SAG-AFTRA, the union representing Hollywood performers, has reportedly responded to studios’ “last, best and final” offer to end the strike, rejecting clauses letting studios re-use AI-created likenesses of high-demand and deceased performers without consent from their estate or families. “They can’t have that loophole to exploit performers,” a union-side source told The Hollywood Reporter. “We could not allow that language to stand.”

Reportedly, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) would “secure AI scans” for Schedule F performers — union members earning more than $32,000 per TV episode or $60,000 per film. Studios would pay once to scan the likenesses of these performers without paying for their use or re-use — essentially giving them eternal rights to their face after paying once upfront. It appeared to offer limitless use of dead performers’ AI-created likenesses without proper permission.

After this part of the dispute became public, the union reportedly “reached a common understanding” with AMPTP on “thorny issues” like AI consent after an actor dies.

— Mat Smith

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The biggest stories you might have missed

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Things go from bad to worse for Cruise’s robotaxis

The company reportedly kept operating its robotaxis despite issues recognizing children.

GM’s autonomous vehicle Cruise division is already going through a rough patch, with the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) recently suspending its driverless permits over safety issues. Now, several new reports highlight other issues, including problems with its autonomous vehicles’ (AVs) sensors’ recognizing children and the frequency with which human operators must remotely take control. The cars apparently also struggle to identify large holes too. Now, it appears Cruise has halted production of its Origin autonomous vehicle after the California DMV pulled its license. A GM spokesperson confirmed to Engadget that the company is “finishing production on a small number of pre-commercial vehicles and after that, plan[s] to temporarily pause production.”

Continue reading.

Zelda, Mario and Pikmin give Nintendo a boost as console sales dwindle

Selling almost 20 million copies of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

As the Nintendo Switch nears the end of its time, digital game sales are helping the company continue to perform well. From March to September 2023, Nintendo reported selling 19.5 million copies of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which was released in May. It also sold 2.61 million units of Pikmin 4 after it came out in July, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe gained 3.22 million more sales. The racing game has now sold 57 million copies. Nintendo is expected to release its new flagship console sometime next year.

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The Sony A9 III is the fastest full-frame camera ever

It’s been a while since Sony updated its epic A9 series.

Sony’s latest pro-oriented mirrorless camera was four years in the making. The Alpha A9 III is the first full-frame camera on the market with a global stacked sensor, a sort of holy grail in the photographic world. It allows for some wild specs, like 120 fps shooting speeds with no blackout, up to a 1/80,000th of a second shutter speed and zero rolling shutter. The global shutter also allows for shutter speeds of 1/80,000th of a second (1/16,000th during continuous shooting), ten times faster than most cameras. Ten times! The Alpha A9 III goes on pre-order tomorrow for $6,000, with a vertical grip available for $400 — but won’t arrive until spring.

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WatchOS 10.1.1 fixes Apple Watch battery-life bug

The patch just rolled out alongside a bug-fix update for iOS 17.

If your Apple Watch hasn’t been holding its charge like it used to, it’s time to update to the latest version of watchOS. Earlier this month, several Apple Watch users noticed their batteries draining faster than usual after they installed watchOS 10.1. Apple acknowledged the battery drain issue and promised to release a fix — which happened today with the latest version of watchOS, 10.1.1.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-hollywood-studios-wanted-to-use-ai-generated-likenesses-of-dead-actors-without-permission-121531437.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The Morning After: Hollywood studios wanted to use AI-generated likenesses of dead actors without permission

The PlayStation Store at Amazon is selling various colors of the Playstation DualSense Wireless Controller for only $50 as part of its early Black Friday deals. You can get the controller for your PS5, which also works for PCs, right now for up to 33 percent off their usual prices. Yes, the models on sale include the colors that typically go for $75 — Cosmic Red, Starlight Blue, Nova Pink, Galactic Purple, Gray Camouflage, Volcanic Red and Cobalt Blue — in addition to the basic $70 white and the Midnight Black controllers. 

The DualSense controller has adaptive L2 and R2 triggers with varying levels of force and tension that change as you interact with your game’s environment. It also comes with haptic feedback meant to add a layer of immersion to your gaming sessions. DualSense has a built-in microphone array, so you can chat with friends without a headset, though you can always plug one in through the controller’s 3.5mm jack. And if you quickly want switch voice capture on or off, you can simply click the controller’s dedicated mute button.

In case you’ve still yet to buy a PS5, or if you’re looking to gift one these holidays, you can get one bundled with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 at a discount, as well. The bundle is selling for $500, down $60 from its regular price. We enjoyed Spider-Man 2 when we reviewed it and found it even better than the first installment. It was action-packed from the beginning, with a gameplay that allows you to quickly swap between Peter Parker and Miles Morales for two different types of Spidey-experiences. We also praised Insomniac for expanding and streamlining the game’s combat mechanics. The game is exclusive to the PS5, and you’ll get a full game voucher to download it from the PlayStation Network when you purchase this bundle.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/playstation-dualsense-controllers-fall-to-50-in-early-black-friday-sale-115513371.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – PlayStation DualSense controllers fall to in early Black Friday sale

The long fight to make Apple’s iMessage compatible with all devices has raged with little to show for it. But Google (de facto leader of the charge) and other mobile operators are now leveraging the European Union’s Digital Market Act (DMA), according to the Financial Times. The law, which goes into effect in 2024, requires that “gatekeepers” not favor their own systems or limit third parties from interoperating within them. Gatekeepers are any company that meets specific financial and usage qualifications, including Google’s parent company Alphabet, Apple, Samsung and others. 

