Jessica Hill, Principal Legal Counsel, Product and Privacy, New RelicFebruary 28, 20255 Min ReadYury Zap via Alamy StockOpen-source AI projects are exploding in popularity and are contributing to PwCs estimated $15.7 trillion impact AI will have on the global economy by 2030. However, some enterprises have hesitated to fully embrace AI.In 2023, VentureBeat found that while more than 70% of companies were experimenting with AI, only 20% were willing and able to invest more.Open-source tooling offers enterprises cost-effective, accessible AI use with benefits including customization, transparency and platform independence. But it also carries potentially hefty costs for the unprepared. As enterprises expand their AI experimentation, managing these risks becomes critical.Risk #1: Training dataMany AI tools rely on vast stores of training data to develop models and generate outputs. For example, OpenAIs GPT-3.5 was reportedly trained on 570 gigabytes of online text data, approximating 300 billion words.More advanced models require even larger and often less transparent datasets. Some open-source AI tools are released without dataset disclosures or with overwhelming disclosures, limiting useful model evaluations and posing potential risks. For example, a code generation AI tool could be trained on proprietary, licensed datasets without permission, leading to unlicensed output, and potential liability.Related:Open-source AI tools using open datasets still face challenges, such as evaluating data quality to ensure a dataset hasn't been corrupted, is regularly maintained, and includes data suited for the tools intended purpose.Regardless of the datas origins, enterprises should carefully review training data sources and tailor future datasets to the use case, where possible.Risk #2: LicensingProper data, model, and output licensing presents complicated issues for AI proliferation. The open-source community has been discussing the suitability of traditional open-source software licenses for AI models.Current licensing ranges from freely open to partial use restrictions, but unclear criteria for qualifying as open source can lead to licensing confusion. The licensing question can trickle downstream: If a model produces output from a source with a viral license, you may need to adhere to that licenses requirements.With models and datasets evolving constantly, evaluate every AI tools licensing against your chosen use case. Legal teams should help you understand limitations, restrictions and other requirements, like attribution or a flow-down of terms.Risk #3: PrivacyRelated:As global AI regulations emerge and discussions swirl around the misuse of open-source models, companies should assess regulatory and privacy concerns for AI tech stacks.At this stage, be comprehensive in your risk assessments. Ask AI vendors targeted questions, such as:Does the tool use de-identification to remove personal identifiable information (PII), especially from training datasets and outputs?Where is training data and fine-tuning data stored, copied and processed?How does the vendor review and test accuracy and bias, and on what cadence?Is there a way to opt in or out of data collection?Where possible, implement explainability for AI and human review processes. Build trust and the business value of the AI by understanding the model and datasets enough to explain why the AI returned a given output.Risk #4: SecurityOpen-source softwares security benefits simultaneously pose security risks. Many open-source models can be deployed in your environment, giving you the benefit of your security controls. However, open-source models can expose the unsuspecting to new threats, including manipulation of outputs and harmful content by bad actors.AI tech startups offering tools built on open AI can lack adequate cyber security, security teams, or secure development and maintenance practices. Organizations evaluating these vendors should ask targeted questions, such as:Related:Does the open project address cybersecurity issues?Are the developers involved in the project demonstrating secure practices like those outlined by OWASP?Have vulnerabilities and bugs been promptly remediated by the community?Enterprises experimenting with AI tooling should continue following internal policies, processes, standards, and legal requirements. Consider best security practices like:The tools source code should remain subject to vulnerability scanning.Enable branch protection for AI integrations.Interconnections should be encrypted in transit and databases at rest.Establish boundary protection for the architecture and use cases.A strong security posture will serve enterprises well in their AI explorations.Risk #5: Integration and performanceIntegration and performance of AI tooling matters for both internal and external use cases at an organization.Integration can affect many internal elements, like data pipelines, other models and analytics tools, increasing risk exposure and hampering product performance. Tools can also introduce dependencies upon integration, such as open source vector databases supporting model functionality. Consider how those elements affect your tool integration and use cases, and determine what additional adjustments are needed.After integration, monitor AIs impact on system performance. AI vendors may not carry a performance warranty, causing your organization to handle development if open-source AI does not meet your expectations. The costs associated with maintaining and scaling AI functions, including data cleaning and subject matter expertise time, climb quickly.Know Before You Go Open SourceOpen-source AI tooling offers enterprises an accessible and affordable way to accelerate innovation. Still, successful implementation requires scrutiny and a proactive compliance and security posture. An intentional evaluation strategy for hidden costs and considerations of leveraging open-source AI will ensure ethical and intelligent use.About the AuthorJessica HillPrincipal Legal Counsel, Product and Privacy, New RelicJessica Hill is an experienced product and privacy attorney adept at navigating the intersection of law and technology. She had been at New Relic for over three years, where she specializes in cross-functional initiatives to drive compliance and innovation.See more from Jessica HillWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore ReportsNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also Like

