Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has confirmed a setback with its second plant in Arizona delayed by up to two years, while the company is still waiting on certainty over US government grants.

It is another blow for the $40 billion site after news broke in July that the first factory will not be up and running until 2025, as reported by Bloomberg.

TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor chip foundry, is aiming to start second phase operations in 2027 or 2028, which is also a disappointment to the Biden administration in the White House in its aspirations to boost the manufacturing of key components on US soil.

The first site will only commence the production of 4-nanometer chips next year with labor and cost factors cited by the company in the announcement last year.

“Our overseas decisions are based on customer needs and the necessary level of government subsidy, or support,” stated chairman Mark Liu.

At TSMC’s earnings conference in Taipei on Thursday, its chief financial officer Wendell Huang added the decision on the second factory comes as a consequence of delays to the first plant.

Delays to US government funding

Taiwan’s flagship company is locked in talks with the US government on incentives and tax credits, whilst still facing challenges in hiring its workforce. Decisions on grants are set to influence the scale of advances at the second location which is also up against the clock.

TSMC has intimated a delay of two years could result in a one-generation evolution of semiconductor tech.

Incumbent US President Joe Biden passed the Chips and Science Act into law more than one year ago but the legislation aimed to inject billions of dollars toward the likes of TSMC and Intel for further US expansion has yet to yield any subsidies.

The situation is likely to be a source of frustration for the iconic chipmaker given that TSMC has already received funds from the Japanese government for a lesser project in Kumamoto, which was unveiled after the Arizona plan.

Production at the site in Japan is anticipated to get underway later this year.

Image credit, pixabay, pexels.com

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Falling in place alongside OpenAI and Google’s stated goals, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has acknowledged that artificial general intelligence (AGI) is the direction Meta’s research is heading, in an interview with The Verge. Meta recently restructured its AI teams, combining its responsible AI research team with its generative department.

As for what artificial general intelligence is, Zuckerberg can’t really define it: “I don’t have a one-sentence, pithy definition. You can quibble about if general intelligence is akin to human-level intelligence, or is it like human-plus, or is it some far-future super intelligence. But to me, the important part is actually the breadth of it, which is that intelligence has all these different capabilities where you have to be able to reason and have intuition.”

See? Crystal clear. A very simplistic definition of AGI is it refers to machines that can learn and reason across a broad range of domains at the level of the human mind or beyond.

Just in case you don't want to click over to the other sites, Big Zuck update

– Open sourcing will continue
– Currently training LLama 3
– AI + Metaverse
– Will have 350,000 H100s and ~600 H100 equivalents of compute
-Ideal AI formfactor is pic.twitter.com/xJSi7yVzXe

— Alex Volkov (Thursd/AI) (@altryne) January 18, 2024

In the interview, Zuckerberg acknowledges talent as one of the key limiting factors in AI research. “We’ve come to this view that, in order to build the products that we want to build, we need to build for general intelligence. I think that’s important to convey because a lot of the best researchers want to work on the more ambitious problems.”

“We’re used to there being pretty intense talent wars,” he says. “But there are different dynamics here with multiple companies going for the same profile, [and] a lot of VCs and folks throwing money at different projects, making it easy for people to start different things externally.”

One thing that Zuckerberg isn’t worried about losing out on though is computing power. AI development and research take an exceptionally high level of computing power, and Meta is prepared to meet the challenge with over 340,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs. Nvidia has emerged as a leader in AI chips.

“We have built up the capacity to do this at a scale that may be larger than any other individual company,” said Zuckerberg.

As Meta set out to develop Llama 3, Meta hopes to continue its trend of what Zuckerberg calls “responsible open sourcing”. He acknowledges that Llama 2 was not a leading AI model, but wants Llama 3 to be. “Our ambition is to build things that are at the state of the art and eventually the leading models in the industry.”

Featured image credit: Julio Lopez/Pexels

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Until now, users needed 1,000 followers on TikTok to access its live-streaming features. Now, however, any user who is a “LIVE creator on another platform with a stable live-streaming history” can apply to live stream on TikTok.

The criteria TikTok is basing this on seem nebulous and non-specific. The page states that each application will be evaluated based on the “influence you have” and the “quality of your LIVE content on other platforms”. Any user who is approved will be able to live stream on TikTok from both LIVE Studio and PC or console.

Essentially this means that anyone who has a history of streaming on a platform like Twitch or YouTube can apply to stream on TikTok without meeting the previous 1,000 follower minimum requirement.

TikTok appears to be letting any gamers, regardless of follower count, apply to access streaming on TikTok Live, as long as they have a stable history of streaming on another platform.https://t.co/s8axqdu33R#StreamerNews #TOSgg pic.twitter.com/XFlzHLeQqB

— Zach Bussey (@zachbussey) January 18, 2024

What are the requirements to renew access?

