WeTransfer says user content will not be used to train AI after backlash
The popular filesharing service WeTransfer has said user content will not be used to train artificial intelligence after a change in its service terms had triggered a public backlash,The company, which is regularly used by creative professionals to transfer their work online, had suggested in new terms that uploaded files could be used to “improve machine learning models”,The clause had previously said the service had a right to “reproduce, modify, distribute and publicly display” content, and the updated version caused confusion among users,A WeTransfer spokesperson said user content had never been used, even internally, to test or develop AI models and that “no specific kind of AI” was being considered for use by the Dutch company,The firm said: “There’s no change in how WeTransfer handles your content in practice.
”WeTransfer revised the new terms of service on Tuesday to “make the language easier to understand” and removed any mention of machine learning or AI,The spokesperson added: “We hope that amending our legal terms to remove mention of machine learning and make the licensing conditions clearer will reassure those among our customers who were wondering what the update meant for them,”The relevant section in the terms of service now reads: “You hereby grant us a royalty-free license to use your content for the purposes of operating, developing, and improving the service, all in accordance with our privacy & cookie policy,”Some users of the service, including a voice actor, a film-maker and a journalist, had shared their discontent with the new terms on X and threatened to cancel their subscriptions,The use of copyright-protected work by AI companies has become a particularly sensitive issue for the creative industries, which argue that using their output without permission endangers their livelihoods by denying them income and also potentially helping to create tools that compete with their own work.
The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain said it was glad to learn that WeTransfer had “provided clarity” and said: “Members’ work should never be used to train AI systems without their permission.”WeTransfer said: “As a company with deep roots in the creative community, we hold our customers and their work in the highest regard.We will continue to work to make sure WeTransfer is the best product it can be for our customers.”The company was founded in 2009 to allow users to send large files via email without creating an official account.The service is now used by 80 million monthly users across 190 countries.
Apple inks $500m deal for rare earth magnets with US mining firm
Apple has signed a $500m deal with a US firm for rare earth magnets, essential for manufacturing electronics, after China curbed exports of the scarce, vital materials.The backing from one of the world’s most valuable companies comes after MP Materials, which operates the only US rare earths mine, last week agreed to a multibillion-dollar deal with the US Department of Defense that will see the Pentagon become its largest shareholder. Both deals are aimed at mitigating supply chain risks after China limited the outgoing supply of rare earths earlier this year in response to Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.The deal, announced on Tuesday, guarantees Apple a steady flow of rare earth magnets free from China – by far the world’s largest producer. For Apple, the cost to support US magnet production pales in comparison to the long-term risk that it could lose access entirely to the critical components, analysts said
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The Phone 3 is London-based Nothing’s latest attempt to get people to ditch Samsung or Apple phones for something a bit different, a little quirky and more fun.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.As the firm’s first high-end Android in several years, it has most of what you’d expect a flagship phone to have
Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot melts down – and then wins a military contract
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. This week, Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, saw its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok go Nazi. Then its CEO resigned. In the past three years of Musk’s ownership of the social network, it feels like X has weathered at least one public crisis per week, more often multiple.Last week, Musk’s artificial intelligence firm, xAI, saw its flagship chatbot Grok declare itself a super-Nazi, referring to itself as “MechaHitler”
AI chatbot ‘MechaHitler’ could be making content considered violent extremism, expert witness tells X v eSafety case
The chatbot embedded in Elon Musk’s X that referred to itself as “MechaHitler” and made antisemitic comments last week could be considered terrorism or violent extremism content, an Australian tribunal has heard.But an expert witness for X has argued a large language model cannot be ascribed intent, only the user.xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence firm, last week apologised for the comments made by its Grok chatbot over a 16-hour period, which it attributed to “deprecated code” that made Grok susceptible to existing X user posts, “including when such posts contained extremist views”.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailThe outburst came into focus at an administrative review tribunal hearing on Tuesday where X is challenging a notice issued by the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, in March last year asking the platform to explain how it is taking action against terrorism and violent extremism (TVE) material.X’s expert witness, RMIT economics professor Chris Berg, provided evidence to the case that it was an error to assume a large language model can produce such content, because it is the intent of the user prompting the large language model that is critical in defining what can be considered terrorism and violent extremism content
Elmo’s X account posts racist and antisemitic messages after being hacked
Hackers gained access to the X account of the puppet Elmo over the weekend and used it to post racist and antisemitic threats as well as make profane references to Jeffrey Epstein. Sesame Workshop was still trying to regain full control on Monday over the red character’s account.“Elmo’s X account was compromised by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, including antisemitic and racist posts. We are working to restore full control of the account,” a Sesame Workshop spokesperson said on Monday. Sesame Workshop is the non-profit behind Sesame Street and Elmo
Musk’s giant Tesla factory casts shadow on lives in a quiet corner of Germany
Politics of carmaker’s owner has soured sentiments in Grünheide, south-east of Berlin, where the factory promised jobs and revitalisationWhen Elon Musk advised Germans to vote for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in elections last year, Manu Hoyer – who lives in the small town where the billionaire had built Tesla’s European production hub – wrote to the state premier to complain.“How can you do business with someone who supports rightwing extremism?” she asked Dietmar Woidke, the Social Democrat leader of the eastern state of Brandenburg, who had backed the setting up of the Tesla Giga factory in Grünheide.Hoyer said that in Woidke’s “disappointing, but predictable” answer, he denied the charge. “He said he didn’t know him personally. As if that excused him
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