Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported better-than-expected sales on a boom in artificial intelligence applications demanding more of the

A lot of things in the chaos that is life have sparked comparisons to Netflix’s dark anthology series Black Mirror over the years. Its very first episode back in 2011 - “The National Anthem” – resurfaced in 2015 amid ‘Piggate’ and David Cameron, Apple’s Animojis drew parallels with the titular animated bear in “The Waldo Moment”, and just this week people thought Apple’s first AR headset looked particularly dystopian. Now, as both tech experts and political advisers warn of the threat of artificial intelligence (AI), and the AI chatbot ChatGPT continues to generate memes and news stories online, Black Mirror’s creator Charlie Brooker has revealed he’s had a go with the software – albeit with underwhelming results. He told Empire: “I’ve toyed around with ChatGPT a bit. The first thing I did was type ‘generate Black Mirror episode’ and it comes up with something that, at first glance, reads plausibly, but on second glance, is s***. “Because all it’s done is look up all the synopses of Black Mirror episodes, and sort of mush them together. Then if you dig a bit more deeply you go, ‘oh, there’s not actually any real original thought here.’” Shame – that would have been suitably meta. Brooker did, however, note some learnings from his experience with the chatbot, adding: “I was aware that I had written lots of episodes where someone goes, ‘oh, I was inside a computer the whole time!’ So I thought, ‘I’m just going to chuck out any sense of what I think a Black Mirror episode is.’ Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “There’s no point in having an anthology show if you can’t break your own rules. Just a sort of nice, cold glass of water in the face.” Although an AI-produced episode of Black Mirror is off the cards for now, fans of the show do have five new ones to look forward to when the hotly anticipated season six drops on Netflix on 15 June. Opening episode “Joan Is Awful” features a Netflix parody known as Streamberry in scenes akin to The Truman Show (and stars Scott Pilgrim actor Michael Cera and comedian Rob Delaney), episode two titled “Loch Henry” is reported to have elements of past episode “White Bear” in it, and Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul is up in space in “Beyond The Sea”. Meanwhile the penultimate episode “Mazey Day” appears to follow the scandal-hit celebrity in its title, and stage stars Anjana Vasan and Paapa Essiedu round off the series with “Demon 76” – a story which is reportedly about a sales assistant forced to do awful things. Yeah, that sounds about right. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 18, 2023--

