Overcrowded beaches are becoming a common sight on popular holiday destinations like Mallorca, as social media platforms like Instagram encourage tourists to flock there with the aim of achieving the perfect vacation experience. According to online travel agency Expedia, 50% of millennials use social media as travel inspirations, as opposed to traditional outlets like TV channels and magazines. Consequently, tourism companies and destinations are increasingly using social media and popular hashtags on Instagram to reach a wider audience, with many holidaymakers admitting that they have been drawn to locations after seeing friends and influencers post images on social media.
Linda Yaccarino, a veteran media executive and former chairman of NBC Universal Advertising and Partnerships, has been named CEO of Twitter, replacing Elon Musk. Musk, who is still executive chair and owner, will retain the CTO role, where he will oversee product technology and system operations. The move is expected to help Twitter recover from a period of turmoil during Musk's six-month tenure, when many of the company's top advertisers left because of concerns about offensive or toxic content, as well as layoffs within the company's ad and safety teams. Yaccarino's extensive advertising experience means she is expected to attract more top advertisers to the platform, but she may struggle with Musk's outspoken opinions as Twitter's most followed user. Yaccarino's remit is unclear, and top talent in tech may be reluctant to join the company, given Musk's history of upending Twitter's culture and cutting staff.
The CEO of ChatGPT's OpenAI, Sam Altman, has warned of the potential harm caused by artificial intelligence (AI) technology in a three-hour hearing before a US Senate sub-committee. Altman urged Congress to create new rules to regulate soaring AI power. He also shared his fears concerning increasingly powerful AI models and the potential for disinformation and algorithmic bias to undermine public trust. AI may clear the way for new jobs, although some may disappear, according to both Altman and Christina Montgomery, IBM’s vice-president and chief privacy and trust officer. Montgomery suggested the adoption of a "precision regulation approach to AI". Ex-NYC professor Gary Marcus called for the creation of a federal agency to review AI programmes before they were released to the public.
UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has stated regulators should recognise their economic responsibilities after gaming giants Activision and Microsoft's $68.7bn merger was blocked by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The decision to prevent the deal was due to fears about detrimental effects on the cloud gaming market. In contrast, European regulatory officials granted their approval for the merger following revisions to ensure healthy market competition. The CMA's handling of the issue prompted criticism from Microsoft's vice-chair and president Brad Smith, who said the UK regulatory environment was inferior to that of the European Union.
The vast majority of Americans see risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI), according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. Two-thirds of people polled were concerned about negative effects from AI, with 61% believing that the technology could threaten civilization. This compares with just 22% of respondents who didn't agree. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman voiced concerns about the misuse of AI during a virtual hearing in front of US Congress on Tuesday, pressing for the introduction of regulation for the sector. Meanwhile, Elon Musk co-signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause in AI research.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is stretched between negotiating the debt limit deal with President Joe Biden and satisfying Republican party members' demands. McCarthy has secured direct negotiations with the president and his senior staff, while framing discussions around key points from the Republican bill. Spending cuts, work requirements, and permitting reform particularly interest McCarthy. However, he continues to face challenges with policy, as his proposed spending cuts may be too high for Democrat negotiators to accept. Additionally, Republicans have rebuffed the idea of closing some tax loopholes. McCarthy's second challenge is persuading enough of his party to back any compromises he can forge successfully in the negotiations. The speaker remains optimistic. Meanwhile, House Democrats will start collecting the 218 signatures needed to move the discharge petition forward, which aims to lift the debt limit, if the talks’ progress stalls.
Japanese investment firm Softbank sees potential for investment opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI), whose potential for rapid growth is akin to the early internet, according to founder Son Masayoshi. Yet experts are questioning whether investors will be able to distinguish between the upstarts backed by venture capital and the existing tech giants best placed to deploy the innovation for their existing customers. Analysts cite the earlier examples of Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and chip makers nvidia and Micron, whose use of machine learning have helped generate their current market dominance.
The Financial Times has reported on the potential of the metaverse, which has been a popular topic throughout 2021. The publication noted that the metaverse, described as a “three-dimensional version of the internet”, may change how people meet in remote or hybrid working environments. Journalist Isabel Berwick attended Charter’s virtual “fireside chat” about virtual reality and work, and whilst it was a mixed experience Berwick noted that avatars are entirely present in the metaverse – making it harder to multitask – which can help people to focus on the business at hand. Berwick added that the metaverse could create extra work, and stressed that 3D meetings require attendees to listen rather than multitask, which could help improve focus on the task at hand.
Big tech companies accounting for more than 5% of telecommunication providers’ high average internet traffic should pay for the rollout of 5G and broadband across Europe, according to a draft proposal by telecoms representatives. The idea comes as the European Commission considers who should pay for additional costs as 5G is introduced, and asked for feedback in February. In addition to Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, Netflix and TikTok are likely to have to pay fees.