Michel Nievas Dengue Boy is set on a drowned future EarthAlamy Stock PhotoDead, you mean?Spread-eagle on that strange white surface which lay beneath the inclement Antarctic sun, Dengue Destroyed saw everything flash by in no more than a second. What of life is there to look back on in the space of a few instants when a boy, a girl, a destroyed void, believes it is about to die? Might it think of its dear mother, lament the father it never knew, or perhaps recall, some humorous or traumatic anecdote involving its classmates? Truthfully, not much else had happened during her brief time on Earth. However (for the mind works in mysterious and unpredictable ways, especially the mind of a mutant mosquito), Dengue Destroyed did not think about any of these people, but rather about a story her mother used to read her at bedtime, the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She remembered the opening by heart:Once upon a time, on a frozen, windy winters night, there lived a queen. This queen was watching the snow fall as she knitted by the window. Through the window, the snowflakes fell slowly and rhythmically in unpredictable patterns, like feathers from an infinite pillow. As she gazed in wonder at the falling snow, she accidentally pricked one of her fingers with the needle. Three drops of blood fell onto the snow. And the queen thought to herself: if only I could have a daughter who was as white as snow, as red as blood, and as beautiful as winter!AdvertisementThis opening always unsettled Dengue Boy (as he was back then). Among other things, he didnt understand half the words: what the heck was winter, what was cold, what was snow, and why did they cause such fascination?A daughter as cherished as snow, as beautiful as winter . . .The mystery of those words, whose meanings had always escaped him, aroused an even greater suspicion: does this mean that I, the aberrant Dengue Boy, with my green and yellow blotches, must be as white as snow and as beautiful as winter for my mommy to truly love and cherish me?It was impossible to know, and in this future in which cold, winter, and snow had disappeared from the earth, there was no empirical way of experiencing their effects (at least not for a wretched boy from Victorica). Naturally, his mother, who had also spent all her miserable life in Victorica, wasnt much help. All she knew (or intuited so strongly that she believed she knew) was that snow was soft and beautiful, and the skin of beautiful children had the same color and pleasant texture, unlike her Dengue Child, whose epidermis was furry, harsh, a greenish-yellowy color. Because of this, Dengue Boy, like some kind of Kabbalistic rabbi, convinced himself that, if he could access the mystifying meaning of cold, winter and snow, he would open the sacred chest of its mysteries, and the secret of how to obtain his mothers affection.Because there was nothing the insect wished for more than to be white like snow, beautiful like winter, and cherished by his mother!The desire to access the enigmatic material hidden by these words took hold of the poor insect, and he pored over every dictionary and encyclopedia he could find in search of the answers. He read the definitions again and again:Winter. Noun. Obs. Extinct season in the terrestrial year which used to occur between autumn and spring, also extinct.E.g.: Winter was the coldest time in the year.Cold. Noun. Obs. Bodily sensation produced by low temperatures, characteristic of ancient winter.E.g.: It was cold during winter, especially if there was snow.Snow. Noun. Precipitation in the form of small white ice crystals formed directly from the water vapor of the air at a temperature of less than 32F, which used to occur during the terrestrial winter, and which still occurs on other planets or on Earth via artificial means.E.g.: There was so much snow during winter!The poor boy read these definitions, and reread them, and then read again, but, to his great disappointment, understood nothing. Was it because (as his classmates always claimed) he was a halfwit? Winter, cold, snow. Mere words. Words! And worse still, words which had to be explained using other words, whose definitions were even more vague and imprecise.W-i-n-t-er, c-o-l-d, s-n-ow.Hermetic hieroglyphs which the boy relished phoneme by phoneme, under the illusion that by doing so the flesh that had once lain beneath their vibrant skin would not evaporate before his eyes. But, removed from the meaning that had once breathed life into them, all that remained was a hollow carcass of meaningless sound.W-i-n-t-er, c-o-l-d, s-n-ow.Atmospheric phenomena which so many humans and other species had suffered and endured over millennia, and which were now a mere planetary mystery, speculative prose written by fossils, the empty scriptures of the water and the soil, the geological imprint of nothingness!The only season the Pampas and Antarctic Caribbean knew was summer, scorching, unrelenting, homogenous. So when Dengue Void, her body still numb from the poison, believed she was going to die, and saw a drop of her own blood (to be precise, the blood she had indiscriminately sucked from the children and office workers of Victorica), yes, when she saw that blood trickling across the strange, white surface she had fallen onto, she remembered that snow was white, which immediately reminded her of the opening to the story his mother used to tell him (back when he was a boy), the perplexing fable of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.And indeed, the memory she believed her last was fitting, for her poisoned body had in fact landed on the ice-skating rink of the Great Winter Cruise, the cruise companys flagship, which traveled along the coast of the Antarctic Caribbean, recreating for its visitors the cold season, now vanished from the earth, and its elemental materials: snow, glaciers, and icebergs. On these luxury cruise ships, run using AISs state-of the-art technology, tourists could experience the unique delights of winter for themselves, including one of its greatest attractions, the biggest ice rink on the planet!And that was precisely where Dengue Dying had landed, ruining the tourists fun. Picture the scene: on this imposing slab of ice, one-hundred-twenty-one feet long and fifty-five wide, which crowned the terrace of the twenty-floor cruise ship with a direct view of the pristine, burning sea, huge crowds of visitors had flocked to try out a unique experience, quite possibly for the first timea journey through time to another geological era, since these spectacular landscapes did not exist naturally anywhere on Earth. It was not only an opportunity to skate with the unmistakable and elegant stride of ice skates on a frozen sheet, but to do so at sub-zero temperatures, since the atmosphere in which the rink had been installed recreated the feel of the harsh winters of old New York, long flooded and submerged beneath the waves. On top of that, it was Christmas, international tourisms busiest and most eagerly awaited season. And so, as the carols rang out, enthralled tourists clad in heavy coats moved like swans gliding over a terra incognita, this white rectangle whose temperature was sustained by the herculean efforts of extremely powerful refrigerating machines, a surface of artificial ice decorated with flags of all the countries from before the Great Thaw, opposite a monumental, pure gold statue of Prometheus stealing fire from the gods, for the rink was an imitation of the long-vanished one at Rockefeller Center, in old New York, also many leagues under the sea now.Naturally, the sculptor hired by the cruise ship had been astute enough to replace the flame in Prometheuss right hand with an enormous block of pure ice, which the titan was robbing from the abyss of planetary time so that these wealthy tourists could recover (for as long as