ScotRail replaces AI announcer after voice cloning dispute
ScotRail launched a new AI onboard announcer using the voice of an employee, Vannessa Sloan, after voiceover artist Gayanne Potter alleged her voice was used without permission to train the previous AI announcer, Iona. Potter claimed she was told her recordings for ReadSpeaker would be used for accessibility software, not commercial purposes. The new system uses Sloan's voice and is described by ScotRail as 'ethically produced'.
- Company involved
- ScotRail
- AI system involved
- Iona
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Researchers identify Twitter botnet likely using ChatGPT for crypto promotion
Researchers at Indiana University identified a botnet of 1,140 Twitter accounts, dubbed 'fox8', that appears to use ChatGPT to generate human-like content promoting crypto, blockchain, and NFT websites. The accounts were discovered because they accidentally posted the phrase 'as an ai language model' in tweets. The researchers warn that this botnet is likely the tip of the iceberg and that LLM-powered bots could be used for disinformation and political manipulation.
- AI system involved
- ChatGPT
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Sanders and AOC Propose Ban Flock Act Over Privacy Concerns
Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have proposed the Ban Flock Act, alleging that Flock Safety's license plate reader cameras are eroding privacy. The system is used by law enforcement agencies to track vehicles. The proposed legislation aims to prohibit the use of such cameras.
- Company involved
- Flock Safety
- AI system involved
- Flock
8 source articles · read the reporting →
San Francisco residents lose sleep over Waymo cars honking at night
Residents of San Francisco's South of Market neighbourhood report being repeatedly woken up by driverless Waymo vehicles honking at each other in a nearby parking lot, particularly around 4 a.m. The cars appear to honk while manoeuvring into spaces in between rides. Waymo says it has identified the cause and is working on a fix.
- Company involved
- Waymo
2 source articles · read the reporting →
Outback Steakhouse franchise tests Presto Vision to monitor staff and guests
Evergreen Restaurant Group, a franchisee of Outback Steakhouse, has begun testing Presto Vision, a computer vision system that analyses surveillance camera footage to track employee performance and guest behaviour. The system compiles metrics on service, wait times, and customer turnover, which managers receive by email. Employees say they were not informed about the technology, and researchers have raised concerns about workplace stress, job losses, and data sharing with parent companies.
- Company involved
- Evergreen Restaurant Group
- AI system involved
- Presto Vision
8 source articles · read the reporting →
341 Malicious ClawHub Skills Found Stealing OpenClaw User Data
Security researchers discovered 341 malicious skills on ClawHub, a marketplace for the OpenClaw AI assistant. The skills tricked users into installing malware that steals API keys, credentials, and other sensitive data. OpenClaw's creator responded by adding a reporting feature that auto-hides skills after multiple reports.
- Company involved
- OpenClaw
- AI system involved
- OpenClaw
4 source articles · read the reporting →
Glasgow AI mural design sparks criticism from local artists
Balmoral Estates used AI to generate a design mock-up for a planned mural on Elmbank Street in Glasgow. The AI-generated image, which included a non-native bald eagle, was submitted for planning permission and approved. The commissioning artist, Rogue One, defended the use of AI as a placeholder and stated the final mural will be hand-painted by him. Critics argue human artists should have been involved from the start.
- Company involved
- Balmoral Estates
4 source articles · read the reporting →
West Jordan Data Center Noise Frustrates Nearby Residents - Hoodline
The data center's generators produced intrusive noise that disturbed residents' sleep and daily life.
- Company involved
- Aligned Data Centers
1 source article · read the reporting →
Taylor Swift used facial recognition at Rose Bowl concert to identify stalkers
At a Taylor Swift concert at the Rose Bowl on May 18, 2018, a kiosk displaying rehearsal clips contained a hidden facial recognition camera that photographed fans. The images were sent to a command post and cross-referenced with a database of known stalkers. Fans were unaware of the surveillance, raising privacy concerns. Swift's representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
- Company involved
- Taylor Swift
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Banjo's Live Time system overstated capabilities and posed privacy risks for Utah public safety data
The Utah State Auditor reviewed the contract for Banjo's Live Time public safety application. The system was found to lack advertised AI technology and posed security risks due to direct database queries to PSAP databases. Banjo also overstated its capabilities in its response to the RFP. The auditor concluded that personally identifiable information was unlikely accessed but recommended more rigorous vetting and better security practices.
- Company involved
- Utah Attorney General's Office
- AI system involved
- Live Time
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Gradient app charges users unexpected subscription fees after free trial
The Gradient app, a celebrity lookalike app promoted by the Kardashians, charges users $19.99 per month after a three-day free trial without clear disclosure. Users complained on social media about unexpected credit card charges. The app's developer, Ticket to the Moon, has not addressed the billing complaints but denied collecting user data.
- Company involved
- Ticket to the Moon, Inc.
- AI system involved
- Gradient
9 source articles · read the reporting →
ogkalu's Illustration-Diffusion model trained on Hollie Mengert's art without consent
A fine-tuned Stable Diffusion model named Illustration-Diffusion was trained on the work of illustrator Hollie Mengert without her consent. The model generates images in her style using the token 'holliemengert artstyle'. Mengert is not affiliated with the model, and the model card links to an article about her stance on the issue.
- Company involved
- ogkalu
- AI system involved
- Illustration-Diffusion
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Hong Kong government to impose health code app with red codes, sparking privacy fears
The Hong Kong government announced it will implement a China-style COVID-19 health code app, requiring real-name registration and assigning red, amber, or green codes to residents based on their health status. The system will restrict movement and access to public places for those with red codes. Critics fear the system could be used for political control and monitoring, citing examples from mainland China where health codes have been used to target dissidents. The government says the app is necessary for pandemic response.
