Tag Archives: author_name|Kris Holt

US and European antitrust regulators agree to do their jobs when it comes to AI

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Regulators in the US and Europe have laid out the "shared principles" they plan to adhere to in order to "protect competition and consumers" when it comes to artificial intelligence. "Guided by our respective laws, we will work to ensure effective competition and the fair and honest treatment of consumers and businesses," the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, European Commission and the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said.

"Technological inflection points can introduce new means of competing, catalyzing opportunity, innovation and growth," the agencies said in a joint statement. "Accordingly, we must work to ensure the public reaps the full benefits of these moments."

The regulators pinpointed fair dealing (i.e. making sure major players in the sector avoid exclusionary tactics), interoperability and choice as the three principles for protecting competition in the AI space. They based these factors on their experience working in related markets.

The agencies also laid out some potential risks to competition, such as deals between major players in the market. They said that while arrangements between companies in the sector (which are already widespread) may not impact competition in some cases, in others "these partnerships and investments could be used by major firms to undermine or co opt competitive threats and steer market outcomes in their favor at the expense of the public."

Other risks to competition flagged in the statement include the entrenching or extension of market power in AI-related markets as well as the "concentrated control of key inputs." The agencies define the latter as a small number of companies potentially having an outsized influence over the AI space due to the control and supply of "specialized chips, substantial compute, data at scale and specialist technical expertise."

In addition, the CMA, DOJ and FTC say they'll be on the lookout for threats that AI might pose to consumers. The statement notes that it's important for consumers to be kept in the loop about how AI factors into the products and services they buy or use. "Firms that deceptively or unfairly use consumer data to train their models can undermine people’s privacy, security, and autonomy," the statement reads. "Firms that use business customers’ data to train their models could also expose competitively sensitive information."

These are all fairly generalized statements about the agencies' common approach to fostering competition in the AI space, but given that they all operate under different laws, it would be difficult for the statement to go into the specifics of how they'll regulate. At the very least, the statement should serve as a reminder to companies working in the generative AI space that regulators are keeping a close eye on things, even amid rapidly accelerating advancements in the sector.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-and-european-antitrust-regulators-agree-to-do-their-jobs-when-it-comes-to-ai-163820780.html?src=rss

GM shelves the autonomous Cruise Origin shuttle van

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General Motors is putting the autonomous Cruise Origin shuttle van on ice. The company said that the embattled Cruise, of which GM is the majority owner, will now focus on making the next-gen Chevy Bolt. The automaker discontinued the previous Bolt last year due to a shift away from an older battery system but did not reveal plans for a new model at the time.

According to a letter that GM CEO Mary Barra sent to shareholders, the indefinite delay of the shuttle van "addresses the regulatory uncertainty we faced with the Origin because of its unique design." Barra added that the per-unit costs of the next-gen Bolt will be much lower, "which will help Cruise optimize its resources."

GM and Cruise were working on the Origin with Honda. The Origin — which does not have a driver's seat, steering wheel or pedals — was supposed to debut in Japan in 2026.

In October, the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise's driverless vehicle permits over safety issues. Earlier that month, a pedestrian in San Francisco was dragged 20 feet by a Cruise vehicle and pinned under it after a hit-and-run by another car pushed her into the robotaxi's path. Cruise later paused all driverless operations before temporarily halting production in November.

According to CNBC, former Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt at one point told staff that hundreds of pre-commercial Origin vehicles had been built. The company has resumed robotaxi operations in Phoenix, Houston and Dallas with human operators on board and is carrying out tests in Dubai. However, it hasn't recommenced operations in San Francisco. It's still under investigation for the October incident there.

Shelving the Origin is not a decision that GM and Cruise would have come to lightly. In GM's second quarter earnings report, the automaker noted that it incurred around $583 million of Cruise restructuring costs. It said these resulted "from Cruise voluntarily pausing its driverless, supervised and manual [autonomous vehicle] operations in the US and the indefinite delay of the Cruise Origin."