The European Commission is investigating whether iMessage’s current functioning violates the DMA. Apple argues that its “small scale relative to other messaging services” and the lack of required use (or cost to do so) makes it irrelevant to the law. However, a letter from executives at companies such as Google, Vodafone and Orange argues that it should qualify as “enriched” messaging is only available to Apple users. 

Apple’s iMessage not so subtly rewards you for communicating with other Apple devices (and for being an Apple user). Chats on iMessage stay blue until you add an Android user into the mix, and, suddenly, everything is green. Beyond the other reasons we’ll get into, it’s hard to explain why the blue is better, but it just is. On the tech side, Android users also get lower-quality photos and videos when they’re sent through iMessage. Plus, iMessages can be sent over Wi-Fi, reducing the need for data when traveling or if you’re simply running low on gigabytes for the month. 

In a statement aimed at keeping iMessage’s benefits exclusive to Apple users, the company said, “Consumers today have access to a wide variety of messaging apps, and often use many at once, which reflects how easy it is to switch between them. iMessage is designed and marketed for personal consumer communications, and we look forward to explaining to the commission why iMessage is outside the scope of the DMA.”

If the fight against Apple is successful, changes to iMessage would be the latest shift forced by the European Commission. Apple’s new iPhone 15 dropped the lightning charger following a law mandating all new mobile devices sold in the EU have a USB-C port by the end of 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-and-eu-mobile-carriers-push-european-commission-to-force-apple-to-open-imessage-110558675.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Google and EU mobile carriers push European Commission to force Apple to open iMessage

Meta will require advertisers to disclose whether the ads they submit for its websites have been digitally altered, including through the use of AI tools, if they’re political or social in nature. Ads that have been digitally altered will be marked as such on Meta’s platforms, in the same way some advertisements come with a “Paid for” disclaimer. The company will start implementing the rule in the new year, just as the campaign period for what’s expected to be a brutal and divisive 2024 US presidential elections heats up. 

In a blog post, Meta explained that advertisers have to disclose in the advertising flow if they submit a social issue, electoral or political ad with photorealistic images or videos — or one with realistic sounding audio — that was altered to make a real person say or do something they didn’t actually say or do. They’re also required to tell Meta whether they’re submitting an ad with a realistic-looking person that doesn’t exist, a realistic-looking event that didn’t happen or an altered footage of a real event that truly occurred. If they submit a fake image, video or audio recording of an event that allegedly took place — say, something they created with the help of AI image generators — they have to notify Meta, as well. Advertisers don’t need to disclose if they’d only size adjusted, cropped, color corrected and sharpened their ads. 

Meta, which already expects some advertisers to run afoul of the new rule, warned that it will reject ads if it determines that they failed to or deliberately didn’t disclose that they’d digitally altered their submissions. Further, it said that repeated strikes against the rule “may result in penalties.” It has yet to elaborate on the authorization process advertisers have to go through and the safeguards in place to prevent them from gaming the system, but it promised to share more details in the future. 

Politicians and supporters from both sides of the aisle have already raised concerns about the possibility of AI being used to propel election misinformation to new heights this campaign season. There’s already an altered video of President Joe Biden that was edited to make him appear as if he was inappropriately touching his granddaughter circulating on Facebook. Meta’s Oversight Board opened a case after users appealed to have the video removed, and it’s expected to release a decision in the near future. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-will-mark-political-and-social-ads-altered-by-ai-starting-next-year-110033484.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Meta will mark political and social ads altered by AI starting next year

Google is rolling out a new feature that allow advertisers to create AI generated content using the same technology as the Bard chatbot, confirming a report from earlier this year. The feature is now available in beta on Google’s Performance Max advertising product, allowing US advertisers to create and scale text and image assets for campaigns using AI, the company announced in a blog post. 

Performance Max is already an AI-powered product that works across multiple Google products including Youtube, search, display and others. It optimizes ads by analyzing performance data, and the new feature supplements that by using AI to assist in asset creation as well. As Google puts it, the features will allow advertisers to quickly create high-quality, personalized assets on various Google platforms.

“Asset variety is a key ingredient for a successful Performance Max campaign,” wrote Google’s Pallavi Naresh. “You’ve told us that creating and scaling assets can be one of the hardest parts of building and optimizing a cross-channel campaign. Now, you’ll be able to generate new text and image assets for your campaign in just a few clicks.”

Much like Bard or ChatGPT, users feed prompts to the AI, and it creates unique images and text for each business. Marketers can review and edit any assets created by the system prior to publication. It can be used to create versions of the same ad, or build new ads from scratch. All AI-generated imagery contains a visible watermark and is tagged as such. “We also have guardrails in place to prevent our systems from engaging with inappropriate or sensitive prompts or suggesting policy-violating creatives,” Naresh wrote.