If you get approved for TikTok live streaming, it will only last 14 days initially. However, access will be automatically renewed for 180 days if:

• You haven’t had your access revoked through breaching TikTok’s community guidelines
• You have gone live on TikTok for more than 25 minutes at least twice during the first 14 days

Then after the 180 days elapse, you’ll be automatically renewed for another 180 days if:

• You have gone live on TikTok for more than 25 minutes at least three times during the past 30 days

How to stream on TikTok from PC

1. Download TikTok LIVE Studio and install it on your PC
2. Login with your TikTok login information
3. If you’ve never streamed from your PC before, you can use the “set up now” option, which walks you through setting up microphone and camera
4. If you’ve streamed using another tool such as OBS, you can import settings to TikTok studio
5. Set up the settings you want when the Settings dialogue pops up. Setting video quality to 1080p will allow viewers to have a better experience than a lower quality if your PC can handle it.
6. Finally, the Scene Setting window will pop up. Choose ‘Fullscreen desktop’ to stream just your game, or ‘Fullscreen desktop and camera’ if you want to show your face. Showing your face helps viewers connect with you so is generally worth doing.
7. You’re ready to go live! Hit the ‘Broadcast LIVE’ button and give your stream a name then press ‘Go LIVE’.

After TikTok’s parent company ByteDance closed down the Nuverse gaming brand in late 2023 it seemed that they were moving away from gaming as a primary part of their strategy. Opening up live streaming to a wider audience will certainly regain some of that lost ground.

Featured image credit: Alexander Shatov/ UnSplash

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Google has published several new features to its range of services, but only available to those in the EU.

Tech companies around the world are making changes to fall in line with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a bill that aims to make digital markets fairer and open. There are various new obligations that tech companies will need to adhere to, ranging from preventing the removal of pre-installed apps on their systems or stopping the tracking of end users outside of their core platforms without user consent.

Several improvements are on the way to Google services in particular along these lines, as announced in a recent blog. As the changes come into effect, EU Google users may start to some changes in how they look and function.

What changes are coming to Google services in the EU?

The changes are across four main areas: consent for link services, changes to search results, choice screens, and data portability.

At the moment, Google shares user data across certain products and services. In the next few weeks, the platform will present EU users with an additional consent banner to confirm whether this data can continue to be shared. It’s worth noting that if you don’t consent, some features will be limited or unusable but you can change your decision at any time.

For search results, many changes are coming to the results page, from grouping links to comparison sites from across the web to query shortcuts designed to help users find what they need faster. This will be especially applicable when comparing things like hotels or bookable services online, with extra information like price comparisons, images, and star ratings available to see directly from the results page.

According to the DMA, Google will also start to show additional choice screens on Android when setting up a device to make Chrome your default search engine, as well as on iOS for desktop devices.

Finally, EU users will be able to download or transfer a copy of their data from more than 80 Google products and services. This is to meet new requirements from the DMA around moving user data to a third-party app or service.

Featured image: PhotoMIX Company; Pexels

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Apple’s App Store will now allow developers to link outside payment platforms after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear its appeal in its legal battle with Epic Games.

The iPhone maker has updated its policy in the United States, letting developers bypass Apple’s own payment system, which charges a commission of either 15% or 30%. However, the tech giant said it would still attempt to collect a 12% or 27% revenue share that opts out of the Apple system.

Under the guidelines, developers can apply for an entitlement, allowing them to include buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than in-app purchases.

The guideline states, “Developers may apply for an entitlement to provide a link in their app to a website the developer owns or maintains responsibility for in order to purchase such items,” adding that the entitlement is limited to use only in the iOS or iPadOS App Store on the U.S. storefront.

The Supreme Court had declined to consider the Cupertino-based company’s challenge of lower-court rulings that found some of the store rules for apps purchased on more than one billion iPhones constitute unfair competition under California law. The justices also dismissed Epic’s secondary appeal, however, Apple’s stock fell more than 2% in early trading on Tuesday.

In a series of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said Apple’s plan remained anti-competitive. He added that the company would contest Apple’s “bad-faith compliance plan” in District Court.

A quick summary of glaring problems we've found so far:

1) Apple has introduced an anticompetitive new 27% tax on web purchases. Apple has never done this before, and it kills price competition. Developers can't offer digital items more cheaply on the web after paying a… pic.twitter.com/YkHuapG7xa

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) January 16, 2024

What did Apple do to Epic Games?

In 2020, Apple removed Epic’s Fortnite game from the App Store when Epic Games introduced an alternative in-game payment method, allowing players to bypass Apple’s 30% fee on in-app purchases. Google also responded by withdrawing Fortnite from the Play Store.

Epic subsequently filed a lawsuit alleging antitrust violations by Apple, claiming that the company had unlawfully monopolized the market. However, in 2021, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected Epic’s antitrust claims.

