After testing advertising in select markets, Meta Platforms is now offering ads on Instagram’s Threads globally to all eligible advertisers, providing access to the more than 320 million monthly active users the social platform has accrued since launching in July 2023. The Threads feed ad placement will be set on by default for new campaigns using either Advantage+ or Manual Placements unless an advertiser toggles to opt out. Global Threads advertisers will also have access to the platform’s inventory filter, which provides increased control over the distribution of ads. Continue reading Meta Opens Threads Advertising Globally to Eligible Accounts

Instagram is using AI to find teens who have falsified their age and is reclassifying them into “Teen Accounts” settings. The Meta social platform is reaching out to parents to tell them about “the importance of their teens providing the correct ages online, and tips to check and confirm their teens’ ages together,” but letting them know they “don’t have to go it alone — we’re using AI to help.” Instagram launched Teen Accounts last year as a way to enroll users and provide built-in protections. Those under 16 need a parent or guardian’s permission to change the setting. The safeguards are on by default for young users, limiting who can make contact and filtering viewable content. Continue reading Instagram Taps AI to Identify Young Users for Teen Accounts

Instant messaging and VoIP social platform Discord is experimenting with a feature that requires some users to verify their age by scanning their face or a photo ID. The technique is being implemented in Australia and the United Kingdom, where recently passed laws seek to crack down on minors accessing potentially harmful online content. The safeguard applies only to users who haven’t previously verified their age on the chat platform. Discord says age verification aims “to help users manage content filter settings and sensitive content visibility,” explaining it is a one-time process that can be completed when users first adjust their settings. Continue reading Discord Testing Facial Scans to Verify Age in UK and Australia

YouTube has added new features to its apps for mobile, Web and TV, including expanded controls for playback speeds, badges, a miniplayer redesign, and the ability to create collaborative playlists. The company is also debuting an authenticity tool. By affixing a “captured with a camera” label, creators can indicate their work is shot with an actual camera, with unaltered visual and audio. Among the general platform improvements that YouTube implements annually, users can now share playlists via link or QR code, and create custom thumbnails for those lists, either by uploading an image or generating one with AI. Continue reading YouTube Expands Features and Adds an Authentication Tool

Google DeepMind has made its latest AI image generator, Imagen 3, free for use in the U.S. via the company’s ImageFX platform. Imagen 3 will be available in multiple versions, “each optimized for different types of tasks, from generating quick sketches to high-resolution images.” Google announced Imagen 3 at Google I/O in March, and in June made it available to enterprise users through Vertex. Using simplified natural language text input rather than “complex prompt engineering,” Google says Imagen 3 generates high-quality images in a range styles, from photorealistic, painterly and textured to whimsically cartoony. Continue reading Google DeepMind Releases Imagen 3 for Free to U.S. Users

Paris-based global streaming platform Deezer is fielding an AI playlist generator in an international beta launch. The move makes the indie-centric service more competitive with Spotify and Amazon Music, which have already been testing the feature. YouTube is reportedly also experimenting with AI-powered personalized radio. As of now, 5 percent of Deezer’s paid subscribers have been selected at random to try Playlist with AI, which creates playlists from text prompts that invoke moods, genres, decades, activities or “anything else that comes to mind,” according to Deezer. Continue reading Deezer Adds AI Playlists to Compete with Spotify and Amazon

In a move aimed at launching more accessible Android apps, Google has open-sourced code for Project Gameface, a hands-free game control feature released last year that allows users to move a computer with facial and head gestures. Developers will now have more Gameface resources with which to build Android applications for physically challenged users, “to make every Android device more accessible.” Project Gameface evolved as a collaboration with quadriplegic video game streamer Lance Carr, who has muscular dystrophy. The technology uses a smartphone’s front camera to track movement. Continue reading Google Adds Open-Source Gameface for Android Developers

Meta Platforms announced an expanded collection of generative AI features, tools and services for advertisers and businesses. The enhanced AI features include full image and text generation, text overlay capabilities, and image expansion for Reels and the Feed in Facebook and Instagram. The updated tools will be available via Meta Ads Manager through Advantage+ creative. According to Meta: “Our goal is to help you at every step of your journey, whether that’s improving ad performance by helping you develop creative variations, automating certain parts of the ad creation process, or increasing your credibility and engagement through Meta Verified.” Continue reading Meta Launches Enhanced Generative AI Tools for Advertisers

