Recently, companies like Meta and Spotify have united to publicly criticize the European Union's decisions in the fields of data privacy and artificial intelligence (AI). In an open letter, they pointed out that the EU's decision-making process has become 'fragmented and inconsistent,' which not only affects business operations but could also undermine Europe’s competitiveness in the AI era. Image note: The image is generated by AI, and the image is licensed from Midjourney. The open letter states that with increased regulation on data privacy, businesses face challenges in using data to train AI models.

Recently, an analysis by The Guardian revealed that there may be serious misleading practices by tech companies in handling the environmental impact of their AI data centers. The emission data reported by tech giants like Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Apple significantly diverges from reality. According to this analysis, the actual emissions from these companies are 662% higher than the figures they officially disclose, and this is just the tip of the iceberg, as this study only covers data from 2020 to 2022. Image source note: Image generated by AI, image licensed from service provider Midjou.

Meta has announced that it will continue with its plan to use millions of publicly available posts from UK Facebook and Instagram users to train its artificial intelligence technology. Although this practice is largely prohibited under EU privacy laws, Meta states that it has been in active communication with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), after previously pausing similar proposals in June. The pause was due to the ICO's warnings that tech companies must respect user privacy when developing generative AI.

Social media giant Meta is about to make significant adjustments to the way AI content is tagged on its platforms Instagram, Facebook, and Threads. Starting next week, the 'AI Information' label for content edited or modified by AI tools will be moved to the post menu and will no longer be displayed directly below the user's name. This change brings several key points: 1. Tagging Distinction: Content that is entirely generated by AI will still retain a prominent label, while labels for content that has been merely edited by AI will be hidden. 2. Sources of Transparency: Me

Shenzhen Yuanxiang Information Technology Co., Ltd. recently announced the successful release of China’s largest Mixture of Experts (MoE) open source large model — XVERSE-MoE-A36B. The launch of this model marks a significant advancement in China’s AI field, elevating domestic open source technology to an internationally leading level.

Recently, Meta announced that it will adjust the way it labels AI-edited content on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads. This change means that the 'AI Information' label indicating whether content has been edited by AI tools will be moved from below the username to the post menu. Previously, users could easily see this label below the username, but now they will need to click the menu to find it. However, Meta also stated that content generated entirely by AI will still be labeled.

Facebook acknowledged in an investigation that it is collecting publicly available data from all adult users in Australia. The company does not provide an opt-out option for Australians as it does for EU citizens, as privacy laws do not require it to do so.

During a business conference, OpenAI's Japan business head, Yoshinobu Nagatomo, mentioned 'GPT Next' as a metaphorical reference to the next generation of large language models, suggesting that OpenAI's models are evolving exponentially over time. However, OpenAI later clarified that 'GPT Next' is merely a metaphor used to illustrate the concept of model evolution and is not an exact product name or timeline. Nagatomo depicted a transition from the 'GPT-3 Era' in 2021 to the 'GPT Next Era' in 2024 in his presentation.

Meta Platforms has begun to provide detailed explanations to Brazilian users about how their personal data will be used for training generative artificial intelligence (AI) in compliance with the requirements of the Brazilian National Data Protection Authority (ANPD). The company offers users the option to decide whether to allow the use of their data. Starting this Tuesday, users will receive related information via email and social media notifications. The ANPD had previously suspended Meta's new privacy policy due to concerns about the use of data for AI training, but the policy was reinstated after Meta agreed to provide transparency.

Meta has released a mid-term update showing a significant increase in the adoption rate of its Llama series models, especially after the launch of Llama 3.1. The downloads of the Llama models on the Hugging Face platform are approaching 350 million, a tenfold increase from last year, attracting well-known companies such as Zoom, Spotify, AT&T, and Goldman Sachs. The development of open-source AI not only approaches the performance of closed models but also achieves widespread application at the enterprise level.

