James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Kyndi raises $20 million for its ‘explainable AI’ platform
Silicon Valley-based artificial intelligence startup Kyndi Inc. announced today that it has closed a $20 million funding round. In a blog post, the company said it will use the Series B round to expand its team, in particular the sales and engineering teams. The round was led by Intel Capital, with UL Ventures and PivotNorth Capital, previous ...
Instagram strikes back at bullying with novel new anti-abuse features
Facebook Inc.-owned Instagram announced Thursday some new anti-bullying features the company hopes will drastically reduce abuse on the platform. In a blog post, the company said it has invested heavily over the years in artificial intelligence that can sometimes spot abuse after it happens. It hasn’t always been enough, though, and Instagram has found itself ...
British Airways looking at record $230M fine over last year’s data breach
The Information Commissioner’s Office today announced that British Airways could be fined £183.39 million ($230 million) for a data breach that occurred last year. At the time it was said the hack involved “malicious software on a customer support product hosted by an external supplier.” An investigation ensued, with the company waiting to see what ...
Appeals court rules Amazon liable for defective products from outside vendors
A federal court in Philadelphia ruled Wednesday that Amazon.com Inc. can be held liable for defective products that have been sold by outside vendors. Such a ruling could have profound consequences for Amazon, given that a huge part of its business is other companies selling products through its Marketplace. They can use Amazon’s warehouses for storage, ...
Amazon admits Alexa voice recordings are kept indefinitely
Users of Amazon.com Inc.’s voice assistant Alexa might have more concerns about their privacy after the firm this week admitted that voice data and transcripts are never deleted unless the customer does so — and even then, some data is never erased. The revelation came after U.S. Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, sent a ...
Facebook is cracking down on content containing dubious health claims and miracle cures
Facebook Inc. announced today that it will curb the spread of content on the platform that contains health-related information not been grounded in proper science. The move follows an investigative report by The Wall Street Journal today that revealed Facebook and YouTube were “flooded” with “scientifically dubious and potentially harmful information.” In a blog post ...
US military will equip soldiers in Afghanistan with tiny pocket drones
Some U.S. soldiers soon heading to Afghanistan will be equipped with a new pocket-sized toy, a surveillance drone called the Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance System. On their deployment in Afghanistan, the 1st Battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment will begin testing the drones so they can figure out how best they ...
Website that uses AI to undress women is down because it’s too popular
On Wednesday this week you could have gone to a website called Deepnude.com and looked under the clothes of a fully dressed woman. On Thursday the site was down. That website used artificial intelligence to give people a glimpse of what others might look like without any clothes. All visitors had to do was upload ...
Facebook is reviewing its ‘deep fake’ video policy
Deep fakes are a serious threat and something has to be done to protect people from them, Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday. Zuckerberg (pictured) said with artificial intelligence getting better, “we need to be very careful” in regards to these fake videos. He was speaking to a crowd on Wednesday at the ...
New bill would force big tech companies to show how much they make from user data
Senators Mark Warner and Josh Hawley are introducing a bill today that will force companies such as Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Google LLC to reveal how much money they make from monetizing their customers’ data. As reported first Sunday evening by Axios, the senators, who have both been outspoken in the past about what ...