A new study that looks into the influence of artificial intelligence in the workplace has shown negative results, indicating a decline in quality of life while the use of AI rises.

The U.K.-based Institute for the Future of Work (IFOW) has looked into the link between worker wellbeing and technology exposure, with almost 5,000 people who are representative of the working population being analyzed.

Results have shown that “quality of life negatively correlated with frequency of interaction with newer workplace technologies such as wearables, robotics, AI and ML software.”

The team goes on to say in their published report that “this is consistent with research that connects such technologies to exacerbated feelings of disempowerment, increased sense of insecurity, task intensification and stress and loss of meaning, as well as anxiety and poorer overall health.”

Not all technologies have a negative impact though, with some actually helping with employee wellbeing.

“Results showed that digital information and communication technologies correlated with improved quality of life, whereas newer and more advanced technologies were correlated with reduced wellbeing.”

So computers and messaging tools have been proven within this research to bring more freedom and flexibility to workers, but the use of smart devices or AI isn’t as well received.

Use of AI in the workplace

One of the main focuses of businesses appears to be around the productivity of their employees, with the use of artificial intelligence being implemented to handle repetitive tasks or speed up processes.

Some are even opting to replace workers with AI completely, including the likes of tech giant IBM. Back in 2023, the CEO publicly announced plans to replace nearly 8,000 jobs with technology.

At the time, he noted that back-office functions, specifically in the human resources sector, would be the first to face these changes.

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It could soon be possible to speak without vocal cords, as engineers are focusing on a square-inch device that can help people regain their voice.

This could be extremely beneficial for people with pathological vocal cord conditions or those who are recovering from laryngeal cancer surgery as this tiny new patch is being developed by engineers at the University of California.

In a journal published in Nature Communications last week (Mar. 12), the researchers outlined their invention and the results of testing the device on eight adults.

They describe the wearable tool as being a “self-powered sensing-actuation system” based on soft magnetoelasticity to enable assisted speaking. It works by patients articulating sentences through muscle movements that are usually used in regular speech or lip-synching.

The sensing component of the device then recognizes the movements without the vibration of vocal folds. Electrical signals are then fed to a pre-trained machine-learning model that converts throat movement into voice signals.

Other solutions for helping people without vocal cords to speak are available but these largely include handheld electro-larynx devices or tracheoesophageal-puncture procedures. Both of these options could be considered to be inconvenient and uncomfortable.

How does it work?

The system was attached to the throat of the participants and data on laryngeal muscle movement was collected, with a machine-learning algorithm used to correlate the resulting signals to specific words.

The research team had the patients pronounce five sentences – both out loud and voicelessly – including ‘I don’t trust you’ and ‘I love you.’ Each person had to repeat the five sentences 100 times for data collection purposes.

The overall prediction accuracy of the model was 94.68%, working well across the different people involved.

Going forward, the research team plans to expand the vocabulary of the device through machine learning and test their findings in people with speech disorders. 

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Steam has officially overhauled its family sharing system which faced difficulties when others on the plan were loading up games, in favor of the new ‘Steam Families.’

Introduced via a blog post on the Steam website yesterday (Mar. 18) the video game service said they were ‘excited’ to announce the update which is now available in the Steam Beta Client.

Steam Families is a collection of new and existing family-related features, replacing both Steam Family Sharing and Steam Family View.

It provides a single location to manage which games your family can access and when they can play. Up to six family members can be included in one plan, with management access available from Steam Client, a mobile device, or web browser.

Members of a family will be classified as either adult or child, with the adult having management access.

In the previous system, there were limits on how many people could play games from one library. This has now been removed, as has the need for two systems.

To give Steam’s family debut a try, you’ll need to be in the beta program. You can do this by visiting Settings > Interface > Client Beta Participants and selecting ‘Steam Family Beta.’

New features in Steam Families

For parents who are monitoring children’s online activity, this new update is set to make it a whole lot easier to manage as new features open up ease of access.

Family Sharing

The family sharing feature brings in the library which is accessible via the left column on the home screen once you’ve signed in.

Anyone in a ‘family’ gains automatic access to the shareable games library, meaning users can play a game from other family member’s collections – even if they are online playing another game.

When you are playing a game from your family library, you can create your own saved games and earn individual Steam achievements.

Parental Controls

New to Steam is the major upgrade on parental controls, with the tool focusing on this. 

Parents can set limits on what and when children play games on Steam and you can control what games your children have access to and monitor their activity. This is even possible via your mobile phone when you’re away from your at-home device.