Featured Image: Pexels / Canva

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London-based startup Goodnotes, known for its notetaking services, has extended its reach by acquiring South Korean startup Dropthebit, the creator of Traw, a tool for meeting and video summaries. This acquisition enables Goodnotes to expand its offerings beyond the educational realm and create productivity tools targeting professionals. With Traw’s innovative technology integration, Goodnotes aims to revolutionize how teams collaborate and communicate by streamlining the meeting and video summaries process. This strategic acquisition is anticipated to strengthen the company’s global presence and attract a broader range of users, including businesses looking to improve their productivity and efficiency.

Following the acquisition, Dropthebit’s three co-founders will become part of the Goodnotes team, and Traw’s services will be discontinued in February. Current customers will be given the option to export their data before the closure. Integrating Dropthebit’s expertise and technology is expected to significantly improve Goodnotes’ digital note-taking capabilities, paving the way for a more seamless user experience. Goodnotes is committed to ensuring a smooth transition for Traw’s existing customers, including providing help and support for exporting data before the platform is shut down.

Dropthebit background and innovations

Established in 2020, Dropthebit initially concentrated on developing a whiteboard solution before focusing on meeting summarization and launching an AI-driven tool for summarizing and organizing YouTube videos in 2022. In just a short period, the company has successfully created a platform that enables users to extract critical insights and information from hours of online content quickly and efficiently. Dropthebit’s innovative solution has quickly gained recognition as a powerful tool in time management and knowledge acquisition within the growing educational and professional communities.

Goodnotes founder Steven Chan believes this progress complements the company’s existing products, which started as an iPad app in 2011 and now offer digital notebook-like solutions for students. In an interview, Chan emphasized the importance of seamless integration between physical and digital note-taking for enhancing students’ learning experiences. He also discussed how Goodnotes’ commitment to improving its software has been a significant factor in developing new features to better cater to the needs and preferences of instructors and students alike.

Incorporating Traw’s technology will allow Goodnotes to provide a “paperless digital notebook” for professionals. Currently, Goodnotes has over 24 million monthly active users, and this acquisition will enable the company to explore the transcription market and develop support for YouTube and in-house company videos.

Featured Image Credit: Ketut Subiyanto; Pexels

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With pivotal elections approaching in 2024 across major democracies, OpenAI has outlined its strategy for safeguarding its powerful large language and image models from being weaponized.

The artificial intelligence (AI) lab behind hugely popular generative AI products ChatGPT and DALL-E has over 180 million users and it continues to grow rapidly. The tools available on OpenAI’s GPT Store include software with the potential to be used nefariously to influence election campaigns. Synthetic media like AI-generated images, videos and audio can erode public trust and go viral via social platforms.

So with great power comes great responsibility and on Monday (Jan.15) the company outlined in a blog post how it would tackle the multitude of elections happening this year across the world.

Preventing abuse of OpenAI’s systems

A core focus is preemptively hardening AI systems against exploitation by bad actors through extensive testing, gathering user feedback during development, and encoding guardrails right into the foundation of models. Specifically for DALL-E, the image generator, rigid policies decline any image generation requests involving real people – including political candidates.

“We work to anticipate and prevent relevant abuse—such as misleading ‘deepfakes’, scaled influence operations, or chatbots impersonating candidates,” wrote OpenAI.

Strict usage rules also prohibit ChatGPT applications for propaganda, voter suppression tactics, or political impersonation bots.

Snapshot of how we’re preparing for 2024’s worldwide elections:

• Working to prevent abuse, including misleading deepfakes
• Providing transparency on AI-generated content
• Improving access to authoritative voting informationhttps://t.co/qsysYy5l0L

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) January 15, 2024

Humans brought into the fold

Here’s something you don’t read every day: humans are going to replace AI. Well, specifically, they will be used by OpenAI as fact-checkers through new transparency features that trace an AI creation back to its origins.  Digital watermarking and fingerprinting will verify DALL-E images, while news links and citations will appear more visibly within ChatGPT search responses. This expands on their previous partnership with Axel Springer, enabling ChatGPT to summarize select news content from the media publisher’s outlets.

The world’s flagship AI company hopes voters will benefit directly from OpenAI’s collaboration with nonpartisan voting agencies like the USA’s National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS). Furthermore, in the US, chatbot querying about any practical aspects of the nation’s voting process will surface official registration and polling details from CanIVote.org to cut through misinformation clutter.

Few would argue against any of these measures. The reality, however, is that as these tools exist there will always be some attempts by bad actors to abuse them for electoral purposes.

OpenAI is at least positioning itself to dynamically respond to the challenges it faces during election cycles.  Collaboration across Big Tech and with governments may be one of the only sustainable paths forward to tackle AI fakes and propaganda.

