Welcome to another episode of Tech News. Siri, we know you're watching and you're welcome.
Because according to new research from Proof News, tech giants including Apple,
Anthropic, and NVIDIA have been training their AI models using transcripts from over 170,000
YouTube videos. This trove included work of big internet stars like MrBeast, PewDiePie,
Jacksepticeye, and Marques Brownlee, but also clips from major television shows like Jimmy
Kimmel Live, Last Week's Night, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. These transcripts
weren't taken directly by these companies, but were collected by a third-party non-profit called
Eleuther AI. That's a weird combination of letters. As part of The Pile, an open-source
dataset intended to help academics and small developers to train their own AI models and
not, as it might sound, a giant haemorrhoid. The material appears to have been scraped entirely
without the original creator's permission. Obviously, these transcripts are generated from
copyrighted material made by human artists with bills and mortgages, but as pointed out by Marques
Brownlee, he uses a paid transcription service rather than generated subtitles, meaning those
transcripts are kind of copyrighted squared. In addition to educational videos from Khan Academy,
MIT, and Harvard, the database also contains materials from conspiracy theorists and flat
earth videos, so don't be shocked when you ask directions and Siri gives you a lecture about
the danger of chemtrails. Through the world's largest record companies, Universal Warner and
Sony Music have launched a $2.6 billion lawsuit against Verizon, alleging that the telecom company
has profited from ignoring widespread piracy. According to the suit, Verizon should be held liable
for its decision to continue to provide internet services to thousands of flagrant pirates. It's
not clear how likely this lawsuit is to succeed, given that it closely resembles a previous lawsuit
by the same plaintiffs against Cox Communications. That suit found that Cox was guilty of failing to
stop piracy, but wound up overturned on appeal because Cox didn't actually make any money from
the infringement. See, while it's obviously true that Verizon makes more money if it doesn't force
its paying customers to walk the plank the moment they download BitTorrent, it actually makes the
same amount of money whether or not you steal birdemic shock and terror, or you pay for it like
a good boy. Meta has launched a small pilot program that will give researchers access to
Instagram's own data so they can study the app's effect on teenagers and young adults.
Meta is now accepting proposals for studies and will accept up to seven submissions,
one for each deadly sin. However, researchers still need to obtain consent from study participants
and their parents. It's still unclear how extensive this information access will be,
but it's a notable step given Meta's past hostility towards researchers. Prior research has
shown a distinct correlation between heavy social media use and mental health issues like anxiety
and depression, especially in teenagers. What's less clear however is whether the kids are sad
because they're on Instagram all the time or if they're on Instagram all the time because they're
sad. Regardless, parents and legislators are concerned and it's driving more and more scrutiny
from regulators. TikTok lost its recent legal challenge to the EU's decision to classify it
as a very large online platform on account of the size of its parent company and because
it's the social media equivalent of free-basing. If you made it through our main stories,
but wish they could have been slightly quicker? Congratulations, it's the quick bits, they're
here. Noctua's new NHD 15 G2 cooler is leaving some users rattle, specifically their coolers.
They're rattling. After a report from hardware busters and customer complaints, Noctua says
they're investigating the issue. Noctua believes the problem could be temporarily fixed by using
tape or foam until they find a permanent solution, but they're also offering full refunds.
As much as we love to hock Tua for Noctua, it seems that even the beige and brown giant
can avoid QA issues. Thankfully, Noctua has a good reputation for customer support. So as
they say in the company's native Austria, you got a problem with Noctua, you talk to her.
Google has announced Project Oscar, an open source platform allowing developers to create AI
agents to help manage their open source projects. For example, the agent can summarize and highlight
relevant information in issue reports from users. Rather than have the AI code, which is an awful
idea that has only ever gone wrong, the hope seems to be that the agents can help with the
disruptions in toil. I guess I don't understand why someone would want to use this. I'm pretty sure
the only reason to maintain an open source project is to suffer thanklessly while making no money.
Apple is making a Squidwardian attempt to prevent a future where everything is chrome
with a new Hitchcockian ad for Safari. Apple continues to beat the dead horse saying they
care about privacy and will keep pummeling the deceased stallion saying they don't care about
your privacy, they just want your data with them in their sandbox. Also, it's not like they've
stopped accepting Google's multi-billion dollar bribes to make Google the default search engine
in Safari. At least not until regulators force them to stop. Also, Apple, I don't know whose
idea this was, but maybe you should stop feeding your AI. Videos about how birds aren't real.
Research and recovery company RMS Titanic, Inc. is prepared to send remote submersibles down 12,000
feet to take 3D scans of the wreck of the Titanic. This is the first mission to the wreck since the
implosion of the Titan submersible last year, but this expedition is intended to preserve
knowledge for study rather than turn thinking-breathing humans into soup. In similar news,
drone manufacturer DJI has released high-quality footage of Mount Everest taking with the DJI
Mavic 3 Pro. Now you can travel from base camp to summit and you don't even have to step over
the frozen bodies of dead billionaires to get there. The FTC has said he health can no longer scan
your little man with their app, Calmera. It aims to be an AI pecker protector that could detect
10 STIs that scourge your courgette with 94% accuracy. That's a 1 in 20 chance they can screw
up identifying a bug in your love slug and that's just the STIs you can see. Turns out the app can
only accurately detect four diseases between your knees and could be fooled by inanimate
nobjects like phallic vases and pastries. I mean that's what I think every time I look at a croissant.
Looks like you should block the AI schlock. Get a doctor gock at your...penis.
And doctors recommend you get a tri-weekly injection of techno, so make sure you come back
on Friday. Personally, I've got something I need you to take a look at.