Parental control features let adults:

• Allow access to appropriate games
• Restrict access to the Steam Store, Community or Friends Chat
• Set playtime limits (hourly/daily) 
• View playtime reports 
• Approve or deny requests from child accounts for additional playtime or feature access (temporary or permanent) 
• Recover a child’s account if they lost their password

Child Purchase Requests 

With this addition to the family service, adults no longer have to spend time manually purchasing games for their children. Instead, to streamline this process, Steam Families has a payment option where a child account can request an in-family adult to pay for their shopping cart.

The adult then has the choice to approve and pay for the purchase from their mobile device or email or to decline the request.

Featured Image: Via Steam News

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Humanoid Robots could soon be building your next car, as Mercedes-Benz enters into a commercial agreement with Apptronik.

In a press release shared last Friday (Mar. 15) via the Apptronik website, the details of the partnership have been shared.

The German automaker will be trying out the robots at its factories and in the manufacturing process.

The duo is working on a pilot program, with Mercedes-Benz “exploring potential use cases for Apollo humanoid robots in logistics to bring parts to the production line for workers to assemble, the so-called delivery of assembly kits, while simultaneously inspecting the components.”

Apollo, the 5’8” and 160 lb general-purpose robot, is the brainchild of Texas-based company Apptronik.

They describe it as being the ‘first commercial humanoid robot that was designed for friendly interaction, mass manufacturability, high payloads, and safety.’

The co-founder and CEO of the company, Jeff Cardenas, says: “When we set out to build Apollo, an agreement like the one we’re announcing today with Mercedes-Benz was a dream scenario.

“Mercedes plans to use robotics and Apollo for automating some low-skill, physically challenging, manual labor – a model use case which we’ll see other organizations replicate in the months and years to come.”

Why Mercedes are turning to the robots

In the press release, Jörg Burzer who is in charge of the production, quality, and supply chain management division at the Mercedes-Benz Group refers to robotics being a new area to explore for the team.

“To build the most desirable cars we continually evolve the future of automotive production.”

“Advancements in robotics and AI open up new opportunities also for us. We are exploring new possibilities with the use of robotics to support our skilled workforce in manufacturing.

“This is a new frontier and we want to understand the potential both for robotics and automotive manufacturing to fill labor gaps in areas such as low skill, repetitive and physically demanding work and to free up our highly skilled team members on the line to build the world’s most desirable cars.”

Featured Image: AI-Generated by MidJourney

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In this new age of artificial intelligence, platforms worldwide have seen a rise in AI-generated content. To help viewers better understand if what they’ve watched has been created by a human or otherwise, YouTube has outlined some new disclosures.

Shared via a blog post published yesterday (Mar. 18) on the YouTube Official Blog, a new tool has been released.

In the Creator Studio, people should now disclose to viewers when realistic content is made with altered or synthetic media, including generative AI.

These disclosures will appear as labels that will be visible in the expanded description or on the front of the video player. YouTube says this applies to “content a viewer could easily mistake for a real person, place, or event…”

The labeling won’t apply to all AI videos though, as the platform says: “We’re not requiring creators to disclose content that is clearly unrealistic, animated, includes special effects, or has used Generative AI for production assistance.”

Some examples of videos that require disclosure include:

• Using the likeness of a realistic person: Digitally altering content to replace the face of one individual with another’s or synthetically generating a person’s voice to narrate a video.
• Altering footage of real events or places: Such as making it appear as if a real building caught fire, or altering a real cityscape to make it appear different than in reality.
• Generating realistic scenes: Showing a realistic depiction of fictional major events, like a tornado moving toward a real town.

They intend for this to ‘strengthen transparency with viewers and build trust between creators and their audience.’

When will the labels be rolled out

The labels are said to be rolled out across all YouTube surfaces and formats in the week ahead. This will begin with the YouTube app and then on desktop and TV.

While creators will be the ones responsible for correctly marking their videos, the online video-sharing platform says in the future “we’ll look at enforcement measures for creators who consistently choose not to disclose this information.

“In some cases, YouTube may add a label even when a creator hasn’t disclosed it, especially if the altered or synthetic content has the potential to confuse or mislead people.”

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has taken a very honest approach as he suggests GPT-4, the latest AI model from the team, isn’t as impressive as the world is making out. 

In an interview with Lex Friedman, published on Monday (Mar. 18), he said “I think it kind of sucks,” when asked about GPT-4 and its capabilities.

The OpenAI boss, 38, went on to say: “I think it is an amazing thing, but relative to where we need to get to and where I believe we will get to, at the time of like GPT-3, people were like ‘oh this is amazing, this is like marvel of technology’ and it is, it was.

