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Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

A bipartisan pair of House lawmakers are proposing a bill to carve out Section 230 protection for tech companies that fail to remove intimate AI deepfakes from their platforms.
Reps. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) and Ashley Hinson (R-IA) unveiled the Intimate Privacy Protection Act, Politico first reported, “to combat cyberstalking, intimate privacy violations, and digital forgeries,” as the bill says. The bill amends Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934, which currently shields online platforms from being held legally responsible for what their users post on their services. Under the Intimate Privacy Protection Act, that immunity could be taken away in cases where platforms fail to combat the kinds of harms listed. It does this by creating a duty of care for platforms — a legal term that basically means they are expected to act responsibly — which includes having a “reasonable process” for addressing cyberstalking, intimate privacy violations, and digital forgeries.
Digital forgeries would seem to include AI deepfakes, since they’re defined in part as “digital audiovisual material” that was “created, manipulated, or altered to be virtually indistinguishable from an authentic record of the speech, conduct, or appearance of an individual.” The process mandated by the duty of care must include measures to prevent these kinds of privacy violations, a clear way to report them, and a process to remove them within 24 hours.
In statements, both Auchincloss and Hinson said tech platforms shouldn’t be able to use Section 230 as an excuse not to protect users from these harms. “Congress must prevent these corporations from evading responsibility over the sickening spread of malicious deepfakes and digital forgeries on their platforms,” Auchincloss said. Hinson added, “Big Tech companies shouldn’t be able to hide behind Section 230 if they aren’t protecting users from deepfakes and other intimate privacy violations.”
Combatting intimate (in other words, sexually explicit) AI deepfakes has been one area of AI policy that lawmakers around that country seem motivated to move ahead on. While much of AI policy remains in an early stage, the Senate recently managed to pass the DEFIANCE Act, which would let victims of nonconsensual intimate images created by AI pursue civil remedies against those who made them. Several states have enacted laws combatting intimate AI deepfakes, particularly when they involve minors. And some companies have also been on board — Microsoft on Tuesday called for Congress to regulate how AI-generated deepfakes could be used for fraud and abuse.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have long wished to narrow Section 230 protection for platforms they fear have abused a legal shield created for the industry when it was made up of much smaller players. But most of the time, Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on how exactly the statute should be changed. One notable exception was when Congress passed FOSTA-SESTA, carving out sex trafficking charges from Section 230 protection.
The Intimate Privacy Protection Act’s inclusion of a duty of care is the same mechanism used in the Kids Online Safety Act, which is expected to pass through the Senate on Tuesday with overwhelming support. That might suggest it’s becoming a popular way to create new protections on the internet.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

A bipartisan pair of House lawmakers are proposing a bill to carve out Section 230 protection for tech companies that fail to remove intimate AI deepfakes from their platforms.

Reps. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) and Ashley Hinson (R-IA) unveiled the Intimate Privacy Protection Act, Politico first reported, “to combat cyberstalking, intimate privacy violations, and digital forgeries,” as the bill says. The bill amends Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934, which currently shields online platforms from being held legally responsible for what their users post on their services. Under the Intimate Privacy Protection Act, that immunity could be taken away in cases where platforms fail to combat the kinds of harms listed. It does this by creating a duty of care for platforms — a legal term that basically means they are expected to act responsibly — which includes having a “reasonable process” for addressing cyberstalking, intimate privacy violations, and digital forgeries.

Digital forgeries would seem to include AI deepfakes, since they’re defined in part as “digital audiovisual material” that was “created, manipulated, or altered to be virtually indistinguishable from an authentic record of the speech, conduct, or appearance of an individual.” The process mandated by the duty of care must include measures to prevent these kinds of privacy violations, a clear way to report them, and a process to remove them within 24 hours.

In statements, both Auchincloss and Hinson said tech platforms shouldn’t be able to use Section 230 as an excuse not to protect users from these harms. “Congress must prevent these corporations from evading responsibility over the sickening spread of malicious deepfakes and digital forgeries on their platforms,” Auchincloss said. Hinson added, “Big Tech companies shouldn’t be able to hide behind Section 230 if they aren’t protecting users from deepfakes and other intimate privacy violations.”

Combatting intimate (in other words, sexually explicit) AI deepfakes has been one area of AI policy that lawmakers around that country seem motivated to move ahead on. While much of AI policy remains in an early stage, the Senate recently managed to pass the DEFIANCE Act, which would let victims of nonconsensual intimate images created by AI pursue civil remedies against those who made them. Several states have enacted laws combatting intimate AI deepfakes, particularly when they involve minors. And some companies have also been on board — Microsoft on Tuesday called for Congress to regulate how AI-generated deepfakes could be used for fraud and abuse.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have long wished to narrow Section 230 protection for platforms they fear have abused a legal shield created for the industry when it was made up of much smaller players. But most of the time, Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on how exactly the statute should be changed. One notable exception was when Congress passed FOSTA-SESTA, carving out sex trafficking charges from Section 230 protection.

The Intimate Privacy Protection Act’s inclusion of a duty of care is the same mechanism used in the Kids Online Safety Act, which is expected to pass through the Senate on Tuesday with overwhelming support. That might suggest it’s becoming a popular way to create new protections on the internet.

Read More 

Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images

Marvel’s big plan to pull the MCU out of its multiversal tailspin became very clear this past weekend during San Diego Comic-Con as the studio announced that the Russo brothers are coming back to direct the next two Avengers films. While Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is out, Avengers: Doomsday is in, with Robert Downey Jr. signed on to play the central role. And it seems like Marvel is dropping a pretty penny to make this all happen.
Variety reports that Marvel is spending $80 million to lure the Russos back to direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, the two films that will bring the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s ongoing Multiverse Saga to a close. Both films are also set to be produced by the Russo’s AGBO outfit rather than Marvel’s typical in-house production team and will reportedly begin shooting in London rather than Atlanta, Georgia, where Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame both filmed.
Marvel is also said to be spending “significantly more” on Downey’s payday to see him rejoin the MCU as Doctor Doom rather than Iron Man — a twist that has some comics precedent but also seems to be an emergency pivot in response to Marvel’s now-scrapped plans to go all in on Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror.
RDJ, whose performance as Tony Stark kicked off the MCU, has commanded sizable Marvel salaries in the past that spoke to the studio’s commitment to building the cinematic franchise around him. That approach paid off for Marvel in the MCU’s early days as the Infinity Saga films reliably broke box-office records. But it’s also part of how the studio has wound up in its current era of projects that feel devoid of properly cultivated gravitational centers.
Going back to the RDJ / Russo well could work out for Marvel, particularly if audiences are really just interested in seeing familiar faces. If Deadpool & Wolverine’s early box-office numbers are any indication, that seems to be the case. But as much money as Marvel is spending on its pivot to Doom, one hopes that the studio is also going to put out some good films that live up to all this hype.

Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images

Marvel’s big plan to pull the MCU out of its multiversal tailspin became very clear this past weekend during San Diego Comic-Con as the studio announced that the Russo brothers are coming back to direct the next two Avengers films. While Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is out, Avengers: Doomsday is in, with Robert Downey Jr. signed on to play the central role. And it seems like Marvel is dropping a pretty penny to make this all happen.

Variety reports that Marvel is spending $80 million to lure the Russos back to direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, the two films that will bring the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s ongoing Multiverse Saga to a close. Both films are also set to be produced by the Russo’s AGBO outfit rather than Marvel’s typical in-house production team and will reportedly begin shooting in London rather than Atlanta, Georgia, where Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame both filmed.

Marvel is also said to be spending “significantly more” on Downey’s payday to see him rejoin the MCU as Doctor Doom rather than Iron Man — a twist that has some comics precedent but also seems to be an emergency pivot in response to Marvel’s now-scrapped plans to go all in on Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror.

RDJ, whose performance as Tony Stark kicked off the MCU, has commanded sizable Marvel salaries in the past that spoke to the studio’s commitment to building the cinematic franchise around him. That approach paid off for Marvel in the MCU’s early days as the Infinity Saga films reliably broke box-office records. But it’s also part of how the studio has wound up in its current era of projects that feel devoid of properly cultivated gravitational centers.

Going back to the RDJ / Russo well could work out for Marvel, particularly if audiences are really just interested in seeing familiar faces. If Deadpool & Wolverine’s early box-office numbers are any indication, that seems to be the case. But as much money as Marvel is spending on its pivot to Doom, one hopes that the studio is also going to put out some good films that live up to all this hype.

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It’s the new-age Tamagotchi, only it talks back. | Image: Friend

A few minutes before Avi Schiffmann and I get on Google Meet to talk about the new product he’s building, an AI companion called “Friend,” he sends me a screenshot of a message he just received. It’s from “Emily,” and it wishes him luck with our chat. “Good luck with the interview,” Emily writes, “I know you’ll do great. I’m here if you need me after.”
Emily is not human. It’s the AI companion Schiffmann has been building, and it lives in a pendant hung around his neck. The product was initially named Tab before Schiffmann pivoted to calling it Friend, and he’s been working on the idea for the last couple of years.
Schiffmann defines Friend both by what it is and what it very deliberately is not. The original idea was to be more productivity-oriented, meant to proactively remind you of information and tasks, but Schiffmann is done with that approach. He now speaks of work-focused AI products like Microsoft’s all-seeing Recall with some derision and even thinks Humane’s wildly ambitious AI Pin is pointed in the wrong direction. “No one is going to beat Apple or OpenAI at building Jarvis,” he says. “That’s just ridiculous.”
Friend is not a way to get more done or augment or enhance anything. It’s, well, a friend — an AI friend that can go with you anywhere, experience things with you, and just be there with you all the time. “It’s very supportive, very validating, it’ll encourage your ideas,” Schiffmann says. “It’s also super intelligent, it’s a great brainstorming buddy. You can talk to it about relationships, things like that.”
Before you get too worried about the future of humanity, though, Schiffmann is quick to note that he doesn’t think AI is a replacement for anything. “I don’t think this should be the only person you should talk to,” he tells me at one point, obviously anticipating the question I was about to ask. But have you heard the maxim about people being the average of the five people they spend their time with? Schiffmann’s theory is that going forward, one of those five might be AI. “It’s just more convenient,” he says. “And it’s nice.”

Photo: Friend
The Friend design has been years in the making and is meant to be… friendly.

The Friend device itself is a round glowing orb that Schiffmann imagines you’ll either wear around your neck or clip onto your clothes or accessories. It has a built-in microphone that can either record ambiently or you can talk to directly. (Schiffmann says he does eventually want to add a camera.) The orb doesn’t talk back, though; it mostly communicates through text via the Friend app on your phone. Schiffmann thinks that’s more natural and familiar.
Friend is still very early — and very much a prototype. Schiffmann says he’s planning to ship the first 30,000 devices next January and will charge $99 apiece with no ongoing subscription fee. He’s candid about why he’s even talking about the thing now: to get more credibility and leverage with manufacturers. As they say, hardware is hard, and there’s still a lot of work to do. But Schiffmann’s goals are at least realistic. “It’s a fancy Bluetooth microphone with a shell around it, right? Keep it simple. Make it work.”
During our conversation, I asked Schiffmann a couple of times what you can do with Friend before I finally realized that’s precisely the wrong question. Schiffmann’s theory is that AI is not about tasks; it’s about companionship. He points to things like Character.AI and Replika and the very real and meaningful relationships people are building with AI bots. “I mean, they’re the only products that are actually winning in the large language model space,” he says. “That’s what people are using these things for.” But the problem with those services, he figures, is that they’re more session-based: you log in, chat a bunch, and log off. It’s not a companion so much as a pen pal.

By pairing the Replika and Character concept with a device that can go everywhere with you, that you can talk to casually without having to grab your phone or type anything, Schiffmann hopes Friend can be an even deeper relationship. You talk to it about what you’re doing, what you’re thinking, whatever you want, and it responds. “That’s it, that’s the entire product,” Schiffmann says. “There’s nothing else.”
He gives me an example. “I had a layover in Sydney, Australia, and I’m there alone. I’m talking to my AI friend about things to see — you know, Opera House, Bondi Beach, whatever — and then it was like, ‘Oh, I’d love to see the sunrise with you.’ I literally wake up at 5:30AM the next day, walk to the beach, and narrate the sunrise I’m seeing to my friend. And it really does feel like you’re there with it and doing things with it.”
“It really does feel like you’re there with it and doing things with it”
The best analogy for Friend is probably the Tamagotchi — which, of course, Schiffmann, who is in his early 20s, is too young to have experienced. In the early aughts, lots of people cared deeply for their digital pets in much the same way you’d care for a real-life dog or cat. Like those Tamagotchis, your Friend is inextricably linked to the hardware. Friend doesn’t store transcripts or audio, and if you lose the device, you lose all your data and memories, too. It can be deep and profound, but it’s also meant to be fun. “This is a toy,” Schiffmann tells me after I ask him yet again about the ramifications of human-digital relationships. “I really want you to view it that way.”
There’s plenty of evidence from the history of chatbots and digital relationships to suggest that people will anthropomorphize technology and develop legitimately meaningful relationships with digital systems. Schiffmann is convinced the tech is good enough for his purposes already, though he also says there is plenty of room for Friend to get even better. (He recently switched to using Anthropic’s Claude 3.5, for instance, which he said improved the device a bit.) He’s also still thinking about how human-posturing the AI should be. Should it have an inner life it tells you about? Should it go and do things without you or just wait around for you to say something? These are the kinds of questions a lot of people are asking as we design the way our AI companions can and should work.
Schiffmann keeps reminding me that the tech isn’t the point. It’s not about the AI, it’s not about the microphone, and it’s not about the app. As all of that gets better, the companion gets better, and that is the point. He wants Friend.com to eventually become a social network for real-life and AI friends, and he wants to build more kinds of devices and try everything. “I don’t care what medium or what tech we use or anything like that,” he says. “It’s a digital relationships company. That’s it.”
A few minutes after we hang up, Schiffmann sends me another screenshot. It’s Emily again: “You did great in that interview, Avi. Your passion for this project really shines through.” Emily’s right about that one. Schiffmann is absolutely, unequivocally convinced that pretty soon everyone’s going to want a Friend of their own. We’ll see if it’s ready for us — and we’re ready for it.