The feature should help marketers create advertising materials more quickly, while of course helping Google post those ads and make money more quickly. In that sense, it’s pretty much a perfect AI use case for Google, which makes the vast majority of its revenue from advertising. The new system is currently in beta and only available in the US, but is expected to roll out more widely by the end of 2023. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-is-rolling-out-tools-that-let-advertisers-create-ai-generated-content-080255864.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Google is rolling out tools that let advertisers create AI-generated content

Many Pixel owners have been left with a bad taste in their mouths after it took Google over a month to fix a serious bug, Ars Technica has reported. It first appeared with the launch of Android 14 back on October 8th, locking some users with multiple accounts out of their device’s local storage. It affects multiple devices ranging from the Pixel 4 to the Pixel 8, and for many users, it was akin to being locked out of their phone by ransomware. 

Some folks were unable to unlock their devices, while others were able to boot up but had no access to lock storage. However, the bug rendered some phones completely unusable, as they would continuously bootloop and never reach the home screen. Reports of the issue appeared shortly after Android 14 launched, but Google kept rolling out the buggy release and only acknowledged the flaw some 20 days after it appeared. 

The November update patch is now rolling out, but the initial November 2 release notes weren’t very positive. Google said users locked out of their storage may only get some data back, and those experiencing a bootloop may lose everything. Today’s update, however, states that users who were unable to access media storage should get all their data back once they install the November patch. 

Those stuck in a reboot may not be as lucky, though. Those folks will be able to at least get up and running again after submitting a form. However Google said that “data recovery solutions are still being investigated for devices that are repeatedly rebooting,” adding that “we’ll share additional updates soon.”

The sordid episode shows how Google failed to properly implement its own much-touted failsafe systems, as Ars Technica noted. It kept rolling out Android 14 with the flaw despite multiple reports, and the vaunted dual partition system didn’t work because it didn’t accurately detect a boot failure. Finally, it took Google ages to elevate the issue to a higher priority, leaving many users stuck with bricked phones for weeks. “Little did I realize that ‘seven years of updates’ was not a feature, but a threat,” said one disgusted user on Google’s issue tracker.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-has-fixed-a-bug-in-android-14-that-locked-pixel-users-out-of-their-devices-061040556.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Google has fixed a bug in Android 14 that locked Pixel users out of their devices

We may get official details about Grand Theft Auto VI very, very soon. Following a Bloomberg report that said Rockstar Games would announce the next entry in the GTA franchise as early as this week, Rockstar confirmed it would release a trailer for the forthcoming game in early December, as part of its 25th anniversary celebration. It’s one of the most anticipated games for the current crop of consoles, especially since the fifth main installment in the series — the second-best selling video game of all time, as Bloomberg notes — came out way back in 2013. 

While Rockstar has yet to launch the title, some fans may have already gotten a glimpse of early-days gameplay footage due to a leak that a hacker uploaded online in 2022. It contained 90 seconds of gameplay from a GTA VI test build, showing one of the two playable protagonists, a female character named Lucia, robbing a store. Another clip showed the other playable character riding the “Vice City Metro,” indicating that its story takes place in Rockstar’s fictionalized version of Miami. The developer later confirmed the contents of the leak and said that the game’s creation would continue “as planned.”

Rockstar may reveal GTA VI’s release period alongside the trailer next month, but its parent company Take-Two previously hinted that it’s coming out sometime in 2024. 

Update, November 8, 2023, 8:15AM ET: This story has been updated to note that Rockstar has confirmed it’ll release a trailer for the next Grand Theft Auto game in December.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-first-grand-theft-auto-vi-trailer-will-arrive-in-early-december-045219564.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The first Grand Theft Auto VI trailer will arrive in early December

We may get official details about Grand Theft Auto VI very, very soon, if Bloomberg’s report turns out to be true. Rockstar Games plans to announce the next entry in the GTA franchise as early as this week, according to the news organization. Plus, Rockstar is reportedly publishing a trailer for the game next month as part of its 25th anniversary celebration. It’s one of the most anticipated games for the current crop of consoles, especially since the fifth main installment in the series — the second-best selling video game of all time, as Bloomberg notes — came out way back in 2013. 

While Rockstar has yet to launch the title, some fans may have already gotten a glimpse of early-days gameplay footage due to a leak that a hacker uploaded online in 2022. It contained 90 seconds of gameplay from a GTA VI test build, showing one of the two playable protagonists, a female character named Lucia, robbing a store. Another clip showed the other playable character riding the “Vice City Metro,” indicating that its story takes place in Rockstar’s fictionalized version of Miami. The developer later confirmed the contents of the leak and said that the game’s creation would continue “as planned.”

Rockstar will likely reveal GTA VI’s release period when it announces the game, but its parent company Take-Two previously hinted that it’s coming out sometime in 2024. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/rockstar-may-announce-grand-theft-auto-vi-this-week-045219455.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Rockstar may announce Grand Theft Auto VI this week