Trending Now Say More Look Up In My Bag Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable @Home Mashable Selects Top creators, ranked Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Creator Playbook AI at School Safety Net All Series Flock CEO says it won't work with clients who abuse its surveillance, but claims none have He also stressed that the Flock's microphones detect gunshots, but not human voices. Amanda Yeo is an Assistant Editor at Mashable, covering entertainment, culture, tech, science, and social good. Based in Australia, she writes about everything from video games and K-pop to movies and gadgets. Flock CEO Garrett Langley has stated that the controversial surveillance company would immediately stop partnering with any clients who abused its systems, including law enforcement agencies. However, he also claimed that Flock has not yet found any cause to do so, arguing that all incidents thus far have been the fault of a small number of bad actors within organisations.

AI at School Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects Look Up Say More Safety Net Versus Creator Playbook In My Bag Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age All Series Beyond Flock itself, testimony raised harder questions about police accountability, data security and a decade-old industry. Chance Townsend is the General Assignments Editor at Mashable, covering tech, video games, dating apps, digital culture, and whatever else comes his way. He has a Master's in Journalism from the University of North Texas and is a proud orange cat father. His writing has also appeared in PC Mag and . Flock Safety, the largest U.S. seller of automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras, continues to draw national scrutiny.

As dozens of cities end contracts for its controversial license plate readers, Flock is rolling out a voluntary severance program, WIRED has learned. Flock Safety announced a voluntary employee separation program on Friday, offering a "generous" severance package to those who want to leave amid growing backlash against the surveillance technology company, according to an internal email shared with WIRED. Applications for Flock's voluntary severance program opened Friday, and employees have until October 2 to decide whether to leave the company. Flock expects to grant buyouts to the majority of workers who apply, according to the email. People familiar with the program but not authorized to discuss it publicly say they believe that a significant number of the startup's roughly 1,500 employees may try to depart.

Flock Once Touted Its Cameras as'Made in the USA.' Now It's Not So Clear Flock reveals little about where its license plate readers are assembled, but the answer could have geopolitical and cybersecurity implications. Flock CEO Garrett Langley has said the company made its first license plate cameras in his Atlanta home, permanently scratching his dining table with drill marks. A decade later, where the company assembles its signature--and fiercely debated --product has become more of a mystery. For years, Flock touted publicly that its devices were produced in the United States. But more recent marketing materials from the company reviewed by WIRED no longer specify where its cameras come from. One US manufacturer that previously identified Flock as a customer quietly removed a mention of the company from its website earlier this year as public backlash against the company's surveillance technology grew.

A hacker collective pulled down a Flock camera and dumped its data. The files included thousands of videos and logs showing that the device captured 1.6 million images of 50,000 vehicles in 21 days. Hackers ripped down a Flock camera above a roadway, made a near-complete copy of the data stored inside it, and shared the files with 404 Media and WIRED, revealing in new detail how exactly Flock Safety's cameras track the movements of both vehicles and people . The hackers say they are also publishing details on how they managed to obtain the software, in the hopes that other people may copy them. The breach provides an unprecedented look inside a system that Flock has described as protected by on-device encryption .

AI'Actor' Tilly Norwood Told Me That'All Lives Matter' The virtual character, which is promoting its upcoming movie, tries to evade politics by repetitively commenting on the clothes you're wearing. A generated image of AI actress, Tilly Norwood. For Hollywood stars, press junkets are an opportunity to promote new work while connecting with fans. They tell funny or embarrassing stories about one another, give us a glimpse into the film production process, and reveal mannerisms that make them more relatable. So why would anyone want to talk to Tilly Norwood, an interactive, British-accented digital character and "actor" developed with generative artificial intelligence by Xicoia, an AI division of a studio called Particle 6 Group?

Plus: Tens of millions of US and Canadian driver's licenses go up for sale on the dark web, the US military finally tries to tackle the risk online ad data poses to troops, and more. After reporting last week that the surveillance company Flock Safety is building an AI search tool for law enforcement, WIRED reconstructed Flock's latest search tool from code that the company sends to a police officer's browser and uncovered key details about how the tool works. OpenAI said this week that its Astra model, which will have a private release soon, is its first model with cybersecurity-related capabilities that the company defines as posing a "critical" risk in public release. Meanwhile, the AI chatbot platforms Claude, ChatGPT, and Grok all suffered outages on Thursday at nearly the exact same time. But while xAI said the Grok outage resulted from issues at a Memphis data center, the causes of OpenAI's and Anthropic's outages are unclear.

WIRED rebuilt Flock’s latest search tool from code the company sends to a police officer’s browser. Its AI can keep watch across multiple cameras for anyone fitting a written description.

Christopher was sick of being ghosted by AI recruiters. So he unleashed ChatGPT on his robot interviewer. Christopher has become accustomed to jumping through the endless hoops of the modern job hunt. Like many government contractors, his work has dried up in the DOGE era . Over the past six months, he has applied to roughly 700 jobs; in the vast majority of cases, he's heard nothing back.

Trending Now Say More Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Switch Off Creator Playbook Mashable Voices Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List In My Bag All Series Florida's order comes amid a remarkable wave of Flock cancellations, suspensions, and proposed bans across the country. Olivia Tauber is the deputy editor of digital culture, covering creators, media, movies, beauty, and more. Based in New York, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Cut, Teen Vogue, Complex, and Interview Magazine. She holds a Master's degree in Journalism from NYU and a Bachelor's from the University of Michigan. She also runs Fan Mail, a weekly pop-culture newsletter.