An anonymous reader shared this report from the Telegraph: Workers with an axe to grind against their employer are using AI to bombard businesses with costly and inaccurate lawsuits, experts have warned.

Frustration is growing among employment lawyers who say they are seeing a trend of litigants using AI to help them run their claims, which they say is generating "inconsistent, lengthy, and often incorrect arguments" and causing a spike in legal fees... Ailie Murray, an employment partner at law firm Travers Smith, said AI submissions are produced so rapidly that they are "often excessively lengthy and full of inconsistencies", but employers must then spend vast amounts of money responding to them. She added: "In many cases, the AI-generated output is inaccurate, leading to claimants pleading invalid claims or arguments.

"It is not an option for an employer to simply ignore such submissions. This leads to a cycle of continuous and costly correspondence. Such dynamics could overburden already stretched tribunals with unfounded and poorly pleaded claims."
There's definitely been a "significant increase" in the number of clients using AI, James Hockin, an employment partner at Withers, told the Telegraph. The danger? "There is a risk that we see unrepresented individuals pursuing the wrong claims in the UK employment tribunal off the back of a duff result from an AI tool."

On Wednesday Mozilla president Mark Surman "announced plans to tackle what he says are 'major headwinds' facing the company's ability to grow, make money, and remain relevant," reports the blog OMG Ubuntu: "Mozilla's impact and survival depend on us simultaneously strengthening Firefox AND finding new sources of revenue AND manifesting our mission in fresh ways," says Surman... It will continue to invest in privacy-respecting advertising; fund, develop and push open-source AI features in order to retain 'product relevance'; and will go all-out on novel new fundraising initiatives to er, get us all to chip in and pay for it!

Mozilla is all-in on AI; Surman describes it as Mozilla's North Star for the work it will do over the next few years. I wrote about its new 'Orbit' AI add-on for Firefox recently...

Helping to co-ordinate, collaborate and come up with ways to keep the company fixed and focused on these fledgling effort is a brand new Mozilla Leadership Council.
The article argues that without Mozilla the web would be "a far poorer, much ickier, and notably less FOSS-ier place..." Or, as Mozilla's blog post put it Wednesday, "Mozilla is entering a new chapter — one where we need to both defend what is good about the web and steer the technology and business models of the AI era in a better direction.

"I believe that we have the people — indeed, we ARE the people — to do this, and that there are millions around the world ready to help us. I am driven and excited by what lies ahead."

According to Bloomberg, YouTube plans to introduce a lower-priced, ad-free version of its paid video service. From the report: The package, dubbed "premium lite," will be announced soon in the US, Australia, Germany and Thailand, according to a person familiar with the plans. The service will target viewers who primarily want to watch programs other than music videos. While YouTube may be best known for the free videos uploaded by users, the company also offers a variety of paid services. YouTube Premium is a $13.99-a-month package in the US that lets subscribers watch everything on the service, including music videos, without ads.

"As part of our commitment to provide our users with more choice and flexibility, we've been testing a new YouTube Premium offering with most videos ad-free in several of our markets," a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement. "We're hoping to expand this offering to even more users in the future with our partners' support."

Nikola, the hydrogen-truck maker that briefly sported a market value comparable to Ford Motor, has filed for bankruptcy with plans to wind down its business. From a report: Nikola on Wednesday said that it made the chapter 11 filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware and that it plans to conduct a court-supervised auction of its assets.

The Phoenix company said it worked for months with its financial and legal advisers to find a way to sustain its operations before determining that a structured sale process was the best way to maximize the value of its assets.

Meta's WhatsApp messaging service has surpassed 45 million users, earning the designation of a "Very Large Online Platform" under the EU's Digital Services Act. Bloomberg reports: WhatsApp's open channels, which are feeds affiliated with news outlets or public figures that under the DSA are comparable to a social network, averaged about 46.8 million monthly average users in the second half of 2024, Meta said in a filing on Feb. 14 that hasn't previously been reported. [...] The DSA content moderation rulebook imposes stricter requirements on very large online platforms, defined as those whose EU-based monthly active users exceed 45 million. Users of WhatsApp's core messaging feature do not count toward the designation under the DSA.

The commission would still need to rule that WhatsApp should be included in the more regulated tier. Under the DSA, very large online platforms must carry out risk assessments on the spread of illegal or harmful content, and put in place a mitigation strategy. Fines under the DSA can reach as much as 6% of a company's annual global sales. The DSA requires platforms to disclose user numbers every six months. Messaging service Telegram also published an update this week, saying that monthly EU users of its public channels are "significantly fewer than 45 million."

