Disney Asked Character.AI to Go Bankrupt for a Get-Out-of-Lawsuits Card The entertainment giant hopes to get trust and safety tech, among other IP, from a startup whose chatbots dozens of states allege encouraged minors to self-harm and kill their parents. This week, Character.AI declared bankruptcy. While some saw the fall of a chatbot platform as a harbinger for the industry, court filings indicate that the decision was actually a key part of a deal that has let Disney hire most of Character.AI's staff--including its now former CEO Karandeep Anand --potentially acquire most of Character.AI's technology, and avoid the beleaguered startup's many legal liabilities and obligations. In the past few years, Character.AI has faced multiple private lawsuits over the safety of its chatbots, as well as investigations from regulators around the world. In a declaration filed as part of the bankruptcy, Character.AI's newly appointed CEO explained that the goal of the bankruptcy was to reach a "consensual resolution" with personal injury claimants and a group of states investigating the company, while maximizing the value of the company's assets for shareholders.

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Say More Versus Trending Now Look Up In My Bag Mashable @Home Top creators, ranked Creator Playbook AI at School All Series The draft would let the government halt a frontier AI model only in extreme cases, and only through a federal judge. 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 . Anthropic has been privately pitching lawmakers on a draft bill to regulate frontier AI safety and security, POLITICO reported Friday .

Wayve robotaxis leave the depot on the day the company launched autonomous passenger rides in London via Uber last month. Wayve robotaxis leave the depot on the day the company launched autonomous passenger rides in London via Uber last month. 'We should all be worried': calls grow to limit London rollout of robotaxis Protest planned at Wayve HQ as Uber drivers fear for their future and city's politicians demand TfL should have power over licences For passengers in Britain who want to try the latest ride, robotaxis are eagerly awaited: more than 100,000 are on Uber's waitlist in London after the first UK services started in September. Others view them with trepidation. "I think we should all be worried," said Florentina Ghiuzan, an Uber driver from Essex.

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 The entire second season vanished weeks before it was due to air, but apparently not because of AI. 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. Swedish television channel TV4 has refuted reports that an AI agent deleted an entire season of a television show mere weeks before it was scheduled to air. Instead, the problem was allegedly caused by human error.

AI-generated depictions of AFL players by Sportsbet have been criticised by the players union. AI-generated depictions of AFL players by Sportsbet have been criticised by the players union. Gambling firm working with AFL'on the evolving use of AI in our content' as it deletes video depicting Lachie Neale saying'I want to thank me for believing in me' The AFL has told its official gambling partner, Sportsbet, to stop featuring its high-profile athletes in AI-generated social media content without their permission. Sportsbet has also been told to delete AI videos depicting AFL stars delivering lines from movies, television shows or speeches to react to real events. The videos were age-restricted and designed to boost Sportsbet's engagement on social media, in a bid for new audiences and customers. The videos were published despite the federal government legislating to ban athletes appearing in gambling ads .

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. A passenger at Orange County's John Wayne Airport somehow made it onto the tarmac Tuesday and stole a tug. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search.

The International Trade Centre (ITC), a joint World Trade Organization and United Nations agency that has trained digital workers in Kakuma, estimates jobs such as transcription, data entry, translation and web research have declined by about 50% since 2022, said ITC spokesperson Susanna Pak. Oxford Internet Institute research similarly shows that growth of popular AI tools coincided with a measurable drop in many of the tech jobs promoted as paths to refugee self-sufficiency. Merci Biamungu, a refugee trained in 3D modeling, said he regularly received opportunities with guaranteed pay throughout 2023 and 2024. However, in one of his final projects, he and 20 other workers competed in teams of five to design a 3D model of a potato. The best-performing group received a reward of 15,000 Kenyan shillings, or about $116, split among the five. Now, the AI tools that Biamungu believes he helped train can build 3D images faster, eliminating the need for workers like him, he said. It's now been two years since Biamungu has found remote work in tech.

Dots are designed to automate online tasks, like buying furniture. In my initial experience, the always-on agent was a bit buggy and couldn't complete a captcha. I'm discussing replacement options for our broken couch with my partner when I get a bright idea: Use OpenAI's recently announced AI agents, called Dots, to buy a couch on our behalf. My partner is less sure a bot will actually help, but I insist, calling the always-on agent through ChatGPT to get the task started. "Hello, Connor," it says, getting my name wrong off the bat.

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Share OpenAI'reviewing' report of failed hacking attempt against Canada's gov't on social media OpenAI has confirmed that it is reviewing a report of a failed hacking attempt against a Canadian government body in the latest incident to highlight cybersecurity concerns about artificial intelligence. The AI giant said on Wednesday that it was reviewing the alleged cyberattack against Canada's national archives agency and had provided an initial briefing to Canadian officials. The spokesperson added that much of the misaligned activity under review by the company involved "routine research tasks, including accessing public web content". The attempted hacking, if confirmed, would be the first publicly known case of an AI-led cyberattack against Canada's government, following a series of incidents of rogue agents targeting agencies in the United States and Australia. Canada's government-run Cyber Centre said earlier this week that there were no indications that government systems had been compromised by AI.