Featured Image: Unsplash

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Snapchat has become a predominant force in how young individuals, such as home-schooled teenager Jordyn Gilbert, engage and exchange information. For these users, Snapchat is crucial in preserving friendships and maintaining communication. Snapchat streaks, in particular, have become an integral aspect of the platform’s appeal, fostering a sense of competition and camaraderie among peers. As a result, the importance of Snapchat in young people’s social lives cannot be understated.

Snapchat+ and its purpose

In July 2022, Snapchat launched a subscription-based service called Snapchat+ for $3.99 per month. This service aims to enhance the overall user experience and promote deeper connections among friends using the app. The application aims to positively impact users’ emotions during their daily interactions on the platform by providing minor improvements and features like the Friend Solar System.

The Friend Solar System feature uses a planetary metaphor to depict users’ connections with their Snapchat friends. The frequency of user interactions and their distance from the sun determine the position of their planets. As users engage more frequently with certain friends, their planets appear closer to the sun, indicating a stronger connection. Conversely, less frequent interactions push planets further from the sun, signifying a more distant or weaker relationship.

Emotional implications of the Friend Solar System

For users like Jordyn Gilbert, visualizing their connections can result in emotional distress when realizing that a previously strong bond, such as with a crush, has weakened. The metaphorical position of Neptune, the furthest planet from the sun, represents this. However, this visualization can also foster a greater appreciation for people who have become increasingly important in users’ lives, as those individuals appear closer to the sun and are, therefore, more significant.

Users of the Friend Solar System must be careful when interpreting these changes, as it is essential to strike a balance between self-awareness and the emotional impact of changing connections.

The influence of apps on emotional health

The example of Snapchat and the Friend Solar System highlights the potential impact of app features on users’ emotional health. This raises concerns about the role of apps in young people’s lives and the possible adverse effects on mental well-being. To ensure that apps do not inadvertently contribute to mental health issues, developers and stakeholders must thoroughly evaluate these implications and address any concerns.

A better understanding of the potential effects of app features on users can be reached by promoting open discussions and collaborative efforts between app creators, users, and mental health experts. This collaboration can lead to implementing safety measures that foster positive experiences and responsible usage, particularly among young users, ensuring that apps such as Snapchat continue to offer an enjoyable and beneficial platform for maintaining connections and nurturing relationships.

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Sanket Mishra; Pexels

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The UN has warned that Tether is one of the payment methods increasingly favored by money launderers.

Tether is an established cryptocurrency with a token, also known as Tether, which is attracting significant concern due to activity around Southeast Asia in particular. The token, at its most basic level,
is a type of digital money that tries to maintain the same value as the US dollar.

The UN’s Office for Drugs and Crime has detailed how criminals are duping victims with romance scams, leading to ‘pig butchering’ – a term used to describe how people are misled and enticed under false pretenses with the promise of lucrative returns before the funds are taken away reports The Financial Times.

In December, security authorities in the United States seized digital currency worth around $500,000 from an account linked to a Chinese businessman.

What is the UN saying about Tether?

UN spokesman Jeremy Douglas stated, “Organised crime has effectively created a parallel banking system using new technologies, and the proliferation of loosely or entirely unregulated online casinos together with crypto has supercharged the region’s criminal ecosystem.”

Tether has been highlighted because of its instant, irreversible form of transactions.

This was backed by Erin West, a California-based criminal prosecutor and cybercrime expert who stated, “Tether is the mechanism of choice, it’s fast and transactions cannot be retracted. Once the money is moved, it’s moved. You can’t pull it back.”

West continued, “You’re creating a situation where victims are blinded by love, coupled with the opportunity to get rich quickly. They’re being asked to buy something that they’re not familiar with, and prior to cryptocurrency there weren’t many opportunities to do that.”

Tether’s digital token of the same name is a stablecoin, a crypto asset that usually tracks a hard currency to maintain the price. The platform allows traders to move in and out of trades as, unlike others such as Bitcoin, it is pegged to the US dollar.

Although US law enforcement has embraced a crackdown on digital assets in its jurisdiction and overseas, criminals are still utilizing Tether as a successful means of moving money.

Image credit, RDNE Stock Project, pexels.com

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Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has stated the live-streaming platform is not profitable, just days after news broke on significant job cuts impacting around 500 employees.

The Amazon subsidiary is also pulling out of South Korea as financial pressures continue to mount against the embattled company. Last month, “prohibitively expensive” costs were cited as the reason for the departure from the Korean market, which is said to be ten times higher than operations in other countries.

Clancy has been frank about the situation facing Twitch, but as reported by GGRecon, he warned that things could get worse and offered a rationale on why the staff cuts were necessary.

“I’ll be blunt, we aren’t profitable at this point,” he said.

“So while [Twitch] still has enough resources, [we] won’t be able to do as much as [we] could have done before.”