“But now we have GPT-4 and look at GPT-3 and you’re like that’s unimaginably horrible.”

In the process of creating new models, the technology mastermind implies that critiquing former updates is key: “I think it is our job to live a few years in the future and remember that the tools we have now are going to kind of suck, looking backward at them, and that’s how we make sure the future is better.”

Altman explains how he takes inspiration from the GPT-4 and uses it as a ‘brainstorming partner.’

While this model hasn’t been praised too highly by its company’s founder, it has amassed 180 million weekly users for OpenAI and has helped to drive generative AI into the mainstream consciousness.

What can we expect from GPT-5

When asked about the date of GPT-5, Altman answered “I don’t know. That’s an honest answer.

“We will release an amazing model this year. I don’t know what we’ll call it.”

In discussing the leap from GPT-4 to a potential GPT-5, he said: “I’m excited about it being smarter…

“It’s getting like better across the board.”

The billionaire vowed there would be ‘many different things’ that people will see over the coming months, but these could be different from the GPT-5 model everyone is expecting. And, despite the interviewer’s best efforts, he wouldn’t give away any details in what is a highly competitive sector. 

This will likely further fuel rumors as to future updates like a GPT-5, GPT 4.5, and GPT-4.5 Turbo.

Altman previously made guarded comments on the importance of mitigating the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI), as he revealed some concerns about the technology keep him awake at night.

Featured Image: Canva

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As console fans are gearing up for the release of Sony’s PlayStation 5 Pro, the rumor mill continues to spin as further predictions and ‘leaks’ come out of the woodwork.

Last Friday (Mar. 15) Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson confirmed that ‘the leaked PS5 Pro specs leaked earlier today are real.’

This has been further determined as being real by IGN today (Mar. 18).

They cite anonymous sources who saw that the leaked documentation from the YouTube channel Moore’s Law is Dead is legit, as it’s said to be from a PlayStation developer portal that was sent out to third-party developers.

These documents suggest the PlayStation 5 Pro will feature the following:

• Rendering 45% faster than the PlayStation 5

• 2-3x Ray-tracing (4x in some cases)

• 33.5 Teraflops

• PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution Upscaling) upscaling/antialiasing solution

• Support for resolutions up to 8K is planned for future SDK version

• Custom machine learning architecture

• AI Accelerator, supporting 300 TOPS of 8-bit computation / 67 TFLOPS of 16-bit floating point

These largely point to improvements to the GPU, with the CPU also seeing an upgrade as it could have the addition of a ‘High CPU Frequency Mode.’

The standard PS5 offers 10.28 teraflops, with the Pro version expected to be considerably more.

Rumors from over the last few months point towards a focus on image quality too. Gaming insider Tom Henderson wrote on Key to Gaming that he had heard the new console would “[target] improved and consistent FPS at 4K resolution” and a “new performance mode” for 8K resolution…”

When is the PlayStation 5 Pro release date?

Sony hasn’t yet confirmed or announced a date, but that hasn’t stopped people from guessing.

Generally, the rough window for a release date is thought to be September 2024. However, the new leak could line up with the Pro version being available from the holiday season.

The second half of 2024 would make sense with the planned release of Grand Theft Auto 6 in 2025.

Featured Image: Photo by Ahmad Mohammadnejad on Unsplash

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As Reddit works on plans to go public this March, the Federal Trade Commission launches an inquiry into its AI content licensing practices.

The social media company disclosed that they received a letter from the FTC on March 14, via an amendment to their IPO filing.

The document goes on to explain the situation and the details: “For example, on March 14, 2024, we received a letter from the FTC advising us that the FTC’s staff is conducting a non-public inquiry focused on our sale, licensing, or sharing of user-generated content with third parties to train AI models.

“Given the novel nature of these technologies and commercial arrangements, we are not surprised that the FTC has expressed interest in this area.”

They go on to say that they “do not believe that we have engaged in any unfair or deceptive trade practices.”

The letter sent to Reddit indicates that Federal Trade Commission staff are interested in meeting with the team to learn more about plans. The FTC is also said to intend to request information and documents as its inquiry continues.

In a press release published on Feb 22, an agreement between Google and Reddit was announced. The data from the social media platform is to be shared with Google to train the tech giant’s AI model, with Google now having access to Reddit’s Data API.

Reddit gears up for going public this month

In the same month that the mega Google deal was announced, Reddit also shared news of an initial public offering of its stock. They are seeking a valuation of up to $6.4 billion.

