Meta’s Still Building the Metaverse Despite $47 Billion Loss

One of the most striking changes that came to the tech landscape so far this decade has been Facebook’s sudden name change to Meta. CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed that the company was pivoting its focus from social media to the metaverse, but this hasn’t really panned out in subsequent years.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Meta has lost an estimated $47 billion on this project since it was first launched in 2019. In spite of the fact that this is the case, Mark Zuckerberg is pressing on with the plan, even though AI has clearly dominated the industry and provides more realistic value for shareholders.

When speaking to investors, Zuckerberg denied that the company was abandoning the metaverse for AI. Instead, the company will be focusing on both niches simultaneously with all things having been considered and taken into account.

However, it bears mentioning that any updates the company has released regarding the Metaverse has been met with widespread ridicule. When the Zuckerberg published an image of his metaverse avatar in front of the Eiffel tower, users noted how low quality the graphics were, and that the avatar was incomplete.

According to Bloomberg, the designer that came up with Zuckerberg’s metaverse likeness experimented with 40 different versions before settling on the one that people saw. Despite the immense effort that was put into the avatar, it still didn’t impress anyone, which seems to suggest that the company is wasting its resources on a failed endeavor.

Nicola Mendelsohn, the head of Meta’s global business group, in a recent interview with CNBC, said that the company’s vision for the metaverse will take at least a decade to pay off. Until that time, Meta will likely continue to hemorrhage money, although she acknowledged that they were also investing in AI.

Whenever the final version of the metaverse gets released, it will either defy all expectations or sink the company once and for all. Zuckerberg seems to strongly believe in the idea, but shareholders might soon start to take issue with his myopic approach to the expensive project.

Photo: Digital Information World - AIgen

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Mr Beast Directly Uploaded a Video to X, Here’s Why That Matters

X’s struggle for survival has led to many haphazard attempts to cater to as many users as possible. With advertisers exiting en masse, Elon Musk has tried his level best to turn X into a video streaming platform to improve its chances for the future. This has involved imploring Mr. Beast, the most popular YouTuber in the world, to upload videos directly to X, but his requests were denied due to the lower ad revenue he expected to receive.

Image: MRBeast

In spite of the fact that this is the case, Elon Musk seems to have managed to get some success at long last. Mr. Beast has now uploaded a video to X, which Linda Yaccarino, the new CEO, has proudly reposted about on her profile. X is claiming that this is the platform’s first step into becoming a video streaming hub, but with all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that this isn’t a new video.

$1 Car vs $100,000,000 Car!!!

I’m curious how much ad revenue a video on X would make so I’m reuploading this to test it. Will share ad rev next week ❤️ pic.twitter.com/amSSmddFht

— MrBeast (@MrBeast) January 15, 2024

Rather, Mr. Beast has reuploaded a popular video from his YouTube channel because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up testing out the revenue share. He has stated that he will post his earnings in a week, but regardless, this is certainly a victory for Elon Musk.

The embattled owner of X has frequently claimed that his platform can compete with YouTube. The results of this test may very well end up determining whether or not there is any degree of veracity to his claims.

Of course, Musk’s outspoken views about certain matters might get in the way, particularly his views on trans rights. Since Mr. Beast has a transgender team member, this might become a cause for friction down the line. For now, it seems that the fate of the platform lies in how much money Mr. Beast earns from this particular video. Considering he rakes over $1 million per video on YouTube, it will be a tall hill for X to climb, and Musk might throw every dollar he has at it to make it happen.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Federal Appeals Court Denies X’s Latest Challenge For A Non-Disclosure Order For Trump’s Twitter Account Data

Elon Musk’s X Corp just received a rejection from a US Federal Appeals Court for a non-disclosure order to attain data from the Twitter account of Donald Trump.

The matter arose after Jack Smith issued a search warrant for the former President’s account on the leading social media app but it seems like the judges in service hold a conservative mind frame and will not provide any kind of executive privileges for this matter.

Smith is a former employee of Twitter, now X, and he got a search warrant last year in January for the act of investigating the country’s former commander-in-chief. The goal was regarding a criminal case to see if Trump did actually make efforts to try and turn the election results in his favor as he was losing to Biden.

During that time, he also got a non-disclosure order on this front that prevented X from revealing the search warrant to Trump or any other person. So as a part of allowing Smith to keep the search warrant, the court mentioned how it was a reasonable ordeal to believe that such acts could result in evidence tampering, intimidate any witnesses, or simply cause major jeopardy in the legal case.

At the start, X did not wish to comply with this warrant and the court in DC penalized the firm with $350k. On that note, X turned over all the information that Smith was in search of.

Then in August of last year, X’s appeal on this matter was rejected. And that’s when the tech giant looked to gain momentum by appealing again and asking for a rehearing. This is when the host of judges argued about the last decision being made in error.

