AI actress Tilly Norwood is causing a significant stir in Hollywood
Several talent agencies are genuinely interested in Tilly Norwood, an AI actress recently created and unveiled by the world’s first ‘AI talent studio’ Xicoia. The pushback from Hollywood has been significant. Hollywood and controversy go together like popcorn and butter, but this latest palaver is wholly unique – in that...
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EA bought by private investors for $55 billion USD
Electronic Arts (EA) has agreed to a new $55 billion USD acquisition deal with a consortium of investors. It’s the second most expensive gaming purchase of all time, only beaten by Microsoft’s buyout of Activision Blizzard for $75.4 billion USD. Electronic Art (EA) has been purchased by a consortium of...
New mandatory digital ID for UK residents sparks controversy
Prime Minister Kier Starmer has announced the UK government’s plan to introduce a new, mandatory digital ID scheme with the goal of deterring immigration. Widespread political and public pushback has been instantaneous. Thought your driver’s license and passport were enough to prove your identity in the United Kingdom? Well, not...
ChatGPT is increasingly substituting critical thought
OpenAI’s latest usage report on ChatGPT sheds light on how people are moving away from having the chatbot complete ‘doing’ tasks, but are leaning on it for advice, problem solving, and outsourcing judgement calls. Is this cause for concern? You know who doesn’t ever get brain fog? ChatGPT. Use of OpenAI’s...
Albania appoints world’s first AI-powered minister
The nation did the unthinkable and put an AI entity in charge of public procurement in an effort to combat the nation’s high levels of corruption. Artificial intelligence is everywhere. From aiding students in their studies to detecting diseases, our lives are becoming increasingly intertwined with AI. This also applies...
Rwanda launches Africa’s first self-flying electric air taxi
The East African country is now the first in the continent to have a public flight of a self-flying electric air taxi, adding to its fast-growing reputation as a hub for advanced aviation and technology innovation. In a demonstration of the pilotless aircraft, which followed an agreement with an implementer...
TikTok wants you to fact-check your For You Page
With its new ‘footnotes’ feature, the platform is betting on crowdsourced context to clean up the chaos of viral video culture. TikTok’s endless scroll has always been a cocktail of brilliance, absurdity, and the occasional conspiracy theory. For every dance challenge or cooking hack, there’s a dubious wellness tip promising to fix your gut in three days or a breaking news claim with no evidence beyond a shaky iPhone video. The...
Life is Strange highlights TV’s blind spot towards game creators
The 2015 hit narrative game is getting its own television series courtesy of Amazon. But Story Kitchen and LuckyChap have opted not to collaborate with the original writers at Don’t Nod. Is this repeating mistakes of the past? Life is Strange caught everyone off guard in 2015. Interactive drama games were having something of a boom at the time, but nobody quite anticipated the sheer emotional weight that the coming-of-age...
Google’s five-year antitrust lawsuit results in a slap on the wrist
Google has finally seen the end to a lawsuit filed way back in 2020 and a trial that began in 2023. The Department of Justice alleged that Google held a monopoly over the search and advertising market, but it’s gotten away with a slap on the wrist. After years of legal foreplay, a US judge has finally ruled on whether Google’s stranglehold on search is technically unfair or just annoyingly...
AI chatbots increasingly linked to child suicide cases
The past months have seen an increase in lawsuits against AI companies by parents who have lost their kids to chatbots. These bots have been found to enable conversations about suicide and self-harm. Despite its past stigmas and accessibility problems, mental health is still a pertinent topic in many domains, ranging from lifestyles to policymaking. Today, a new factor is complicating the normalisation of mental health and how it...
