Tag Archives: author_name|Mariella Moon

OpenAI and CommonSense Media team up to curate family-friendly GPTs

Posted on by

You will soon find a kid-friendly section inside OpenAI's newly opened store for custom GPTs. The company has joined forces with Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization that rates media and technology based on their suitability for children, to minimize the risks of AI use by teenagers. Together, they intend to create AI guidelines and educational materials for young people, their parents and their educators. The two organizations will also curate a collection of family-friendly GPTs in OpenAI's GPT store based on Common Sense's ratings, making it easy to see which ones are suitable for younger users. 

"Together, Common Sense and OpenAI will work to make sure that AI has a positive impact on all teens and families," James P. Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media, said in a statement. "Our guides and curation will be designed to educate families and educators about safe, responsible use of ChatGPT, so that we can collectively avoid any unintended consequences of this emerging technology."

According to Axios, the partnership was announced at Common Sense's kids and family summit in San Francisco, where OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shot down the idea that AI is bad for kids and should be kept out of schools. "Humans are tool users and we better teach people to use the tools that are going to be out in the world," he reportedly said. "To not teach people to use those would be a mistake." The CEO also said that future high school seniors would be able to operate at a higher level of abstraction and could achieve more that their predecessors with the help of artificial intelligence. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/openai-and-commonsense-media-team-up-to-curate-family-friendly-gpts-074228457.html?src=rss

Lawsuit says 23andMe hackers targeted users with Chinese and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage

Posted on by

In October 2023, 23andMe admitted that it suffered a data breach that compromised its users' information. The company has been hit with several lawsuits since then, and according to The New York Times, one of them is accusing 23andMe of failing to notify customers that they were specifically targeted for having Chinese and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. They also weren't told that their test results with genetic information had been compiled in curated lists that were then shared on the dark web, the plaintiffs said. 23andMe recently released a copy of the letters it sent to affected customers, and they didn't contain any reference to the users' heritage. 

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Francisco after the company revealed that the hack had gone unnoticed for months. Apparently, the hackers started accessing customers' accounts using login details already leaked on the web in late April 2023 and continued with their activities until September. It wasn't until October that the company finally found out about the hacks. On October 1, hackers leaked the names, home addresses and birth dates of 1 million users with Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry on black hat hacking forum BreachForums. 

After someone responded to the post asking access to "Chinese accounts," the lawsuit said the poster linked to a file containing information on 100,000 Chinese users. The poster also said they had access to 350,000 Chinese profiles and could release more information if there was enough interest. In addition, the same poster allegedly returned to the forum in mid-October to sell data on "wealthy families serving Zionism" after the explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. 

"The current geopolitical and social climate amplifies the risks" to users whose data was exposed, according to the lawsuit, since the leaked information included their names and addresses. The plaintiffs want their case to be heard by a jury and are seeking compensatory, punitive and other damages.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lawsuit-says-23andme-hackers-targeted-users-with-chinese-and-ashkenazi-jewish-heritage-132423486.html?src=rss

ElevenLabs reportedly banned the account that deepfaked Biden’s voice with its AI tools

Posted on by

ElevenLabs, an AI startup that offers voice cloning services with its tools, has banned the user that created an audio deepfake of Joe Biden used in an attempt to disrupt the elections, according to Bloomberg. The audio impersonating the president was used in a robocall that went out to some voters in New Hampshire last week, telling them not to vote in their state's primary. It initially wasn't clear what technology was used to copy Biden's voice, but a thorough analysis by security company Pindrop showed that the perpetrators used ElevanLabs' tools. 

The security firm removed the background noise and cleaned the robocall's audio before comparing it to samples from more than 120 voice synthesis technologies used to generate deepfakes. Pindrop CEO Vijay Balasubramaniyan told Wired that it "came back well north of 99 percent that it was ElevenLabs." Bloomberg says the company was notified of Pindrop's findings and is still investigating, but it has already identified and suspended the account that made the fake audio. ElevenLabs told the news organization that it can't comment on the issue itself, but that it's "dedicated to preventing the misuse of audio AI tools and [that it takes] any incidents of misuse extremely seriously."

