Meta is reportedly in negotiations with celebrities like Keegan-Michael Key, Awkwafina, and Dame Judi Dench to incorporate their voices into its upcoming conversational AI, MetaAI. This digital assistant aims to be similar to Siri and Google Assistant and would be integrated into Facebook, Meta’s hardware, and other components of Meta’s extensive network.
The actors’ representatives are pushing for stricter usage limits, though the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA has already reached some terms with Meta to protect actors from potential job losses due to AI.
This is not Meta’s first attempt at utilizing celebrity voices in AI. Previously, during its Connect event, Meta introduced a chatbot platform with 28 characters voiced by celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton. However, this project was quietly discontinued, and the celebrity chatbot pages have been removed. The new endeavor appears to be a more focused part of Meta’s broader AI ambitions.
In other tech news, Apple has begun sending out payments from a $50 million settlement related to its butterfly keyboard design. This follows a class action lawsuit from 2018, where consumers complained about sticky and unresponsive keys.
Although Apple denied allegations of defective keyboards, they agreed to the settlement and started phasing out the problematic keyboard design in 2019. Claimants in the lawsuit will now receive their compensation, which could be up to $395 per person.
A notorious Instagram scammer, Idriss Qibaa, faces felony charges after boasting about his extortion scheme on a podcast. Qibaa claimed to have made $600,000 a month by hacking and extorting over 200 victims’ social media accounts. His confession on the No Jumper podcast led the FBI to charge him with extortion and issuing death threats, highlighting the consequences of openly admitting to criminal activities.
Finally, after 33 years, Game Informer magazine is shutting down. The decision by its parent company, GameStop, means the loss of the magazine and its online archives. This move comes amid mass layoffs, as noted by the publication’s content director, Kyle Hilliard. Launched in August 1991, Game Informer has been a significant presence in the gaming industry, making its closure a notable end to an era.