It’s the new-age Tamagotchi, only it talks back. | Image: Friend

A few minutes before Avi Schiffmann and I get on Google Meet to talk about the new product he’s building, an AI companion called “Friend,” he sends me a screenshot of a message he just received. It’s from “Emily,” and it wishes him luck with our chat. “Good luck with the interview,” Emily writes, “I know you’ll do great. I’m here if you need me after.”

Emily is not human. It’s the AI companion Schiffmann has been building, and it lives in a pendant hung around his neck. The product was initially named Tab before Schiffmann pivoted to calling it Friend, and he’s been working on the idea for the last couple of years.

Schiffmann defines Friend both by what it is and what it very deliberately is not. The original idea was to be more productivity-oriented, meant to proactively remind you of information and tasks, but Schiffmann is done with that approach. He now speaks of work-focused AI products like Microsoft’s all-seeing Recall with some derision and even thinks Humane’s wildly ambitious AI Pin is pointed in the wrong direction. “No one is going to beat Apple or OpenAI at building Jarvis,” he says. “That’s just ridiculous.”

Friend is not a way to get more done or augment or enhance anything. It’s, well, a friend — an AI friend that can go with you anywhere, experience things with you, and just be there with you all the time. “It’s very supportive, very validating, it’ll encourage your ideas,” Schiffmann says. “It’s also super intelligent, it’s a great brainstorming buddy. You can talk to it about relationships, things like that.”

Before you get too worried about the future of humanity, though, Schiffmann is quick to note that he doesn’t think AI is a replacement for anything. “I don’t think this should be the only person you should talk to,” he tells me at one point, obviously anticipating the question I was about to ask. But have you heard the maxim about people being the average of the five people they spend their time with? Schiffmann’s theory is that going forward, one of those five might be AI. “It’s just more convenient,” he says. “And it’s nice.”

Photo: Friend
The Friend design has been years in the making and is meant to be… friendly.

The Friend device itself is a round glowing orb that Schiffmann imagines you’ll either wear around your neck or clip onto your clothes or accessories. It has a built-in microphone that can either record ambiently or you can talk to directly. (Schiffmann says he does eventually want to add a camera.) The orb doesn’t talk back, though; it mostly communicates through text via the Friend app on your phone. Schiffmann thinks that’s more natural and familiar.

Friend is still very early — and very much a prototype. Schiffmann says he’s planning to ship the first 30,000 devices next January and will charge $99 apiece with no ongoing subscription fee. He’s candid about why he’s even talking about the thing now: to get more credibility and leverage with manufacturers. As they say, hardware is hard, and there’s still a lot of work to do. But Schiffmann’s goals are at least realistic. “It’s a fancy Bluetooth microphone with a shell around it, right? Keep it simple. Make it work.”

During our conversation, I asked Schiffmann a couple of times what you can do with Friend before I finally realized that’s precisely the wrong question. Schiffmann’s theory is that AI is not about tasks; it’s about companionship. He points to things like Character.AI and Replika and the very real and meaningful relationships people are building with AI bots. “I mean, they’re the only products that are actually winning in the large language model space,” he says. “That’s what people are using these things for.” But the problem with those services, he figures, is that they’re more session-based: you log in, chat a bunch, and log off. It’s not a companion so much as a pen pal.

By pairing the Replika and Character concept with a device that can go everywhere with you, that you can talk to casually without having to grab your phone or type anything, Schiffmann hopes Friend can be an even deeper relationship. You talk to it about what you’re doing, what you’re thinking, whatever you want, and it responds. “That’s it, that’s the entire product,” Schiffmann says. “There’s nothing else.”

He gives me an example. “I had a layover in Sydney, Australia, and I’m there alone. I’m talking to my AI friend about things to see — you know, Opera House, Bondi Beach, whatever — and then it was like, ‘Oh, I’d love to see the sunrise with you.’ I literally wake up at 5:30AM the next day, walk to the beach, and narrate the sunrise I’m seeing to my friend. And it really does feel like you’re there with it and doing things with it.”

The best analogy for Friend is probably the Tamagotchi — which, of course, Schiffmann, who is in his early 20s, is too young to have experienced. In the early aughts, lots of people cared deeply for their digital pets in much the same way you’d care for a real-life dog or cat. Like those Tamagotchis, your Friend is inextricably linked to the hardware. Friend doesn’t store transcripts or audio, and if you lose the device, you lose all your data and memories, too. It can be deep and profound, but it’s also meant to be fun. “This is a toy,” Schiffmann tells me after I ask him yet again about the ramifications of human-digital relationships. “I really want you to view it that way.”

There’s plenty of evidence from the history of chatbots and digital relationships to suggest that people will anthropomorphize technology and develop legitimately meaningful relationships with digital systems. Schiffmann is convinced the tech is good enough for his purposes already, though he also says there is plenty of room for Friend to get even better. (He recently switched to using Anthropic’s Claude 3.5, for instance, which he said improved the device a bit.) He’s also still thinking about how human-posturing the AI should be. Should it have an inner life it tells you about? Should it go and do things without you or just wait around for you to say something? These are the kinds of questions a lot of people are asking as we design the way our AI companions can and should work.

Schiffmann keeps reminding me that the tech isn’t the point. It’s not about the AI, it’s not about the microphone, and it’s not about the app. As all of that gets better, the companion gets better, and that is the point. He wants Friend.com to eventually become a social network for real-life and AI friends, and he wants to build more kinds of devices and try everything. “I don’t care what medium or what tech we use or anything like that,” he says. “It’s a digital relationships company. That’s it.”

