As generative AI (and access to AI tools) continues to grow, expect to see more of things like the uproar over “George Carlin: I'm Glad I'm Dead.” Streamed on (and later taken from) YouTube, it's billed as an hour of new “material” by the comedian who died in 2008. Of course, it's not that. It is also not based on old notes or lost routines, like recent versions of the Beatlesand the estate of George Carlin has filed a complaint against the creators.
The first reports of NPR said the AI was trained on thousands of hours of Carlin routines to create the hardware. Dudesy, the channel that created and posted the video, was later approached by The New York Timesand their spokesperson said the video was “written entirely by Chad Kultgen” – one of the channel's hosts.
Both hosts, comedian Will Sasso and writer Kultgen, are named in the suit. They claim that AI-created Carlin looks like an impressionist. (Even if it's really not that great…)
The complaint seeks unspecified damages and immediate removal of “any video or audio copies” of the special.
—Mat Smith
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But I will continue to post updates for a few years.
Fossil has officially left the smartwatch business. Its Wear OS smartwatch line hasn't seen a new model since 2021, and the company has now confirmed it's pulling out of wearables. If you own a Fossil brand watch (which covers several fashion brands like Skagen, Michael Kors, Diesel and even Emporio Armani), you should benefit from updates for the next few years.
But let's be clear: it probably wasn't the Pixel Watch that dealt the final blow.
A software glitch prevents it from activating when vehicles are reversing.
Tesla is recalling 200,000 vehicles in the US, following reports that the rearview cameras were not engaging when the cars were put into reverse – which is the whole point of the thing. Tesla has processed 81 warranty claims potentially related to the issue, according to Autoblog. The recall affects certain 2023 Model Y, Model S and Model X vehicles. Tesla says it delivered 1.8 million vehicles last year, so this recall represents more than 10% of the company's annual production. If that sounds familiar, well, it comes six weeks after Tesla recalled more than two million vehicles after serious safety concerns related to its Autopilot feature.
After the singer's pornographic deepfakes went viral last week.
X has confirmed that it is blocking users from searching for Taylor Swift's name after pornographic deepfakes of the artist began circulating on the platform. Visitors to the site began noticing Saturday that some searches containing Swift's name were only returning an error message.
The platform's handling of the problem was slow. After the images went viral last Wednesday, Swifties took matters into their own hands (of course!) by mass-reporting accounts that shared the images and flooding hashtags relating to the singer with positive content. Don't you remember the snake emoji saga?
And we review the Framework Laptop 16.
Thoughts, feelings, and facts this week about the Mac coming of age, the gaming-capable modular laptop, and the realization that the Apple car dream is still alive. This week, Devindra is joined by Editor-in-Chief Nathan Ingraham.