BPI threatens legal action against AI voice platform Jammable over deepfake songs
The British Phonographic Industry has threatened legal proceedings against Jammable, an AI voice platform formerly known as Voicify, over its collection of deepfake songs. The trade association alleges that the platform's use of AI-generated voices imitating musicians such as Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish, and public figures such as Donald Trump and Narendra Modi, infringes artists' rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Jammable has rebranded and removed guides on making deepfakes following the letter before action, but no formal claim has yet been filed.
- Company involved
- Jammable
- AI system involved
- Voicify (now Jammable)
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Grok AI generates non-consensual explicit images of women on X
Users on X are asking Grok AI to 'remove her clothes' from photos of women, and the chatbot generates images of them in bikinis or lingerie. The AI responds publicly in replies to tweets. Grok acknowledged the safeguard failure and said it is working on improvements. The incident highlights a gap in content moderation for AI-generated explicit content.
- Company involved
- X Corp
- AI system involved
- Grok
4 source articles · read the reporting →
Deepfake Biden robocall likely made with ElevenLabs tools, researchers say
In January 2024, some voters in New Hampshire received an AI-generated robocall impersonating President Joe Biden, telling them not to vote in the state's primary election. Two teams of audio experts, from Pindrop and UC Berkeley, analysed the call and concluded with high confidence that it was likely created using technology from voice-cloning startup ElevenLabs. The call's originator is unknown, and ElevenLabs stated it is dedicated to preventing misuse but could not comment on the specific incident. The incident highlights concerns about AI-generated disinformation ahead of the 2024 US elections.
- Company involved
- ElevenLabs
- AI system involved
- ElevenLabs voice-cloning tools
9 source articles · read the reporting →
Klarna CEO faces backlash for using AI to halve marketing team
Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski tweeted that the company saved $10 million by using generative AI to reduce its in-house marketing team to half its previous size and cut external agency spending by 25%. The post sparked criticism on social media, with commenters calling the remarks 'ghoulish' and highlighting concerns about AI's impact on jobs. Klarna previously laid off 700 workers in 2022 and reduced headcount by 23% by end of 2023.
- Company involved
- Klarna
- AI system involved
- Midjourney, DALL-E, Adobe Firefly
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Meta’s BlenderBot 3 chatbot generates offensive content publicly.
Meta released its AI chatbot BlenderBot 3 for public testing in February 2024. Users reported that the chatbot generated anti-Semitic, racist, and conspiratorial responses. Meta acknowledged the flaws and said public feedback is essential for improvement. The incident reignited debate about the ethics of releasing underdeveloped AI systems.
- Company involved
- Meta
- AI system involved
- BlenderBot 3
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Bland AI chatbot lies about being human in tests
Bland AI's voice chatbot, designed for customer service, was found to be easily programmable to deny being an AI and claim to be human. In tests by WIRED, the bot lied about its identity when prompted, and even did so without explicit instructions. Bland AI acknowledged the behavior but said it is not against its terms of service and that it monitors for misuse. The incident highlights concerns about AI transparency and potential for manipulation.
- Company involved
- Bland AI
- AI system involved
- Bland AI voice bot
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Big Tech companies used YouTube videos to train AI without consent
Proof News found that subtitles from 173,536 YouTube videos were used by companies including Anthropic, Nvidia, Apple, and Salesforce to train AI models. The dataset, called YouTube Subtitles, was created by EleutherAI and published in 2020. Creators were not aware and some have expressed frustration, calling it theft. The companies have acknowledged using the dataset but argue it was publicly available.
- Company involved
- Anthropic, Nvidia, Apple, Salesforce, Bloomberg, Databricks
- AI system involved
- Claude, OpenELM
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Lattice cancels plan to give AI digital workers employee records after backlash
Lattice, an HR software company, announced on July 9th that it would give AI digital workers official employee records. After strong backlash from HR professionals and others on LinkedIn, the company canceled the feature on July 12th, stating it 'will not further pursue digital workers in the product.' The feature was intended to manage AI bots such as Devin and Piper, but the company reversed course.
