GoKawiil
Tech News
As AI researchers and executives warn that artificial intelligence could pose existential risks to humanity, entertainment labor groups like SAG-AFTRA and WGAE are pushing back on the framing, urging focus on AI's immediate impact on jobs in film and TV. Major studios including Disney, Netflix, Amazon and Lionsgate did not respond to requests for comment on the broader AI safety debate.
New Vistage research shows most small and midsize U.S. businesses have adopted generative AI, with 76% of CEOs personally using the technology, yet fewer than a quarter have formal oversight structures in place. The findings come alongside a broader call for CEOs to make overdue leadership and program decisions before the year ends rather than deferring them into the next fiscal cycle.
Snap has unveiled Specs Intelligence, a new AI assistant built into its redesigned AR Specs and available as separate desktop and mobile apps. The tool connects to outside accounts like Google to learn a user's goals, routines and relationships, then surfaces reminders, meeting prep and travel details, sorting them into context-based 'corners' for work, family and other areas of life.
Máuhan M Zonoozy, who previously led innovation at Spotify and founded remix startup Bubbl before its acquisition by Cricket Media, has launched A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya, a startup building small apps for playing with sound and vocals. The company secured $5.5 million in pre-seed funding from investors including Mantis VC, SV Angel, Boxgroup, and former Spotify advertising executive Dawn Ostroff, who is advising the venture. Rather than one product, the startup releases experimental apps as 'singles,' such as a Chrome extension called Speed Surfer that alters browser audio and a stem-mixing tool called Stacks.
A programmer describes a personal breakdown driven by anxiety over generative AI's impact on creative and technical work, particularly coding. They argue AI art is easy to dismiss as inferior, but AI-assisted programming poses a harder challenge because large language models have become genuinely competent at generating code, forcing every developer to decide how to respond.
At its Roblox Developer Conference, Roblox announced expanded generative AI creation tools, deeper NPC capabilities, and the ability for developers to publish their games as standalone apps on mobile, PC, and consoles, plus in-browser play via links. The company also launched a Roblox Card and Roblox Wallet for creators, and is expanding its natural-language game creation tool 'Build' from New Zealand to Serbia and Singapore, with new desktop access, an asset library, and prompt-based scene generation coming later this year.
China's Supreme People's Court published new guidance directing lower courts on how to handle civil disputes stemming from AI misuse, covering deepfake video and audio, sexualized synthetic content, financial fraud, digital privacy violations, and algorithmic pricing based on surveillance. The 24-article opinion follows an earlier ruling against a company that used AI to force out an employee, and aims to give judges a consistent framework for these emerging cases.
Apple published a support document stating that its next-generation AI tools in iOS 27, including the revamped Siri, Image Playground, and new photo editing features like Clean Up and Extend, will be subject to usage limits. These limits stem from the fact that much of the processing happens on cloud servers rather than on-device, and Apple wants to keep performance stable for everyone. Once a user exceeds their allotted usage, they may need to pay to continue using the feature.
Indian audio storytelling platform Pocket FM has doubled its annualized revenue run rate to $500 million over the past year, driven largely by AI-generated content. CEO Rohan Nayak said AI now accounts for 93% of the platform's overall catalog and 99% of new releases, though humans still shape the underlying story ideas.
Apple is overhauling Siri into 'Siri AI' with the iOS 27 update, giving it the ability to index texts, emails, calendars, and photos directly on the device to answer personal questions in natural language. The assistant can also read and respond to whatever is currently on screen, such as summarizing a webpage in Safari, without needing a screenshot first. These features require the processing power of an iPhone 15 Pro or newer.
Apple has joined the Content Credentials initiative, a cross-industry effort that embeds metadata into photos and videos to show whether they were captured by a camera or generated or altered by AI. The move brings Apple's hardware and software ecosystem into an authentication push already backed by companies like Adobe, Google, and camera makers.
An Entrepreneur op-ed argues that businesses making AI-driven layoffs, like Amazon and Klarna, often rebuild their workforces the same way they were structured before the cuts, risking a repeat of the inefficiencies that triggered the layoffs. The piece urges companies instead to use real-time workforce data and better-trained managers to redesign teams and hiring decisions rather than simply refilling old roles.