Artificial intelligence appeared in sights governments concerned about their potential for misuse for fraud, disinformation and other malicious activities on the Internet; currently in the UK, the regulator is preparing to analyze how artificial intelligence is getting used to combat a few of these, particularly in relation to content that is harmful to children.
Ofcomthe regulatory body accountable for enforcing UK regulations Internet Security Actannounced that it plans to launch a consultation on how artificial intelligence and other automated tools are currently used and the way they can be utilized in the future to proactively detect and take away illegal content online, specifically to protect children from harmful content and detect child abuse in sexual purposes, material previously difficult to detect.
These tools could be a part of a wider set of Ofcom proposals that concentrate on keeping children protected online. Ofcom said consultation on the comprehensive proposals would begin in the coming weeks, with a consultation on artificial intelligence happening later this yr.
Mark Bunting, director of Ofcom’s online safety group, says interest in artificial intelligence starts with taking a look at how well it is currently used as a control tool.
“Some services are already using these tools to identify and protect children from such content,” he told TechCrunch. “But there is not much details about the accuracy and effectiveness of those tools. We want to take a look at ways we can be sure that the industry assesses when it uses them, ensuring that risks to free speech and privacy are managed.
One likely consequence will likely be Ofcom recommending how and what platforms should assess, which could potentially lead not only to platforms adopting more sophisticated tools, but in addition to potential fines in the event that they fail to make improvements to blocking content or creating higher ways to stopping younger users from seeing this.
“As with many internet safety regulations, companies have a responsibility to ensure they take the appropriate steps and use the appropriate tools to protect users,” he said.
There will likely be each critics and supporters of those moves. Artificial intelligence researchers are finding increasingly sophisticated ways to make use of artificial intelligence detect deepfakes, for instance, in addition to for online user verification. And yet there are just as a lot of them skeptics who note that AI detection is not foolproof.
Ofcom announced the consultation on artificial intelligence tools at the same time because it published its latest study into kid’s online interactions in the UK, which found that overall, more younger children are connected to the web than ever before, to the extent that that Ofcom is currently ceasing activity amongst increasingly younger age groups.
Nearly 1 / 4, 24%, of all children ages 5 to 7 now have their very own smartphones, and when tablets are included, that number increases to 76%, in response to a survey of U.S. parents. The same age group is far more prone to eat media on these devices: 65% have made voice and video calls (in comparison with 59% only a yr ago), and half of kids (in comparison with 39% a yr ago) watch streaming media.
Age restrictions are getting lighter on some popular social media apps, but whatever the restrictions, they aren’t enforced in the UK anyway. Ofcom found that around 38% of kids aged 5 to 7 use social media. The hottest application amongst them is Meta’s WhatsApp (37%). We were probably relieved for the first time when flagship image app Meta became less popular than viral sensation ByteDance. It turned out that 30% of kids aged 5 to 7 use TikTok, and “only” 22% use Instagram. Discord accomplished the list, but is much less popular at just 4%.
About one third, 32% of kids of this age use the Internet on their very own, and 30% of fogeys said that they weren’t bothered by their minor children having social media profiles. YouTube Kids stays the hottest network amongst younger users (48%).
Games which were the hottest amongst children for years are currently utilized by 41% of kids aged 5 to 7, and 15% of kids at this age play shooting games.
Although 76% of fogeys surveyed said they’d talked to their young children about web safety, Ofcom points out that there are query marks between what a baby sees and what they can report. When examining older children aged 8-17, Ofcom interviewed them face-to-face. It found that 32% of kids said they’d seen disturbing content online, but only 20% of their parents said they’d reported anything.
Even considering some inconsistencies in reporting, “the research suggests a link between older children’s exposure to potentially harmful content online and what they share with their parents about their online experiences,” Ofcom writes. Disturbing content is just considered one of the challenges: deepfakes are also an issue. Ofcom reported that amongst 16-17-year-olds, 25% said they were unsure they may tell fake content from real content online.
