A TikTok video has gone unexpectedly viral after it shocked viewers by exposing the reality of the financial hardships of people who work as drivers for food-delivery companies. The clip was uploaded by user Riley Elliot back in 2021 (although he clarified that his legal name is Riley Todd until he’s married). According to a subsequent video, he only had 9 followers at the time – all of whom were his close friends. But his video clearly resonated. It’s been widely viewed on TikTok, amassing hundreds of thousands of likes and comments, and Elliot’s account has blown up – he now has more than 17,000 followers. In the video, Elliot is sitting in a vehicle, clearly distressed after having completed a food delivery job. He says: “Y’all I wish that people who order UberEats or Doordash understood what it’s like to be a driver.” Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter In tears, he goes on to explain that he was only paid $2.50 for the 45-minute job, and had to pay $3 for parking as the customer wouldn’t come outside to meet him. He added that the customer gave him only a $1.50 tip. “I gotta prove three times rent for income in two weeks and I can’t. It doesn’t matter that I’m working multiple jobs, that I barely sleep, that I can barely afford to feed myself. I’m about to be homeless for the third time since May and it’s all because people don’t tip their delivery drivers. Like, how hard is it to throw us five bucks?” In the on-screen caption, he added: “I’m out here risking my life in a pandemic and no one cares.” Elliot's sudden increase in popularity helped him turn his life around and is now reportedly in a much better place. A successful GoFundMe page, that is still active for Elliot has raised more than $20,000 for him. Elliot's clip was also shared on Twitter, where it has been viewed 3.4 million times. The responses largely echoed the comments on the TikTok video, with people sympathising with Elliot while also debating whether blaming the customers for a lack of tips is the solution, as opposed to holding the delivery companies accountable. In a video posted later the same day, Elliot explained that he had received an overwhelming amount of support, as well as donations which allowed him to move into a new home. @elliot_wanders THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! #ubereatsdriver #fyp #tipyourdeliverydriver #payitforward #tiktokchangedmylife He also addressed comments that referenced expensive items visible in his video, explaining that his income has drastically changed since the start of the pandemic – as has been the case for so many Americans. In a later follow-up, Elliot acknowledged that the blaming customers entirely was not helpful, and that he believed that food-delivery companies that rely on gig workers should bear more responsibility to ensure drivers are paid fairly. He added that this is a broader issue too, highlighting the tip-based culture which exists in the service industry in America. While Elliot appears to be in a much better financial situation now thanks to the viral success of his video, it’s important to remember that there are thousands of others in similar situations who aren’t going viral and may well still be struggling. Just something to bear in mind next time we order pizza... 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.

(Reuters) -Twitter will soon begin paying verified content creators for ads in their replies, with the first payment block of

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Talk of artificial intelligence (AI) models posing a threat to humanity has “run ahead of the technology”, according to Sir Nick Clegg. The former Liberal Democrat leader and deputy prime minister said concerns around “open-source” models, which are made freely available and can be modified by the public, were exaggerated, and the technology could offer solutions to problems such as hate speech. It comes after Facebook’s parent company Meta said on Tuesday that it was opening access to its new large language model, Llama 2, which will be free for research and commercial use. Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, a chatbot that can provide detailed prose responses and engage in human-like conversations, have become widely used in the public domain in the last year. The models that we’re open-sourcing are far, far, far short of that. In fact, in many ways they’re quite stupid Sir Nick Clegg Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday, Sir Nick, president of global affairs at Meta, said: “My view is that the hype has somewhat run ahead of the technology. “I think a lot of the existential warnings relate to models that don’t currently exist, so-called super-intelligent, super-powerful AI models – the vision where AI develops an autonomy and agency on its own, where it can think for itself and reproduce itself. “The models that we’re open-sourcing are far, far, far short of that. In fact, in many ways they’re quite stupid.” Sir Nick said a claim by Dame Wendy Hall, co-chair of the Government’s AI Review, that Meta’s model could not be regulated and was akin to “giving people a template to build a nuclear bomb” was “complete hyperbole”, adding: “It’s not as if we’re at a T-junction where firms can choose to open source or not. Models are being open-sourced all the time already.” He said Meta had 350 people “stress-testing” its models over several months to check for potential issues, and that Llama 2 was safer than any other large language models currently available on the internet. Meta has previously faced questions around security and trust, with the company fined 1.2 billion euros (£1 billion) in May over the transfer of data from European users to US servers. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

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