James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Italy’s antitrust watchdog begins probe into Apple’s app market dominance
Italy’s antitrust watchdog announced today that it has launched an investigation into Apple Inc. for what it believes could be the iPhone maker’s abuse of its dominant position in the app market, a probe that follows similar European antitrust probes into American big tech. The watchdog, Italy’s Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, or ...
Wendy’s teams up with Google to release an AI chatbot that takes orders
Wendy’s International Inc. is partnering with Google LLC in the creation of a chatbot-powered drive-thru, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Amid what has become a generative AI boom of late, it comes as no surprise that a fast-food chain is playing with the idea of replacing human servers with bots. This first AI server, however, will ...
FTC wants to stop Meta from monetizing young people’s data
The Federal Trade Commission today shared some stern words with Meta Platforms Inc., accusing the company of breaching a child privacy protection order, adding that it’s time there was a “blanket prohibition” on Meta collecting the data of kids. The FTC, which has been something of a bête noire for Meta over the years, said ...
Co-founders of LinkedIn and Google DeepMind release a chatbot designed to get you through your day
The California-based company Inflection AI released to the public today the Pi chatbot, a talkative AI that’s designed to give people advice and be a friend rather than merely a tool to enhance work. Pi (for “personal intelligence”) was launched in March 2022 by Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of Alphabet Inc.’s DeepMind AI research unit, and ...
Researchers use AI combined with MRI to decode human thoughts
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have been using artificial intelligence in combination with fMRI scans to translate brain activity into continuous text. The results were published today in the Nature Journal under the title, “Semantic reconstruction of continuous language from non-invasive brain recordings.” The scientists explained how this is a non-invasive technique, ...
Tesla defense lawyers say Elon Musk’s past statements about autopilot safety could be deepfakes
A California judge today said that Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk should be questioned under oath over his claims about the company’s autopilot safety, after Musk’s lawyers argued that those comments could be deepfakes. After crashes in Tesla vehicles where it’s believed the drivers were using autopilot — some of whom died in ...
Bipartisan bill aims to ban kids under 13 from using social media
A bipartisan bill introduced today would stop anyone in the U.S. under 13 years of age from using social media as well as put limits on all young people from getting onto such platforms. The “Protecting Kids on Social Media Act,” is the brainchild of Senators Tom Cotton (R-Arizona), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), ...
UK bill aims to tackle big tech’s dominance in digital markets
The U.K. announced today that its Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill will crack down on the dominance of some of the world’s leading tech companies. Despite mammoth efforts by big tech to stop the bill from going through, their lobbying has not produced any significant changes. The U.K.’s watchdogs, including the all-new Digital Markets Unit, ...
Supreme Court to hear cases involving disputes over public officials blocking people on social media
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear two First Amendment rights cases in which public officials blocked people on their social media accounts. The cases both related to a case involving former president Donald Trump, in which he argued that he should have the right to block people on his Twitter account. Trump argued that since ...
The purge of Twitter’s blue checkmarks has begun
Today was the end of an era for many people when they discovered that Twitter Inc. owner Elon Musk had finally made good on his promise to remove the platform’s blue checkmarks. It has been known for a while this was coming, although Musk’s plan to take away people’s precious verification badges of honor has ...