James Farrell

James Farrell is the former editor-in-chief of Chiang Mai CityNews, where he wrote and managed daily news, features, op-eds and blogs on a diverse range of topics. Prior to this, in the same city of Northern Thailand where he lives, he was the longstanding deputy editor of the monthly magazine Citylife. He has written on culture, politics, travel, tech, business, human rights, for local, national, and international news services and magazines. He has a keen interest in the role technology is playing in the transformation of society, culture and politics, especially in developing nations. This is reflected in his not-so-successful first novel.

Latest from James Farrell

Trump will push TikTok sale deadline another 90 days

President Donald Trump will grant the popular short-video app TikTok another temporary reprieve so it has time to find a buyer to remain operating in the U.S., according to the White House today. The app, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance Ltd., has been at the center of national security concerns for years. Following legislation ...

Meta files lawsuit against AI firm behind fake nonconsensual nude images

Meta Platforms Inc. announced today that it’s suing a company that advertised generative artificial intelligence apps on Meta’s platforms that enabled users to “nudify” people from a clothed image. The lawsuit, launched in Hong Kong against Joy Timeline HK Ltd., states that the company consistently tried to circumvent Meta’s review process by advertising the CrushAI ...

Disney and NBC Universal take ‘copyright free-rider’ Midjourney to court over alleged plagiarism

The Walt Disney Co. and NBC Universal Media LLC today announced they have joined forces in a lawsuit against artificial intelligence image creator Midjourney Inc., the lawsuit calling the company a “bottomless pit of plagiarism.” The complaint, filed in a U.S. District Court in central California, follows a slew of lawsuits in which creators of ...

Uber will bring robotaxis to London in 2026

London’s famed black cabs will be joined by autonomous taxis early next year when Uber Technologies Inc. links up with British artificial intelligence firm Wayve Technologies Ltd. in Uber’s first pilot scheme for robotaxis. With Google LLC’s Waymo currently leading the pack where robotaxis are concerned, Uber is playing catch-up, as is Tesla Inc., which ...

After cars destroyed in protests, Waymo suspends operations in parts of LA and San Francisco

Google LLC-owned Waymo has suspended operations in downtown Los Angeles and is doing the same in part of San Francisco after protesters against President Trump’s immigration policies vandalized and set fire to a number of its cars. In L.A. on Sunday, one of several U.S. cities where Waymo’s robotaxis currently operate, at least five cars ...

XAI’s chatbot Grok just went on the fritz and couldn’t stop talking about white genocide in South Africa

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok had a funny turn over the last few days when it started responding to random questions with information about violence against white people in South Africa, which some people have controversially alleged is a “white genocide.” In some cases, the X user was merely asking a question about sports. In ...

After backlash, US scraps Biden administration’s curb on AI chip exports

The Trump administration is planning to overhaul regulations set by the Biden administration that would limit how many artificial intelligence chips countries can purchase from the U.S. The regulations, which were to go into effect May 15, were designed to limit AI advancement in certain nations – “non-trusted actors” – with an emphasis on ensuring ...

Meta and NSO court battle over WhatsApp hack ends with Meta winning $167M in damages

Israeli cybersecurity company NSO Group Technologies Ltd. today was ordered to pay $167 million in damages to Meta, ending a six-year court battle after NSO was accused of installing spyware on journalists’ and activists’ WhatsApp accounts. “Today’s verdict in WhatsApp’s case is an important step forward for privacy and security as the first victory against the ...

Waymo will double robotaxi production at new plant in Arizona

Alphabet Inc.-owned Waymo LLC said today it will double robotaxi production in partnership with auto parts maker Magna International Inc. at a new plant in Mesa, Arizona, by 2026. The company currently has 1,500 commercial robotaxis on the streets, operating in the cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin, together providing about 250,000 ...

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 ...