Meta will flag deep fakes used in political ads, BT chief compares workers to horses
Meta will require political advertisers to flag when they have used AI or digital manipulation in adverts on Facebook and Instagram. The social media company already has policies on using deepfakes in place, but says this goes a step further. From January, adverts related to politics, elections or social issues will have to declare any digitally altered image or video. The worldwide policy will be moderated by a mix of human and AI fact checkers. In an announcement, Meta said this would include changing what somebody has said in a video, altering images or footage of real events, and depicting real-looking people who do not exist. BBC
BT’s technology chief, Harmeen Mehta, has suggested workers whose jobs are threatened by AI accept their fate as “evolution”, comparing them to horses replaced by the car. In an interview with the business website Raconteur, Mehta said: “I don‘t know how horses felt when the car was invented, but they didn’t complain that they were put out of a job; they didn’t go on strike. “It’s part of evolution. Some jobs will change, some new ones will be created and some will no longer be needed.” The Guardian
It seems like one of the great promises of driverless cars: owners can get into the vehicles after a few pints at the pub and let the sober computer navigate them home. But being over the limit will be illegal even when operating an autonomous vehicle, the Government has said, dashing hopes that the futuristic vehicles will act as chauffeurs after one too many. Documents published alongside the Automated Vehicles Bill, announced in this week’s King’s Speech, specify that users of driverless cars must “remain in a fit state to drive” while the vehicles are on the road. Telegraph
Bad news for Fitbit users. The Google-owned company has withdrawn from 29 countries, leaving only 23 markets where its products are still available for sale. The move, which was first reported by folks over at Android Authority, comes as Google seeks to align its hardware portfolio more closely with the regional availability of its Pixel smartphones. In Europe, the remaining markets include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Finland, Greece, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. MSPowerUser
There are many reasons not to buy the Apple Watch Ultra. It’s an adventure watch that can’t compete with proper adventure watches. It costs twice as much as the Apple Watch 9 and almost as much as a Macbook Air. And it’s about the same size and weight as an actual apple, with zero vitamin C. And yet, by the only available metrics, it is going gangbusters… So why is the Ultra ubiquitous, at least around London’s ritzier Tube stops? “It might be more like a traditional watch than anyone has realised,” says Chris Hall, publisher of watch newsletter The Fourth Wheel. Esquire
Add one more Wall Street bank to the short list of research shops calling for Tesla (TSLA) stock to fall from its current level. HSBC analyst Michael Tyndall initiated coverage of Tesla on Thursday with a Reduce (or Sell) rating and $146 price target, implying a 33% drop in Tesla’s stock price. In response, Tesla stock closed down nearly 5.5% on Thursday, with shares shedding 18.9% in the past month. Tyndall praised Tesla as an innovator in the space..but said that more than half of HSBC’s model for future cash flows is based on initiatives that likely won’t see profits until the end of the decade. Yahoo!
