Technology

"OpenAI's video generation tool, Sora, can create high-definition clips of just about anything you could ask for..." reports the Washington Post. "But OpenAI has not specified which videos it grabbed to make Sora, saying only that it combined 'publicly available and licensed data'..." With ChatGPT, OpenAI helped popularize the now-standard industry practice of building more capable AI tools by scraping vast quantities of text from the web without consent. With Sora, launched in December, OpenAI staff said they built a pioneering video generator by taking a similar approach. They developed ways to feed the system more online video — in more varied formats — including vertical videos and longer, higher-resolution clips... To explore what content OpenAI may have used, The Washington Post used Sora to create hundreds of videos that show it can closely mimic movies, TV shows and other content... In dozens of tests, The Post found that Sora can create clips that closely resemble Netflix shows such as "Wednesday"; popular video games like "Minecraft"; and beloved cartoon characters, as well as the animated logos for Warner Bros., DreamWorks and other Hollywood studios, movies and TV shows. The publicly available version of Sora can generate only 20-second clips, without audio. In most cases, the look-alike scenes were made by typing basic requests like "universal studios intro." The results also showed that Sora can create AI videos with the logos or watermarks that broadcasters and tech companies use to brand their video content, including those for the National Basketball Association, Chinese-owned social app TikTok and Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch... Sora's ability to re-create specific imagery and brands suggests a version of the originals appeared in the tool's training data, AI researchers said. "The model is mimicking the training data. There's no magic," said Joanna Materzynska, a PhD researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has studied datasets used in AI. An AI tool's ability to reproduce proprietary content doesn't necessarily indicate that the original material was copied or obtained from its creators or owners. Content of all kinds is uploaded to video and social platforms, often without the consent of the copyright holder... Materzynska co-authored a study last year that found more than 70 percent of public video datasets commonly used in AI research contained content scraped from YouTube. Netflix and Twitch said they did not have a content partnership for training OpenAI, according to the article (which adds that OpenAI "has yet to face a copyright suit over the data used for Sora.") Two key quotes from the article: "Unauthorized scraping of YouTube content continues to be a violation of our Terms of Service." — YouTube spokesperson Jack Malon "We train on publicly available data consistent with fair use and use industry-leading safeguards to avoid replicating the material they learn from." — OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Libraries nationwide are fielding patron requests for books that don't exist after AI-generated summer reading lists appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times and Philadelphia Inquirer earlier this year. Reference librarian Eddie Kristan told 404 Media the problem began in late 2022 following GPT-3.5's release but escalated dramatically after the newspapers published lists created by a freelancer using AI without verification. A Library Freedom Project survey found patrons increasingly trust AI chatbots over human librarians and become defensive when told their AI-recommended titles are fictional. Kristan now routinely checks WorldCat's global catalog to verify titles exist. Collection development librarians are requesting digital vendors remove AI-generated books from platforms while academic libraries struggle against vendors implementing flawed LLM-based search tools and AI-generated summaries that undermine information literacy instruction.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The high seas, the vast waters beyond any one country's jurisdiction, cover nearly half the planet. On Friday, a hard-fought global treaty to protect the "cornucopia of biodiversity" living there cleared a final hurdle and will become international law. From a report: The High Seas Treaty, as it is known, was ratified by a 60th nation, Morocco, crossing the threshold for United Nations treaties to go into effect. Two decades in the making, it allows for the establishment of enormous conservation zones in international waters. Environmentalists hailed it as a historic moment. The treaty "is a conservation opportunity that happens once in a generation, if that," said Lisa Speer, who directs the International Oceans Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. It is also a bright spot amid a general dimming of optimism about international diplomacy and cooperation among nations toward common goals. It will come into force just as the high seas are poised to become the site of controversial industrial activities including deep sea mining. The treaty provides a comprehensive set of regulations for high seas conservation that would supersede the existing patchwork of rules developed by United Nations agencies and industrial organizations in sectors like oil, fishing and shipping. Currently, less than 10 percent of the world's oceans are protected under law, and conservation advocates say little of that protection is effective. The treaty states a goal of giving 30 percent of the high seas some kind of protected status by 2030.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Leon Thevenin, Africa's only permanently stationed cable repair ship, maintains over 60,000 kilometers of undersea internet infrastructure from Madagascar to Ghana. The 43-year-old vessel employs a 60-person crew who perform precision repairs on fiber-optic cables that carry data for Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon -- companies that consumed 3.6 billion megabits per second of bandwidth in 2023. Operating costs range from $70,000 to $120,000 daily, according to owner Orange Marine. The ship has experienced increased demand due to unusual underwater landslides in the Congo Canyon causing frequent cable breaks. Cable jointer Shuru Arendse and his team spend up to 48 hours on repairs that require fusing hair-thin glass fibers in conditions where a speck of dust can ruin the joint. The vessel gained Starlink connectivity last year after decades of relying on satellite phones and shared computers for crew communication. Sixty-two cable repair ships operate globally to maintain the infrastructure supporting streaming media and AI applications.