On the plus side, resuming work on the Bolt (which will presumably use GM's Ultium battery tech the next time around) could be a boon for GM's bottom line. As of 2023, the Bolt EV and EUV accounted for most of GM's electric vehicle sales. It planned to make around 70,000 of them last year before ceasing production.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gm-shelves-the-autonomous-cruise-origin-shuttle-van-144256801.html?src=rss

EU officials say Meta may be violating consumer laws with paid ‘ad-free’ plan

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The European Commission really isn't happy about a Meta business model that gives users in the EU, European Economic Area and Switzerland the generous choice of continuing to use Facebook and Instagram with targeted ads without paying anything, or signing up for a monthly subscription that's said to offer an ad-free experience.

Officials from the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network — a group of national authorities that enforce EU consumer protection laws — have suggested that Meta may be violating consumer legislation with the "pay or consent" approach. The Commission, which is the European Union's executive arm, coordinated the group's action against Meta.

The CPC Network sent Meta a letter laying out numerous ways in which it believes the company may be violating consumer laws. The company has until September 1 to reply and propose solutions to officials' concerns. If CPC officials find that Meta doesn't take appropriate steps to solve the problems, they could take enforcement actions against the company, which may include sanctions.

CPC authorities have suggested that Meta is misleading users by describing its platforms as free to use if they opt not to pay for a subscription, when Meta in fact monetizes their personal data by displaying targeted ads. They further say that Meta is "confusing users" by requiring them to access different areas of the privacy policy and terms of service to see how their data is being used for personalized ads.

Officials have also taken aim at Meta's "imprecise terms and language" that suggest subscribers will not see ads at all, even though those still might be displayed "when engaging with content shared via Facebook or Instagram by other members of the platform." Furthermore, they claim Meta is pressuring users who have long used Facebook and Instagram without forking over any payment "to make an immediate choice, without giving them a pre-warning, sufficient time and a real opportunity to assess how that choice might affect their contractual relationship with Meta, by not letting them access their accounts before making their choice."

Meta introduced its "pay or consent" options last year in an attempt to comply with the EU's data protection laws while maintaining its advertising model. CPC officials say they are concerned that "many consumers might have been exposed to undue pressure to choose rapidly" between consenting to data collection or paying a monthly fee, "fearing that they would instantly lose access to their accounts and their network of contacts."

This action is separate from other investigations the EU is carrying out against Meta over the "pay or consent" model. Earlier this month, the EU said Meta had potentially breached the Digital Markets Act with this approach. If found guilty, Meta could be on the hook for a fine of up to 10 percent of its global annual revenue.

In addition, the Commission requested more information from the company in March about the "pay or consent" model under the Digital Services Act, another law the bloc designed to keep the power of major tech companies in check. Not only that, consumer rights groups have filed complaints arguing that the approach violates the EU's General Data Protection Regulation.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/eu-officials-say-meta-may-be-violating-consumer-laws-with-paid-ad-free-plan-175834177.html?src=rss

Apple accused of underreporting suspected CSAM on its platforms

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Apple has been accused of underreporting the prevalence of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its platforms. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), a child protection charity in the UK, says that Apple reported just 267 worldwide cases of suspected CSAM to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) last year.

That pales in comparison to the 1.47 million potential cases that Google reported and 30.6 million reports from Meta. Other platforms that reported more potential CSAM cases than Apple in 2023 include TikTok (590,376), X (597,087), Snapchat (713,055), Xbox (1,537) and PlayStation/Sony Interactive Entertainment (3,974). Every US-based tech company is required to pass along any possible CSAM cases detected on their platforms to NCMEC, which directs cases to relevant law enforcement agencies worldwide.

The NSPCC also said Apple was implicated in more CSAM cases (337) in England and Wales between April 2022 and March 2023 than it reported worldwide in one year. The charity used freedom of information requests to gather that data from police forces.

As The Guardian, which first reported on the NSPCC's claim, points out, Apple services such as iMessage, FaceTime and iCloud all have end-to-end encryption, which stops the company from viewing the contents of what users share on them. However, WhatsApp has E2EE as well, and that service reported nearly 1.4 million cases of suspected CSAM to NCMEC in 2023.