A group of nearly 30 House Democrats has accused Elon Musk and X of profiting from Hamas propaganda. The group, led by Reps Jamie Raskin and Dan Goldman, sent a letter to Mr Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino on Tuesday accusing the company of not following its own policies regarding “violent and hateful entities,” which prohibits promotion of terrorist organizations and propaganda and states the platform works to remove such violations. The letter outlined reports from non-profit research groups that showed X accounts sharing “uncensored videos depicting the desecration of corpses”. The lawmakers said such content was being spread in “the darkest corners” of the platform through hashtags used by people monitoring updates about the Israel-Hamas war. They added that the posts and accounts “were allowed to remain live for days after their policy violations had been publicized”. The group went on to accuse X of profiting off the back of the “Hamas propaganda” being shared, “through monthly subscription fees collected from some propaganda spreaders” and “ads displayed in replies to posts by both Premium and regular accounts”. This, the lawmakers said, is “indefensible”. The lawmakers concluded by asking Mr Musk and Ms Yaccarino to “uphold your public commitments and enforce your policies”. They also asked the pair to provide “all forms of written communications … relating to content moderation for any posts or accounts associated with, related to, or connected to Hamas”. X did not immediately returnThe Independent‘s request for comment. However, the same day that the letter was sent, Mr Musk announced plans to donate all revenue the social media platform generates from advertising and subscriptions linked to the war to hospitals in Israel and the Red Cross in Gaza. “X Corp will be donating all revenue from advertising & subscriptions associated with the war in Gaza to hospitals in Israel and the Red Cross/Crescent in Gaza,” he posted on X. The condemnation from House Democrats marks just the latest development in the growing antisemitism row encircling Mr Musk and the social media platform. Since Mr Musk’s $44bn acquisition of X closed last year, he has relaxed moderation policies on the platform and cut many staff involved with moderating content. In recent months, Mr Musk has come under fire on multiple occasions over content promoting antisemitism on the site. Mr Musk has also sparked outrage over his own peronal posts and comments which have promoted antisemitic content. Last week, the self-described “free-speech absolutist” said a post which promoted an antisemitic theory was “the actual truth”. A social media user had appeared to push the “great replacement” conspiracy theory on X, claiming that Jewish communities “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them”. “I’m deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest s*** now about Western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realisation that those hordes of minorities that support flooding their country don’t exactly like them too much. You want truth said to your face, there it is,” the post added. Mr Musk responded by writing: “You have said the actual truth.” His response received praise from white nationalist Nick Fuentes – while prompting widespread backlash from dozens more, including the White House, with many accusing him of antisemitism. He later responded to the accusations of antisemitism, insisting “nothing could be further from the truth”. “This past week, there were hundreds of bogus media stories claiming that I am antisemitic. Nothing could be further from the truth,” he wrote. “I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all.” Days later, left-wing non-profit organisation Media Matters published a report revealing that adverts from big brands including IBM, Apple, Oracle and Bravo were running next to pro-Hitler and antisemitic content on Mr Musk’s social media platform. The revelation prompted a series of major companies – including Disney, Apple and IBM – to pull advertising from X. On Monday, Mr Musk responded by filing a “thermonuclear lawsuit” against Media Matters. He and other X executives denied the accusations in the report, saying that the research strategy used by the non-profit to uncover the content placed next to company adverts was not representative of how regular people use its platform. The organisation had followed accounts that posted the content, then refreshed the X timeline until adverts appeared, X executive Joe Benarroch said. Meanwhile, an X spokesperson told The Independent the company did not intentionally place the adverts next to the posts from the antisemitic accounts, which have now been demonetised, meaning advertising can no longer run on their profiles. However, the accounts have not been removed. Media Matters president Angelo Carusone issued a statement on Monday addressing Mr Musk’s campaign against the organisation, calling the lawsuit “meritless” and “an attempt to silence reporting that he even confirmed is accurate”. “Musk admitted the ads at issue ran alongside the pro-Nazi content we identified. If he does sue us, we will win,” the non-profit said. This came after an earlier scandal in the days after the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel, where Mr Musk was forced to delete a post in which he amplified an account widely accused of antisemitism and promoted debunked videos as reliable sources of information about the attack. Last year, advocacy organisation the American Jewish Committee called on Mr Musk to apologise over a controversial post that made a satirical comparison between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Adolf Hitler. Mr Musk has previously insisted that he is “pro free speech” but against antisemitism “of any kind”. Read More Elon Musk amplifies Pizzagate conspiracy theory Biden joins rival Threads after Musk’s ‘unacceptable’ response to antisemitism on X Musk files defamation suit against Media Matters over Nazi X post claims Elon Musk and Trump aide want journalists jailed over X Hitler exposé Elon Musk insists he’s not antisemitic after sharing antisemitic post SpaceX Starship rocket loses contact after reaching space: Live updates

Meowko, a well-known Twitch streamer, has been banned from the platform for what she claims is a very bizzare reason

The European Union should strengthen its emergency rules so that citizens don’t bear the brunt if electricity prices

Although we’re probably still a long way off from the sentient forms of AI that are depicted in film and literature, we can turn to fiction to probe the questions raised by these technological advancements.

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TL;DR: Prime members can save 50% on a three-month subscription to Paramount+ this Prime Day.

