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Longtime Slashdot reader SonicSpike shares a report from Gizmodo: YouTube is inundated with AI-generated slop, and that's not going to change anytime soon. Instead of cutting down on the total number of slop channels, the platform is planning to update its policies to cut out some of the worst offenders making money off "spam." At the same time, it's still full steam ahead adding tools to make sure your feeds are full of mass-produced brainrot. In an update to its support page posted last week, YouTube said it will modify guidelines for its Partner Program, which lets some creators with enough views make money off their videos. The video platform said it requires YouTubers to create "original" and "authentic" content, but now it will "better identify mass-produced and repetitious content." The changes will take place on July 15. The company didn't advertise whether this change is related to AI, but the timing can't be overlooked considering how more people are noticing the rampant proliferation of slop content flowing onto the platform every day. The AI "revolution" has resulted in a landslide of trash content that has mired most creative platforms. Alphabet-owned YouTube has been especially bad recently, with multiple channels dedicated exclusively to pumping out legions of fake and often misleading videos into the sludge-filled sewer that has become users' YouTube feeds. AI slop has become so prolific it has infected most social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. Last month, John Oliver on "Last Week Tonight" specifically highlighted several YouTube channels that crafted obviously fake stories made to show White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in a good light. These channels and similar accounts across social media pump out these quick AI-generated videos to make a quick buck off YouTube's Partner Program.

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Imagine a life where sex remains as difficult as it was that first time - or worse, completely impossible.

After 18 years together, you might expect my marriage to my husband to be somewhat languishing, says SAMANTHA BRICK. So how do I get my own way, year in, year out, with nary a voice raised?

Every day this year, we are told, yet another pub in Great Britain will close its doors for the last time, so says the British Beer and Pub Association.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Straight Arrow News: Hollywood video game performers ended their nearly year-long strike Wednesday with new protections against the use of digital replicas of their voices or appearances. If those replicas are used, actors must be paid at rates comparable to in-person work. The SAG-AFTRA union demanded stronger pay and better working conditions. Among their top concerns was the potential for artificial intelligence to replace human actors without compensation or consent. Under a deal announced in a media release, studios such as Activision and Electronic Arts are now required to obtain written consent from performers before creating digital replicas of their work. Actors have the right to suspend their consent for AI-generated material if another strike occurs. "This deal delivers historic wage increases, industry-leading AI protections and enhanced health and safety measures for performers," Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson for the video game producers, said in the release. The full list of studios includes Activision Productions, Blindlight, Disney Character Voices, Electronic Arts Productions, Formosa Interactive, Insomniac Games, Llama Productions, Take 2 Productions and WB Games. SAG-AFTRA members approved the contract by a vote of 95.04% to 4.96%, according to the announcement. The agreement includes a wage increase of more than 15%, with additional 3% raises in November 2025, 2026 and 2027. The contract expires in October 2028. [...] The video game strike, which started in July 2024, did not shut down production like the SAG-AFTRA actors' strike in 2023. Hollywood actors went on strike for 118 days, from July 14 to November 9, 2023, halting nearly all scripted television and film work. That strike, which centered on streaming residuals and AI concerns, prevented actors from engaging in promotional work, such as attending premieres and posting on social media. In contrast, video game performers were allowed to work during their strike, but only with companies that had signed interim agreements addressing concerns related to AI. More than 160 companies signed on, according to The Associated Press. Still, the year took a toll.

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Oh my sweet secret informant lover, what happened in that NATO meeting today?

A lovestruck US Air Force employee has pleaded guilty to conspiring to transmit confidential national defense information after sharing military secrets information about the Russia-Ukraine war with a woman he met on a dating app.…

PETER HOSKIN reviews Superman: We've had Superman in the past. We've had Terribleman. Now we get something different: Okayman.

Hard to credit, but the lockdown imposed on London during the Great Plague of 1665 was better organised and devised with more common sense than our own Covid shambles.

Keir Starmer's small-boats deal with France is set to resurrect some of the interminable problems faced by the Tories' Rwanda scheme.

The iconic brothers are preparing to play five dates at the 80,000 capacity venue, with the first on Friday evening.

When it comes to personal style, Lauren Sanchez Bezos has little in common with Jane Birkin, the iconic Anglo-French singer and fashion muse who passed away in July 2023, aged 76.

Vandals using planks of wood, rope and GPS technology went to the rural location to create the geometric pattern of a giant spider in a crop field.

Attorney General Lord Hermer has issued guidance to government lawyers stressing the importance of following international law including what has been branded a 'snitch clause'.

Scarlett Johansson called out photographers for getting in her eye-line while filming Paper Tiger in New York City on Thursday. 

Qantas has confirmed that 5.7 million customers have been impacted by a recent data breach through a third-party platform used by its contact center. The breach, attributed to the Scattered Spider threat group, exposed various personal details but did not include passwords, financial, or passport data. BleepingComputer reports: In a new update today, Qantas has confirmed that the threat actors stole data for approximately 5.7 million customers, with varying types of data exposed in the breach: 4 million customer records are limited to name, email address and Qantas Frequent Flyer details. Of this: - 1.2 million customer records contained name and email address. - 2.8 million customer records contained name, email address and Qantas Frequent Flyer number. The majority of these also had tier included. A smaller subset of these had points balance and status credits included. Of the remaining 1.7 million customers, their records included a combination of some of the data fields above and one or more of the following: - Address - 1.3 million. This is a combination of residential addresses and business addresses including hotels for misplaced baggage delivery. - Date of birth - 1.1 million - Phone number (mobile, landline and/or business) - 900,000 - Gender - 400,000. This is separate to other gender identifiers like name and salutation. - Meal preferences - 10,000

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After a record eight new pairings and a string of splits, it was revealed that all of the single Islanders had been dumped.

At least 120 people have been confirmed dead along the Guadalupe River and its surrounding counties.

Eithne Farry reviews the best short stories out now.

This week, David Nicholls answers our burning questions, what is he reading, what book would he take to a desert island, what gave him the reading bug, what left him cold?

Photographer Brian Jaquest captures all spectrums of life on Notting Hill's Portobello Road - from the street performers, to market sellers, his book has it all.