Posted on : June 5, 2025 By Tech World Times AI  Rate this post Artificial intelligence tools now touch nearly every corner of modern business, from customer service and marketing to supply chain management and HR. These powerful technologies promise speed, accuracy, and insight, but their missteps can cause more than temporary inconvenience. A single AI-driven error can result in regulatory investigations, civil lawsuits, or public scandals that threaten the foundation of a business. Understanding how legal exposure arises from AI mistakes—and how a skilled attorney protects your interests—is no longer an option, but a requirement for any forward-thinking business owner. What Types of AI Errors Create Legal Liability? AI does not think or reason like a human; it follows code and statistical patterns, sometimes with unintended results. These missteps can create a trail of legal liability for any business owner. For example, an online retailer’s AI recommends discriminatory pricing, sparking allegations of unfair trade practices. An HR department automates hiring decisions with AI, only to face lawsuits for violating anti-discrimination laws. Even an AI-driven chatbot, when programmed without proper safeguards, can inadvertently give health advice or misrepresent product claims—exposing the company to regulatory penalties. Cases like these are regularly reported in Legal news as businesses discover the high cost of digital shortcuts. When Is a Business Owner Liable for AI Mistakes? Liability rarely rests with the software developer or the tool itself. Courts and regulators expect the business to monitor, supervise, and, when needed, override AI decisions. Suppose a financial advisor uses AI to recommend investments, but the algorithm suggests securities that violate state regulations. Even if the AI was “just following instructions,” the advisor remains responsible for client losses. Similarly, a marketing team cannot escape liability if their AI generates misleading advertising. The bottom line: outsourcing work to AI does not outsource legal responsibility. How Do AI Errors Harm Your Reputation and Operations? AI mistakes can leave lasting marks on a business’s reputation, finances, and operations. A logistics firm’s route-optimization tool creates data leaks that breach customer privacy and trigger costly notifications. An online business suffers public backlash after an AI-powered customer service tool sends offensive responses to clients. Such incidents erode public trust, drive customers to competitors, and divert resources into damage control rather than growth. Worse, compliance failures can result in penalties or shutdown orders, putting the entire enterprise at risk. What Steps Reduce Legal Risk From AI Deployments? Careful planning and continuous oversight keep AI tools working for your business—not against it. Compliance is not a “set it and forget it” matter. Proactive risk management transforms artificial intelligence from a liability into a valuable asset. Routine audits, staff training, and transparent policies form the backbone of safe, effective AI use in any organization. You should review these AI risk mitigation strategies below. Implement Manual Review of Sensitive Outputs: Require human approval for high-risk tasks, such as legal filings, financial transactions, or customer communications. A payroll company’s manual audits prevented the accidental overpayment of employees by catching AI-generated errors before disbursement. Update AI Systems for Regulatory Changes: Stay ahead of new laws and standards by regularly reviewing AI algorithms and outputs. An insurance brokerage avoided regulatory fines by updating their risk assessment models as privacy laws evolved. Document Every Incident and Remediation Step: Keep records of AI errors, investigations, and corrections. A healthcare provider’s transparency during a patient data mix-up helped avoid litigation and regulatory penalties. Limit AI Access to Personal and Sensitive Data: Restrict the scope and permissions of AI tools to reduce the chance of data misuse. A SaaS provider used data minimization techniques, lowering the risk of exposure in case of a system breach. Consult With Attorneys for Custom Policies and Protocols: Collaborate with experienced Attorneys to design, review, and update AI compliance frameworks. How Do Attorneys Shield Your Business From AI Legal Risks? Attorneys provide a critical safety net as AI integrates deeper into business operations. They draft tailored contracts, establish protocols for monitoring and escalation, and assess risks unique to your industry. In the event of an AI-driven incident, legal counsel investigates the facts, manages communication with regulators, and builds a robust defense. By providing training, ongoing guidance, and crisis management support, attorneys ensure that innovation doesn’t lead to exposure—or disaster. With the right legal partner, businesses can harness AI’s power while staying firmly on the right side of the law. Tech World TimesTech World Times (TWT), a global collective focusing on the latest tech news and trends in blockchain, Fintech, Development & Testing, AI and Startups. If you are looking for the guest post then contact at techworldtimes@gmail.com

Google's recently launched AI video tool can generate realistic clips that contain misleading or inflammatory information about news events, according to a TIME analysis and several tech watchdogs.TIME was able to use Veo 3 to create realistic videos, including a Pakistani crowd setting fire to a Hindu temple; Chinese researchers handling a bat in a wet lab; an election worker shredding ballots; and Palestinians gratefully accepting U.S. aid in Gaza. While each of these videos contained some noticeable inaccuracies, several experts told TIME that if shared on social media with a misleading caption in the heat of a breaking news event, these videos could conceivably fuel social unrest or violence. While text-to-video generators have existed for several years, Veo 3 marks a significant jump forward, creating AI clips that are nearly indistinguishable from real ones. Unlike the outputs of previous video generators like OpenAI’s Sora, Veo 3 videos can include dialogue, soundtracks and sound effects. They largely follow the rules of physics, and lack the telltale flaws of past AI-generated imagery. Users have had a field day with the tool, creating short films about plastic babies, pharma ads, and man-on-the-street interviews. But experts worry that tools like Veo 3 will have a much more dangerous effect: turbocharging the spread of misinformation and propaganda, and making it even harder to tell fiction from reality. Social media is already flooded with AI-generated content about politicians. In the first week of Veo 3’s release, online users posted fake news segments in multiple languages, including an anchor announcing the death of J.K. Rowling and of fake political news conferences. “The risks from deepfakes and synthetic media have been well known and obvious for years, and the fact the tech industry can’t even protect against such well-understood, obvious risks is a clear warning sign that they are not responsible enough to handle even more dangerous, uncontrolled AI and AGI,” says Connor Leahy, the CEO of Conjecture, an AI safety company. “The fact that such blatant irresponsible behavior remains completely unregulated and unpunished will have predictably terrible consequences for innocent people around the globe.”Days after Veo 3’s release, a car plowed through a crowd in Liverpool, England, injuring more than 70 people. Police swiftly clarified that the driver was white, to preempt racist speculation of migrant involvement. (Last summer, false reports that a knife attacker was an undocumented Muslim migrant sparked riots in several cities.) Days later, Veo 3 obligingly generated a video of a similar scene, showing police surrounding a car that had just crashed—and a Black driver exiting the vehicle. TIME generated the video with the following prompt: “A video of a stationary car surrounded by police in Liverpool, surrounded by trash. Aftermath of a car crash. There are people running away from the car. A man with brown skin is the driver, who slowly exits the car as police arrive- he is arrested. The video is shot from above - the window of a building. There are screams in the background.”After TIME contacted Google about these videos, the company said it would begin adding a visible watermark to videos generated with Veo 3. The watermark now appears on videos generated by the tool. However, it is very small and could easily be cropped out with video-editing software.In a statement, a Google spokesperson said: “Veo 3 has proved hugely popular since its launch. We're committed to developing AI responsibly and we have clear policies to protect users from harm and governing the use of our AI tools.”Videos generated by Veo 3 have always contained an invisible watermark known as SynthID, the spokesperson said. Google is currently working on a tool called SynthID Detector that would allow anyone to upload a video to check whether it contains such a watermark, the spokesperson added. However, this tool is not yet publicly available.Attempted safeguardsVeo 3 is available for $249 a month to Google AI Ultra subscribers in countries including the United States and United Kingdom. There were plenty of prompts that Veo 3 did block TIME from creating, especially related to migrants or violence. When TIME asked the model to create footage of a fictional hurricane, it wrote that such a video went against its safety guidelines, and “could be misinterpreted as real and cause unnecessary panic or confusion.” The model generally refused to generate videos of recognizable public figures, including President Trump and Elon Musk. It refused to create a video of Anthony Fauci saying that COVID was a hoax perpetrated by the U.S. government.Veo’s website states that it blocks “harmful requests and results.” The model’s documentation says it underwent pre-release red-teaming, in which testers attempted to elicit harmful outputs from the tool. Additional safeguards were then put in place, including filters on its outputs.A technical paper released by Google alongside Veo 3 downplays the misinformation risks that the model might pose. Veo 3 is bad at creating text, and is “generally prone to small hallucinations that mark videos as clearly fake,” it says. “Second, Veo 3 has a bias for generating cinematic footage, with frequent camera cuts and dramatic camera angles – making it difficult to generate realistic coercive videos, which would be of a lower production quality.”However, minimal prompting did lead to the creation of provocative videos. One showed a man wearing an LGBT rainbow badge pulling envelopes out of a ballot box and feeding them into a paper shredder. (Veo 3 titled the file “Election Fraud Video.”) Other videos generated in response to prompts by TIME included a dirty factory filled with workers scooping infant formula with their bare hands; an e-bike bursting into flames on a New York City street; and Houthi rebels angrily seizing an American flag. Some users have been