James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
A man is playing video games again after Neuralink’s second successful brain implant surgery
Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface company, Neuralink Corp., announced today a successful surgery in what is now its second human implant. This follows the first success back in January this year, a milestone for Neuralink, which has been talking about hooking human brains up with computers since it was founded in 2017. Hundreds of millions of ...
Google inks controversial deal with California’s lawmakers to fund local news
Google LLC and the state of California have agreed to a deal under which the tech giant will commit $172.5 million to fund local journalism over the next five years while some of the money will be set aside for artificial intelligence development in the state. The deal comes after months of dispute between lawmakers ...
US judge blocks FTC’s ban on noncompete clauses
A federal judge in Texas today derailed the Federal Trade Commission’s ban on noncompete agreements, blocking the ban from taking effect in September as planned. In a 27-page opinion, District Judge Ada Brown said that the FTC didn’t have the authority to make such decisions, calling the rule “arbitrary and capricious.” Brown added that the ...
ALS sufferer ‘speaks’ for first time in years with groundbreaking brain implant
Scientists at the University of California at Davis have helped a man to speak again using a brain chip that can interpret his brain signals to read them aloud using artificial intelligence to mimic the man’s real voice. In 2023, Casey Harrell was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. The disease ...
X slammed for lack of guardrails on Grok image generation
As Elon Musk’s xAI Corp. debuted two new language models today, they’re already under the spotlight for appearing to push the limits of freedom of speech. Though Musk announced today that Grok is “the most fun AI in the world!”, the image generator, available only to paid subscribers of X, has caused something of a ...
EU Commissioner just warned Elon Musk over dangerous content and it backfired badly
EU Commissioner Thierry Breton shared words with X Corp. owner Elon Musk yesterday, reminding him that Musk and X have a responsibility to adhere to the EU’s Digital Services Act, or DSA. Breton’s strongly worded missive to Musk sent yesterday was sent in response to what he called the “risk of amplification of potentially harmful ...
Advertising coalition disbands after lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X
The coalition of advertisers described by X Corp. owner Elon Musk as a “cabal” has shut down after X hit it with a lawsuit earlier this week. The group, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, or GARM, was formed in 2019 by the World Federation of Advertisers, or WFA, in an effort to encourage boycotts ...
UK government clashes with X’s Elon Musk over hate speech and misinformation
Following protests and riots on the streets of England this week, officials in the British government have condemned X Corp. and its owner Elon Musk for stoking the flames of discontent. In an interview with The Times newspaper published today, Peter Kyle, Britain’s secretary of science, innovation, and technology, said Musk “is accountable to no ...
X goes to war with advertisers over boycott
Elon Musk’s X Corp., which has long felt that the pulling away of advertisers from the platform over hate speech concerns is unfair, today fought back and launched a lawsuit against a number of firms. The lawsuit claims that certain members of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, or GARM, have breached antitrust laws by ...
X is leaving San Francisco but will stay in Silicon Valley
Elon Musk’s X Corp. is closing down its flagship office in San Francisco, although the new location for the office won’t be quite as far as Texas, as Musk had threatened last month. In July, after California Governor Gavin Newsom enacted the SAFETY ACT, legislation designed to protect LGBTQ+ students, Musk announced that this was the ...