Important mission ahead

Despite the size and scale of the resources enjoyed by its parent company, that is not enough to guarantee the future of Twitch. It is also not benefitting from its position as a market leader within live streaming, highlighting the challenges Clancy and his peers face to turn around its fortunes.

On losing 35% of the platform’s workforce, the CEO commented:

“In terms of making the decision, we need to ensure Twitch is the right size so we can be here for a long time.”

“We have a very important mission. It’s critical Twitch is not just here today, tomorrow, but 50 years, 100 years from now. Our job is to run Twitch in a manner to ensure its prosperity and that it can be here for the communities you’ve built.”

The stress fractures are showing, and Twitch is under pressure. That is clear, but the streaming giant should still be able to navigate these uncharted waters toward a calmer vista.

Rival platforms like Kick and Rumble will be watching on with interest, seeking to create more than a ripple in the sea.

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Pixar, a subsidiary of Disney, is the latest in a long line of firms facing layoffs in 2024, reports TechCrunch. Initial reports suggested that the layoffs could be as much as 20% of Pixar’s workforce, but Pixar has since denied that it will be that many.

The scope of the layoffs and the number of staff who will be affected is being decided based on production schedules and future films that have already been greenlit.

According to insiders, Pixar was required to hire additional staff to bolster its workforce on streaming content for Disney+. As these shows complete production, the studio has more staff than necessary and cuts are inevitable. Disney’s streaming division is yet to turn a profit, despite multiple new Pixar releases being straight-to-streaming.

Disney CEO Bob Iger told investors during a recent earnings call that Disney+ is expected to become profitable by Q4 2024. Iger put this down to restructuring, which “enabled tremendous efficiencies.”

From cinema to streaming and back to cinema

‘Elemental’, Pixar’s most recent film, was considered to be a box-office flop, bringing in just $29.5 million during its opening weekend. However, it went on to be successful and profitable, making its mark as the most-watched film on Disney+ during the quarter it was released.

Analysts believe that the release of several huge Pixar movies (such as ‘Soul’ and ‘Turning Red’) on Disney+ instead of in cinemas has “trained audiences to expect big, hot Pixar content at home.” Speaking to TechCrunch, Brandon Katz of Parrot Analytics continued, “Retraining the audience to re-embrace the theatrical experience and prioritize that…takes time.”

As well as this consumer habit shift, Katz mentioned the other changes undergoing audience behavior, which include a move away from sequels. In the 2010s, pre-established IPs were popular with audiences, requiring lower effort marking and coming with pre-established buy-in from fans. Now though, franchise fatigue is plaguing audiences.

The race to streaming profitability will be a driving force for companies in 2024, with mergers and buyouts abound. However, a spate of layoffs has plagued the tech industry and does not look to be stopping. It is a tumultuous time as a whole and staff everywhere will be uneasy at the continued job cuts.

Earlier today (Jan.12), the communication platform Discord released plans to lay off 170 staff.

Featured image credit: Disney/Pixar

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The communication platform Discord reportedly plans to lay off 170 staff.

This amounts to 17% of its workforce. CEO Jason Citron said in an internal memo obtained by The Verge that this move is designed to  “sharpen our focus and improve the way we work together to bring more agility to our organization.”

Like many tech companies popular with younger people, Discord saw its popularity soar during the pandemic. “We grew quickly and expanded our workforce even faster, increasing by 5x since 2020,” said Citron in the memo. He goes on to say that this caused them to become less efficient and means they need to sharpen their focus.

The platform, which is popular with gamers especially, is currently funded by venture capital and has yet to become profitable. It aims to bridge that gap this year. It had raised around $1 billion and still has over $700 million on hand, so does not appear to be in serious trouble yet.

There are rumors amongst the Discord layoffs that it is considering going public, but there is no sign of this happening any time soon. It turned down a $12 billion offer of acquisition by Microsoft in 2021.

Tech industry layoffs

Despite only being halfway through January, the Discord layoffs are not the only ones to be announced in 2024. The tech industry has been hit by several major rounds of job cuts already this year. Google laid off hundreds of staff this week, games platform Unity cut 25% of its workforce in a ‘restructure’, and Amazon-owned Twitch laid off 35% of its staff also this week. That is just a selection of the affected jobs. Many of the companies cite being unable to reach the highs they hit during the pandemic as a reason for this. They hired staff to keep up with a demand which is no longer there.

With Duolingo explicitly parting ways with contractors to focus on artificial intelligence (AI) generated translations, it has never been a more precarious time to work in technology. Small pockets of the gaming industry have had some success by unionizing, such as the group at Zenimax which negotiated the terms of AI use. This could be a continuing trend across an industry where workers have notoriously little power.

Featured image credit: Discord

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Livestreaming giant Twitch is set to announce significant staff cuts with around 500 employees to be axed due to financial pressures.

