David Ingram / NBC News: Cornell researchers: xAI's Grokipedia cites neo-Nazi website Stormfront 42 times, Infowars 34 times, and white nationalist website VDare 107 times — An analysis by researchers at Cornell University is the first comprehensive look at Grokipedia since Musk launched his project last month.
Jared Perlo / NBC News: An Oxford Internet Institute study of 445 AI benchmarks finds many tests lack clear aims and comparable statistical methods, potentially exaggerating AI claims — A study from the Oxford Internet Institute analyzed 445 tests used to evaluate AI models. — Researchers behind a new study …
Natalie Kainz / NBC News: An analysis of 30+ US data center proposals in 14 states: in most cases, local officials signed NDAs and worked with apparent shell companies to hide details — Big Tech companies use secrecy agreements with local governments to keep communities from knowing who is building in their backyards.
David Ingram / NBC News: Three labor unions filed a lawsuit in NY federal court to block the Trump administration from searching visa holders' social media for posts it deems hostile — The lawsuit filed Thursday is the latest of several challenges to the Trump administration's screening of visa holders' social media activity.
David Ingram / NBC News: Instagram overhauls the app for teen users with age-gating, like showing age-appropriate content to Teen Accounts by default, “guided by PG-13 movie ratings” — After outrage over teens' well-being on Instagram erupted, the company said it would adopt the film industry's approach …
Jared Perlo / NBC News: At the UN, the US rejected calls for collaborative efforts around AI governance, even as many leaders endorsed a need for urgent international collaboration — While heads of state and world experts highlighted risks and opportunities from AI, U.S. representatives expressed deep opposition …
Kevin Collier / NBC News: Cybercriminals, spies, researchers, and corporate defenders are increasingly using AI, feeding into an escalating cat-and-mouse game of finding software flaws — Hackers and cybersecurity companies have entered an AI arms race. — This summer, Russia's hackers put a new twist on the barrage of phishing emails sent to Ukrainians.
Adam Edelman / NBC News: Texas is set to enact one of the strictest bans on social media for minors, with age verification requirements and letting parents request account deletions — It's the latest attempt in a growing effort by states to enact significant limits on the use of social media by young people.
David K. Li / NBC News: A US judged sentenced an Arizona man to the maximum 10.5 years in prison after his deceased victim gave the court an impact statement via an AI-generated video — The defendant got the maximum of 10½ years for the 2021 murder. His attorney called the presentation “inflammatory,” providing grounds for appeal.
Kevin Collier / NBC News: The FBI says cybercriminals and online scammers stole a record $16.6B in 2024, up from $12.5B in 2023; over 60s lost $4.8B, including $1.8B via investment scams — A new report illustrates how cybercrime is a growing problem, with older Americans hit particularly hard.
Aria Bendix / NBC News: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. praises cell phone restrictions in schools, saying their electromagnetic radiation causes neurological and cellular damage — Kennedy pointed to evidence-based links between social media use and depression, but shared an unfounded claim that cell phones increase cancer risk.
NBC News: Memoir: ex-Facebook employee Sarah Wynn-Williams, who was fired in 2017, says Joel Kaplan sexually harassed her, among other claims; Meta cleared Kaplan in 2017 — The book by Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former New Zealand diplomat, addresses Facebook's impact on democracy during a crucial period in the company's history.
Kevin Collier / NBC News: The US OPM plans to make each government agency's chief information officer a political appointee who can be fired at will, helping Trump exert more control — The change could smooth Elon Musk's efforts to access the technology systems of various federal agencies through his Department of Government Efficiency.
NBC News: ByteDance's TikTok and CapCut suspend service in the US, telling users “Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok” — Users reported being unable to access TikTok Saturday after a pop-up message from the company came up on their screens saying “a law banning TikTok has been enacted.”
NBC News: Trump says he will “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day reprieve after he takes office on Monday “because it's appropriate” — Trump spoke to NBC News' Kristen Welker in an exclusive phone interview Saturday, discussing his plans on what to do about the popular social media app.
Bruna Horvath / NBC News: Zuckerberg says Meta will restore “free expression” on its platforms, including by replacing its fact-checking program with Community Notes, starting in the US — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the move in a post Tuesday morning. — Meta is scrapping its fact-checking program …
Raquel Coronell Uribe / NBC News: The US Treasury sanctions Iranian and Russian entities over attempted election interference, including a Moscow entity that directed the creation of deepfakes — The Treasury Department said Iran and Russia sought to divide Americans through targeted disinformation campaigns in the 2024 elections.
