In Body of Mine, a new virtual reality experience, users can put on a headset and body tracking sensors, then look down and see a body — their arms, their chest, down to their feet — that does not match the gender they were assigned at birth.
Why it matters: The project, which was demoed for Axios last week in New York City, is an ambitious and already award-winning experience. It is designed to provoke introspection about gender and a transgender person's experiences, and allow people to explore what it might be like to be in a different body.
Xandr, the advanced TV advertising company Microsoft acquired in 2021, on Thursday told advertisers that it plans to ban political ads beginning October 1, according to an email obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: Amid a hyper-polarized environment, some Big Tech firms see political ads as a content moderation liability.
While the U.S. is leading the global AI innovation race, some executives and experts say America risks losing that economic and strategic advantage by not deploying the technology fast enough.
Why it matters: If the U.S. is too slow to integrate and adopt AI across its economy, they say, China may leverage it more effectively.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday proposed new rules that SEC chair Gary Gensler says will address potential conflicts of interest in the use of artificial intelligence on Wall Street.
Driving the news: The move is part of wider proposed reforms relating to investment advisers operating exclusively through the internet, including restrictions for brokerages, per a commission statement Wednesday.
One of the most hyped token projects to come out of the heady days of 2017's crypto boom was the security project Quantstamp.
Driving the news: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced a $3.5 million deal Friday with the firm behind that project to settle allegations that its initial coin offering was a violation of U.S. securities laws.
Shares for Facebook parent Meta spiked roughly 5% in after-hours trading Wednesday, after the tech giant handily beat Wall Street expectations on revenue, earnings and user growth for the second quarter of the year.
Why it matters: Meta also issued positive guidance for the third quarter, giving investors a dose of optimism amid an otherwise mixed earnings season for ad-supported digital platforms.
Activision says it is getting ahead of a legal threat by suing the creator of a popular TikTok video after the company used audio from his clip in its own post.
Why it matters: Activision is testing the theory that repurposing content on TikTok is fair game, and not something it has to pay for.
Four leading AI providers this morning launched the Frontier Model Forum — an industry-led body aiming to ensure "safe and responsible development" of the most powerful AI models.
Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI are the forum's founding members, but are inviting competitors and civil society organizations to partner.
Amazon expects generative AI to jolt its middle-aged Alexa voice assistant to new life.
Why it matters: The giant online seller sees the AI boom as a chance to dust off the more than half a billion devices that have Alexa built in and give them fresh relevance as delivery channels for the equivalent of a voice-enabled ChatGPT — and more.
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