Then on Tuesday, the matter was returned to the appeals court and that is where the firm’s challenge was denied again in a new order. But it did not seem to be a unanimous call as four of the 11 judges did condemn the court for giving Smith a new secretive search warrant.

A statement was also released that mentioned how such a gambit shouldn’t have been endorsed to begin with and then an order for a rejection of the rehearing was performed.

They felt strongly about how it was a historic event to see judges not following precedents that were created for years. In the same way, they feel the efforts made by Smith bypassed any kind of executive privilege and disregarded the balance in place toward the Presidential Records Act.

For now, no comments were made by reps of Smith who in fact refused to pass remarks on the recent filing made by the court. Similarly, no replies were made to requests for comments by media outlets too.

It’s clearly a controversial matter and one that is not going unnoticed.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Microsoft CEO Defends Multi-Billion Dollar Investment Made In OpenAI As EU And Britain Launch Probes

The CEO of Microsoft is standing alongside all the decisions made by his organization and that includes billion-dollar investments into ChatGPT maker OpenAI.

Satya Nadaella spoke on the matter and started to defend the software giant about how it was the right decision as investigations by the EU and Britain started picking up the pace in terms of the behavior being similar to a merger.

Nadella talked about the matter at this year’s World Economic Forum which was recently held by Bloomberg in Switzerland. He added that the goal was not to eliminate competition but to give rise to better chances for others to compete against the best in the industry and that can only be done through partnerships.

He boldly declared the matter to be a no-brainer situation and wondered why there was so much talk about it in the first place. He also invited regulators to look at the matter with a clearer perspective and was certain that even they would agree that this was a collaboration that supported healthy competition in a great way.

For those who might not be aware, the software giant has put in billions of dollars since the year we saw OpenAI come into existence, and that pushed AI into the limelight, thanks to the launch of its powerful tool ChatGPT during the latter part of 2022.

The chatbot was a fabulous rollout and got a wonderful response too. Microsoft has added billions of dollars in the name of investment and it gave rise to the best kind of poetry and short-form essays in a span of just a few seconds, not to mention assisting others to pass license exams in the fields of medicine and law.

Now the fame and success were there but that led to more kinds of scrutiny taking center stage. So many anti-trust regulators found in the EU and Britain are moving one step closer to investigating the partnership.

But the CEO is not afraid of the scrutiny taking place as he spoke at the forum, adding how the risk-taking acts were necessary to ensure rapid changes in the world of AI. In case they chose not to take the risk of making those investments, then the major breakthroughs seen today would have never taken place.

Most importantly, the incumbents would be the winners and OpenAI would not stand where it is.

It’s been a difficult and challenging year-end in 2023 for OpenAI which saw its own CEO get ousted by the board, causing fury around the globe before he was again reinstated. Thankfully, he made a shocking return and continued to get support from Nadella along the way.

Now, all that Microsoft hopes and wishes for is stability in that mighty partnership and they’re doing everything in their power to ensure just that.

He similarly appeared to be very confident about reducing the risks that come with AI overshadowing the upcoming election period. So many citizens get ready to make their way to voting polls in 2024 and that means more hard and effort on the part of tech giants.

Nadella reassured the world in this regard, reminding critics how it’s not the first election where we are seeing disinformation or misinformation take center stage. And interfering with the elections will not be busy but it’s something that needs to be tackled.

The Microsoft CEO will also speak more on this matter during the WEF official program that’s scheduled for later.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

OpenAI’s Working Relationship With US Military Deepens Despite Earlier Ban On Warfare

ChatGPT maker OpenAI is raising questions in many people’s minds as its working relationship with the US military is said to be going strong.

The company's recent dealings are well aligned with the Pentagon on a series of projects that entail the design of cybersecurity tools. It’s shocking because the startup had mentioned in the past how it would ban giving militaries any AI. But this is definitely a major u-turn of events that’s not going unnoticed.

The top-of-the-line AI firm is said to have recently developed a host of tools with the Defense Department's oversight. This includes open-source cybersecurity software. But that's not all as it also carried out plenty of discussions with the American Government on this front including techniques to help limit suicidal rates amongst veterans. The news was recently confirmed by the firm’s VP for global affairs.

He mentioned all of that at this year’s World Economic Forum and how the company was gearing up for more big plans in this domain.

OpenAI just recently got rid of specific clauses found in its previous terms of service that banned AI from making use of military and warfare apps. The decision was slammed as a bigger update of the policies in store to align with the firm’s more innovative uses and a host of other tools.

They justified the act by adding how there used to be a prohibition on considering military working relationships but that is not true. They are not getting rid of use cases but in fact, helping other leading sources of the government carry out their essential tasks more effectively. But when it comes down to making use of their modern technology for the sake of spreading harm and destruction, the ban in that regard would continue to remain.