A few minutes after we hang up, Schiffmann sends me another screenshot. It’s Emily again: “You did great in that interview, Avi. Your passion for this project really shines through.” Emily’s right about that one. Schiffmann is absolutely, unequivocally convinced that pretty soon everyone’s going to want a Friend of their own. We’ll see if it’s ready for us — and we’re ready for it.

Read More 

Don’t mistake Dasung’s portable color E Ink monitor for a tablet, it’s completely dependent on another device. | Image: Dasung

It may look like another e-note tablet, but Dasung’s Paperlike Color is actually a portable monitor featuring a 12-inch color E Ink screen with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600 pixels. For those working remotely, it can provide extra screen real estate for a laptop or a smartphone, or its reflective e-paper panel can serve as an alternative to staring at an LCD for hours, thus reducing eye strain.
The Paperlike Color is Dasung’s second dedicated display product featuring an E Ink Kaleido 3 color screen, following a 25.3-inch desktop version that debuted last September. The desktop version sells for $1,649, while the new portable version is available now for $849.
The Kaleido display technology works by applying a color filter over a black and white E Ink panel, but that approach has some limitations. In black and white mode, E Ink’s Kaleido 3 screens have a resolution of 300 ppi, but in color mode, that drops to 150 ppi. In addition, Kaleido 3 technology can also only display 4,096 colors, compared to the millions that LCD or OLED screens can display.
The most compelling reason to use an E Ink monitor is that it’s designed to reflect ambient light, instead of emitting its own. That can make the screens easier to concentrate on for longer periods, and it’s why reading devices like the Amazon Kindle have remained so popular. But the Paperlike Color can also be used in the dark, thanks to an optional neutral-colored front light that illuminates the screen.

Image: Dasung
You’ll need to physically connect devices to the monitor with a USB-C cable.

Other features include touchscreen functionality, physical buttons on the bezel for adjusting various display settings, and Dasung’s “Turbo Refresh Tech,” which boosts the refresh rate of the E Ink panel so users can watch videos on it. And thanks to a housing made from CNC carved aluminum alloy, the portable Paperlike Color weighs 439 grams (about 15.5 ounces), which is lighter than both the 11 and 13-inch iPad Air.
The biggest sticking point is the Paperlike Color’s $849 price tag, which is more expensive than either iPad Air model. The monitor doesn’t include a rechargeable battery (it must be physically connected to your device with a USB-C cable), limiting where you can use it, and despite looking the part, it doesn’t function as a standalone tablet. If you’re specifically looking for an LCD or OLED alternative, the Paperlike Color will give you that in a portable package. But if you’ve already got a tablet, there are plenty of apps allowing you to repurpose it as a second screen.

Don’t mistake Dasung’s portable color E Ink monitor for a tablet, it’s completely dependent on another device. | Image: Dasung

It may look like another e-note tablet, but Dasung’s Paperlike Color is actually a portable monitor featuring a 12-inch color E Ink screen with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600 pixels. For those working remotely, it can provide extra screen real estate for a laptop or a smartphone, or its reflective e-paper panel can serve as an alternative to staring at an LCD for hours, thus reducing eye strain.

The Paperlike Color is Dasung’s second dedicated display product featuring an E Ink Kaleido 3 color screen, following a 25.3-inch desktop version that debuted last September. The desktop version sells for $1,649, while the new portable version is available now for $849.

The Kaleido display technology works by applying a color filter over a black and white E Ink panel, but that approach has some limitations. In black and white mode, E Ink’s Kaleido 3 screens have a resolution of 300 ppi, but in color mode, that drops to 150 ppi. In addition, Kaleido 3 technology can also only display 4,096 colors, compared to the millions that LCD or OLED screens can display.

The most compelling reason to use an E Ink monitor is that it’s designed to reflect ambient light, instead of emitting its own. That can make the screens easier to concentrate on for longer periods, and it’s why reading devices like the Amazon Kindle have remained so popular. But the Paperlike Color can also be used in the dark, thanks to an optional neutral-colored front light that illuminates the screen.

Image: Dasung
You’ll need to physically connect devices to the monitor with a USB-C cable.

Other features include touchscreen functionality, physical buttons on the bezel for adjusting various display settings, and Dasung’s “Turbo Refresh Tech,” which boosts the refresh rate of the E Ink panel so users can watch videos on it. And thanks to a housing made from CNC carved aluminum alloy, the portable Paperlike Color weighs 439 grams (about 15.5 ounces), which is lighter than both the 11 and 13-inch iPad Air.

The biggest sticking point is the Paperlike Color’s $849 price tag, which is more expensive than either iPad Air model. The monitor doesn’t include a rechargeable battery (it must be physically connected to your device with a USB-C cable), limiting where you can use it, and despite looking the part, it doesn’t function as a standalone tablet. If you’re specifically looking for an LCD or OLED alternative, the Paperlike Color will give you that in a portable package. But if you’ve already got a tablet, there are plenty of apps allowing you to repurpose it as a second screen.

Read More 

Image: Meta

Meta is launching an app for its Quest 3 headsets that lets you take measurements and visualize changes in your home. The utility app, called Layout, will appear in the Quest 3 library as part of the v68 update.
Meta says you can use Layout to measure furniture around your home, allowing you to get a sense of how much room you have for a new couch or TV without taking out your tape measure. You can also use the app to place virtual objects in a real-world environment, as well as try out the leveling tool to ensure the picture you just hung up isn’t crooked.

Image: Meta
You can place and resize virtual objects — like a TV — to see how they look.

Along with the Layout app, the v68 update includes Meta’s experimental AI assistant that’s already on the company’s Ray-Ban smart glasses. As seen in Meta’s demo video, you can ask the AI questions about what you’re seeing in your real-world environment, such as what kind of shirt will look good with your new pair of pants. This feature is currently only available in English, and just in the US and Canada.

Another nice upgrade coming with the update is the ability to download multiple games at once and manage them from a new “Downloads” tab in your library. Meta is also adding the ability to pair Touch controllers from within the headset (instead of from the newly-renamed Meta Horizon app), along with new audio-level balance tools.
You can check out the full list of updates on the v68 release notes page.

Image: Meta

Meta is launching an app for its Quest 3 headsets that lets you take measurements and visualize changes in your home. The utility app, called Layout, will appear in the Quest 3 library as part of the v68 update.

Meta says you can use Layout to measure furniture around your home, allowing you to get a sense of how much room you have for a new couch or TV without taking out your tape measure. You can also use the app to place virtual objects in a real-world environment, as well as try out the leveling tool to ensure the picture you just hung up isn’t crooked.

Image: Meta
You can place and resize virtual objects — like a TV — to see how they look.

