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Google for Nonprofits will expand to 100+ new countries and launch 10+ new no-cost AI featuresGoogle for Nonprofits will expand to 100+ new countries and launch 10+ new no-cost AI featuresVP and Global Head of Google.org

GoogleBlog - Wed, 06/11/2025 - 11:00
Google for Nonprofits is expanding to 100 more countries, and introducing new Workspace for Nonprofits and Ad Grants AI features.Google for Nonprofits is expanding to 100 more countries, and introducing new Workspace for Nonprofits and Ad Grants AI features.
Categories: Technology

Disney, NBCU Sue AI Image Generator Midjourney Over Copyright Infringement

Slashdot.org - Wed, 06/11/2025 - 10:33
Disney and NBCUniversal have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against AI image generator firm Midjourney in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, marking the first time major Hollywood studios have taken legal action against a generative AI company. The entertainment giants accuse Midjourney, founded in 2021, of training its software on "countless" copyrighted works without permission and enabling users to create images that "blatantly incorporate and copy" famous characters including Darth Vader, the Minions, Frozen's Elsa, Shrek, and Homer Simpson. The companies claim they attempted to resolve the matter privately, but Midjourney "continued to release new versions" with "even higher quality infringing images" according to the complaint. Disney's general counsel used the word "piracy," to describe Midjourney's practice, while NBCUniversal's general counsel characterized it as "blatant infringement."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

4 ways Google data centers transform communities for the better4 ways Google data centers transform communities for the betterHead of Data Center Economic Development

GoogleBlog - Wed, 06/11/2025 - 10:00
Google data centers play a critical role in growth and advancement at the local level.Google data centers play a critical role in growth and advancement at the local level.
Categories: Technology

WhatsApp Moves To Support Apple Against UK Government's Data Access Demands

Slashdot.org - Wed, 06/11/2025 - 09:42
WhatsApp has applied to submit evidence in Apple's legal battle against the UK Home Office over government demands for access to encrypted user data. The messaging platform's boss Will Cathcart told the BBC the case "could set a dangerous precedent" by "emboldening other nations" to seek to break encryption protections. The confrontation began when Apple received a secret Technical Capability Notice from the Home Office earlier this year demanding the right to access data from its global customers for national security purposes. Apple responded by first pulling its Advanced Data Protection system from the UK, then taking the government to court to overturn the request. Cathcart said WhatsApp "would challenge any law or government request that seeks to weaken the encryption of our services." US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has called the UK's demands an "egregious violation" of American citizens' privacy rights.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple Executives Defend AI Strategy

Slashdot.org - Wed, 06/11/2025 - 09:04
Apple executives defended the company's AI strategy this week after acknowledging that major Siri features announced at last year's Worldwide Developers Conference remain undelivered and were quietly pulled from development plans. Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, told the Wall Street Journal that the company is rebuilding Siri from the ground up, admitting that while Apple had working software for the promised features, "it didn't converge in the way quality-wise that we needed it to." The missing capabilities included Siri's ability to search through apps and respond to on-screen activities, features that were demonstrated a year ago but never shipped to users. In the upcoming iOS 26, Apple has instead incorporated more OpenAI technology, allowing users to interact with ChatGPT through camera and screenshots and generate images using OpenAI's tools. Federighi defended the strategy by comparing Apple's position to the early internet era, when the company focused on making other services accessible rather than building competing platforms.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Drive with ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ on WazeDrive with ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ on Waze

GoogleBlog - Wed, 06/11/2025 - 08:00
Universal Pictures and DreamWorks’ new live-action “How to Train Your Dragon” adventure hits theaters on June 13 — and you can prepare for this epic journey on Waze now.…
Categories: Technology

Pirate Site Visits Dip To 216 Billion a Year, But Manga Piracy Is Booming

Slashdot.org - Wed, 06/11/2025 - 08:00
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: Fresh data released by piracy tracking outfit MUSO shows that pirate sites remain popular. In a report released today, MUSO reveals that there were 216 billion pirate site visits globally in 2024, a slight decrease compared to the 229 billion visits recorded a year earlier. TV piracy remains by far the most popular category, representing over 44.6% of all website visits. This is followed by the publishing category with 30.7%, with film, software and music all at a respectable distance. Pirate site visitors originate from all over the world, but one country stands tall above all the rest: America. The United States remains the top driver of pirate site traffic accounting for more than 12% of all traffic globally, good for 26.7 billion visits in 2024. India has been steadily climbing the ranks for years and currently sits in second place with 17.6 billion annual visits, with Russia, Indonesia, and Vietnam completing the top five. As a country with one of the largest populations worldwide, it's not a complete surprise that the U.S. tops the list. If we counted visits per internet user, Canada and Ukraine would top the list. While pirate site visits dipped by more than 5% in 2024, one category saw substantial growth. Visits to publishing-related pirate sites increased 4.3% from 63.6 to 66.4 billion. The increase is largely driven by the popularity of manga, which accounts for more than 70% of all publishing piracy. Traditional book piracy, meanwhile, is stuck at 5%. The publishing piracy boom is relatively new. Over the past five years, the category grew by more than 100% while the overall number of global pirate site visits remained relatively flat. Looking at the global demand, we see that the U.S. also leads the charge here, followed by Indonesia and Russia. Notably, Japan, the home of manga, ranks fifth in the publishing category. This stands out because Japan is not listed in the global top 15 in terms of total pirate site visits. In the other content categories, MUSO's data shows a dip in pirate site visits. The changes are relatively modest for TV (-6.8%) and software (-2.1%) but the same isn't true for the music and film categories. In 2024, there were 18% fewer visits for pirated movies compared to a year earlier. MUSO notes that this is due to a "lighter blockbuster calendar" which reduced piracy peaks. "The drop in demand is as much about what wasn't released as it is about access," the report explains. The music category saw a 19% decline in piracy visits year over year, with a more uplifting explanation for rightsholders. According to MUSO, the drop can be partly attributed to "secure app ecosystems" and the "wide adoption of licensed platforms like Spotify and Apple Music."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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