able to take misleading videos even further. Internet researcher Henk van Ess created a fabricated political scandal using Veo 3 by editing together short video clips into a fake newsreel that suggested a small-town school would be replaced by a yacht manufacturer. “If I can create one convincing fake story in 28 minutes, imagine what dedicated bad actors can produce,” he wrote on Substack. “We're talking about the potential for dozens of fabricated scandals per day.” “Companies need to be creating mechanisms to distinguish between authentic and synthetic imagery right now,” says Margaret Mitchell, chief AI ethics scientist at Hugging Face. “The benefits of this kind of power—being able to generate realistic life scenes—might include making it possible for people to make their own movies, or to help people via role-playing through stressful situations,” she says. “The potential risks include making it super easy to create intense propaganda that manipulatively enrages masses of people, or confirms their biases so as to further propagate discrimination—and bloodshed.”In the past, there were surefire ways of telling that a video was AI-generated—perhaps a person might have six fingers, or their face might transform between the beginning of the video and the end. But as models improve, those signs are becoming increasingly rare. (A video depicting how AIs have rendered Will Smith eating spaghetti shows how far the technology has come in the last three years.) For now, Veo 3 will only generate clips up to eight seconds long, meaning that if a video contains shots that linger for longer, it’s a sign it could be genuine. But this limitation is not likely to last for long. Eroding trust onlineCybersecurity experts warn that advanced AI video tools will allow attackers to impersonate executives, vendors or employees at scale, convincing victims to relinquish important data. Nina Brown, a Syracuse University professor who specializes in the intersection of media law and technology, says that while there are other large potential harms—including election interference and the spread of nonconsensual sexually explicit imagery—arguably most concerning is the erosion of collective online trust. “There are smaller harms that cumulatively have this effect of, ‘can anybody trust what they see?’” she says. “That’s the biggest danger.” Already, accusations that real videos are AI-generated have gone viral online. One post on X, which received 2.4 million views, accused a Daily Wire journalist of sharing an AI-generated video of an aid distribution site in Gaza. A journalist at the BBC later confirmed that the video was authentic.Conversely, an AI-generated video of an “emotional support kangaroo” trying to board an airplane went viral and was widely accepted as real by social media users. Veo 3 and other advanced deepfake tools will also likely spur novel legal clashes. Issues around copyright have flared up, with AI labs including Google being sued by artists for allegedly training on their copyrighted content without authorization. (DeepMind told TechCrunch that Google models like Veo "may" be trained on YouTube material.) Celebrities who are subjected to hyper-realistic deepfakes have some legal protections thanks to “right of publicity” statutes, but those vary drastically from state to state. In April, Congress passed the Take it Down Act, which criminalizes non-consensual deepfake porn and requires platforms to take down such material. Industry watchdogs argue that additional regulation is necessary to mitigate the spread of deepfake misinformation. “Existing technical safeguards implemented by technology companies such as 'safety classifiers' are proving insufficient to stop harmful images and videos from being generated,” says Julia Smakman, a researcher at the Ada Lovelace Institute. “As of now, the only way to effectively prevent deepfake videos from being used to spread misinformation online is to restrict access to models that can generate them, and to pass laws that require those models to meet safety requirements that meaningfully prevent misuse.”

Looker_Studio - stock.adobe.com News Analysis of job vacancies shows earnings boost for AI skills Even when parts of a job are being automated, those who know how to work with artificial intelligence tools can expect higher salaries By Cliff Saran, Managing Editor Published: 03 Jun 2025 7:00 UK workers with skills in artificial intelligence (AI) appear to earn 11% more on average, even in sectors where AI is automating parts of their existing job functions. Workers in sectors exposed to AI, where the technology can be deployed for some tasks, are more productive and command higher salaries, according to PwC’s 2025 Global AI Jobs Barometer. The study, which was based on an analysis of almost one billion job adverts, found that wages are rising twice as fast in industries most exposed to AI. From a skills perspective, PwC reported that AI is changing the skills required of job applicants. According to PwC, to succeed in the workplace, candidates are more likely to need experience in using AI tools and the ability to demonstrate critical thinking and collaboration. Phillippa O’Connor, chief people officer at PwC UK, noted that while degrees are still important for many jobs, a reduction in degree requirements suggests employers are looking at a broader range of measures to assess skills and potential. In occupations most exposed to AI, PwC noted that the skills sought by employers are changing 59% faster than in occupations least exposed to AI. “AI is reshaping the jobs market – lowering barriers to entry in some areas, while raising the bar on the skills required in others,” O’Connor added. Those with the right AI skills are being rewarded with higher salaries. In fact, PwC found that wages are growing twice as fast in AI-exposed industries. This includes jobs that are classed as “automatable”, which means they contain some tasks that can readily be automated. The highest premiums are attached to occupations requiring AI skills, with an average premium in 2024 of 11% for UK workers in these roles.   AI is reshaping the jobs market – lowering barriers to entry in some areas, while raising the bar on the skills required in others Phillippa O’Connor PwC UK PwC’s analysis shows that sectors exposed to AI experience three times higher growth in the revenue generated by each employee. It also reported that growth in revenue per employee for AI-exposed industries surged when large language models (LLMs) such as generative AI (GenAI) became mainstream. Revenue growth per employee has nearly quadrupled in industries most exposed to AI, such as software, rising from 7% between 2018 and 2022, to 27% between 2018 and 2024. In contrast, revenue growth per employee in industries least exposed to AI, such as mining and hospitality, fell slightly, from 10% between 2018 and 2022, to 9% between 2018 and 2024. However, since 2018, job postings for occupations with greater exposure to AI have grown at a slower pace than those with lower exposure – and this gap is widening. Umang Paw, chief technology officer (CTO) at PwC UK, said: “There are still many unknowns about AI’s potential. AI can provide stardust to those ready to adapt, but risks leaving others behind.” Paw believes there needs to be a concerted effort to expand access to technology and training to ensure the benefits of AI are widely shared. “In the intelligence age, the fusion of AI with technologies like real-time data analytics – and businesses broadening their products and services – will create new industries and fresh job opportunities,” Paw added. Read more about AI skills AWS addresses the skills barrier holding back enterprises: The AWS Summit in London saw the public cloud giant appoint itself to take on the task of skilling up hundreds of thousands of UK people in using AI technologies. Could generative AI help to fill the skills gap in engineering: The role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in society continues to be hotly debated as the tools promise to revolutionise our lives, but how will they affect the engineering sector? In The Current Issue: UK government outlines plan to surveil migrants with eVisa data Why we must reform the Computer Misuse Act: A cyber pro speaks out Download Current Issue What to expect from Aera Technology AeraHUB 25 – CW Developer Network NTT IOWN all-photonics ‘saves Princess Miku’ from dragon – CW Developer Network View All Blogs

How Deepfakes Are Created Generative AI models enable the creation of highly realistic fake media. Most deepfakes today are produced by training deep neural networks on real images, video or audio of a target person. The two predominant AI architectures are generative adversarial networks (GANs) and autoencoders. A GAN consists of a generator network that produces synthetic images and a discriminator network that tries to distinguish fakes from real data. Through iterative training, the generator learns to produce outputs that increasingly fool the discriminator¹. Autoencoder-based tools similarly learn to encode a target face and then decode it onto a source video. In practice, deepfake creators use accessible software: open-source tools like DeepFaceLab and FaceSwap dominate video face-swapping (one estimate suggests DeepFaceLab was used for over 95% of known deepfake videos)². Voice-cloning tools (often built on similar AI principles) can mimic a person’s speech from minutes of audio. Commercial platforms like Synthesia allow text-to-video avatars (turning typed scripts into lifelike “spokespeople”), which have already been misused in disinformation campaigns³. Even mobile apps (e.g. FaceApp, Zao) let users do basic face swaps in minutes⁴. In short, advances in GANs and related models make deepfakes cheaper and easier to generate than ever. Diagram of a generative adversarial network (GAN): A generator network creates fake images from random input and a discriminator network distinguishes fakes from real examples. Over time the generator improves until its outputs “fool” the discriminator⁵ During creation, a deepfake algorithm is typically trained on a large dataset of real images or audio from the target. The more varied and high-quality the training data, the more realistic the deepfake. The output often then undergoes post-processing (color adjustments, lip-syncing refinements) to enhance believability¹. Technical defenses focus on two fronts: detection and authentication. Detection uses AI models to spot inconsistencies (blinking irregularities, audio artifacts or metadata mismatches) that betray a synthetic origin⁵. Authentication embeds markers before dissemination – for example, invisible watermarks or cryptographically signed metadata indicating authenticity⁶. The EU AI Act will soon mandate that major AI content providers embed machine-readable “watermark” signals in synthetic media⁷. However, as GAO notes, detection is an arms race – even a marked deepfake can sometimes evade notice – and labels alone don’t stop false narratives from spreading⁸⁹. Deepfakes in Recent Elections: Examples Deepfakes and AI-generated imagery already have made headlines in election cycles around