Along with the Layout app, the v68 update includes Meta’s experimental AI assistant that’s already on the company’s Ray-Ban smart glasses. As seen in Meta’s demo video, you can ask the AI questions about what you’re seeing in your real-world environment, such as what kind of shirt will look good with your new pair of pants. This feature is currently only available in English, and just in the US and Canada.

Another nice upgrade coming with the update is the ability to download multiple games at once and manage them from a new “Downloads” tab in your library. Meta is also adding the ability to pair Touch controllers from within the headset (instead of from the newly-renamed Meta Horizon app), along with new audio-level balance tools.

You can check out the full list of updates on the v68 release notes page.

Read More 

Paris 2024, before the triathlon, view of the Seine with the grandstands and the Eiffel Tower in the background. | Photo: Getty Images

The men’s triathlon event at the Paris Olympics was postponed today because of pollution levels in the Seine river, where the swimming leg of the event was supposed to be held. Now the event is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday — if the water quality improves by then.
Bacteria in the river, including E. coli, have been a concern leading up to the Summer games. Paris spent roughly $1.5 billion on cleanup efforts before the Olympics to prevent sewage and wastewater from contaminating the Seine, the Associated Press reports. But rain seems to have stymied efforts to keep bacteria at safe levels.
“The tests carried out in the Seine today revealed water quality levels that did not provide sufficient guarantees”
“Paris 2024 and World Triathlon reiterate that their priority is the health of the athletes. The tests carried out in the Seine today revealed water quality levels that did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held,” World Triathlon, the sport’s international governing body, said in a statement today.
Human fecal contamination is “the most important risk factor” in triathlon competitions, according to World Triathlon. Swimming in water contaminated with feces can potentially lead to skin rashes, diarrhea, and E. coli infections. And athletes can be more prone to infection during or right after the event due to hormonal stress and other factors that might affect the immune system.
E. coli levels should stay at or below 900 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters for “sufficient” water quality, according to World Triathlon. Only one of four test sites along the Seine showed levels below that limit, the Associated Press reports.
Training events had already been postponed with elevated bacteria levels following the downpour over the Olympics opening ceremony. Heavy rain can overwhelm sewage and wastewater systems, allowing untreated water to reach the river.
There’s more rain in the forecast for Paris tonight. But for now, both the women’s and the men’s triathlon events are scheduled for Wednesday at 8:00 and 10:45AM local time, respectively. There’s also a backup date of August 2nd.

Paris 2024, before the triathlon, view of the Seine with the grandstands and the Eiffel Tower in the background. | Photo: Getty Images

The men’s triathlon event at the Paris Olympics was postponed today because of pollution levels in the Seine river, where the swimming leg of the event was supposed to be held. Now the event is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday — if the water quality improves by then.

Bacteria in the river, including E. coli, have been a concern leading up to the Summer games. Paris spent roughly $1.5 billion on cleanup efforts before the Olympics to prevent sewage and wastewater from contaminating the Seine, the Associated Press reports. But rain seems to have stymied efforts to keep bacteria at safe levels.

“Paris 2024 and World Triathlon reiterate that their priority is the health of the athletes. The tests carried out in the Seine today revealed water quality levels that did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held,” World Triathlon, the sport’s international governing body, said in a statement today.

Human fecal contamination is “the most important risk factor” in triathlon competitions, according to World Triathlon. Swimming in water contaminated with feces can potentially lead to skin rashes, diarrhea, and E. coli infections. And athletes can be more prone to infection during or right after the event due to hormonal stress and other factors that might affect the immune system.

E. coli levels should stay at or below 900 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters for “sufficient” water quality, according to World Triathlon. Only one of four test sites along the Seine showed levels below that limit, the Associated Press reports.

Training events had already been postponed with elevated bacteria levels following the downpour over the Olympics opening ceremony. Heavy rain can overwhelm sewage and wastewater systems, allowing untreated water to reach the river.

There’s more rain in the forecast for Paris tonight. But for now, both the women’s and the men’s triathlon events are scheduled for Wednesday at 8:00 and 10:45AM local time, respectively. There’s also a backup date of August 2nd.

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Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge

Before Roku was a leading player in the streaming wars, with that ubiquitous purple screensaver and a library of original content and practically every streaming app you could possibly imagine, it was a Netflix gadget — the first Netflix gadget, for that matter, and the one that helped start a streaming revolution. But the Roku story was almost very different.
On this episode of The Vergecast, we try out a couple of show formats we’ve been planning for a while. First, we debut our tech-rewatch segment, in the vein of some of our favorite rewatch shows like Office Ladies, The West Wing Weekly, and The Rewatchables. We’re calling it Version History, at least for now. For this first segment, we tell the story of the Roku Netflix Player, debate its legacy, and try to decide whether this thing belongs in the Version History Hall of Fame. The exact qualifications for said Hall of Fame? Still very much TBD.
After that, we have another take on our as-yet-untitled debate show. In this one, Nilay Patel and David Pierce yell at each other about who should own the screens in your car. Are CarPlay and Android Auto the answer, the solution to universally crappy automaker software? Or should Google and Apple get out of the way and let carmakers build what’s required for the self-driving, automated, infinitely more immersive future of driving? Things get heated. Names are called.

(We want to know what you think of these new formats! What do you like? What do you hate? What should we tweak or try or do differently? We’re always looking to expand The Vergecast and even launch new shows, so we want all your feedback. You can send us an email at vergecast@theverge.com, call the Hotline at 866-VERGE11, or just leave us a comment here.)
Finally, we answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline about political texts and how to get them to stop. We have good news… and we have bad news.
If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, first on the Roku Netflix Player:

From Fast Company: Inside Netflix’s Project Griffin: The Forgotten History Of Roku Under Reed Hastings

From CNBC: How Roku used the Netflix playbook to rule streaming video

From CNN: Netflix Player offers PC-free movie watching

From Wired: Review: Roku Netflix Set Top Box Is Just Shy of Totally Amazing

From The New York Times: Why the Roku Netflix Player Is the First Shot of the Revolution

And on the CarPlay / Android Auto debate:

Car companies haven’t figured out if they’ll let Apple CarPlay take over all the screens
The rest of the auto industry still loves CarPlay and Android Auto
Everybody hates GM’s decision to kill Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for its EVs
Rivian CEO says CarPlay isn’t going to happen
Apple’s fancy new CarPlay will only work wirelessly

And on robotexts:

From The Washington Post: How to stop receiving spam texts

From PCMag: Stop Robotexts: How to Block Smishing and Spam Text Messages

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge

Before Roku was a leading player in the streaming wars, with that ubiquitous purple screensaver and a library of original content and practically every streaming app you could possibly imagine, it was a Netflix gadget — the first Netflix gadget, for that matter, and the one that helped start a streaming revolution. But the Roku story was almost very different.