As reported by Bloomberg, “prohibitively expensive” costs were cited in the recent news that the streaming platform would end its operations in South Korea due to the sheer impact on the balance sheet of doing business in the Far East nation.

Amazon subsidiary Twitch is the most popular live video game streaming platform in the world. It enables interaction between content creators and their audiences and generates around 1.8 billion hours of live content per month.

In December 2023, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy confirmed the decision to pull out of the Korean market with part of the rationale stating costs were 10 times higher than in other territories. That news came in addition to the departure of several top executives at the company including its chief product officer, chief customer officer and chief content officer.

Fears over cuts will be exacerbated by this latest development on job losses which is said to impact 35% of Twitch’s workforce.

The Bloomberg report indicated that Twitch remains unprofitable despite its prominence, nine years after the Amazon acquisition although it has embraced advertising in recent times.

At the parent company, 2022 saw a whopping 27, 000 positions axed in what was thought to be its biggest-ever corporate job axe.

With official news expected as soon as Wednesday, it will put further pressure on Clancy’s shoulders as he aims to plug the losses at Twitch, with financial stress having a direct impact on staff numbers.

He has been seeking to build bridges with his platform’s influencers and personalities who make a living from live streaming, on matters such as the approach to advertising but he is said to be open to listening to the concerns of users.

After 400 job losses last year, a further cut of 500 roles represents a significant blow to Twitch’s operations amid its cost concerns which will make ripples across the vista of the live-streaming industry.

Meanwhile, X owner Elon Musk has said he wants to add new streaming features to his platform to compete directly with Twitch and its rivals.

Featured image: Pexels

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Meta, the tech conglomerate that owns Facebook and Instagram, has unveiled a major privacy update, marking a significant stride in teen user protection. This development emerges amid a series of lawsuits in the United States, prompting a need for stricter content control for younger users.

According to an Engadget report, the update is a comprehensive attempt by Meta to shield teenagers from exposure to harmful content on its platforms. In a pivotal change, users under 16 will no longer see content related to self-harm, graphic violence, and eating disorders in their Feeds and Stories on Instagram and Facebook. This restriction applies even to content shared by accounts they follow. Additionally, in a move to guide teens toward healthier content, searches for sensitive topics will redirect them to expert resources. This decision was informed by consultations with specialists in adolescent development, reflecting Meta’s commitment to responsible content moderation.

Expanding control settings for enhanced safety

In an unprecedented move, existing teenage users on Meta’s platforms will be automatically placed under the most restrictive control settings. This expansion of the previously implemented policy, which applied only to new users, introduces “Sensitive Content Control” on Instagram and “Reduce” on Facebook as mandatory features for users under 16.

Furthermore, Meta is rolling out notifications to direct teens toward updating their privacy settings to recommended levels. These settings are designed to enhance online safety, limiting who can repost, tag, or mention them. The updated controls also include mechanisms to block messages from non-followers and hide offensive comments, fortifying the digital barriers against potential online harassment.

This initiative is part of Meta’s ongoing efforts to create a safer online environment for its younger audience. Previously, the company had set a precedent by switching users under 16 to more restrictive content settings. It also introduced measures to prevent unsolicited contact from “suspicious” adults on Facebook and Instagram and limited ad targeting based on gender for teenage users.

The urgency for these measures has been highlighted by a spate of legal challenges against Meta. Notably, a collective complaint from 41 states accused the company of exacerbating mental health issues among young users. Seattle schools have filed a lawsuit over a youth mental health crisis, and a recent ruling requires social media companies to defend themselves in teen addiction lawsuits. Adding to the legal pressure, a complaint from 33 states alleges that Meta actively sought users under 13 and was not transparent about its handling of underage accounts when detected.

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YouTube is taking steps to combat cyberbullying and harassment on its platform by updating its policies to prohibit content that uses artificial intelligence to simulate minors and other crime victims narrating their own deaths or experiences of violence, as per The Verge. This move targets a disturbing trend in true crime content, where AI-generated voices, often childlike, are used to describe gruesome acts of violence in high-profile cases.

The emergence of this genre of content has raised serious ethical concerns, particularly among the families of victims who have been depicted in such videos. These AI-powered depictions, which realistically simulate the voices of minors and other victims, have been described as “disgusting” by those affected. YouTube’s policy update aims to address these concerns by removing such content from the platform and imposing penalties on creators who violate the new rules.

Under the updated policy, any content that violates these guidelines will result in a strike against the creator’s channel. This strike not only leads to the removal of the offending content but also imposes temporary restrictions on the user’s ability to interact with the platform. For instance, a first strike could prevent a user from uploading new videos for a week. Repeated violations within a 90-day period could lead to harsher penalties, including the potential removal of the channel from YouTube.