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Washington Post: The Trump administration unveiled a new crackdown Friday on journalists at the Pentagon, saying it will require them to pledge they won't gather any information - even unclassified - that hasn't been expressly authorized for release, and will revoke the press credentials of those who do not obey. Under the policy, the Pentagon may revoke press passes for anyone it deems a security threat. Possessing confidential or unauthorized information, under the new rules, would be grounds for a journalist't press pass to be revoked. "DoW remains committed to transparency to promote accountability and public trust," the document says, using an acronym for the newly rebranded Department of War. "However, DoW information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified." For months, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his staff have been tightening restrictions on Pentagon reporters while limiting military personnel's direct communication with the press. Like many defense secretaries before him, Hegseth has been deeply irritated by leaks. His staff this year threatened to use polygraph tests to stop people from leaking information, until the White House intervened.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Amazon's logistics network will now fulfill orders placed on Walmart.com, the company announced at its Accelerate seller conference, creating a surreal arrangement where the e-commerce giant directly supports its biggest retail rival's online operations. Third-party sellers can now use Amazon's Multichannel Fulfillment service to automatically process Walmart orders through direct integration. The packages arrive in unbranded boxes since Walmart prohibits Amazon-branded deliveries to its customers. Amazon VP Dharmesh Mehta told GeekWire the system automatically routes any Walmart order through Amazon's fulfillment network. The service expansion includes upcoming Shein integration and existing support for eBay, Etsy, and Temu. Amazon's third-party seller services generated $156 billion in 2024 revenue. The company now competes directly against ShipBob, FedEx, UPS, and ironically Walmart's own fulfillment services while positioning itself as an end-to-end logistics provider regardless of where the sale originates.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Just days after federal data revealed average reading, math and science scores dropped among certain grades since before the coronavirus pandemic, a U.S. Senate panel on Thursday picked apart the root causes and methods for students' academic improvement. From a report: The hearing in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions centered on the "state of K-12 education" -- which GOP members on the committee described as "troubling" -- in light of recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP. NAEP, regarded as the gold standard for tracking students' academic performance, showed that average science scores for eighth-graders decreased by 4 points since before the pandemic, in 2019. Average math and reading scores for 12th-graders also fell 3 points between 2019 and 2024. The assessments were administered between January and March of 2024. Results also showed that just one-third of 12th-graders are considered academically prepared for college in math -- a drop from 37% in 2019. The committee's chair, Sen. Bill Cassidy, said "it should concern us that children's reading, math and science scores have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels." The Louisiana Republican added that "success in education is not determined by how much we spend, but by who makes the decision and how wisely resources are directed," and "when states and local communities are empowered to tailor solutions to meet the unique needs of students, innovation follows." On the other hand, Sen. Bernie Sanders, ranking member of the panel, said that "while we focus on education -- as important as that is -- we also have to focus on the conditions under which our children are living."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Gallup: A record-low 35% of Americans are satisfied with the quality of education that K-12 students receive in the U.S. today, marking an eight-percentage-point decline since last year. This is one point below the previous historical low recorded in 2000 and 2023 for this Gallup question that dates back to 1999. Several other ratings of the U.S. K-12 education system provide a similarly bleak assessment. Only about one-quarter of Americans think K-12 schools are headed in the right direction, while just one in five rate them as "excellent" or "good" at preparing students for today's jobs and one in three say the same for college. Yet, parents of current K-12 students are nearly twice as satisfied with their own child's education as they are with education in the U.S. K-12 parents are also slightly more likely than U.S. adults in general to rate different aspects of education positively, including the direction of education in the U.S. and schools' preparation of students for the workforce and for college. Still, none of these ratings is near the majority level.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

U.S. President Donald Trump plans to impose a new $100,000 application fee for H-1B worker visas, a White House official said, potentially dealing a big blow to the technology sector that relies heavily on skilled workers from India and China. From a report: As part of his broader immigration crackdown, the Republican president was expected to sign a proclamation as early as Friday restricting entry under the H-1B visa program unless the application fee is paid, the official said. The H-1B program has become critical for technology and staffing companies who rely on foreign workers to fill a variety of technical roles. Amazon had over 10,000 H-1B visas approved in the first half of 2025, while Microsoft and Meta had over 5,000 H-1B visa approvals each, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Roughly two-thirds of jobs secured through the visa program are computer-related, according to U.S. government figures, but employers also use the visa to bring in engineers, educators and healthcare workers.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Microsoft will increase Xbox Series X and Series S console prices in the United States on October 3. The Series X rises to $649.99 from $599.99 and the 512GB Series S increases to $399.99 from $379.99. The 1TB Series S moves to $449.99 from $429.99. The Series X Digital Edition reaches $599.99 from $549.99 and the 2TB Galaxy Black Special Edition climbs to $799.99 from $729.99. Microsoft cited macroeconomic changes for the increases. Console prices outside the US and controller and headset prices domestically remain unchanged. The company raised console prices globally in May.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Meta is moving to break into the wholesale power-trading business to better manage the massive electricity needs of its data centers. Bloomberg: The company, which owns Facebook, filed an application with US regulators this week seeking authorization to do so. A Meta representative said it was a natural next step to participate in energy markets as it looks to power operations with clean energy. Buying electricity has become an increasingly urgent challenge for technology companies including Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet's Google. They're all racing to develop more advanced artificial intelligence systems and tools that are notoriously resource-intensive. Amazon, Google and Microsoft are already active power traders, according to filings with US regulators.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.