The deepfaked Biden robocall shows how technologies that can mimic somebody else's likeness and voice could be used to manipulate votes this upcoming presidential election in the US. "This is kind of just the tip of the iceberg in what could be done with respect to voter suppression or attacks on election workers," Kathleen Carley, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, told The Hill. "It was almost a harbinger of what all kinds of things we should be expecting over the next few months."

It only took the internet a few days after ElevenLabs launched the beta version of its platform to start using it to create audio clips that sound like celebrities reading or saying something questionable. The startup allows customers to use its technology to clone voices for "artistic and political speech contributing to public debates." Its safety page does warn users that they "cannot clone a voice for abusive purposes such as fraud, discrimination, hate speech or for any form of online abuse without infringing the law." But clearly, it needs to put more safeguards in place to prevent bad actors from using its tools to influence voters and manipulate elections around the world. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/elevenlabs-reportedly-banned-the-account-that-deepfaked-bidens-voice-with-its-ai-tools-083355975.html?src=rss

The Xbox Series S is just $230 right now

Posted on by

Update 10:31am ET: Dell's deal on the Xbox Series S has expired.

If you weren't able to get the Microsoft Xbox Series S at a discount this past holiday season, you may want to check out Dell's website. The digital media-only console is currently on sale for $230, down $70 from its retail price of $300. While it can't play disc games, your $230 will get you 512GB in SSD storage and a wireless Xbox controller. The console supports variable refresh rates of up to 120 fps, and while it runs games at a max resolution of 1440p, you can use it to stream shows and movies in 4K. You only need to download the streaming apps you have access to, including Disney+, Netflix or Amazon Prime Video. 

While we called the Xbox Series S the least powerful console in its generation in our review, we found it to be capable of incredibly smooth gameplay. Even with boosted framerates, current and previous-gen games played like butter when we tested them out. Series S also starts up quickly, and a feature called Quick Resume lets you pick up from where you left off without having to suffer through loading screens that take forever to finish.

Storage could be an issue, seeing as this doesn't come with a disc drive, but you can expand it by getting the 1TB card Microsoft developed with Seagate. You can also mainly use it with the Game Pass subscription service that gives you access to a library with hundreds of titles. Bottom line is that the Xbox Series S is a great console if you're looking to go fully digital, and this is your chance to grab a unit without having to pay full price. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-xbox-series-s-is-just-230-right-now-115520855.html?src=rss

23andMe’s data hack went unnoticed for months

Posted on by

In late 2023, genetic testing company 23andMe admitted that its customer data was leaked online. A company representative told us back then that the bad actors were able to access the DNA Relatives profile information of roughly 5.5 million customers and the Family Tree profile information of 1.4 million DNA Relative participants. Now, the company has revealed more details about the incident in a legal filing, where it said that the hackers started breaking into customer accounts in late April 2023. The bad actors' activities went on for months and lasted until September 2023 before the company finally found out about the security breach. 

23andMe's filing contains the letters it sent customers who were affected by the incident. In the letters, the company explained that the attackers used a technique called credential stuffing, which entailed using previously compromised login credentials to access customer accounts through its website. The company didn't notice anything wrong until after a user posted a sample of the stolen data on the 23andMe subreddit in October. As TechCrunch notes, hackers had already advertised that stolen data on a hacker forum a few months before that in August, but 23andMe didn't catch wind of that post. The stolen information included customer names, birth dates, ancestry and health-related data. 

23andMe advised affected users to change their passwords after disclosing the data breach. But before sending out letters to customers, the company changed the language in its terms of service that reportedly made it harder for people affected by the incident to join forces and legally go after the company. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/23andmes-data-hack-went-unnoticed-for-months-081332978.html?src=rss

Facebook and Instagram will block DMs to teens unless they’re from a friend

Posted on by

In 2021, Meta restricted adults on Instagram from being able to message under-18 users who don't follow them. Now, it's expanding that rule to help protect younger teens from potentially unwanted contact. Users under 16 — or 18, depending on their country — can no longer receive DMs from anybody they don't follow by default, even if they're sent by fellow teens. 

This new safety measure applies to both Instagram and Messenger. For Messenger, in particular, young users will only be able to receive messages from their Facebook friends or people in their phone contacts. Since this setting is enabled by default, teens who have accounts under parental supervision will need to get any changes to it approved by their guardian. Of course, the setting will have to depend on a user's declared age and Meta's technology designed to predict people's ages, so it's not 100 percent foolproof. 