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: HP will acquire assets from Humane, the maker of a wearable Ai Pin introduced in late 2023, for $116 million. The deal will include the majority of Humane's employees in addition to its software platform and intellectual property, the company said Tuesday. It will not include Humane's Ai pin device business, which will be wound down, an HP spokesperson said. Humane's team, including founders Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, will form a new division at HP to help integrate artificial intelligence into the company's personal computers, printers and connected conference rooms, said Tuan Tran, who leads HP's AI initiatives. Chaudhri and Bongiorno were design and software engineers at Apple before founding the startup. [...]

Tran said he was particularly impressed with aspects of Humane's design, such as the ability to orchestrate AI models running both on-device and in the cloud. The deal is expected to close at the end of the month, HP said. "There will be a time and place for pure AI devices," Tran said. "But there is going to be AI in all our devices -- that's how we can help our business customers be more productive."

Apps offering lifetime subscriptions may pose risks despite potential cost savings, according to cybersecurity experts and analysts. While some lifetime plans can pay off quickly - like dating app Bumble's $300 premium subscription that breaks even in five months - others require years of use to justify hefty upfront costs. Meditation app Waking Up charges $1,500 for lifetime access, requiring over 11 years of use to recoup the investment.

Security researchers warn against lifetime subscriptions for services with high recurring costs like VPNs and cloud storage. Such providers may compromise user privacy or cut corners on infrastructure to offset losses, said Trevor Hilligoss, senior vice president at cybercrime research group SpyCloud Labs.

An anonymous reader shares a report: JPMorgan Chase Bank (Chase) will soon start blocking Zelle payments to social media contacts to combat a significant rise in online scams utilizing the service for fraud.

Zelle is a highly popular digital payments network that allows users to transfer money quickly and securely between bank accounts. It is also integrated into the mobile apps of many banks in the United States, allowing for almost instant transfers without requiring cash or checks but lacking one crucial feature: purchase protection.

gwolf (Slashdot reader #26,339) writes: On Friday, February 14, Libertarian Argentinian president, Javier Milei, promoted the just-created $LIBRA cryptocoin, created by the Viva la libertad project, strongly aligned with his political party, La Libertad Avanza. Milei tweeted, "This private project will be devoted to promote growth of the Argentinian economy, funding small startups and enterprises. The world wants to invest in Argentina!"

It is worth noting that the project's website was registered a mere three minutes before Milei tweeted his endorsement. The cryptocoin quickly reached a $4.6 billion market cap... Only to instantaneously lose 89% of its value, with nine core investers pulling the rug from under the enthusiast investors. More details from the blog Web3 Is Going Just Great: [W]ithin hours of the launch, insiders began selling off their holdings of the token. The token had been highly concentrated among insiders, with around 82% of the token held in a small cluster of apparently insider addresses. Those insiders cashed out around $107 million, crashing the token price by around 95%. After the crash, Milei deleted his tweet promoting the project. He later claimed he was "not aware of the details of the project."
UPDATE: CNN reports that Argentine President Milei is now facing calls for impeachment. The presidency on Saturday announced an investigation into the matter, saying: "President Javier Milei has decided to immediately involve the Anti-Corruption Office to determine whether there was improper conduct on the part of any member of the national government, including the president himself."

A hedge fund startup that uses AI to do work typically handled by analysts has outperformed the global stock market in its first six months while slashing research costs. From a report: The Sydney-based firm, Minotaur Capital, was founded by Armina Rosenberg and Thomas Rice. Rosenberg previously managed a global equities portfolio for tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and ran Australian small-company research for JPMorgan Chase & Co. when she was 25. Rice is a former portfolio manager at Perpetual. The duo's bets on global stocks returned 13.7% in the six months ending January, versus 6.7% for the MSCI All-Country World Index. Minotaur has no analysts on staff, with Rosenberg saying AI models are far quicker and cheaper.

"We're looking at about half the price" in terms of cost of AI versus a junior analyst salary, Rosenberg, 37, said of the firm's program. Minotaur is among a growing number of hedge funds experimenting with ways to improve returns and cut expenses with AI as the technology becomes increasingly sophisticated. Still, the jury is still out on the ability of AI-driven models to deliver superior returns over the long run.

