While many workers worry AI bots will take their jobs, Samsung employees are no longer allowed to use them. The company banned generative AI tools, like ChatGPT and Google Bard, after discovering staff had added sensitive code to them, Bloomberg reported. This revelation followed last month's incident in which Samsung engineers uploaded internal source code and meeting notes to ChatGPT and accidentally leaked it.

Samsung isn't waiting for another mishap to take action. "HQ is reviewing security measures to create a secure environment for safely using generative AI to enhance employees' productivity and efficiency," the company said in a memo to staff. "However, until these measures are prepared, we are temporarily restricting the use of generative AI." Samsung further expressed concern that data sent to generative AI tools is stored on external servers, potentially creating difficulties around access, removal and unintentional sharing. ChatGPT, for instance, uses data for training unless users specifically opt-out.

Though many companies are encouraging employees to embrace the likes of ChatGPT and Google Bard, Samsung isn't alone in taking the opposite approach. Bans are particularly popular amongst banks (clear hubs of sensitive information), with JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citi Group all restricting employee access.

Beyond reducing worries about being let go in favor of an inanimate tool, most of Samsung's staff likely agree with the policy, sharing similar concerns to their employer. In April, an internal survey by Samsung found 65 percent of respondents believed AI tools came with security risks. With this said, Samsung is still working on its own AI tools for employees to use for tasks like software development and translation.

Employees can still use any AI tools on personal devices strictly for non-work related matters — violating this rule is a quick path to termination. The new corporate policy won't impact consumers, with generative AI tools still available across Samsung devices.

Geoffrey Hinton, nicknamed the Godfather of AI, told The New York Times he resigned as Google VP and engineering fellow in April to freely warn of the risks associated with the technology. The researcher is concerned Google is giving up its previous restraint on public AI releases to compete with ChatGPT, Bing Chat and similar models. In the near term, Hinton says he’s worried that generative AI could lead to a wave of misinformation. You might "not be able to know what is true anymore," he says. He's also concerned it might not just eliminate "drudge work," but outright replace some jobs – which I think is a valid worry already turning into a reality.

– 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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Another nine million views, but no box office takings.

Over nine million people watched The Super Mario Bros. Movie over the weekend — on Twitter. A Twitter user uploaded the entire movie to the platform – and kept it there for the weekend. A handful of copyrighted movies have repeatedly spent a few days on Twitter since Elon Musk took over, but Blue subscribers have also gained the ability to upload videos that are 60 minutes long, making it an easier task. Scrutinizing copyright for the team at Twitter is also a challenge when the company’s fired most of your safety and compliance staff…

Continue reading.

Apple releases its first rapid-fire security updates for iPhone, iPad and Mac

The rollout hasn't been completely smooth, however.

Engadget

Apple promised faster turnaround times for security patches with iOS 16 and macOS Ventura, and it's now delivering on that claim. The company has released its first Rapid Security Response updates for devices running iOS 16.4.1, iPadOS 16.4.1 and macOS 13.3.1. As usual, they're available through Software Update but are small downloads that don't require much time to install. Engadget and others have received an error warning that iOS can't verify the update as the device is "no longer connected to the internet,” so you may have to check for the patch at another time.

Continue reading.

SpaceX's Starship didn't immediately respond to a self-destruct command

It finally exploded after a 40-second delay.

SpaceX

SpaceX's founder, Elon Musk, shared more details about what went awry during the first fully integrated Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster launch in April. In a Twitter audio chat on Saturday, he revealed the self-destruct setting took 40 seconds to work. It should have been relatively instantaneous. The FAA has already announced it's investigating the events and will ground Starship until "determining that any system, process or procedure related to the mishap does not affect public safety." Even with all of that, Musk called the launch "successful" and "maybe slightly exceeding my expectations."

Continue reading.

Nextdoor is introducing its first generative AI feature, an in-app “assistant” that can help users rewrite “potentially unkind” posts on the neighborhood social network. The new feature is rolling out “over the next several weeks.”

