Technology

James McAvoy and Tom Brady fall for ‘Goodbye Meta AI’ hoax

Published

4 hours ago

September 25, 2024

James McAvoy and Tom Brady fall for 'Goodbye Meta AI' hoax

More than 600,000 people, including many celebrities, have fallen for a hoax claiming to deny Facebook and Instagram owner Meta the right to use their images for training artificial intelligence (AI).

Film stars James McAvoy and Ashley Tisdale, as well as former NFL player Tom Brady, are among those who re-shared the fake “Goodbye Meta AI” message on Instagram stories.

The hoax claims that by sharing the message, Meta would no longer be able to use their information.

In reality, Facebook and Instagram users who want to opt out of AI training can do so in their account settings – and posting about it does nothing.

Many of these messages have now been labelled “false information” by Lead Stories, one of Meta’s third-party fact-checking sites.

The post appears to have been created in opposition to Meta’s announcement in June that it will use public posts to train its AI model – but the company has confirmed to the BBC that posting the message has no impact on any user’s privacy settings.

“Sharing this story does not count as a valid form of objection,” a Meta spokesperson said.

Lead Stories pinpointed the origin of the trend to a post on Facebook on 1 September, which used slightly different wording to the version that eventually went viral.

But it was not until this week – when large celebrity accounts began to share the post – that the craze took hold, with Google Trends displaying a steep spike in searches for the phrase “Goodbye Meta AI” after 24 September.

It is far from the first time that social media has been dominated by such “copypasta” – a term meaning a block of text that is “copied and pasted” frequently online.

The fact-checking website Snopes has covered several instances from the past decade of users declaring their privacy rights in public messages to no avail.

But it is rare to see quite so many high-profile accounts fall for the hoax.

Plans for other social media companies to train AI models on public posts have also been met with criticism, with LinkedIn this week reversing its decision to do so in the UK.

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Technology

Here’s how much Disney Plus will charge to share your password

Published

14 mins ago

September 25, 2024

NewsAdmin

Here’s how much Disney Plus will charge to share your password

Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company would start making users pay to share their passwords this month, and now we know how much it will cost. In a support page spotted by CordBusters, Disney Plus says adding an “extra member” to an ad-supported plan will cost $6.99 monthly, with that price going up to $9.99 for its ad-free plan.

The company says the extra member offering will let you share your subscription with a friend or family member who lives outside your household. This option only applies if you have a standalone subscription to Disney Plus — not the bundle with Hulu, ESPN Plus, and other services — and if you’re billed by Disney directly.

The extra member add-on comes with some limitations, too. That member will be restricted to one profile, and they can only stream and download on one device at a time. Disney also says extra members “cannot have an active Hulu subscription, or an active or canceled Disney+ or ESPN+ subscription.” The Verge reached out to Disney with a request for more information about this but didn’t immediately hear back.

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Servers computers

Casbay Blade server and Rack server

Published

29 mins ago

September 25, 2024

NewsAdmin

Difference of blade server and rack server, Blade servers integrate within a chassis, rack servers operate independently. Tune in to our channel to catch up on our upcoming videos.

Visit us at www.casbay.com to know more

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Technology

The US government is suing Visa over its dominance of the payments market

Published

35 mins ago

September 25, 2024

NewsAdmin

The US Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit against payment service giant Visa for its alleged monopoly over the debit card network.

The DOJ says Visa has been engaging in anticompetitve business practice by suppressing competition and innovation, in turn violating Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act.

It claims Visa controls over three in five US debit transactions, resulting in $7 billion in processing fees annually.

Visa accused of monopolistic practices

The US government’s lawsuit argues Visa has maintained its dominance of the payments market by striking up exclusionary agreements that penalize merchants and banks for using its competitors.

In doing so, US officials say consumers have had to deal with inflated costs, while smaller payment processors and fintech companies have been unable to grow. The DOJ also found Visa guilty of partnering up with would-be competitors by offering generous monetary incentives in order to “insulate itself” from competition.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland confirmed: “We allege that Visa has unlawfully amassed the power to extract fees that far exceed what it could charge in a competitive market.”

Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer added: “Today’s action against Visa reminds those who would stifle competition rather than competing on price or investing in innovation that the Justice Department will never hesitate to enforce the law on behalf of the American people.”

This isn’t the first time that Visa has come under fire in the US. In 2020, the DOJ set out to stop the company from acquiring fintech app technology company Plaid. The proposed $5.3 billion deal was indeed called off.

TechRadar Pro has asked Visa to respond to the DOJ’s announcement, but the company did not immediately respond.

More from TechRadar Pro

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Technology

Terminator creator James Cameron joins board of AI company

Published

56 mins ago

September 25, 2024

NewsAdmin

Terminator creator James Cameron joins board of AI company

Filmmaker James Cameron has joined the board of directors of artificial intelligence (AI) firm StabilityAI, 40 years after making a film about its risks.

In 1984’s The Terminator, which Cameron wrote and directed, a rogue AI called Skynet threatens the existence of mankind.

But the creator of the fictional AI has not been hired to help avoid such tech being developed in real life.

Instead, his role will centre around how the technology can be used in special effects, also known as computer-generated images (CGI).

“I’ve spent my career seeking out emerging technologies that push the very boundaries of what’s possible, all in the service of telling incredible stories,” he said.

“I was at the forefront of CGI over three decades ago, and I’ve stayed on the cutting edge since.

“Now, the intersection of generative AI and CGI image creation is the next wave.”

Amongst his long list of hit movies, Cameron is known for creating special effects-heavy Avatar, the highest-grossing film of all time.

His new place of work, StabilityAI, is best known for making Stable Diffusion – which can generate images based on a user’s text prompt.

It is also branching out into video, with Stable Video Diffusion, which works in the same way.