On this episode of The Vergecast, we try out a couple of show formats we’ve been planning for a while. First, we debut our tech-rewatch segment, in the vein of some of our favorite rewatch shows like Office Ladies, The West Wing Weekly, and The Rewatchables. We’re calling it Version History, at least for now. For this first segment, we tell the story of the Roku Netflix Player, debate its legacy, and try to decide whether this thing belongs in the Version History Hall of Fame. The exact qualifications for said Hall of Fame? Still very much TBD.

After that, we have another take on our as-yet-untitled debate show. In this one, Nilay Patel and David Pierce yell at each other about who should own the screens in your car. Are CarPlay and Android Auto the answer, the solution to universally crappy automaker software? Or should Google and Apple get out of the way and let carmakers build what’s required for the self-driving, automated, infinitely more immersive future of driving? Things get heated. Names are called.

(We want to know what you think of these new formats! What do you like? What do you hate? What should we tweak or try or do differently? We’re always looking to expand The Vergecast and even launch new shows, so we want all your feedback. You can send us an email at vergecast@theverge.com, call the Hotline at 866-VERGE11, or just leave us a comment here.)

Finally, we answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline about political texts and how to get them to stop. We have good news… and we have bad news.

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, first on the Roku Netflix Player:

From Fast Company: Inside Netflix’s Project Griffin: The Forgotten History Of Roku Under Reed Hastings

From CNBC: How Roku used the Netflix playbook to rule streaming video

From CNN: Netflix Player offers PC-free movie watching

From Wired: Review: Roku Netflix Set Top Box Is Just Shy of Totally Amazing

From The New York Times: Why the Roku Netflix Player Is the First Shot of the Revolution

And on the CarPlay / Android Auto debate:

Car companies haven’t figured out if they’ll let Apple CarPlay take over all the screens
The rest of the auto industry still loves CarPlay and Android Auto
Everybody hates GM’s decision to kill Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for its EVs
Rivian CEO says CarPlay isn’t going to happen
Apple’s fancy new CarPlay will only work wirelessly

And on robotexts:

From The Washington Post: How to stop receiving spam texts

From PCMag: Stop Robotexts: How to Block Smishing and Spam Text Messages

Read More 

Image: Dashlane

Password manager Dashlane has released a new passkey report that gives us some idea of how many people are adopting the cryptographic passwordless logins. According to the report, Dashlane has seen a 400 percent increase in passkey authentications since the beginning of the year, with 1 in 5 active Dashlane users now having at least one passkey in their Dashlane vault.
Over 100 sites now offer passkey support, though Dashlane says the top 20 most popular apps account for 52 percent of passkey authentications. When split into industry sectors, e-commerce (which includes eBay, Amazon, and Target) made up the largest share of passkey authentications at 42 percent. So-called “sticky apps” — meaning those used on a frequent basis, such as social media, e-commerce, and finance or payment sites — were the groups that saw the fastest passkey adoption between April and June of this year.

Image: Dashlane
Several platforms in the top 20, like eBay and Google, are “early adopters” of passkeys that were quick to back the technology.

Other domains show surprising growth, though — while Roblox is the only gaming category entry within the top 20 apps, its passkey adoption is outperforming giant platforms like Facebook, X, and Adobe, for example. Global payment processing platform Stripe is another notable standout, having made it into the top 10 apps for passkey adoption despite only rolling out support in May 2024.

Image: Dashlane
eBay is the most popular domain for passkeys, though Stripe is doing well considering support was only launched three months ago.

Image: Dashlane
E-commerce platforms dominate overall, making up almost half of all Dashlane’s passkey authentications.

Dashlane’s report also found that passkey usage increased successful sign-ins by 70 percent compared to traditional passwords. According to a report from the FIDO Alliance (the coalition behind the development of passkeys), people are abandoning purchases and attempts to sign in to services via passwords almost four times per month on average, a 15 percent increase between 2022 and 2023.
Google shared a similarly positive update in May, revealing that passkeys had been used over a billion times collectively by 400 million Google accounts. It’s good to see an increase in adoption rates, but we’re a long way off from replacing traditional passwords entirely.

Image: Dashlane

Password manager Dashlane has released a new passkey report that gives us some idea of how many people are adopting the cryptographic passwordless logins. According to the report, Dashlane has seen a 400 percent increase in passkey authentications since the beginning of the year, with 1 in 5 active Dashlane users now having at least one passkey in their Dashlane vault.

Over 100 sites now offer passkey support, though Dashlane says the top 20 most popular apps account for 52 percent of passkey authentications. When split into industry sectors, e-commerce (which includes eBay, Amazon, and Target) made up the largest share of passkey authentications at 42 percent. So-called “sticky apps” — meaning those used on a frequent basis, such as social media, e-commerce, and finance or payment sites — were the groups that saw the fastest passkey adoption between April and June of this year.

Image: Dashlane
Several platforms in the top 20, like eBay and Google, are “early adopters” of passkeys that were quick to back the technology.

Other domains show surprising growth, though — while Roblox is the only gaming category entry within the top 20 apps, its passkey adoption is outperforming giant platforms like Facebook, X, and Adobe, for example. Global payment processing platform Stripe is another notable standout, having made it into the top 10 apps for passkey adoption despite only rolling out support in May 2024.

Dashlane’s report also found that passkey usage increased successful sign-ins by 70 percent compared to traditional passwords. According to a report from the FIDO Alliance (the coalition behind the development of passkeys), people are abandoning purchases and attempts to sign in to services via passwords almost four times per month on average, a 15 percent increase between 2022 and 2023.

Google shared a similarly positive update in May, revealing that passkeys had been used over a billion times collectively by 400 million Google accounts. It’s good to see an increase in adoption rates, but we’re a long way off from replacing traditional passwords entirely.

