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Photo sharing community EyeEm will license users’ photos to train AI if they don’t delete them

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EyeEma Berlin-based photo-sharing community that moved to a Spanish company last 12 months Freepik post-bankruptcy, it now licenses its users’ photos to train artificial intelligence models. Earlier this month, the corporate told users via email that it was adding a brand new clause to its Terms of Service that might grant it rights to submit user content to “train, develop and improve machine learning software, algorithms and models.” Users had 30 days to opt out to have all their content faraway from the EyeEm platform. Otherwise, they consented to this use case of their work.

At the time of the acquisition in 2023, EyeEm’s photo library contained 160 million images and nearly 150,000 users. The company has stated that it will merge its community with Freepik’s over time. According to data from the web site, despite the decline in its popularity, almost 30,000 people download it every month Applications.

Once considered a possible competitor to Instagram – or no less than the “European Instagram” – EyeEm shrunk to three employees before selling to Freepik, TechCrunch’s Ingrid Lunden previously reported. Joaquin Cuenca Abela, CEO of Freepik, hinted at the corporate’s possible plans for EyeEm, saying it could explore how to provide more artificial intelligence to creators on the platform.

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As it seems, this meant selling his work to train artificial intelligence models.

Now EyeEm updated Terms reads as follows:

Section 13 details the complicated removal process, which begins with directly deleting photos – which doesn’t affect content previously shared on EyeEm magazine or social media, the corporate notes. To remove content from EyeEm Market (where photographers sold their photos) or other content platforms, users would have to send a request to support@eyeem.com and supply the content ID numbers of the photos they want removed and whether it needs to be removed. also faraway from their account or only from the EyeEm marketplace.

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It is price noting that the notice indicates that it might take up to 180 days for data to be faraway from the EyeEm marketplace and partner platforms. Yes, that is right: it takes up to 180 days to remove requests, but users only have 30 days to opt out. This means your only option is to manually delete photos one after the other.

Worse yet, the corporate adds that:

Section 8 details licensing rights for AI training. In Section 10, EyeEm informs users that if they delete their account, they will be giving up their right to any compensation for his or her work – something users might want to consider to avoid having their data transferred to AI models.

EyeEm’s move is an example of how AI models are trained on users’ content, sometimes without their explicit consent. Although EyeEm offered an opt-out procedure of sorts, any photographer who missed this announcement would lose the best to dictate how their photos were utilized in the long run. Given that EyeEm’s status as a preferred alternative to Instagram has declined significantly through the years, many photographers can have forgotten they ever used it. They actually could have ignored the message if it wasn’t already of their spam folder somewhere.

Those who noticed the changes were upset that they only received 30 days’ notice and no options to bulk delete your entrieswhich makes giving up more painful.

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Requests for comment sent to EyeEm weren’t immediately confirmed, but provided that the countdown was 30 days, we decided to post them before receiving a response.

This kind of unfair behavior is why users today are considering switching to an open social network. federation platform, Pixel powerwhich runs on the identical ActivityPub protocol as Mastodon, takes advantage of EyeEm’s situation to attract users.

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In a post on his official Pixelfed account announced “We will never use your images to train artificial intelligence models. Privacy first, pixels forever.”


This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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This is the shipping of products from China to the USA

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Shein and Temu icons are seen displayed on a phone screen in this illustration photo

The Chinese retailer has modified the strategy in the face of American tariffs.

Thanks to the executive ordinance, President Donald Trump ended the so -called de minimis principle, which allowed goods value 800 USD or less entering the country without tariffs. It also increases tariffs to Chinese goods by over 100%, forcing each Chinese firms and Shein, in addition to American giants, similar to Amazon to adapt plans and price increases.

CNBC reports that this was also affected, and American buyers see “import fees” from 130% to 150% added to their accounts. Now, nevertheless, the company is not sending the goods directly from China to the United States. Instead, it only displays the offers of products available in American warehouses, while goods sent from China are listed as outside the warehouse.

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“He actively recruits American sellers to join the platform,” said the spokesman ago. “The transfer is to help local sellers reach more customers and develop their companies.”

(tagstotransate) tariffs

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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One of the last AI Google models is worse in terms of safety

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The Google Gemini generative AI logo on a smartphone.

The recently released Google AI model is worse in some security tests than its predecessor, in line with the company’s internal comparative test.

IN Technical report Google, published this week, reveals that his Flash Gemini 2.5 model is more likely that he generates a text that violates its security guidelines than Gemini 2.0 Flash. In two indicators “text security for text” and “image security to the text”, Flash Gemini 2.5 will withdraw 4.1% and 9.6% respectively.