"We want teens to have safe, age-appropriate experiences on our apps," Meta said in its announcement. Earlier this month, Meta announced that it will start hiding content related to self-harm, graphic violence, eating disorders and other harmful topics from teens on Instagram and Facebook. If a user is under 16, they won't see posts with those topics in their Feeds and Stories even if they're shared by accounts they follow. It also recently rolled out a mindfulness feature that will send "nighttime nudges" to teens under 18 to close the app and go to bed if they've been scrolling for more than 10 minutes. 

Meta made these changes after being hit by lawsuits and complaints related to how it protects its younger userbase. An unsealed lawsuit filed against the company by 33 states accuses it of actively targeting children under 13 to use its apps and websites and of continuing to harvest their data even after it's already aware of their ages. A Wall Street Journal report also accused Instagram of serving "risqué footage of children as well as overtly sexual adult videos" to accounts that follow teenage influencers. In December 2023, the state of New Mexico sued Meta, claiming that Facebook and Instagram algorithms recommended sexual content to minors. And just this month, The Wall Street Journal reported on unredacted internal Meta presentations related to that case. Apparently, 100,000 child users were harassed daily on Facebook and Instagram based on employees' estimates, underlining the need for stricter measures on its platforms. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/facebook-and-instagram-will-block-dms-to-teens-unless-theyre-from-a-friend-130552718.html?src=rss

Facebook and Instagram will block DMs to teens unless they’re from a friend

Posted on by

In 2021, Meta restricted adults on Instagram from being able to message under-18 users who don't follow them. Now, it's expanding that rule to help protect younger teens from potentially unwanted contact. Users under 16 — or 18, depending on their country — can no longer receive DMs from anybody they don't follow by default, even if they're sent by fellow teens. 

This new safety measure applies to both Instagram and Messenger. For Messenger, in particular, young users will only be able to receive messages from their Facebook friends or people in their phone contacts. Since this setting is enabled by default, teens who have accounts under parental supervision will need to get any changes to it approved by their guardian. Of course, the setting will have to depend on a user's declared age and Meta's technology designed to predict people's ages, so it's not 100 percent foolproof. 

"We want teens to have safe, age-appropriate experiences on our apps," Meta said in its announcement. Earlier this month, Meta announced that it will start hiding content related to self-harm, graphic violence, eating disorders and other harmful topics from teens on Instagram and Facebook. If a user is under 16, they won't see posts with those topics in their Feeds and Stories even if they're shared by accounts they follow. It also recently rolled out a mindfulness feature that will send "nighttime nudges" to teens under 18 to close the app and go to bed if they've been scrolling for more than 10 minutes. 

Meta made these changes after being hit by lawsuits and complaints related to how it protects its younger userbase. An unsealed lawsuit filed against the company by 33 states accuses it of actively targeting children under 13 to use its apps and websites and of continuing to harvest their data even after it's already aware of their ages. A Wall Street Journal report also accused Instagram of serving "risqué footage of children as well as overtly sexual adult videos" to accounts that follow teenage influencers. In December 2023, the state of New Mexico sued Meta, claiming that Facebook and Instagram algorithms recommended sexual content to minors. And just this month, The Wall Street Journal reported on unredacted internal Meta presentations related to that case. Apparently, 100,000 child users were harassed daily on Facebook and Instagram based on employees' estimates, underlining the need for stricter measures on its platforms. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/facebook-and-instagram-will-block-dms-to-teens-unless-theyre-from-a-friend-130552718.html?src=rss

The Pokémon Company is investigating ‘Pokémon with guns’ satire Palworld

Posted on by

The Pokémon Company knows about Palworld and is very much aware that the game is drawing a lot of comparisons with its intellectual property, based on a statement it has published. While the company didn't explicitly name Palworld, it said it's going to investigate a game "released in January 2024" and will "take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon." It also clearly stated that it has "not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in that game."

Palworld, released on January 18, is an open-world game featuring monsters that look like Pokémon, except they can use guns. It also has a darker theme, allowing players to sell their "pals" to slavery, kill them and eat them aside from being able to battle them to the death. It has gotten a lot of attention since it was released, and according to its developer Pocket Pair, it sold 7 million copies on Steam alone in just five days. 