YouTube’s stance on synthetic content

The policy update comes as platforms like YouTube introduce AI-driven creation tools, necessitating new guidelines around synthetic content that could mislead or harm users. Other platforms, such as TikTok, now require creators to label AI-generated content. YouTube has also implemented a strict policy regarding AI voice clones of musicians, alongside a set of more lenient rules for other types of content.

YouTube’s decision to update its cyberbullying and harassment policies reflects a growing need to regulate AI-generated content, especially when it involves sensitive subjects like crime victims. By taking a firm stance against such disturbing content, YouTube is prioritizing the safety and dignity of individuals, particularly minors, and addressing the ethical challenges posed by advanced AI technologies in content creation.

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Getty Images, in collaboration with Nvidia, has launched the text-to-image platform Generative AI by iStock, according to The Verge. This innovative tool is set to transform how small and medium businesses access and utilize stock photos, offering a more efficient and precise solution for their visual content needs.

Generative AI by iStock, distinct from Getty Images’ multiuser enterprise solution, is specifically designed to cater to individual or single-seat users and is trained on Nvidia’s Picasso model. This platform exclusively utilizes Getty’s creative library and iStock’s stock photo library, deliberately excluding Getty’s editorial image library to avoid generating trademarks or known personalities.

Grant Farhall, Getty’s Chief Product Officer, emphasizes the platform’s ability to streamline workflows and provide highly specific images. For instance, users can prompt the AI to create unique scenarios, like penguins walking through a city street, to illustrate complex concepts such as climate change. This capability eliminates the logistical challenges and costs of traditional photography.

Generative AI by iStock offers affordability with pricing set at $14.99 for 100 prompts, each generating four images. This approach makes AI-generated stock photography accessible to a broader range of users, particularly benefiting smaller businesses with limited budgets.

Getty Images and Nvidia’s legal indemnity and revenue sharing for AI platform

While Generative AI by Getty Images offers unlimited indemnification, the iStock platform introduces a cap of $10,000 per asset, aligning with the license terms of its existing library. Additionally, customers can engage in a revenue-sharing program based on Getty’s traditional licensing revenue plan, fostering a collaborative and mutually beneficial relationship.

The platform is further enhanced with new features like Inpainting and Outpainting. Inpainting allows users to mask a section of an image and fill it with a person or object based on a text prompt. Outpainting, on the other hand, expands a photo to different aspect ratios, seamlessly filling in the new regions. These features offer users creative flexibility and adaptability for various applications.

Generative AI by iStock, powered by Nvidia, marks a significant leap in the stock photography industry. It not only simplifies the process of obtaining precise and tailored images but also opens up new creative possibilities for businesses of all sizes. As the platform evolves, it is poised to become an indispensable tool in the visual content creation landscape.

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The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from Elon Musk’s X Corp, previously known as Twitter, regarding the disclosure of user data requests by federal law enforcement for national security purposes, as per Reuters reporting. This decision upholds a lower court’s ruling that the FBI’s restrictions on public disclosure by the company do not violate the First Amendment’s free speech rights.

The origins of this legal battle date back to 2014, well before Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in 2022. The lawsuit emerged in the wake of Edward Snowden’s 2013 leaks, which revealed extensive U.S. government surveillance and spying activities. These revelations sparked a public outcry and led to tech giants, including Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms, pushing for more transparency about government data requests.

In response, the U.S. government, in 2014, relaxed its restrictions, allowing companies to disclose the frequency of national security-related data requests in broad ranges rather than exact numbers. This policy change was further cemented by Congress in 2015, permitting limited disclosure of national security letters and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act orders in increments ranging from 100 to 1,000.

However, X Corp sought to take transparency a step further by revealing the exact number of national security orders it received in a six-month period. The company prepared a draft report for the FBI’s review, intending to release this information publicly. The FBI, however, classified the report’s contents, preventing their public disclosure.

The legal challenge by X Corp questioned the balance between national security interests and the public’s right to know about government surveillance activities. The company argued that understanding the extent of government requests for user data was crucial for public discourse on electronic communication surveillance, which it described as a “fertile ground for government abuse” and a politically charged issue.

Despite these arguments, a trial judge dismissed X Corp’s lawsuit, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld this decision in March 2023. The appellate court ruled that the government’s restrictions on X Corp’s speech were “narrowly tailored in support of a compelling government interest.”

The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear X Corp’s appeal leaves the lower court’s decision intact, marking a significant moment in the ongoing debate over privacy, transparency, and national security in the digital age. This decision implies that tech companies will continue to be limited in how they can publicly discuss government surveillance requests, maintaining a status quo that some critics argue lacks sufficient transparency for users and the general public.

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Amazon announced recently that its Prime Video streaming service will begin to play ads unless users stump up an extra $2.99 fee per month.