When Keith Rabois announced in January that he was leaving Founders Fund and returning to Khosla Ventures, it got here as a shock to many within the venture capital ecosystem – and never simply because Rabois is a giant name within the industry.
This was surprising because, unlike in lots of other fields, venture capitalists traditionally don’t move fairly often – especially those that rise to the extent of partner or general partner, as was the case with Rabois.
VC funds have a 10-year lifecycle, and partners have a great reason to stay that course. In some cases, they could be “key people” in an organization’s fund, which suggests that in the event that they leave, the fund’s LP investors have the appropriate to withdraw their capital in the event that they so select. Many partners and GPs also invest a few of their very own money of their firm’s funds, giving them another excuse to stick with the firm.
So while it isn’t common for high-profile investors to move into the venture capital space, it seems to have happened in recent months. So far this 12 months, there have been significant cases of investors returning to old corporations, withdrawing from investments on their very own or stopping investing altogether.
Just TodayVic Singh, one in all the co-founders of Eniac Ventures, announced he was leaving the corporate he helped present in 2009 to start his own.
Singh joins a growing list of VCs who’ve recently left corporations.
Startups don’t avoiding large projects. Here’s my takeaway from the news that The Browser Company’s Arc Browser is now generally available to Windows users, just as Island has raised massive capital for its enterprise browser tool. It’s very encouraging to see startups embracing the core elements of technology, not only the apps available on platforms.
Of course, Chrom still reigns supreme, but it surely may take a while to do away with this horse.
Elsewhere in Startup Land on Equity this week, we delved into Chowdeck’s $2.5 million round. This is a Nigerian company that is reporting impressive growth in the sphere of food delivery in a very difficult market. Keep a watch on this as Nigeria is a big market and no single company has a closed delivery operation there. At least though.
We also took a glance New $150M Corelight Fundraisewhich is excellent news to chew on given its valuation and revenue growth.
On the venture front, we covered two stories: First, Intuition’s commitment to the buyer market is particularly interesting. The Paris-based fund is betting that the most effective approach to make as much money as possible is to go against the B2B SaaS narrative. Second, we see the creation of a new venture capital supergroup: Axios informs that investors with experience at a16z, Bessemer and Index are constructing a new company.
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Federal Trade Commission hit Razer a $1.1 million wonderful was imposed on Tuesday. The ruling found that the gaming accessory manufacturer misled consumers by claiming that its eye-catching Zephyr mask was N95 certified.
“In the midst of a global pandemic, these companies falsely claimed that their face mask was equivalent to an N95-certified respirator,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Projections, noted in an announcement. “The FTC will continue to hold accountable companies that use false and unsubstantiated claims to target consumers making decisions about their health and safety.”
Predictably, Razer countered the committee’s claims.
“We disagree with the FTC’s allegations and have not admitted any wrongdoing as part of the settlement,” an organization representative said in an announcement to TechCrunch. “It was never our intention to mislead anyone, and we have now decided to settle this matter to avoid diverting attention and disrupting legal proceedings while continuing to deal with creating great products for gamers. Razer cares deeply about our community and is all the time committed to delivering technology in recent and relevant ways.
The company then suggested that the criticism had been upheld, adding that it had done every little thing in its power to refund customers and end sales of the Zephyr.
“The Razer Zephyr is designed to offer the community a different and innovative face covering option,” it notes. “The FTC’s claims against Razer related to limited portions of certain statements about Zephyr. “Over two years ago, Razer proactively notified customers that the Zephyr was not an N95 mask, stopped sales, and refunded customers.”
The FTC also officially bans the sale of masks and “making COVID-related false health claims or unsubstantiated health claims about protective health equipment.” It goes a step further: “prohibits (prohibits) defendants from presenting the health benefits, performance, effectiveness, safety, or side effects of protective goods and services (as defined in the proposed order) unless they have competent and credible scientific evidence to support the claims made.” “
The filing suggests that Razer intentionally deceived consumers by telling them that a $100 mask would protect against Covid-19. The virus was definitely highly regarded when the product first launched in October 2021.
The ordinance is currently awaiting approval and signature of a District Court judge.
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