Bruna Horvath / NBC News: Social media users criticize Coca-Cola over an AI-generated Christmas video; many creatives say it is distasteful to use AI tech instead of the work of artists — The video was meant to pay homage to a classic 1995 Coca-Cola commercial. — Coca-Cola is facing backlash online …
Alexandra Marquez / NBC News: After Elon Musk promises to give $1M to one swing state voter per day who signs his PAC's petition, PA's governor says “law enforcement could take a look” — Musk announced Saturday that every day until Election Day, he would give $1 million to a randomly selected voter who signs a petition circulated by his super PAC.
Daysia Tolentino / NBC News: After allegations of poor working conditions on MrBeast's Amazon Studios show Beast Games, industry insiders call for more safety oversight on creator-run sets — YouTube channels are gaining more mainstream attention — but some in the digital entertainment industry think growth should require better oversight.
David Ingram / NBC News: Meta's Oversight Board rules that the phrase “from the river to the sea” is not necessarily hate speech when addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — The independent board said the phrase has ‘multiple meanings’ and is important to political speech on Instagram and Facebook.
Ben Goggin / NBC News: ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot seemingly drew on conservative misinformation to repeat a false claim about CNN's debate broadcast being on a “1-2 minute delay” — The AI programs seemingly drew on conservative misinformation posted just hours earlier to generate their answers.
Kat Tenbarge / NBC News: NY passes legislation to ban social media platforms from using “addictive” recommendation algorithms for users under 18; Gov. Hochul is likely to sign the bill — The New York state legislation will ban social media platforms from algorithmically recommending content to children.
Kat Tenbarge / NBC News: An image showing tents in a camp spelling out “All Eyes on Rafah” hits 44M+ shares on Instagram in 48 hours, likely one of the first viral AI activist images — The image, which appears to be AI-generated, was shared more than 29 million times in less than 24 hours.
Daysia Tolentino / NBC News: At the Bloomberg Technology Summit, Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd said the future of dating could have digital, AI-powered personas setting each other up — Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder and executive chair of Bumble, said that the dating app wants to use AI to “create more healthy and equitable relationships.”
Julie Tsirkin / NBC News: Biden is expected to sign the REPORT Act next week; the bipartisan bill targets child sextortion online through new CSAM reporting requirements and more — Jordan DeMay, a 17-year-old who died by suicide in 2022, is one of a growing number of teens targeted by financial sextortion.
Tim Stelloh / NBC News: Defense lawyers question the accuracy and reliability of Cybercheck, an AI tool used in thousands of US cases to identify suspects' locations and other details — Cybercheck's founder has said the software tops 90% accuracy. Defense lawyers have said he lied under oath about his expertise …
NBC News: Experts say the US government and tech companies are failing to mount a clear response to the theft of trade secrets by Chinese corporate and government spies — U.S. officials say some of America's most prominent tech firms have had their virtual pockets picked by Chinese corporate spies and intelligence agencies.
David Ingram / NBC News: Sensor Tower: in February 2024, X had 27M US DAUs of its mobile app, down 18% YoY, and the US user base has been flat or down every month since November 2022 — X usage has declined as downloads of Threads have surged in recent weeks. — The number of people using X daily is falling …
David Ingram / NBC News: Changing policy, X bans the posting of real names of people behind anonymous accounts, after it suspended accounts that unmasked a suspected neo-Nazi cartoonist — Some X users said the move was another example of Musk going out of his way to defend neo-Nazis, antisemites and white supremacists.
Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News: A consultant working for Rep. Dean Phillips, who challenged Biden in NH's primary, admits to producing the deepfake robocalls, saying anyone can do it for $500 — Steve Kramer acknowledged Sunday that he created the fake Joe Biden robocall at the center of a multistate investigation after NBC News reported about his involvement.
NBC News: US lawmakers scramble to enact measures to punish people targeting women with AI-generated nudes, amid a rise of such cases involving teen girls worldwide — The FBI has warned that technology used to create pornographic deepfake photos and videos was improving and being used for harassment and sextortion.
Kevin Collier / NBC News: Duke University study: personal data from active-duty US service members is cheap, easy to buy, and widely advertised by brokers; data on ~50K people cost ~$10K — Duke University researchers were able to purchase information about thousands of U.S. military personnel often for as little as 12 cents per person.
