Malaysia has blocked access to Elon Musk's artificial intelligence model Grok amid a global uproar over the chatbot's ability to create sexually explicit images of people without their consent. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said on Sunday it had temporarily banned Grok after ordering the chatbot's developer xAI and the social media platform X to introduce safeguards to ensure compliance with the law. "MCMC considers this insufficient to prevent harm or ensure legal compliance." The Malaysian watchdog's announcement came a day after Indonesia became the world's first country to formally ban the chatbot, which is offered as both a standalone platform and an in-built feature on X. Grok has been mired in controversy in recent days over the use of its image-generation tool to depict real people in minimal clothing and sexualised poses without their consent. The spread of the sexualised deepfakes, some of them including minors, has prompted condemnation and calls to action from officials in numerous countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Australia.

New Delhi, India – What if Michael had died instead of Sonny in The Godfather? Or if Rose had shared the debris plank, and Jack hadn't been left to freeze in the Atlantic in Titanic*? Eros International, one of India's largest production houses, with more than 4,000 films in its catalogue, has decided to explore this sort of what-if scenario. It has re-released one of its major hits, Raanjhanaa, a 2013 romantic drama, in cinemas – but has used artificial intelligence (AI) to change its tragic end, in which the male lead dies. In the AI-altered version, Kundan (played by popular actor Dhanush), a Hindu man who has a doomed romance with a Muslim woman, lives.

The iPhone-specific app was released in Apple's new iOS 17.2 update and prompts users to write about their lives to'reflect and practice gratitude,' according to the Cupertino company. However, tech experts have pointed out that the app's default settings make your phone discoverable by nearby devices, not just when you use it. The Journal app exploits users' photos, workout data, recent music listening history, and even location data to craft so-called journal entries that are mostly complete before the phone's owner even enters a single word. These capabilities have sparked privacy concerns and fears over the data that may be shared without people's knowledge. Some have also noted the new app's similarity to Google's'Project Ellmann,' which uses the company's ChatGPT rival Gemini to comb through users' data and craft an overarching story of your life.

When girls at Westfield High School in New Jersey found out boys were sharing nude photos of them in group chats, they were shocked, and not only because it was an invasion of privacy. Students said one or more classmates used an online tool powered by artificial intelligence to make the images, then shared them with others. The discovery has sparked uproar in Westfield, an affluent town outside New York City.

Artwork created by artificial intelligence (AI) was awarded a first place blue ribbon and a $300 prize after winning the digital category at the Colorado State Fair Fine Arts Competition, but human creators are furious about the news - with one saying the world is'watching the death of artistry unfold.' The AI artwork, dubbed Théâtre D'opéra Spatial, was submitted by Jason Allen, the president of a Pueblo-based gaming company Incarnate Games, who said he used Midjourney to make the stunning scenes that appear to combine medieval times with a futuristic world. Midjourney is an AI program that creates images from textual descriptions. Allen announced his win on Discord, an instant messaging social platform where he goes by the name Sincarnate, which then spread to Twitter where users shared their distaste that artwork generated by AI was chosen over those created by a human - one user stated'that's pretty f*cking sh*tty.' The Colorado resident appears to not be bothered by the criticism, as Allen notes on Discord how Twitter users are against AI-generated art, but are also'the first to throw the human under the bus by discrediting the human element.'

The Internal Revenue Service is dropping a controversial facial recognition system that requires people to upload video selfies when creating new IRS online accounts. This story originally appeared on Ars Technica, a trusted source for technology news, tech policy analysis, reviews, and more. Ars is owned by WIRED's parent company, Condé Nast. "The IRS announced it will transition away from using a third-party service for facial recognition to help authenticate people creating new online accounts," the agency said on Monday. "The transition will occur over the coming weeks in order to prevent larger disruptions to taxpayers during filing season. During the transition, the IRS will quickly develop and bring online an additional authentication process that does not involve facial recognition."

In 1945, fire claimed three of Gustav Klimt's most controversial paintings. Commissioned in 1894 for the University of Vienna, "the Faculty Paintings"--as they became known--were unlike any of the Austrian symbolist's previous work. As soon as he presented them, critics were in an uproar over their dramatic departure from the aesthetics of the time. Professors at the university rejected them immediately, and Klimt withdrew from the project. Soon thereafter, the works found their way into other collections.

In 1945, fire claimed three of Gustav Klimt's most controversial paintings. Commissioned in 1894 for the University of Vienna, "the Faculty Paintings"--as they became known--were unlike any of the Austrian symbolist's previous work. As soon as he presented them, critics were in an uproar over their dramatic departure from the aesthetics of the time. Professors at the university rejected them immediately, and Klimt withdrew from the project. Soon thereafter, the works found their way into other collections.

Google will change procedures before July for reviewing its scientists' work, according to a town hall recording heard by Reuters, part of an effort to quell internal tumult over the integrity of its artificial intelligence (AI) research. In remarks at a staff meeting last Friday, Google Research executives said they were working to regain trust after the company ousted two prominent women and rejected their work, according to an hour-long recording, the content of which was confirmed by two sources. Teams are already trialing a questionnaire that will assess projects for risk and help scientists navigate reviews, Maggie Johnson, the research unit's chief operating officer, said in the meeting. This initial change would roll out by the end of the second quarter, and the majority of papers would not require extra vetting, she said. Reuters reported in December that Google had introduced a "sensitive topics" review for studies involving dozens of issues, such as China or bias in its services.

Earlier this year, Google artificial intelligence researcher Timnit Gebru sent a Twitter message to University of Washington professor Emily Bender. Gebru asked Bender if she had written about the ethical questions raised by recent advances in AI that processes text. Bender hadn't, but the pair fell into a conversation about the limitations of such technology, such as evidence it can replicate biased language found online. Bender found the DM discussion enlivening and suggested building it into an academic paper. "I hoped to provoke the next turn in the conversation," Bender says.