Reddit blocks AI firms from data harvesting

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1. Reddit blocks AI firms from data harvesting

Reddit is reportedly taking measures to prevent AI startups from extracting data from its platform, a move aimed at stopping third-party entities from utilizing Reddit's data to train machine-learning models unauthorizedly.

Reddit's decision may impact search crawlers like Google and Bing. If no agreement is reached, Reddit's content might be excluded from these search engine results. Amidst these developments, Reddit's spokesperson, Tim Rathschmidt, remained non-committal about the company's stance on search crawlers.

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2. Oxolo raises €13M for Generative AI video tool

Oxolo, a Hamburg-based startup, has garnered €13 million in a Series A funding round spearheaded by DN Capital. The company's generative AI-driven platform can dynamically optimize video engagement. For instance, if a viewer's interest wanes during a video, the platform can instantly adjust and present a more engaging version.

Elisabeth L’Orange, Co-Founder of Oxolo, highlighted the platform's ease, noting that users can simply input a product link and generate a complete video without manual interventions. The current market for video advertising content tools is projected to be between $1.0-$1.5 billion in 2023, with anticipated growth to $4.3 billion by 2030.

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3. Samsung's Galaxy S24 challenges Google's Pixel 8 AI

Samsung is setting ambitious goals for its Galaxy S24 series, aiming to outpace the AI prowess of Google's Pixel 8 lineup. The company has overhauled the NPU architecture in the Exynos 2400, resulting in a staggering 14.7-fold increase in AI performance from its predecessor.

Sources indicate that the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra will leverage the enhanced NPUs of both the Exynos 2400 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Notably, Samsung plans to integrate generative AI capabilities, such as ChatGPT and Google Bard-like functions, directly into the device, allowing users to generate content from keywords. The company's AI assistant, Bixby, is also expected to see significant improvements.

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4. PimEyes Bans child face searches

PimEyes, known for its facial recognition search engine, has prohibited searches involving minors due to rising concerns about child safety. This decision follows the introduction of PimEyes' age detection AI, designed to discern if an image features a child.

Giorgi Gobronidze, PimEyes' CEO, had envisioned this protective feature since 2021, but its full deployment came after a recent article highlighted AI's potential risks to children.

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5. Nightshade - artists can now ‘poison’ AI models with corrupted training data

In response to the growing concerns of artists over AI models using their content for training, a new open-source tool named Nightshade is in development. This tool, when applied to artists' imagery before uploading, alters pixels in a manner undetectable to human eyes but "poisons" the art for AI models aiming to train on it.

Developed by University of Chicago researchers led by computer science professor Ben Zhao, Nightshade can mislead AI models. For instance, after being exposed to poisoned images of dogs, an AI model began generating cat-like dogs. The tool's objective is to restore power to artists, ensuring their intellectual property rights are respected.

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