A Senate subcommittee hearing this week on regulating artificial intelligence (AI) was striking because the executives from Open AI and IBM who testified managed to largely avoid hostile questioning and attacks on their corporate responsibility for managing the dangers of AI that have characterised previous appearances by tech executives to Congress. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in particular charmed lawmakers by presenting a straight-talking and apolitical approach to the myriad of issues raised by AI. Altman was careful to emphasise that OpenAI’s aims are not to addict people to online content, nor to create tools that could startle, manipulate or misinform. The maturity and candidness he demonstrated clearly showed his passion about the subject and views as to why it is important to get it right. Consequently he may have manoeuvred his start-up into the influential position of being the 'go-to' firm with whom lawmakers might work to regulate, and lessen the potential risks associated with, AI specifically.
Hunt urges competition chiefs to encourage growth after Microsoft deal blocked
Telegraph
23-05-17 15:01
UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has told competition chiefs they "must understand their wider responsibilities" following the regulator's move to block Microsoft's gaming mega-merger with Activision. Hunt spoke at the British Chambers of Commerce annual conference on Wednesday, saying the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) should focus on encouraging investment, while maintaining independence from politicians. Microsoft and Activision have accused the UK of discouraging investment, while the CMA has defended its decision, pointing to an independent panel. Microsoft is appealing the decision.
Facebook, now known as Meta, has warned the Australian government over targeted advertising laws that may come into force, which would allow users to opt out of ad targeting, and may hit the social media giant hard in Australia. Meta warned that if smaller companies were not able to target niche audiences through ads and opt out mechanisms come into place, big mass-market brands like car manufacturers would dominate the advertising market in Australia. The Australian government is now considering the Attorney-General’s Department’s review of the Privacy Act, which has proposed letting users opt out of the practice.
Meta, formerly Facebook, has opposed proposed changes to Australian privacy laws that would enable users to opt out of targeted advertising and put the company at risk. Selling targeted ads based on location, age and interests represents the company's leading source of revenue, and if Australian users are allowed to opt out, it could have drastic financial implications for the social media giant. Melinda Claybaugh, Meta's privacy policy director, made a case for ad targeting, stating small and medium-sized enterprises could be harmed, with fewer advertising choices and potentially higher prices among the adverse outcomes.
The US state of Montana has become the first to ban downloads of social media app TikTok amid concerns over national security. The law, banning the app from operating in the state and prohibiting app stores from allowing downloads, takes effect in January and calls for fines of $10,000 per day for those who do not comply. The ban has been opposed by free speech advocates and is expected to face legal challenges. Earlier this year, the US had called for a ban or divestiture of TikTok because of fears it could harvest data on its 150 million US users for Chinese espionage purposes.
Chinese company Nanjing Pengyuhui Technologies has promised users in China access to US-based AI art platform Midjourney, but the social media post was removed within a day due to concerns over uncensored content, the South China Morning Post reports. The deletion underscored the difficulties faced by generative AI services trying to enter China, which require internet operators to censor content. Officials are wary of the use of apps that generate deep fakes, which manipulate people’s faces in a digital format to look like someone else. Midjourney has been criticised for generating fake images of famous figures.
The Governor of Montana has banned the operation of TikTok in the state, stating that it is a potential security risk due to the sharing of user data with the Chinese government. The law does not contain many technical details, but the impact on TikTok could be significant if it inspires copycat measures across the US. Despite the implementation of the law in January, several legal challenges dispute it.
Montana’s governor, Greg Gianforte, has signed into law a bill that bans TikTok from operating in the US state. The new rule goes further than existing TikTok bans that are already in place on government-issued devices in almost half of all US states. The Montana ban is designed to prevent the Chinese government from harvesting US data and using the means of push pro-Beijing misinformation to a US public. Heads of the FBI and CIA, as well as a number of bipartisan senators, have also warned that TikTok could pose a national security threat. While the law will prohibit downloads of TikTok in the state, its “technical and legal concerns” need to be addressed via amendments that were not passed. Cybersecurity experts have warned that enforcement will be extremely difficult, while telecoms analyst Roger Entner said he believes the app stores could have the capability to enforce the law, but it would be cumbersome to implement and full of loopholes.
Fertility app fined $200,000 for leaking customers health data
CNN
23-05-17 22:57
Fertility app Premom has been fined $200,000 in federal and state fines for sharing user’s health information with other companies without their consent, including with Google and two Chinese-based companies. Many regulators have increased scrutiny of fertility trackers and health data security in the face of last year's US Supreme Court decision on abortion protection. The regulation breach allegedly impacted hundreds of thousands of Premom users from at least 2018 to 2020, violating the Health Breach Notification Rule.
Grammarly is utilising generative AI in its eponymous software application to streamline corporate messaging. Users of Grammarly Business can utilise a summary of all points in a long email conversation, and the platform also creates responses from textual prompts and integrates with multiple office applications. Grammarly CEO, Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, said the software can allow “constant learning and automation of workflows and will ultimately save time and promote creativity”. The first generation of Grammarly Business is to be tested this June ahead of scalable implementation.
AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio, a 2018 Turing Award recipient and founder of Mila, the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, has said governments must quickly intervene and “protect the public” as powerful AI machines such as OpenAI’s GPT grow increasingly common and accessible. Bengio noted that indiscriminate access to large language models without sufficient scrutiny could pose a threat to political systems, democracy and truth itself. Google and Microsoft-backed OpenAI have both launched revolutionary, generative AI products in recent months, prompting a global debate about the ethics and future of the technology.