It’s far from the first time the company has experimented with ways to remind users to keep conversations “neighborly.” The company, which has at time struggled to fight the perception that its platform can be toxic, began using “kindness reminders” in 2019 and last year introduced pop-ups reminding users to be more “empathetic.” The app has also served up more targeted nudges to promote anti-racist language and less heated political discussions.

The new “assistant” takes the approach a step further. Instead of preemptive reminders, the assistant will prompt users to “rephrase potentially unkind comments” and suggest new wording for the post. “It's great to tell people, ‘hey, be a little bit more constructive,’ or ‘you don't always have to respond,’” Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar says. “But now you're actually helping them reframe it in a way they might not have thought of.”

Friar notes that the assistant-written posts are optional and that users are free to make changes to the text it suggests. “It’s saying ‘when you word things this way,’ or when you maybe just add a few more sentences or add some context or an emoji, you can help someone hear you,” Friar says. “They may not agree with you, but at least they can begin to hear you.”

The assistant itself relies on the same OpenAI models used by ChatGPT, and has also been trained on “all of the data we've collected over our almost 10 years of life,” according to Friar. She says this allows the assistant to provide more tailored suggestions for other kinds of posts on the platform. In an example provided by the company, the assistant rewrites a post from a user looking for landscaping work with new phrasing the app says may “get a better response” than the original.

While the assistant is Nextdoor’s first use of generative AI, it likely won’t be the last. Friar says she’s particularly interested in how generative AI can be used for recommendations to help small businesses using the platform.

Given the size of modern games, there's a good chance that you're getting low on space for your Xbox Series X or Series S consoles. Seagate's Expansion Card allows you to double or triple your storage with no loss of speed, and there's never been a better time to buy one. The 1TB Storage Expansion Card is on sale at an all-time low of $150 (32 percent off) and the 2TB card is available for just $280, or 30 percent off. 

These cards aren't cheap, but they're your only option to play Xbox Series X/S games directly from expanded storage. They're just as fast as the console's built-in SSD, and designed to easily plug in without the need to open your system. That way, you can spend your time playing games, rather than deleting and reinstalling them as your collection grows.

You can also connect traditional hard drives, like Seagate's 2TB Game Drive, to the Xbox Series X and S over USB. They're useful to have around for playing games from the original Xbox, as well as the 360. And they can also be used as "cold storage" to free up space on your precious SSD. Newer games can easily move back and forth between those drives, which prevents you from having to download them again.

In any case, this deal makes Seagate's Expansion Cards far more palatable, saving you a full $70 off the 1TB model and $120 off the 2TB version. As mentioned, these are the lowest prices we've seen, so if you're interested, it's best to act now. 

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

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 has chosen to block everyone in the state from being able to access its websites, including Pornhub. As Motherboard reports, if somebody with a Utah IP address accesses Pornhub, they'll now be met with a video of adult performer Cherie DeVille. In it, DeVille explained that 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. 

She continued that "mandating age verification without proper enforcement" has driven users to other sites with fewer safety measures in states with the same law. MindGeek believes that the most effective solution to identify users is by doing so through their device. "Until a real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in Utah," DeVille said, ending the video with a plea for residents in the state to contact their representatives and demand device-based verification solutions. 

In January, a law requiring adult websites to deploy age verification measures and ensure their visitors are 18 or older went into effect in Lousiana. Pornhub, however, didn't block all users in the state, and is currently verifying people's ages using Lousiana's digital wallet app for driver's licenses. According to Axios, Utah doesn't have a similar tool that websites like Pornhub could use, making it much difficult to comply with the law. We asked Pornhub if it would consider unblocking Utah residents if the state creates its own wallet app for driver's licenses. 

Laurie Schlegel, the Republication representative who spearheaded the age verification law in Lousiana, explained she championed the bill because she believes that the digital world needed adult-only zones, such as bars where patrons are asked for IDs. At least two dozen states, including Utah, followed Louisiana's example by introducing age verification legislation over the past year. So, even if Pornhub finds a way to unblock Utah residents, a lot of people elsewhere in the US might find themselves having to verify their ages on the website using a government ID.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has called for a strike starting today largely over streaming productions, saying that 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. 