As detailed in a corporate filing, the company wants to sell around 22 million shares, priced between $31 and $34 each, raising up to $748 million in the process.

According to the NASDAQ calendar showing public offerings, Reddit should be live on the New York Stock Exchange on March 21.

Featured Image: Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

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The Maryland House has passed an iGaming authorization bill which will now proceed to the Senate. If passed, Maryland could become the latest state to legalize online casinos.

The House voted 92-43 to pass the HB 1319 ‘Internet Gaming – Authorization and Implementation’ bill, two days before the deadline.

Now, the Senate has less than a month to pass the bill with the general assembly set to adjourn on April 8.

The HB 1319 plans would allow for up to 30 wagering licenses to be issued across the state, with each license lasting for five years and an initial application fee of $1 million.

Three types of licenses could be available for operators, including licenses by right for brick-and-mortar casinos, Class B wagering facility licenses, and competitively-awarded licenses.

This comes after House leaders at the Maryland General Assembly shared a $1.3 billion plan on Friday (Mar. 15) for new state revenues to pay future education and transportation costs.

The Old Line State is expected to have the best shot at passing an online casino bill this year. Maine is the only other state that is currently considering legalizing it.

Reactions to possible online casino bill in Maryland

There are concerns about the potential loss of jobs and a decline in retail casino revenue.

In February, SBC Americas reported that Sage Policy Group CEO Anirban Basu expressed his opinion to the committee: “There’s cannibalization with respect to casinos, but that’s where the issue starts…

“Because when you’re spending money on iGaming that’s when you do not have to spend elsewhere in the economy.”

Studies have been carried out to see how this could impact on the state and its residents.

One study suggests that retail casino revenue could take a drastic hit if iGaming is to be implemented. While another, by Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, dismisses these claims and suggests iGaming could boost revenue for brick-and-mortar operators.

Featured Image: Photo by Terry Granger on Unsplash

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Apple quietly acquired Canadian artificial intelligence startup DarwinAI earlier this year, adding dozens of the company’s staffers to its AI division.

Bloomberg News reported the under-the-radar purchase on Thursday (Mar. 14) with Apple yet to publicly announce the news. They did tell the US news outlet that it “buys smaller technology companies from time to time.”

One of the big players in the Ontario-based company, Alexander Wong, has joined Apple as a director in its AI group as part of the deal. He helped to build the startup and works as an AI researcher at the University of Waterloo.

DarwinAI is the latest in a long list of similar acquisitions as Apple reportedly purchased 32 AI startups last year.

What is DarwinAI?

DarwinAI is best known for developing AI technology that can visually inspect components during the manufacturing process. They’re said to have served customers in a range of industries.

Founded in 2017, the company said its initial focus was on disrupting ‘the electronics manufacturing industry by improving the efficiency of Printed Circuit Board Assembly production through their ground-breaking technology.’

In 2022, they raised more than $15 million across six funding rounds. They received investment from 12 investors, including the likes of Honeywell Ventures and Inovia Capital, amongst other venture capital firms.

In a press release following the announcement of a funding round in December 2022, one of the co-founders said the “transformation is just beginning,” as they planned to raise money to help continue building advanced features.

Why did Apple buy DarwinAI?

It’s no secret that Apple is currently trailing behind other industry titans who have already made the steps into the world of AI.

The iPhone maker is now playing catch-up, with Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook promising that Apple will “break new ground” in AI this year. And the iPhone could soon have Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence (AI) to power new features, following chats between Apple and the search giant.

Its acquisition is likely in line with their focus and attention being on artificial intelligence, to keep up with others in the industry. 

In September of 2023, it was reported by The Information that the multinational corporation is investing millions of dollars per day into artificial intelligence, with work ongoing across multiple AI models over several teams.

Extensive work seems to have been carried out in the background at Apple in terms of bringing AI to the forefront, with an announcement expected around June time ahead of iOS 18 in September. 

Featured Image: Via Ideogram

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Sony Group Corporation has allegedly put a stop to production of its PSVR2 headset, due to a backlog of unsold units.

The news came from an article by Bloomberg journalist Takashi Mochizuki who claims that sales of the product have slowed ‘progressively since its launch and stocks of the device are building up.’

Citing unnamed sources who are ‘familiar with its [the firm’s] plans,’ Sony has apparently produced ‘well over two million units of the product launched in February of last year.’

This comes just over a year after the PlayStation VR2 was officially launched, catapulting Sony as one of the front runners in the virtual reality gear market. The device, priced at $549.99, allows users to explore reality gaming with PlayStation VR2 Sense technology.

