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A judge has ruled that publisher Krafton must reinstate Ted Gill as CEO of Unknown Worlds Entertainment, according to a report by Bloomberg. The company fired Gill and two other co-founders last year as part of a shakeup involving the long-anticipated sequel Subnautica 2.

The Delaware judge said Krafton had violated the terms of its contract with Unknown Worlds when it fired the executives. “To remedy these breaches, Gill is reinstated as CEO of Unknown Worlds with full operational authority over the studio,” wrote judge Lori W. Will.

A Krafton spokesperson said in a statement that “we respectfully disagree with today’s ruling” and that “we are evaluating our options as we determine our path forward.” Further litigation over potential damages is still pending.

This legal battle has been brewing for a while. Krafton bought Unknown Worlds back in 2021 and the contract stipulated that executives and staff would get to share in a $250 million bonus if they hit certain revenue targets by 2025. Those targets were not reached, and could not be reached, because Krafton delayed Subnautica 2.

According to the pre-trial brief, Krafton CEO Changham Kim allegedly nixed the payout because it would be a “professional embarrassment” and make him look like a “pushover.” He reportedly consulted ChatGPT to ask about ways to avoid paying the bonus and, oddly, seemed to consider a hostile takeover by a newly-formed entity.

Judge Will dinged the CEO on both counts, saying that Kim regretted committing to the payout and “consulted an artificial intelligence chatbot to contrive a corporate ‘takeover’ strategy.” Engadget reached out to Krafton and the company re-emphasized it was displeased with the ruling but said that it doesn’t resolve the ongoing litigation. 

As for the game, Krafton says Subnautica 2 is coming sooner rather than later. We’ve heard that one before.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/judge-rules-that-krafton-must-rehire-fired-subnautica-director-184702823.html?src=rss 

Apple’s latest acquisition could be a hint towards improvements for Final Cut Pro. The tech giant acquired MotionVFX, as seen on the company’s website and first reported by MacRumors, which is known for providing plugins, templates, visual effects and more to video editors. MotionVFX currently offers its software for a handful of video-editing apps, like DaVinci Resolve and Adobe Premiere, but is also listed as a trusted Apple partner and found in the Final Cut Pro ecosystem of third-party products.

Apple hasn’t revealed an acquisition price nor details of the deal. On its website announcement, MotionVFX wrote that it’s “thrilled to embrace” similar values seen with Apple products and that it’s the “beginning of something wonderful.”

Considering a lot of MotionVFX’s tools are designed for Final Cut Pro and Apple’s Motion app, we could see native integration of popular visual effects and templates into Apple’s app interfaces. It’s worth noting that MotionVFX already offers an extension that creates a panel directly in Final Cut Pro for users to browse, download and apply visual effects from its repository. The acquisition could also hint at Apple trying to make its Creator Studio more enticing in the future, since it includes both Final Cut Pro and Motion. However, there hasn’t been any clarity on what will happen to MotionVFX’s monthly or annual subscription plans, nor its support for competing products.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/apple-acquires-popular-video-editing-software-company-motionvfx-175429480.html?src=rss 

Samsung will reportedly end Galaxy Z TriFold sales in South Korea on March 17, three months after the device went on sale, according to South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo. Samsung has not yet confirmed the report, but Engadget has reached out for comment. In the US, where the TriFold arrived in January, the phone will remain available until existing inventory runs out. A unit at retail (if you can find it) will run you almost $3,000.

Samsung seemingly never intended the model for mass production. It sold the device in small batches through its website, with each selling out within minutes. Samsung reportedly moved roughly 3,000 units across the first two allotments and did not send review units to the media.

Industry sources told Dong-A Ilbo that the TriFold was a technology showcase rather than a revenue-generating product. Rising costs of components like DRAM and NAND flash have left virtually no profit margin on the device. In South Korea, the phone briefly traded for nearly three times its retail price on the secondary market.

In Engadget’s limited time with the TriFold, the device felt solid, despite not having been built for a true production run. The original Galaxy Fold had to be delayed in 2019 after multiple review units sent to the press broke within days.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsung-ends-galaxy-z-trifold-sales-three-months-after-launch-182903503.html?src=rss 

OpenAI has been hit with another lawsuit. This time, Encyclopedia Britannica took legal action against OpenAI, accusing the company of copyright and trademark infringements, as first reported by Reuters. More specifically, Britannica alleged that OpenAI illegally used its “copyrighted content at a massive scale” when training its AI models. Not just with training, the encyclopedia company claimed that ChatGPT’s responses to user queries sometimes contain “full or partial verbatim reproductions of [Britannica’s] copyright articles.”

Along with claims of copyright violations, Britannica argued that OpenAI was also responsible for trademark infringement. According to the lawsuit, ChatGPT generates “made-up content or ‘hallucinations‘ and falsely attributes them” to Encyclopedia Britannica. The lawsuit doesn’t specify an amount for monetary damages, but Britannica is also seeking an injunction to prevent OpenAI from repeating these accusations.

When reached out for comment, a spokesperson for OpenAI told Engadget that, “ChatGPT helps enhance human creativity, advance scientific discovery and medical research, and enable hundreds of millions of people to improve their daily lives. Our models empower innovation, and are trained on publicly available data and grounded in fair use.”

It’s not the first time that Britannica has filed a lawsuit against an AI company. In September, the company, which owns Merriam-Webster, also sued Perplexity for similar reasons. On the other side, OpenAI is still embroiled in a legal battle with The New York Times, which also sued the AI giant for copyright infringement.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/encyclopedia-britannica-sues-openai-for-copyright-and-trademark-infringement-164747991.html?src=rss 

A coalition of Big Tech companies is working on a more comprehensive solution to combat online scams. As first reported by Axios, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Meta, Amazon, OpenAI, Adobe and Match Group announced the signing of the Online Services Accord Against Scams. The new agreement is meant to put up a united industry-wide front against online fraud and scams, particularly those from sophisticated criminal networks that use multiple platforms.

According to the Axios report, the measures will include adding fraud detection tools, introducing new user security features, and requiring more robust verification for financial transactions. The agreement will also set up best practices for scam detection, prevention and reporting, while encouraging the sharing of information between companies and law enforcement. On the policy side, the coalition will call on the governments to “declare scam prevention a national priority,” according to Axios. While these measures are extensive, the report noted that they’re all voluntary since the accord doesn’t mention any penalties if the companies don’t follow through.

Many of the companies involved in the new accord already have experience in dealing with scams found on their own platforms. Earlier this month, Meta announced several new features across Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp that would alert users about suspicious friend requests or accounts. Last year, LinkedIn introduced a new verification requirement for company recruiters or executives to address scams targeting job seekers on its platform.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/tech-companies-are-teaming-up-to-combat-scammers-144616545.html?src=rss