Technology

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/28774804

Archived

Italy’s data protection authority on Thursday blocked access to the Chinese AI application DeepSeek to protect users’ data and announced an investigation into the companies behind the chatbot.

The authority, called Garante, expressed dissatisfaction with DeepSeek’s response to its initial query about what personal data is collected, where it is stored and how users are notified.

“Contrary to the authority’s findings, the companies declared that they do not operate in Italy, and that European legislation does not apply to them,’’ the statement said, noting that the app had been downloaded by millions of people around the globe in just a few days.

DeepSeek’s new chatbot has raised the stakes in the AI technology race, rattling markets and catching up with American generative AI leaders at a fraction of the cost.

Journalists in Pakistan are up in arms after a new law was passed that empowers the government to punish anyone for spreading what the authorities deem online disinformation.

The company that Jeff Bezos founded has gone to court to keep the newspaper he owns from finding out too much about the inner workings of its business.

Using thermogalvanic technology as cooling mechanism may significantly reduce power usage, research says

Specialized garbage-filled captions are invisible to humans, confounding to AI.

Brendan Carr described as “Trump’s Censorship Czar” as he launches media probes.

Last year, the teams responsible for Pixel and Android were merged into one division, and Google today announced a “voluntary exit program.”

Yet another price increase.

Most people think purely AI-generated works shouldn’t be copyrighted, report says.

The exposed database was connected to the internet without a password, exposing GPS coordinates, names, phone numbers, and postal addresses.

Google has quietly announced Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental, a flagship model, in a changelog for the company's Gemini chatbot app.

Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/1835428

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/1835375

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/1835374

DeepSeek-R1 is a blockbuster open-source model that is now at the top of the U.S. App Store.

As a Chinese company, DeepSeek is beholden to CCP policy. This is reflected even in the open-source model, prompting concerns about censorship and other influence.

Today we’re publishing a dataset of prompts covering sensitive topics that are likely to be censored by the CCP. These topics include perennial issues like Taiwanese independence, historical narratives around the Cultural Revolution, and questions about Xi Jinping.

...

A publicly accessible database belonging to DeepSeek allowed full control over database operations, including the ability to access internal data. The exposure includes over a million lines of log streams with highly sensitive information.

The Chinese AI company roiled financial markets and showed the road to growth in electricity demand may be bumpy.

Before problems escalate, a pre-emptive framework must prioritize safety and the concerns of pedestrians, cyclists, and people with disabilities.

A report on the state of advanced AI capabilities and risks – written by 100 AI experts including representatives nominated by 33 countries and intergovernmental organisations.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/1839567

Here is the link to the report: https://graphika.com/reports/chinese-state-influence

A Chinese social media operation that aims to whip up political anger in the West has called for the overthrow of a foreign government when impersonating protesters criticising flood relief efforts in Spain, online analysis outfit Graphika said.

Graphika said an operation dubbed Spamouflage, which it believed was linked to the Chinese state, posed this month as human rights group Safeguard Defenders to spread online calls for the government to be toppled in response to the catastrophic floods in October that killed 224 people.

"This is the first time we have seen Spamouflage directly calling to overthrow a foreign government," Graphika said in its latest report.

...

The report also finds:

• Chinese covert influence operations have impersonated human rights organizations critical of Beijing, almost certainly in an effort to discredit their activities and disrupt domestic political conversations in Western countries. The state-linked Spamouflage operation, for instance, has repeatedly targeted the Spain-based non-profit Safeguard Defenders and in January posed as the organization to spread online calls for the Spanish government to be overthrown in response to deadly floods in Valencia. This is the first time we have seen Spamouflage directly calling for the overthrow of a foreign government.
• Chinese state influence actors and pro-China communities continue to leverage international trade issues in their efforts to advance Beijing’s strategic interests. In recent weeks, this has included attempts to orchestrate a boycott of Japanese retail brand Uniqlo due to the company’s reported refusal to use cotton from China’s Xinjiang region, and efforts to exacerbate tensions between the U.S. and Japan over a blocked steel company merger.
• Chinese officials and state media have used social media and other online platforms to dismiss and deflect allegations of Chinese state hacking activity. After Japan accused China in January of orchestrating a years-long hacking campaign against Japanese government agencies and companies, for example, Chinese state actors spread statements dismissing the allegations as groundless and disseminated cartoons casting Tokyo as an agent of U.S. “disinformation.”
• Overt and covert Chinese state influence actors have engaged in a sustained effort to advance narratives that reinforce Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and attempt to legitimize its activities in the region. In November, these actors amplified comments by an international law scholar that appeared to support China’s position.

Meta has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit President Donald Trump filed for suspending his Facebook and Instagram accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

American teens have lost their faith in Big Tech, according to a new report from Common Sense Media, a nonprofit offering reviews and ratings for media and technology, which more recently includes AI products.

The new Chinese AI tool finished tied for 10th of 11 chatbots tested

Mark Zuckerberg said Meta underestimated TikTok's rise and dismissed it for not thinking it was truly social.

Archived version: https://archive.is/20250130223341/https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-missed-tiktoks-rise-because-it-didnt-seem-social-enough-2025-1