the cruise lasted) a geological era now permanently eclipsed on Earth: the Holocene. In fact, this was the cruise companys slogan: 12,000 years of history in one place, The Great Winter Cruise, as it promised to perfectly recreate that lost planetary terrain which winter as humans had known it was born and had died. Thus, hibernation (as the company called the cruise experience in its advertisements) progressed upward from the bottom floors, narrating twelve thousand years of the history of winter in ascending order. It began on the bottom deck, where they had recreated the end of the Pleistocene in an enormous fridge with robotic mammoths and mastodons, including a family-friendly game in which you had to start a fire with sticks and stones before prehistoric mammals attacked. The higher levels offered a variety of experiences from the old winter: the historical ones included invading Scandinavian cities with a Viking ship, with the ability to kill, sack and rape, or crossing the Andes on General San Martns white horse, while on the floors dedicated to general entertainment there were ski slopes, cold chambers in which the auroras borealis and australis were recreated using lasers, and others in which you could experience all different kinds of wintry precipitation, including snow, hail, and sleet. There was also an enormous igloo with an open-air cinema, casino, spa, carousel, cocktail bar, and a sushi and BBQ restaurant, among other hibernation attractions, which, the cruise ships advertisements assured visitors, recreated winter in perfect detail. The ancient, frozen delights of ice, snow, and cold were an authentic treasure of the gods, stolen by Prometheus himself for the exclusive enjoyment of visitors to the cruise: a true paradise in which you could access a secret mystery that was now irretrievably lost. The skaters slid across the rink in an atmosphere of pure jubilation, helped along by the Christmas carols, and people laughed as they crashed hilariously into one another and danced, beaming at one another in shared bliss. A true, unforgettable celebration that would be forever recorded onto the tourists retinas, an authentic dream, had it not been for the mosquito landing violently and abruptly on the ice rink and ruining everything.This extract is reproduced with permission from the novel Dengue Boyby Michel Nieva (translated by Rahul Bery), out now with Serpents Tail. North American edition available from Astra House. This novel is the latest pick for the New Scientist Book Club. 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An unusual-looking heroAlamy Stock PhotoThe idea that the hero of Dengue Boy would be a mosquito emerged in 2020, during the peak of the covid-19 pandemic, when a dengue outbreak exploded in my hometown, Buenos Aires. Dengue fever spreads through the Aedes aegypti mosquito. This insect thrives in tropical and subtropical climates and is common in many warm and humid regions of northern Argentina.However, in recent decades, due to global warming, it has spread to regions where the climate has traditionally been cold or temperate, such as Buenos Aires and even Patagonia. It so happened that one of my best friends became infected with dengue in 2020, but since all the media attention was focused on covid-19, public hospitals in the city had restricted tests and there was no way to get a proper diagnosis or treatment. Furthermore, there were no effective vaccines or medications for dengue at the time.During this precarious time for my friend and for the people with dengue in Argentina, the US company Moderna announced its vaccine against covid-19, just a few days after the genetic sequence of SARS-Cov-2 was published. This made me think about the terrible corporate bias in scientific research, as mosquito-borne diseases (dengue, zika, chikungunya, yellow fever, among others) have been killing hundreds of thousands of people for centuries. The mosquito, in fact, is considered the deadliest animal to humans, and according to historian Timothy Winegard, it has killed more humans than anything else in history.AdvertisementHowever, because these diseases affect people in lower-income countries, there was never adequate investment in vaccines or treatments. Meanwhile, biotechnology companies only needed months to develop, patent and sell products tackling covid-19, which ensured them substantial monetary profit.So, the idea came to me to tell the story of a Global South pandemic, through the lens of the mosquito itself.Partly inspired by artists I admire (Franz Kafka, David Cronenberg, Hideshi Hino) and leaning a little ironically into the most commercially popular genre in Latin America, autofiction, I became convinced that my storys imaginary subtitle should be the autofiction of a mosquito. At the same time, one of the themes in my writing is the non-human, and I was interested in the challenge of making an insect the protagonist of a novel (a genre historically designed to narrate human times, psychologies and stories). How to mimic and achieve empathy with a creature so alien to the human experience as an insect, particularly one as annoying as the mosquito?Join us in reading and discussing the best new science and science fiction booksSign up to newsletterI had to become a mosquito, adopt its perspective. I appropriated the famous Flaubertian motto Madame Bovary, cest moi and turned it into my own: le moustique, cest moi.Ursula K. Le Guin once said the fundamental property of science fiction is to function as a carrier bag, allowing the migration of ideas from fiction to other scientific and technical discourses. In this way, the genre becomes a mutant transition (as Dengue Boy is) between literature and non-literary knowledge.I have always greatly appreciated this idea, because nothing pleases me more in my task as a writer than researching topics I would never have even noticed before.For this book, I consulted dozens of papers and manuals on entomology and I became a mosquitologist overnight. It was crucial to know the details of the mosquitos anatomy in order to describe it and understand how its body works and feels. Thus, although the protagonist is inspired by my friend, who is a man, I discovered that the mosquitoes that transmit disease are female, which forced me to transform my plot on the spot.The female perspective also led me to investigate how a non-mammalian, oviparous animal engages in maternal care if it does at all and I became captivated by ovology and the representation of eggs. The eggs designed by H.R. Giger for the movie Alien, those drawn and classified by naturalist Ernst Haeckel in his illustrated treatises, and Georges Batailles Story of the Eye also fuelled this ovophilic obsession.In this novel, I tried to tell a story about climate change from a perspective that recovered more-than-human lives, and I hope the reader empathises with my hero just as I also became a mosquito while conceiving and imagining it.Dengue Boy by Michel Nieva, translated from Spanish by Rahul Bery and published by Serpents Tail, is the latest pick for the New Scientist Book Club. Sign up and read along with us hereTopics:

