As the buzz around ChatGPT and other generative AI increases, so has scammers’ interest in the tech. In a new report published by Meta, the company says it’s seen a sharp uptick in malware disguised as ChatGPT and similar AI software.

In a statement, the company said that since March of 2023 alone, its researchers have discovered “ten malware families using ChatGPT and other similar themes to compromise accounts across the internet” and that it’s blocked more than 1,000 malicious links from its platform. According to Meta, the scams often involve mobile apps or browser extensions posing as ChatGPT tools. And while in some cases the tools do offer some ChatGPT functionality, their real purpose is to steal their users’ account credentials.

In a call with reporters, Meta Chief Security Officer Guy Rosen said the scammers behind these exploits are taking advantage of the surge in interest in Generative AI. “As an industry we've seen this across other topics that are popular in their time such as crypto scams fueled by the immense interest in digital currency,” Rosen said. “So from a bad actor’s perspective, ChatGPT is the new crypto.”

Meta noted that people who manage businesses on Facebook or who otherwise use the platform for work have been particular targets. Scammers will often go after users’ personal accounts in order to gain access to a connected business page or advertising account, which are more likely to have a linked credit card.

To combat this, Meta said it plans to introduce a new type of account for businesses called “Meta Work” accounts. These accounts will enable users to access Facebook’s Business Manager tools without a personal Facebook account. “This will help keep business accounts more secure in cases when attackers begin with a personal account compromise,” the company said in a statement. Meta said it will start a “limited” test of the new work accounts this year and will expand it “over time.”

Additionally, Meta is rolling out a new tool that will help businesses detect and remove malware. The tool “guides people step-by-step through how to identify and remove malware, including using third-party antivirus tools” to help prevent businesses from repeatedly losing access to accounts.

Meta’s researchers aren’t the first to warn about fake ChatGPT tools leading to hacked accounts. Recently, researchers warned about a Chrome extension posing as ChatGPT software that led to the hacking of a number of Facebook accounts. The exploit, reported byBleeping Computer, became known as the “Lily Collins” hack because the names on victims’ accounts were changed to “Lilly Collins.”

During a call with reporters, Meta’s Head of Security Policy, Nathaniel Gliecher, said these attacks also often target people connected to businesses. “What they'll want to do is to close that personal account to burn their access and prevent the legitimate user from getting back in,” he said. “One of the tactics we're now seeing is where they will take the personal account and rename it to have the name of a prominent celebrity in hopes that that gets the account taken down.” He added that the new Work Accounts would help prevent similar hacks in the future.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro woke up and chose (relative) affordability today. It's available on Amazon with a 30 percent discount dropping its cost from $450 to $315.49. This offer is the lowest price we've seen for the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro so far, dipping quite a bit below last month's $394.49.

The Samsung smartwatch is a newer and relatively comprehensive option, with features like complete body composition analysis and GPS route tracking. The Pro sets itself apart from the standard Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 with improved battery life, a better bioactive sensor and an advanced sleep tracker.

However, if those last bits aren't as important to you, the standard edition is a similar smartwatch that so happens to also be on sale. The Bluetooth model is 22 percent off, dropping to $219 from $280. The LTE alternative is a little more expensive, with a 25 percent off sale bringing its cost from $330 to $247.95.

As far as the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is concerned, the 30 percent off deal is only available in black with Bluetooth. If you're after the black or gray models with LTE, there's still a 12 percent discount, bringing the price down from $500 to $440.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Apple and Google have announced a partnership to tackle unwanted tracking through the likes of AirTags and Tile devices. The companies have proposed industry standards "to help combat the misuse of Bluetooth location-tracking devices for unwanted tracking."

Apple and Google submitted the draft specification to the Internet Engineering Task Force, a notable standards development organization. Over the next three months, interested parties will review the documentation and weigh in on it. Beyond Apple and Google, the proposal has received backing from Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, Anker's Eufy brand, Pebblebee, and several safety and advocacy groups.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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No Pornhub for Utah

The company behind Pornhub is challenging age verification laws.

Utah's age verification law, which targets publishers distributing material deemed to be "harmful to minors on the internet," has gone into effect. As a response, MindGeek, parent company to multiple adult sites, has blocked everyone in the state from accessing its websites, including Pornhub. As Motherboard reports, if somebody with a Utah IP address accesses Pornhub, they'll now get a video of adult performer Cherie DeVille. In it, DeVille explains the company believes requiring users to submit their government IDs isn't the most effective solution to protecting its users and could even put their privacy at risk.

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Watch the first ‘Gran Turismo’ movie trailer

‘Days of Thunder’ meets ‘War Games’ meets a tired-looking Orlando Bloom.