In the Bloomberg article, Macquarie analyst Yijia Zhai offers a reason for the potential lack of take-up: “The high price of VR hardware acts as the main hurdle for its expansion,”

“Currently, there are limited games that support VR devices, and that will also lead to lack of motivation for players to purchase VR hardware. This limited content also has a reason – the development cost for VR games is substantially higher than normal titles.”

Sony has not yet confirmed or denied the halting of production and it is expected that they’re continuing to work on expanding the PSVR2 headset range.

Reality of the video game industry

The Tokyo-based technology giant has faced some challenges recently, as it announced plans to cut around 900 jobs within its PlayStation unit and shut down a London-based studio in late February 2024.

These layoffs affected in-house studios like Guerrilla Games which worked on creating an exclusive game for the headset from its popular Horizon series.

Sony is not alone, as both Microsoft and Tencent-owned Riot Games also underwent significant layoffs in recent months due to a slow recovery in the gaming industry.

PlayStation 5 Pro expected launch in September

Although the PSVR2 headset may not be performing as well as the company hoped, that isn’t stopping them from gearing up ahead of the PlayStation 5 Pro release.

An exact date isn’t yet known, but console fans are trading rumors about a possible date in September of this year. Several gaming tech insiders seem to agree about this rough window which would line up logically with the planned release of Grand Theft Auto 6 in 2025.

It’s reported by industry sources via the YouTube channel RedGamingTech that the PlayStation 5 Pro will feature eight-core Zen 2 CPUs (clocking in at 4GHz), an RDNA 3 GPU at 2.8 GHZ, and 16GB of 18,000 MT/s GDDR6 memory with a bandwidth of 587 GB/s.

Much like everything else, the price isn’t yet known either. In 2016, when Sony released a Pro console after a Slim version, the Pro version cost $100 more. By that logic, the PlayStation 5 Pro could potentially be in the region of $599.99.

Featured Image: Photo by Triyansh Gill on Unsplash

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The iPhone could soon have Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence (AI) to power new features, following chats between Apple and the search giant.

According to a Bloomberg report, the two companies are reportedly in ‘active negotiations to let Apple license Gemini, coming to the iPhone software this year.’

Gemini is Google’s suite of generative AI tools, including chatbots and coding assistants. Over the years, Google is said to have paid Apple billions of dollars annually to make its search engine the default option in the Safari web browser on the iPhone and other devices.

A partnership between these two tech titans could give them a huge edge over the industry, but it seems more has to be done as the report says: “the two parties haven’t decided on the terms or branding of an AI agreement or finalized how it would be implemented.”

Apple has recently held discussions with OpenAI too, which is one of Gemini’s biggest competitors in the industry.

Neither Apple nor Google have confirmed or denied the potential for a collaboration.

Apple to focus on AI in the future

Coming in September 2024, Apple’s update – in the form of iOS 18 – is expected to be heavily focused on the use of AI.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman believes this could be a ‘relatively groundbreaking’ software update with ‘major new features and designs.’ Although the rumors have been circulating for the last few months, the Silicon Valley-based company hasn’t yet offered much in the way of sneak peeks.

This comes after news around Apple’s own testing of its large language model named Ajax. In 2023 we reported how the chatbot, built using Apple’s own framework named “Ajax,” is a large language model that utilizes AI to generate human-like responses. 

It’s believed that Ajax GPT was created for internal use and not much else has been heard about the tool over the last few months.

Featured Image: Via Ideogram

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TikTok has exploded in popularity since its inception, so much so other platforms like Instagram and YouTube have taken inspiration from their short-form content style.

Now though, it seems that TikTok may be looking at a future of photos like the other apps that are already out there.

This has been found through a blogger who has taken a deep dive into the app’s APK.

On Mar. 11, TheSpAndroid found a new ‘TikTok Photos’ platform in the latest available version (33.8.4).

While photos are already a feature on the video-sharing tool, in a slideshow format, this evidence would suggest a move to a completely new and separate app, aptly named ‘TikTok Photos.’

In the code unveiled by the Android-focused website, phrases like ‘your post has been shared to TikTok Photos’ and ‘reach other like-minded people who enjoy photo posts.’

More strings of text were found: ‘TikTok Photos will be launched soon, we hope to help you gain new audiences in the new app.

‘If the switch is on, we’ll sync your public photos to the new app, whether you close the pop-up or not.’

Although the data points to an imminent release, the Chinese-based social media hasn’t yet confirmed or announced any details relating to a new app or image-related features.