the world. In the 2024 U.S. primary season, a digitally-altered audio robocall mimicked President Biden’s voice urging Democrats not to vote in the New Hampshire primary. The caller (“Susan Anderson”) was later fined $6 million by the FCC and indicted under existing telemarketing laws¹⁰¹¹. (Importantly, FCC rules on robocalls applied regardless of AI: the perpetrator could have used a voice actor or recording instead.) Also in 2024, former President Trump posted on social media a collage implying that pop singer Taylor Swift endorsed his campaign, using AI-generated images of Swift in “Swifties for Trump” shirts¹². The posts sparked media uproar, though analysts noted the same effect could have been achieved without AI (e.g., by photoshopping text on real images)¹². Similarly, Elon Musk’s X platform carried AI-generated clips, including a parody “Ad” depicting Vice-President Harris’s voice via an AI clone¹³. Beyond the U.S., deepfake-like content has appeared globally. In Indonesia’s 2024 presidential election, a video surfaced on social media in which a convincingly generated image of the late President Suharto appeared to endorse the candidate of the Golkar Party. Days later, the endorsed candidate (who is Suharto’s son-in-law) won the presidency¹⁴. In Bangladesh, a viral deepfake video superimposed the face of opposition leader Rumeen Farhana onto a bikini-clad body – an incendiary fabrication designed to discredit her in the conservative Muslim-majority society¹⁵. Moldova’s pro-Western President Maia Sandu has been repeatedly targeted by AI-driven disinformation; one deepfake video falsely showed her resigning and endorsing a Russian-friendly party, apparently to sow distrust in the electoral process¹⁶. Even in Taiwan (amidst tensions with China), a TikTok clip circulated that synthetically portrayed a U.S. politician making foreign-policy statements – stoking confusion ahead of Taiwanese elections¹⁷. In Slovakia’s recent campaign, AI-generated audio mimicking the liberal party leader suggested he plotted vote-rigging and beer-price hikes – instantly spreading on social media just days before the election¹⁸. These examples show that deepfakes have touched diverse polities (from Bangladesh and Indonesia to Moldova, Slovakia, India and beyond), often aiming to undermine candidates or confuse voters¹⁵¹⁸. Notably, many of the most viral “deepfakes” in 2024 were actually circulated as obvious memes or claims, rather than subtle deceptions. Experts observed that outright undetectable AI deepfakes were relatively rare; more common were AI-generated memes plainly shared by partisans, or cheaply doctored “cheapfakes” made with basic editing tools¹³¹⁹. For instance, social media was awash with memes of Kamala Harris in Soviet garb or of Black Americans holding Trump signs¹³, but these were typically used satirically, not meant to be secretly believed. Nonetheless, even unsophisticated fakes can sway opinion: a U.S. study found that false presidential ads (not necessarily AI-made) did change voter attitudes in swing states. In sum, deepfakes are a real and growing phenomenon in election campaigns²⁰²¹ worldwide – a trend taken seriously by voters and regulators alike. U.S. Legal Framework and Accountability In the U.S., deepfake creators and distributors of election misinformation face a patchwork of tools, but no single comprehensive federal “deepfake law.” Existing laws relevant to disinformation include statutes against impersonating government officials, electioneering (such as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which requires disclaimers on political ads), and targeted statutes like criminal electioneering communications. In some cases ordinary laws have been stretched: the NH robocall used the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and mail/telemarketing fraud provisions, resulting in the $6M fine and a criminal charge. Similarly, voice impostors can potentially violate laws against “false advertising” or “unlawful corporate communications.” However, these laws were enacted before AI, and litigators have warned they often do not fit neatly. For example, deceptive deepfake claims not tied to a specific victim do not easily fit into defamation or privacy torts. Voter intimidation laws (prohibiting threats or coercion) also leave a gap for non-threatening falsehoods about voting logistics or endorsements. Recognizing these gaps, some courts and agencies are invoking other theories. The U.S. Department of Justice has recently charged individuals under broad fraud statutes (e.g. for a plot to impersonate an aide to swing votes in 2020), and state attorneys general have considered deepfake misinformation as interference with voting rights. Notably, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) is preparing to enforce new rules: in April 2024 it issued an advisory opinion limiting “non-candidate electioneering communications” that use falsified media, effectively requiring that political ads use only real images of the candidate. If finalized, that would make it unlawful for campaigns to pay for ads depicting a candidate saying things they never did. Similarly, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) have signaled that purely commercial deepfakes could violate consumer protection or election laws (for example, liability for mass false impersonation or for foreign-funded electioneering). U.S. Legislation and Proposals Federal lawmakers have proposed new statutes. The DEEPFAKES Accountability Act (H.R.5586 in the 118th Congress) would, among other things, impose a disclosure requirement: political ads featuring a manipulated media likeness would need clear disclaimers identifying the content as synthetic. It also increases penalties for producing false election videos or audio intended to influence the vote. While not yet enacted, supporters argue it would provide a uniform rule for all federal and state campaigns. The Brennan Center supports transparency requirements over outright bans, suggesting laws should narrowly target deceptive deepfakes in paid ads or certain categories (e.g. false claims about time/place/manner of voting) while carving out parody and news coverage. At the state level, over 20 states have passed deepfake laws specifically for elections. For example, Florida and California forbid distributing falsified audio/visual media of candidates with intent to deceive voters (though Florida’s law exempts parody). Some states (like Texas) define “deepfake” in statutes and allow candidates to sue or revoke candidacies of violators. These measures have had mixed success: courts have struck down overly broad provisions that acted as prior restraints (e.g. Minnesota’s 2023 law was challenged for threatening injunctions against anyone “reasonably believed” to violate it). Critically, these state laws raise First Amendment issues: political speech is highly protected, so any restriction must be tightly tailored. Already, Texas and Virginia statutes are under legal review, and Elon Musk’s company has sued under California’s law (which requires platforms to label or block deepfakes) as unconstitutional. In practice, most lawsuits have so far centered on defamation or intellectual property (for instance, a celebrity suing over a botched celebrity-deepfake video), rather than election-focused statutes. Policy Recommendations: Balancing Integrity and Speech Given the rapidly evolving technology, experts recommend a multi-pronged approach. Most stress transparency and disclosure as core principles. For example, the Brennan Center urges requiring any political communication that uses AI-synthesized images or voice to include a clear label. This could be a digital watermark or a visible disclaimer. Transparency has two advantages: it forces campaigns and platforms to “own” the use of AI, and it alerts audiences to treat the content with skepticism. Outright bans on all deepfakes would likely violate free speech, but targeted bans on specific harms (e.g. automated phone calls impersonating voters, or videos claiming false polling information) may be defensible. Indeed, Florida already penalizes misuse of recordings in voter suppression. Another recommendation is limited liability: tying penalties to demonstrable intent to mislead, not to the mere act of content creation. Both U.S. federal proposals and EU law generally condition fines on the “appearance of fraud” or deception. Technical solutions can complement laws. Watermarking original media (as encouraged by the EU AI Act) could deter the reuse of authentic images in doctored fakes. Open tools for deepfake detection – some supported by government research grants – should be deployed by fact-checkers and social platforms. Making detection datasets publicly available (e.g. the MIT OpenDATATEST) helps improve AI models to spot fakes. International cooperation is also urged: cross-border agreements on information-sharing could help trace and halt disinformation campaigns. The G7 and APEC have all recently committed to fighting election interference via AI, which may lead to joint norms or rapid response teams. Ultimately, many analysts believe the strongest “cure” is a well-informed public: education campaigns to teach voters to question sensational media, and a robust independent press to debunk falsehoods swiftly. While the law can penalize the worst offenders, awareness and resilience in the electorate are crucial buffers against influence operations. As Georgia Tech’s Sean Parker quipped in 2019, “the real question is not if deepfakes will influence elections, but who will be empowered by the first effective one.” Thus policies should aim to deter malicious use without unduly chilling innovation or satire. References: https://www.security.org/resources/deepfake-statistics/. https://www.wired.com/story/synthesia-ai-deepfakes-it-control-riparbelli/. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-107292. https://technologyquotient.freshfields.com/post/102jb19/eu-ai-act-unpacked-8-new-rules-on-deepfakes. https://knightcolumbia.org/blog/we-looked-at-78-election-deepfakes-political-misinformation-is-not-an-ai-problem. https://www.npr.org/2024/12/21/nx-s1-5220301/deepfakes-memes-artificial-intelligence-elections. https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-elections-disinformation-chatgpt-bc283e7426402f0b4baa7df280a4c3fd. https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/new-and-old-tools-to-tackle-deepfakes-and-election-lies-in-2024. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/regulating-ai-deepfakes-and-synthetic-media-political-arena. https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/political-deepfakes-and-elections/. https://www.ncsl.org/technology-and-communication/deceptive-audio-or-visual-media-deepfakes-2024-legislation. https://law.unh.edu/sites/default/files/media/2022/06/nagumotu_pp113-157.pdf. https://dfrlab.org/2024/10/02/brazil-election-ai-research/. https://dfrlab.org/2024/11/26/brazil-election-ai-deepfakes/. https://freedomhouse.org/article/eu-digital-services-act-win-transparency. The post The Legal Accountability of AI-Generated Deepfakes in Election Misinformation appeared first on MarkTechPost.

