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By Nate Raymond and Phil Stewart (Reuters) -The U.S. Military Academy, known as West Point, was sued on Tuesday by

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TikTok has launched a feature to make it easier for users to save viral songs to music apps like Spotify and Apple Music. The “add to music app” feature will be rolled out in the UK and US over the coming weeks. It will enable users to save songs they discover on the video platform directly to their preferred music streaming app. Viral trend videos have helped popularise tracks such as Kylie Minogue’s dance anthem Padam Padam, and Raye, Casso and D-Block Europe’s collaboration on the single Prada. Ole Obermann, TikTok’s global head of music business development, said: “TikTok is already the world’s most powerful platform for music discovery and promotion, which helps artists connect with our global community to drive engagement with their music.” The new feature creates a “direct link” between music discovery and consumption, “thereby generating even greater value for artists and rightsholders”, Mr Obermann said. A button that says “add song” next to a track name at the bottom of a TikTok video in a user’s feed will allow them to save the song to a default playlist – including the “TikTok Songs” playlist on Amazon Music or the “Liked Songs” list on Spotify. The feature will start testing in additional markets soon, TikTok said. Last month, TikTok confirmed its first European data centre as part of its ongoing response to data privacy concerns around the app’s links to China. The centre in Dublin is the first of three in Europe to be built and will house data from TikTok users across the region. The UK Government earlier this year banned TikTok, which is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, from being used on ministers’ work phones following a security review. Read More Urgent appeals for missing people to appear on Trainline app Data protection watchdog offers tips on buying smart devices on Black Friday Meta to allow users to delete Threads accounts without losing Instagram

President Joe Biden is addressing concerns about artificial intelligence as the administration attempts to guide the development of the rapidly evolving technology. The White House said on Monday (30 October) that a sweeping executive order will address concerns about safety and security, privacy, equity and civil rights, the rights of consumers, patients, and students, and supporting workers. The order will also hand a list of tasks to federal agencies to oversee the development of the technology. ‘We have to move as fast, if not faster than the technology itself’ “We can’t move at a normal government pace,” White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients quoted Mr Biden as telling his staff, according to the AP. “We have to move as fast, if not faster than the technology itself.” Mr Biden believes that the US government was late to the game to take into account the risks of social media, leading to the related mental health issues now seen among US youth. While AI may help drastically develop cancer research, foresee the impacts of the climate crisis, and improve the economy and public services, it may also spread fake images, audio and videos, with possibly widespread political consequences. Other harmful effects include the worsening of racial and social inequality and the possibility that it can be used to commit crimes, such as fraud. The president of the Center for Democracy & Technology, Alexandra Reeve Givens, told the AP that the Biden administration is using the tools at their disposal to issue “guidance and standards to shape private sector behaviour and leading by example in the federal government’s own use of AI”. Mr Biden’s executive order comes after technology companies have already made voluntary commitments, and the aim is that congressional legislation and international action will follow. The White House got commitments earlier this year from Google, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI to put in place safety standards when building new AI tools and models. Monday’s executive order employs the Defense Production Act to require AI developers to share safety test results and other data with the government. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is also set to establish standards governing the development and use of AI. Similarly, the Department of Commerce will publish guidance outlining the labelling and watermarking of content created using AI. An administration official told the press on Sunday that the order is intended to be implemented within between 90 days and a year. Safety and security issues have the tightest deadlines. Mr Biden met with staff last Thursday for a half-hour meeting that grew into an hour and 10 minutes to put the finishing touches on the order. Biden ‘impressed and alarmed’ by AI The president was engaged in meetings about the technology in the months that preceded Monday’s order signing, meeting twice with the Science Advisory Council to discuss AI and bringing up the technology during two cabinet meetings. At several gatherings, Mr Biden also pushed tech industry leaders and advocates regarding what the technology is capable of. Deputy White House Chief of Staff Bruce Reed told the AP that Mr Biden “was as impressed and alarmed as anyone”. “He saw fake AI images of himself, of his dog,” he added. “He saw how it can make bad poetry. And he’s seen and heard the incredible and terrifying technology of voice cloning, which can take three seconds of your voice and turn it into an entire fake conversation.” The AI-created images and audio prompted Mr Biden to push for the labelling of AI-created content. He was also concerned about older people getting a phone call from an AI tool using a fake voice sounding like a family member or other loved one for the purpose of committing a scam. Meetings on AI often went long, with the president once telling advocates: “This is important. Take as long as you need.” Mr Biden also spoke to scientists about the possible positive impacts of the technology, such as explaining the beginning of the universe, and the modelling of extreme weather events such as floods, where old data has become inaccurate because of the changes caused by the climate crisis. ‘When the hell did I say that?’ On Monday at the White House, Mr Biden addressed the concerns about “deepfakes” during a speech in connection with the signing of the order. “With AI, fraudsters can take a three-second recording of your voice, I have watched one of me on a couple of occasions. I said, ‘When the hell did I say that?’” Mr Biden said to laughter from the audience. Mr Reed added that he watched Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One with Mr Biden one weekend at Camp David. At the beginning of the film, the antagonist, an AI called “the Entity”, sinks a submarine, killing its crew. “If he hadn’t already been concerned about what could go wrong with AI before that movie, he saw plenty more to worry about,” Mr Reed told the news agency. The White House has faced pressure from a number of allied groups to address possible harmful effects of AI. The director of the racial justice programme at The American Civil Liberties Union, ReNika Moore, told the AP that the union met with the administration to make sure “we’re holding the tech industry and tech billionaires accountable” so that the new tools will “work for all of us and not just a few”. Ex-Biden official Suresh Venkatasubramanian told the news agency that law enforcement’s use of AI, such as at border checkpoints, is one of the top challenges. “These are all places where we know that the use of automation is very problematic, with facial recognition, drone technology,” the computer scientist said. Read More Biden reacts to watching deepfakes of himself: ‘When the hell did I say that?’ Rishi Sunak to hold live chat with Elon Musk during AI summit Liz Truss ‘deeply disturbed’ by Sunak’s invitation to China to attend AI summit Extinction risk from AI on same scale as nuclear war, Sunak warns Revealed: Government using AI to decide on benefits and driving licences Brexit means UK can be global leader on AI, says Facebook co-founder