It is this tech that Cameron seems to have been brought on to help develop.

Proponents of AI video generation say it will enable artists to quickly create complicated digital effects.

But for many creatives – and Cameron’s contemporaries – this use of the technology is considered controversial at best.

Last week, Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro criticised AI-generated video during a talk at the British Film Institute in London, saying it could not generate much beyond “semi-compelling screensavers”.

Michael Bay said last year the tech “will create a whole bunch of lazy people” because “it doesn’t create, it just imitates”.

And Hiyao Miyazaki, who wrote and directed animated classic Spirited Away, previously said he was “disgusted” by an AI-generated video and called it “an insult to life itself”.

Rashik Parmar, head of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, told the BBC the filmmaker’s appointment comes at a time when “many of society’s fears about AI” come from movies.

“We watch Terminator and we form the idea that AI has malicious intentions towards humanity and that it will destroy us in the near future,” he said.

“Cameron has a real opportunity to change the narrative and build a positive view of AI, we’re very happy to work with him on that.”

One of Cameron’s first challenges in his new role will be to shore up StabilityAI’s position in the wider generativeAI landscape, where it faces stiff competition.

OpenAI’s rival video generation tool Sora is the most high-profile name in the space, with Reuters reporting Hollywood executives have discussed with the firm how the film industry could use its tech.

Meanwhile, Hunger Games and John Wick studio Lionsgate made a deal last week with AI firm Runway to create tools based on its massive archive of film and TV.

And in recent weeks the video generation landscape has been shaken by the sudden emergence of MiniMax, created by China-based HailuoAI.

The tool became popular on social media this month thanks to its ability to quickly create high-quality video from just a few lines of text.

In particular, a recent trend has seen people using the tool to make videos about chef Gordon Ramsay, with one such popular post seeing him skydiving while cooking spaghetti.

Ramsay has not responded to a request for comment.

And Cameron is joining the AI industry at a critical time for a different reason – copyright.

The technology works by analysing human-made pictures, including images found online, and artists claim this means their work has been used without permission.

Stability AI founder Emad Mostaque has previously told BBC News Stable Diffusion is trained using “100,000 GB of images” taken from the internet.

Getty Images, which is working on its own AI image generator, is suing StabilityAI over this very thing.

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Servers computers

Dell PowerEdge R620 1u Rack Server , 8SFF , Dual CPU , 24 DIMM Slots , 3 x PCI Slots , Overview ESXI

Published

1 hour ago

September 25, 2024

NewsAdmin

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Science & Environment

X-rays reveal half-billion-year-old insect ancestor

Published

1 hour ago

September 25, 2024

NewsAdmin

X-rays reveal half-billion-year-old insect ancestor

The scientists were able to pick out the perfectly preserved creature’s internal anatomy in different colours

Emma J Long A colour-coded graphic created from an x-ray of a 520-million year-old insect — The scientists were able to pick out the perfectly preserved creature’s internal anatomy in different colours

The internal anatomy of a prehistoric creature the size of a poppy seed has been revealed in “astonishing detail”.

Researchers used powerful X-rays to scan the 520-million-year-old fossil.

The results, published in the journal Nature, reveal its microscopic blood vessels and nervous system.

It is a peek inside the body of one of the earliest ancestors of modern insects, spiders and crabs.

Lead researcher Dr Martin Smith said this was a dream fossil, in part because it was preserved in its larval, or immature, stage – when its body was still developing.

“Looking at these early stages really is the key to understanding how those adult [body shapes] are formed – not just through evolution but through development.

“But larvae are so tiny and fragile, the chances of finding one fossilised are practically zero – or so I thought.”

The half-billion-year-old larva has been almost perfectly preserved, researchers say

Emma J Long A cross section through the ancient larva of Youti yuanshi - a half-billion year-old insect — The half-billion-year-old larva has been almost perfectly preserved, researchers say

Dr Smith’s colleagues found the fossil in a pile of “prehistoric grit” during a study of half-billion-year-old rock deposits in the north of China known to contain microscopic fossils.

“Our collaborators in China have large amounts of this stuff, which they dissolve it in acid and these little bits fall out,” Dr Smith said.

A team of technicians at Yunnan University spent years sifting through the material and picking fossils out of the dust.

After examining this particular specimen under the microscope during a trip to China, Dr Smith said, he had realised it was “something very special” and asked if he could bring it back to the UK to have a closer look.

The team mounted the fossil on the head of a pin in order to scan it with intense X-rays at Oxford’s Diamond Light Source facility. That is where its internal secrets were revealed.

“When I saw the amazing structures preserved under its skin, my jaw just dropped,” Dr Smith said.

Researchers generated three-dimensional images of miniature brain regions, digestive glands, a primitive circulatory system and even traces of the nerves supplying the larva’s simple legs and eyes.

Scientists were able to pick out specific parts of the creature’s anatomy, including its digestive tract (top, right) and brain (bottom, right)

Martin R Smith/Emma J Long Cross sections showing x-rays of the prehistoric insect — Scientists were able to pick out specific parts of the creature’s anatomy, including its digestive tract (top, right) and brain (bottom, right)

Its brain cavity, which is divided into segments, has revealed the ancestral “nub” of the specialist, segmented heads of modern insects, spiders and crabs that later evolved their various appendages, such as antennae, mouthparts and eyes.

Study co-author, Dr Katherine Dobson, of the University of Strathclyde, said the natural fossilisation had “achieved almost perfect preservation”.

Dr Smith said this might have been caused by high concentrations of phosphorus in the ocean where this larva briefly lived and died.

“It’s washed into the oceans when rocks erode on land,” he said.

“And that phosphorus seems to have flooded the tissues of our fossil,” essentially crystallising its tiny body.

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