Reddit's recent earnings report revealed that AI licensing deals with Google and OpenAI account for about 10% of its $1.3 billion revenue, totaling approximately $130 million. With Google paying $60 million, OpenAI is estimated to be paying Reddit around $70 million annually for content licensing. Adweek reports: "It's a small part of our revenue -- I'll call it 10%. For a business of our size, that's material, because it's valuable revenue," [said the company's COO Jen Wong]. The social platform -- which on Wednesday reported a 71% year-over-year lift in fourth-quarter revenue -- has been "very thoughtful" about the AI developers it chooses to work with, Wong said. To date, the company has inked two content licensing deals: one with Google for a reported $60 million, and one with ChatGPT parent OpenAI.

Reddit has elected to work only with partners who can agree to "specific terms ... that are really important to us." These terms include user privacy protections and conditions regarding "how [Reddit is] represented," Wong said. While licensing agreements with AI firms offer a valuable business opportunity for Reddit, advertising remains the company's core revenue driver. Much of Reddit's $427.7 million Q4 revenues were generated by the ongoing expansion of its advertising business. And its ad revenue as a whole grew 60% YoY, underscoring the platform's growing appeal to brands. [...]

Helping to accelerate ad revenue growth is Reddit's rising traffic. While Reddit's Q4 user growth came in under Wall Street projections, causing shares to dip, its weekly active uniques grew 42% YoY to over 379 million visitors. Average revenue per unique visitor was $4.21 during the quarter, up 23% from the prior year. While Google is "nicely reinforcing" Reddit's growth in traffic, Wong said, she added that the site's logged-in users, which have grown 27% year-over-year, are "the bedrock of our business."

The U.S. released Russian cybercriminal Alexander Vinnik, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering through his cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, as part of a prisoner swap that freed American schoolteacher Marc Fogel from Russian custody. The Guardian reports: Vinnik, who arrived in Moscow on a flight from Turkey on Tuesday after having been released from custody in California, is accused of owning and operating one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, BTC-e, which prosecutors allege facilitated the transfer of billions of dollars in transactions for criminals worldwide. In May 2024, Vinnik pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder billions of dollars through BTC-e. He was first arrested in Greece in 2017 at the request of the United States after he was charged by a US jury in a 21-count indictment.

The charges against him included money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, operating an unlicensed money service business and engaging in unlawful monetary transactions, among others. Vinnik was first extradited to France from Greece, where he received a five-year prison sentence for money laundering. He was then sent back to Greece and extradited to the United States in 2022 to face US charges. The justice department described BTC-e, which was active from around 2011 to 2017, as a "significant cybercrime and online money laundering entity that allowed its users to trade in bitcoin with high levels of anonymity and developed a customer base heavily reliant on criminal activity." Prosecutors say that BTC-e processed over $9 bn worth of transactions and served over 1 million users globally, including numerous customers in the US.

US prosecutors said that the exchange was one of the "primary ways by which cyber criminals around the world transferred, laundered, and stored the criminal proceeds of their illegal activities" and accused Vinnik of operating the company with the intent to "promote" unlawful activities. Prosecutors said that he was responsible for more than $120m in losses. Vinnik, who is a nonviolent offender, is forfeiting tens of millions of dollars in assets in the exchange, according to the New York Times.

Longtime Slashdot reader theodp writes: Monday brought chilling news reports of the all-count trial convictions of three individuals for a conspiracy to rob and drug people outside of LGBTQ+ nightclubs in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, which led to the deaths of two of their victims. The defendants were found guilty on all 24 counts, which included murder, robbery, burglary, and conspiracy. "As proven at trial," explained the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in a press release, "the defendants lurked outside of nightclubs to exploit intoxicated individuals. They would give them drugs, laced with fentanyl, to incapacitate their victims so they could take the victims' phones and drain their online financial accounts [including unauthorized charges and transfers using Cash App, Apple Cash, Apple Pay]." District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. added, "My Office will continue to take every measure possible to protect New Yorkers from this type of criminal conduct. That includes ensuring accountability for those who commit this harm, while also working with financial companies to enhance security measures on their phone apps."