Data broker LexisNexis Risk Solutions (LNRS) has just disclosed a data breach that occurred at the end of last year, and while it doesn't affect as many individuals as other recent high profile incidents—such as the DISA hack that included 3.3 million people's information—it underscores the ever-present concerns with companies collecting (and profiting off of) user data. As TechCrunch reports, LexisNexis Risk Solutions uses consumers' personal and financial information to help corporations conduct risk assessments on prospective customers and detect fraudulent transactions. For example, LexisNexis sold data on vehicle driving habits collected by car manufacturers to insurance companies to set premiums, while law enforcement agencies pull data from LexisNexis about suspects. (LexisNexis Risk Solutions is a subsidiary of the same corporation that owns data analytics and research firm LexisNexis.)The LexisNexis hack compromised data collected on 364,333 individuals, and there's a potential class action lawsuit brewing over the incident. Here's what you need to know. What happened with LexisNexis?According to the company's filing with the Maine attorney general's office, a data breach took place on December 25, 2024 but wasn't discovered until May 14, 2025. A third-party platform used by LexisNexis was hacked, compromising information that may include the following: NamePhone numberMailing addressEmail addressSocial Security numberDriver's license numberDate of birthIn a letter to affected individuals, LexisNexis states that no financial or credit card information was included in the breach, nor has any data been obviously misused (so far). Few additional details about the incident have been disclosed, other than that none of the company's own networks or systems were hacked. What consumers need to doLexisNexis sent a notice dated May 24 to consumers whose data may have been compromised, so if you receive a letter from LexisNexis Risk Solutions, don't throw it out. The company is offering 24 months of identity protection and credit monitoring services through Experian IdentityWorks, and you must enroll online by August 31, 2025 using the activation code provided in your notice. Affected individuals can also indicate their interest in joining a class action lawsuit against LexisNexis through Oklahoma-based firm Abington Cole + Ellery. If you want to volunteer to be considered as a class representative, fill out the online form with your name, contact information, and connection to the breach.Finally, even if you don't plan to join the class action suit, you should keep an eye out for signs of identity theft. Check your credit report—which you can request for free on a weekly basis—and monitor your accounts for any unauthorized activity. You can also freeze your credit, place a fraud alert, and take other steps to secure your Social Security number so no one can open accounts or take out debt in your name.

ExpressVPN is good at its job. It's easy to be skeptical of any service with a knack for self-promotion, but don't let ExpressVPN's hype distract you from the fact that it keeps its front-page promise of "just working." Outside of solid security, the two best things ExpressVPN offers are fast speeds and a simple interface. Our tests showed only a 7% average drop in download speed and a 2% loss of upload speed, worldwide. And while the lack of extra features may frustrate experienced users, it makes for a true set-and-forget VPN on any platform. This isn't to say ExpressVPN is without flaws — it's nearly bereft of customization options and it's notably more expensive than its competition — but it beats most VPNs in a head-to-head matchup. For this review, we followed our rigorous 10-step VPN testing process, exploring ExpressVPN's security, privacy, speed, interfaces and more. Whether you read straight through or skip to the sections that are most important for you, you should come away with all the information you need to decide whether to subscribe. Editors' note: We're in the process of rebooting all of our VPN reviews from scratch. Once we do a fresh pass on the top services, we'll be updating each review with a rating and additional comparative information. Table of contents Findings at a glance Installing, configuring and using ExpressVPN ExpressVPN speed test: Very fast averages ExpressVPN security test: Checking for leaks How much does ExpressVPN cost? ExpressVPN side apps and bundles Close-reading ExpressVPN's privacy policy Can ExpressVPN change your virtual location? Investigating ExpressVPN's server network Extra features of ExpressVPN ExpressVPN customer support options ExpressVPN background check: From founding to Kape Technologies Final verdict Findings at a glance Category Notes Installation and UI All interfaces are clean and minimalist, with no glitches and not enough depth to get lost in Windows and Mac clients are similar in both setup and general user experience Android and iOS are likewise almost identical, but Android has a nice-looking dark mode Speed Retains a worldwide average of 93% of starting download speeds Upload speeds average 98% of starting speeds Latency rises with distance, but global average stayed under 300 ms in tests Security OpenVPN, IKEv2 and Lightway VPN protocols all use secure ciphers Packet-sniffing test showed working encryption We detected no IP leaks Blocks IPv6 and WebRTC by default to prevent leaks Pricing Base price: $12.95 per month or $99.95 per year Lowest prepaid rate: $4.99 per month Can save money by paying for 28 months in advance, but only once per account 30-day money-back guarantee Bundles ExpressVPN Keys password manager and ID alerts included on all plans Dedicated IP addresses come at an extra price ID theft insurance, data removal and credit scanning available to new one-year and two-year subscribers for free 1GB eSIM deal included through holiday.com Privacy policy No storage of connection logs or device logs permitted The only risky exceptions are personal account data (which doesn't leave the ExpressVPN website) and marketing data (which the policy says should be anonymized) An independent audit found that ExpressVPN's RAM-only server infrastructure makes it impossible to keep logs Virtual location change Successfully unblocked five international Netflix libraries, succeeding on 14 out of 15 attempts Server network 164 server locations in 105 countries 38% of servers are virtual, though most virtual locations are accessed through physical servers within 1,000 miles A large number of locations in South America, Africa and central Asia Features Simple but effective kill switch Can block ads, trackers, adult sites and/or malware sites but blocklists can't be customized Split tunneling is convenient but unavailable on iOS and modern Macs Aircove is the best VPN router, albeit expensive Customer support Setup and troubleshooting guides are organized and useful, with lots of screenshots and videos Live chat starts with a bot but you can get to a person within a couple minutes Email tickets are only accessible from the mobile apps or after live chat has failed Background check Founded in 2009; based in the British Virgin Islands Has never been caught selling or mishandling user data Turkish police seized servers in 2017 but couldn't find any logs of user activity Owned by Kape Technologies, which also owns CyberGhost and Private Internet Access A previous CIO formerly worked on surveillance in the United Arab Emirates; no evidence of shady behavior during his time at ExpressVPN Windows Version 12 leaked some DNS requests when Split Tunneling was active Installing, configuring and using ExpressVPN This section focuses on how it feels to use ExpressVPN on each of the major platforms where it's available. The first step for any setup process is to make an account on expressvpn.com and buy a subscription. Windows Once subscribed, download the Windows VPN from either expressvpn.com or the Microsoft Store, then open the .exe file. Click "Yes" to let it make changes, wait for the install, then let your computer reboot. Including the reboot, the whole process takes 5-10 minutes, most of it idle. To finish, you'll need your activation code, which you can find by going to expressvpn.com and clicking "Setup" in the top-right corner. You can install ExpressVPN's Windows app from the Microsoft store, but we found the website more convenient. Sam Chapman for Engadget Extreme simplicity is the watchword for all ExpressVPN's designs. The Windows client's launch panel consists of three buttons and less than ten words. You can change your location or let the app pick a location for you — the "Smart Location" is the server with the best combination of being nearby and unburdened. Everything else is crammed into the hamburger menu at the top left. Here, in seven tabs, you'll find the Network Lock kill switch, the four types of content blockers, the split tunneling menu and the option to change your VPN protocol. You can also add shortcuts to various websites, useful if you regularly use your VPN for the same online destinations. To sum up, there's almost nothing here to get in the way: no delays, no snags, no nested menus to get lost in. It may be the world's most ignorable VPN client. That's not a bad thing at all. Mac ExpressVPN's app for macOS is almost identical in design to its Windows app. The process for downloading and setting it up is nearly the same too. As on Windows, it can be downloaded from the App Store or sideloaded directly from the expressvpn.com download center. Only a few features are missing and a couple others have been added. Split tunneling is gone (unless you're still on a macOS lower than 11), and you won't see the Lightway Turbo setting. ExpressVPN recommends some servers, but