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☆ A girl murdered in 2006 was just revived as an AI chatbot — and her family had no idea
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-04 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Jennifer Ann Crecente, a high school girl murdered in 2006, recently reappeared as a chatbot on Character.ai. It had been 18 years since Jennifer Ann, a high school senior and Crecente's only child, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in Austin. Grieving, Crecente had started a nonprofit in her name, working since 2006 to raise awareness for teenage dating violence. Drew CrecenteThe website also listed Jennifer Ann as an "expert in journalism" with expertise in video game news. "This is not quite impersonation in the sense that it seems transparent that it is an AI model," Conitzer said of the chatbot mimicking Jennifer Ann.

Persons: Jennifer Ann Crecente, —, Drew Crecente, Jennifer Ann, Crecente, she'd, I've, he'd, Jennifer Ann's, Brian, Brian Crecente, Character.ai, y3gvAYyHVY, Jennifer Ann chatbot, he's, they're, Cassie Lawrence, Vincent Conitzer, Conitzer, Sue Morris, Dana, they've, Morris, Noam Shazeer, Daniel De Freitas, Shazeer, De Freitas, Winni Wintermeyer, Elon Musk, Nicki Minaj, Ryan Gosling, Andreessen Horowitz, Dominic Perella Organizations: Service, Google, BI, Safety, Institute for, Oxford University, Farber Cancer Institute, Washington, Financial Times, Business Locations: Character.ai, Austin, San Francisco, Character.AI, Boston

☆ Discord banned accounts related to a site that sold messages from more than 620 million users
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-27 | by ( Kenneth Niemeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Discord banned accounts tied to Spy.Pet, a website known for mining and selling millions of users' messages. Spy.Pet used bots to scrape data from 14,000 servers, affecting nearly 620 million Discord users. Related storiesThe site used bots to scrape users messages and other data from 14,000 Discord servers. AdvertisementIn all, the bots collected data from nearly 620 million Discord users, according to Kotaku. Following the report, Discord announced that it has banned several accounts related to the site after an investigation.

Persons: —, Jason Citron, Citron Organizations: Service, Media, PC Gamer Locations: Spy.Pet

☆ 'Grand Theft Auto 6' production delay might be behind Rockstar Games' return to office mandate
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( Kenneth Niemeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewBack-to-work mandates at Rockstar Games are prompting concerns that "Grand Theft Auto 6" might get a later release date than expected. In December, Rockstar Games announced that "GTA 6" would come out in 2025. Still, news that a "GTA 6" release date was so far in the future caused stock prices for Take Two to dip as much as 7% in December. Related storiesNow, Kotaku reported that sources close to the game's development say that progress is slowing and the game's release could "slip" into 2026. Some Rockstar employees told Aftermath they learned they would no longer be able to answer Slack messages and use other work communication tools from home.

Persons: —, Jenn Kolbe, Slack Organizations: Service, Rockstar Games, Business, Kotaku, Rockstar, Bloomberg, Employees

☆ Xbox is banning users for automatically uploading steamy sex scenes from Baldur's Gate 3
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-13 | by ( Kenneth Niemeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewXbox Live users playing Baldur's Gate 3 are getting caught with their pants down, literally, sort of. Baldur's Gate 3 crashed onto the gaming scene last year, nearly sweeping The Game Awards and taking home the prestigious Games of The Year prize. AdvertisementIt's these spicy scenes, however, that are causing Xbox Live to ban users when their devices automatically record and upload them. Sensitive content can be found practically every second of Baldur's Gate because the game allows players to remove all their clothes at any point. how to turn off auto-upload when sensitive content is being captured)."

Persons: —, Vegas Organizations: Service, Games, Business, Kotaku Locations: Baldur's

☆ Xbox CEO says Microsoft's layoffs were 'painful choices,' after tech giant announced 10,000 job cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Xbox CEO Phil Spencer said Microsoft's layoffs were "painful" in an email to staff. Video game blog Kotaku obtained a copy of Spencer's email to staff working in Microsoft's gaming division. Kotaku obtained a copy of a company-wide email — through a current Xbox employee — sent by Spencer to all full-time staff in Microsoft's gaming division. "This is a challenging moment in our business, and this week's actions were painful choices," Spencer wrote in the email. The layoffs affected Microsoft's gaming studios including 343 Industries, Bethesda Game Studios, and its parent company ZeniMax Media, according to Bloomberg.

☆ Kevin Conroy, longtime voice of animated Batman, dies at 66
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Scottie Andrew | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

He played Batman in over 60 productions, according to DC (which shares parent company Warner Bros. His first and most enduring addition to the Batman canon is “Batman: The Animated Series,” which ran from 1992-1996, according to DC. To find the character, he turned to his Shakespearean training, saying he saw a bit of Hamlet in Bruce Wayne. One of the men he served recognized him, but a colleague didn’t believe that Conroy really was the voice of Batman. For many fans of Batman, Conroy was the first iteration of the Dark Knight they ever knew and loved.

Twitch on Tuesday announced a ban on streaming unlicensed gambling sites, including slots, roulette and dice websites, starting next month. More websites may be banned at a later date, Twitch said in a statement posted to Twitter. A number of creators have been pushing Twitch to do something about online gambling streams, citing potential dangers to younger users. Twitch had already prohibited users from sharing links or referral codes to sites that include slots, roulette or dice games. A spokesperson for Twitch said the company has no further comment beyond the statement posted to Twitter.

☆ Activision Blizzard influencers are turning their backs on the video game giant after a lawsuit claimed that female employees dealt with harassment and discrimination
▼ + stars: | 2021-07-26 | by ( Steven Asarch | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

After a bombshell lawsuit was filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing against video game company Activision Blizzard on Tuesday, influencer partners are reeling. Blizzard was founded in 1991 and has created some of the most popular franchises in video game lore, like "Warcraft," "Starcraft," and "Diablo." The company and its work have attained legendary status in the video game world. Twitch streamer Asmongold, who has 2.3 million followers, commented in a Twitter video that many Blizzard streamers specialize in a single video game. Sexism in the video game industry isn't unique to Activision BlizzardThough the Anaheim-based developer is receiving a lion's share of the current internet discourse and criticism, it isn't unique in the video game industry.

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