Over 170 million users could soon be banned from TikTok

The app’s creator has bigger things on their mind this week as The House of Representatives is voting today (Mar. 13) on the future of TikTok in the U.S.

Concerned over data and privacy issues, this vote is the first step in the process to outright ban the app.

If passed, it will then need the Senate to approve the Bill and Joe Biden to sign it. After, the creators Bytedance will have six months to divest itself.

TikTok were approached for comment.

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Each year, the Pulitzer Prize award is given to those in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition for their achievements.

This year, for 2024, amongst the 45 journalists who have been selected as finalists, five people’s entries are AI-powered.

While the extent of the use of artificial intelligence in their submissions isn’t yet known, it is confirmed that the technology was used at various stages of their reporting processes.

Pulitzer Prize administrator Marjorie Miller told Nieman Lab that the board first began discussing how they’ll react to AI early last year: “AI tools at the time had an ‘oh no, the devil is coming’ reputation…”

Miller goes on to suggest the board’s approach from the beginning has always been exploratory and they’ve never considered restricting this as it could discourage newsrooms from ‘engaging with innovative technology.’

Often regarded as the highest award and honor in journalism, the Pulitzer Prize has now added a disclosure requirement for all journalism entrants. They must now share the use of AI during the process of researching, reporting, or telling their submissions.

More details about this usage may well be released when the finalists and winners are announced on May 8, 2024.

How the journalism industry is reacting to AI usage

As this technology becomes more prominent across different sectors, it’s understandable that award organizations and publishers are eager to put appropriate policies in place.

The George Polk Awards are considering how they’ll adapt rules for technology. Awards curator John Darnton spoke with Nieman Lab about his opinion: “If [generative] AI is an essential part of the whole project, I would look askance at it as an entry…

“Most investigative projects rely on some kind of moral judgment. And I wouldn’t trust [generative] AI to make that judgment.”

In July of 2023, the Associated Press signed a two-year deal with OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, to share access to select news content.

This was one of the first deals to be signed between an artificial intelligence firm and a major news company.

Featured image: Ideogram

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You can officially test if you’d make it working in the highest level of intelligence, as a top UK security agency releases a puzzle to appeal to potential recruits.

The opaquely named Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is a subsidiary of the country’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and it acts as an intelligence and security organization responsible for providing information assurance to the government and armed forces for the United Kingdom. The U.S. equivalent is the National Security Agency (NSA).

Posting on LinkedIn for the first time, the GCHQ has asked people if they’ve ‘got what it takes to be an intelligence analyst’ as they aim to reach possible new team members.

They worked with professional Manchester-based artist Justin Eagleton to create a puzzle with a hidden message.

Within the artwork are 13 elements that represent letters of the alphabet. All you have to do is identify those letters and assemble them to find the message.

Speaking further on the social media post, the team at GCHQ explain more about the requirement of having strong lateral-thinking skills: “Problem-solving is at the heart of what we do.

“Our people tackle the most complex of challenges every day to help keep the country safe. It’s only possible by bringing together a mix of minds – people who can see things differently or think outside the box.”

GCHQ is hiring on LinkedIn

Also in their LinkedIn debut is an introductory video by director Anne Keast-Butler who expands on their day-to-day and why they’ve chosen now to join the professional networking site: “So we’re on a journey to make sure that we reach out to and connect to people who’ve never thought of working with us…

“And I hope you’ll be inspired to think about careers with us. If you like problem-solving, if you’re great in teams, if you know your tech, if you just see the bigger picture and want to make a difference. These are all skills and qualities that we look for in the people who work with us.”

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After over a decade of dormancy, 2K has officially spoken out about the release date of their upcoming tennis game ‘TopSpin 2K25.’

Announced via X yesterday (Mar. 12) the team behind the revival issued a sneak peek trailer of the gameplay, along with saying: ‘You’ve waited a long time for this, and so have we. #TopSpin2K25 4.26.24’

You've waited a long time for this, and so have we. #TopSpin2K25. 4.26.24 @serenawilliams @rogerfederer pic.twitter.com/MRzR7ZAmyj

— #TopSpin2K25 (@topspin2k) March 12, 2024

They went on to tag two tennis legends in the post, Serena Williams and Roger Federer. Both of whom will be featured in the ‘Grand Slam Edition’ too.

There’s a roster of over 24 playable pros and you can either step onto the court solo or with a friend in multiplayer mode.

Speaking via a press release on the 2K Newsroom, the gaming director at Hangar 13 Remi Ercolani said: “It has been several years since the last iteration of TopSpin and we’re proud to introduce TopSpin 2K25 while the popularity of tennis is at its peak,”

“Topspin 2K25 captures the spirit and the culture of the sport, offering deep personalization and enhanced gameplay.

