tiktok
TikTok scales back AI-generated video descriptions after absurd errors
TikTok has rowed back on an AI feature which incorrectly summarised some videos on the platform, including claiming a celebrity was fruit. The company's'AI overviews' recently began appearing beneath content on the platform to describe what a video was showing, or provide more context. While only rolled out to some users in the US and the Philippines, the feature's incorrect and bizarre AI-generated summaries of TikTok content - seen beneath videos of celebrities like platform star Charli D'Amelio - have been shared widely. According to TikTok, its experimental summaries have been tweaked to only suggest products similar to those shown in videos. The changes were first reported by news outlet Business Insider .
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'Pew Pew': The Chinese Companies Marketing Anti-Drone Weapons on TikTok
On TikTok, Chinese manufacturers are advertising signal-blocking weapons with the breezy cadence of consumer lifestyle advertising. "Pew, pew, pew!" a woman wearing sneakers and high-waisted pink trousers says cheerfully in a video uploaded to TikTok. She is standing on what appears to be an industrial rooftop while demonstrating how to use a black device resembling an oversized laser tag gun. "Jamming gun, good," she adds, flashing a thumbs up. These days, nearly any product imaginable is available for purchase on TikTok straight from Chinese factories, ranging from industrial chemicals to mystical crystals and custom pilates reformers.
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Spain Orders Criminal Investigation Into X, Meta, and TikTok Over Alleged AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gives a speech during the World Governments Summit in Dubai on February 3, 2026. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gives a speech during the World Governments Summit in Dubai on February 3, 2026. The Spanish government has called for an investigation into social media giants X, Meta, and TikTok over their alleged role in producing and spreading AI-generated child sexual abuse material. The Council of Ministers will invoke Article 8 of the Organic Statute of the Public Prosecution Service to request that it investigate the crimes that X, Meta and TikTok may be committing through the creation and dissemination of child pornography by means of their AI, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote on X on Tuesday. Sánchez accused the platforms of "attacking the mental health, dignity and rights of our sons and daughters," saying that "the impunity of the giants must end."
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EU says TikTok uses 'addictive design' and must change
EU says TikTok uses'addictive design' and must change The company failed to address potential harms to'the physical and mental wellbeing of its users' includng minors. TikTok's signature features that hooked users around the world are its algorithm and endless scroll. Now, though, the European Union has called those aspects of the app illegal and may order the company to alter them. "Today, the European Commission preliminarily found TikTok in breach of the Digital Services Act for its addictive design," the EU's regulator said in a press release. "This includes features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and its highly personalized recommender system."
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'Uncanny Valley': Minneapolis Misinformation, TikTok's New Owners, and Moltbot Hype
We'll link all the stories we spoke about today in the show notes. Adriana Tapia produced this episode, Amar Lal at Macro Sound mixed this episode, Matt Giles and Daniel Roman fact-checked this episode, Mark Leyda was our San Francisco studio engineer, Kate Osborn is our executive producer, and Katie Drummond is WIRED's global editorial director.
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California will investigate TikTok's alleged censorship of anti-Trump posts
Apple could unveil Gemini-powered Siri in Feb. California will investigate TikTok's alleged censorship of anti-Trump posts Users also complained about being unable to upload ICE-related videos, but TikTok is blaming issues on a power outage. California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced that his office is investigating whether TikTok is truly censoring content critical of Trump, days after ByteDance finalized a deal to spin off its business in the US. Newsom made the announcement in response to a post on X, claiming that you can no longer send messages in the app with the word "Epstein" in it. Newsom's office, in a separate post, said it was able to independently confirm instances wherein TikTok suppressed content critical of President Donald Trump.
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People are uninstalling TikTok and downloading an indie competitor
Apple could unveil Gemini-powered Siri in Feb. TikTok's US joint venture is off to a bumpy start. UpScrolled is seeing a surge in interest. TikTok's newly formed US entity is off to a very bumpy start. As the app continues to face technical issues affecting the recommendation algorithm, view counts and other features, TikTok is also seeing a wave of frustrated users uninstalling it, according to new data. Analytics firm Sensor Tower, which tracks downloads and other app store-related metrics, told CNBC that there has been a 150 percent rise in uninstalls of the TikTok app in the United States compared with the last three months.
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TikTok Data Center Outage Triggers Trust Crisis for New US Owners
The technical failure coincided with TikTok's ownership transition, leading users to question whether videos criticizing ICE raids in Minnesota were being intentionally censored. TikTok is currently experiencing a widespread service outage in the US, causing disruptions for millions of users only a few days after the company officially transferred control of its American business to a group of majority-US investors . The technical issues led many TikTok users to speculate about whether the app's new owners were intentionally suppressing videos about political topics, particularly content related to recent federal immigration operations in Minnesota. TikTok has denied the allegations, attributing the problems to a power outage. TikTok users began reporting on Sunday that they were having trouble uploading videos to the app as well as viewing content that had already been posted on the platform.
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The Download: why LLMs are like aliens, and the future of head transplants
How large is a large language model? We now coexist with machines so vast and so complicated that nobody quite understands what they are, how they work, or what they can really do--not even the people who build them. Even though nobody fully understands how it works--and thus exactly what its limitations might be--hundreds of millions of people now use this technology every day. To help overcome our ignorance, researchers are studying LLMs as if they were doing biology or neuroscience on vast living creatures--city-size xenomorphs that have appeared in our midst. And they're discovering that large language models are even weirder than they thought. The Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero has been preparing for a surgery that might never happen.
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