James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
OpenAI to make ChatGPT less creepy after app is accused of being ‘dangerously’ sycophantic
OpenAI has pulled a ChatGPT update that users complained had turned the chatbot into a sycophantic yes-man unable to offer intelligent criticism. The company admitted that a recent GPT‑4o update was “overly flattering or agreeable” and that users can now use an older version “with more balanced behavior.” Though some customers might have enjoyed a ...
Congress passes Take It Down Act to combat deepfakes
The Take It Down Act, legislation that criminalizes the publication of nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfake videos and images, passed the House today and is already on its way to President Trump’s desk. “The Senate just passed the Take It Down Act,” Trump said in March. “Once it passes the House, I look forward to signing ...
Former OpenAI staff and AI experts ask Attorneys General to block for-profit conversion
Former employees of OpenAI, along with 30 artificial intelligence experts, have published an open letter that is asking the attorneys general in California and Delaware to stop the company from restructuring into a “for-profit benefit corporation.” Nobel laureate and former Google Brain leader Geoffrey Hinton has joined forces with fellow AI pioneers Yoshua Bengio and ...
Instagram co-founder supports FTC’s case in landmark Meta monopoly trial
Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom today testified in the Meta Platforms Inc. antitrust trial, supporting the Federal Trade Commission’s contention that Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg bought Instagram because he saw it as a “threat.” After then-Facebook Inc. acquired Instagram in 2012, tensions between Zuckerberg and Systrom built until the latter resigned in 2018. In court today, ...
Foreign students face deportation under Trump immigration crackdown
An AI doctoral student in California told TechCrunch in a report published today that his immigration status in the U.S. is currently under threat after spending a decade in the country — just one of about 1,000 international students whose visas have been revoked recently. The actions have been seen by some as having a ...
Mark Zuckerberg tried to negotiate settlement with FTC in landmark antitrust trial but failed
Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg put $450 million on the table late in March, hoping it would be enough to settle its antitrust case with the Federal Trade Commission, according to The Wall Street Journal. According to people familiar with the matter who spoke with The Journal on the condition of anonymity, the ...
Trump orders DOJ to investigate pair who disputed his allegation of election fraud
President Donald Trump today ratcheted up his efforts to go after his critics, telling the Justice Department to investigate well-respected cybersecurity expert Chris Krebs, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency or CISA, as well as a whistleblower, “Anonymous” author Miles Taylor. “I think he’s guilty of treason if you want to know ...
Tariffs on China to increase to 104% as White House talks about building iPhones in the US
Tariffs on Chinese products are set to rise to at least 104% today after President Trump warned the U.S. would strike back, following China retaliating with its own tariff increase. China vowed to “fight to the end,” introducing a retaliatory tariff package after which Trump said he’d tack 50% more onto the 54%. “It was a ...
Court rules UK Home Office’s legal battle with Apple over data must be conducted in public
The U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal today rejected a bid from the Home Office to keep an ongoing case against Apple Inc. over iPhone users’ encrypted data away from the eyes of the public. The Home Office is fighting to access information secured by Apple’s Advanced Data Protection or ADP system, citing the Investigatory Powers Act, which ...
Report: X could be looking at $1B fine from EU over illicit content and misinformation
Regulators in Europe are considering fining Elon Musk’s X Corp. $1 billion, according to a report in the New York Times today. The report is based on information provided to the Times by four insiders who each declined to give their names or get into the specifics of a current investigation. The broader allegation is ...
