Reddit is introducing a new ad format that looks similar to posts made by users on the platform, the company announced on Thursday.
The new ad format, called free-form ads, is designed to feel similar to the content that users share with each other in order to help advertisers get maximum engagement.
Although the new format may be enticing to advertisers, ads that look like regular posts may not be a welcome addition for users.
The company says the new ad format would be a good way to do things like launch a product or introduce a brand to a new audience.
Similar to other ads on Reddit, users will be able to differentiate between free-form ads and regular posts through a “Promoted” label displayed next to the company’s name on a post.
This week in AI, Google paused its AI chatbot Gemini’s ability to generate images of people after a segment of users complained about historical inaccuracies.
Google’s ginger treatment of race-based prompts in Gemini didn’t avoid the issue, per se — but disingenuously attempted to conceal the worst of the model’s biases.
Yes, the data sets used to train image generators generally contain more white people than Black people, and yes, the images of Black people in those data sets reinforce negative stereotypes.
That’s why image generators sexualize certain women of color, depict white men in positions of authority and generally favor wealthy Western perspectives.
Whether they tackle — or choose not to tackle — models’ biases, they’ll be criticized.
Uber has quietly started testing a feature that lets gig workers pick up prepaid items from local stores and deliver them to customers in India.
It suggests that Uber sees a business opportunity in delivering items from local stores in India — just like in the U.S.
For instance, the item set for pickup at the local store needs to be five kilograms (11 lbs) or less.
In addition to Store Pickup, Uber offers its regular Connect feature to let customers deliver packages through its app.
However, the Store Pickup feature is specifically for arranging deliveries from local stores.
The European Parliament is calling for new rules to bring more fairness and transparency to music-streaming across the bloc, including proposals for a new bill to force streaming platforms to open up their recommendation algorithms.
The bill would also require Spotify et al to make it clear where a song has been generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
While final details are far from set in stone, this might eventually include setting quotas to showcase a certain amount of work from European artists.
However, the company performed a 180-degree turn when the government gave assurances that music-streaming platforms wouldn’t be expected to cover extra costs resulting from the law.
In response, Spotify vowed to cut back its investment in the French market, starting with pulling support for two music festivals.
The race to perfect the humanoid form factor will be one of 2024’s defining tech stories.
1X is a name (well, a number and letter) that surprisingly doesn’t get as much column space as most of the above.
That underlying technology will almost certainly play an outsized role in shaping robotics’ future, and OpenAI has seemingly picked its horse.
The humanoid robot strikes a similar figure (so to speak) as some of the competition.
The logic (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) is that humanoids are the ideal form factor for navigating environments built by humanoids for humanoids.
Google is set to build a new subsea cable connecting Chile with Australia, via French Polynesia — the first such cable to directly connect South America with Asia-Pacific.
While countless other submarine cables traverse the Pacific Ocean, they substantively connect Asia with North America, though some do snake down the Pacific coast from the U.S and Mexico to various landing points in the South of the continent.
Indeed, Google completed its first entirely private cable project four years ago with Curie, connecting California with Chile.
Google hasn’t given any indication as to when Humboldt will be complete, but rather than going it alone as it has done with other recent cable projects, the internet giant is partnering with Chile’s Desarrollo País and Office des postes et télécommunications de Polynésie française (OPT) to lay the 9,200 mile (14,800KM) cable.
Tech companies including Meta, Microsoft and Amazon have also invested in various internet infrastructure programs, and alongside Google the quartet are said to either own or lease around half of all subsea cabling bandwidth.
Kia is following up a strong year for its passenger EVs by sharing what it wants to do for businesses looking to go electric.
The Korean automaker just unveiled at CES 2024 a forthcoming lineup of electric vans and other similar vehicles all set to be built on a new modular platform.
What that looks like in practice, according to Kia, are vehicles with fixed driver cabs that can have the rest of the vehicle’s cabin swapped out.
These cabins (Kia calls them “life modules”) connect to the chassis using both mechanical couplings and electromagnets, though Kia was light on the details about how that will work.
The first model to be made will be the Kia PV5, a three-row van with futuristic styling.
Google’s alleged deletion of chat messages between employees could have serious consequences for the company. Epic Games has accused Google of anticompetitive conduct over its Play Store and rules over…