Subscribers will begin to see ads from 29 Jan in America and 5 Feb in Britain. Germany and Canada will also begin to see ads at this time. France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia will be getting ads later in the year.

This comes on the heels of a year of price hikes for streaming services across the board, with Netflix’s priciest plan hitting the $20 mark, Disney+, Apple TV, Hulu, and others rising prices and introducing ad-supported tiers.

Amazon Prime’s base price increased last year from $119 annually to $139, or from $12.99 monthly to $14.99, a 17% increase. The added $35.88 per year for ad-free viewing takes the total price to $177.88, a 27% increase.

In their announcement, Amazon stated that they aim to have “meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.” However, it is unclear at this time what this means in practice.

The response across the web has been mixed at best, with many people stating that it’s one price increase too far and they intend to cancel their Prime subscriptions.

On Reddit, thousands reacted to the news, and nearly all negatively. The top comment below an article on the announcement on r/news was: “lol the pursuit for higher and higher quarterly profit goals has really f****d s**t up. no more innovating. just charge more and more. squeeze for every dollar.”

Will content purchased through Amazon Prime Video include ads?

A concern for many people has been whether movies and shows they have purchased or rented through the Prime Video platform would be affected. It seems that the only content receiving ads will be Prime Video streaming titles, not products customers have bought or rented. This could always change in the future though.

In addition, sports content such as Thursday Night Football and other live sporting events will still include adverts, even if you have paid for the ad-free tier of Prime. Amazon is reportedly looking to expand its sporting content.

Despite an extremely successful year, Amazon’s hunt for profits and need to appease shareholders and the market continues. After Max, Netflix, and Disney+ paved the way, it was only a matter of time before Amazon joined them.

Featured Image: Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

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People in the United Kingdom (UK) who make money from ‘side hustles‘ will be subject to firmer tax regulations this year from the nation’s taxation authority HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)

The new tax on additional income streams is set to come into effect from January 1st and will require large online platforms like eBay, Airbnb, and Etsy to share seller information with tax authorities. The policy change allows HMRC to more easily detect potential tax evasion from individuals making money through online side jobs and side hustles.

Under the new rules, online platforms must directly report seller data – including tax ID numbers, bank details and total sales – to HMRC by January 2025. This comprehensive reporting only applies to sellers making over £1,000 annually. Those surpassing this threshold are obligated to register as self-employed and file the proper tax paperwork.

In addition to second-hand auctions and home shares, the tax crackdown covers food delivery, freelance work, rental of parking spots or storage space, and more. The information sharing allows HMRC to cross-reference seller activity on UK and international sites to ensure proper tax compliance.

An HMRC spokesperson told the BBC, “These new rules will support our work to help online sellers get their tax right first time. They will also help us detect any deliberate non-compliance, ensuring a level playing field for all taxpayers.”

Do people in the UK have to pay tax on a side hustle?

Whether selling clothing on Vinted, selling old books on eBay or selling handmade bracelets on Etsy – if the person making the sale earns more than £1000 from their side gig in a tax year then they need to pay tax if in the UK.

To do this Brits have to register as self-employed via HMRC and submit a self-assessment tax return.

Picture: Pixabay

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Fidelity Investments, a major mutual fund company, has significantly reduced its valuation of X Holdings, the parent company of X (formerly known as Twitter), now under the ownership of Elon Musk. According to TechCrunch, the latest disclosure reveals a drastic 71.5% markdown from the original investment value, signaling potential concerns about the company’s future prospects.

In October 2022, Fidelity invested $19.2 million in X Holdings. However, by October 2023, the fund manager had already cut the valuation by 65%. The recent November 2023 disclosure, which operates on a one-month delay, indicates a further reduction in X’s valuation.

X Holdings has experienced numerous changes over the past year, including appointing a new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, a former executive at NBCUniversal. Yaccarino, in a September 2023 interview at the Code Conference, expressed optimism about the company’s profitability by 2024.

Despite these changes, X Holdings faces significant challenges, particularly in retaining and attracting advertisers. Several major advertisers withdrew from the platform following controversial statements by Elon Musk, including Apple, Comcast/NBCUniversal, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, IBM, Paramount Global, Lionsgate, and the European Commission. Musk’s response to the advertising boycott was blunt and dismissive, as he publicly told advertisers to “go fuck themselves” at the Dealbook Conference.

In response to these setbacks, X Holdings is reportedly shifting its focus to small and medium businesses, aiming to encourage them to invest in advertising on the platform. This strategic pivot comes amid reports from the Financial Times in December that X will experience a significant drop in ad revenue, although the company contests the New York Times’ claim of a $75 million loss, estimating it to be around $10-12 million.

Under Elon Musk’s leadership at X Holdings, he has controversially reinstated previously banned accounts, including those of Alex Jones, Kanye West, Donald Trump, Andrew Tat, and Jordan Peterson.

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