As IGN notes, Pocket Pair previously said that its game is more like Ark Survival Evolved and Vanaheim than Pokémon. In an interview with Automaton, the company's CEO Takuro Mizobe said Palworld "cleared legal reviews" and that there had been "no action taken against it by other companies." The Pokémon Company's statement insinuates that that could change if it determines that the developer has infringed on its copyright, though we'll have to wait for the results of its investigation to know for sure.

The full statement reads:

"We have received many inquiries regarding another company’s game released in January 2024. We have not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in that game. We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon. We will continue to cherish and nurture each and every Pokémon and its world, and work to bring the world together through Pokémon in the future."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-pokemon-company-is-investigating-pokemon-with-guns-satire-palworld-083627388.html?src=rss

HP Enterprise was hacked by the same Russian state-sponsored group that targeted Microsoft

Posted on by

HP Enterprise was infiltrated by a hacking group linked to Russian intelligence last year, the business IT company has revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The threat actor is believed to be Midnight Blizzard, also known as Cozy Bear, which was the same group that recently breached the email accounts of several senior executives and other employees at Microsoft. It was also the same hacking group behind the SolarWinds attacks that affected multiple government entities, including the US Treasury Department and Homeland Security. In addition, the National Security Agency accused it in 2020 of trying to steal research on COVID-19 vaccines from the US, UK and Canada. 

In its filing, HPE said it was notified on December 12, 2023 that an attacker had gained access to its cloud-based email environment. It worked with external cybersecurity experts that found that the threat actor was able to access and steal data from "a small percentage" of email accounts owned by employees from various divisions, including those in cybersecurity. HPE didn't say what kind of data was stolen, but it believes the incident is related to an earlier security breach that took place in May 2023, wherein the bad actor was able to get away with "a limited number of SharePoint files." SharePoint is a document management and collaborative platform for Microsoft 365.

HPE spokesperson Adam R. Bauer told AP that the company can't say whether this incident is related to Microsoft's data breach. Bauer also said that the "total scope of mailboxes and emails accessed remains under investigation." So far, HPE's investigation has shown that the attack hasn't had material impact on its operations, but it's still looking into the incident and working with law enforcement. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hp-enterprise-was-hacked-by-the-same-russian-state-sponsored-group-that-targeted-microsoft-060743999.html?src=rss

Spotify will launch its own in-app payment system for iOS users in the EU

Posted on by

Spotify will go through massive changes when the European Union's Digital Markets Act goes into full effect on March 7. The audio streaming service says EU residents will finally be able to purchase a Premium subscription or upgrade from Individual to a Duo or a Family plan from within the app itself. Spotify hasn't allowed users to pay for a subscription through Apple's in-app payment system since 2016 and has long been a vocal critic of the 30 percent cut the iPhone-maker takes from app developers. Last year, it even stopped accepting Apple payments altogether — it used to let iOS users who've had a subscription since before 2016 to keep paying through Apple's in-app system. 

And since Spotify is launching its own in-app payments, users will also be able to easily purchase audiobooks while browsing titles within the application, as well. Yes, customers will be charged the actual amounts for subscriptions and purchases and will no longer have to pay extra to cover Apple's commission. The users who used to pay through Apple's in-app system were charged $3 on top of Spotify's subscription prices, but EU's DMA prohibits the practice. 

In addition to being able to implement its own in-app payment system, Spotify will also be able to put prices in the app. At the moment, it shows a note for its products where the price is supposed to be, telling users that they can't be purchased from within the application. When the DMA takes effect, Spotify will display its products' pricing, and it will also be able to start informing iOS users about deals and promotions from within the application. 

"It should be this easy for every single Spotify customer everywhere," the company said in its announcement. "But if you live outside certain markets, you will continue to encounter frustrating roadblocks because of Apple’s ridiculous rules. That's why developers everywhere are continuing to ask other governments to pass their own laws like the DMA."

A GIF showing what Spotify will be like without Apple's restrictions.
Spotify

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/spotify-will-launch-its-own-in-app-payment-system-for-ios-users-in-the-eu-110046271.html?src=rss