“The team and I are proud to share TopSpin 2K25 with the world and look forward to seeing players enjoy the game.”

There are four variations of the game, spanning from the ‘Standard Edition,’ ‘Standard Cross-Gen Edition,’ ‘Deluxe Edition,’ and the ultimate ‘Grand Slam Edition.’

Fans respond to TopSpin 2K25 news

Fans are set to be excited as the last game was released in 2011, for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 generation. Now, it will be available for those on digital, PS5, PS4, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

The responses to the X post, confirming the scheduled worldwide release on Friday, April 26, are filled with excitement.

The King Is Back

— ꪜꪖꪀ (@VanTeamOM) March 12, 2024

One user thanked the team: ‘thank you 2K for allowing us to feel the top spin energy after so many years ! we missed u.’

thank you 2K for allowing us to feel the top spin energy after so many years ! we missed u

— . (@BestSS33) March 12, 2024

Others respond with ‘this is best news ever man!’ and ‘LOOKS AMAZING CAN’T WAIT.’

Although, amongst this is some skepticism from customers of the previous game as they worry that Top Spin 4 ‘looks better.’

Top Spin 4 looks better I'm just gonna be honest after watching some gameplay on YouTube

— tgc (@thegamechanging) March 12, 2024

Some users have taken to critique the characters leg positions too ahead of the upcoming release date.

On the serve of Alcaraz, legs position are not good and the ball is thrown too sideways (Tiafoe too). @topspin2k pic.twitter.com/pnj2wxFSpX

— Jules (@littlebigzouzou) March 12, 2024

Featured image: Via X from 2K

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As the betting and entertainment business continues to boom in the US, Caesars Entertainment and the National Hockey League (NHL) announced an extension of their partnership.

Announced through a press release last Thursday (Mar. 7) the duo confirmed a new multi-year contract that retains Caesars’ status as a Sports Betting and Gaming Partner of the NHL.

For the first time, the Caesars Digital brand will also have access to League-owned intellectual property to build and promote NHL-branded iCasino games for its online platforms in North America.

The president of Caesars Digital elaborates on the news: “With the defending Stanley Cup Champions residing in our home city of Las Vegas, we have a front-row seat to the excitement and passion that the NHL provides…

“This partnership extension with the League continues our efforts to build on that fan passion by bringing unforgettable experiences to all of our valued customers across both sports betting and online casino.”

NHL Vice President of business development Jason Jazayeri added: “We look forward to the next chapter of our relationship focused on delivering unparalleled access to our sport for NHL fans.”

With access to IP rights, the possibilities for Caesars Entertainment are more vast than before.

Betting boom in the U.S. continues

The history of betting in the U.S. hasn’t always been a smooth ride, with a sports betting ban being imposed in 1992 under the ‘Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.’

Nevada and three other states were the only places where some legal sports betting could take place, with the home of Las Vegas being the first to legalize and regulate betting in 1949.

As such, Nevada remains the most robust gambling market in the country.

Other states could soon follow, as more and more officially launch online sports betting. In North Carolina did just that earlier this week (Mar. 11).

In 2022, over 25 million people engaged in sports betting in the U.S. and that figure is expected to rise by 47 percent by 2025.

Featured image: Ideogram

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TikTok’s fate is in the hands of the U.S. House of Representatives as they plan to vote on a bill in just a few hours (Mar. 13) that could see the app banned in the U.S. within six months.

When will the TikTok vote take place?

At 10 am ET, in Washington, the vote will commence and will be under fast-track rules that require support from two-thirds of House members for the measure to pass.

With more than 170 million users in the country, lawmakers are concerned the app may endanger sensitive user data. Over the last few years, the possibility of TikTok being banned has almost been made into a reality many times.

This is to take place just a week after the bill was proposed. The House Energy and Commerce Committee last week voted 50-0 in favor of the bill which set it up for a vote before the full House.

Earlier this week, following a classified briefing held by the FBI, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said: “We’ve answered a lot of questions from members. We had a classified briefing today. So that members can see even more details about what’s at risk and how the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) can jeopardize the risk to American families,”

TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to be present at Capitol Hill today as he had already planned a scheduled trip to talk to senators.

Which countries have banned TikTok?

The U.S. is not the only market to consider a ban on the dancing app, with India issuing a complete ban in 2020.

