YouTube’s UK and Ireland boss has insisted there will always be a future for long-form videos despite increasing competition from the likes of TikTok. Alison Lomax, who took on the post in January this year, told the PA news agency that YouTube is committed to a multi-format proposition, through its traditional longer videos as well as Shorts, launched in 2021 to draw back some of the audiences that had switched to short-form rivals such as TikTok. She said YouTube Music is rolling out its new podcast feature in response to increasing demand for podcasts from younger viewers, who she stressed are not turning their backs on longer-form content. Having launched in the US in April, it is now set to be unveiled in the UK by the end of the year, according to Ms Lomax. But it comes as TikTok continues to enjoy exponential growth, with mobile phone usage driving consumers towards short-form video. Speaking on the launch of YouTube’s latest UK impact report, Ms Lomax said: “Generation Z have really embraced the podcast, but they’re not 60 seconds.” She said in the future “there will still be a world for multi-format and you see that with creators”. “Just because you can create short form content, does not mean that they do. “People experiment with different formats.” (AI) is the buzz word of the year, but it's been part of what we are doing for many years Alison Lomax, YouTube UK and Ireland managing director The group, owned by Google parent Alphabet, said in its impact report that more than 45,000 full-time jobs were created among its creator economy in 2022, while its “creative ecosystem” contributed over £2 billion to wider UK economic output last year. The research, conducted by Oxford Economics, found that more than 65,000 creators and partners in the UK receive income linked to their YouTube presence, with over a third of British creators who earn money from YouTube saying it was their main source of revenue. Ms Lomax said recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) were also presenting “real opportunities” for its creators. The group has been working with Google DeepMind, which is headquartered in Britain, to design AI solutions to create performance improvements on the platform for creators and viewers. Ms Lomax said YouTube has been using AI since 2017, including to help develop content moderation in the battle against misinformation, something that is becoming increasingly important in the area of health and in particular ahead of upcoming elections in the US and UK. She said: “(AI) is the buzz word of the year, but it’s been part of what we are doing for many years.” Echoing recent comments from YouTube chief executive Neal Mohan, she said the industry is “at a critical inflection point” with AI. “We need to boldly embrace it, but also by being mindful about responsibility.” YouTube recently announced an initiative that will see it partner with the music industry as artists face increasing challenges from the rise of AI technology. It has launched YouTube’s Music AI Incubator to help inform its approach to the technology, look at how it can enhance creativity and address issues. “We’re aware of the big opportunity but also we are aware of the downsides… we want to be part of the solution and the opportunity,” said Ms Lomax. The music initiative is the first of a number of YouTube announcements in the AI arena this year, she said, adding it is “something we’re thinking about very deeply for the ecosystem”. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Robotic dog brought into survey historic Cold War weapons testing facilities Period and fertility tracking apps scrutinised over data security concerns Russian cyber-attacks ‘relentless’ as threat of WW3 grows, expert warns

Divers in Mexico have discovered Megalodon teeth in a flooded inland cave and the findings have confirmed scientific beliefs. Megalodons were absolutely gigantic prehistoric sharks that reached sizes of up to 50 feet long. They dominated the oceans before going extinct around 3.6 million years ago. Scientists are interested in studying fossils of the huge sea creature, with the animal's teeth proving the most abundant type of fossil to be found today. Teeth fossils were found in Mexico by speleologist (cave specialist) and photographer Kay Nicte Vilchis Zapata and fellow speleologist Erick Sosa Rodriguez while diving in a newly discovered sinkhole in Cholul in 2019. The cenote is 400 meters long and 28 meters deep and located inside were fifteen teeth fossils from various shark species. They also discovered human remains and a vertebrae fossil that potentially belongs to an ancient species. A total of 13 of the 15 teeth fossils belonged to three different species of shark – one being the megalodon (Carcharocles megalodon), while the other two species were the mackerel shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) and the sawshark (Pristiophoridae). Zapata told local media at the time: “We were looking at the wall and suddenly I saw a little something, I went closer and I saw that it was a tooth, that was the first and apparently it belonged to a sawshark.” Experts believe the geological timescale of the megalodon teeth lies anywhere between 2.5 million to 5 million years old. Speleologist Sosa Rodriguez said: “It is just proof of what scientists have already studied and written about; what kind of wildlife lived here millions of years ago when this was part of the sea.” Scientists have suggested that the megalodon’s warm body temperature may have been the reason for its extinction. There is some thought that the megalodon was able to maintain a body temperature around 7 degrees centigrade warmer than the water around it, but ultimately this may have been its downfall. Randy Flores, a UCLA doctoral student and fellow of the Centre for Diverse Leadership in Science, explained: “Maintaining an energy level that would allow for megalodon’s elevated body temperature would require a voracious appetite that may not have been sustainable in a time of changing marine ecosystem balances when it may have even had to compete against newcomers such as the great white shark.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 5, 2023--

