Brain Implant Companies Apparently Have an Extremely Dirty Secret
By Futurism Published on April 29, 2025 In the 21st century, it’s safe to say no secret is safe. Our personal data is constantly bottled and sold — by the companies whose apps we use every day, to the advertisers cluttering our phones with increasingly personalized ads. So far, that “data mining” has been confined […]
Meta faces Ghana lawsuits over impact of extreme content on moderators
By The Guardian Published on April 27, 2025 Meta is facing a second set of lawsuits in Africa over the psychological distress experienced by content moderators employed to take down disturbing social media content including depictions of murders, extreme violence and child sexual abuse. Lawyers are gearing up for court action against a company contracted […]
National Science Foundation cancels research grants related to misinformation and disinformation
By NeimanLab Published on April 21, 2025 Late on Friday afternoon, hundreds of researchers funded by the National Science Foundation got emails with bad news: their grants or fellowships had been cancelled. Elon Musk’s DOGE — the questionably constitutional initiative that shares a name with a meme coin — celebrated that the […]
Everything you say to Alexa now becomes training material for AI, and no, you cannot opt out
By AdGuard Published on April 20, 2025 Isn’t it convenient to live with a voice assistant? You can go about your day and to perform tasks hands-free — ask to set a timer or remind you of something, add items to your shopping list, or get quick information. And they’re getting smarter and smarter. Alexa […]
UK creating ‘murder prediction’ tool to identify people most likely to kill
By The Guardian Published on April 08, 2025 The UK government is developing a “murder prediction” programme which it hopes can use personal data of those known to the authorities to identify the people most likely to become killers. Researchers are alleged to be using algorithms to analyse the information of thousands […]
Humanoid workers and surveillance buggies: ‘embodied AI’ is reshaping daily life in China
By The Guardian Published on April 03, 2025 On a misty Saturday afternoon in Shenzhen’s Central Park, a gaggle of teenage girls are sheltering from the drizzle under a concrete canopy. With their bags of crisps piled high in front of them, they crowd around a couple of smartphones to sing along to […]
Ethically sourced “spare” human bodies could revolutionize medicine
By MIT Technology Review Published on March 25, 2025 Why do we hear about medical breakthroughs in mice, but rarely see them translate into cures for human disease? Why do so few drugs that enter clinical trials receive regulatory approval? And why is the waiting list for organ transplantation so long? These challenges stem in […]
Something Bizarre Is Happening to People Who Use ChatGPT a Lot
By THE BYTE Published on March 24, 2025 Researchers have found that ChatGPT “power users,” or those who use it the most and at the longest durations, are becoming dependent upon — or even addicted to — the chatbot. In a new joint study, researchers with OpenAI and the MIT Media Lab […]
Scientists Create Sound That Can Curve Through a Crowd and Reach Just One Person
By Futurism Published on March 23, 2025 Consider, for your listening pleasure, the next frontier in sonic miracles: so-called “audible enclaves,” where only you can hear a sound without disturbing anyone else in open space — no headphones required. As developed by a team of researchers at Penn State, whose findings are […]