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Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. Meta came under fire after users rediscovered AI-generated accounts on Instagram and Facebook with AI-generated photos of Black people. Launched in 2023, these accounts introduced a lineup of celebrity AI characters, featuring the likenesses of Snoop Dogg, Kendall Jenner, MrBeast, and others. They were created to boost advertisers’ engagement. But since their launch, the accounts hadn’t garnered much attention. In the summer of 2024, Meta scrapped the celebrity AI accounts, leaving the non-celebrities up and allowing Meta users to create their own AI characters. But now that AI has become a hot-button topic as we enter 2025, Meta has expressed an interest in integrating user-generated AI profiles into its social media platforms. In December, during an interview with the Financial Times, Meta executive Connor Hayes stated, “We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind...
Corporations are still advancing technologies without ensuring diverse perspectives are represented at the table. Inconsistencies have surfaced regarding a now-abandoned technology from Meta. As AFROTECH previously reported, in September 2023, Meta launched an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant that allowed users to retrieve information “in real time,” accompanied by images relevant to prompts. The bots also adopted the likenesses of several well-known personalities, including Snoop Dogg, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Paul. “Our journey with AIs is just beginning, and it’s not just about building AIs that only answer questions,” the company stated at the time. “We’ve been creating AIs that have more personality, opinions, and interests, and are more fun to interact with. Along with Meta AI, there are 28 more AIs that you can message on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. You can think of these AIs as a new cast of characters, all with unique backstories.” During the test run for the AI...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. Since the release of ChatGPT two years ago, everyone has been talking about how artificial intelligence would change the world. Whether it was getting any answer you needed at the drop of a hat or creating any image or video you wanted just by describing it, the hours and money that would have gone into either are no longer an issue because AI does all the work on your behalf. When techies discuss the work AI could help someone do, they always focus on those in white-collar jobs, assisting them in searching or summarizing vast amounts of unstructured data to provide the insights they need or the creations they want. That may explain why many AI companies target the same use cases and markets. However, I believe the power of AI doesn’t just lie in reimagining how we experience our digital and physical worlds. After the pandemic, a term was coined : “ revenge spending” — essentially, people getting...
A teen has passed away following ongoing interaction with an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. The New York Times reports that Sewell Setzer III developed an attachment to a chatbot from Character.AI named Dany, inspired by the “Game of Thrones” character Daenerys Targaryen. The 14-year-old would engage in countless conversations with it, developing an interest that fluctuated between platonic and romantic. He sent dozens of messages and began to disassociate from his real-life passions and responsibilities, per the outlet, losing enjoyment in playing “Fortnite” with his friends and in Formula 1 racing . Instead, he would spend hours in his room conversing with Dany. At school, his grades began to drop, and he started getting into trouble. “I like staying in my room so much because I start to detach from this ‘reality,’ and I also feel more at peace, more connected with Dany and much more in love with her, and just happier,” Sewell wrote in his journal, according to the outlet....
Chpter, an AI-powered company based in Kenya, has secured significant funding. Chpter Launched in 2022 by Mesongo Sibuti (chief technology officer), Kuria Kevin (chief product officer), Mark Kiarie (chief operating officer) and Tesh Mbaabu (CEO), the conversational commerce company allows businesses to scale their revenue — on platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and TikTok — by up to five times through features that include automated abandoned cart recovery, post-purchase chat messages, and automated responses through chatbots, per its website. “We are thrilled to pioneer the social commerce revolution, starting in Africa, as more and more consumers turn to social channels such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok to communicate and purchase from the brands they love.” Mbaabu, co-founder of Chpter, said in a post shared on Medium. “Specifically, WhatsApp’s role in business communication cannot be overstated. With more than two billion active users, it offers an...
Mark Zuckerberg has revealed an upcoming Meta product. During an interview with live streamer Roberto Nickson, the Meta founder and CEO spoke about what he envisions the future will look like for the company’s Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. According to Zuckerberg, that vision includes a new wearable technology. “I think we’ll start getting some consumer neural interfaces soon, and that’s gonna be pretty wild,” Zuckerberg told Nickson. “I’m not talking about something that jacks into your brain. I’m talking about something that you wear on your wrist that can basically read neural signals that your brain sends through your nerves to your hand to basically move it in different subtle ways that are maybe not perceptible to people around you, but we’re basically able to read those signals and be able to use that to control your glasses or other computing devices.” Along with emphasizing that the device wouldn’t be placed in the brain, Zuckerberg shared that the innovative idea is still in...
