Month: May 2023

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to clear a path for victims of attacks by militant organizations to hold social media companies liable under a federal anti-terrorism law for failing to prevent the groups from using their platforms, handing a victory to Twitter. The justices, in a unanimous decision, reversed a lower court's ruling that had revived a lawsuit against Twitter by the American relatives of Nawras Alassaf, a Jordanian man killed in a 2017 attack during New Year's celebration in a Istanbul nightclub claimed by the Islamic State militant group.  The case was one of two that the Supreme Court weighed in its current term aimed at holding internet companies accountable for contentious content posted by users - an issue of growing concern for the public and U.S.…

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte on Wednesday signed legislation to ban Chinese-owned TikTok from operating in the state, making it the first U.S. state to ban the popular short video app. Montana will make it unlawful for Google's and Apple's app stores to offer the TikTok app within its borders. The ban takes effect January 1, 2024. TikTok has over 150 million American users, but a growing number of U.S. lawmakers and state officials are calling for a nationwide ban on the app over concerns about potential Chinese government influence on the platform. In March, a congressional committee grilled TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew about whether the Chinese government could access user data or influence what Americans see on the app. Gianforte, a Republican, said the bill will further "our…

When researchers at a nonprofit that studies social media wanted to understand the connection between YouTube videos and gun violence, they set up accounts on the platform that mimicked the behavior of typical boys living in the United States. They simulated two 9-year-olds who liked video games. The accounts were identical, except that one clicked on the videos recommended by YouTube, and the other ignored the platform's suggestions. The account that clicked on YouTube's suggestions was soon flooded with graphic videos about school shootings, tactical gun training videos and how-to instructions on making firearms fully automatic. One video featured an elementary school-age girl wielding a handgun; another showed a shooter using a .50-caliber gun to fire on a dummy head filled with lifelike blood and brains. Many of the videos…

U.S. law enforcement officials on Tuesday announced a series of criminal cases exposing the relentless efforts by Russia, China and Iran to steal sensitive U.S. technologies.   The five cases, which spanned a wide range of protected U.S. technologies, were brought by a new “strike force” created earlier this year to deter foreign adversaries from obtaining advanced U.S. innovation. “These charges demonstrate the Justice Department’s commitment to preventing sensitive technology from falling into the hands of foreign adversaries, including Russia, China, and Iran,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, who leads the Justice Department’s National Security Division, and co-heads the task force. Some of the cases announced on Tuesday go back several years but Olsen said the “threat is as significant as ever.” Two of the cases involve Russia. In…

The head of the artificial intelligence company that makes ChatGPT told U.S. Congress on Tuesday that government intervention "will be critical to mitigate the risks of increasingly powerful" AI systems. "As this technology advances, we understand that people are anxious about how it could change the way we live. We are too," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testified at a Senate hearing Tuesday. His San Francisco-based startup rocketed to public attention after it released ChatGPT late last year. ChatGPT is a free chatbot tool that answers questions with convincingly human-like responses. What started out as a panic among educators about ChatGPT's use to cheat on homework assignments has expanded to broader concerns about the ability of the latest crop of "generative AI" tools to mislead people, spread falsehoods, violate copyright protections…

Studying science, technology, engineering, and math — or STEM — can be a challenge for girls in rural Africa, especially those with disabilities. In Kenya, an aid group called The Action Foundation is helping to change that by providing remote STEM courses for girls with hearing, visual and physical impairments. Ahmed Hussein reports from Wajir County, Kenya. Camera: Ahmed Hussein ...

On a recent, cold morning, Dr. Carlos Ortuño hopped into a tiny electric car to go check on a patient in the outskirts of Bolivia's capital of La Paz, unsure if the vehicle would be able to handle the steep, winding streets of the high-altitude city.  "I thought that because of the city's topography it was going to struggle, but it's a great climber," said Ortuño about his experience driving a Quantum, the first EV to have ever been made in Bolivia. "The difference from a gasoline-powered vehicle is huge."  Ortuño's home visit aboard a car the size of a golf cart was part of a government-sponsored program that brings doctors to patients living in neighborhoods far from the city center. The "Doctor in your house" program was launched last…

Computer engineers and tech-inclined political scientists have warned for years that cheap, powerful artificial intelligence tools would soon allow anyone to create fake images, video and audio that was realistic enough to fool voters and perhaps sway an election.  The synthetic images that emerged were often crude, unconvincing and costly to produce, especially when other kinds of misinformation were so inexpensive and easy to spread on social media. The threat posed by AI and so-called deepfakes always seemed a year or two away.  No more.  Sophisticated generative AI tools can now create cloned human voices and hyper-realistic images, videos and audio in seconds, at minimal cost. When strapped to powerful social media algorithms, this fake and digitally created content can spread far and fast and target highly specific audiences, potentially…

Holed up at home during the pandemic lockdown three years ago, 13-year-old Shreya Nallamothu was scrolling through social media when she noticed a pattern: Children even younger than her were the stars — dancing, cracking one-liners and being generally adorable.  "It seemed innocuous to me at first," Nallamothu said.  But as she watched more and more posts of kids pushing products or their mishaps going viral, she started to wonder: Who is looking out for them?  "I realized that there's a lot of exploitation that can happen within the world of 'kidfluencing,'" said Nallamothu, referring to the monetization of social media content featuring children. "And I realized that there was absolutely zero legislation in place to protect them."  Illinois lawmakers aim to change that by making their state what they…

Banned from using popular Western apps, Iranians have been left with little choice but to take up state-backed alternatives, as the authorities tighten internet restrictions for security reasons following months of protests. Iranians are accustomed to using virtual private networks, or VPNs, to evade restrictions and access prohibited websites or apps, including the U.S.-based Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The authorities went as far as imposing total internet blackouts during the protests that erupted after the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, following her arrest for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's dress code for women. Connections are back up and running again, and even those who are tech-savvy are being corralled into using the apps approved by the authorities such as Neshan for navigation and Snapp! to hail a…

As Tamar Ana Jawa wove a red sarong in the fading sunlight, her neighbor switched on a light bulb dangling from the sloping tin roof. It was just one bulb powered by a small solar panel, but in this remote village that means a lot. In some of the world's most remote places, off-grid solar systems are bringing villagers like Jawa more hours in the day, more money and more social gatherings. Before electricity came to the village, a little less than two years ago, the day ended when the sun went down. Villagers in Laindeha, on the island of Sumba in eastern Indonesia, would set aside the mats they were weaving or coffee they were sorting to sell at the market as the light faded. A few families who…

As people brace for the disruptive impact of artificial intelligence on jobs and everyday living, those in the world of audio books say their field is already being transformed. AI has the ability to create human-sounding recordings -- at assembly-line speed -- while bypassing at least part of the services of the human professionals who for years have made a living with their voices. Many of them are already seeing a sharp drop off in business. Tanya Eby has been a full-time voice actor and professional narrator for 20 years. She has a recording studio in her home. But in the past six months she has seen her work load fall by half. Her bookings now run only through June, while in a normal year they would extend through August.…

Billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk on Friday named NBCUniversal executive Linda Yaccarino as the chief executive officer of social media giant Twitter. From his own Twitter account Friday, Musk wrote, "I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter! (She) will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design and new technology."  He said Yaccarino would transform Twitter, which is now called X Corp., into "an everything app" called X.  On Thursday, Musk teased Yaccarino's hiring, saying only "she" will start in six to eight weeks.   Yaccarino worked in advertising and media sales for NBCUniversal since 2011 and as chairperson of global advertising since October 2020. The company announced her departure earlier in the day Friday. Analysts say Yaccarino's background could be…