James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Seriously? Footwear brand Allbirds says it has just transformed into an AI business
In a surprising and perhaps ridiculous turn of events, the struggling sneaker company that once tried to make shoes eco-sustainable announced today that it has metamorphosed into artificial intelligence firm. The San Francisco-based company, once valued at $4 billion, said it would “pivot its business” to “AI compute infrastructure,” completely abandoning footwear and now with ...
Florida AG opens probe into ChatGPT alleging connection to FSU shooting
Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier announced today that his office will open a probe into OpenAI Group PBC over a number of concerns including alleged harm to children, threats to national security, and a possible connection to a mass shooting at Florida State University last year. Uthmeier announced the investigation earlier on X, where he ...
Appeals court rejects Anthropic’s bid to block Pentagon blacklisting
A federal appeals court in Washington DC today rejected Anthropic PBC’s request for a stay in its lawsuit against the Department of Defense. A panel of three judges said the artificial intelligence company had failed to meet the strict requirements for an emergency stay in the case. Anthropic has sued the DOD in two separate ...
Judge issues block on Pentagon’s label of Anthropic as supply chain risk
A U.S. judge today temporarily blocked the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic PBC after the Department of Defense last month designated the company a “supply chain risk” over disagreements over how it intends to use its chatbot Claude. The spat originated after Anthropic won a contract to provide the Pentagon with access to its Claude series ...
Meta is laying off hundreds of staff across multiple divisions
Meta Platforms Inc. today began laying off hundreds of employees, with the company’s Reality Labs virtual reality division hit the hardest. It’s believed the number of staff who will find themselves without a job could number as many as 700, as Meta bets big on artificial intelligence and winds down its efforts to get its customers ...
Meta ordered to pay $375 million in major child safety trial
A jury today found Meta Platforms Inc. violated New Mexico law in a “historic” case that accused the company of misleading consumers about the safety of its platforms and failing to protect children from exploitation. “The jury’s verdict is a historic victory for every child and family who has paid the price for Meta’s choice ...
Jeff Bezos is planning to raise $100 billion to speed up manufacturing automation
Jeff Bezos has reportedly been traveling around the Middle East and Southeast Asia trying to raise in the region of $100 billion to transform major industries with artificial intelligence. As first reported today by the Wall Street Journal, Bezos has met with some of the region’s largest asset managers and presented prospective investors with a plan ...
Court rules Perplexity’s AI bots can stay on Amazon
A U.S. appeals court has suspended a California judge’s order that had barred Perplexity AI Inc. from using its artificial intelligence-powered shopping agent, Comet, on Amazon.com Inc.’s marketplace. The reprieve was issued by a two-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. How long it will last isn’t certain. Circuit Judges Eric Miller and ...
Teens launch lawsuit against xAI over Grok deepfakes
Three Tennessee teenagers launched a lawsuit today against Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok for allegedly generating sexually explicit deepfake images of them without their consent. Earlier this year, X Corp. met with widespread criticism after reports emerged saying there had been a proliferation of deepfake sexualized images being promulgated on various platforms, images generated by ...
Grammarly shuts down ‘Expert Review’ after pushback from the real experts
After lighting the ire of journalists, academics, and authors this week, Superhuman Platform Inc. this week pulled a feature from Grammarly that impersonated writers. The “Expert Review” let users of Grammarly improve their writing by selecting from a roster of “leading professionals, authors, and subject-matter experts,” whose artificial-intelligence-generated advice imitated the style and judgment of ...