This week, Figma CEO Dylan Field announced that the company would temporarily disable its “Make Design” AI feature after accusations of “heavily” training the tool on existing apps. The feature, unveiled at the company’s annual Config conference, aimed to jumpstart the design process by generating UI layouts and components from text prompts. However, it faced criticism after it seemingly mimicked the layout of Apple’s Weather app.
YouTube’s New Policy on Deepfakes
This week, YouTube quietly rolled out a policy change that allows people to request the takedown of AI-generated or other synthetic content that simulates their face or voice. The move marks a shift in opinion from YouTube, which now sees deepfakes as a privacy rather than a content moderation issue.
Fisker Seeks Approval to Sell Inventory
Fisker is asking the judge in charge of its bankruptcy case to allow it to sell the remaining inventory of its all-electric Ocean SUVs. If approved, this would mean that a New York-based car leasing firm could buy the completed EVs for around $14,000 each — far less than the $70,000 cost at which some once retailed.
AI News
AI Twitter Meets Myspace for GenZ:
The new app No Place is the most popular free app on the App Store and aims to bring the “social” back into social media by acting like a modern MySpace with customizable profiles in vibrant colors.
How to Avoid AI-Powered Scams:
Due to generative AI systems, online frauds are now more straightforward, less expensive, and more plausible. It has been laid out for you to know everything. You need to know to protect yourself and your loved ones.
Turn Off Those Silly Video Call Reactions:
Don’t worry if you’ve seen thumbs-ups and confetti popping up across your screen during video calls, too. Here’s how you can switch off this setting on your Apple devices.
AI Amazon Retires Astro for Business:
Amazon has decided to discontinue its Astro for Business security robot just seven months after launch as the company shifts its focus to the home version of Astro.
A Natural 1 for Security:
Popular online tabletop and role-playing game platform Roll20 suffered a data breach, which exposed some users’ personal information. The platform is currently notifying users of the breach.
Cloudflare Takes on AI Bots:
The publicly traded cloud service provider has launched a free tool to prevent bots from scraping websites hosted on its platform for data to train AI models.
Is Gemini as Good as Google Claims?
Google has claimed that its AI models can accomplish previously impossible tasks like summarizing multiple hundred-page documents. However, new research suggests that the models aren’t as good as the company says.
Over One Billion Stolen Records:
This year has witnessed some of the largest and most destructive data breaches ever. Here are the most significant data breaches in 2024, from AT&T to Ticketmaster.
AI Analysis
A Year of Threads:
Meta’s alternative to Twitter celebrated its first birthday. Despite having 175 million monthly active users, the social network is still trying to find its voice. Threads has found itself not as newsy as X and not as open as Mastodon or Bluesky — at least for now. Ivan Mehta reflects on the app’s first year and what it can learn from other social networks.
The Supreme Court Declares Open Season on Regulators:
In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court swooped in with what could be one of the most consequential decisions. It has been made in the context of the tech industry by overturning the 1984 case Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. On paper, wetlands and the EPA seem to have little to do with technology. But as Devin Coldewey writes, the decision opens up regulators to endless interference.