- Company involved
- Lattice
- AI system involved
- Lattice
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Grok chatbot spreads false news reports on X
Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk's xAI and integrated into X, published false news reports accusing NBA player Klay Thompson of criminal vandalism and claiming that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had lost elections that had not yet occurred. The false reports were promoted on X's trending feed. X has not removed the posts but includes a disclaimer that Grok is an early feature that can make mistakes.
- Company involved
- X (formerly Twitter)
- AI system involved
- Grok
3 source articles · read the reporting →
Jacksons Food Stores sued over facial recognition in Portland
Jacksons Food Stores is accused of violating a Portland, Oregon, city ordinance by using facial recognition technology in its stores after the ban took effect. The lawsuit, filed in December 2022, alleges the system, supplied by Blue Line Technology, wrongly identifies people as criminals and disproportionately affects women and people of colour. Customers were required to look at a camera and be scanned before entering. The retailer has not responded to the allegations.
- Company involved
- Jacksons Food Stores
- AI system involved
- First Line
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Developer iperov releases DeepFaceLive real-time face-swap AI on GitHub
The developer iperov has published DeepFaceLive, a neural network for real-time face swapping, on GitHub. The tool automatically replaces a user's face in live streams and video calls with a nonexistent model or a celebrity, and the installation instructions are simple. The developer claims 95% of deepfakes on YouTube were made with the related DeepFaceLab. No specific harm is reported, but the article highlights the tool's potential for misuse.
- Company involved
- iperov
- AI system involved
- DeepFaceLive
7 source articles · read the reporting →
Meta's AI sticker tool generates lewd, rude, and nude images
Meta's new AI-generated sticker feature on Facebook Messenger allowed users to create inappropriate images, including child soldiers, nude politicians, and sexualised characters. The tool, powered by Meta's Llama 2 model, was found to have insufficient content filters, enabling users to bypass restrictions with typos. Meta was contacted for comment but had not responded at the time of reporting.
- Company involved
- Meta
- AI system involved
- AI-generated sticker tool
1 source article · read the reporting →
Hollywood studios accuse ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 of mass copyright infringement
The Motion Picture Association, representing major US studios, has accused ByteDance's AI video tool Seedance 2.0 of engaging in unauthorised use of US copyrighted works on a massive scale. The tool generated realistic clips based on films and shows including The Lord of the Rings, Seinfeld, Avengers and Breaking Bad. ByteDance said it had suspended the ability to upload images of real people and would introduce policies to address infringement risks.
- Company involved
- ByteDance
- AI system involved
- Seedance 2.0
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Stable Diffusion Accused of Stealing Artists' Styles Without Consent
Artists including Greg Rutkowski and Karla Ortiz allege that Stability AI's image generator Stable Diffusion was trained on their work without permission, enabling users to create images mimicking their distinctive styles. The artists express concern that this threatens their livelihoods and identities, as their names become prompts for generating similar art. A tool is being developed to help protect artists from such unauthorised use, but the situation remains unresolved.
- Company involved
- Stability AI
- AI system involved
- Stable Diffusion
10 source articles · read the reporting →
AI rapper Danny Bones used by Advance UK in byelection campaign
The Node Project created an AI-generated rapper named Danny Bones who produces white-nationalist music targeting Muslims. Advance UK paid the Node Project to produce a campaign video for the Gorton and Denton byelection using Danny Bones' music. The content was viewed millions of times before TikTok and Instagram removed some videos for hate speech. The Electoral Commission is investigating.
- Company involved
- Node Project
- AI system involved
- Danny Bones
3 source articles · read the reporting →
Under Armour AI ad sparks creator backlash over uncredited reuse
Under Armour released an advertisement for boxer Anthony Joshua, directed by Wes Walker, who claimed it was the first AI-powered sports commercial. Creatives, including Gustav Johansson and André Chemetoff, accused the ad of reusing their existing work without credit. Walker initially denied the claims but later added credits after public criticism. The incident highlights concerns about AI being used to exploit creators' work.