US Gen Alpha shoppers represent around $28 billion in spending power, according to shopper analytics firm Numerator.The younger consumers often have an average weekly allowance of $22, mostly spent on toys and snacks.When it comes to brands, their choices tend to be influenced by social trends and digital marketing.Kids these days are growing up in a remarkably different consumer landscape than prior generations.The estimated 46 million Generation Alpha shoppers in the US represent around $28 billion in spending power and their influence is already being felt by brands, according to shopper analytics firm Numerator.Born in 2010 or after, these under-15-year-olds typically have an average weekly allowance of $22, which they largely spend on toys and snacks, Numerator found.As the new year gets underway, Gen Alpha's brand preferences tend to be influenced by social trends and digital marketing, leading some products to breakout success.In particular, Samyang makers of the Buldak "fire chicken" ramen packs topped Numerator's chart of brands to watch, followed by Owala the makers of the multicolored flip-top insulated steel water bottles.Cirkul's hydration system also placed in the top 10 at number seven.And as kids grow and change, personal care appears to feature more prominently in their discretionary purchases, with three brands in the top 10: Squatch Soap Co., Kitsch, and Hero Cosmetics.Among kids 6 and older, the top source of product discovery is from their friends, followed by TV commercials and social media influencers.That stands in contrast to those 5 and under, who often respond to what they see while walking in the store with their parents as well as what they learn about from family members. Interestingly, Numerator found that more than half of six-year-olds have asked for something they saw in an advertisement.As for categories (rather than brands), about half of kids 10 and under spend their allowance on toys, though Numerator found that share falls off dramatically after they turn 11. Kids of all ages are still spending their money on snacks, however.Perhaps the least surprising finding was which retailer stands out most among Gen Alpha shoppers: Five Below.Numerator found that roughly a third of Gen Alpha households shop at the discount chain a rate that is twice that of the overall US population.

Ben and Sara seemed to have one of the more solid relationships of "Love Is Blind" season eight.But in episode nine, Sara starts to have doubts after finding a TikTok, which Ben thinks is about him.Here's what to know about the video and the surrounding drama.Warning: spoilers ahead for the first twelve episodes of "Love Is Blind" season eight."Love Is Blind" season eight contestant Ben seems to be in trouble after his fiance Sara finds a TikTok of a woman calling a contestant that fits his description a "shitty" person.But it looks like they move past the drama in the newest episodes.In episode nine, Sara confronts Ben about the video, which features a woman crying and saying she's tired of reality TV "celebrating shitty men," after seeing the "Love Is Blind" cast for the Minneapolis season. The video is blurred out on the show.Ben says he thinks the video is about him but that they haven't spoken in over four years. "She's already making stuff up. She was like, how I manipulated and did all these different things," he said.Ben says they dated for a few weeks after meeting on Tinder, but he ghosted her before the relationship progressed. He adds that he doesn't remember anything else about what happened or what he did to hurt her.But Sara is not convinced, and after further interrogation, Ben says that he may have messaged her after they stopped dating but he never initiated the conversation.In this week's episodes, Sara and Ben have a brief conversation about the drama before moving on.The video doesn't seem like a dealbreaker for Sara.This is not the first time social media drama has shaped storylines on the show, though this normally happens after the season has aired. However, more viewers sleuthing over cast members has led to drama bubbling off-screen in recent seasons.The TikTok video appears to have been shared last MarchOver the past month, multiple TikTok users have criticized the men on season eight, without specifying who they are talking about. Business Insider has not verified the videos, and they were published too late to be the one Sara saw in episode nine.Last March, MPR News, a Minneapolis-based news organization, shared a TikTok video in which a reporter said the series was being filmed and asked locals where they'd spotted the filming crew.Netflix has not confirmed when "Love Is Blind" season eight was filmed.On March 2, 2024, Andra Berghoff, a TikTok user who uses the handle @hopeyoufindyourdad, posted a video that fits the description of the video Sara saw. @hopeyoufindyourdad @Andra you think your dating life is hard? Im calling out love is blind for this one #loveisblind #netflix #dating #minnesota original sound - Andra In the video, Berghoff appears teary-eyed while recalling how she recognized someone from a leaked list of cast members."I'm just exhausted and tired of society rewarding shitty men who treat women terribly and manipulate and lie all the time," Berghoff says.In a video posted two days later, Berghoff says the man, whom she doesn't name, blocked her after she posted the video. She didn't explain what happened between them, but said he was a lot older than her, manipulated her, and "shaped the way I viewed men and dating going forward." @hopeyoufindyourdad @Andra is there a point in which boys and dating ever get better? Im starting to doubt it #dating #loveisblind #netflix #minnesota original sound - Andra Berghoff says she believed he was on the show for fame.Ben says in episode nine that he blocked the unnamed woman after seeing the TikTok video, in case she tried to expose him.In January, after the cast list was released, Berghoff shared a third video in which she criticized Netflix for not removing the man. @hopeyoufindyourdad Love Is Blind Minneapolis on Netflix released their trailer today and really? @Andra #netflix #loveisblind #dating #minneapolis #greenscreen original sound - Andra - Andra In the video, Berghoff adds that he went to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, was a member of the college's baseball team, and became a real-estate agent after college.This lines up with details of Ben's life on his LinkedIn account.Berghoff has not confirmed that the videos are about Ben, and Ben has not commented on them.Sara has been the only one to address the TikTok dramaBerghoff has turned comments off in her videos about "Love is Blind," but she and Ben have not responded to the drama.On Sunday, Sara posted a clip of her conversation with Ben about the TikTok video on her Instagram story.She captioned the post: "Two things I learned watching this scene: 1. Smiling in serious situations is clearly a trauma response of mine. 2. Way too much botox."Sara told US Weekly on Tuesday that she saw the TikTok for the first time off-camera while she was at a brewery with Ben and his friends. She did not mention who