“There is a concerning discrepancy between the number of UK child abuse image crimes taking place on Apple’s services and the almost negligible number of global reports of abuse content they make to authorities,” Richard Collard, the NSPCC's head of child safety online policy, said. “Apple is clearly behind many of their peers in tackling child sexual abuse when all tech firms should be investing in safety and preparing for the roll out of the Online Safety Act in the UK.”

In 2021, Apple announced plans to deploy a system that would scan images before they were uploaded to iCloud and compare them against a database of known CSAM images from NCMEC and other organizations. But following a backlash from privacy and digital rights advocates, Apple delayed the rollout of its CSAM detection tools before ultimately killing the project in 2022.

Apple declined to comment on the NSPCC's accusation, instead pointing The Guardian to a statement it made when it shelved the CSAM scanning plan. Apple said it opted for a different strategy that “prioritizes the security and privacy of [its] users.” The company told Wired in August 2022 that "children can be protected without companies combing through personal data." 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-accused-of-underreporting-suspected-csam-on-its-platforms-153637726.html?src=rss

Schim is an inventive, beautiful platformer that’s just a little too repetitive

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Schim is one of the games I was most looking forward to this year, and I generally had a pleasant time with it. It’s a pretty platformer in which every object and living thing has a soul called a Schim. These frog-like critters live in the shadow of their host but can become lost when its object or creature is neglected, damaged or going through something life-changing.

You play as a Schim that gets separated from its person, who is going through a difficult spell in their life. There are no prizes for guessing that the goal is to reconnect with them. You’ll have to navigate some treacherous environments to do so, but the catch is that you can only swim through shadows and jump from one inky blob to another. If you miss a jump, you can take one extra little hop to reach it.

Developers Ewoud van der Werf and Nils Slijkerman play around with this idea in some joyful ways. You might hop between the shadows of trees and animals one minute and use a bounce house to travel some extra distance the next. None of this was incredibly difficult, though it took me a while to nail down the timing of jumps between conveyor belts in a factory level. I found some other mechanics mildly frustrating, such as getting to grips with how to launch the Schim in the correct direction from a spinning rotary clothesline.

The game is at its most creative and compelling when it plays around with inconsistent light sources and distended and disappearing shadows. There are some inventive ideas here, many of which are executed flawlessly. While there’s a fundamental joyfulness to Schim (which is styled as SCHiM), there’s a surprisingly affecting narrative that touches on mental health concerns and how regular folks struggle to get by.

Unfortunately, I felt that Schim was too repetitive overall. It doesn’t quite do enough with its core mechanic, and. tThere were too many stages set in urban environments with too similar objects to jump between. This bogged down what could have been a tighter and more rewarding experience. By the halfway point, I was more than ready for the Schim to reconnect with its human — not a great sign for a game that only takes about three hours to finish.

My main takeaway will be the impeccable aesthetics. Each stage uses a couple of main colors and various shades of black to denote the shadows, objects and characters. The music, animations and backgrounds combine in gorgeous fashion. It often felt like I was playing a piece of living art. The visuals make for true lockscreen material and speak to the beauty that can emerge from minimalist, stylized renderings.

There are a ton of great ideas in Schim, which has a touching and rewarding ending. I just wish the journey to get there was more consistently enjoyable.

Schim is out now on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. (It runs smoothly on Steam Deck too.)

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/schim-is-an-inventive-beautiful-platformer-thats-just-a-little-too-repetitive-170019349.html?src=rss

Why an ‘unexciting’ galaxy could provide clues about the universe’s evolution

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NASA and the European Space Agency have released an image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope of a dwarf irregular galaxy that they admit looked "unexciting" at first glance. However, there's more going on than might initially meet the eye. The agencies say that a great deal of research is going into the "complicated structure" of NGC 5238, which is 14.5 million light-years away in the Canes Venatici constellation. In fact, astronomers believe the distribution of stars in NGC 5238 may have been distorted after it swallowed up another galaxy.

