DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Microsoft faces mega fine after EU takes issue with bundling of Teams and Office
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-25 | by ( Hanna Ziady | Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Microsoft has violated European Union antitrust laws by bundling Teams with its other popular applications for businesses, EU officials said Tuesday, marking the bloc’s latest challenge to a US tech giant. If confirmed, the preliminary findings of an EU investigation could lead to a fine of up to 10% of Microsoft’s global revenue, which totaled $211 billion in its latest financial year. Apple, which has denied wrongdoing, also faces a huge fine if the charges are confirmed. “Preserving competition for remote communication and collaboration tools is essential as it also fosters innovation on these markets. If confirmed, Microsoft’s conduct would be illegal under our competition rules,” she added.

Persons: Apple, Slack, Margrethe Vestager Organizations: London CNN, Microsoft, Digital Markets, Apple, European Commission, Salesforce, CNN

☆ New York governor signs bill regulating social media algorithms, in a US first
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Big changes are coming for New York’s youngest social media users after Gov. The unprecedented move makes New York the first state to pass a law regulating social media algorithms amid nationwide allegations that apps such as Instagram or TikTok have hooked users with addictive features. New York officials hailed the legislation as a critical check on social media platforms’ influence over teens. “Algorithmic curation makes teenagers’ feeds healthier, and banning algorithms is going to make social media worse for teens.”The legislation’s signing sets the stage for another in a long string of court battles over state social media laws. States such as Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and many others have passed laws clamping down on social media companies’ approach to teens.

Persons: Kathy Hochul, Vivek Murthy, ” Hochul, Letitia James, ” James, ”, Adam Kovacevich Organizations: CNN, New, Gov, New York Child Data, New York, of, Industry Locations: New York, “, Arkansas, Florida , Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Florida

☆ TikTok ramps up attacks on Biden administration in challenging prospective ban
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Whether the Biden administration overlooked a less restrictive alternative could become a factor in a potential test of the law’s constitutionality. In Thursday’s filing, TikTok said the agreement was never signed despite years of negotiations and dozens of meetings and phone calls with US government officials. The Trump administration tried to ban TikTok by executive action, but that was quickly stymied by legal challenges. US officials have not publicly presented evidence that China has accessed US users’ TikTok data. On Thursday, TikTok’s filing said the company has so far spent $2 billion voluntarily implementing Project Texas.

Persons: TikTok, Biden, Joe Biden, “, CFIUS, ’, Trump, Christopher Simkins, Simkins Organizations: CNN, US Air Force, Foreign Investment, Meta, Independent, Texas Locations: United States, TikTok, China

☆ What is Apple’s AI doing with your data?
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

As much as possible, Apple will try to process AI prompts directly on your device using smaller AI models. After fulfilling a user’s AI request, Private Cloud Compute scrubs itself of any user data involved in the process, Apple said. For example, when you use ChatGPT, OpenAI discloses that it uses your data to further train its AI models. With Private Cloud Compute, you theoretically won’t have to take Apple’s word that it doesn’t use your data for AI training. Apple’s AI models didn’t spring up out of nowhere.

Persons: Washington CNN —, you’ve, Apple, ChatGPT, Siri, didn’t, OpenAI, ChatGPT’s, ”, Craig Federighi, —, ” “, Apple hasn’t Organizations: Washington CNN, Worldwide Developers, Apple, Apple Intelligence Locations: Apple’s

☆ Elon Musk’s X lawsuit against Media Matters scheduled for trial in April
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —A lawsuit brought by Elon Musk’s X against the nonprofit watchdog group Media Matters has been scheduled for a trial in April 2025, according to a court filing. Thursday’s order by the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas sets the date for a high-profile showdown over Media Matters’ research highlighting antisemitic and pro-Nazi content on the social media platform. In November, X sued Media Matters, alleging that the group went out of its way to misrepresent the likelihood that users may encounter hate speech on the platform. Media Matters declined to comment. Media Matters President Angelo Carusone has previously called X’s suit “frivolous” and an attempt to silence Musk’s critics.