posted the video."At this point, it's been posted for a couple hours and there were hundreds of comments tagging Ben specifically. I was really confused because she never specifically said his name, but I'm like, 'How are all these people pinpointing that it's him? And how do all these people know who he is?' I was really trying to understand," Sara said.She said a producer separated them so that they could talk about the video for the first time on camera, but when they got home, the woman had shared a second video about Ben blocking her.Sara said she didn't feel "unsafe" with Ben and didn't know how serious to respond to the videos, because the woman didn't specify how Ben harmed her."I knew I had to take it seriously and it was always in the back of my head. But also, I'm an enneagram 2 naturally a caregiver. I was protecting Ben. I was protecting our relationship, and at the time, I was like, 'I honestly don't wanna talk about this more than what we need to, but we obviously need to talk about the facts and I do have questions,'" Sara said. "And so when he was saying he doesn't remember, it's like, 'OK, then you need to tell me at least off camera what you do remember.'"Sara said that she believed people can change so she didn't want to "discredit him and our relationship" because of the video.Business Insider has contacted Ben, Sara, Berghoff, and Netflix for comment.

This is the sixth in a series of stories on how factory farming has shaped the US. Find the rest of the series and future installments here, and visit Voxs Future Perfect section for more coverage of Big Ag. The stories in this series are supported by Animal Charity Evaluators, which received a grant from Builders Initiative.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Whether its a spiel about the benefits of rubbing beef tallow on your face, specific ab exercises and tips targeting belly fat, or a Gen X dancer wishing you joy through their body movements, Instagram Reels are as varied as they are numerous. But they do share one thing in common: Viewers often think, What have I done to deserve this? Its not just that people hate Reels the shortform video posts found on Instagram its that some people hate Reels to the point where they use it to describe other things that they hate. From music, to food, to sentimental boy mom content, being deemed perfect for Reels is a sign of being off or unwelcome; basic but also subtly repulsive. Instagram Reels has simultaneously become an adjective and an insult a corny type of thing no one really wants to watch, and a convenient negative shorthand to express a specific stripe of dislike.So why do people hate Reels so much?Before finding use as a derogatory descriptor, the content on Reels has long been characterized as bad dating back to its launch in 2020 as a TikTok rival. Users I spoke to say that, unlike that other social media video app which seems to know so much about us that its led to concerns about information privacy Instagrams algorithm is comically disastrous. This is doubly hilarious when you take into account how much data Meta has on all of us. If Reels was a true TikTok competitor, using years and years of collected Instagram and Facebook data to create a truly uncanny feed, it would be frightening. Thankfully no one, including Meta, Instagrams parent company, seems concerned about it being good.Its not just you everyones Reels is full of raw milk, belly fat warnings, and devil yogaLike most social media users, many of us are simply lurkers. For the hundreds of millions who use Instagram, most will never make a Reel. In 2022, the Wall Street Journal obtained leaked data from Meta that indicated that only one-fifth of Instagram users actually make and post shortform video to the site. While Reels has managed to stick around since then (and not leak any further creator data), the majority of users I spoke to still say they only watch them sometimes by accident. And most of the Reels they consume, they dont particularly like. Talking to users about what stuck out in their feed, the answers ranged from banal to bizarre; a barrage of things no one asked for. I heard about everything from videos featuring mediocre crowd work by random stand-up comedians to infertility guidance, from rants about how yoga was designed by Satan to purposely disgusting food influencers, to a woman giving tips about how to curb ones lust urges with air squats. This social media funhouse mirror prompts several questions, such as, What about me says I would enjoy smearing beef tallow on my skin and drinking raw, unpasteurized milk? and Do I seem like a person seeking confirmation that yoga is a demonic practice?Adam Moussa, a social media editor, explains that Reels pumping out weird-to-hostile videos isnt a singular experience. Moussa primarily works in food journalism, which means he not only has to cut video for platforms like Reels, but also needs to study what else is on there and whats getting views. Hes found that its aggressively uninspiring for everyone. He compares watching videos on the app to panning for gold and coming away with mounds of gravel. The algorithm feels so scattershot, so aggressively bad at doing anything that could be considered curation, Moussa tells Vox. I see constant repetition of lengthy engagement farming slop, videos that open with a shot of a kitchen sink or a doorknob and the text IT TOOK ME 45 YEARS TO LEARN THIS. As you watch, its just a series of random things being strung together, making you believe youre leading up to a payoff that never comes, Moussa added.Reels appears to reward this kind of social media edging. From what Moussa and other users can tell, the platform seems to prioritize videos with lots of views over videos that a lot of people have enjoyed. While those two are not mutually exclusive and can overlap, prioritizing videos that keep you watching over videos users have actively double-tapped to like seems like one of the reasons Reels gets so much backlash. If there were some kind of payoff humor, satisfaction, shock, etc. perhaps the yoga-is-a-demon-dance or guy-imagines-gender-swap-Super-Bowl Reels would feel a little less like mind mud. At the very least, they would serve some kind of purpose and be worth sharing, even if it was in a oh wow this video is very bad lol kind of way. But the sheer lack of impact is what feels so frustrating. Vox reached out to Meta for comment about Reelss algorithm and did not receive a response. Is Reels for old people, otherwise known as millennials? Its also worth noting that the generational split on platforms might be dictating at least part of the vocal dissatisfaction.Jessica Grose, a New York Times columnist who covers internet culture and parenthood, explained to me that because millennials, especially millennial women, dominated Instagram in its early stages, it makes sense that the algorithm and content on the social media platform they pioneered would reflect their interests, especially as they age. She notes, however, that theres a preponderance of a particular type of content.Instagram was a place that [millennial] mom influencers monetized very well from the