Sony

If you like cars and Gran Turismo, this might be the movie for you. This is not your standard video game adaptation – it’s pretty much grounded in reality and a world obsessed with the racing sim. Even weirder? This is all based on a true story. Even weirder again? It features Geri Halliwell Horner, AKA Ginger Spice. Now you’re going to watch it out of morbid curiosity, aren’t you?

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Hollywood writers are officially on strike

Streaming services have led to a "gig economy" for writers, the union said.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has called for a strike starting today, largely over streaming productions, saying studios are effectively creating a "gig economy" within the union. On the other side of the table, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said the WGA was "unwilling" to compromise on key issues, like mandatory staffing. We’ll feel the effects of the breakdown in negotiations immediately, with talk shows like The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel Live! already shutting down. The strike will also freeze film and TV production, affecting hubs like Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta.

Continue reading.

Ford's upgraded Mustang Mach-E offers more range at a lower price

More importantly, there's actually a chance you can buy one.

The crossover SUV's starting price has dropped $3,000 to $42,995 (before a $3,750 federal tax credit) for an RWD Standard Range trim, with a matching price cut for its $45,995 all-wheel drive (AWD) counterpart. Ford says it’s also scaling up Mustang Mach-E production for the second half of the year to help better meet demand.

Continue reading.

If you've held out on buying a quality robot vacuum to avoid a splurge, you might find yourself finally hitting the "buy now" button. The Shark AV1010AE Robot Vacuum with a XL Self-Empty Base is 50 percent off for today only, down to $300 from $600. The half off robovac is a good mid-tier choice, with features like home mapping, voice command through Google Assistant or Alexa and multi-surface brush rolls for better floor and carpet cleaning.

The vacuum connects to WiFi, meaning that you can create cleaning schedules and power it on and off through an app. It will automatically return to its port to reacharge if its running low on battery. The robovac's base also holds up to 45 days of dirt, collecting it each time it comes back to the port — and providing ample time before you need to interact with the vacuum.

The Shark AV1010AE Robot Vacuum's gray model is also on sale for $300. It's a 40 percent discount, down from $500, since only available with a 30-day self-emptying base. The AV1010AE with a self-cleaning brush roll is still full price, at $549.

Shark products are reliable options overall, and the AV1010AE model has many of the same benefits as the Shark AI Robot Vacuum with Base that we chose as 2023's best midrange vacuum. The AI model holds up to 60 days of debris and uses a laser scanner to map out the house. These add-ons are more accessible than usual, as the Shark AI is 25 percent off right now, down to $450. If they don't matter to you, the Shark AV1010AE robot vacuum will be half-off until the deal turns back into a pumpkin before morning.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Admitting that "we didn't make it easy to" share posts on other social media platforms, Reddit has announced that it's rolling out new features to fix that issue. Those include an updated "shared link" preview for text posts shared via messaging services, new sharing for Instagram Stories, one-tap screenshot sharing and more. The improvements arrive on the heels of other user-friendly features like an updated interface, improved comment searching and more.

In the past, sharing a Reddit post on a messaging app like WhatsApp forced the recipient to click the link to see what was going on. Now, you get a visual preview of the content, along with the subreddit name, total upvotes and comments. 

Another new trick is the ability to share Reddit content directly to Instagram stories without the need to screenshot or download content to your phone. And much like with apps like Google Photos, a new custom "share sheet" pops up showing your most-used social channels, so you can quickly publish without leaving the Reddit app. There's also a one-tap screenshot sharing experience that allows you to share content without saving images to your device. That provides a direct link to the content rather than just a screenshot.

Finally, Reddit has introduced a new embedding toolbox that makes it easier to embed tweets in articles or CMS platforms like WordPress. Again, that allows users to not only show Reddit content on a website, but also link to it directly. That brings it in line with other social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, which have had the capability since forever.

It's hard to believe that Reddit has existed so far without these features, but the company evidently felt that it stood alone and didn't need the extra reach. The sharing follows other updates designed to make the app and websites easier to use, like the ability search within post comments, the addition of new text browsing feeds including Read and Watch, a revised, decluttered interface and more. At the same time, Reddit recently made API access a paid feature, ostensibly due to AI training concerns. 

The Biden administration wants to impose a 30 percent tax on the electricity used by cryptocurrency mining operations, and it has included the proposal in its budget for the fiscal year of 2024. In a blog post on the White House website, the administration has formally introduced the Digital Asset Mining Energy or DAME excise tax. It explained that it wants to tax cryptomining firms, because they aren't paying for the "full cost they impose on others," which include environmental pollution and high energy prices. 

Crypto mining has "negative spillovers on the environment," the White House continued, and the pollution it generates "falls disproportionately on low-income neighborhoods and communities of color." It added that the operations' "often volatile power consumption " can raise electricity prices for the people around them and cause service interruptions. Further, local power companies are taking a risk if they decide to upgrade their equipment to make their service more stable, since miners can easily move away to another location, even abroad. 