Persons: Elon Musk’s, X, Angelo Carusone, Musk, ”, Charles Breyer, ” Breyer Organizations: CNN, Media, US, Court, Northern, Northern District of, Center Locations: Northern District, Northern District of Texas, California, Northern District of California

☆ Politicians keep courting the TikTok vote. Users aren’t impressed
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-12 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Many TikTok users in the survey said they care far more about entertainment, culture and friends. TikTok users don’t care much about politicsMany TikTok users, roughly 4 in 10, said they do see at least some politics content on the app, according to the survey. Only a third of TikTok users said they use the app to keep up with politics; 41% said they use it to get news. Right now, 22% of TikTok users say content on the app is mostly liberal, while 6% say it’s mostly conservative, according to Pew’s latest survey. TikTok users who identify as Republicans were slightly more likely than Democratic TikTok users to say TikTok is bad for US democracy, but only by a slim margin of 7 percentage points.

Persons: Washington CNN —, John S, James L, Donald Trump, Joe Biden’s, TikTok, Biden, Pew, ” Pew, we’ve, ”, Colleen McClain, —, Elon Musk, ” McClain, McClain, Musk, it’s Organizations: Washington CNN, Pew Research Center, Knight Foundation, TikTok, Facebook, Trump, CNN, Pew, Democratic, Elon, “, Republican Twitter Locations: China, United States, TikTok, Gaza

From AppleBy adding artificial intelligence features to Siri, Apple's smart assistant will be able to do more, Apple said. Those changes start with Siri's language recognition capabilities, which can detect when users correct themselves mid-sentence. Other examples of actions users will be able to do with Siri include asking it to add a certain photo to a draft email; directing Siri to send photos from a recent event to a specific contact; or to share a summary of meeting notes in an email to a colleague. All of that is possible, Apple said, because Apple Intelligence grabs information about you from your photos, calendar events, files and messages — including PDFs of concert tickets and links shared by contacts. It will also be able to search through your photos for information that you're trying to put into an online form and add it for you, like taking the data from a photo of your driver's license and automatically inserting it into a form.

Persons: Siri, Apple Organizations: Apple, Apple Intelligence

☆ Is a recession coming? Economists say look at women’s lips
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-09 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Estee Lauder chairman Leonard Lauder created the lipstick index during the economic downturn following September 11, 2001. In fall 2001, US lipstick sales increased by 11%. “The lipstick index has been substituted with the moisturizing index,” said Freda. But data shows that more expensive prestige beauty sales are outpacing mass, lower-priced beauty sales. What do you see dominating the beauty market in the second half of the year?

Persons: Estee Lauder, Leonard Lauder, Fabrizio Freda, ”, Freda, “, Sephora, Bell, Neela Montgomery, Laura Mercier, We’ve, it’s, Skincare, It’s, we’re, Inflection’s, OpenAI, Sarah Myers West, ” West, Brian Fung, Jerome Powell, Price Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN, CNN, Federal Trade Commission, Microsoft, FTC, Justice Department, Google, Nvidia, DOJ, US Department of Treasury, OPEC Monthly, Federal Reserve, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Signet Jewelers, Federal Locations: New York, Asia

☆ Google cut Uncle Sam a $2 million check so it could avoid a jury trial. A judge just agreed
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-07 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —A US federal judge ruled on Friday that an antitrust lawsuit brought by the US government against Google will be decided by a judge and not a jury after Google wrote the government a check, paying back the full amount of monetary damages the lawsuit sought. The case regarding Google’s advertising technology is the first antitrust suit against a Big Tech company brought by the Biden administration. US District Judge Leonie Brinkema’s decision on Friday is a setback for the Justice Department, which sought a jury trial for the case. We’re glad the Court ruled that this case will be tried by a judge,” Schottenfels said. We look forward to making our case in court.”A hearing is set for June 21 on Google’s motion for summary dismissal, which would terminate the case without a trial.

Persons: Biden, Leonie Brinkema’s, Brinkema, —, Peter Schottenfels, “ DOJ’s, We’re, ” Schottenfels, we’ve, ”, Brian Fung Organizations: CNN, Google, Big Tech, Justice Department, DOJ

☆ Wall Street is putting its foot down as ‘Roaring Kitty’ sends GameStop soaring again
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-07 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

That means that Gill has the right to purchase 12 million shares of GameStop at $20 apiece by a set expiration date. GameStop shares closed Wednesday at $46.55 a share, more than double the price locked in by those options. Gill hasn’t explicitly told anyone to buy GameStop shares or that he thinks it’s headed to the moon. In comparison, shares of GameStop and AMC Entertainment have surged 167% and 99%, respectively, since Gill’s return to social media. Keith Gill, a GameStop investor, also known in social media forums as Roaring Kitty, testifies during a virtual hearing on GameStop in Washington, Feb. 18, 2021.