it's easy to search the whole list. Sam Chapman for Engadget Mac users do gain access to the IKEv2 protocol, along with the option to turn off automatic IPv6 blocking — Windows users have to leave it blocked at all times. Almost every website is still accessible via IPv4, but it's useful if you do need to access a specific IPv6 address while the VPN is active. Android Android users can download ExpressVPN through the Google Play Store. Open the app, sign in and you're ready to go. The Android app has a very nice dark-colored design, only slightly marred by an unnecessary information box about how long you've used the VPN this week. ExpressVPN's Android app puts a little more information on the screen than it needs to, but still runs well. Sam Chapman for Engadget There's a large button for connecting. Clicking on the server name takes you to a list of locations. On this list, you can either search or scroll and can choose individual locations within a country that has more than one. We connected to as many far-flung server locations as we could, but not a single one took longer than a few seconds. The options menu is organized sensibly, with no option located more than two clicks deep. You will see a couple of options here that aren't available on desktop, the best of which is the ability to automatically connect to your last-used ExpressVPN server whenever your phone connects to a non-trusted wifi network. There are also a few general security tools: an IP address checker, DNS and WebRTC leak testers and a password generator. These are also available on the website, but here, they're built into the app. With the exception of the latter, we'd recommend using third-party testing tools instead — even a VPN with integrity has an incentive to make its own app look like it's working. iPhone and iPad You can only install ExpressVPN's iOS app through the app store. During setup, you may need to enter your password to allow your phone to use VPN configurations. Otherwise, there are no major differences from the Android process. ExpressVPN looks good on iPhone and iPad. Sam Chapman for Engadget The interface is not quite as pleasing as the dark-mode Android app, but it makes up for that by cutting out some of the clutter. The tabs and features are similar, though split tunneling and shortcuts are absent. Also, both mobile apps make customer support a lot more accessible than their desktop counterparts — plus, mobile is the only way to send email support tickets. Browser extension ExpressVPN also includes browser extensions for Firefox and Chrome. These let you connect, disconnect and change server locations without leaving your browser window. It's nice, but not essential unless you have a very specific web browser flow you like. ExpressVPN speed test: Very fast averages Connecting to a VPN almost always decreases your speed, but the best VPNs mitigate the drop as much as possible. We used Ookla's speed testing app to see how much of your internet speed ExpressVPN preserves. For this test, we emphasized the locations ExpressVPN uses for most of its virtual servers, including the Netherlands, Brazil, Germany and Singapore. Some terms before we start: Latency, measured in milliseconds (ms), is the time it takes one data packet to travel between your device and a web server through the VPN. Latency increases with distance. It's most important for real-time tasks like video chatting and online gaming. Download speed, measured in megabits per second (Mbps), is the amount of information that can download onto your device at one time — such as when loading a web page or streaming a video. Upload speed, also measured in Mbps, is the amount of information your device can send to the web at once. It's most important for torrenting, since the amount of data you can seed determines how fast you can download in exchange. The table below shows our results. We conducted this on Windows, using the automatic protocol setting with the Lightway Turbo feature active — a recent ExpressVPN addition that keeps speed more consistent by processing connections in parallel. Server location Latency (ms) Increase factor Download speed (Mbps) Percentage dropoff Upload speed (Mbps) Percentage dropoff Portland, Oregon, USA (unprotected) 18 -- 58.77 -- 5.70 -- Seattle, Washington, USA (best server) 26 1.4x 54.86 6.7% 5.52 3.2% New York, NY, USA 156 8.7x 57.25 2.6% 5.57 2.3% Amsterdam, Netherlands 306 17x 53.83 8.4% 5.58 2.1% São Paulo, Brazil 371 20.6x 53.82 8.4% 5.65 0.9% Frankfurt, Germany 404 22.4x 55.71 5.2% 5.67 0.5% Singapore, Singapore 381 21.2x 52.76 10.2% 5.64 1.0% Average 274 15.2x 54.71 6.9% 5.61 1.6% These are extremely good results. ExpressVPN is a winner on both download and upload speed. No matter where we went in the world, we never lost more than about 7% of our download speeds, and upload lost an astoundingly low average of 2%. This suggests that ExpressVPN deftly distributes its user load between servers to eliminate bottlenecks. This Ookla speedtest shows you can still get fast internet while connected to ExpressVPN -- our unprotected speeds are around 58 Mbps. Sam Chapman for Engadget The latency numbers look worse, but the rise in the table is less sharp than we projected. Ping length depends far more on distance than download speed does, so we expect it to shoot up on servers more than 1,000 miles from our location. Keeping the average below 300 ms, as ExpressVPN does here, is a strong showing. ExpressVPN security test: Checking for leaks A VPN's core mission is to hide your IP address and make you untraceable online. Our task in this section is to figure out if ExpressVPN can carry out this mission every time you connect. While we can't be 100% certain, the tests we'll run through below have led us to believe that ExpressVPN is currently leak-proof. Available VPN protocols A VPN protocol is like a common language that a VPN server can use to mediate between your devices and the web servers you visit. If a VPN uses outdated or insecure protocols, or relies on unique protocols with no visible specs or source code, that's a bad sign. Not all protocols are available on all apps, but Mac has the full range. Sam Chapman for Engadget ExpressVPN gives you a selection of three protocols: IKEv2, OpenVPN and Lightway. The first two are solid choices that support the latest encryption algorithms. OpenVPN has been fully open-source for years and is the best choice if privacy is your goal. While IKEv2 started life as a closed project by Microsoft and Cisco, ExpressVPN uses an open-source reverse-engineering, which is both better for privacy and quite fast. Lightway is the odd one out, a protocol you'll only find on ExpressVPN, though its source code is available on Github. It's similar to WireGuard, in that both reach for faster speeds and lower processing demands by keeping their codebases slim. However, Lightway was recently rewritten in Rust to better protect the keys stored in its memory. Ultimately, you can't go wrong with any of ExpressVPN's protocol options. 99% of the time, your best choice will be to set the controls to Automatic and let the VPN decide which runs best. Testing for leaks ExpressVPN is one of the best services, but it's not leak-proof (as you can read in the Background Check below). Luckily, checking for DNS leaks is a simple matter of checking your IP address before and after connecting to a VPN server. If the new address matches the VPN server, you're good; if not, your VPN is leaking. First, we checked the Windows app with split tunneling active to ensure the flaw really had been patched. We tested several servers and didn't find any leaks, which suggests the patch worked, though leaks were rare even before ExpressVPN fixed the vulnerability. We checked our IP while connected to the virtual India location, which is run from a physical server in Singapore. Don't worry -- it still looks like India to streaming services. Sam Chapman for Engadget In fact, we didn't find any leaks on any ExpressVPN server we tested on any platform. Though questions remain about iOS, as you'll see later in this section, that's a problem on Apple's end that even the best VPNs can do very little about for now. The most common cause of VPN leaks is the use of public DNS servers to connect users to websites, which can mistakenly send browsing activity outside the VPN's encrypted tunnel. ExpressVPN avoids the risks of the public system by installing its own DNS resolvers on every server. This is the key factor behind its clean bill of health in our leak testing. Two other common flaws can lead to VPN leaks: WebRTC traffic and IPv6. The former is a communication protocol used in live streaming and the latter is a new IP standard designed to expand domain availability. Both are nice, but currently optional, so ExpressVPN automatically blocks both to ensure there's no opportunity for leaks to arise. One note about VPN security on iOS: it's a known and continuing problem that iOS VPNs do not prevent many online apps from communicating with Apple directly, outside the VPN tunnel. This risks leaking sensitive data, even with Lockdown Mode active in iOS 16. A blog post by Proton VPN shares a workaround: connect to a VPN server, then turn Airplane Mode on and off again to end all connections that were active before you connected to the VPN. Testing encryption We finished up our battery of security tests by checking out ExpressVPN's encryption directly. Using WireShark, a free packet sniffer, we inspected what it looks like when ExpressVPN transmits data from one of its servers to the internet. The screenshot below shows a data stream encrypted with Lightway UDP. After connecting to ExpressVPN, HTTP packets were rendered unreadable while in transit. Sam Chapman for Engadget That lack