NBC News: On Instagram, journalists and creators inside Gaza see a surge in followers as they document the Israel-Hamas war, even as Meta has broadly moved away from news — One journalist has added more than 12 million followers. The work highlights some of the challenges and dangers of covering the conflict.
Brandy Zadrozny / NBC News: Report: seven unreliable X accounts, some promoted by Elon Musk, dominated English-language news on X around the Israel-Hamas war from October 7 to October 10 — The University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public said that the most popular posts about the crisis revealed how news …
Kevin Collier / NBC News: After over 100 internal Microsoft documents leaked, the FTC says that “Microsoft was responsible for the error in uploading these documents to the court” — The files include emails from corporate executives like Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and timetables for gaming releases.
Olivia Balsamo / NBC News: A look at Kick, a Twitch rival launched in 2022 that is gaining traction among creators for its looser moderation policies and a 95/5 revenue split — Kick has quickly become a major threat to Amazon's Twitch streaming platform. — Amazon's Twitch has helped build the careers …
Brandy Zadrozny / NBC News: Research: Meta's ban on anti-government “Boogaloo” content initially worked, but after 18 months, in late 2021, the volume had nearly returned to pre-ban levels — Members of the loose-knit Boogaloo movement who found each other online joined armed protests against Covid lockdowns.
NBC News: The FBI says it formed an online database in May to prevent swatting by facilitating coordination between police departments and law enforcement agencies — Advances in technology allow callers to mask their voices, phone numbers or IP addresses (also called “spoofing") or make their false 911 calls sound more credible.
David Ingram / NBC News: Steve Huffman praises Elon Musk's aggressive cost-cutting and layoffs at Twitter and says he saw Musk's handling of Twitter as an example for Reddit to follow — Steve Huffman said in an interview that Elon Musk's cost-cutting at Twitter was inspiring and that the two have chatted “a handful of times.”
David Ingram / NBC News: Two OpenAI contractors, one of them earning $15 per hour, speak about their work labeling the training data used for the company's products, like ChatGPT — Two OpenAI contractors spoke to NBC News about their work training the system behind ChatGPT. — Alexej Savreux, a 34-year-old in Kansas City …
David Ingram / NBC News: Two OpenAI contractors, one of them earning $15 per hour, speak about their work labeling the text and photos used to train ChatGPT and OpenAI's other products — Two OpenAI contractors spoke to NBC News about their work training the system behind ChatGPT.
Carol E. Lee / NBC News: Source: in his upcoming testimony to Congress on March 23, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to reveal TikTok has 150M MAUs in the US, up from 100M in August 2020 — When TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before Congress on Thursday, he plans to unveil new internal data that suggests …
Rob Wile / NBC News: In an email to sellers, Etsy warns that the SVB collapse is causing delays in processing payments; one seller says it would be “catastrophic” for his business — Etsy is warning sellers that the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday is causing delays in processing payments …
Jesselyn Cook / NBC News: Investigation: some Pinterest users are creating sex-themed image boards of kids and the company's algorithm surfaces such content for adults who seek it out — Like other kids her age, 9-year-old Victoria signed up for Pinterest because she wasn't allowed on TikTok.
NBC News: Biden and some GOP senators have formed a loose alliance in asking SCOTUS to change Section 230 protections when hearing Gonzalez v. Google on February 21 — WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and some of his most prominent Republican adversaries in Congress have become allies, of sorts …
Kat Tenbarge / NBC News: Sex educators, adult stars, and sex workers complain about Instagram, saying Meta's moderation has gotten more punitive and less predictable since SESTA-FOSTA — Cherie DeVille lives in perpetual fear of losing her 3.7 million Instagram followers. — DeVille is a well-known porn star who also has an OnlyFans account.
David Ingram / NBC News: San Francisco asked California regulators to halt or scale back the expansion of Cruise and Waymo, after repeated incidents with stopped and idle robotaxis — SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco is trying to slow the expansion of robotaxis after repeated incidents in which cars without drivers stopped …
Kalhan Rosenblatt / NBC News: Wharton School Professor Christian Terwiesch found OpenAI's ChatGPT was able to pass a final exam for the school's MBA program, scoring between B- and B — ChatGPT uses AI to pass final exam at UPenn's Wharton — New research conducted by a professor at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School found …
Brandy Zadrozny / NBC News: A doctor says she faced a wave of anti-vaccine harassment after Twitter ignored her pleas to stop the spread of a fake image of a nonexistent tweet in her name — Growing concerns over impact of medical misinformation on public health — When Dr. Natalia Solenkova woke up Monday morning …