beginning. They were some of the first people to really start to make a lot of money a lot of them were in that sort of wellness space, but also straightforward mom advice, or just like being a hot person who happens to be a mom, Grose tells me, explaining that Instagram became the natural progression for motherhood influencers who got their start blogging. Those influencers got only more popular as their peers became parents themselves. A wildly informal survey of millennial users showed they found themselves inundated with parenting content, whether they have kids or not. That said, whether its motherhood, relationship advice, fitness tips, or cooking videos, the inherent problem with millennials making millennial content no matter how good it is is that, like the many generations before them, millennials have inevitably become corny.Reels can kind of feel like being on social media with your parents, Beverly Hart, a creator and influencer, tells Vox. Hart is a younger millennial, 31, on the cusp of Gen Z. To her, Reels is kind of like visiting a social media retirement home. The content, the way its all presented, the interface it all feels a bit dated, watching older people talk and makes jokes to other older people. Hart prefers TikTok. The millennial cringe is hard to watch, she tells me. What came first: the content or the algorithm? At the heart of the Reels frustration is a chicken-or-egg scenario. Which came first: the algorithm or the content? For Reelss slop algorithm to work, it needs slop to push out, so are creators just making more and more slop to feed the beast? Or was there just an enormous amount of slop in the first place, and the algorithm adapted accordingly? For Sharon Kim, a lifestyle content creator, Reels has incentivized a specific kind of video she makes. I, and a lot of women I know, will spend time making wholesome, uplifting, or inspiring fitness or lifestyle stuff but the algorithm wont even push it out to .08 of my followers, says Kim, who has 10,400 followers on Instagram. But if I post myself in a bikini or if I post myself in makeup, all of a sudden Instagram will push your content immediately to like everyone. Kim, like other creators I spoke to, prefers TikTok, where a clip of her father stubbornly eating excessively hot peppers at the Peking Gourmet Inn in Falls Church, Virginia, has been played over 766,000 times. The number of views Kims dad with beads of sweat crawling down his face can get versus Instagrams assessment of the superior worth of Kim posting herself in a bikini highlights what she says is the gulf between TikTok and Reels. Even though theyre both curated parts of her life, the former allows her to show other facets of her personality, while the latter feels like shes boxed in. TikTok, she says, is also better built for videos to go viral. Instagram [and Reels] is for friends who know you on the internet who may or may not be supporting you, and TikTok is strangers on the internet who dont know you, supporting you, Kim says. Some say that on Reels, however, you might encounter strangers who dont support you. The comments section can be judgey, Hart, who makes content for both Reels and TikTok, says of the Meta site. Her videos tend to focus on fashion and beauty, and also combine the two with her experience in politics as a former Hill staffer. But she doesnt post about politics on Instagram because its too divisive, even though those clips often go viral on TikTok. She fears how out of hand the Instagram comments can be: Ive thank god because Im weak only had a few bad comments. The negativity about Reels might reflect the negativity on Reels. Pointless videos, relying on the tastes of a generation losing its cool factor, featuring predetermined, dull content from uninspired creators, with nasty comment sections. Its no wonder that Reels has become a pejorative.Perhaps the most frustratingly hilarious thing, watching Reels flop around in its badness, is that it all comes back to something much more basic than any diagnosis: Meta could fix Reels if it really wanted to. Whats most galling about all this is that platforms can disincentivize the shit. They can throttle it or ban it entirely, Moussa, the social media producer, tells me. But they dont. Meta doesnt give a fuck about incentivizing quality content on the platform, otherwise they wouldnt allow a system that enables creators and brands making things actually worth watching to be so gunked up.But if Meta did, wed unfortunately have to find a new way to talk about Reels. See More:

Despite Pokemon Presents yesterday, we're still without an entry for the historic series confirmed for the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 console here's why that could be the caseTech11:24, 28 Feb 2025Pokemon Legends Z-A is targeting Switch 1 for now(Image: Pokemon)The Switch 2 is coming this year, but we're still waiting for the April 2 Nintendo Direct which will reveal the console's launch lineup.It should also give us the system's price and when we can play it, but what about Pokemon? The series has long been a console-mover for Nintendo, but while we hoped yesterday's Pokemon Presents would give us a hint of news about Switch 2, we're still in the dark about when Pikachu and pals could come to the Switch's successor.While it's worth noting Nintendo doesn't often launch consoles with Pokemon titles, we had hoped we may get a glimpse after the disappointing Scarlet and Violet which arrived with an array of technical issues.Trainer battles are more dynamic in Legends Z-A(Image: Pokemon)The next Pokemon game for Switch 1 is Pokemon Legends Z-A, and we finally got a full gameplay reveal at yesterday's event. And, while Lumiose City looks like a fun location to explore, it's fair to say the game is not pushing any boundaries when it comes to visuals.Admittedly that's never been a big focus of the series, but if Nintendo dubbed it a 'Switch 2 title', there's every chance the narrative devolves into one about the console being underpowered.With most games being backwards compatible from Switch 1 to Switch 2, Pokemon Legends Z-A will play on Switch 2, but by putting it alongside the only other confirmed first-party title in the untitled Mario Kart, Nintendo runs the risk of its console reveal being on the back foot already.Lumiose City is a big part of the upcoming title(Image: Pokemon)Given the Nintendo Switch is approaching 8 years on the market, it's understandable it's not offering the same level of visuals as its rivals, but given the aforementioned Scarlet and Violet marking a big disappointment at launch, Nintendo is likely to properly focus on Pokemon for the Switch 2 when the console is revealed fully.And, who knows? Maybe the April 2 reveal will include a look at Pokemon, or offer some kind of enhanced versions of prior Switch 1 titles with the increased performance of the new console.For more on Pokemon, be sure to check out our interview with Peter Murphy, Senior Director of Marketing at The Pokemon Company International where we discussed what could come in future titles.Article continues belowFor the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.