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo supports legislation giving the Commerce Department new tools to address

Carbon emissions from wildfires in Canada are at record levels, with a plume of smoke crossing the Atlantic

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss her criticism of the state’s Black history school curriculum standards after she joined widespread outrage over newly approved guidelines that diminish the impact of slavery and racist violence. “In Florida we are unafraid to have an open and honest dialogue about the issues. And you clearly have no trouble ducking down to Florida on short notice,” the governor wrote in a letter on 31 July, referencing her recent remarks in the state. “So given your grave concern (which, I must assume, is sincere) about what you think our standards say, I am officially inviting you back down to Florida to discuss our African American History standards,” he added. The administration also has invited William B Allen, one of the members of the working group that developed the standards who has a long history of inflammatory remarks and partisan rhetoric. The Independent has requested comment from the office of Ms Harris. The vice president travelled to Orlando on Tuesday to deliver remarks at the 20th Women’s Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church Quadrennial Convention. Her visit follows remarks in the state on 21 July to condemn the state’s “propaganda” and the “extremist, so-called leaders” who support it. Though she did not name him or any other Florida officials, the vice president’s speech was directly aimed at the governor, whose administration has sought to radically overhaul public education and establish a “parents’ rights” agenda that restricts honest lessons of race and racism, threatens discussion of LGBT+ people and events, targets libraries and reshapes local school boards. A new set of standards for African American history in Florida schools will teach middle schoolers how enslaved people “developed skills” that could be “applied for personal benefit”. Another guideline instructs high schoolers to be taught that a massacre led by white supremacists against Black residents in Ocoee to stop them from voting in 1920 included “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.” Civil rights advocates, educators and lawmakers have warned that the guidelines present a distorted, revisionist picture of American history. “Adults know what slavery really was. It involved rape, it involved torture, it involved taking a baby from their mother, it involved some of the worst examples of depriving humanity of people in our world,” Ms Harris said in her remarks in Jacksonville. Members of the working group and the Florida Board of Education have defended the unanimously approved standards, assuring that they include comprehensive lessons on American history, including its darkest chapters. Mr Allen, a Black professor emeritus at Michigan State University who also sits on the national advisory board of the right-wing think tank Center for Urban Renewal and Education, has repeatedly defended the working group’s guidelines. A review of his past statements from Popular Information reveals a history of incendiary, contrarian remarks used to bolster and legitimise right-wing ideology. In 1989, he faced protests while participating in a panel titled “Blacks? Animals? Homosexuals? What is a Minority?” on which he claimed that special classes of protection for LGBT+ people and other minorities are a “fatal” mistake that heighten “tensions and antagonism”. Creating legal protections for minority groups “is the beginning of the evil of reducing American blacks to an equality with animals and then seducing other groups to seek the same charitable treatment,” according to prepared remarks. His speech was denounced by the US Civil Rights Commission – on which he was then serving as chair – as “disgusting” and “necessarily inflammatory”. That same year, he also was charged with kidnapping a 14-year-old girl from a Native American reservation in Arizona while she was the subject of a custody battle between her mother and a white couple who adopted her. Mr Allen also has opposed race-conscious admissions in higher education, including leading a campaign with a group that included members of the conservative Christian Hillsdale College and right-wing interest group the Heritage Foundation. He also has criticised The 1619 Project, which is explicitly banned from Florida schools, and has rejected concepts including “systemic racism, institutional racism [and] white privilege.” Mr DeSantis has routinely accused “the left” and Democratic officials of “indoctrinating” students in the state while he promotes an agenda that bans honest discussions of race and racism, sexuality and gender. The governor’s administration also recently approved materials from right-wing political advocacy group PragerU to be included in K-12 classrooms. The founder himself has said that those lessons are explicitly designed to indoctrinate. The campaign for Mr DeSantis, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president in 2024, has fired back at Black Republicans in Congress who have joined criticism of the African American history standards, including US Reps Byron Donalds and John James, as well as 2024 rival and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. Both Mr James and Mr Donalds have endorsed Donald Trump. Read More Why Florida’s new curriculum on slavery is becoming a political headache for Ron DeSantis Most of Florida work group behind controversial new guidelines on African American history did not agree, report says The GOP primary is already decided. We’re just pretending it isn’t