The viral "Chalkboard Mom" from 2012 has come back with an update on her daughter Laikynn, and social media is loving it. McKinli Hatch had the now famous photo to her blog Mommy's Little Sunshine over ten years ago, whilst she was pregnant with her daughter. The photo shows Hatch standing next to a chalkboard that lists the potential names for her daughter: Taylee, McKarty, Nayvie, and Maylee, all crossed out, with the circled "Lakynn" at the bottom. Hatch's unique name choice has ingrained herself, and her daughter, into internet culture, and 11 years later, we've been given an update. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Hatch posted a video of her and Laikynn at the beach with the caption "throw back to my first viral photo". The text overlay in the video reads: "The people realise you are the 'Chalk Board Mom' and Laikynn is now 11 years old." Viewers seemingly loved the throwback as the jokes about Hatch's choice of spelling resurfaced a decade later. @mckinli Throw back to my first viral photo ? "I named my daughter Mcieckaealeighphla (pronounced like Lauren) because of you," one viewer joked. "My daughter is Saighlaur (pronounced Mary of course) so I completely get it!" Many said that Hatch was "iconic" for bringing us back for an update. The TikTok even made its way over to Twitter, with many feeling nostalgic for the original meme: Some also noticed that Laikynn's name is spelled with an extra 'I' than the original name: But one user explained the reason behind the extra 'i': The original blog has seemingly been inactive since 2016, but Hatch has since grown a sizeable following on TikTok, posting fashion content as well as documenting her experience as a single mum. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

There is no evidence to suggest using Facebook is detrimental to wellbeing, Oxford scientists have said, challenging the view that the social media platform is linked to psychological harm. Researchers from the University’s Oxford Internet Institute analysed data from nearly a million people across 72 countries over 12 years – in the largest study of its kind – to understand more about the impact of Facebook on wellbeing. Professor Andrew Przybylski, who co-led the research published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, said: “We examined the best available data carefully – and found they did not support the idea that Facebook membership is related to harm – quite the opposite. “In fact, our analysis indicates Facebook is possibly related to positive well-being.” The research looked at Facebook data from 2008 to 2019, going back to when the platform was in its early stages. “We examined 72 countries’ per capita active Facebook users in males and females in two age brackets, 13-34 years and 35+ years,” the researchers said. The results also showed the association between using Facebook and wellbeing was slightly more positive for males as well as for younger people. Writing in the research paper, the authors said: “Although reports of negative psychological outcomes associated with social media are common in academic and popular writing, evidence for harms is, on balance, more speculative than conclusive.” Professor Matti Vuorre, also of the Oxford Internet Institute, who co-led the study, said: “Our findings should help guide the debate surrounding social media towards more empirical research foundations. “We need more transparent collaborative research between independent scientists and the technology industry to better determine how, when and why modern online platforms might be affecting their users.” Commenting on the study, Peter Etchells, professor of psychology and science communication at Bath Spa University, said: “This is a fascinating study that attempts to link Facebook uptake with measures of mental wellbeing in a broad-strokes manner, using data from over 70 countries. “Contrary to popular sentiment, the researchers didn’t find a negative association between the two; instead, it was generally the case that there were positive associations between country-level Facebook uptake and mental wellbeing. “To my mind, the value in this study lies in proof of principle – it demonstrates that it’s possible to leverage industry data to address meaningful questions about how digital technology interacts with our mental health.” But Prof Etchells said there were some caveats associated with the findings – which the study authors have addressed. He said: “This is a descriptive study, and as such cannot tell us anything about causation – that is, we don’t know how, if, or to what extent, changes in Facebook adoption drive changes in mental wellbeing. “Wellbeing is a complex phenomenon, and even in the context of social media use, we need to be careful drawing any firm conclusions by looking at how people use a single platform such as Facebook.” Read More Move fast and beat Musk: The inside story of how Meta built Threads Japan's tech investor SoftBank trims losses and promises offensive turnaround Chatbots sometimes make things up. Not everyone thinks AI's hallucination problem is fixable Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

By Casey Hall and Sophie Yu SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Sales on JD.com's e-commerce site during China's mid-year shopping festival - the

CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 14, 2023--

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