In 2024, D.A. Bragg called on financial companies to better protect consumers from fraud, including: adding a second and separate password for accessing the app on a smartphone as a default security option; imposing lower default limits on the monetary amount of total daily transfers; requiring wait times of up to a day and secondary verification for large monetary transactions; better monitoring of accounts for unusual transfer activities; and asking for confirmation when suspicious transactions occur. "No longer is the smartphone itself the most lucrative target for scammers and robbers -- it's the financial apps contained within," said Bragg as he released letters (PDF) sent to the companies that own Venmo, Zelle, and Cash App. "Thousands or even tens of thousands can be drained from financial accounts in a matter of seconds with just a few taps. Without additional protections, customers' financial and physical safety is being put at risk. I hope these companies accept our request to discuss commonsense solutions to deter scammers and protect New Yorkers' hard-earned money."

"Our cellphones aren't safe," warned the EFF's Cooper Quintin in a 2018 New York Times op-ed. "So why aren't we fixing them?" Any thoughts on what can and should be done with software, hardware, and procedures to stop "bank jackings"?

Oracle co-founder and chairman Larry Ellison said governments should consolidate all national data for consumption by AI models, calling this step the "missing link" for them to take full advantage of the technology. From a report: Fragmented sets of data about a population's health, agriculture, infrastructure, procurement and borders should be unified into a single, secure database that can be accessed by AI models, Ellison said in an on-stage interview with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the World Government Summit in Dubai.

Countries with rich population data sets, such as the UK and United Arab Emirates, could cut costs and improve public services, particularly health care, with this approach, Ellison said. Upgrading government digital infrastructure could also help identify wastage and fraud, Ellison said. IT systems used by the US government are so primitive that it makes it difficult to identify "vast amounts of fraud," he added, pointing to efforts by Elon Musk's team at the Department of Government Efficiency to weed it out.

Most corporate tech leaders are hesitant to deploy AI agents despite vendors' push for rapid adoption, according to a Wall Street Journal CIO Network Summit poll on Tuesday. While 61% of attendees at the Menlo Park summit said they are experimenting with AI agents, which perform automated tasks, 21% reported no usage at all.

Reliability concerns and cybersecurity risks remain key barriers, with 29% citing data privacy as their primary concern. OpenAI, Microsoft and Sierra are urging businesses not to wait for the technology to be perfected. "Accept that it is imperfect," said Bret Taylor, Sierra CEO and OpenAI chairman. "Rather than say, 'Will AI do something wrong', say, 'When it does something wrong, what are the operational mitigations that we've put in place?'" Three-quarters of the polled executives said AI currently delivers minimal value for their investments. Some companies are "having hammers looking for nails," said Jim Siders, Palantir's chief information officer, describing firms that purchase AI solutions before identifying clear use cases.

The US, UK, and Australia (AUKUS) have sanctioned Russian bulletproof hosting provider Zservers, accusing it of supporting LockBit ransomware operations by providing secure infrastructure for cybercriminals. The sanctions target Zservers, its UK front company XHOST Internet Solutions, and six individuals linked to its operations. The Register reports: Headquartered in Barnaul, Russia, Zservers provided BPH services to a number of LockBit affiliates, the three nations said today. On numerous occasions, affiliates purchased servers from the company to support ransomware attacks. The trio said the link between Zservers and LockBit was established as early as 2022, when Canadian law enforcement searched a known LockBit affiliate and found evidence they had purchased infrastructure tooling almost certainly used to host chatrooms with ransomware victims.

"Ransomware actors and other cybercriminals rely on third-party network service providers like Zservers to enable their attacks on US and international critical infrastructure," said Bradley T Smith, acting under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence. "Today's trilateral action with Australia and the United Kingdom underscores our collective resolve to disrupt all aspects of this criminal ecosystem, wherever located, to protect our national security." The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) said additionally that the UK front company for Zservers, XHOST Internet Solutions, was also included in its sanctions list. According to Companies House, the UK arm was incorporated on January 31, 2022, although the original service was established in 2011 and operated in both Russia and the Netherlands. Anyone found to have business dealings with either entity can face criminal and civil charges under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018.

The UK led the way with sanctions, placing six individuals and the two entities on its list, while the US only placed two of the individuals -- both alleged Zservers admins -- on its equivalent. Alexander Igorevich Mishin and Aleksandr Sergeyevich Bolshakov, both 30 years old, were named by the US as the operation's heads. Mishin was said to have marketed Zservers to LockBit and other ransomware groups, managing the associated cryptocurrency transactions. Both he and Bolshakov responded to a complaint from a Lebanese company in 2023 and shut down an IP address used in a LockBit attack. The US said, however, it was possible that the pair set up a replacement IP address that LockBit could carry on using, while telling the Lebanese company that they complied with its request. The UK further sanctioned Ilya Vladimirovich Sidorov, Dmitry Konstantinovich Bolshakov (no mention of whether he is any relation to Aleksandr), Igor Vladimirovich Odintsov, and Vladimir Vladimirovich Ananev. Other than that they were Zservers employees and thus were directly or indirectly involved in attempting to inflict economic loss to the country, not much was said about either of their roles.