One of the organization’s biggest investors is Microsoft who is said to be giving plenty of software contracts to American armed forces and a host of leading government institutions.

The film is also said to be picking up the pace in terms of the upcoming US elections and the security that will be needed on this front. This means allocating all necessary sources to make sure Generative AI tools are not used for spreading political disinformation.

As mentioned by the firm’s CEO, the elections are something major and cannot be overlooked. And it wouldn’t be wrong to mention that he and his company have a lot of anxiety about it which is a good thing as it would keep them on the tip of their toes at all times.

Just last week, shocking reports of the company working closely with the US military to design warfare had people in doubt and worry. It’s really a major shift in terms of what many had read in its initial terms of service and to see OpenAI suddenly make major amendments to that is beyond concerning.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

YouTube’s Load Times Are Slower For Users With Ad Block And The Video Giant Has Nothing To Do With It

For a while, we’ve been witnessing tech giant Google speak about sub-optimal performance and speeds across its YouTube app and the plethora of complaints that were generated with it from viewers.

There was an entire conspiracy theory that had to do with the search engine giant intentionally making the app slow for those having Mozilla Firefox while things worked at a smooth pace on the Chrome browser. Many felt that was a smart move to have more people use Chrome.

With time, the rumors started to die down and people were made aware of how it was not just Firefox that was subjected to the claims of poor loading times but it was happening on any browsers in the market today. On that note, the Android maker was quick to chime in and claim that the installed ad blockers were the biggest cause of the misery.

Now that we’re into a new year, we saw more reports and complaints from viewers and creators about the poor speed due to adblockers. And again, people did not hesitate once to blame and shame Google.

Thanks to users on Reddit who were the first to make the claims, we saw a whole thread blow up in this regard and so many individuals started to chime in and mention how they had trouble with the app’s load speed and needed a solution very soon.

But now, new reports are proving that there was actually a bug inside Adblock and Adblock Plus’ recent version that was causing the misery. So it was not Google or the YouTube app after all.

Those having the 5.170 variant of Adblock or Adblock Plus were told to make updates. However, if you were making use of features such as uBlock Origin then you probably remained unaffected by this chaos and didn’t notice any difference to your speed.

The news comes after developers at Adblock Plus noted the major performance error and spoke about it through GitLab to make others aware.

They confirmed slow response ever since this particular update was rolled out and blamed the issue on the extension engine since all those impacted experienced similar problems with the 1.1.1 variant for this extension engine.

Thankfully, the bug has been fixed and the newest Eyeo’s Web Extension Advertising blocking Toolkit, which happens to be where the change was noticed, is now finally reverted.

If you also experienced such a hassle using the Adblock or the Adblock Plus, we do recommend making the update for the extension as soon as possible. Similarly, we advise you not to run several content filters or any adblockers across the browser if you’re facing major issues linked to performance.

We’re glad that the matter has finally come to a conclusion and the right culprit was unveiled because Google has had accusations thrown in its direction for quite some time now.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Study Shows that the Screen Time of Gen-Z is Increasing at an Alarming Rate and It Has Some Negative Effects

Gen-Z uses social media so much in their lives that it has become a part of them. But this social media is also affecting their mental and physical health. Founder of Gen-z Research and Strategy Firm DCDX, Andrew Roth, says that humans these days are looking for connectivity and that’s why they spend most of their time online. This has resulted in them interacting less with their friends and that’s the reason they have started feeling hopelessness and sadness, especially Gen-Z. DCDX also shared an annual screen time report of Gen-Z and there’s a rise seen in it. From last year, the screen time has increased up to 9% and the average number of hours spent on screen daily is 7 among Gen-Z.

Andrew said that he was expecting to see less screen time as compared to 2022 because this year many Gen-Z have gone to school/colleage, started working and have been forming real life connections since lockdown. But the report was not what he expected and the biggest culprit for this high screen time among Gen-Z was TikTok. This was proven by 157 screen recordings of the iPhone that Gen-Z sent to DCDX where it was noted that young people used TikTok 9 hours on average. There was a 50% increase from 2022 in TikTok screen time. Instagram is the second most used app while the rest of the apps saw a decline in Gen-Z screen time. The biggest decline was of Snapchat screen time with 29%. Gen-Z considers it an old app and there are chances that it will see more decline in 2024.

Facebook has also seen a decline but not as much as expected. Older Gen-Z, especially females, seem to like using it. Twitter/X also saw a decline after Elon Musk took over it. The study also showed the females Gen-Z spend more time on social media than males. The apps that Gen-Z females use are TikTok, Instagram and Messages while Gen-Z males use YouTube more. Limiting Gen-Z’s screen time somehow can be the solution to the high percentages of screen time but it’s going to have some hard resistance.

Images: DCDX

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World