Good morning, and a happy TGIF to you. Let’s get into the tech news.
1. NT Chief Minister says Meta is guilty in territory’s youth crisis
The Australian reports that Northern Territory Chief Minister Eva Lawler has written to Facebook and Instagram owner Meta, accusing it of “encouraging and reinforcing” youth crime in the territory. The Minister has demanded a meeting with Meta, saying that the state is considering ‘post and boast’ legislation. “Police who are enforcing the youth curfew in Alice Springs … said that young people in the town who were engaged in illegal behaviour and posting it to social media have stopped coming into the CBD because there is no central place where people can commit crime, share it on social media and receive online infamy from their friends and peers,” the Minister wrote. “This anecdote suggests there is immense power that social media platforms have in encouraging and reinforcing this illegal behaviour in our streets.”
2. Aussie lab-grown meat goes on sale
Singaporean restaurants may soon stock Aussie lab-grown quail meat, with a ‘Japanese Quail cell parfait’ approved for sale in the country, per the ABC. While it’s legal to sell, the company behind it, Vow, now has to wait until the end of the year for Australia’s food regulator to approve the supply of the lab-grown meat overseas. Vow claims that it has a market among luxury restaurants to sell the meat to. “I can’t share the exact numbers — it’s a little bit commercially sensitive — but it would be among the most expensive proteins you’d find anywhere from any kind of distributor in Singapore,” Vow chief executive George Peppou said.
3. YouTube draws the line on OpenAI
OpenAI training its data on YouTube videos would violate the website’s rules, according to CEO Neal Mohan, per Bloomberg. While Mohan said that he has no indication of whether or not YouTube videos were used by OpenAI to train their video generation model Sora, he claimed doing so would be a “clear violation” of YouTube’s terms of service. “From a creator’s perspective, when a creator uploads their hard work to our platform, they have certain expectations… … One of those expectations is that the terms of service is going to be abided by. It does not allow for things like transcripts or video bits to be downloaded, and that is a clear violation of our terms of service. Those are the rules of the road in terms of content on our platform,” Mohan said to Bloomberg.
4. Roblox boss says some of the most cursed words I’ve ever heard
Via Kotaku, Roblox studio head Stefano Corazza has said that its game, which has been widely accused of promoting child labour, is actually a “gift” for “slum” living 15-year-olds. “I don’t know, you can say this for a lot of things, right?” said Corazza, in reference to comments on Roblox’s reputation for exploiting younger players. “Like, you can say, ‘Okay, we are exploiting, you know, child labour,’ right? Or, you can say: we are offering people anywhere in the world the capability to get a job, and even like an income.” Yikes!
5. George Carlin’s estate settles on ‘AI-generated’ special
George Carlin’s estate has settled with the developers of a comedy special based on the comedian’s work, but supposedly generated with AI, per AP. Podcast outlet Dudesy has agreed to take the special down forever, and has agreed to never use Carlin’s voice or image again without permission from the estate. “While it is a shame that this happened at all, I hope this case serves as a warning about the dangers posed by AI technologies and the need for appropriate safeguards not just for artists and creatives, but every human on earth,” Carlin’s daughter Kelly Carlin said in a statement.
BONUS ITEM: It’s so beautiful.
At long last, the Mythic IV, “Valkyrie”
— Keegan (@keegan_mcnamara) April 3, 2024
Much more coming soon: https://t.co/yxKFdMTlW5 pic.twitter.com/QvkrTdsvRR
Have a lovely day.
Image: iStock