List of All Articles with Tag 'tec'

Truth Social’s parent company lost almost $23m (£18.7m) in the first half of this year alone, according to a new securities filing that raises concerns about its “ability to continue”. The filing released on Monday marks the first time any financial details about Donald Trump’s social media platform have been shared publicly, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Truth Social was launched in February last year after Mr Trump was banned from most social networks in the aftermath of the 6 January 2021 Capitol riots. The former US president – who announced his candidacy for the 2024 elections in November last year – has since returned to X (formerly known as Twitter), but says Truth Social is still his primary social media platform and that he won’t post anywhere else until six hours after he sends a “Truth”. Having Mr Trump on board has not translated into revenue for the platform’s parent company Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), however. Over the first half of 2023 it has lost $23m while bringing in only $2.3m in net sales, the filing showed. This has raised doubts about the viability of the company and its social media startup, according to the filing. “TMTG’s independent registered public accounting firm has indicated that TMTG’s financial condition raises substantial doubt as to its ability to continue as a going concern,” the company noted in the filing. The company said the “management has substantial doubt that TMTG will have sufficient funds to meet its liabilities as they fall due, including liabilities related to promissory notes previously issued by TMTG”. The remarks were made in its assessment of business till the end of December last year and as of 30 June 2023. Concerns have also been raised over Digital World Acquisition Corporation (DWAC), a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), that had some years ago announced plans to merge with TMTG. An SPAC is a shell corporation which raises money by listing itself on a stock exchange with the aim of using the funds for a merger with a different and usually more well-known entity. The filing said DWAC has “until 8 September 2024 to consummate a business combination”. It raised concerns that both TMTG and DWAC may not survive unless this merger is completed. “It is uncertain that Digital World will be able to consummate a business combination by this time. If a business combination is not consummated by this date, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution of Digital World,” the filing said. “TMTG believes that it may be difficult to raise additional funds through traditional financing sources in the absence of material progress toward completing its merger with Digital World,” the filing further said. “A number of companies that had licence agreements with President Trump have failed. There can be no assurances that TMTG will not also fail,” the filing said. TMTG also cited a number of risks to its business in the new filing, including a dedicated section titled “Risks related to our chairman, president Donald J Trump”. The section lists his ongoing legal hurdles. “TMTG’s success depends in part on the popularity of its brand and the reputation and popularity of its chairman, president Donald J Trump,” the filing said. “The value of TMTG’s brand may diminish if the popularity of President Trump were to suffer. Adverse reactions to publicity relating to President Trump, or the loss of his services, could adversely affect TMTG’s revenues, results of operations and its ability to maintain or generate a consumer base.” Read More Return of original Fortnite map causes record traffic on Virgin Media O2 network Elon Musk unveils new sarcasm-loving AI chatbot for premium X subscribers Elon Musk mocks politicians at AI summit Tesla to offer ‘beast mode’ version of Cybertruck with bulletproof panels X now valued at $19bn – less than half of what Elon Musk paid for it Solar panel world record smashed with ‘miracle material’

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Artificial intelligence (AI) can generate Caucasian faces that seem more realistic than actual human faces, according to a new study. As per the research, published in Psychological Science and led by experts at the Australian National University (ANU), more people thought the AI-generated white faces were human than the faces of real people. The study found, however, that the same did not apply to faces generated of people of colour. If white AI faces are consistently perceived as more realistic, this technology could have profound implications for people of colour by ultimately reinforcing racial biases online Dr Amy Dawel According to senior author of the paper, Dr Amy Dawel, the reason for the notable difference between generated Caucasian faces and people of colour comes down to the fact that AI algorithms are trained disproportionately on white faces. Dr Dawel said: “If white AI faces are consistently perceived as more realistic, this technology could have profound implications for people of colour by ultimately reinforcing racial biases online. “This problem is already apparent in current AI technologies used to create professional-looking headshots. “When used for people of colour, the AI is altering their skin and eye colour to those of white people.” Researchers found when it comes to AI “hyper-realism”, most people did not realise they were being fooled. Study co-author and ANU PhD candidate Elizabeth Miller said researchers found that most of the study participants who were most confident that their answers were correct paradoxically thought that the AI faces were real. She said: “This means people who are mistaking AI imposters for real people don’t know they are being tricked.” The researchers were also able to discover why AI faces are fooling people. Although there were still physical differences between the AI and human faces, study participants still managed to misinterpret them. Dr Dawel revealed more in-proportion faces were typical signs that AI had generated a face. However, people mistook it as a sign of humanness. She added: “We can’t rely on these physical cues for long. AI technology is advancing so quickly that the differences between AI and human faces will probably disappear soon.” She said this could have profound implications regarding online misinformation and identity theft. Dr Dawel urged public transparency around AI so society can identify issues with the technology before they become more significant problems. “Given that humans can no longer detect AI faces, society needs tools that can accurately identify AI imposters,” she said. “Educating people about the perceived realism of AI faces could help make the public appropriately sceptical about the images they’re seeing online.” Read More AI among the biggest threats to the UK, cyber security agency warns Meta faces renewed criticism over end-to-end encryption amid child safety fears Call of Duty launch sparks record traffic on broadband networks Crypto investment fraud warning issued by major bank Council investigating extent of cyber attack that affected website and systems Setback for Ireland as EU legal adviser recommends revisit of Apple tax case

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