It's no secret that the process of mining cryptocurrency uses up massive amounts of electricity. In April, The New York Times published a report detailing the power used by the 34 large scale Bitcoin miners in the US that it had identified. Apparently, just those 34 operations altogether use the same amount of electricity as three million households in the country. The Times explained that most Bitcoin mining took place in China until 2021 when the country banned it, making the United State the new leader. (In the US, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation that restricts crypto mining in the state last year.) Previous reports estimated the electricity consumption related to Bitcoin alone to be more than some countries', including Argentina, Norway and the Netherlands. 

As Yahoo News noted, there are other industries, such as steel manufacturing, that also use large amounts of electricity but aren't taxed for their energy consumption. In its post, the administration said that cryptomining "does not generate the local and national economic benefits typically associated with businesses using similar amounts of electricity."

Critics believe that the government made this proposal to go after and harm an industry it doesn't support. A Forbes report also suggested that DAME may not be the best solution for the issue, and that taxing the industry's greenhouse gas emissions might be a better alternative. That could encourage mining firms not just to minimize energy use, but also to find cleaner sources of power. It might be difficult to convince the administration to go down that route, though: In its blog post, it said that the "environmental impacts of cryptomining exist even when miners use existing clean power." Apparently, mining operations in communities with hydropower have been observed to reduce the amount of clean power available for use by others. That leads to higher prices and to even higher consumption of electricity from non-clean sources. 

If the proposal ever becomes a law, the government would impose the excise tax in phases. It would start by adding a 10 percent tax on miners' electricity use in the first year, 20 percent in the second and then 30 percent from the third year onwards. 

Twitter owner Elon Musk has reportedly emailed an NPR reporter to ask if the organization is returning to the website and to suggest that the company could reassign its account if it doesn't. According to NPR, Musk sent one of its reporters an unprompted email that reads: "So is NPR going to start posting on Twitter again, or should we reassign @NPR to another company?" If you'll recall, the organization quit Twitter in April after being labeled as a "state-affiliated media," along with state-run outlets, such as China's Xinhua News Agency and Russia's RT.

Before NPR decided to ditch Twitter altogether, the social network changed the label to "government-funded media" after being called out. However, NPR said the updated label is still "inaccurate and misleading," as it's "a private, nonprofit company with editorial independence." The label also prompted PBS to leave the website. Twitter ultimately decided to remove the "government-funded media" label entirely, even from state-run outlets, but neither NPR nor PBS has returned to the website.

Musk's surprise email turned into an exchange with the executive, wherein he reportedly wrote in one of his responses: "NPR isn't tagged as government-funded anymore, so what's the beef?" And when asked who would be taking over the NPR account on Twitter, he replied: "National Pumpkin Radio," along with a couple of emoji. We reached out Twitter for a statement, but the company doesn't have a communications team anymore. 

Under Twitter's policy, the company said that users can simply log in once every 30 days to keep their account active. Further, it said that accounts may be permanently removed due to inactivity, but it "cannot release inactive usernames at this time." It encourages people to find a variation if the username they want is "used by an account that seems inactive." However, NPR said that in their email exchange, Musk told the organization that Twitter's "policy is to recycle handles that are definitively dormant." He apparently added: "Same policy applies to all accounts. No special treatment for NPR." It's unclear if Twitter intends to update its official policy page for inactive accounts with that information, and if it will implement safeguards to protect former users from impersonation. 

US Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) reintroduced a bill today that would put the onus on social media companies to add online safeguards for children. The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) was first introduced last February (sponsored by the same pair) but never made it to the Senate floor after backlash from advocacy groups. The revamped legislation “provides specific tools to stop Big Tech companies from driving toxic content at kids and to hold them accountable for putting profits over safety,” said Blumenthal. It follows a separate bill introduced last month with a similar aim.

Like the original KOSA, the updated bill would require annual independent audits by “experts and academic researchers” to force regulation-averse social media companies to address the online dangers posed to children. However, the updated legislation attempts to address the concerns that led to its previous iteration’s downfall, namely that its overly broad nature could do more harm than good by requiring surveillance and censorship of young users. The EFF described the February 2022 bill as “a heavy-handed plan to force platforms to spy on young people” that “fails to properly distinguish between harmful and non-harmful content, leaving politically motivated state attorneys general with the power to define what harms children. One of the primary fears is that states could use the flimsy definitions to ban content for political gain.”

The rewritten bill adds new protections for services like the National Suicide Hotline, LGBTQ+ youth centers and substance-abuse organizations to avoid being unnecessarily harmed. In addition, it would make social platforms give minors options to safeguard their information, turn off addictive features and opt out of algorithmic recommendations. (Social platforms would have to enable the strongest settings by default.) It would also give parents “new controls to help support their children and identify harmful behaviors” while offering children “a dedicated channel to report harms” on the platform. Additionally, it would specifically ban the promotion of suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation and the use of “unlawful products for minors” like gambling, drugs and alcohol. Finally, it would require social companies to provide “academic and public interest organizations” with data to help them research social media’s effects on the safety and well-being of minors.