"The Board of Directors of the @WGAwest and the Council of the @WGAeast, acting upon the authority granted to them by their memberships, have voted unanimously to call a strike, effective 12:01 AM, Tuesday, May 2," the WGA wrote in a tweet. "The decision was made following six weeks of negotiating with @Netflix, @Apple, @ Disney, @wbd, @NBCUniversal, @Paramountplus and @Sony under the umbrella of the AMPTP." 

The effects of the breakdown in negotiations will be felt immediately, with talk shows like The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel Live!set to shut down starting today. The strike will also freeze film and TV production, affecting hubs like Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta. The labor situation has already delayed the start of some programming, FilmLA president Paul Audley told Variety. The last writers' strike started in November 2007 and lasted 100 days.

Both sides have said they're willing to continue negotiations, but appear to be far apart on some issues. The "primary sticking points" according to the AMPTP, are the guild's demand for a TV staffing minimum ranging from six to 12 writers per show, along with a guaranteed minimum number of weeks of employment per season (10 to 52 weeks). The studios rejected both proposals and didn't make counter-offers. 

Other issues (laid out in a WGA document) include a demand for streaming residuals that take into account the success of shows. The WGA also wanted increases in minimums of up to 6 percent, and the AMPTP offered 4 percent at most. The guild also wants regulation of AI, proposing that it "can't write or rewrite literary material" or be used as source material. The AMPTP only agreed to study the AI issue, according to the WGA.

There were some areas of agreement, like guaranteed minimums for writers who earn less than a certain amount, and script fees for staff writers. However, both sides are dug in for what could be a long dispute. "The companies have broken this business," guild leadership said last night, calling the problem an "existential crisis writers are facing." 

Meanwhile, the AMPTP said it was "prepared to improve [compensation and residuals], but was unwilling to do so because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the guild continues to insist upon."

After Elon Musk took over Twitter, one of the alternatives to the social media website that users flocked to was Mastodon. It's a decentralized network where people can choose from multiple servers or "instances," with each one being independently operated. At the moment, there are 12,000-plus instances people can choose from, and the Mastodon team has realized that picking one could be overwhelming for casual users. As a result, the service has rolled out a new onboarding process that makes one of the instances it operates, mastodon.social, a default sign-up option. 

New users can still choose from any of the available servers upon signing up, but mastodon.social now gets a special button that makes creating account much easier, as The Verge notes. Those who choose to start on the service with mastodon.social can still leave it and join another instance later on. The Mastodon team reiterated that decentralization is "at the forefront of [their] mission." They explained, however, that if the service only attracts "people who already care about decentralization," then its "ability to make decentralization mainstream becomes that much harder." By helping new users quickly get past the hurdle of choosing an instance, Mastodon believes it could better showcase what decentralized social networks can offer. 

In addition to announcing its new onboarding process, Mastodon has revealed that it has just surpassed a billion posts per month. It also listed some of its newer features, including the ability to quote posts and its improved content and profile search. Plus, Mastodon mentioned its continuing work to improve content and profile discovery, which could help drum up conversations on the service, to refine its moderation tools and to remove friction from its decentralized service. 

Redfall is not fit for public consumption. It may not give you salmonella, but Arkane Austin’s vampire-infused world is unpolished, underpopulated and littered with glitches. From the jump, there are signs the game would’ve benefited from another delay before launch day. That’s not to say Redfall is a bad game filled with terrible ideas, but in its current form, it’s difficult to see the brilliance among the bugs.

Redfall is an open-world first-person loot shooter in the vein of Borderlands, but with a bunch of vampires and cultists instead of bandits, and set in a picturesque fictional town off the coast of Massachusetts rather than an arid wasteland. It has four playable characters, each with a magical skill set powered by pesky local pharmaceutical experiments.