Decentralized social platform Bluesky has open-sourced a tool called Ozone that facilitates custom moderation. Debuting this week, Ozone lets individuals or teams collaboratively review and label content on the platform. “We’re opening up the ability to run your own independent moderation services, seamlessly integrated into the Bluesky app,” the company says, explaining “you’ll be able to create and subscribe to additional moderation services” on top of that which is administered by Bluesky’s moderation team, “giving you unprecedented control over your social media experience.” Continue reading Ozone Helps Users Customize Content Moderation on Bluesky

Community message board and social news aggregator Reddit, founded in 2005, has filed to go public on the New York Stock Exchange in an IPO observers say may be complete in a matter of weeks. It is the first social media company to go public in many years, with Snap Inc.’s 2017 offering cited as the most recent stock market splash. Reddit’s bankers are reportedly seeking a $5 billion valuation, about half the $10 billion it was valued at for a 2021 private funding round. Reddit filed with the SEC the same day it announced an “expanded partnership” with Google to use Vertex AI. Continue reading Reddit Announces IPO on Heels of Expanded Deal with Google

Adobe has unveiled Project Sound Lift, an AI-powered technology that separates speech recordings into discrete tracks of voices, non-speech sounds and other background noise in video. The company describes Project Sound Lift as “a one-click solution” that leverages AI to help users easily manipulate audio recordings “across a range of scenarios” to “enhance, transform, and control speech and sound independently.” Adobe’s existing Enhance Speech technology, available in the company’s Premiere Pro editing program, has been integrated within Project Sound Lift to aid creators in producing studio-quality audio content. Continue reading Adobe Reveals Its New AI Tool for Editing Problematic Audio

OpenAI is developing an AI tool that can identify images created by artificial intelligence — specifically those made in whole or part by its Dall-E 3 image generator. Calling it a “provenance classifier,” company CTO Mira Murati began publicly discussing the detection app last week but said not to expect it in general release anytime soon. This, despite Murati’s claim it is “almost 99 percent reliable.” That is still not good enough for OpenAI, which knows there is much at stake when the public perception of artists’ work can be impacted by a filter applied by AI, which is notoriously capricious. Continue reading OpenAI Developing ‘Provenance Classifier’ for GenAI Images

Spotify has launched an in-app dedicated Merch Hub that will offer personalized purchase recommendations based on listening habits. Previously, the music streamer’s shopping opportunities were through artist profile pages as well as via the Now Playing view and new release pages. Now, “instead of having to browse artist by artist, this update makes it easier than ever to access all artist merch in one place,” Spotify says. Last year, the streamer reported “the highest-grossing merch sales week for artists in Spotify history” in its annual Wrapped report. Continue reading Spotify Offers ‘Merch Hub’ for Recommendations and More

As creators embrace artificial intelligence to juice creativity, TikTok is launching a tool that helps them label their AI-generated content while also beginning to test “ways to label AI-generated content automatically.” “AI enables incredible creative opportunities, but can potentially confuse or mislead viewers,” TikTok said in announcing labels that can apply to “any content that has been completely generated or significantly edited by AI,” including video, photographs, music and more. The platform also touted a policy that “requires people to label AI-generated content that contains realistic images, audio or video, in order to help viewers contextualize.” Continue reading TikTok Creates New Tools for Labeling Content Created by AI

Microsoft says it will assume legal responsibility for commercial customers who get sued for copyright infringement as a result of the company’s AI Copilot product services. A new initiative called the Copilot Copyright Commitment is designed to provide peace of mind to Microsoft business users as more copyright holders challenge the handling of protected works by the companies building AI models. “If a third party sues a commercial customer for copyright infringement for using Microsoft’s Copilots or the output they generate, we will defend the customer” and pay any resulting fees, including settlements, Microsoft says. Continue reading Microsoft Copilot AI Customers Shielded from Legal Exposure