Plus, Google pulls Olympic-themed ad for its AI chatbot following criticism. And Chartacter.AI’s co-founders will return to Google and agree to a licensing deal. Zoe Thomas hosts.
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[00:00:00] Here's your TNB Tech Minute for Friday, August 2. I'm Zoe Thomas for the Wall Street Journal. The U.S. government is suing TikTok and ByteDance for failing to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. The law requires internet companies to provide parental notification and get parental consent
[00:00:21] before collecting personal information from children under the age of 13. The lawsuit alleges that TikTok knowingly allowed children to set up regular accounts and create, watch, and share videos with adults. A TikTok spokesperson said the company disagreed with the allegations and was proud of its efforts to protect children.
[00:00:42] Google has pulled an Olympic-themed ad for its Generative Artificial Intelligence chatbot after it sparked backlash from viewers. The video called Dear Sydney featured a father who uses the company's Gemini tool to help his daughter write a letter to Team USA trackrunner Sydney McLaughlin Lavrone.
[00:01:00] Critics online noted that a letter written by AI detracts from the sentimental value it has when personally written by a child. A Google spokesman said the goal was to show how Gemini can provide a starting point for writing.
[00:01:14] And sticking with Google, the company rehired the co-founders of chatbot startup Character AI along with some members of its research team and agreed to license the company's technology. Noam Shazir and Daniel DeFredes both quit Google in 2021 after the search giant rebuffed their attempts to publicly release a chatbot.
[00:01:35] A Google spokesman said they would join Google DeepMind, its AI research division. Characters said the search giant will license its AI technology on a non-exclusive basis, which will provide funding for the startup's growth. For a deeper dive into what's happening in tech, check out Monday's Tech News Briefing
[00:01:52] podcast.