New York’s state legislature has passed a bill that would prohibit social media companies from showing so-called “addictive feeds” to children under 18, unless they obtain parental consent.
The Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act defines an addictive feed as one where the content is recommended or prioritized based on information about the user or the user’s device — basically, these are the algorithmic news feeds used by most social apps.
“Non-addictive feeds,” a category that includes “feeds listed in chronological order,” would still be allowed.
“New York is leading the nation to protect our kids from addictive social media feeds and shield their personal data from predatory companies,” Governor Hochul said.
It would also prohibit platforms from sending notifications related to these feeds between the ages of midnight and 6am without parental consent.
The main development out of the sixth TTC meeting appears to be a commitment from EU and US AI oversight bodies, the European AI Office and the US AI Safety Institute, to set up what’s couched as “a Dialogue”.
The aim is fostering a deeper collaboration between the AI institutions, with a particular focus on encouraging the sharing of scientific information among respective AI research ecosystems.
“Working groups jointly staffed by United States science agencies and European Commission departments and agencies have achieved substantial progress by defining critical milestones for deliverables in the areas of extreme weather, energy, emergency response, and reconstruction.
We are also making constructive progress in health and agriculture.”In addition, an overview document on the collaboration around AI for the public good was published Friday.
The joint statement refers to 2024 as “a Pivotal Year for Democratic Resilience”, on account of the number of elections being held around the world.
Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” has been out for only a few days, yet it’s already obvious that we’ll be talking about it for years to come — it’s breaking records across streaming platforms, and the artist herself calls it “the best music [she’s] ever made.” But in the middle of the press release for “Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé made an unexpected statement against the growing presence of AI in music.
Some of the best-known AI companies, like Open AI and Stability AI, use datasets that include copyrighted artworks without consent.
Beyoncé’s stance makes even more sense in the context of “Cowboy Carter” itself.
Though it does not explicitly discuss AI, “Cowboy Carter” already addresses the theft and appropriation of artworks without consent.
Even the title “Cowboy Carter” nods to the appropriation of Black music for white people’s gain.
Boeing CEO to leave company by year-end, after a wave of safety incidentsBoeing’s chief executive Dave Calhoun will leave the plane-maker by the end of 2024, according to the company.
Boeing operates an innovation acceleration programme aimed at startup’s called Aerospace Xelerated, formerly known as the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI).
It is also surrounding by a large ecosystem of aerospace startups that engage with the company.
TechCrunch has reached out to Aerospace Xelerated for comment.
In a company statement, Calhoun said he planned to “complete the critical work underway to stabilize and position the company for the future” over the coming months.
The Coalition for App Fairness (CAF) released a statement on Thursday cheering on the Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple.
The group includes a number of key app makers, including Epic Games, Spotify, Deezer, Match Group, Proton and others.
In 2020, Epic made it possible for Fortnite players to pay Epic directly, rather than giving a cut to Apple.
Then, Apple removed Epic from the App Store, which sparked a slew of legal proceedings.
In a statement, Apple said: “This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets.
Multinational technology giant Fujitsu confirmed a cyberattack in a statement Friday, and warned that hackers may have stolen personal data and customer information.
Fujitsu also did not say what kind of personal information may have been stolen, or who the personal information pertains to — such as its employees, corporate customers, or citizens whose governments use the company’s technologies.
Headquartered in Japan, Fujitsu has about 124,000 employees and serves government and private sector customers globally.
Fujitsu said it reported the incident to Japan’s data protection authority, Personal Information Protection Commission, “in anticipation” that personal information may have been stolen.
The company has not said whether it has filed required data breach notices with any other government or authority, including in the United States.
Don Lemon announced on Wednesday that X owner Elon Musk has canceled the deal for his upcoming talkshow on the platform.
Lemon, a former CNN anchor, says Musk terminated the partnership hours after he interviewed the multibillionaire for the first episode of the show.
“Elon Musk has canceled the partnership I had with X, which they announced as part of their public commitment to amplifying more diverse voices on their platform,” Lemon wrote in a statement.
“He informed me of his decision hours after an interview I conducted with him on Friday.”Despite the canceled deal with X, The Don Lemon Show will live on.
The interview with Musk will remain the premiere episode of the show and is scheduled to air on March 18 on YouTube, podcast channels and X.
Spain’s data protection authority has ordered Worldcoin to temporarily stop collecting and processing personal data from the market.
Data protection authorities can also demand unlawful processing to stop, including temporarily if they are concerned people’s rights are at serious risk, as is happening here.
An investigation was opened by France’s data protection authority last year.
It also said then that it would be seeking to ascertain whether Worldcoin had carried out a data protection impact assessment.
In another set-back last year, Kenya’s data protection authority issued a ban on Worldcoin’s local processing.
This week, the Financial Times reported the EC will issue its first-ever fine against the tech giant for allegedly breaking EU law over competition in the streaming music market.
It reads:We’re happy to support the success of all developers — including Spotify, which is the largest music streaming app in the world.
In the case of the EU complaint, the concern is that Apple’s App Store distorts completion in the music streaming market.
“There are other rivals to Apple Music — there are Deezer, there are Soundcloud.
A rep for the EC declined to comment on news related to Spotify’s complaint or any pending fines.
The Pokemon Company said Thursday it has not granted any permission to “another company,” referring to viral new game Palworld-developer Pocketpair, to use Pokemon intellectual property or assets and “intends to investigate and take appropriate measures” against the fast-growing survival game operator.
The statement is Pokemon Company’s first acknowledgement of Palworld’s fast-growing survival title, which has sold over 8 million copies in less than six days, exceeding the performance of even the most popular AAA titles.
Pocketpair, which released the title on January 19, insisted earlier that its game had more resemblance to a title such as Ark Survival than Pokemon.
We have not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in that gamem,” The Pokemon Company wrote in a statement on its website Thursday.
“We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon.
