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This week, Figma CEO Dylan Field said the company would temporarily disable its “Make Design” AI feature after being accused of “heavily” training the tool on existing apps. The feature, unveiled at the company’s annual Config conference, was intended to jumpstart the design process by generating layouts and UI components from text prompts, but faced criticism after it appeared to mimic the layout of Apple’s Weather app.
This week, YouTube quietly rolled out a policy change that allows users to request the removal of AI-generated or other synthetic content that simulates their face or voice. The move marks a shift in thinking from YouTube, where the company now views deepfakes as a privacy issue, rather than just a content moderation issue.
Fisker has asked the Delaware bankruptcy court judge overseeing its bankruptcy case to approve the sale of its remaining inventory of all-electric Ocean SUVs. If approved, the company will be able to sell its finished electric vehicles to a New York-based vehicle leasing company for about $14,000 per vehicle, a steep drop from the $70,000 starting price some of them once commanded.
News
Twitter meets Myspace for Gen Z: Aiming to bring the “social” back into “social media,” a new app called noplace serves as a modern MySpace with colorful, customizable profiles — and it’s rocketed to the top of the App Store. Learn more
How to avoid AI-based scams: Generative AI has made online scams easier, cheaper, and even more convincing. We’ve put together a helpful guide on what you can do to protect yourself and your loved ones. Learn more
Turn off these stupid reactions during video calls: If you’ve ever seen thumbs up and confetti appear on your screen during a video call, you’re not alone. Here’s how to turn off this setting on your Apple devices. Learn more
Amazon Discontinues Astro for Business: Amazon has decided to discontinue its Astro for Business security robot just seven months after its launch, as the company shifts its focus to the home version of Astro. Learn more
A natural 1 for safety: Online role-playing and board game platform Roll20 has been the victim of a data breach that exposed the personal information of some users. The platform is currently informing users of the breach. Learn more
Cloudflare takes on AI bots: The publicly traded cloud services provider has launched a new free tool to prevent bots from extracting data from websites hosted on its platform to train AI models. Learn more
Is Gemini as good as Google claims? : Google has claimed its AI models can accomplish previously impossible tasks, such as summarizing multiple documents hundreds of pages long. But new research suggests the models aren’t as good as the company claims. Learn more
1 billion documents stolen and counting: This year has seen some of the largest and most damaging data breaches in recent history. From AT&T to Ticketmaster, here are the biggest data breaches of 2024 so far. Learn more
Analysis
A year of son: Threads, Meta’s Twitter alternative, just celebrated its first birthday. The social network has 175 million monthly active users, but it’s still trying to find its own voice. Threads isn’t as high-profile as X and isn’t as open as Mastodon or Bluesky, at least for now. Ivan Mehta reflects on the app’s first year and what it can learn from other social networks. Learn more
Supreme Court declares open season on regulators: In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court issued one of the most important decisions in its history on new technologies, overturning the 1984 case of Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. On paper, wetlands and the EPA seem to have little to do with technology, but as Devin Coldewey writes, the decision sets the stage for endless interference between regulators. Learn more
