuse of generative artificial intelligence tools.
With AI deepfakes cropping up almost every day, depicting everyone from Taylor Swift to Donald Trump, it's getting harder to tell what's real from what's not. Video and image generators like DALL-E, Midjourney and OpenAI's Sora make it easy for people without any technical skills to create deepfakes — just type a request and the system spits it out.
Full StoryFederal prosecutors on Monday painted one-time British tech star Mike Lynch as the ruthless mastermind of an $11 billion deal that defrauded Silicon Valley pioneer Hewlett Packard.
But his lawyer depicted him as a visionary who was made a scapegoat for a desperate buyer's bad decision.
Full StoryAlex Pearlman shut the door on dreams of a standup comedy career almost a decade ago, pivoting from the stage to an office cubicle where he worked a customer service job.
Then he started posting random jokes and commentary about pop culture and politics on TikTok. Just over 2.5 million followers later, he quit his nine-to-five and recently booked his first nationwide tour.
Full StoryEuropean Union regulators on Thursday ratcheted up scrutiny of big tech companies including Google, Facebook and TikTok with requests for information on how they're dealing with risks from generative artificial intelligence, such as the viral spread of deepfakes.
The European Commission, the EU's executive branch, has sent questionnaires about the ways that eight platforms and search engines — including Microsoft's Bing, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and X, formerly Twitter — are curbing the risks of generative AI.
Full StoryTikTok once again finds itself in a precarious position as lawmakers in Washington move forward with a bill that could lead to a nationwide ban on the platform.
The House on Wednesday passed legislation that would ban TikTok if its China-based owner ByteDance doesn't sell its stakes in the popular social media platform within six months of the bill's enactment.
Full StoryAt first glance, images circulating online showing former President Donald Trump surrounded by groups of Black people smiling and laughing seem nothing out of the ordinary, but a look closer is telling.
Odd lighting and too-perfect details provide clues to the fact they were all generated using artificial intelligence. The photos, which have not been linked to the Trump campaign, emerged as Trump seeks to win over Black voters who polls show remain loyal to President Joe Biden.
Full StoryBeirut has long been renowned for its pivotal educational role in the Middle East. It stands as the city where the most prominent Arab rulers pursued their education, and it has always been home to a great number of schools and universities. The Lebanese, known for their profound love of knowledge, consistently invest everything they can to provide their children with a quality education.
Today, Beirut, as we like to call it “the classroom of the Middle East”, is hosting the second edition of SchoolTec, “The National Trade Fair for Educational Supplies and Solutions”, drawing hundreds of attendees, including principals, coordinators, teachers, academic and non-academic staff members, IT managers, procurers, and parents, eager to gain knowledge about the most prominent educational solutions, technologies, and services.
Full Story
The EU on Monday announced a formal investigation into TikTok over alleged breaches of its obligations to protect minors online, under a landmark new law on policing digital content.
Full StoryWhat would it mean if Russia used nuclear warheads to destroy U.S. satellites? Your home's electrical and water systems could fail. Aviation, rail and car traffic could come to a halt. Your cellphone could stop working.
These are among the reasons why there was alarm this week over reports that Russia may be pursuing nuclear weapons in space.
Full StoryThe Kremlin on Monday rejected Ukraine's claims that Russian troops fighting on the frontline were using Starlink terminals.
Kyiv's GUR military intelligence agency said it had evidence that Starlink internet terminals were being used on a "systematic" basis by Russian troops, accusing Moscow of "smuggling" them into the country.
Full Story