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The US government is asking qualified members of the public for help in figuring out how to seize opportunities and overcome challenges associated with generative AI. Gina Raimondo, the US Secretary of Commerce, has announced that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is launching a public working group for AI technologies that can generate content, including text, images, videos, music and code. The group will also help the agency develop key guidance that organizations can follow to address risks brought by generative AI tech. 

According to the agency, the group will be composed of volunteers with technical expertise from the private and public sectors and will work together via a collaborative online workspace. To start with, the group will gather input on how the NIST AI Risk Management Framework — the framework the agency developed to "better manage risks to individuals, organizations and society associated with artificial intelligence" — may be used to support the development of generative AI tech. Then, the group is expected to support the agency's AI-related tests and evaluations. Its long-term goal, however, is to explore opportunities on how generative AI can be used to solve the most pressing issues of our time, such as problems related to health, climate change and the environment as a whole. 

Raimondo said in a statement:

"President Biden has been clear that we must work to harness the enormous potential while managing the risks posed by AI to our economy, national security and society. The recently released NIST AI Risk Management Framework can help minimize the potential for harm from generative AI technologies. Building on the framework, this new public working group will help provide essential guidance for those organizations that are developing, deploying and using generative AI, and who have a responsibility to ensure its trustworthiness."

The government has been scrambling to keep up with the rapidly advancing pace of generative AI technology. In April, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration asked for public comments on possible regulations that would hold AI creators accountable. The White House also invited American workers to share how automated tools are being used in their workplaces. Then in June, Representatives Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Ken Buck (R-CO) introduced legislation that would establish a 20-person commission to study ways to "mitigate the risks and possible harms" of AI while also "protecting" America's position as a global technology power. The legislation came after Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith spoke at Washington, DC and called on the US federal government to establish a new agency that's focused on regulating AI. 

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The Electronic Entertainment Expo hasn't been held in person since 2019. Now, it may not be returning for 2024 or 2025 — at least not at the Los Angeles Convention Center. According to an LA City Tourism Commission planning document shared on ResetEra, the video game trade show has canceled its live event for the next two years. The document's Convention Sales data specifically notes that its data “includes E3 cancellations for 2024 & 2025."

Although the city document suggests that E3 2024 won't be hosted at the LA Convention Center, the Electronic Software Association itself seems hesitant to confirm the entire event is canceled. "ESA is currently in conversation with ESA members and other stakeholders about E3 2024 (and beyond)," the group told Engadget. "No final decisions about the events have been made at this time." 

It's unclear what this means for E3 itself. Although the Electronic Software Association hasn't hosted a live trade since the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of E3 2020, the group did put together a digital only event in 2021. Neither the in-person or digital versions of the show returned in 2022.

When the show was canceled again in 2023, ESA President and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis told GamesIndustry that the trade show may need to change to survive. "E3 will iterate to ensure it's meeting the needs of companies that want to market on this global platform." Pierre-Louis said. "That means it will iterate in how people engage with E3. We want to meet the needs of players who view this as an important platform and that's going to evolve over time."

A rainy weekend threatened to delay the reopening of a collapsed section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia. But officials called in reinforcements: a giant jet dryer from a nearby race track, according toBillyPenn. The dryer is expected to ensure the highway opens this weekend as promised by PA Governor Josh Shapiro.

The jet dryer, used to prevent wet tracks at nearby Pocono Raceway, consists of a modified helicopter turbine attached to the back of a Chevy Silverado. PA Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll, who had worked with racetrack officials when he held office in the area, knew who to call when stormy conditions threatened to delay the reopening. “We’ve known Mr. Carroll for a number of years, he was a representative here in Northeast Pennsylvania,” said Ricky Durst, Pocono Raceway senior marketing director. “He knew the raceway well, knew that we often had to deal with weather circumstances during our events, and knows that we have the ability and the tools to dry asphalt.” The track also reportedly brought a Chevy Camaro pace car to the scene, although its utility during the asphalt drying is less clear.

Last night, workers paved the six-lane segment reconnecting the highway around the collapsed section ahead of the planned weekend reopening. The jet dryer’s arrival should be welcome news for Shapiro, who said yesterday, “I can confidently state right here, right now, that traffic will be flowing here on I-95 this weekend… We have completed every phase of this project safely and way ahead of schedule.” A section of the overpass collapsed last weekend when a tanker truck exploded in flames underneath, killing the driver and closing traffic for the entire workweek.