Arkane Austin

The characters represent a bright spot in the game, so let’s start with the good stuff. I primarily played as Layla, a student whose special abilities include a glowing purple umbrella that soaks up bullets and a psychic elevator that propels friends and foes into the sky. Her final ability summons her former boyfriend, a ghostly vampire who shows up to pull focus and deal damage (typical ex behavior). I also spent some time with Remi, a support-class character with an adorable robot dog. Each character has a skill tree with a few dozen upgrade slots, plus a backpack that can be stuffed full of firearms, and three guns equipped at any time.

Running in Redfall is incredibly satisfying, and this is crucial, considering a large portion of the game is spent exploring neighborhoods on foot. The run mechanic feels like gliding, providing a significant and immediate speed boost that never feels too slow.

The actual town of Redfall is charming. The campaign is spread across two maps, a suburban center and a historic district, each with a distinct vibe. While this is definitely not Prey or Dishonored, Arkane’s DNA runs through Redfall, and the map contains a variety of locales sprinkled with world-building lore – abandoned churches and homes, lootable shops, spooky mansions, hiking trails, farmland, an amusement park.

Missions are structured to slowly reveal new areas of the map, and along the way there are safe houses to unlock, side stories to uncover and special vampires to vanquish. A highlight is clearing vampire nests, which teleport you to twisted versions of the town, providing a welcome break from the idyllic landscapes. All told, Redfall is a neat place to explore. I just wish it didn’t feel so empty.

Here’s where things start to fall apart. Redfall’s entire world feels dead, and not in the on-brand, reanimated corpse type of way. There are long stretches of road and entire neighborhoods without enemies or points of interest, and groups of cultists and vampires are often incredibly easy to spot. Combine this with shockingly dumb enemy AI and an oppressive amount of aim assist, and most basic encounters end after a smattering of bullets and little tension. There are always plenty of shinies to collect, at least.

Arkane Austin

I played on an Xbox Series S and PC, and experienced numerous bugs and crashes, particularly on the Xbox version. The game is limited to 30 fps at launch on both Series S and X, and suffers immensely because of it, with heavy-handed motion blur barely smoothing out the judders. Playing with a gamepad on Xbox is especially jarring – hefty aim assist mixes with a significant dead zone to create an unpleasant, weirdly imprecise shooting experience. I was able to tweak things to make it bearable, but basic gunplay in Redfall feels bad.

And then there are the bugs. Prompts to talk to people or read notes often fail; environments pop in with half-loaded textures; framerate drops result in stop-motion animations; sniper rifle scopes break completely; the game fully crashes. In 15 hours with Redfall, my game crashed three times. Arkane says it’s addressing a handful of known crash areas with the game’s day 0 patch, so hopefully these are cleared up for prime time.

While you can technically play Redfall solo, the game was clearly designed to be played with a team. Characters’ abilities dovetail cleanly, and wandering the town is way more fun with a teammate. Once I started playing with a friend, the game made more sense, with strategy talk and shared curiosity filling those long, empty stretches of road, adding intrigue to easy shots. However, co-op also introduced fresh glitches, including floating character models and choppy collision physics.

As a feature-complete AAA experience with a price tag of $70, Redfall is a massive disappointment. However, that’s not how most people are going to play – Arkane is a subsidiary of Xbox Game Studios, and Redfall will be available to Game Pass subscribers on PC and console, day-one and at no extra charge. The barrier to entering Redfall is low and this might be its saving grace, allowing developers to continually update the game while thousands of playtesters provide live feedback. Hell, that might even be the plan.

Right now, Redfall makes sense as an early access game. It’s a mess, but it’s still largely playable; Redfall’s core loop is actually thrilling when all the mechanics line up correctly, but the details need attention. The early access process is a crucial tool for developers, especially when it comes to online experiences, and there are pipelines for works in progress on every major platform, including Xbox. Redfall feels like a work-in-progress.

But in reality, Arkane and Xbox aren’t pitching Redfall as an early access game. They’re calling it a finished product and they’re charging $70 – or at least one month of Game Pass, set to automatically renew – for the privilege of playing its glitchy, imprecise missions.

It’s all reminiscent of Sea of Thieves, the original “day one on Game Pass” title. When it came out in 2018, Sea of Thieves was roundly criticized for feeling unfinished, lacking direction and being light on actual content. With years of updates and a consistent presence on Game Pass, Sea of Thieves stabilized, nurtured its player base, and eventually picked up a BAFTA award in the evolving game category in 2021. Its ninth season rolled out in March.