Japanese developers get free day off work to play Monster Hunter WildsAdam StarkeyPublished February 28, 2025 12:00pmUpdated February 28, 2025 12:00pm Monster Hunter Wilds you mean we get the whole day off? (Capcom)Between special traditions for Dragon Quest and the popularity of Monster Hunter, Japanese developers have a storied history of bunking off work to play video games.Many ordinary people book days off work to play new video games the moment they come out, but thats also true of the people that make games too especially in Japan.Square Enix had such a problem with kids skipping school in order to play Dragon Quest that they purposefully never release new games on a weekday, but its not the only franchise that stops Japanese society in its tracks.The latest title to spark the phenomenon is Monster Hunter Wilds, part of a franchise which has been hugely popular in Japan ever since its inception in 2004. The latest instalment is arguably the best yet and many have skipped work to play it at launch on February 28.Palworld developers have day off for Monster Hunter WildsIf youre an employee at Palworld studio Pocketpair, you dont even have to book time off yourself. In a post on X, the studio shared a memo which has been sent to staff, informing them that Friday, February 28 will be a company wide holiday.While the memo doesnt name Monster Hunter Wilds specifically as the reason, the message jokes that the company has received a series of mysterious notices from its employees, who claim they will probably be feeling unwell tomorrow (as translated by Automaton) when the game comes out.Please note that updates to Palworld and Craftopia are progressing smoothly and are expected to be implemented as scheduled, the memo concludes, in a nod to the public audience.Monster Hunter Rise sparks day off at VR companyThe Monster Hunter franchise is extremely popular in Japan, so you might not be surprised to hear a similar scenario happened with Wilds predecessor, Monster Hunter Rise.In 2021, Masaki Hiyama, owner of VR development company Mark-on, officially declared March 26 MonHun Day in a notice to his employees.As reported by Huffington Post Japan, Hiyama sent a letter, stating: March 26 will be the release date of Monster Hunter Rise, and since it is expected that we will not be able to concentrate on our work, I will be making that day a MonHun vacation.Speaking to the outlet, Hiyama added: There were several employees who said they wanted to take the day off on the 26th because they wanted to play MonHun immediately, so we took the plunge and did this. We received words of thanks and appreciation from employees for giving them this day off.Taking time off for Elden RingThis isnt the first time Pocketpair has announced a holiday in the name of games. Back in 2022, the studio declared February 25 an Elden Holiday to mark the release of Elden Ring.Incredibly, in a post on X, the studio said employees didnt have to come into the office the following Monday either, although this wasnt technically a day off.Palworld has been criticised for copying Pokmon and other games without ever adding any new ideas of their own, but theyre not doing so entirely cynically and clearly do love video games.The law against Dragon QuestAlthough its little known in the West, Dragon Quest is another franchise which is hugely popular in Japan to the point where it sparked an urban myth around the countrys laws.Dragon Quests popularity in the 90s became so extreme it led to kids skipping school and adults calling in sick from work. Its important to note that in Japan, theres no such thing as mandated sick pay, so people were basically losing money to play a game on launch day.According to the myth, this caused the Japanese government to pass a law which forced Square Enix and Nintendo to release Dragon Quest games on Saturdays, instead of the usual Thursdays, in order to curb widespread truancy.In actual fact there is no such law, but there is an element of truth to the myth. After the first few Dragon Quest games became a huge hit, Square Enix arranged a special deal with Nintendo so that all future games in the series would be released on Saturdays something which has been upheld to this day.More TrendingSpeaking to IGN, Dragon Quest series executive producer, Yuu Miyake, said: Basically, it was the general accepted practice in the industry to have games shipped out on a Thursday, but there were kids who would skip school to go and buy the games. So we arranged with Nintendo to have Dragon Quest released on a Saturday as a special exception to that.Cyberpunk 2077 led to a day off at a Chinese developerThis phenomena isnt limited to just Japan. A game developer based in China, called PeroPeroGames, sent its staff a message to announce a day off on December 10, 2020, in the name of Cyberpunk 2077.The comical post, shared on Twitter, read: To all employees, with the release of Cyberpunk 2077, were expecting many employees to have sudden incidents such as suddenly feeling sick or having an emergency. As such, the studio will be temporarily closed on December 10.Also, for our staff playing games at work: I already pre-downloaded Cyberpunk 2077, so feel free to play it from now on. Few games are as big as Monster Hunter in Japan (Capcom)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