One of the major flaws of artificial intelligence (AI) is that it can reinforce racial bias. As CNN reported, the technology is based on data fed by humans, which can mean the data can be racist and biased. “Remember: AI is just software that learns by example,” Reid Blackman, author of the book, “Ethical Machines,” told CNN. “So if you give it examples that contain or reflect certain kinds of biases or discriminatory attitudes … you’re going to get outputs that resemble that.” The impact of its racial bias continues to disproportionately affect the Black community , including when it comes to resume screening. “And many employers now use AI-driven tools to interview and screen job seekers, many of which pose enormous risks for discrimination against people with disabilities and other protected groups,” the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote in a 2021 report on how AI can worsen racial and economic inequities. Now, a recent research paper has shown another area where AI...
Nearly five decades ago, Ernie Hudson first made his entrance into Hollywood. Out of the veteran actor’s countless film and TV appearances, one of his most widely known roles is Winston Zeddemore in the “Ghostbusters” franchise. According to IMDb, the first installment of the “Ghostbusters” films alone made over $297 million worldwide. What’s more, among the later installments, “Ghostbusters II” grossed over $215 million, and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” grossed over $204 million — all starring Hudson. Before being a part of box office smashes, Hudson experienced his fair share of receiving low pay. During the promo run for 2024’s “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” he revealed to The Root what he earned from his first big payday as a Hollywood actor. “[My] first big check was $10,000 for one day’s work,” Hudson shared in the interview. “I was behind on rent and I told my landlord that I was waiting for the check to come.” However, Hudson was unaware of just how much of his check was going...
Notable names in sports and music have gathered to make credit building more accessible to the masses. According to a press release shared with AFROTECH™, Tinashe, Quavo, Chris Paul, and Marshawn Lynch are among the investors who participated in Altro’s latest strategic funding round totaling $4 million. The round brings the credit-building and financial literacy platform’s total funding to $22 million. Altro, formerly known as Perch, was founded in 2019 by Michael Broughton. It allows users to strengthen their credit scores through “everyday payment and subscriptions” such as Netflix, Spotify, Amazon Prime, Starz, and more. Additionally, the company offers educational resources even to its baseline free membership model. Resources include Altro’s Convo, consisting of brief audio episodes discussing various cultural and financial subjects, and in-person and virtual networking events and opportunities. Prior, Altro was available in 10 U.S. states. In light of the star-studded round,...
If you spend most of your time online, you may have experienced the Dead Internet Theory; a speculative concept suggesting that bots and algorithms generate most internet content, marginalizing genuine human engagement and communication. According to this theory, algorithmic curation dominates the digital landscape, forcing organic human activity to the sidelines. But what’s behind this theory, and how does our growing reliance on artificial intelligence play into it? What Is The Dead Internet Theory? We now exist in an increasingly digital world where the idea of stumbling upon something new and organic fades away, and algorithms predict our every move before we even make it. That’s the essence of Dead Internet Theory. The fun of exploring the internet has already started disappearing as AI learns what we want online, limiting the organic material we can view. A few users on X, formally known as Twitter , are worried that this trend will continue and might lead to the downfall of...
Seventy-six-year-old Sue Taylor sees great promise in the cannabis sector. During an interview with ABC-7 News, the former Catholic school principal shares her joy in owning a Berkeley, CA, dispensary. She reportedly owns the first and only Black-woman-owned dispensary in the city. “It was quite an honor. To be that representative,” Taylor mentioned to the outlet. “So many African Americans — it’s people of color who were incarcerated for cannabis from the get, right, from the beginning. It was us. And so to have an African-American family open up a dispensary such as this, it gave us a lot of pride.” The feat would not have been possible if she had not adjusted her initial hesitation surrounding the use of cannabis, she says. Only when she witnessed its benefits for seniors combined with the the loss of a dear friend to cancer did she finally understand. “I feel some kind of way in my heart that I didn’t serve her well because my mindset wasn’t on cannabis. Because I was secretly...