Arkane Austin

Redfall could easily follow a similar path. The game has good bones, and it could evolve into an engaging co-op shooter with plenty of room for replayability and expansions – Left 4 Dead for the Twilight generation; Borderlands meets What We Do in the Shadows; small-scale Destiny with a Stranger Things typeface. There’s room for Redfall, but only if Microsoft gives Arkane the runway to save it.

Redfall is less ambitious than Sea of Thieves, and it really shouldn’t be in this poor shape: Arkane Austin has plenty of experience crafting AAA first-person shooters, and Redfall is a traditional loot shooter with online play. Nothing in this game falls outside of Arkane’s or Xbox’s capabilities, and personally, I’m interested to see how it shapes up over time.

That doesn’t make Redfall’s launch state feel any less shady. If Xbox plans to use Game Pass as an early access hub, then the terms need to be clear. Players deserve to know when they’re spending $70 on potential, and potential alone.

Amazon just announced the impending launch of Fire TV Channels, allowing customers access to a wide variety of “premium, free content” on Fire streaming sticks, streaming boxes, and, of course, Fire-branded televisions. The company promises there will be no forced sign-ups or fees associated with this content.

Just like the similar offering from Roku, there looks to be plenty of free content to wade through here. There are channels for local and national news, sports, travel, cooking, music videos, old TV shows and just about everything else. Amazon announced content partnership deals with professional NHL hockey, PGA golf, gossip site TMZ, ABC News and media giant Condé Nast, among others. All told, the company says it has lined up over 400 publishing partners ready for the summer launch.

This is an ad-supported service, so if you have an aversion to that dang Liberty Mutual song, look elsewhere for content. Amazon already offers some FAST (free ad-supported TV) channels, but this is a major boost for the platform. Additionally, there will be an easily accessible “Free” tab right on the home screen of all Fire devices for instant perusal. This tab breaks down into more category-specific menus.

“With Fire TV Channels, we’re delivering a simple, category-based experience that makes it easy to discover what you want to watch while constantly expanding content offerings.” said Charlotte Maines, director of Fire TV advertising, monetization, and engagement.

The company says that channels will feature live content, linear content and VOD content. It also says that new stuff will be added throughout each day, so binge, baby, binge. Amazon is not the only player in the FAST space. Along with the OG Roku, Google recently announced its own 800-channel offering. 

There's one less competitor in the robot vacuum world. Neato Robotics is shutting down as the company hasn't reached its "self-defined economic goals" for years, parent company Vorwerk Group tellsTechHive. The firm's sales haven't met expectations, in other words. Vorwerk is promising cloud and repair support to Neato customers for "at least" five years, so your robovac should continue to run for a while longer.

The move will affect 98 jobs, Vorwerk says. Users started worrying weeks ago, when users noticed a broken customer sign-in page. Neato's Facebook and Twitter accounts vanished, and support staff fell silent. Vorwerk is fixing the login issues and says they're not connected to the shutdown.

Neato emerged in 2005 and soon became one of the main competitors to iRobot's Roomba series. It stood out by pushing the limits of robot vacuum technology, such as by adding WiFi in 2011 and LiDAR mapping in 2020. Vorwerk bought Neato in 2017, but continued to run the brand independently. Neato ran into trouble, and restructuring efforts didn't turn the company around.

The closure isn't surprising. iRobot has long dominated robovacs, and claimed 46 percent of the market in 2020 according to Statista. Neato, by comparison, had roughly 3 percent in preceding years and was already fading away by 2020. Competitors like Anker's Eufy brand, Roborock and Shark have entered the field and sometimes undercut Neato on price.

A shutdown may not be good news for iRobot, though. American politicians are already concerned about the potential harm of Amazon's proposed iRobot acquisition to the competitive landscape, and European regulators are reportedly close behind. Neato's demise further reduces that competition, even if it hasn't been a heavyweight for a while.