Kalakshar US

The days of sharing a Hulu account with friends and family are numbered. Like Netflix and sibling service Disney+ before it, Hulu is clamping down on password sharing outside the account holder’s “primary personal residence” per an updated subscriber agreement. That is unless the practice is “permitted by your service tier,” indicating that users may be able to pay extra to share their membership outside of their household.

Hulu has started telling users that they’ll need to comply with the new rules by March 14, as The Verge reports. The service has been informing subscribers in emails that it’s “adding limitations on sharing your account outside of your household,” but it’s unclear exactly how Hulu plans to track that.

Netflix was the first major streaming service to crack down on password sharing and, as a result, it has seen an uptick in subscriber numbers. Disney+ followed suit later last year and, given that Disney will soon own all of Hulu, it’s little surprise that the latter is going in the same direction.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hulu-is-the-latest-streaming-service-to-crack-down-on-password-sharing-161957187.html?src=rss 

Google is rolling out a swathe of updates on the generative AI front, including a new text-to-image tool. What’s different about ImageFX is that it has an interface that features “expressive chips.” The idea here is that these will help you “quickly experiment with adjacent dimensions of your creation and ideas.”

Alongside the debut of ImageFX, Google says it has improved MusicFX and TextFX. The company’s claims that it’s made upgrades to the MusicLM model that include faster generation of music and higher-quality audio, along with new features. Generated songs can now last up to 70 seconds. As for TextFX, Google has rolled out usability updates in the aim of improving navigation and the overall user experience.

ImageFX-generated images and audio made with MusicFX are tagged by SynthID, a digital watermark that aims to make it clear that these are forged using AI, especially when they appear in Search or Chrome. ImageFX creations will also include IPTC metadata. This, according to Google, will offer “people more information whenever they encounter our AI-generated images”

Folks in the US, Kenya, New Zealand and Australia can try out these new and revamped tools in the AI Test Kitchen starting today. They’re only available in English for now.

The Imagen 2 model is powering the new image generation features of ImageFX. It’s also the tech that’s driving new generative AI options in Bard, Search, Ads, Duet AI in Workspace and Vertex AI. Google says that Imagen 2 helps to deliver its highest-quality AI-generated images yet. The company notes that the model helps keep images clear of artifacts and improves on areas of image generation that such tools have struggled with until now.

In addition, Google says it has made “significant investments” in Imagen 2 training data safety while adding guardrails to “limit problematic outputs like violent, offensive or sexually explicit content as well as applying filters to reduce the risk of generating images of named individuals.” This is due to the model’s upgraded ability to generate photorealistic images. The company claims it also carries out “extensive adversarial testing” to detect and clamp down on potentially problematic and harmful content.

Elsewhere, Gemini Pro in Bard is more broadly available starting today. It’s now accessible in more than 40 languages and north of 230 countries and territories. Also as of today, Google says people in most countries can generate images in Bard in English for free. These images will include SynthID watermarks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-reveals-another-text-to-image-generative-ai-tool-imagefx-150659065.html?src=rss 

After threatening to do so earlier this week, Universal Music Group (UMG) has started pulling the catalogs of performers it represents including Taylor Swift, Drake, Billie Eilish, The Weeknd and others. There are no longer tracks listed in profiles of some of the world’s most notable artists.

Moreover, UMG music featured in TikTok videos will be muted going forward, forcing creators to replace the tracks with options from other music labels. That won’t be easy for many of them, considering the huge number of lip-sync videos that litter the social network.

It’s a drastic move on Universal’s part, given that TikTok is a valuable marketing platform for its artists. However, UMG also has a fair amount of leverage, given that it’s the largest record label in the world with some of the most popular artists. Either way, it’s a blow for both creators and users of the platform.

Universal had previously stated that TikTok wanted to pay a “fraction” of the rate paid by other social media sites: “As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth.”

In response, TikTok said that it serves as a valuable marketing tool for artists and publishers. “Despite Universal’s false narrative and rhetoric, the fact is they have chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/taylor-swift-and-other-universal-music-tracks-are-disappearing-from-tiktok-134536998.html?src=rss 

The rise of AI-generated voices mimicking celebrities and politicians could make it even harder for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fight robocalls and prevent people from getting spammed and scammed. That’s why FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wants the commission to officially recognize calls that use AI-generated voices as “artificial,” which would make the use of voice cloning technologies in robocalls illegal. Under the FCC’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), solicitations to residences that use an artificial voice or a recording are against the law. As TechCrunch notes, the FCC’s proposal will make it easier to go after and charge bad actors. 

“AI-generated voice cloning and images are already sowing confusion by tricking consumers into thinking scams and frauds are legitimate,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “No matter what celebrity or politician you favor, or what your relationship is with your kin when they call for help, it is possible we could all be a target of these faked calls.” If the FCC recognizes AI-generated voice calls as illegal under existing law, the agency can give State Attorneys General offices across the country “new tools they can use to crack down on… scams and protect consumers.”

The FCC’s proposal comes shortly after some New Hampshire residents received a call impersonating President Joe Biden, telling them not to vote in their state’s primary. A security firm performed a thorough analysis of the call and determined that it was created using AI tools by a startup called ElevenLabs. The company had reportedly banned the account responsible for the message mimicking the president, but the incident could end up being just one of the many attempts to disrupt the upcoming US elections using AI-generated content. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-fcc-wants-to-make-robocalls-that-use-ai-generated-voices-illegal-105628839.html?src=rss 

Final Fantasy fans may want to carve some time out for Sony’s next State of Play. Before its latest showcase ended, the company announced that it will share new gameplay details and “exciting news [fans] won’t wanna miss” about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth at its next event. It also promised an extended look at the upcoming sequel to FFVII Remake, which is arriving on the PS5 on February 29, 2024. 

The action role-playing game will pick up from where the first title in the planned trilogy has left off, and players will still primarily be controlling Cloud Strife who has joined the eco-terrorist group Avalanche in the first game’s events. Zack Fair, who was only featured in a flashback scene in the first title, is expected to play a bigger role this time around. While the new games are based on the old Final Fantasy VII, they feature reimagined elements, new concepts and expansions (maybe even changes) to the original title’s storyline and character development. 

Sony has been giving fans glimpses of Rebirth through trailers for a while now, but it sounds like the showcase will give them a much better idea of what they can expect. The company’s next State of Play event will take place on February 6 at 6:30PM ET. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonys-next-state-of-play-showcase-will-revolve-around-final-fantasy-vii-rebirth-070020430.html?src=rss