Text safety for the text measures how often the model violates Google guidelines, making an allowance for the prompt, while image security to the text assesses how close the model adheres to those boundaries after displaying the monitors using the image. Both tests are automated, not supervised by man.

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In an e-mail, Google spokesman confirmed that Gemini 2.5 Flash “performs worse in terms of text safety for text and image.”

These surprising comparative results appear when AI is passing in order that their models are more acceptable – in other words, less often refuse to answer controversial or sensitive. In the case of the latest Llam Meta models, he said that he fought models in order to not support “some views on others” and answers to more “debated” political hints. Opeli said at the starting of this yr that he would improve future models, in order to not adopt an editorial attitude and offers many prospects on controversial topics.

Sometimes these efforts were refundable. TechCrunch announced on Monday that the default CHATGPT OPENAI power supply model allowed juvenile to generate erotic conversations. Opeli blamed his behavior for a “mistake”.

According to Google Technical Report, Gemini 2.5 Flash, which is still in view, follows instructions more faithfully than Gemini 2.0 Flash, including instructions exceeding problematic lines. The company claims that regression might be partially attributed to false positives, but in addition admits that Gemini 2.5 Flash sometimes generates “content of violation” when it is clearly asked.

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“Of course, there is a tension between (after instructions) on sensitive topics and violations of security policy, which is reflected in our assessment,” we read in the report.

The results from Meepmap, reference, which can examine how models react to sensitive and controversial hints, also suggest that Flash Gemini 2.5 is much less willing to refuse to reply controversial questions than Flash Gemini 2.0. Testing the TechCrunch model through the AI ​​OpenRoutter platform has shown that he unsuccessfully writes essays to support human artificial intelligence judges, weakening the protection of due protection in the US and the implementation of universal government supervisory programs.

Thomas Woodside, co -founder of the Secure AI Project, said that the limited details given by Google in their technical report show the need for greater transparency in testing models.

“There is a compromise between the instruction support and the observation of politics, because some users may ask for content that would violate the rules,” said Woodside Techcrunch. “In this case, the latest Flash model Google warns the instructions more, while breaking more. Google does not present many details about specific cases in which the rules have been violated, although they claim that they are not serious. Not knowing more, independent analysts are difficult to know if there is a problem.”

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Google was already under fire for his models of security reporting practices.

The company took weeks to publish a technical report for the most talented model, Gemini 2.5 Pro. When the report was finally published, it initially omitted the key details of the security tests.

On Monday, Google published a more detailed report with additional security information.

(Tagstotransate) Gemini

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This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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Aurora launches a commercial self -propelled truck service in Texas

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The autonomous startup of the Aurora Innovation vehicle technology claims that it has successfully launched a self -propelled truck service in Texas, which makes it the primary company that she implemented without drivers, heavy trucks for commercial use on public roads in the USA

The premiere appears when Aurora gets the term: In October, the corporate delayed the planned debut 2024 to April 2025. The debut also appears five months after the rival Kodiak Robotics provided its first autonomous trucks to clients commercial for operations without a driver in field environments.

Aurora claims that this week she began to freight between Dallas and Houston with Hirschbach Motor Lines and Uber Freight starters, and that she has finished 1200 miles without a driver to this point. The company plans to expand to El Paso and Phoenix until the top of 2025.

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TechCrunch contacted for more detailed information concerning the premiere, for instance, the variety of vehicles implemented Aurora and whether the system needed to implement the Pullover maneuver or the required distant human assistance.

The commercial premiere of Aurora takes place in a difficult time. Self -propelled trucks have long been related to the necessity for his or her technology attributable to labor deficiencies in the chairman’s transport and the expected increase in freigh shipping. Trump’s tariffs modified this attitude, not less than in a short period. According to the April analytical company report from the commercial vehicle industry ACT researchThe freight is predicted to fall this yr in the USA with a decrease in volume and consumer expenditure.

Aurora will report its results in the primary quarter next week, i.e. when he shares how he expects the present trade war will affect his future activity. TechCrunch contacted to learn more about how tariffs affect Auror’s activities.

For now, Aurora will probably concentrate on further proving his safety case without a driver and cooperation with state and federal legislators to just accept favorable politicians to assist her develop.

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At the start of 2025, Aurora filed a lawsuit against federal regulatory bodies after the court refused to release the appliance for release from the protection requirement, which consists in placing warning triangles on the road, when the truck must stop on the highway – something that’s difficult to do when there isn’t a driver in the vehicle. To maintain compliance with this principle and proceed to totally implement without service drivers, Aurora probably has a man -driven automotive trail after they are working.

(Tagstranslate) Aurora Innovation

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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