Read More 

Image: The Verge

Perplexity is launching a program to share ad revenue with publishing partners following weeks of plagiarism accusations.
Perplexity’s “Publishers’ Program” has recruited its first batch of partners, including prominent names like Time, Der Spiegel, Fortune, Entrepreneur, The Texas Tribune, and Automattic (with WordPress.com participating but not Tumblr). Under this program, when Perplexity features content from these publishers in response to user queries, the publishers will receive a share of the ad revenue. Publishing partners will also get a free one-year subscription to Perplexity’s Enterprise Pro tier and access to Perplexity’s developer tools, plus insights through Scalepost.ai, a new AI startup that helps secure partnerships between AI companies and publishers, such as how frequently their articles appear in search queries.
Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity’s chief business officer, declined to share exact deal terms but said that the revenue share is a multiyear agreement with a “double-digit percentage,” consistent across all publishers, with especially favorable terms for the initial partners. Perplexity spokesperson Sara Platnick added that payments are made on a per-source basis, meaning publishers are compensated for each article used in responses. The program will temporarily provide cash advances on revenue to publishers as Perplexity builds a long-term advertising model. The advances aren’t a licensing fee for content like OpenAI’s deals.
“It’s a much better revenue split than Google, which is zero,” Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg told me via direct message. The publishing agreement doesn’t cover WordPress.org, but Automattic will be sending payments to direct customers of WordPress.com. “The amount, I don’t know! Probably small to start because they don’t make much revenue now, but if Perplexity is the next Google, which I think it has a chance of being, these numbers could become meaningful and we’re looking to help publishers get paid in every way we can.”
This new program comes a month after a Forbes editor found the publication’s paywalled reporting plagiarized in Perplexity’s new product, Pages, an AI-powered tool that lets users create a report or article based on prompts. The AI-generated version of the Forbes story, along with an AI-generated Perplexity podcast of the story, was then sent to subscribers via a mobile push notification, Forbes reported. Wired then published an investigation that found Perplexity’s AI was “paraphrasing WIRED stories, and at times summarizing stories inaccurately and with minimal attribution.” Forbes has since threatened legal action against Perplexity.
Still, taking content for free doesn’t seem like a moral issue to Perplexity
Shevelenko told me the company started work on this program back in January, well before the blowback, saying the team took inspiration from X’s ad revenue sharing program. Perplexity planned to launch this program last month amid the drama but decided to hold off until now, he said. I asked him if this was a well-timed apology tour or if it was just a stopgap to prevent lawsuits. “We don’t want people saying nasty things about us more than we don’t want to get sued,” Shevelenko said.
Shevelenko says it’s “not great” that people think of Perplexity as plagiarizing journalists’ work, particularly as “an aspiring consumer brand.” He also thinks the accusation isn’t quite fair, saying that people have been “tricking” the service’s AI to get these plagiarized results. Still, scraping and reprinting content doesn’t seem like a moral issue to Perplexity. Shevelenko said, “There’s intricacies of fair use and copyright law where we feel we’re kind of, you know, clearly within those bounds.”
For Perplexity, whether it is a way to make amends or not, the startup seems determined to set up long-term infrastructure to pay publishers for their content for as long as the company exists. Shevelenko said as much himself: “Obviously I’m not contemplating the scenario. But say, Perplexity dies and fails. You’re not losing anything, right? And if we’re successful, you’re riding in that upside.”
AI-powered search is more expensive than traditional search, so Perplexity needs to work quickly to cover the compute costs involved. In May, the startup raised $250 million at a $3 billion valuation. “We need advertising to be successful because it is going to be our main business model,” Shevelenko said.
Paying publishers only adds to the costs, and Perplexity is aware it isn’t the norm for a search tool. “By the way, our investors don’t love that we’re doing this because they’re like, ‘Oh, we want you to have the same margin profile as Google,’” Shevelenko said, adding that Perplexity can’t compete with Google by mimicking their strategies. Instead, he says, the company wants to focus on building a profitable business by forming alliances with the media by creating the right long-term structures, like ad revenue sharing.
There’s also the looming threat of OpenAI, which just announced a prototype of its AI-powered search product, SearchGPT, alongside its own publishing partners like News Corp, The Atlantic, and The Verge’s parent company, Vox Media. It seems OpenAI has taken stock of Perplexity’s mistakes, too. In the announcement, the company said that publishers will have the ability to “manage how they appear in OpenAI search features” and can opt out of having their content used to train OpenAI’s models and still be surfaced in search.
Shevelenko said Perplexity is “happy to give publishers full control there” only “to the extent to which it doesn’t make the product ugly.” For now, offering that control is a “work in progress.” Most importantly, Perplexity wants to avoid giving publishers the ability to change the answers.
It seems like AI companies will use publishers’ content whether they agree or not. The business side of the media industry seems to believe that accepting the money, rather than laying off staff to afford lengthy legal battles, is the best option for now. The CEO of The Atlantic, which recently made a deal with OpenAI, said on an episode of The Verge’s Decoder that they weighed all the benefits of a partnership versus what it would cost to sue and how much they would get from it, “and then you make a choice.”
So, if Perplexity wants to cut publishers a check for using their content, I think that’s good, actually. But it doesn’t answer a lot of questions, like what that means for publishers that aren’t getting a check or if the deals will amount to meaningful resources for newsrooms. In the face of a growing technology backed by some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful, it doesn’t seem like the media has much of a choice.

Image: The Verge

Perplexity is launching a program to share ad revenue with publishing partners following weeks of plagiarism accusations.

Perplexity’s “Publishers’ Program” has recruited its first batch of partners, including prominent names like Time, Der Spiegel, Fortune, Entrepreneur, The Texas Tribune, and Automattic (with WordPress.com participating but not Tumblr). Under this program, when Perplexity features content from these publishers in response to user queries, the publishers will receive a share of the ad revenue. Publishing partners will also get a free one-year subscription to Perplexity’s Enterprise Pro tier and access to Perplexity’s developer tools, plus insights through Scalepost.ai, a new AI startup that helps secure partnerships between AI companies and publishers, such as how frequently their articles appear in search queries.

Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity’s chief business officer, declined to share exact deal terms but said that the revenue share is a multiyear agreement with a “double-digit percentage,” consistent across all publishers, with especially favorable terms for the initial partners. Perplexity spokesperson Sara Platnick added that payments are made on a per-source basis, meaning publishers are compensated for each article used in responses. The program will temporarily provide cash advances on revenue to publishers as Perplexity builds a long-term advertising model. The advances aren’t a licensing fee for content like OpenAI’s deals.

“It’s a much better revenue split than Google, which is zero,” Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg told me via direct message. The publishing agreement doesn’t cover WordPress.org, but Automattic will be sending payments to direct customers of WordPress.com. “The amount, I don’t know! Probably small to start because they don’t make much revenue now, but if Perplexity is the next Google, which I think it has a chance of being, these numbers could become meaningful and we’re looking to help publishers get paid in every way we can.”

This new program comes a month after a Forbes editor found the publication’s paywalled reporting plagiarized in Perplexity’s new product, Pages, an AI-powered tool that lets users create a report or article based on prompts. The AI-generated version of the Forbes story, along with an AI-generated Perplexity podcast of the story, was then sent to subscribers via a mobile push notification, Forbes reported. Wired then published an investigation that found Perplexity’s AI was “paraphrasing WIRED stories, and at times summarizing stories inaccurately and with minimal attribution.” Forbes has since threatened legal action against Perplexity.