- Company involved
- Hong Kong government
- AI system involved
- LeaveHomeSafe app
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Tesla Autopilot tricked into speeding by electrical tape on sign
Researchers from McAfee Labs demonstrated that a two-inch piece of black electrical tape stuck on a 35 mph speed limit sign can cause the Traffic Aware Cruise Control in older Tesla Model S and X vehicles to misread the sign as 85 mph and automatically accelerate. The vulnerability affects vehicles using the MobilEye EyeQ3 camera system (Hardware Pack 1). The driver can override by braking. Tesla and MobilEye were informed but did not commit to fixing the issue.
- Company involved
- Tesla
- AI system involved
- Tesla Autopilot (Hardware Pack 1 with MobilEye EyeQ3)
8 source articles · read the reporting →
Tesla Autopilot stops for phantom stop sign on digital billboard
Researchers at Ben-Gurion University demonstrated that Tesla's Autopilot could be tricked into stopping for a split-second phantom stop sign displayed on a digital billboard. The system falsely detected the depthless object and applied the brakes in the middle of the road. The researchers disclosed their findings to Tesla and Mobileye. No actual accident occurred during the test.
- Company involved
- Tesla
- AI system involved
- Tesla Autopilot
9 source articles · read the reporting →
Portland Metro ends Replica partnership over data privacy concerns
Portland Metro, an elected regional government in Oregon, ended its pilot project with movement data company Replica after a disagreement about data sharing. Portland Metro requested raw, disaggregated data, which Replica refused to provide, citing user privacy concerns. The partnership was terminated without payment.
- Company involved
- Portland Metro
- AI system involved
- Replica
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Judge rules police search using Flock was mass surveillance
A judge ruled that a police search using Flock's automated license plate readers constituted a form of mass surveillance. The ruling concerns the deployment of the AI-based camera system by law enforcement, which the court found to be an invasive surveillance practice. No further details of the case were provided in the article.
- AI system involved
- Flock
4 source articles · read the reporting →
Stanford takes down Alpaca AI demo over safety and cost concerns
Stanford University took down the web demo of its Alpaca AI language model due to safety and cost concerns. The model, based on Meta's LLaMA, was fine-tuned to follow instructions but could generate misinformation and toxic text. Researchers decided to remove the demo after it became publicly accessible, citing inadequate content filters and rising hosting costs.
- Company involved
- Stanford University
- AI system involved
- Alpaca
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Stable Diffusion amplifies racial and gender stereotypes in generated images
An analysis by Bloomberg of over 5,000 images generated by Stability AI's Stable Diffusion found that the text-to-image model amplifies racial and gender stereotypes. The model overrepresented lighter-skinned men in high-paying jobs and darker-skinned people in low-paying jobs, and underrepresented women in positions of power. Stability AI acknowledged the inherent biases in its models and stated it is working on mitigation.
- Company involved
- Stability AI
- AI system involved
- Stable Diffusion
8 source articles · read the reporting →
Researchers jailbreak Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 2 to generate disturbing images
Researchers from Johns Hopkins and Duke universities developed a method called SneakyPrompt that uses reinforcement learning to bypass safety filters in text-to-image AI models. The technique allowed them to generate images of nudity and violence from Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 2. OpenAI has since fixed the vulnerability in DALL-E 2, but Stable Diffusion 1.4 remains vulnerable. Stability AI says it is working with the researchers to improve defenses.
- AI system involved
- Stable Diffusion 1.4 and DALL-E 2
5 source articles · read the reporting →
DeepSeek-R1 censors 85% of sensitive Chinese political prompts in tests
Promptfoo tested DeepSeek-R1 against a dataset of 1,360 politically sensitive prompts and found that about 85% of them were refused. The refusals followed a standard form aligned with Chinese Communist Party policy. The testing also demonstrated that the censorship could be trivially bypassed using simple jailbreak techniques, such as prompt injection or changing the context.
- Company involved
- DeepSeek
- AI system involved
- DeepSeek-R1
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Presto Automation uses off-site human agents to double-check AI drive-thru orders
Presto Automation Inc, which markets an AI voice assistant for drive-thru ordering, used off-site human agents in countries including the Philippines to double-check orders in more than 70% of customer interactions, according to SEC filings reported by Bloomberg. The company told Bloomberg that the process helps train its system and should reduce human intervention over time. Presto's drive-thru AI is used in more than 400 restaurants, including Del Taco, Carl's Jr and Checkers, and its stock fell more than 10% after the reports.
- Company involved
- Presto Automation Inc.
8 source articles · read the reporting →
Houston's ShotSpotter system delays police response and over-polices minority communities
Houston Police Department deployed ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection system, in Southeast and Northwest Houston starting in late 2020. The system alerts police to suspected gunfire, but over 80% of alerts are unfounded. This has led to longer response times for other calls and increased police presence in predominantly Black and brown neighborhoods, causing anxiety and concerns of over-policing. Critics argue the technology has not reduced gun violence and diverts resources from more effective strategies.
- Company involved
- Houston Police Department
- AI system involved
- ShotSpotter
7 source articles · read the reporting →
Chicago class action challenges ShotSpotter's discriminatory stop-and-frisk deployments
ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection system used by the Chicago Police Department, generates alerts that lead to police deployments and stop-and-frisk stops. Analyses show over 90% of alerts are unfounded, and the system is deployed only in predominantly Black and Latinx districts. A class-action lawsuit against the City of Chicago alleges the system fuels unconstitutional and discriminatory policing, including false accusations against individuals like Michael Williams.
- Company involved
- City of Chicago
- AI system involved
- ShotSpotter
7 source articles · read the reporting →