The European Union pledged to mobilize 200 billion euros ($206.15 billion) to invest in AI as the bloc seeks to catch up with the U.S. and China in the race to train the most complex models. From a report: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the bloc wants to supercharge its ability to compete with the U.S. and China in AI. The plan -- dubbed InvestAI -- includes a new 20 billion-euro fund for so-called AI gigafactories, facilities that rely on powerful chips to train the most complex AI models. "We want Europe to be one of the leading AI continents, and this means embracing a life where AI is everywhere," von der Leyen said at the AI Action Summit in Paris.

The announcement underscores efforts from the EU to position itself as a key player in the AI race. The bloc has been lagging behind the U.S. and China since OpenAI's 2022 release of ChatGPT ushered in a spending bonanza. [...] The EU is aiming to establish gigafactories to train the most complex and large AI models. Those facilities will be equipped with roughly 100,000 last-generation AI chips, around four times more than the number installed in the AI factories being set up right now.

Meta began notifying staff of job cuts on Monday, kick-starting a process that will terminate thousands of people as the company cracks down on "low-performers" and scours for new talent to dominate the AI race. From a report: Meta workers who were let go were notified via email, and the company is offering US-based employees severance packages that include 16 weeks of salary, in addition two weeks for each year of service, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the details weren't public. Employees whose review merited a bonus will still get one, and staff will still receive stock awards as part of the upcoming vesting cycle later this month, the people said.

Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg told employees that Meta would cut 5% of its workforce -- as many 3,600 people -- with a focus on staff who "aren't meeting expectations," Bloomberg News first reported in mid-January. Affected US-based employees would be notified on Feb. 10, while international employees could learn later, Zuckerberg said last month. In a separate message to managers, the Facebook co-founder said the cuts would create headcount for the company to hire the "strongest talent."

President Donald Trump has ordered Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt penny production to cut government spending, according to a Truth Social post on Sunday. The U.S. Mint spent 3.69 cents to produce and distribute each penny last year, resulting in a $85.3 million loss on over three billion new pennies.

The one-cent coin accounts for more than half of all U.S. coin production despite having about 250 billion pieces already in circulation. Canada, Australia and several other countries have eliminated their lowest-denomination coins citing costs over recent decades.

Further reading: Abolish the Penny?

The unemployment rate in America's information technology sector "rose from 3.9% in December to 5.7% in January," reports the Wall Street Journal. (Alternate URL here.) Meanwhile last month's overall jobless rate was just 4%, they point out, calling it "the latest sign of how automation and the increasing use of artificial intelligence are having a negative impact on the tech labor market."

Companies began implementing their annual spending cuts in January, and there were layoffs at large tech companies like Meta. But whatever the reason, "The number of unemployed IT workers rose from 98,000 in December to 152,000 last month, according to a report from consulting firm Janco Associates based on data from the U.S. Department of Labor," while the Labor Department said the overall economy added 143,000 jobs.

One management consulting firm offers this explanation: Job losses in tech can be attributed in part to the influence of AI, according to Victor Janulaitis, chief executive of Janco Associates. The emergence of generative AI has produced massive amounts of spending by tech giants on AI infrastructure, but not necessarily new jobs in IT. "Jobs are being eliminated within the IT function which are routine and mundane, such as reporting, clerical administration," Janulaitis said. "As they start looking at AI, they're also looking at reducing the number of programmers, systems designers, hoping that AI is going to be able to provide them some value and have a good rate of return."

Increased corporate investment in AI has shown early signs of leading to future cuts in hiring, a concept some tech leaders are starting to call "cost avoidance." Rather than hiring new workers for tasks that can be more easily automated, some businesses are letting AI take on that work — and reaping potential savings. The latest IT jobs numbers come as unemployment among white-collar workers remains at its highest levels since 2020, according to Cory Stahle, an economist at hiring website Indeed. "What we've really seen, especially in the last year or so, is a bifurcation in opportunities, where white-collar knowledge worker type jobs have had far less employer demand than jobs that are more in-person, skilled labor jobs," Stahle said.
Stahle notes that job postings at Indeed.com for software developers declined 8.5% in January from a year earlier...