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Hollywood studios take aim at 'ultra-realistic' AI video tool

BBC News

Hollywood studios take aim at'ultra-realistic' AI video tool The MPA represents the major US studios - Netflix, Paramount Pictures, Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, The Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros Discovery. The content referenced was created as part of a limited pre-launch testing phase, it said. The AI tool can quickly make highly realistic clips from a short, simple text prompt, such as a fist fight between Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, Will Smith battling a red-eyed spaghetti monster or even Friends characters reimagined as otters. ByteDance should immediately cease its infringing activity. According to ByteDance, steps are being taken to further address risks, and it will implement robust policies, monitoring mechanisms and processes to ensure compliance with local regulations.


Never Out of Date: How Hannah Arendt Helps Us Understand Our World

Der Spiegel International

Fifty years after her death in New York, Hannah Arendt has become the most popular philosopher of our time. For good reason: Her views are just as timely as ever. It must be so nice to play Hannah Arendt. No fewer than five actresses are on stage this evening at the Deutsches Theater Berlin to portray the philosopher. The piece is an adaptation of the graphic novel by American illustrator Ken Krimstein about the philosopher's life, called The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt," combined with scenes from the famous interview that journalist Günter Gaus conducted with Arendt in 1964 for German public broadcaster ZDF. The article you are reading originally appeared in German in issue 49/2025 (November 28th, 2025) of DER SPIEGEL. They play Arendt and a few of her contemporaries, the philosopher Martin Heidegger, the writer Walter Benjamin, her husband Heinrich Blücher. There is a great deal of speech in the play, especially from Arendt herself. The places of her life are ticked off, her ...


AI showing signs of self-preservation and humans should be ready to pull plug, says pioneer

The Guardian

Yoshua Bengio, a Canadian professor of computing, says the idea that chatbots are becoming conscious is'going to drive bad decisions'. Yoshua Bengio, a Canadian professor of computing, says the idea that chatbots are becoming conscious is'going to drive bad decisions'. A pioneer of AI has criticised calls to grant the technology rights, warning that it was showing signs of self-preservation and humans should be prepared to pull the plug if needed. Yoshua Bengio said giving legal status to cutting-edge AIs would be akin to giving citizenship to hostile extraterrestrials, amid fears that advances in the technology were far outpacing the ability to constrain them. Bengio, chair of a leading international AI safety study, said the growing perception that chatbots were becoming conscious was "going to drive bad decisions".


Browse a 3D map of the world's 2.75 billion buildings

Popular Science

GlobalBuildingAtlas includes almost every habitable structure on Earth. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Researchers in Germany recently accomplished a truly audacious feat of cartography . Using a diverse array of datasets, a team at the Technical University of Munich released GlobalBuildingAtlas, the first high-resolution mapping model featuring every structure in the world at a given point in time. With over 2.75 billion buildings detailed in the map, the endeavor will help create accurate analyses of urban structures, volume calculations, and infrastructure planning around the planet.


How Trump's Bid to Crush State AI Laws Splits His Own Party

TIME - Tech

Donald Trump, center, signs a an executive order on artificial intelligence in the Oval Office on December 11. He is joined by, from left, AI advisor Sriram Krishnan, Senator Ted Cruz, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and AI and crypto czar David Sacks. Donald Trump, center, signs a an executive order on artificial intelligence in the Oval Office on December 11. He is joined by, from left, AI advisor Sriram Krishnan, Senator Ted Cruz, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and AI and crypto czar David Sacks. Last week, President Donald Trump signaled his allegiance to the AI industry yet again by signing an executive order that aims to block states from regulating AI.


Grindr Goes 'AI-First' as It Strives to Be an 'Everything App for the Gay Guy'

WIRED

Grindr Goes'AI-First' as It Strives to Be an'Everything App for the Gay Guy' After controlling shareholders failed to take Grindr private and controversies over data and the banning of the phrase "No Zionists," Grindr's CEO opens up about AI, privacy, and big expansion plans. Every Grindr user is unique. South Koreans prefer open relationships. The highest percentage of self-proclaimed "daddies" call the US home, and Switzerland is overrun with twinks. Delivered by annual trend report Grindr Unwrapped, those critical insights offer the type of information that will help usher the company into its "AI-first" era where it's "the everything app for the gay guy," CEO George Arison tells WIRED. Grindr was the first to leverage geo-location tech when it burst onto the scene in 2009. Arison arrived at the company in 2022 from the world of automotive ecommerce.


Trump signs order to block states from enforcing own AI rules

BBC News

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at blocking states from enforcing their own artificial intelligence (AI) regulations. We want to have one central source of approval, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. It will give the Trump administration tools to push back on the most onerous state rules, said White House AI adviser David Sacks. The government will not oppose AI regulations around children's safety, he added. The move marks a win for technology giants who have called for US-wide AI legislation as it could have a major impact on America's goal of leading the fast-developing industry.


Disney and OpenAI have made a surprise deal – what happens next?

New Scientist

Disney and OpenAI have made a surprise deal - what happens next? Disney's famous Mickey Mouse character will soon be available for use in AI-generated videos The world's best-known AI company and the world's best-known entertainment firm have come to a surprise agreement to allow AI versions of some of the most iconic characters in film, TV and cartoons to be used in generative AI videos and images. Social media is dead - here's what comes next The Walt Disney Company has signed a deal with OpenAI that will allow the AI firm's Sora video generation tool and ChatGPT image creator to use more than 200 of Disney's most iconic characters. Meanwhile, Disney remains in dispute with another AI firm, Midjourney, over alleged infringement of their intellectual property (IP), claiming Midjourney aims to "blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters" into their image generating tool. The characters now deemed fair game for OpenAI users include the likes of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Simba and Mufasa from and Moana, as well as Marvel and Lucasfilm characters, including some of's most well-known names.


Sweaty Betty in new dispute over ad slogans

BBC News

Activewear brand Sweaty Betty has become involved in a new dispute over advertising slogans, which a period underwear company claims were copied. Kelly Newton said Sweaty Betty's use of two taglines that were very similar to her firm Nixi Body's seemed a little off, and while she could not get them trademarked she felt Sweaty Betty was taking from other female founders. Sweaty Betty said the No ifs. Ms Newton said she was speaking out after seeing personal trainer Georgina Cox reveal Sweaty Betty had offered her a settlement over a disputed slogan . Ms Newton, who co-founded Nixi Body in 2019, said the company has advertised its leak-proof period underwear with the lines Keeping you moving through menstruation, motherhood and menopause and No leaks.


Deadly attack on kindergarten reported in Sudan

BBC News

A drone attack on the town of Kalogi, in Sudan's South Kordofan region, is said to have hit a kindergarten and killed at least 50 people, including 33 children. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group battling the army in Sudan's civil war, was accused of Thursday's attack by a medical organisation, the Sudan Doctors' Network, and the army. There was no immediate comment from the RSF. The RSF in turn accused the army of hitting a market on Friday in a drone attack in the Darfur region, on a fuel depot at the Adre border crossing with Chad. Sudan has been ravaged by war since April 2023 when a power struggle broke out between the RSF and the army, who were formerly allies .