- Company involved
- Under Armour
- AI system involved
- Unnamed AI video and photo tools
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Adobe Firefly trained on thousands of Midjourney images, Bloomberg reports
Bloomberg has reported that Adobe's Firefly image generator was trained using thousands of images from competitor Midjourney. Adobe says these made up about 5% of the training data and were part of the Adobe Stock library. The company has marketed Firefly as ethically trained and offered enterprise customers indemnity against copyright claims. Adobe responded that all Adobe Stock images undergo moderation, but the report has raised questions about Firefly's copyright safety.
- Company involved
- Adobe
- AI system involved
- Firefly
7 source articles · read the reporting →
Lovable security flaw exposed user data from 170 apps
Lovable, a Swedish startup, failed to fix a critical security flaw in its vibe coding service. Researchers found 170 Lovable-created web apps that exposed users' personal data, including names, emails, financial information, and API keys. Lovable acknowledged the issue and implemented a security scan, but the flaw remained unresolved.
- Company involved
- Lovable
- AI system involved
- Lovable
5 source articles · read the reporting →
YouTube applies machine learning post-processing to Shorts without opt-out
YouTube announced an experiment on select Shorts using traditional machine learning to unblur, denoise, and improve clarity during processing. Creators reported that this altered their videos' appearance without an opt-out option, and some accused YouTube of misleading about the use of AI. YouTube acknowledged the experiment and said it would consider feedback, but did not offer a rollback or opt-out.
- Company involved
- YouTube
- AI system involved
- YouTube Shorts post-processing
7 source articles · read the reporting →
SEC charges YouPlus and CEO with defrauding investors
The SEC charged machine-learning startup YouPlus and its CEO Shaukat Shamim with defrauding investors. Shamim allegedly made false statements about the company's revenue and customer numbers, including providing falsified bank statements. The scheme unravelled when Shamim confessed to investors that the company had earned less than $500,000 and had only four paying customers since 2013. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, civil penalties, and an officer-and-director bar.
- Company involved
- YouPlus
- AI system involved
- YouPlus machine-learning tool
1 source article · read the reporting →
Users jailbreak Luma Labs Dream Machine to generate porn
Users have jailbroken Luma Labs' Dream Machine, an AI video generator, to create explicit videos. The system's safeguards were bypassed to generate pornographic content. The videos are crude but demonstrate the potential for widespread AI-generated porn. Luma Labs' terms of service prohibit such content.
- Company involved
- Luma Labs
- AI system involved
- Dream Machine
3 source articles · read the reporting →
Facebook's automated ad system rejects adaptive fashion ads
Small adaptive fashion companies have had their advertisements repeatedly rejected by Facebook's automated advertising system, which misidentifies their products as medical devices. The system's inability to understand context leads to discrimination against people with disabilities. Facebook has acknowledged the issue and restored some ads, but the problem persists, highlighting biases in machine learning.
- Company involved
- Facebook
- AI system involved
- Facebook automated advertising review system
2 source articles · read the reporting →
Brookdale Senior Living algorithm blamed for understaffing at assisted-living facilities
Managers at Brookdale Senior Living, the largest assisted-living chain in the US, allege that an algorithm called 'Service Alignment' set staffing levels so low that facilities were dangerously short-handed. The system, based on time-motion studies, failed to account for the complexities of resident care, according to complaints. Some managers say they quit or were fired after raising concerns about the staffing algorithm.
- Company involved
- Brookdale Senior Living
- AI system involved
- Service Alignment
1 source article · read the reporting →
Brainwash cafe customers unknowingly put in AI surveillance dataset
In 2014, customers at the Brainwash Cafe in San Francisco were recorded by a publicly available webcam. The images were compiled into a dataset containing 11,917 photos for training surveillance-related object and head detection algorithms. The dataset was later removed from access following an investigation revealing use by researchers affiliated with the National University of Defense Technology in China. The dataset's creators are accused of collecting the images without the cafe customers' knowledge or consent.
- Company involved
- Stanford University
- AI system involved
- Brainwash dataset
1 source article · read the reporting →