AMDs newly revealed Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT mid-range GPUS are set to compete against the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti, respectively. At least, we wont have to wait long before we see how well these new cards stack up, as the cards are set to launch on March 6 through a range of OEMs. Skipping any mention of a RX 8000 series (to better align with the GPU nomenclature with the latest Ryzen 9 series CPUs) doesnt mean its fully two generations ahead, though it is built with 4K and 1440p gaming in mind for more recent games. The lower-level GPU, the RX 9070, comes in at 56 of the companys RDNA 4 compute units with 16 GB of VRAM (GDDR6 running at 20 Gbps) on a 256-bit memory bus and a boost clock of 2.54 GHz. The RX 9070 XT stands taller with 64 compute units, more AI accelerators, and a 2.97 Ghz boost clock. The higher-end GPU also maintains 16 GB VRAM, equivalent to Nvidias RTX 5070 Ti. Whats Going On Under the Hood with RX 9000 Series GPUs? Image: AMD The RX 9070has 53.9 billion transistors versus 55.8 billion on the RX 7900 XT. Nvidia CEOJensen Huang was more than ready to proclaim, Moores law is dead, but theres still somehting interesting going on considering the 7900 XT contained 84 RDNA 3 compute units at launch in 2022. Each RDNA 4 CU is supposed to support higher clock speeds than RDNA 3. AMD also claims its new GPUs are more power efficient than the past or current generation, meaning it should be able to get more done than the RX 79000 series with less total compute units. The RX 9070 demands 220 W of board power compared to 250 W on the RTX 5070. Meanwhile, the RX 9070 XT has 304 W of total board power compared to 300 W on the RTX 5070 Ti. However, the RX 9070 will still recommend a 650 W PSU, while the 9070 XT will ask for a 750 W power supply, same as the equivalent Nvidia cards. RDNA 4 sports a new structure with an extra computing unit designed with ray tracing in mind. According to AMD, the compute unit is 40% faster than RDNA 3, and theres a promised two times increase in ray tracing performances per compute unit versus the past-gen architecture thanks to a reconfigured, more-optimized raytracing pipeline. The new architecture supports PCIe Gen 5 along with HDMI 2.1b and DisplayPort 2.1a. Team Red also promoted its second-gen AI accelerators. The RX 9070 should be able to hit 1,165 peak TOPS of AI performance versus the RX 9070 XT at 1,557 TOPS.Ignoring all the talk about AI, AMD purports more gamers are looking to upgrade off the RX 6800 XT or the Nvidia RTX 3080 and RTX 3090. For gen-on-gen performance, Team Red claims youll get 33% better performance in a Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p with ray tracing enabled on the RX 9070 compared to last years RX 7900 GRE. The XT will get over 66% better in the same game at 4K ultra-performance versus the RX 7900 GRE. The frames arent as significant in a game like F1 24 or Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2, but theres still a bigger uplift in native gaming performance. How Much Will the Radeon RX 9000 GPUs Cost? AIB partners are the usual stock, including Acer, Yeston, Gigabyte, Sapphire, and more. Image: AMD AMD waited until its full announcement to drop its final pricing on the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT. Well update this story once we get official word for how much each card will cost. Its a tough market, and Nvidias latest issues with RTX 50-series availability have made customers nervous about the cost of upgrading. AMD said it was working with the companies making its AIBs to have enough stock at launch, but time will tell.AMD said it doesnt have to play in the same exclusive, ultra-expensive pool as the big dogs at Nvidia. Instead, its focusing on the mid-range GPUs that, perhaps, a few more gamers can afford. That doesnt mean these cards are cheap. AMD may have focused on running cards for under $700, though Nvidia still holds an edge in gaming software. The company now has to bet more gamers would prefer to save some bucks (and, depending on availability, actually be able to buy one) rather than relying on tricks like multi-frame gen. However, AMD is still promoting how its next generation of FSR provides better framerates than the last generation. AMDs FSR 4 Is Looking to Take On DLSS 4 for AI Upscaling Image: AMD AMDs FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 for the RDNA 4 architecture is supposed to improve the upscaling tech trying to take on DLSS 4 by reducing regular complaints of ghosting or anti-aliasing artifacts. Just like always, FSR takes a lower-resolution image and upscales it to a higher-resolution image, all while keeping the performance of the lower-end. AMD said FSR-4 can create near-native results for its supported games on the Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT.Whether thats true will be up to the eagle-eyed players keen to point out any issue with a non-native frame, especially when you throw frame generation into the mix. AMD compared native 4K to FSR 3.1 and FSR 4, claiming the latter seems closer to native with fine details and far-away images. As for performance, AMD claimed a larger uplift in FPS on a 9070 XT in a game like Warhammer 40K: Space Marine II, going from 53 FPS to 102 FPS at 4K. Increased frames are slightly lower on games like Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered. Thats all before frame gen, as well. As for multi-frame gen, thats still off the table. AMD indicated it has worked on prototypes for that AI capability but is mostly there to encourage benchmarking rather than improve the user experience. No matter what card you choose, upscaling is a boon for gamers who cant spend $2,000 on an RTX 5090. The question will be how it compares to DLSS 4. AMD also has a new AMF 2.1 model to make generated frames look smoother than before. Nvidia made a big deal about the transformer model of DLSS. AMDs widening software gulf is nowhere clearer than with 3x or 4x multi-frame gen, a capability exclusive to the RTX 50 series of GPUs. The more frames you generate with AI, the more likely you find odd artifacts (and in our tests, we certainly have). But when comparing mid-range GPUs, those extra frames may be worth the drawbacks to some budget-conscious gamers.AMD said its supporting more than 30 games with FSR 4 at launch, including recent games like Marvels Spider-Man 2 and Kingdom Come Deliverance II. The chipmaker said it planned to have more than 75 games support the technology going into 2025. FSR 4 will be supported on RDNA 4 only, while the company promised more games to support FSR 3.1 throughout the year.