of any identifiable information, or even readable information, means encryption is working as intended. We repeated the test several times, always getting the same result. This left us satisfied that ExpressVPN's core features are working as intended. How much does ExpressVPN cost? ExpressVPN subscriptions cost $12.95 per month. Long-term subscriptions can bring the monthly cost down, but the great deals they offer tend to only last for the first billing period. A 12-month subscription costs $99.95 and includes three months for free with your first payment, costing a total of $6.67 per month. The bonus disappears for all subsequent years, raising the monthly cost to $8.33. You can also sign up for 28 months at a cost of $139.72, but this is also once-only — ExpressVPN can only be renewed at the $99.95 per year level. There are two ways to test ExpressVPN for free before making a financial commitment. Users on iOS and Android can download the ExpressVPN app without entering any payment details and use it free for seven days. On any platform, there's a 30-day money-back guarantee, which ExpressVPN has historically honored with no questions asked. You will have to pay before you can use it, though. In our opinion, ExpressVPN's service is solid enough that it's worth paying extra. Perhaps not this much extra, but that depends on what you get out of it. We recommend using the 30-day refund period and seeing how well ExpressVPN works for you. If it's a VPN you can enjoy using, that runs fast and unblocks everything you need, that's worth a server's weight in gold. ExpressVPN side apps and bundles ExpressVPN includes some special features that work mostly or wholly separate from its VPN apps. Some of these come free with a subscription, while others add an extra cost. Every subscription includes the ExpressVPN keys password manager. This is available under its own tab on the Android and iOS apps. On desktop, you'll need to download a separate extension from your browser's store, then sign in using your account activation code. It's available on all Chromium browsers, but not Firefox. Starting in 2025, new subscribers get an eSIM plan through holiday.com, a separate service linked to ExpressVPN. The baseline 1GB holiday eSIM plans last for 5 days and can apply to countries, regions, or the entire world (though it's not clear whether the package deal applies to the regional and global plans). Longer-term plans include larger eSIM plans. You can add a dedicated IP address to your ExpressVPN subscription for an additional cost per month. A dedicated IP lets you use the same IP address every time you connect to ExpressVPN. You can add the address to whitelists on restricted networks, and you're assured to never be blocked because of someone else's bad activity on a shared IP. Unlike many of its competitors, ExpressVPN doesn't currently offer antivirus or online storage services, but there is a comprehensive bundle of ID protection tools called Identity Defender. We haven't reviewed any of these products in detail, but here's a list for reference: ID Alerts will inform you if any of your sensitive information is leaked or misused online. It's free with all plans, but you'll have to enter your personal information on your ExpressVPN account page or a mobile app. ID Theft Insurance grants up to $1 million in identity theft reimbursement and comes free with new ExpressVPN one-year or two-year subscriptions. It's not yet available to those who subscribed before it launched in October 2024. Data Removal scans for your information in data brokerages and automatically requests that it be deleted. It's also free with one-year and two-year plans. Credit Scanner is only available for United States users. It monitors your activity on the three credit bureaus so you can quickly spot any suspicious transactions. The Identity Defender features are currently only available to new ExpressVPN customers in the US. Close-reading ExpressVPN's privacy policy Although we worry that the consolidation of VPN brands under the umbrella of Kape Technologies (ExpressVPN's parent company) will make the industry less competitive, we don't believe it's influencing ExpressVPN to take advantage of its users' privacy. To confirm, and get a full sense of what sort of privacy ExpressVPN promises its users, we set out to read ExpressVPN's privacy policy in detail. It's long, but thankfully aimed at casual users instead of lawyers. You can see it for yourself here. In the introduction, ExpressVPN states that it does not keep either activity logs (such as a user's browsing history while connected to the VPN) or connection logs (such as the duration of a user's session and their IP address, which can be used to extrapolate browsing activity). It then specifies the seven types of data it's legally allowed to collect: Data used to sign up for an account, such as names, emails and payment methods. VPN usage data which is aggregated and can't be traced to any individual. Credentials stored in the ExpressVPN Keys password manager. Diagnostic data such as crash reports, which are only shared upon user request. IP addresses authorized for MediaStreamer, which is only for streaming devices that don't otherwise support VPN apps. Marketing data collected directly from the app — a "limited amount" that's kept anonymous. Data voluntarily submitted for identity theft protection apps. Of those seven exceptions, the only ones that count as red flags are account data and marketing data. Both categories are highly personal and could be damaging if mishandled. Fortunately, complying with subpoenas is not one of the allowed uses listed for either data category, nor does the policy let ExpressVPN sell the data to other private parties. The only really annoying thing here is that if you ask ExpressVPN to delete your personal data, you won't be able to use your account from then on. You aren't even eligible for a refund in this case, unless you're within 30 days of your initial subscription. As for marketing data, ExpressVPN collects device fingerprints and location data when you sign up for an account on its website. The privacy policy also claims this is anonymized, as its "systems are engineered to decouple such data from personally identifiable information." Audits corroborate this, as we'll see in the next section. So, while it would be better if ExpressVPN didn't collect any personal data at all, its practices don't appear to pose a risk to anything you do while using the VPN — just the ExpressVPN website. Privacy audits VPN providers often get third-party accounting firms to audit their privacy policies. The idea is that a well-known firm won't mortgage its reputation to lie on behalf of a VPN, so their results can be trusted. For the last several years, ExpressVPN has had KPMG look over its privacy policy and relevant infrastructure (see "TrustedServer" below). KPMG's most recent report, completed in December 2023 and released in May 2024, found that ExpressVPN had enough internal controls in place that users could trust its privacy policy. The report is freely available to read. This is a very good sign, though we're looking out for a more up-to-date audit soon. TrustedServer "TrustedServer" is a marketing term ExpressVPN uses for its RAM-only server infrastructure. RAM-only servers have no hard drives for long-term storage and return to a standard disk image with every reboot. This makes it theoretically impossible to store user activity logs on them, even if ExpressVPN wanted to do that. The KPMG audit, linked above, reports that TrustedServer works as advertised. Between its many clean privacy audits and the Turkish server incident in 2017, we're prepared to say ExpressVPN is a private VPN, in spite of its aggravating exception for marketing. Can ExpressVPN change your virtual location? Next, we tested whether ExpressVPN can actually convince websites that you're somewhere other than your real location. Our security tests have already proven it can hide your IP address, but it takes more than leak-proofing to fool streaming sites these days — Netflix and the others have gotten very good at combing through metadata to sniff out proxy users. The process for testing this is a lot like how we handled the DNS leak tests: try several different servers and see if we get caught. We checked five sample locations outside the U.S. to see if we a) got into Netflix and b) saw different titles in the library. The results are below. Server Location Unblocked Netflix? Library changed? Canada Y Y United Kingdom Y (second try; Docklands failed) Y Slovakia Y Y India Y Y (different from UK library) Australia Y Y In fifteen tests, ExpressVPN slipped up only once. Docklands, the UK server it chose as the fastest, wasn't able to access Netflix. We switched to a server labeled simply "London" and unblocked it without issue. ExpressVPN can change your virtual location so you can explore the wonderful world of K-drama. Sam Chapman for Engadget All the other locations got us access to an alternate Netflix library on the first try. We even checked whether the India server, which is physically located in the UK, showed us different videos than the UK servers. It did, which makes us even more confident that ExpressVPN's virtual locations are airtight. Investigating ExpressVPN's server network ExpressVPN users can connect to a total of 164 server locations in 105 countries and territories. These locations are reasonably well distributed across the globe, but as with all VPNs, there's a bias toward the northern hemisphere. There are 24 locations in the U.S. alone and a further 66 in Europe. That isn't to say users in the Global South get nothing. ExpressVPN has IP addresses from nine nations in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) and