Persons: Kitty, Keith Gill, Gill, Michael M, Gill hasn’t, it’s, Jay Woods, Woods, hasn’t, Morgan Stanley, Gill isn’t, copycats, Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett, Chubb, ”, Bill Galvin, Gill’s, Hanna Ziady, Christine Lagarde —, ” —, Read, OpenAI, Brian Fung, Inflection’s, didn’t, Keith Gill’s Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN, GameStop, AMC Entertainment, CNN, Gamestop, New York Stock Exchange, Street, Freedom Capital, Berkshire, The Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Financial, Traders, stoke, Wall, Retail, Roaring Kitty YouTube, European Central Bank, US Federal Reserve, Bank of England, ECB, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Justice Department, Microsoft, Google, Nvidia, of Justice Locations: New York, New York City, Massachusetts, Washington, Europe

☆ Washington is waking up to AI’s risks about three years too late
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-07 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

(Which is ironic, given that one of the priorities of the roadmap is making sure AI doesn’t, like, hijack the American electoral process.) All of that money was able flood in because the notoriously tech-challenged lawmakers in Washington have been largely asleep at the wheel. (European officials, meanwhile, formally adopted the world’s first standalone AI law this spring, a full five years after rules were proposed.) Until recently, AI was a largely academic subject rarely discussed outside of Silicon Valley. ”AI companies have strong financial incentives to avoid effective oversight,” they wrote in an open letter this week.

Persons: CNN Business ’, hasn’t, ”, OpenAI, Brian Fung Organizations: CNN Business, New York CNN, Federal Trade Commission, Justice Department, Big Tech, Antitrust, FTC, Microsoft, Google, Nvidia, Apple Locations: New York, United States, Washington, Silicon Valley

☆ Microsoft’s AI deal under federal investigation
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-06 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Any investigations would focus on whether the companies have used their dominant positions in the AI industry to harm competition. Microsoft, Inflection and Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment; Nvidia and OpenAI declined to comment. For years, technology critics and regulators have worried that major tech companies may be monopolizing entire sectors of the economy. One way for tech giants to wield anticompetitive influence in the AI sector, critics say, is through exclusive partnerships with AI startups. Those types of deals, including Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI, is the subject of an ongoing study by the FTC announced in January.

Persons: OpenAI, Inflection’s, Google didn’t Organizations: Washington CNN, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Justice Department, Microsoft, Google, Nvidia, CNN, of Justice, ’, European Union, Apple, Meta Locations: United States

☆ Palestinian-American sues Meta, alleging speech discrimination on platform
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-05 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A Palestinian-American engineer has sued the social media giant Meta, accusing his former employer of discriminating against pro-Palestinian speech on its platforms and of wrongfully firing him after he investigated the issue as part of his official duties. “The employee was dismissed for violating Meta’s data access policies, which we make clear to employees will result in immediate termination,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement to CNN. When Hamad flagged the matter late last year to colleagues within the same team, he allegedly began to receive communications from Meta employees outside of the team pressuring him to drop the investigation. The firing took place against the backdrop of other examples of company bias against pro-Palestinian speech, Hamad alleges. The lawsuit also cites a December 2023 report by Human Rights Watch documenting claims that Meta unreasonably suppressed peaceful pro-Palestinian speech.

Persons: Ferras Hamad, Ukraine —, Meta, Hamad, Andy Stone, “, ” Weeks, Hamad “ Organizations: CNN, Meta, Human Rights Locations: Gaza, Ukraine, California, Santa Clara County

☆ New York’s creative solution to targeting children online: Block the algorithms
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-04 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —New York could soon become the first state to pass a law restricting social media platforms from using algorithms to promote content to minors. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers are nearing a legislative deal on the proposal, according to a person familiar with the matter. That could mean significant changes to how kids in New York interact with social media apps and would make algorithmically generated content feeds an opt-in experience requiring parental consent. A tentative deal on the social media bill was earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal. “We’re not banning young people from social media,” Hochul said in an interview on NPR Monday.

