Amazon Cracks Down On Use of AI Images By Sellers
CNBC reports:
Amazon is requiring that third-party sellers label any product images or videos that contain "AI-generated people" after New York recently passed a law mandating greater transparency around "synthetic performers" in ads... The policy directs sellers to tag images [and videos or other graphics on listing pages] with specific metadata keywords before they're uploaded. "Recent legislation requires disclosure when images or videos in advertisements contain photorealistic AI-generated people," Amazon wrote in the announcement [clarifying that the requirement doesn't apply to content featuring TV/video game/movie characters or content including real people, even if they've been altered using AI]. The company said it will "add an indicator" to listings on its website, informing consumers that images or other content feature AI-generated people, "where applicable." It's unclear what criteria Amazon will apply when deciding when to display the label to shoppers...
Amazon has embraced AI internally and it's increasingly infusing the technology across its portfolio. The company has optimized listing titles and details so they're more likely to be spotted by AI systems, invested in a recently rebranded assistant called Alexa for Shopping, and launched a feature that injects AI-generated [images of] products into its search bar in real time based on user queries. More Amazon third-party sellers are using AI to generate text, images and other content for their listings, partly by using the company's tools.
Outside sellers account for more than 60% of goods sold on Amazon, the article points out. It adds that there's currently no nationwide U.S. law requiring companies to disclose AI-generated advertising content, it adds — but YouTube, Meta, Pinterest, and TikTok have already added labels for AI-generated content.
And a new California law also requires large AI providers to embed watermarks in AI-generated images, video and other content...
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Alan Shearer's daughter Hollie is married! Singer, 31, ties the knot with England rugby star Joe Marchant in a legal ceremony
The singer, 31, has tied the knot with England Rugby star Joe Marchant, 30, in a legal ceremony on Friday.
EastEnders' Shona McGarty and Tony Discipline finally make their romance Instagram official as they show off their matching tattoos in loved-up holiday snaps
The couple have kept fans guessing for weeks about the status of their relationship, after they were pictured during a cosy red carpet appearance back in May.
Thirsty work! Princess Anne eschews the fancy options as she sips from a tumbler while watching the racing at Ascot
The King's sister was in attendance at the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes, named for her late grandparents, to watch a battle of the thoroughbreds on Saturday afternoon.
Georgia Toffolo reveals she and husband James Watt fled Cap Ferret by boat just hours before the French tourist spot was hit by 'distressing' wildfires which have forced 40,000 to evacuate
More than 40,000 people have fled from a millionaire's holiday paradise in France after an 'apocalyptic' wildfire that broke out on Tuesday.
Police reopen inquiry into sex assault claims against former billionaire Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed at his 'castle of horrors'
Police Scotland have reopened an inquiry into sex assault claims against former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Twenty firefighters hospitalised after explosion sparked massive blaze that destroyed three fire engines at Essex industrial unit
More than 100 fire crew had responded to the fire, which followed an explosion heard across the county thought to have come from the unit, which housed fertiliser.
Top Online Sites Debate Cutting Off Google's Crawlers
Futurism reports:
[Some online publications] are now debating whether to cut Google off entirely, as the Wall Street Journal reports, illustrating an increasingly fraught relationship between the tech giant and the publishers that are creating content its AI models are regurgitating. According to the newspaper, prominent outlets including USA Today, Politico, the Economist, People, and Reuters are all reexamining their relationship with Google. Some are debating whether to continue to work with the tech giant at all... Even Reddit executives are reevaluating the company's $60 million-a-year contract that allows Google to train its AI models on user-submitted content on the platform. They've similarly watched as Google's AI features discourage users from navigating to Reddit...
Beyond pondering whether to cut Google off, other publishers have resorted to suing the company, accusing it of illegally rehashing their intellectual property via AI summaries.
It's an extremely undesirable position for publishers. By severing ties with the search giant, they could face even steeper declines in traffic. At the same time, there's seemingly little to gain from having Google's AIs crawl their content — and in the long term, it could guarantee their destruction.
Two interesting data points from the article:
"Last month, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince noticed that automated bot traffic had overtaken human traffic for the first time in the internet's history."
"USA Today has seen its traffic from US users drop by almost half over the last year."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Dani Dyer shares rare snaps with husband Jarrod Bowen at her dad Danny's birthday dinner after footballer revealed he won't be leaving actor's beloved West Ham
Dani Dyer shared an insight into her dad Danny's birthday dinner with their family after her husband Jarrod Bowen agreed to stay at his team West Ham.