The American Psychological Association, Common Sense Media and other advocacy groups support the updated bill. It has 26 cosponsors from both parties, including lawmakers ranging from Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) to Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Blackburn told CNBC today that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is “a hundred percent behind this bill and efforts to protect kids online.”

Despite the Senators’ renewed optimism about passing the bill, some organizations believe it’s still too broad to avoid a negative net impact. “The changes made to the bill do not at all address our concerns,” Evan Greer, director of digital rights advocacy group Fight For the Future, said in an emailed statement to Engadget. “If Senator Blumenthal’s office had been willing to meet with us, we could have explained why. I can see where changes were made that attempt to address the concerns, but they fail to do so. Even with the new changes, this bill will allow extreme right-wing attorneys general to dictate what content platforms can recommend to younger users.”

The ACLU also opposes the resurrected bill. “KOSA’s core approach still threatens the privacy, security and free expression of both minors and adults by deputizing platforms of all stripes to police their users and censor their content under the guise of a ‘duty of care,’” ACLU Senior Policy Counsel Cody Venzke toldCNBC. “To accomplish this, the bill would legitimize platforms’ already pervasive data collection to identify which users are minors when it should be seeking to curb those data abuses. Moreover, parental guidance in minors’ online lives is critical, but KOSA would mandate surveillance tools without regard to minors’ home situations or safety. KOSA would be a step backward in making the internet a safer place for children and minors.”

Blumenthal argues that the bill was “very purposely narrowed” to prevent harm. “I think we’ve met that kind of suggestion very directly and effectively,” he said at a press conference. “Obviously, our door remains open. We’re willing to hear and talk to other kinds of suggestions that are made. And we have talked to many of the groups that had great criticism and a number have actually dropped their opposition, as I think you’ll hear in response to today’s session. So I think our bill is clarified and improved in a way that meets some of the criticism. We’re not going to solve all of the problems of the world with a single bill. But we are making a measurable, very significant start.”

Twitter's decision to shut off its free API caused more than a few problems for public institutions that depend on the functionality, and the company is clearly ready to backtrack. The social network has restored free access to the app programming framework for verified government and publicly-owned services that use the tool for "critical purposes" such as emergency notifications, transportation updates and weather alerts.

The social media giant outlined a three-tier pricing strategy for its API in March. Normally, free access is limited to bots and testers that only need to write posts. It allows just 1,500 tweets per month and one app ID, which can be limiting for creators that need frequent updates. Basic access costs $100 per month with fixed caps on tweets, while businesses have to use multiple enterprise-level tiers to meet their needs. These can cost tens of thousands of dollars per month.

The shutoff broke numerous apps and services that relied on the free API for sharing and content streams, such as Flipboard's reader. It also created issues for developers willing to pay for access, including Echobox. While Twitter had warned that a cutoff was coming at some point, it didn't notify customers of the exact timing and did little to explain the impact.

Government services faced extra pain. New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it would stop posting service alerts on Twitter after it faced a $50,000 per month fee for access. Microsoft also pulled Twitter from its social media tool for advertisers, and disabled Twitter screenshot sharing for Windows and Xbox gamers.

Twitter under Elon Musk's leadership has clamped down on previously free functionality in a bid to both control more of the experience and shift more of its revenue to subscriptions. It banned third-party clients, for example, and required a Blue membership for some verified checkmarks. This latest move is an acknowledgment that the strategy creates problems, particularly for governments eager to provide vital information through as many channels as possible.

Amazon's Matter support is reaching some of its older speakers. A new Alexa update turns the second-generation Echo, Echo Dot and Echo Plus into Matter controllers — you don't have to replace the old speaker in the basement just to use newer smart home devices. The fourth-generation Echo, meanwhile, can serve as a Thread border router to help you add Matter-capable Thread devices. You won't have to use Android to set up Matter gear, either, as iOS is now an option.

There's also good news if you've been curious about Eve Systems' devices but didn't want to invest in Apple products to enable HomeKit support. The Matter over Thread update brings Alexa control to a range of Eve hardware. Later in May, you'll also get simplified Alexa setup for Eve Door & Window, Eve Energy and Eve Motion.

Amazon originally said 17 Echo products would support Matter over WiFi by the end of 2022. It promised compatibility with a total of 30 Echo and Eero models by early this year.

The Matter standard arrived last October and theoretically created a common connectivity format for smart home equipment. You no longer need to be as picky about the products you use. However, the real-world rollout has been slow — only some smart speakers, apps and household devices work with Matter as of this writing. Amazon's latest move closes some gaps, but it may take some time before you can simply assume that everything you own will interoperate.