Persons: Kathy Hochul, ” Hochul, “, We’re, ” Organizations: CNN, New York Democratic Gov, Wall Street, Industry, New, NPR Locations: York, New York, Arkansas, Florida , Louisiana, Ohio

☆ Donald Trump joins TikTok after seeking to ban video app as president
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-02 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Former President Donald Trump has joined TikTok, the fast-growing social media platform with ties to China that Trump has publicly embraced even though he railed against it as president. “The president is now on TikTok,” White said at the start of the video. But Trump now says he opposes a nationwide TikTok ban, adding that such a policy would only alienate young Americans and benefit Meta. The Biden campaign, for its part, also has a presence on TikTok and has continued to post on the platform even as the Biden administration has supported a nationwide TikTok ban. TikTok has filed a legal challenge to the law Biden signed in April that would ban the app unless it finds a new owner.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Dana White, ”, “, ” White, Taylor Budowich, “ MAGA, Joe Biden, Trump’s, Biden, TikTok, — Organizations: CNN, UFC, MAGA Inc, “ MAGA INC, Facebook, New Locations: China, Newark , New Jersey, Trump’s America, United States, New York

☆ FCC ends affordable internet program due to lack of funds
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-31 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Washington CNN —The Affordable Connectivity Program, which helped low-income Americans get online, is no more. The program’s lapse threatens to throw nearly 60 million Americans into financial distress, CNN has reported. The program officially ends on June 1, said the Federal Communications Commission, which administered the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) to approximately 1 in 5 households across the country and on tribal reservations. “The Affordable Connectivity Program filled an important gap that provider low-income programs, state and local affordability programs, and the Lifeline program cannot fully address,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement, referring to the name of another, similar FCC program that subsidizes wireless and home internet service. He also announced a series of voluntary commitments by a handful of internet providers to offer — or continue offering — their own proprietary low-income internet plans.

Persons: ”, Jessica Rosenworcel, Joe Biden, Mike Johnson didn’t, Biden, Kathryn de Wit, Wit, “ Organizations: Washington CNN, Program, Republicans, Democratic, CNN, Federal Communications Commission, Lifeline, FCC, Republican, Comcast, Cox, Verizon, ACP, Congress, Pew

☆ Elon Musk has been getting Trumpier. A direct line to Trump may be next
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-30 | by ( Clare Duffy | Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —Elon Musk has sought to accumulate political capital commensurate with his extravagant wealth. Musk has discussed advising Trump should he win the 2024 election, the Journal reported, citing unnamed sources. Musk called Trump directly via cellphone to explore a role that could potentially give Musk significant influence over US policies. Reporting that Musk and Trump’s relationship has improved comes after Musk’s politics have become more aligned with Trump’s. For Musk to have a direct, private line to a future President Trump “would seem to be a blatant conflict of interest,” said Darrell West, a senior fellow in the governance studies program at the Brookings Institution.

Persons: CNN — Elon Musk, Musk, Donald Trump, Trump, Brian Hughes, –, Andrew Harnik, ”, Darrell West, ” West, Herika Martinez, —, Donald Trump’s, Biden, Ron DeSantis, Robert Kennedy , Jr, Paul Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, White supremacists, Imran Ahmed, X, CCDH, Donie O’Sullivan Organizations: CNN, Republican, Wall Street, Trump, SpaceX, Tesla, Brookings Institution, Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Trade Commission, Traffic Safety Administration, Justice Department, Migrants, US Border Patrol, AFP, Getty, Twitter, US, Republican Florida, Politico Locations: Paris, El Paso , Texas, Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua State, Mexico

☆ OpenAI announces new safety board after employee revolt
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Washington CNN —OpenAI said Tuesday it has established a new committee to make recommendations to the company’s board about safety and security, weeks after dissolving a team focused on AI safety. In a blog post, OpenAI said the new committee would be led by CEO Sam Altman as well as Bret Taylor, the company’s board chair, and board member Nicole Seligman. The announcement follows the high-profile exit this month of an OpenAI executive focused on safety, Jan Leike. “At the conclusion of the 90 days, the Safety and Security Committee will share their recommendations with the full Board. Following the full Board’s review, OpenAI will publicly share an update on adopted recommendations in a manner that is consistent with safety and security.”