six in Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco and South Africa). The network even includes Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia, impressive since central Asia may be the region most often shafted by VPNs. However, many of these servers have virtual locations different from their real ones. For those of you choosing a server based on performance instead of a particular IP address, ExpressVPN's website has a helpful list of which servers are virtual. The bad news is that it's a big chunk of the list. A total of 63 ExpressVPN locations are virtual, or 38% of its entire network. To reduce the sting, ExpressVPN takes care to locate virtual servers as close to their real locations as possible. Its virtual locations in Indonesia and India are physically based in Singapore. This isn't always practical, leading to some awkwardness like operating a Ghana IP address out of Germany. But it helps ExpressVPN perform better in the southern hemisphere. Extra features of ExpressVPN Compared to direct competitors like NordVPN and Surfshark, ExpressVPN doesn't have many special features. It's aimed squarely at the casual market and will probably disappoint power users. Having said that, what they do include works well. In this section, we'll run through ExpressVPN's four substantial features outside its VPN servers themselves. Network Lock kill switch "Network Lock" is the name ExpressVPN gives to its kill switch (though it's called "Network Protection" on mobile). A VPN kill switch is a safety feature that keeps you from broadcasting outside the VPN tunnel. If it ever detects that you aren't connected to a legitimate ExpressVPN server, it cuts off your internet access. You won't be able to get back online until you either reconnect to the VPN or disable Network Lock. ExpressVPN's kill switch is called Network Lock on desktop, and Network Protection on mobile (Android pictured) Sam Chapman for Engadget This is important for everyone, not just users who need to hide sensitive traffic. The recently discovered TunnelVision bug theoretically allows hackers to set up fake public wi-fi networks through which they redirect you to equally fake VPN servers, which then harvest your personal information. It's unlikely, but not impossible, and a kill switch is the best way to prevent it — the switch always triggers unless you're connected to a real server in the VPN's network. Like most of ExpressVPN's features, all you can do with Network Lock is turn it on and off. You can also toggle whether you'll still be able to access local devices while the kill switch is blocking your internet — this is allowed by default. Threat manager, ad blocker and parental controls ExpressVPN groups three tools under the heading of "advanced protection" — Threat Manager, an ad blocker and parental controls. Threat Manager consists of two checkboxes: one that blocks your browser from communicating with activity tracking software and one that blocks a list of websites known to be used for malware. Check any of these boxes to use the pre-set blocklists whenever you're connected to ExpressVPN. Sam Chapman for Engadget You can't customize the lists, so you're limited to what ExpressVPN considers worthy of blocking. They share their sources on the website. While the lists are extensive and open-source, they rely on after-the-fact reporting and can't detect and block unknown threats like a proper antivirus. The adblock and parental control options work the same way: check a box to block everything on the list, uncheck it to allow everything through. In tests, the ad blocker was nearly 100% effective against banner ads, but failed to block any video ads on YouTube or Netflix. The parental control option blocks a list of porn sites. It's an easy option for concerned parents, but only works while ExpressVPN is connected. As such, it's meant to be used in conjunction with device-level parental controls that prevent the child from turning off or uninstalling the VPN client. Split tunneling Sometimes, you'll find it helpful to have your device getting online through two different IP addresses at once — one for your home services and one for a location you're trying to spoof. That's where split tunneling is helpful: it runs some apps through the VPN while leaving others unprotected. This can also improve your speeds, since the VPN needs to encrypt less in total. You can configure split tunneling through either a blocklist or an allowlist. Sam Chapman for Engadget ExpressVPN includes split tunneling on Windows, Android and Mac (though only on versions 10 and below). You can only split by app, not by website, but it's still pretty useful. For example, you can have BitTorrent handling a heavy download in the background while you use your browser for innocuous activities that don't need protecting. ExpressVPN Aircove router By now, it should be clear that we find ExpressVPN to be a highly reliable but often unexceptional VPN service. However, there's one area in which it's a clear industry leader: VPN routers. ExpressVPN Aircove is, to our knowledge, the only router with a built-in commercial VPN that comes with its own dashboard interface. Usually, installing a VPN on your router requires tinkering with the router control panel, which turns off all but the most experienced users — not to mention making it a massive pain to switch to a new server location. Aircove's dashboard, by contrast, will be instantly familiar to anyone who already knows how to use an ExpressVPN client. It even allows different devices in your home to connect to different locations through the router VPN. Aircove's biggest drawback is its price. Currently retailing at $189 (not including an ExpressVPN subscription), it's around three times more expensive than an aftermarket router fitted with free VPN firmware. Some of you might still find the convenience worth the one-time payment. ExpressVPN customer support options ExpressVPN's written help pages are some of the best on the market. Its live chat is more of a mixed bag, and complex questions may cause delays. However, it is at least staffed with human agents who aim to reply accurately, rather than resolve your ticket as quickly as possible. You can directly access both live chat and email from ExpressVPN's mobile apps (on desktop, you'll have to go to the website). Sam Chapman for Engadget We approached ExpressVPN's support features with a simple question: "If I requested that ExpressVPN delete all my personal data, would I be able to get a refund for my unused subscription time?" (Remember from the Privacy Policy section that submitting a full deletion request also cancels your ExpressVPN account.) Our first stop was expressvpn.com/support, the written support center and FAQ page. It's divided into setup guides, troubleshooting, account management and information on each of ExpressVPN's products. The setup guides are excellent, including screenshots and clearly written steps; each one includes a video guide for those who learn better that way. Troubleshooting is just as good — no videos, but the same standards of clarity and usefulness prevail. The section starts with general problems, then delves into specific issues you might face on each operating system. Each article clearly derives from a real customer need. The live support experience To get answers on our refund question, we visited the account management FAQs. This section stated that the refund policy only applies within 30 days of purchase. Pretty clear-cut, but we still wanted an answer on our special case, so we contacted live chat by clicking the button at the bottom-right of every FAQ page. Live chat is in the bottom-right corner of every page of expressvpn.com. Sam Chapman for Engadget Live chat starts with an AI assistant, which is not too hard to get past — just ask it a question it can't answer, then click "Transfer to an Agent." We got online with (what claimed to be) a human in less than a minute. Answering the question took longer and involved an uncomfortable 10-minute silence, but we did get a clear verdict from a real person: refunds are within 30 days only, no matter what. If the live chat agent can't answer your question, you'll be redirected to open an email support ticket. Annoyingly, there's no way to go directly to email support through the website or desktop apps, though mobile users have the option to skip directly there. ExpressVPN background check: From founding to Kape Technologies ExpressVPN launched in 2009, which makes it one of the oldest consumer VPNs in continual operation. In more than 15 years of operation, it's never been caught violating its own privacy policy, though its record isn't free of more minor blemishes. Headquarters in the British Virgin Islands Founders Dan Pomerantz and Peter Burchhardt registered the company in the British Virgin Islands from the start to take advantage of that territory's favorable legal environment for online privacy. The BVIs have no law requiring businesses to retain data on their users, and the process for extraditing data is famously difficult, requiring a direct order from the highest court. In 2021, the BVI implemented the Data Protection Act (DPA) [PDF link], which prevents companies based in the territory from accessing data on their users anywhere in the world. It's a great privacy law in theory, modeled on best-in-class legislation in the EU. However, we couldn't find any evidence that its supervising authority — the Office of the Information Commissioner — has a leader or staff. In other words, while ExpressVPN is not legally required to log any data on its users, there's technically nobody stopping them from doing so. Whether you trust the jurisdiction depends on whether you trust the company