Hundreds of people have gathered near a state funeral home as China's former premier Li Keqiang is being put to rest

Facebook‘s parent company Meta disabled only a small fraction of the over one million reports it received of underage users on Instagram since early 2019, a lawsuit filed by 33 US states reportedly said. The newly unsealed legal complaint accused the tech giant of carrying an “open secret” that it had millions of users under the age of 13, and that Instagram “routinely continued to collect” their personal information such as location without parental permission. The complaint stated that within the company, Meta’s actual knowledge that millions of Instagram users were under the age of 13 was an “open secret” that was routinely documented, rigorously analyzed and confirmed, and zealously protected from disclosure to the public, according to a New York Times report. Last month, attorneys general from 33 states, including New York’s AG Letitia James, filed a lawsuit against Meta alleging that the tech giant designed harmful features contributing to the country’s youth mental health crisis. The lawsuit alleged Meta created addictive and “psychologically manipulative” features targeting young people while assuring the public falsely that the platform was safe to use. “Meta has profited from children’s pain by intentionally designing its platforms with manipulative features that make children addicted to their platforms while lowering their self-esteem,” Ms James said. Meta’s spokesperson responded to the lawsuit, saying that the company was committed to providing teens with “safe, positive experiences online,” and that it had already introduced “over 30 tools to support teens and their families” such as age verification and preventing content promoting harmful behaviours. “We’re disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, the attorneys general have chosen this path,” the spokesperson added. However, a significant portion of the evidence provided by the states was obscured from public view via redactions in the initial filing. The new unsealed complaint filed last week provided fresh insights from the lawsuit, including the accusation that Instagram “coveted and pursued” underage users for years and that Meta “continually failed” to make effective age-checking systems a priority. The lawsuit reportedly argued that Meta chose not to build effective systems to detect and exclude underage teen users, viewing them as a crucial next generation demographic it needed to capture. It also accused the tech giant of “automatically” ignoring some reports of under 13 users and allowing them to continue using the platform while knowing about such cases via the company’s internal reporting channels. The company responded that the now publicly revealed complaint “mischaracterizes our work using selective quotes and cherry-picked documents.” It said verifying the ages of its users was a “complex” challenge especially with younger people who likely do not have IDs or licenses. Meta recently said it supports federal legislation requiring app stores to get parents’ approval whenever their teens under 16 download apps. “With this solution, when a teen wants to download an app, app stores would be required to notify their parents, much like when parents are notified if their teen attempts to make a purchase,” the company said. “Parents can decide if they want to approve the download. They can also verify the age of their teen when setting up their phone, negating the need for everyone to verify their age multiple times across multiple apps,” it said. The tech giant holds that the best solution to support young people is a “simple, industry-wide solution” where all apps are held to the same standard. “By verifying a teen’s age on the app store, individual apps would not be required to collect potentially sensitive identifying information,” Meta recently said. Read More Russia places Meta spokesperson on wanted list Meta to allow users to delete Threads accounts without losing Instagram Nasa has received a signal from 10 million miles away Nasa has received a signal from 10 million miles away Elon Musk set to meet Netanyahu and hostage families in Israel Elon Musk weighs in on Dublin riots claiming country’s PM ‘hates the Irish people’

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