James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Telegram investigated in South Korea over surge of sexual deepfake content
Authorities in South Korea have begun an investigation into the embattled instant messaging app Telegram, focusing on the platform’s relationship with deepfake sex crimes that have caused a stir in the country. The probe comes after Telegram’s founder and chief executive, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France in late August for a slew of charges ...
Brazil’s Supreme Court upholds X ban, Starlink won’t comply
Five Brazilian Supreme Court justices today voted to uphold a decision that requires the National Telecommunications Agency, Anatel, to block access to Elon Musk’s X Corp. platform. Millions of X users in Brazil found themselves without X over the weekend as the country’s internet providers and mobile phone companies restricted access. Alexandre de Moraes (pictured), ...
US AI Safety Institute will have access to OpenAI and Anthropic for a safer future
OpenAI and Anthropic PBC today announced they have agreed to share AI models before and after release with the U.S. government’s AI Safety Institute. The institute, housed at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, was set up through an executive order by President Biden in 2023. Working with ...
TikTok told it must face lawsuit over deadly viral challenge, despite Section 230 protections
The Chinese social media giant TikTok could potentially be found liable for content posted on its platform that led to the death of a girl, despite federal protections for publishers in such cases. A U.S. appeals court revived a lawsuit today that was filed by the mother of a 10-year-old girl who died in Pennsylvania ...
A man is playing video games again after Neuralink’s second successful brain implant surgery
Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface company, Neuralink Corp., announced today a successful surgery in what is now its second human implant. This follows the first success back in January this year, a milestone for Neuralink, which has been talking about hooking human brains up with computers since it was founded in 2017. Hundreds of millions of ...
Google inks controversial deal with California’s lawmakers to fund local news
Google LLC and the state of California have agreed to a deal under which the tech giant will commit $172.5 million to fund local journalism over the next five years while some of the money will be set aside for artificial intelligence development in the state. The deal comes after months of dispute between lawmakers ...
US judge blocks FTC’s ban on noncompete clauses
A federal judge in Texas today derailed the Federal Trade Commission’s ban on noncompete agreements, blocking the ban from taking effect in September as planned. In a 27-page opinion, District Judge Ada Brown said that the FTC didn’t have the authority to make such decisions, calling the rule “arbitrary and capricious.” Brown added that the ...
ALS sufferer ‘speaks’ for first time in years with groundbreaking brain implant
Scientists at the University of California at Davis have helped a man to speak again using a brain chip that can interpret his brain signals to read them aloud using artificial intelligence to mimic the man’s real voice. In 2023, Casey Harrell was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. The disease ...
X slammed for lack of guardrails on Grok image generation
As Elon Musk’s xAI Corp. debuted two new language models today, they’re already under the spotlight for appearing to push the limits of freedom of speech. Though Musk announced today that Grok is “the most fun AI in the world!”, the image generator, available only to paid subscribers of X, has caused something of a ...
EU Commissioner just warned Elon Musk over dangerous content and it backfired badly
EU Commissioner Thierry Breton shared words with X Corp. owner Elon Musk yesterday, reminding him that Musk and X have a responsibility to adhere to the EU’s Digital Services Act, or DSA. Breton’s strongly worded missive to Musk sent yesterday was sent in response to what he called the “risk of amplification of potentially harmful ...