Persons: Washington CNN — OpenAI, OpenAI, Sam Altman, Bret Taylor, Nicole Seligman, Jan Leike, Leike, OpenAI’s, “, Ilya Sutskever, Sutskever, Altman’s, ” Organizations: Washington CNN, CNN, Safety, Security

☆ Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, sued in groundbreaking monopoly lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Brian Fung | Hannah Rabinowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Washington CNN —The US government and dozens of states sued Live Nation in a groundbreaking antitrust lawsuit on Thursday, alleging that for years the parent company of Ticketmaster abused its industry dominance to harm concertgoers nationwide. It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.”In a statement, Live Nation called the DOJ’s allegations “baseless.”“The DOJ’s lawsuit won’t solve the issues fans care about relating to ticket prices, service fees, and access to in-demand shows,” Live Nation said in a statement. The lawsuit highlights how regulators now believe, more than a decade on, that the behavioral modifications Live Nation agreed to have failed. According to the lawsuit, Live Nation directly manages more than 400 artists, controls around 60% of concert promotions at major concert venues across the country, and controls more than 265 concert venues in North America. And through Ticketmaster, the suit says, Live Nation controls roughly 80% or more of major concert venues’ primary ticketing for concerts.

Persons: Taylor Swift’s, ”, General Merrick Garland, Swift, Robert Smith, Zach Bryan, Minnesota Democratic Sen, Amy Klobuchar, Connecticut Democratic Sen, Richard Blumenthal, Klobuchar, Blumenthal, John Cornyn, Ted Cruz, Biden, ramping Organizations: Washington CNN, Ticketmaster, Justice Department, Prosecutors, ”, “, DOJ, Regulators, Minnesota Democratic, Connecticut Democratic, Texas Republican, District of Columbia, Court, Southern, of Locations: New York, United States, Texas Republican Sens, North America, Arizona , Arkansas , California , Colorado , Connecticut, Florida , Illinois, Maryland , Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota , Nevada , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New York, North Carolina , Ohio , Oklahoma , Oregon , Pennsylvania, Rhode Island , South Carolina , Tennessee , Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia , Wisconsin , Wyoming, of New York

☆ What the major Ticketmaster lawsuit means for you
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

But the Department of Justice says those complaints are just the symptom of a more fundamental problem with Live Nation. Live Nation, for its part, says even if the lawsuit succeeds, it won’t lead to cheaper ticket prices. An uncertain path forwardTo fix the issue, regulators say Live Nation must be broken up. But based on past criticism of Live Nation, one possible outcome at a minimum could be a spinoff of Ticketmaster. Better customer serviceComplaints about Ticketmaster and Live Nation are nothing new.

Persons: “, ”, General Merrick Garland, General Merrick Garland Kent Nishimura, haven’t, Taylor Swift, Swift Organizations: CNN, Ticketmaster, of Justice, U.S, Antitrust, Justice, “, DOJ, Consumer, Nation Locations: New York

☆ Walmart and Target are slashing prices. What does that mean for inflation?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

That doesn’t mean the battle against inflation is won. Walmart saw first-quarter sales at stores open at least a year climb 3.8% from the prior year, in part thanks to its ability to keep prices low even as inflation remains sticky. “Our combination of everyday low prices plus a large number of rollbacks is resonating” with consumers, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said on a call with analysts. Investors will get more inflation data next week from the Personal Consumption Expenditures index for April. Without that discount, the combined fine would have topped £88 million ($112 million).

Persons: Doug McMillon, Price, we’re, ”, Preston Caldwell, Scarlett Johansson, Will Scarlett Johansson, OpenAI, Johansson, OpenAI’s, Sam Altman, Brian Fung, OpenAI didn’t, Anna Cooban, “ Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN, Walmart, Ikea, Aldi, Morningstar Research Services, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Investors, Citi, Citigroup, Financial Conduct Authority, Bank of England’s Prudential, Authority, CNN Locations: New York, United States

☆ Shocking: Some AI developers didn’t listen when a woman rejected their offer
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Back in September, Scarlett Johansson, who played the hauntingly complex AI assistant in the 2013 Spike Jonze film “Her,” got a request from OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman. He wanted to hire Johansson to voice his company’s newest ChatGPT model, “Sky.” She said no. Johansson quickly lawyered up, saying Monday she was “shocked, angered and in disbelief” that Altman would use a voice “so eerily similar” to her own. OpenAI was forced to confront some of those concerns late last week, after two prominent employees left the company. “Being friends with AI will be so much easier than forging bonds with human beings,” wrote Wired editor Brian Barrett in a recent essay about the movie.