Meta's open-source model Llama 3 has cooled down in the market, which has intensified competition with closed-source models. Amazon AWS has reacted calmly, and enterprise clients are more inclined to favor Anthropic's closed-source model Claude. Microsoft also tends to recommend that engineering and data science teams use other models. This phenomenon has prompted Meta to consider forming a dedicated AI sales team to better serve enterprises. Open-source models face challenges in commercialization, with actual performance and commercial returns falling short of expectations.

Qualcomm has officially joined the Augmented Reality (AR) Alliance as a founding member, aimed at promoting AR hardware development and enhancing the user experience of wearable devices and other products. The alliance brings together companies like STMicroelectronics, META, and Essilor Luxottica to collaboratively unify the global AR supply chain, emphasizing the vast potential of AR technology. Qualcomm's membership significantly bolsters the hardware ecosystem, leveraging its experience in application development platforms and many years in the industry.

OpenAI welcomes former Meta executive Irina Kofman, who will oversee the company's strategic plans with a focus on AI safety and preparedness, reporting to technology head Mira Murati. Kofman's extensive experience in AI product management will bring new perspectives and strategies to OpenAI. The company is actively recruiting executives from large tech firms to enhance its competitiveness, recently appointing former Instagram and Twitter executives as Chief Product Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Meanwhile, competition is intensifying.

Meta Reality Labs has recently launched an AI model called 'Sapiens,' which has made significant breakthroughs in handling human visual tasks. This model is specifically designed to analyze and understand people and their actions in images or videos, demonstrating outstanding performance in complex environments after rigorous training on over 300 million human images. The core functions of Sapiens include 2D pose estimation, body part segmentation, depth estimation, and surface normal prediction, enabling it to accurately identify human poses, differentiate body parts, and predict...

Zuckerberg and Ek jointly criticized the EU AI regulations, arguing that these complex rules hinder the development of open source AI in Europe and limit innovation and developer vitality. They called for simplification and unification of regulations, emphasizing that open source AI creates a fair competitive environment. Europe should leverage its single diverse market advantage to avoid missing out on technological development opportunities. Although the EU legislation exempts open source AI, the conditions limit its potential, and the transparency requirements for datasets have little impact on open source AI. Zuckerberg also stated that he is willing to release a value of 10 if it is safe and beneficial to the public.

Snap and Meta are set to unveil their latest AR glasses prototypes next month, with Snap CEO Evan Spiegel releasing the fifth-generation Spectacles on September 17, and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg showcasing the AR glasses codenamed Orion on September 25. However, due to the current immaturity of AR technology, neither pair of glasses will be available for public sale. Snap will distribute a small production run through partners and developers.

The Baidu Xirang lightweight Metaverse SaaS platform was officially launched on August 9. This service is designed specifically to accelerate the digital transformation of enterprises. The platform integrates Baidu Xirang's technological expertise in areas such as the Metaverse, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and mobile applications, providing lightweight scenario subscription capabilities. By freely combining spaces and components, it enables the construction of customized marketing, exhibition media, and cultural education scenarios, helping enterprises reduce costs and improve efficiency.

Meta's security report reveals Russia's use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance online deception activities. While Russia has attempted to leverage AI to improve the effectiveness of its cyber interventions, the results have been minimal, mostly boosting the productivity and content generation capabilities of malicious actors. The report indicates that since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, these activities have primarily focused on undermining the credibility of Ukraine and its supporter countries. Meta predicts that as the US elections approach, Russia may target candidates supporting Ukraine.

Meta (formerly Facebook) and Universal Music Group (UMG) have expanded their long-standing music licensing agreement aimed at enhancing copyright protection while addressing solutions for the application of AI technology in the music field. The new agreement allows users to freely share songs from UMG's music library across Meta's platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Horizon, Threads, and WhatsApp, ensuring that users can enjoy music while avoiding copyright infringement.

Meta has signed a multi-year partnership with Universal Music Group (UMG) aimed at expanding the use of music content across Meta's social applications, including Threads and WhatsApp, and addressing the impact of unauthorized AI-generated content on artists. This collaboration deepens the partnership that began in 2017, allowing users to create and share music content more widely on these platforms. The agreement seeks to address copyright issues, provide protection for artists, and enable music to circulate again on the platforms, fostering user engagement with audio content.