For years it’s been obvious that online social services of all kinds are beset by a problem with bots. I work on a cybersecurity product that can go inline and literally watch bot traffic, and too often we’ve had to break the news to a young company that the vast majority of their traffic is bots logging into fake accounts.
Unsurprisingly, there is a lot that people don’t understand about how the bot ecosystem works. Some bots are performing valuable services li
Last week, in a global milestone for medicine, U.K. regulators approved the first-ever CRISPR gene-editing drug. The treatment, from Vertex and CRISPR Therapeutics, will be licensed under the brand name Casgevy in the U.K. for patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) and beta thalassemia. The regulatory green light abroad isn’t surprising given the therapy’s established record of clinical trial success in treating these painful, and sometimes fatal, inherited blood disorders. But
After firing Sam Altman this past Friday, Open AI—the company behind ChatGPT—announced on X late Tuesday that Altman has been reinstated as CEO. The news caps a dramatic five days in which the company’s board removed Altman and replaced him with former Twitch head Emmett Shear, prompting a staff revolt. Meanwhile Altman was offered a job at Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest investor. Now, coming full circle, Altman is back at the helm of the artificial intelligence start
As the war in Gaza drags on, the region’s telecommunications infrastructure has repeatedly buckled under the weight of bombings, fuel shortages, and apparent efforts by the Israeli military to cut off internet access in the region. These blackouts have, time and again, thrust the more than two million people in Gaza into a communications black hole, threatening to exacerbate the already dire humanitarian crisis. Just last week, the United Nations announced it was halting humanitarian o
Changpeng Zhao (also known simply as “CZ”), the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has agreed to step down from his position and will plead guilty to violating anti-money laundering requirements enforced by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to numerous media reports.
Zhao is expected in a federal courtroom in Seattle on Tuesday to enter his plea, with Binance reportedly agreeing to pay $4.3 billion in fines. The news was reported earlier by the
We do just about everything on our phones and computers. From paying bills, to having private conversations, to googling a new and unpleasant rash, our devices hold information about our lives that is quite personal. But if you’ve ever worried about someone peeking at what you’re doing on your phone or your laptop, you’re certainly not alone. “Shoulder surfers” are a genuine problem that leads to hacking, stolen information, and even identity theft.
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Elon Musk followed through with his threat to sue Media Matters Tuesday after the nonprofit reported last week that Twitter/X “has been placing ads for major brands next to content that touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party.” This resulted in several major advertisers, including Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Comcast, and Lionsgate, pulling their ads from the site.
The suit was expected. The location the company filed it—in a Texas federal court—was a b
Much has changed in the AI world in the past week. But as turmoil rages over the chaos at OpenAI, another major moment went comparatively overlooked because it occurred just before the world’s leading AI company fell to pieces.
On November 15, two days before the OpenAI debacle began, Ed Newton-Rex, who had been vice president of audio at Stability AI for just over a year, resigned from his position leading the audio team at the company over a disagreement over copyright.
Whether it’s the exhausting hours in the kitchen, Aunt Lisa’s helping herself to a little too much wine, or Uncle Marc deciding that over desert is the perfect time to launch into a political debate, Thanksgiving is a holiday with plenty of land mines.
While, for most people, it’s a day to gather with friends and family and enjoy each other’s company, the feast of plenty can be a bit too much to handle for others.
Etiquette experts have their ow
When the communications platform Discord was founded in 2015, its users were mainly bonding over their shared interest in video games. But during the pandemic, the app became more than just a place to play games with friends.
According to Discord cofounder and CEO Jason Citron, Discord saw a major spike in sign-ups as users increasingly turned to the platform to connect with others. Something as simple as discussing shared hobbies became a vital resource.
“Participa