Image from Freepik
Zoom Will Allow Your AI Avatar To Communicate With Your Team
- Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
- Fact-Checked by Justyn Newman Former Lead Cybersecurity Editor
In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!
- Zoom introduced AI Companion 2.0 to enhance task management and organization.
- Users can create custom avatars for sending video messages to teams.
- Avatars will use AI to mimic users’ appearance and voice in videos.
Zoom announced on Wednesday the launch of AI Companion 2.0, an upgraded version of its AI personal assistant aimed at helping users manage tasks and stay organized. The new version is designed to facilitate productivity and improve efficiency.
In line with its broader AI initiatives, Zoom will soon introduce a feature that allows users to create a digital avatar of themselves for sending brief messages to their teams, as reported by The Verge . To create this digital representation, users must record an initial video, which Zoom’s AI will use to generate an avatar that resembles both their appearance and voice.
Once set up, users can type out messages for their AI avatar to deliver, facilitating communication through Zoom’s Clips feature for sending quick video updates to colleagues, as noted by The Verge.
Smita Hashim, Zoom’s chief product officer, explained that these custom avatars are designed to enable “asynchronous” communication among colleagues, making interactions “faster and more productive,” as reported by TechCrunch
She emphasized that “avatars save users precious time and effort recording clips, and enable them to scale video creation,” as reported by TechCrunch.
Zoom is also mindful of the potential risks associated with deepfakes. These avatars are being introduced at a time when deepfakes are becoming more common, making it harder to tell what is true and what is disinformation, as recently reported by the Insikt research group.
In a press briefing, Hashim noted that the company is approaching this issue with caution by implementing advanced authentication methods, watermarking technology, and stringent usage policies, as reported by The Verge.
However, it remains unclear how Zoom will specifically prevent malicious use of its tool for generating deceptive videos.
A mock-up provided by the company displays a visible watermark in the upper-right corner of videos featuring custom avatars. Still, TechCrunch points out that such watermarks can easily be removed using screen-recording software.
Image by Ivan Radic, from Flickr
Turkey Blocks Discord After Court Cites Suspected Crimes On Platform
- Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
- Fact-Checked by Justyn Newman Former Lead Cybersecurity Editor
In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!
- Turkey blocked Discord after the platform refused to share information with authorities.
- Ankara court cited suspicion of “child sexual abuse and obscenity” for the Discord ban.
- The ban followed posts praising a man who killed two women, sparking social outrage.
Turkey has blocked access to the messaging platform Discord, following a court decision after the company refused to share information requested by Ankara, Turkish authorities said on Wednesday, according to Reuters .
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc stated that an Ankara court blocked Discord in Turkey based on suspicion that crimes of “child sexual abuse and obscenity” had been committed by users on the platform, Reuters reported.
The ban came after posts surfaced on Discord praising a young man who had killed two women earlier this month. The incident triggered outrage on social media and renewed calls for stricter regulations, Bloomberg noted.
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu pointed out that Discord’s nature made it difficult for authorities to monitor and intervene when illegal content is shared, Reuters said.
“Security personnel cannot go through the content. We can only intervene when users complain to us about content shared there,” he told reporters in parliament, as reported by Reuters.
“Since Discord refuses to share its own information, including IP addresses and content, with our security units, we were forced to block access,” Uraloglu added, according to Reuters.
Turkey has a history of swiftly restricting access to websites, previously blocking platforms such as X, YouTube, and Facebook, Bloomberg reported.
In August, Turkey banned the video game platform Roblox, citing harmful content for children, and also blocked Instagram for several days.
This restriction comes after Russia blocked Discord on Tuesday. According to TASS , Russian authorities stated:
“The access to the Discord is being restricted in connection of violation of requirements of Russian laws, compliance with which is required to prevent the use of the messenger for terrorist and extremist services, recruitment of citizens to commit them, for drug sales, and in connection with unlawful information posting.”
Last week, Reuters reported that Russia had ordered the deletion of about 1,000 items from Discord, including content related to child pornography, extremism, and pro-drug messaging. The Moscow Times (TMT) reported that Discord failed to comply with the order.
In a statement on its website Tuesday, Discord acknowledged it is “aware of reports of Discord being unreachable” in certain countries and is actively investigating the matter.