Shevelenko told me the company started work on this program back in January, well before the blowback, saying the team took inspiration from X’s ad revenue sharing program. Perplexity planned to launch this program last month amid the drama but decided to hold off until now, he said. I asked him if this was a well-timed apology tour or if it was just a stopgap to prevent lawsuits. “We don’t want people saying nasty things about us more than we don’t want to get sued,” Shevelenko said.

Shevelenko says it’s “not great” that people think of Perplexity as plagiarizing journalists’ work, particularly as “an aspiring consumer brand.” He also thinks the accusation isn’t quite fair, saying that people have been “tricking” the service’s AI to get these plagiarized results. Still, scraping and reprinting content doesn’t seem like a moral issue to Perplexity. Shevelenko said, “There’s intricacies of fair use and copyright law where we feel we’re kind of, you know, clearly within those bounds.”

For Perplexity, whether it is a way to make amends or not, the startup seems determined to set up long-term infrastructure to pay publishers for their content for as long as the company exists. Shevelenko said as much himself: “Obviously I’m not contemplating the scenario. But say, Perplexity dies and fails. You’re not losing anything, right? And if we’re successful, you’re riding in that upside.”

AI-powered search is more expensive than traditional search, so Perplexity needs to work quickly to cover the compute costs involved. In May, the startup raised $250 million at a $3 billion valuation. “We need advertising to be successful because it is going to be our main business model,” Shevelenko said.

Paying publishers only adds to the costs, and Perplexity is aware it isn’t the norm for a search tool. “By the way, our investors don’t love that we’re doing this because they’re like, ‘Oh, we want you to have the same margin profile as Google,’” Shevelenko said, adding that Perplexity can’t compete with Google by mimicking their strategies. Instead, he says, the company wants to focus on building a profitable business by forming alliances with the media by creating the right long-term structures, like ad revenue sharing.

There’s also the looming threat of OpenAI, which just announced a prototype of its AI-powered search product, SearchGPT, alongside its own publishing partners like News Corp, The Atlantic, and The Verge’s parent company, Vox Media. It seems OpenAI has taken stock of Perplexity’s mistakes, too. In the announcement, the company said that publishers will have the ability to “manage how they appear in OpenAI search features” and can opt out of having their content used to train OpenAI’s models and still be surfaced in search.

Shevelenko said Perplexity is “happy to give publishers full control there” only “to the extent to which it doesn’t make the product ugly.” For now, offering that control is a “work in progress.” Most importantly, Perplexity wants to avoid giving publishers the ability to change the answers.

It seems like AI companies will use publishers’ content whether they agree or not. The business side of the media industry seems to believe that accepting the money, rather than laying off staff to afford lengthy legal battles, is the best option for now. The CEO of The Atlantic, which recently made a deal with OpenAI, said on an episode of The Verge’s Decoder that they weighed all the benefits of a partnership versus what it would cost to sue and how much they would get from it, “and then you make a choice.”

So, if Perplexity wants to cut publishers a check for using their content, I think that’s good, actually. But it doesn’t answer a lot of questions, like what that means for publishers that aren’t getting a check or if the deals will amount to meaningful resources for newsrooms. In the face of a growing technology backed by some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful, it doesn’t seem like the media has much of a choice.

Read More 

Canva welcomes Leonardo.ai to its design app portfolio. | Image: Leonardo.ai

Canva has announced plans to acquire Leonardo.ai, an Australian generative AI content and research startup, as part of its goal to build a “world-class suite of visual AI tools.” While financial terms haven’t been disclosed, the deal will see Canva gain access to Leonardo.ai’s lineup of user-customizable text-to-image and text-to-video generators.
In Canva‘s announcement, company co-founder Cameron Adams says Leonardo.ai will “continue to develop its web platform” as a separate product offering, much like the Affinity creative software suite Canva acquired in March. Leonardo.ai’s technology and Phoenix foundation model will also be “rapidly” integrated into Canva’s existing suite of Magic Studio products, such as the Magic Media image and video generator.

Image: Canva / Leonardio.ai
Here’s an example image that Canva says was generated using a Leonardo.ai model.

Canva has made efforts to diversify its platform with more office suite-like tools of late, but the visual design and communications platform remains one of the biggest competitors to Adobe’s lineup of creative software products. Where the Affinity acquisition may help Canva to compete against Adobe software like Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign, Leonardo.ai could be similarly poised as an alternative to Adobe’s Firefly generative AI models.
Leonardo.ai told TechCrunch that its models are trained using “licensed, synthetic, and publicly available/open source data,” which is vaguer than Adobe’s training disclosure for Firefly. Despite this, Adobe suffered backlash to a recent policy update that forced it to explicitly state that user data wouldn’t be used to train the company’s generative AI models. Canva has an opportunity to position itself as a growing alternative, but it needs to tread carefully to avoid any Adobe-like scrutiny from creators who hold similar reservations about generative AI.

Canva welcomes Leonardo.ai to its design app portfolio. | Image: Leonardo.ai

Canva has announced plans to acquire Leonardo.ai, an Australian generative AI content and research startup, as part of its goal to build a “world-class suite of visual AI tools.” While financial terms haven’t been disclosed, the deal will see Canva gain access to Leonardo.ai’s lineup of user-customizable text-to-image and text-to-video generators.

In Canva‘s announcement, company co-founder Cameron Adams says Leonardo.ai will “continue to develop its web platform” as a separate product offering, much like the Affinity creative software suite Canva acquired in March. Leonardo.ai’s technology and Phoenix foundation model will also be “rapidly” integrated into Canva’s existing suite of Magic Studio products, such as the Magic Media image and video generator.

Image: Canva / Leonardio.ai
Here’s an example image that Canva says was generated using a Leonardo.ai model.

Canva has made efforts to diversify its platform with more office suite-like tools of late, but the visual design and communications platform remains one of the biggest competitors to Adobe’s lineup of creative software products. Where the Affinity acquisition may help Canva to compete against Adobe software like Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign, Leonardo.ai could be similarly poised as an alternative to Adobe’s Firefly generative AI models.

Leonardo.ai told TechCrunch that its models are trained using “licensed, synthetic, and publicly available/open source data,” which is vaguer than Adobe’s training disclosure for Firefly. Despite this, Adobe suffered backlash to a recent policy update that forced it to explicitly state that user data wouldn’t be used to train the company’s generative AI models. Canva has an opportunity to position itself as a growing alternative, but it needs to tread carefully to avoid any Adobe-like scrutiny from creators who hold similar reservations about generative AI.

Read More