Meanwhile, Twitch streamer Brent Schooley saw an opportunity for fun as area residents eyed the I-95 reconstruction progress. The Philadelphia-based software developer began broadcasting a live view of the work — accompanied by LoFi beats. Schooley told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he started his “FIX THAT JAWN!” stream to provide a much-needed “chatroom for memes” as people check in on the progress. Although some people speculated it was a clever youth-outreach move from the Governor’s PR team, the project arose organically. “It’s another example of how this has truly taken a life of its own,” said Manuel Bonder, press secretary for Gov. Shapiro.

It's no secret that Microsoft's purchase of ZeniMax was bound to affect cross-platform releases, but there are now hints gamers might be missing out on some major releases. Under questioning from a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawyer seeking an injunction against the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal, Bethesda VP Pete Hines has revealed that Disney had a deal with ZeniMax to release MachineGames' Indiana Jones title on multiple consoles. After Microsoft bought ZeniMax, however, the deal was amended to make it an Xbox console exclusive.

The FTC also believes Bethesda's sci-fi epic Starfield was headed to the PlayStation 5 before the Microsoft buyout. Bloomberg previously reported that Bethesda axed the PlayStation version of Redfall, although that's not as worrisome given the vampire shooter's lousy reception.

Indiana Jones was made an exclusive due to the nature of the Disney license, Hines claims. Disney had a "ton of feedback" on the project that limited development time, and an Xbox exclusive would keep the game on track while providing a "degree of clarity," the Bethesda executive says. Games like Starfield and Redfall are originals.

We've asked Bethesda for comment. In 2021, Xbox chief Phil Spencer said Microsoft's control of ZeniMax would deliver "great exclusive games." Some titles still in progress at the time, such as Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo, were still headed to PlayStation due to contractual obligations.

The revelations won't necessarily cement the FTC's effort to block Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard. However, they don't look good — they suggest that some players are losing out on high-profile games that were previously destined for their console of choice. Microsoft has promised to release Call of Duty on multiple platforms for years to come in a bid to secure regulatory approval, but that might not help if officials are still concerned about other exclusives.

It's no secret that Microsoft's purchase of ZeniMax was bound to affect cross-platform releases, but there are now hints gamers might be missing out on some major releases. Under questioning from a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawyer seeking an injunction against the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal, Bethesda VP Pete Hines has revealed that Disney had a deal with ZeniMax to release MachineGames' Indiana Jones title on multiple consoles. After Microsoft bought ZeniMax, however, the deal was amended to make it an Xbox console exclusive.

The FTC also believes Bethesda's sci-fi epic Starfield was headed to the PlayStation 5 before the Microsoft buyout. Bloomberg previously reported that Bethesda axed the PlayStation version of Redfall, although that's not as worrisome given the vampire shooter's lousy reception.

Indiana Jones was made an exclusive due to the nature of the Disney license, Hines claims. Disney had a "ton of feedback" on the project that limited development time, and an Xbox exclusive would keep the game on track while providing a "degree of clarity," the Bethesda executive says. Games like Starfield and Redfall are originals.

We've asked Bethesda for comment. In 2021, Xbox chief Phil Spencer said Microsoft's control of ZeniMax would deliver "great exclusive games." Some titles still in progress at the time, such as Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo, were still headed to PlayStation due to contractual obligations.

The revelations won't necessarily cement the FTC's effort to block Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard. However, they don't look good — they suggest that some players are losing out on high-profile games that were previously destined for their console of choice. Microsoft has promised to release Call of Duty on multiple platforms for years to come in a bid to secure regulatory approval, but that might not help if officials are still concerned about other exclusives.

At the start of the month, Facebook's parent company Meta announced via blog post its intent to remove availability of its news service from FB and Instagram users in Canada should the Canadian government pass the Online News Act. That bill passed on Thursday and, within hours, Meta responded by making good on its threat.