Persons: CNN Business ’, you’ve, Scarlett Johansson, Spike Jonze, ”, Sam Altman, Johansson, OpenAI, Altman, Altman —, Jan Leike, OpenAI’s, Ilya Sutskever, ” Altman, “, that’s, Joaquin, Brian Barrett, — CNN’s Clare Duffy, Brian Fung Organizations: CNN Business, New York CNN, Google Locations: New York, Silicon

☆ Why OpenAI should fear a Scarlett Johansson lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

“It doesn’t matter if OpenAI used any of Scarlett Johansson’s actual voice samples,” Li posted on Threads. Here, Johansson could accuse OpenAI of illegally monetizing who she is by essentially fooling users into thinking she had voiced Sky. But there’s substantial case law — and one very inconvenient fact for OpenAI — undercutting that defense, legal experts say. According to Johansson, OpenAI approached her to perform as Sky; Johansson declined. While California’s publicity law protects all individuals, some state statutes only protect famous people, and not all states have such legislation on the books.

Persons: Will Scarlett Johansson, OpenAI, Johansson, OpenAI’s, Sam Altman, OpenAI didn’t, demoed, Tiffany Li, Scarlett Johansson’s, ” Li, monetizing, John Bergmayer, “, ”, —, Bette Midler, Midler, Tom Waits, Waits, …, James Grimmelmann, Scarlett Johansson ”, Altman, Sky’s, Johansson ”, Samantha, ‘, ” Grimmelmann, Joel Saget, ” Bergmayer, Dana Rao, Adobe’s, we’re, Jennifer Rothman, ” Rothman Organizations: Washington CNN, University of San, Public, Ford Motor Company, Appeals, Circuit, Frito, Cornell University, Getty, Adobe, FAIR, University of Pennsylvania Locations: University of San Francisco, California, Midler’s, Paris, AFP

☆ TikTok plans global layoffs in operations and marketing
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —TikTok is planning to lay off large swaths of its operations and marketing workforce, current employees briefed on the plans told CNN. The global layoffs are expected to hit teams that handle user support and communications, as well as content and marketing. TikTok’s current global user operations team will be dismantled as part of the move, and remaining employees will be distributed among the company’s trust and safety, marketing, content and product teams. The layoffs had been in the works for some time, perhaps almost a year, but recent turnover in TikTok’s marketing, trust and safety and operations teams prompted delays, one of the employees told CNN. It is unclear how many TikTok employees could lose their jobs.

Persons: Adam Presser, Zenia Mucha, TikTok Organizations: CNN, The, Brand, Communications Locations: United States

☆ FCC is considering AI rules for political ads
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Washington CNN —The Federal Communications Commission is taking initial steps toward new rules that could require political ads on TV and radio to include disclaimers about the use of artificial intelligence. Under the proposed rules, political advertisers on those mediums would have to make on-air disclosures if their ads contain AI-generated content. The FCC move seeks to fill a yawning gap in the regulation of artificial intelligence in political advertising. In March, a bipartisan proposal by Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski unveiled the AI Transparency in Elections Act, which could require AI disclaimers on political ads. Online platforms such as Meta have taken their own steps to address AI in political ads, requiring campaigns to disclose the use of deepfakes and banning the use of its in-house generative AI tools for political advertising.

Persons: Jessica Rosenworcel, ” Rosenworcel, I’ve, ”, “, Minnesota Democratic Sen, Amy Klobuchar, Alaska Republican Sen, Lisa Murkowski, Chuck Schumer Organizations: Washington CNN, Federal Communications Commission, “, FCC, Federal, FEC, Minnesota Democratic, Alaska Republican, Meta Locations: Alaska, New York

Search resuls for: "Brian Fung"

25 mentions found