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

UK coalition of creatives rejects government plan on AI copyright exemption

A coalition of publishers, news media, musicians, photographers and film producers has rejected a proposal issued earlier this week by the U.K. government to allow artificial intelligence companies to train their large language models on their content if they don’t opt out. Since the rise of generative AI, tech companies have found themselves in legal tangles with the artists who ...

EU opens probe into TikTok over possible Russian interference in Romanian election

Regulators in the European Union today announced they’ve opened an investigation into TikTok for possible breaches of the Digital Services Act, DSA, by failing to prevent foreign interference in the recent Romanian presidential election. The second round of the vote didn’t go through earlier this month after intelligence showed that 25,000 TikTok accounts suddenly became ...

TikTok CEO meets with Trump as company hopes Supreme Court will block upcoming ban

President-elect Donald Trump today met with TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, to discuss the app being banned in the U.S. over security risks. Prior to the meeting, Trump said at a press conference he had “a warm spot” for the Chinese app, saying, “We’ll take a look” ...

Character.AI sued over slew of harmful chatbot messages sent to children

A lawsuit today was launched against Google LLC-funded chatbot service Character.AI Inc. it’s alleging the chatbot groomed children and induced them into committing violence and self-harm. The suit follows another one against the company in October by a Florida mother who claimed her 14-year-old son’s suicide was a consequence of his addiction to one of the hyperrealistic ...

TikTok makes a last stand as it asks for emergency pause on US ban

Chinese social media app TikTok today asked a court for an emergency injunction to prevent it from becoming unavailable to U.S. users next month. Last Friday, the company lost an appeal to save its existence in the U.S. when it argued in an appeals court that the ban signed into legislation earlier in 2024 is ...

Waymo’s driverless taxis are coming to Miami

Alphabet Inc.-owned Waymo LLC announced today that its continued expansion of robotaxi services into U.S. cities will now include Miami, Florida, where it will set up shop in 2026. The fleet of driverless taxis will take to the streets first in 2025 with a human test driver at the wheel, after which the full driverless ...

Trump nominates Gail Slater to lead antitrust at DOJ and crypto backer Paul Atkins for head of SEC

President-elect Donald Trump today picked Big Tech critic Gail Slater to become the assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice in a slew of nominations that also included crypto-friendly Paul Atkins as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Slater served Trump during his first presidential term as a tech ...

Biden administration hits out at China’s chip industry with export controls

The Biden administration today announced new restrictions on advanced chip technology that can be exported to China in a further effort to curb the country’s ambitions in artificial intelligence and the development of high-end military technology. According to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, the new export controls will see over 100 Chinese ...

Australian Senate bill means under 16s will be banned from using social media

Australian lawmakers today approved a landmark ban on social media for children under 16 in an attempt to address the negative impact of various apps on young people’s physical and mental health. The world-first ban will affect most major platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Snapchat and Reddit, although Google LLC-owned YouTube hasn’t made the ...

TikTok to block beauty filters over mental health concerns among the young

The embattled Chinese social media app TikTok has said that over the coming weeks it will start blocking beauty filters after growing research showing that transforming one’s face from its reality causes anxiety and issues with self-esteem, adding to the mental health crisis affecting the young. It’s long been known – and let’s face it, ...