This was due to ‘geopolitical tensions’ and their government claimed these apps (59 Chinese phone apps were banned in total) were using data illegally and secretly collecting information from people’s phones when they downloaded the apps.

As such, they considered TikTok and others to be a threat to India’s national security, and the app was officially banned.

Other countries to have full bans of the app include Afghanistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, and Somalia. Some places have partial bans, like Australia and Belgium which don’t allow for the Chinese-owned app to be downloaded on some government devices.

Featured image: Photo by Michael on Unsplash

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Hearthstone turned ten yesterday (Mar. 11, 2024), and they’re celebrating a decade of adventure with numerous events in both Hearthstone and World of Warcraft.

The collectible card game based on the Warcraft universe, created by Blizzard Entertainment, was first unveiled in 2014. Since then, it has amassed a solid following with over 100 million registered players worldwide and has become one of the most popular and successful games in its genre.

In an effort to give back on its anniversary, the team behind the game has released 12 special cards are available to everyone, with a ‘gift’ card included for each class.

There’s also an exclusive card for Harth Stonebrew, the innkeeper, who guides the player in learning the ropes.

Alongside this, you can now play the Hearthstone soundtrack in your daily life as they’ve released the ‘Music from the Tavern,’ which is available on platforms like YouTube and Spotify. This includes the full 31 tracks, largely from well-known composer of video game music by Peter McConnell.

They’ve opened up another gift, too, in the form of World of Warcraft players being able to enjoy an actual Hearthstone game within the MMORPG.

With the Tavern now open for a decade, the expansions aren’t stopping any time soon. Later this week (Mar. 19), the Whizbang Workshop will be released, featuring 145 new cards and a new keyboard.

Reactions and thanks from fans across the world

When a gamer tagged them in a post expressing her thanks via X, Hearthstone responded with gratitude for their fans: ‘Our incredible community is the reason we do what we do. Thank you @dawniedk and all the creators around the world who contributed to this lovely video.’

Our incredible community is the reason we do what we do. Thank you @dawniedk and all the creators from around the world who contributed to this lovely video https://t.co/17JqfU04Ct

— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) March 11, 2024

The outpouring of love didn’t stop there. Over the last few days, people have been tagging and replying to the Hearthstone account to congratulate them on the anniversary.

One user said, ” I’m Honored to be a part of the community. Happy birthday!! Here’s to another 10.”

My favorite game was released 10 years ago today! I'm a very different person than I was when I was 18, but I still play Hearthstone every day. Pretty cool. https://t.co/XoBwunVd49

— Cora (@SongbirdCora) March 11, 2024

Another person looks back to when the game was first launched by saying: “My favorite game was released 10 years ago today! I’m a very different person than I was when I was at 18, but I still play Hearthstone every day. Pretty cool. :)”

Featured image: From PlayHearthstone Twitter

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Microsoft recently announced that four Xbox exclusives will be coming to PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch.

This is reported by Gaming Bible to involve Grounded, Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, and Pentiment.

There are also suggestions among gamers that Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II could be coming to the PlayStation 5. This is the sequel to the award-winning Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice which saw over one million units sold just nine months after its initial release on PlayStation 4. It’s also currently available for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

This hasn’t yet been formally confirmed but it was rumored in a recent episode of the Riskit4theBiskit podcast and has apparently been backed by four separate sources. Watch this space.

Rumor: Hellblade 2 is coming to PlayStation according to Xbox Infinite Podcast Creator Riskit4theBiskit

Four sources told Riskit about the PS5 port

Timestamp: https://t.co/LfoolFW06K pic.twitter.com/mJmeAd83bF

— Hunter (@NextGenPlayer) March 10, 2024

Currently, the game is to be released on May 21 2024 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.

Speaking about the exclusivity of games going forward, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said on the official Xbox podcast: “I do have a fundamental belief that over the next five or ten years exclusive games, games that are exclusive to one piece of hardware, are going to be a smaller and smaller part of the game industry.”

There are further calls for other games to be released on PlayStation 5. Starfield has been rumored to join the PS5 clan, as has Indiana Jones. The gaming CEO said these games aren’t part of the first four, but didn’t rule them out completely.

When will the PlayStation 5 Pro be launching?

After the PlayStation 5 Slim was launched in November of 2023, fans haven’t wasted any time in predicting when a possible PlayStation 5 Pro will be made public.

There hasn’t yet been an official release date announced for this, but gaming insiders are suggesting that September will be the chosen month, as reported by Hypebeast, or at the very least in the second half of the year.

If this is the case, this would line up with the planned release of Grand Theft Auto 6 in 2025.

Featured image: Xbox

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