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Elon Musk’s reposts of Kamala Harris deepfakes may not fly under new California law Sep 23, 2024

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California’s newest law could land social media users who post, or repost, AI deepfakes that deceive voters about upcoming elections in legal trouble. Governor Gavin Newsom suggests that AB 2839, which went into effect immediately after he signed it on Tuesday, could be used to reel in Elon Musk’s retweets, among others who spread deceptive messages.

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MIT's 3D printed glass blocks for construction, a robotic knee, a lucrative side hustle, and Varma abandons human musicians Sep 23, 2024

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The team points to glass’ optical properties and its “infinite recyclability” as reasons for turning to the material; Also, test subjects were required to move a 30-pound kettlebell up and down a flight of stairs; a New York Times article Thursday highlighted a lucrative side hustle that is emblematic of the times we live in: gaming algorithms to earn money. In this case, folks figured out they could maximize the payout from Lyft’s Citibike “bike angels” program by taking advantage of a company algorithm used to meet its supply-and-demand needs; Indian filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma is ditching human musicians for artificial intelligence, saying he’ll use only AI-generated tunes in future projects, a move that underscores AI’s growing reach in creative industries; Cruise is returning to the streets of Sunnyvale and Mountain View for the first time since it paused operations in the Bay Area after a robotaxi struck a pedestrian in October 2023. The company said Thursday that it will put “several” vehicles driven by humans in the two cities that will initially perform mapping.

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Amazon releases a video generator — but only for ads Sep 20, 2024

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Like its rival, Google, Amazon has launched an AI-powered video generator — but it’s only for advertisers at the moment, and somewhat limited in what it can do. Today at its Accelerate conference, Amazon unveiled Video generator, which turns a single product image into a few-seconds-long video clip after a few minutes of processing.

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Upchieve, an online tutor app for low-income students, launches a free tool for teachers Sep 20, 2024

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Upchieve, the free, 24/7 online tutoring and college counseling app for low-income students, announced Thursday it’s giving teachers in Title 1 middle schools and high schools a new tool to ensure their students get the academic support they need. The new offering, called “Upchieve for Teachers,” allows teachers to offer 1:1 support to their students.

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California’s 5 new AI laws crack down on election deepfakes and actor clones Sep 19, 2024

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On Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed some of America’s toughest laws yet regulating the artificial intelligence sector. Three of these laws crack down on AI deepfakes that could influence elections, while two others prohibit Hollywood studios from creating an AI clone of an actor’s body or voice without their consent.

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23andMe sees independent board directors quit en masse, BlackRock & Microsoft planning megafund, and more news Sep 19, 2024

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23andMe, the personal genomics company, went public in early 2021 via a merger with a blank check company that valued it at $3.5 billion. Then its fortunes began to sink. Fading interest in DNA kits – 23andMe’s main product – was one driver.; Investment powerhouse BlackRock is set to launch a massive AI-focused investment fund, exceeding $30 billion, in collaboration with Microsoft and the Abu Dhabi-backed investment outfit MGX, the FT reported today. According to the outlet, the fund — among Wall Street’s largest — will focus on creating data centers and funding energy infrastructure to support AI; Discord will now offer audio and video calls that even the company won't be able to listen in on; NASA wants to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon, but right now, astronauts have to be in direct line of sight with Earth to phone home. The space agency is looking to change that with its developing Near Space Network; Every month, 400,000 free members upgrade to paid memberships, the company says. According to Patreon, Autopilot improved the rate of free-to-paid membership upgrades by an average of 19% in testing.

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Slack is turning into an AI agent hub. Should it? Sep 18, 2024

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The head of Slack, Denise Dresser, tells TechCrunch she is shifting the business chat platform into a “work operating system,” specifically by making Slack a hub for AI applications from Salesforce, Adobe, and Anthropic

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Instagram tightens restrictions on teen use, putting parents in control Sep 18, 2024

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Instagram is introducing Teen Accounts to automatically enroll young users into an app experience with built-in protections. The company announced that starting on Tuesday, it will start placing all current and future accounts held by a teenager into a Teen Account.

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IBM makes developing for quantum computers easier with the Qiskit Functions Catalog Sep 17, 2024

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IBM today launched the Qiskit Functions Catalog, a new set of services that aims to make programming quantum computers easier by abstracting away many of the complexities of working with these machines.

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U.S. government expands sanctions against spyware maker Intellexa Sep 17, 2024

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This latest round of government sanctions land months after Intellexa's founder Tal Dilian was sanctioned for selling the Predator spyware.

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