Meta has admitted it used all its users’ public posts on its platforms going back to 2007 to train its AI models during an Australian senate inquiry. The only exception was for users in the European Union who opted out.
Facebook admits to scraping every Australian adult user's public photos and posts to train AI, with no opt-out option
Facebook has admitted that it scrapes the public photos, posts and other data of Australian adult users to train its AI models and provides no opt-...
 #tech #meta #facebook #ai #artificialintelligence #australia #auspol
Google just destroyed a plan to get tech giants to hand some of their ad profits to journalism in California. On #TechWontSaveUs, I spoke to @mattdpearce.bsky.social about why Google and Meta are a threat to journalism and how they’re transforming the web. Listen to the full episode:
Tech Won't Save Us
Google and Meta Are A Threat to Journalism w/ Matt Pearce - Tech Won’t Save Us
 #tech #journalism #news #media #google #meta #california
You love to see it: Apple will have to pay Ireland €13 billion in back taxes because of its years of deceptive tax avoidance schemes after a ruling by the European Court of Justice.
European Commission scores stunning court win in €13B Apple tax row – POLITICO
 #tech #apple #eu #ireland #tax
Peter Thiel doesn’t want a global totalitarian government that wants to ban AI — something that isn’t in the cards. He wants one that will shove AI down all our throats on behalf of him and his psychopath buddies, while giving them billions of dollars.
Yahoo Finance
Peter Thiel Is Scared Of A
The billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel has cautioned against the growing movement to regulate artificial intelligence (AI). In a recent speech a...
 #tech #politics #peterthiel
does the iphone not change much every year because apple is an oligopolist or is it simply because there’s not much innovation left in the smartphone? we don’t expect laptops to do wildly new things every few years other than get a little faster and have a slightly better battery
Last year, AI boosters couldn’t shut up about how chatbots would improve healthcare, education, and become an assistant for any task imaginable. But as more research is done on AI tools, the benefits seem illusive and the drawbacks are impossible to deny.
Disconnect
Roundup: Will generative AI have many long-term benefits?
Read to the end for a fun Clippy meme!
 #tech #ai #health #education #openai #chatgpt
Despite disingenuous claims of French censorship, the investigation that led to Pavel Durov’s arrest was led by a French police branch looking into abuses against children. The Gendarmerie alone sent 2,460 unanswered requests to Telegram. The team has evidence of child predators using the platform, exchanging stories about abusing children, and procuring child sexual abuse materials.
France’s hunt for Telegram CEO Pavel Durov: The inside story – POLITICO
 #tech #telegram #paveldurov
After Pavel Durov’s arrest and Brazil’s ban of Twitter/X, many people immediately jumped to talking about free speech. But those actions were about sovereignty, not speech. Internet politics is shifting, and if we want to respond to it properly we need to stop framing everything as a speech issue.
Disconnect
Pavel Durov and Elon Musk are not free speech champions
The actions against Telegram and Twitter/X are about sovereignty, not speech
In 2022, Elon Musk flew to Brazil and was lauded by far-right president Jair Bolsonaro when he claimed Starlink would provide internet to 19,000 schools. Musk never followed through, but on Sunday he still shared a post claiming he did.
Musk’s Starlink Defies Order to Block X in Brazil (Published 2024)
The satellite internet service controlled by Elon Musk is refusing to comply with a court order to block his social network, X, regulators said.
 #tech #starlink #brazil #elonmusk #spacex image
After pushing generative AI on its users, Canva is now forcing them to pay for it with a 300% price increase that many feel came out of nowhere.
The Verge
Canva says its AI features are worth the 300 percent price increase
So much for being a cheap Adobe alternative.
 #tech #ai #genai #generativeai