"Today, we are confirming that news availability will be ended on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada prior to the Online News Act (Bill C-18) taking effect," the company posted. "We have repeatedly shared that in order to comply with Bill C-18, passed today in Parliament, content from news outlets, including news publishers and broadcasters, will no longer be available to people accessing our platforms in Canada"

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Google testers now have the chance to check out another new Duet AI feature in Google Workspace. Starting today, they'll see a new sidebar for Google Sheets. They can describe what they want to do and Duet AI can create a custom template to help them get the ball rolling.

According to Google, this could come in useful for those looking to carry out tasks that involve complex organization and tracking. The company suggests product roadmaps, company retreats and team budgets as potential use cases. If the feature works as intended, it could help save users a ton of time. It's available in Workspace Labs for the time being.

Google

Google has been quickly expanding the AI's toolset since it announced Duet for Workspace at its I/O conference last month. When testers enter a prompt in the web version of Docs, Duet can generate text for them. It can automatically insert smart chips too.

In Gmail, the AI can draft emails on both the web and mobile. It can offer contextual suggestions for replies as well. As for Slides, testers can generate images from text prompts.

Google plans to bring more generative AI features to Workspace Labs in the coming months. Meanwhile, Google's Bard AI can now export the data that it creates to Sheets, where users can organize and modify it.

Twitch just announced a chat-pinning feature similar to those found on YouTube and other platforms. Hype Chat, beyond sounding like something from 2006, offers a new revenue stream for both streamers and the platform itself. Here’s how it works. You pay $1 to $500 and compose a message that rests atop the chat until someone with deeper pockets comes along and knocks you from the spotlight.

The more you pay, the longer the message stays up top and the more characters you can use to compose the missive. Big spenders also get access to various design options to help that “notice me senpai” message garner the attention of your favorite streamer.

Streamers set the price here and Twitch takes 30 percent of the cut, leaving the remaining 70 percent for the creator. At launch, only high-profile streamers, aka Partners, will have access to the feature. Twitch says this is because pinned chats are meant to allow messages to stand out during fast-moving conversations with plenty of participants. Oddly, these Twitch partners are unable to opt out of the service, according to The Verge.

Of course, whenever you mention pinned messages you must contend with the reality of hateful and discriminatory language. This is the Internet, after all. To that end, Twitch is beefing this feature up with safety tools. Just like regular Twitch chat, there’s a host of banned words and phrases at the sitewide level and set by individual creators. Also, if you say something nasty and get banned from a chat, your pinned message flies away with you. All messages sent via this feature are screened by the company’s AutoMod system and human moderators can delete messages whenever they want.

The feature is rolling out right now, but only for approved partners and only on the web app. It’ll launch for smartphone and tablet apps in the near future.

The next version of the prompt-based AI image generator, Stable Diffusion, will produce more photorealistic images and be better at making hands. SDXL 0.9, a follow-up to Stable Diffusion XL, “produces massively improved image and composition detail over its predecessor” according to Stability AI. The announcement appeared in a since-deleted blog post and was reported byBloomberg.

Stability AI describes the new model as providing “a leap in creative use cases for generative AI imagery.” Sample images included in the blog post revealed advancements when using the same prompts in Stable Diffusion XL beta and SDXL 0.9. The images generated with the newer model — including aliens, a wolf and a person holding a coffee cup — appear to show finer detail and more convincing hands. Hands were an easy “tell” to spot AI-generated art — at least until Midjourney v5, a rival platform that runs on Discord, launched in March.

Stability AI

“Despite its ability to be run on a standard home computer, SDXL 0.9 presents a leap in creative use cases for generative AI imagery,” Stability AI said. “The ability to generate hyper-realistic creations for films, television, music, and instructional videos, as well as offering advancements for design and industrial use, places SDXL at the forefront of real world applications for AI imagery.”

Stability AI writes that the new model’s “significant increase in parameter count (the sum of all the weights and biases in the neural network that the model is trained on)” allows for the improved results. Running SDXL 0.9 locally on a PC will require a minimum of 16GB of RAM and a GeForce RTX 20 (or higher) graphics card with 8GB of VRAM. It supports Windows 11 / 10 and Linux.

Stability AI

According to the deleted blog post, the model will soon be available on Stability AI’s Clipdrop web tool and will be added to the startup’s DreamStudio app. The startup says the open-source version of SDXL 1.0 will arrive in mid-July.