LEHI, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 31, 2023--

Paige Spiranac posted a photo of herself in a bikini in her first post on Threads

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 6, 2023--

SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 29, 2023--

Warmer and cleaner waters off the coast of Long Island, New York, in recent years have brought growing numbers of bait fish to the area — and with them, the bigger fish that eat them, including sharks. In some ways, it's a good sign for the environment. But it's a different story for swimmers, surfers and beach goers.

The dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) spreading harmful misinformation were made clear once again on Monday, when local fire service officials were forced to confirm there had not been an ‘explosion’ at the Pentagon in Virginia – despite an AI-generated image appearing to suggest there had been. The main image, shared by several fake accounts with blue tick ‘verification’, depicts black smoke billowing close to the Pentagon building, with another showing a distant photo of smoke next to the US defence department headquarters. Stating that the reports are unfounded, the Arlington Fire and Emergency Medical Services Twitter account wrote: “[The Pentagon Force Protection Agency] and the ACFD [Arlington County Fire Department] are aware of a social media report circulating online about an explosion near the Pentagon. “There is NO explosion or incident taking place at or near the Pentagon reservation, and there is no immediate danger or hazards to the public.” Fortunately, while paid-for blue tick accounts have been promised greater promotion on Twitter, a search for ‘Pentagon’ on the social media network brings up a string of tweets from ‘unverified’ accounts debunking the AI image: Stocks reportedly tanked following the fake image, and it isn’t the first time that’s happened, either. The pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly saw a sudden drop last year when an imposter tweeted “insulin is free”. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter And if tricksters aren’t targeting the Pentagon with AI-generated imagery, then they’re using the software to create pictures of the Pope in a puffer jacket and former US President Donald Trump being arrested. In fact, it was only last month that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York representative, warned of “major potential harm” at the hands of fake AI images. “Jokes aside, this is setting the stage for major potential harm when a natural disaster hits and no one knows what agencies, reporters, or outlets are real. “Not long ago we had major flash floods. We had to mobilize trusted info fast to save lives. Today just made that harder,” she said. It seems we’re there already… 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.

Amouranth decided on April Fool's Day to play a joke on her followers by claiming she was pregnant

Pokémon has raised eyebrows and left people in hysterics with the design of the new Wiglett soft toy and it’s easy to see why. In the Pokémon world, Wiglett was announced as a new convergent species related to Diglett for the 2022 Pokémon Scarlet and Violet role-playing video games. It is a type of Garden Eel Pokémon that, with its long cylindrical length, has led to some unfortunate comparisons with the release of a new plushie toy. The Wiglett plushie is sold online by the Pokémon Center, but the long toy has caught the eye for all the wrong reasons as people have suggested it looks like a phallus. The website explains, “this long Poké Plush version of the Garden Eel Pokémon is ready to stand tall as part of your plush collection, perched on your couch, coffee table, or bookshelf”. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter It boasts a “bendable body” that is 10 ¼ inches in length and has drawn some hilarious feedback online. One person wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter): “Ok but who thought this was a good idea.” Many others made similar points. Someone else wrote: “So this Wiglett plush... It's certainly something!” Others were much more NSFW with their commentary. The hilarious plushie may have sparked some rather interesting comments, but despite that, it does seem to resemble the Pokémon character quite closely. 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.

Elon Musk said X is looking to charge users a “small monthly payment” to tackle bots on the social network. X, previously known as Twitter, underwent a number of changes soon after Mr Musk, the multibillionaire owner of X Corp, bought it. The platform is now “moving to having a small, monthly payment for use of the X system” to combat “vast armies of bots”, Mr Musk said during a livestreamed conversation with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. However, the Tesla and SpaceX boss did not reveal how much the new plan would cost X users or what additional features subscribers would get. During the interaction with Mr Netanyahu, the Tesla titan said X currently has 550 million “monthly users” who generate 100-200 million posts per day, adding that the new change to include a “small amount of money” would be necessary to deal with the problem posed by bots. It is unclear whether the multibillionaire’s figure of 550 million monthly users includes bots and also doesn’t allow comparison with the metric the company has used to estimate its user base, called the “average monetizable daily active users” or mDAUs. But the Tesla chief said a subscription fee would make it more difficult for bots to create accounts as each bot would need a new credit card to register on the platform. “It’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots,” Mr Musk said. “Because a bot costs a fraction of a penny – call it a tenth of a penny – but even if it has to pay a few dollars or something, the effective cost of bots is very high,” he explained. The platform has historically struggled to curb the activity of bots, with the company’s former security chief Peiter Zatko telling the US Congress last year that Twitter does not even know how many automated accounts are on the site. Mr Musk even cited bots as a reason to back out of buying the social platform before he went on to complete the deal. He has also previously discussed putting all of Twitter behind a paywall. Now the Tesla boss says the rebranded X plans to introduce a new “lower tier pricing” than the $8 monthly fee it currently charges subscribers of its premium Blue service. The conversation between Mr Musk and the Israeli prime minister also touched on topics like AI regulation as well as hate speech and antisemitism on X. Mr Musk claimed during the discussion that he’s “against antisemitism” and “anything that promotes hate and conflict”. “I’m sort of against attacking any group, you know. Doesn’t matter who it is,” the Tesla chief said. Online safety experts have warned about the social media platform under “free speech absolutist” Mr Musk offering “amnesty” to accounts previously suspended for hate speech and instigating violence. Under the Tesla titan, the platform restored the account of former US president Donald Trump who was banned following the 2021 Capitol riots, as well as the profiles of Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene and neo-Nazi website founder Andrew Anglin. Read More The ex factor: the very complex love life of Elon Musk Netanyahu visits Elon Musk in California with plans to talk about artificial intelligence Turkey's President Erdogan and Elon Musk discuss establishing a Tesla car factory in Turkey Elon Musk’s X finally agrees to try and settle Twitter’s mass layoffs lawsuit Musk the messiah (or a very naughty boy?) Elon Musk warns of ‘civilisational risk’ posed by AI at historic gathering

The company behind a disastrous change to a Kentucky city’s school bus routes that resulted in more than a week of canceled classes had similar problems in two cities in neighboring Ohio last year

Social media can profoundly harm the mental health of youth, particularly adolescent girls, the U.S. Surgeon General warned

Though it’s not the most commonly-used gaming engine anymore, RPG Maker hasn’t so much left