They reckon that due to NGC 5238's star population (which Hubble is adept at helping to image), it had a "close encounter" with another galaxy perhaps as recently as a billion years ago. But since there isn't a galaxy close enough to have distorted the star distribution in this fashion, it's more likely that NGC 5238 merged with a smaller galaxy. Along with hosting many stars, the galaxy is home to globular clusters, which NASA describes as "glowing, bright spots both inside and around the galaxy swarmed by even more stars."

Astronomers plan to dig deep into the data to learn about NGC 5238's past. If they find groups of stars that have different properties from most of the galaxy's other stars, that's a clear indication that a merger has occurred. They'll also try to determine whether there was a "burst of star formation" that suddenly took place after the galaxies would have come together.

NASA notes that a dwarf irregular galaxy merging with a smaller satellite galaxy is just the kind of thing that could have spurred galaxy assembly in the early era of our universe. As such, the agency says that the data Hubble captured from NGC 5238 may help researchers to test fundamental ideas about the evolution of the universe.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/why-an-unexciting-galaxy-could-provide-clues-about-the-universes-evolution-144754342.html?src=rss

Ubisoft delays its Rainbow Six and Division mobile games until at least April 2025

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Ubisoft has released its latest earnings report and while there wasn't a ton of major news, there's a disappointing update for those who have been waiting on mobile versions of the Rainbow Six and The Division franchises. The company says that the Rainbow Six Mobile and The Division Resurgence development teams need more time to "deliver on expectations" amid "a demanding yet very large market."

As such, both titles are no longer expected to debut in the publisher's current fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2025. That means yet another delay for Rainbow Six Mobile, which was initially supposed to arrive in 2022. The Division Resurgence had been expected to debut last year.

On an earnings call with investors, Ubisoft noted that "it's very difficult to define a set date" when asked why it was delaying the games now, with over eight months of the fiscal year to go. Executives said that Ubisoft wants the two titles to last forever and that the developers are "putting in the necessary work to make sure the games are perfect when they launch."

Elsewhere, Ubisoft said its free-to-play competitive shooter XDefiant "is off to an encouraging start," having roped in 10 million players in its first two weeks after debuting in May. Aside from updates for live-service games such as Rainbow Six Siege, The Crew Motorfest and Skull and Bones (all of which the company says are performing well), Ubisoft has a couple of exciting projects lined up for the rest of the year in Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Meanwhile, on its earnings call, Ubisift was asked about the status of bringing Call of Duty games to cloud gaming services. The publisher holds the cloud gaming rights to Activision Blizzard games. Microsoft sold those rights to help appease competition regulators and get its Activision Blizzard merger over the line.

You can expect Call of Duty titles to start hitting Ubisoft+ by the end of this year. That lines up with Microsoft's plan to release Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 via (the now-more-expensive) Game Pass in October and to bring other CoD titles to that service.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ubisoft-delays-its-rainbow-six-and-division-mobile-games-until-at-least-april-2025-174035060.html?src=rss

You can try new Overwatch 2 support hero Juno this weekend

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Overwatch 2 fans who are already jonesing for something new after the recent Transformers crossover won’t have to wait long. Blizzard has spilled the beans about the next hero that’s coming to the game, and you’ll be able to try her out as soon as this weekend.

Her name is Juno and she’s a support. The publisher teased this hero back at BlizzCon 2023 (when she was referred to only as Space Ranger) and in-game over the last few weeks. Now, her spacecraft has landed on this colorful version of near-future Earth — Juno is the game’s first playable Martian character.

A gameplay trailer gives a sense of Juno’s abilities and how they work. Her primary weapon is called the Mediblaster. It appears to work in a similar way to Ana’s Biotic Rifle in that it can heal allies and damage enemies, though it's not clear whether there's a different fire mode for each. One of her abilities, the Pulsar Torpedoes, can lock onto multiple targets to dish out healing and damage too.

Unlike Ana, though, Juno has traversal abilities. With Glide Boost, she can soar through the air. She can also temporarily provide herself and her teammates with a speed boost — and perhaps the ability to jump higher —thanks to her Hyper Ring.