BBC presenter Joanna Kent forced to flee family holiday with 30 minutes warning after they were caught up in France wildfires
BBC presenter Joanna Kent has revealed she was caught up in the wildfires raging in south west France and had just 30 minutes to evacuate the area.
Kevin Keegan is remembered as Newcastle fans lay extraordinary sea of flowers outside St James' Park
The legendary former footballer, a two-time Ballon d'Or winner who captained and managed England, died aged 75 following a stage four cancer battle.
Explosive lesbian romance that began between an 'Avenging Angel' and a much younger British actress at Davos ends in toxic High Court fight - as property tycoon battles to stop her 'poor' bride getting £225m fortune
When Thea Bartok and Angelique Brunner met at the World Economic Forum, the chemistry was immediate. But after a whirlwind six years together, their split is toxic.
All emergency services called as three people get into difficulty in sea
An update has been issued after a major emergency response at Clacton beach.
All emergency services called as three people get into difficulty in sea
An update has been issued after a major emergency response at Clacton beach.
Top hats, breastplates and the bracing North Sea air: Steampunk fans dress up for weekend at Whitby
The Whitby Steampunk weekend is held twice a year in the North Yorkshire town and features over 80 trade stalls, a retail emporium and talks.
Warning issued over free event starring huge names in music
Big names such as Tom Zanetti and Sophie Ellis-Bextor will be performing
China is Creating a Herd of 100 Elite Yak Clones
CNN reports on yaks "designed and cloned" in secretive, high-altitude labs in Tibet — 2.4 miles (4,000 meters) above sea level. They're a critical part of the local economy, and researchers "hope to create an 'elite' herd of super-yaks, healthier and more fertile than their predecessors."
Both domestic yaks and their wild cousins have been facing threats for years, with some rare subspecies at risk of disappearing entirely. Authorities in the southwestern Chinese region have poured tens of millions of dollars into boosting the yak industry in recent years — and they hope cloning can help. The first yak clone came in July 2025, Chinese state media hailing it as a breakthrough achievement that combined cloning with gene selection. More clones were born this spring — and researchers are now aiming to create a herd of more than 100 "elite" yak clones by 2028, boasting desired traits like faster growth and larger size. "This shows the technology has moved from a one-time success to a stable, mass-scale application," said Fang Shengguo, the project's scientific lead and director of the State Conservation Center for Gene Resources of Endangered Wildlife, according to state-run news agency Xinhua...
Many experts acknowledge there are legitimate arguments for using cloning in conservation, and for gene selection in farming. But the ethical waters are murky, and any such project should have high levels of public transparency and accountability, said Lisa Moses, a veterinarian and bioethicist at Harvard Medical School. So far, much of the yak cloning project remains mysterious, with information largely limited to glowing state-media coverage...
[S]ome scientists say these projects reduce our sense of urgency toward fixing the environment, and that we can't simply churn out clones while the planet burns. To truly enact change, they say, we have to continue addressing the root cause of the problem — restoring degraded habitats, lowering carbon emissions, cracking down on poaching, and more. But for others, "there is a strong feeling ... that traditional conservation is essentially failing now," Moses said. "What we've been doing for the last 100 years to try to stave off ecological destruction is not working.... The argument is, we don't have a choice," she added. "If we want to try to do something that will actually make a difference, we need to use these technologies, specifically synthetic biology, to essentially override evolution and change the fitness of the species for the environment that they live in."
"History is littered with good intentions in the environment gone wrong," Moses said, "and I would argue that these technologies have even more unknowns than ones that we previously employed."
The article points out that the number of wild yaks "dropped more than a third in the last 30 years,
with just 10,000 to 20,000 individuals left, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society."
The yaks are threatened by climate change and habitat degradation, "with warmer temperatures bringing invasive plant species and increased competition for resources... in one of the world's most inhospitable terrains."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Olivia Attwood gets a tattoo on her ring finger after posting about her 'up and down year' following ex Bradley Dack's outing with new romance
Olivia Attwood gets a tattoo on her ring finger after posting about her 'up and down year' on Instagram on Friday following ex Bradley Dack's outing with new romance.
Former England star Steph Houghton reveals she's expecting her first child with her husband Stephen Darby after sharing hopes they could become parents amid his battle with motor neurone disease
The England Lioness, 38, shared the happy news in an Instagram post on Saturday, after Stephen was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2018.
Air ambulance lands at Essex beach amid major emergency response
A major emergency response is underway at Clacton beach, with multiple services including an air ambulance and coastguard helicopter at the scene.