As for Juno’s ultimate, that's called Orbital Ray. It’s a beam emanating from a satellite that moves across the map that heals allies and boosts damage. The specifics of how exactly all the abilities work haven't been announced, so we’ll likely have to hold on until Juno arrives in the game for the full lowdown.

Fortunately, that will be a short wait. Juno will be available in all modes except Competitive for a trial weekend that runs from July 19 until July 21. The No Limits mode will be in the Arcade, so chances are likely that we’ll see two teams of five Junos fighting each other as players get to grips with the newcomer.

On the rare occasions I play anything other than Mystery Heroes, I usually play the support role, so I can’t wait to try out Juno. She has a great look and the makings of an excellent kit, as long as it’s smartly balanced. Juno will join the lineup permanently when season 12 of Overwatch 2 starts on August 20.

Overwatch 2 hero Juno, a character who wears a helmet and can float.
Blizzard Entertainment
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/you-can-try-new-overwatch-2-support-hero-juno-this-weekend-160006353.html?src=rss

Proton Mail now has a privacy-focused AI writing assistant

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Proton Mail has a new AI-powered feature that could help it keep pace with the artificial intelligence tools Google and Microsoft offer for their email services. Proton Scribe is an AI writing assistant that can help you compose and clean up your drafts. Scribe was designed with privacy in mind — the assistant can't train on your inbox data, as Proton Mail has a zero-access approach to encryption. Proton doesn't save or log anything from your email drafts either.

According to Proton, a writing assistant was one of the most-requested features in a recent user survey. The company designed it as a secure alternative to other generative AI options. Scribe can be run locally if your system is compatible. Otherwise, you can run it on Proton's no-log servers. The assistant is powered by open-source models and code. As such, Proton says the tool itself is open-source and that independent researchers are free to carry out privacy and security audits.

Scribe can be accessed by clicking the pencil icon in the Proton Mail composer. After telling the tool what you want to say in an email, it will create a draft for you. You'll be able to use the Shorten and Proofread options to condense and clean up your draft. There's also the option to make the tone of your email more formal with the click of a button. You can review and tweak your drafts before sending them.

Proton says Scribe only fully supports English for now and it's rolling the assistant out to eligible users. Visionary and Lifetime subscribers will have access at no extra cost. Those on a Proton Business plan — Mail Essentials, Mail Professional or Proton Business Suite — can try Proton Scribe for free for 14 days. After that, the tool costs $3 per month per user.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/proton-mail-now-has-a-privacy-focused-ai-writing-assistant-155816223.html?src=rss

Splitgate 2 is coming to PC and consoles in 2025

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It was a shame to see 1047 Games putting Splitgate on ice back in 2022. The studio did a great job of freshening up the competitive arena shooter genre by adding portals (think: Quake meets Portal), but it moved on to a new project. We now know that’s going to be Splitgate 2, a free-to-play sequel that’s coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S next year.

1047 Games is going bigger in all kinds of ways this time around, including with a much larger development team. A group of 20 first-time game developers created Splitgate, which started as a school project. The team is now more than 150 strong and features devs with experience on the likes of Call of Duty, Overwatch, Halo, Valorant and League of Legends.

The sequel is being built from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5. It will have three factions you can pick from based on your preferred play style and tactics. The Aeros are agile, Sabrasks are all about power and Meridians can manipulate time. 

There will be many areas, weapons and modes to check out, though the bulk of the action will be in four versus four combat. A debut trailer gives some idea of what to expect and more details will be revealed in August. Fans can check out a free comic series and unlock in-game collectibles through the Splitgate 2 companion app for iOS and Android.

1047 Games has a tough act to follow since Splitgate was very well received and it proved popular — it had more than 22 million downloads. It’s a strong foundation to build on, though, and the Splitgate 2 trailer (despite being a cinematic rather than gameplay-focused one) looks very promising.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/splitgate-2-is-coming-to-pc-and-consoles-in-2025-144400499.html?src=rss