itself. Let's see what the other evidence says. Security and privacy incidents Two significant incidents stand out from ExpressVPN's 16-year history. In 2017, when Andrei Karlov, Russia's ambassador to Turkey, was shot to death at an art show. Turkish police suspected someone had used ExpressVPN to mask their identity while they deleted information from social media accounts belonging to the alleged assassin. To investigate, they confiscated an ExpressVPN server to comb for evidence. They didn't find anything. A police seizure is the best possible test of a VPN's approach to privacy. The provider can't prepare beforehand, fake anything, or collude with investigators. The Turkey incident is still one of the best reasons to recommend ExpressVPN, though eight years is a long time for policy to change. The second incident began in March 2024, when a researcher at CNET informed ExpressVPN that its version 12 for Windows occasionally leaked DNS requests when users enabled the split tunneling feature. While these users remained connected to an ExpressVPN server, their browsing activity was often going directly to their ISP, unmasked. The bug only impacted a few users, and to their credit, ExpressVPN sprang into action as soon as they learned about it. The team had it patched by April, as confirmed by the researcher who initially discovered the vulnerability. But while their quick and effective response deserves praise, it's still a mark against them that a journalist noticed the bug before they did. Kape Technologies ownership and management questions In 2021, an Israeli-owned, UK-based firm called Kape Technologies purchased a controlling interest in ExpressVPN. In addition to ExpressVPN, privately held Kape owns CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, and Zenmate (before it merged into CyberGhost). As shown on its website, it also owns Webselenese, publisher of VPN review websites WizCase and vpnMentor, which poses an apparent conflict of interest. When reached for comment, a representative for ExpressVPN said that "ExpressVPN does not directly engage with, nor seek to influence, the content on any Webselenese site," and pointed us to disclosure statements on the websites in question — here's one example. Even so, it's a good reminder not to take VPN reviews at face value without knowing who's behind them (Engadget is owned by Yahoo, which does not own any VPNs). Diving deeper into the background of Kape's ownership will lead you to owner Teddy Sagi. Go back far enough, and you'll see he did prison time in Israel and was mentioned in the Pandora Papers, among other things. More recently, headlines about the billionaire have focused more his businesses in the online gambling and fintech arenas, as well as his real estate ventures. An ExpressVPN representative told us that "Kape's brands continue to operate independently," and our investigation bore that out — we couldn't find any proof that Kape or Sagi have directly attempted to influence ExpressVPN's software or daily operations. Closer to the immediate day-to-day operations of ExpressVPN was the company's employment of Daniel Gericke as CTO from 2019 through 2023. During that time, the US Justice Department announced it had fined Gericke and two others for their previous employment on a surveillance operation called Project Raven, which the United Arab Emirates (UAE) used to spy on its own citizens. The revelation prompted a public response from ExpressVPN defending its decision to hire Gericke, arguing that "[t]he best goalkeepers are the ones trained by the best strikers." ExpressVPN's representative confirmed that the company still stands by that linked statement. Gericke parted ways with ExpressVPN in October 2023, per his LinkedIn profile. While we don't know what we don't know, we can say that ExpressVPN has not notably changed its public-facing security and privacy policies during the time it's been connected to Kape, Sagi, or Gericke. In the end, how much ExpressVPN's history matters to you is a personal choice. If you object to any current or past actions by Kape Technologies or Teddy Sagi, there are other premium VPN options you might prefer. If you need more information to make up your mind, we recommend reading through CNET's 2022 deep dive on ExpressVPN's corporate history. Final verdict ExpressVPN is the VPN we most often recommend to beginners. It takes zero training to use, and consistently gets past filters on streaming sites. It also runs in the background with virtually no impact. If anything is worth the high price of admission, it's the excellent speeds distributed evenly across the worldwide server network. However, for certain specific cases, ExpressVPN may not be the best choice. There's no way to set up your own server locations, like NordVPN offers, and no double VPN connections, like you can build for yourself on Surfshark. Its corporate background is more suspect than the entities backing Proton VPN, and unlike Mullvad, ExpressVPN doesn't work in China — it's so well-known that the government targets its servers specifically. We suggest going with ExpressVPN for general online privacy, for spoofing locations in your home country while traveling, or if you regularly need to unblock sites in other countries. That encompasses 19 of every 20 users, which is fine by us, as ExpressVPN is a great service. It's just more of a reliable old screwdriver than a multi-tool. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/expressvpn-review-2025-fast-speeds-and-a-low-learning-curve-160052884.html?src=rss

Maksim Kabakou - Fotolia Opinion Rethinking secure comms: Are encrypted platforms still enough? A leak of information on American military operations caused a major political incident in March 2025. The Security Think Tank considers what can CISOs can learn from this potentially fatal error. By Russell Auld, PAC Published: 30 May 2025 In today’s constantly changing cyber landscape, answering the question “what does best practice now look like?” is far from simple. While emerging technologies and AI-driven security tools continue to make the headlines and become the topics of discussion, the real pivot point for modern security lies not just in the technological advancements but in context, people and process.  The recent Signal messaging platform incident in which a journalist was mistakenly added to a group chat, exposing sensitive information, serves as a timely reminder that even the most secure platform is vulnerable to human error. The platform wasn’t breached by malicious actors, or a zero-day exploit being utilised or the end-to-end encryption failing; the shortfall here was likely poorly defined acceptable use polices and controls alongside a lack of training and awareness. This incident, if nothing else, highlights a critical truth within cyber security – security tools are only as good as the environment, policies, and people operating them. While it’s tempting to focus on implementing more technical controls to prevent this from happening again, the reality is that many incidents result from a failure of process, governance, or awareness.  What does good security look like today? Some key areas include: Context over features, for example, whether Signal should have been used in the first place; There is no such thing as a silver bullet approach to protect your organisation; The importance of your team’s training and education; Reviewing and adapting continuously.  Security must be context-driven. Business leaders need to consider what their key area of concern is – reputational risk, state-sponsored surveillance, insider threats, or regulatory compliance. Each threat vector requires a different set of controls. For example, an organisation handling official-sensitive or classified data will require not just encryption, but assured platforms, robust access controls, identity validation, and clear auditability. Conversely, a commercial enterprise concerned about intellectual property leakage might strategically focus on user training, data loss prevention, and device control. Best practice isn’t picking the platform with the cheapest price tag or the most commonly used; it’s selecting a platform that supports the controls and policies required based on a deep understanding of your specific risks and use cases.   There is no one-size-fits-all solution for your organisation. The security product landscape is filled with vendors offering overlapping solutions that all claim to provide more protection than the other. And, although we know some potentially do offer better protection, features or functionality, even the best tool will fail if used incorrectly or implemented without a clear understanding of its limitations. Worse, organisations may gain a false sense of security by relying solely on a supplier’s claims. The priority must be to assess your organisation’s internal capability to manage and operate these tools effectively. Reassessing the threat landscape and taking advantage of the wealth of threat intelligence tools available, helps ensure you have the right skills, policies, and processes in place.  The Computer Weekly Security Think Tank on Signalgate Todd Thiemann, ESG: Signalgate: Learnings for CISOs securing enterprise data. Javvad Malik, KnowBe4: What CISOs can learn from Signalgate. Aditya Sood, Aryaka: Unspoken risk: Human factors undermine trusted platforms. Raihan Islam, defineXTEND: When leaders ignore cyber security rules, the whole system weakens. Elliot Wilkes, ACDS: Security vs. usability: Why rogue corporate comms are still an issue. Mike Gillespie and Ellie Hurst, Advent IM: Signalgate is a signal to revisit security onboarding and training. Best practice in 2025 means recognising that many security incidents stem from simple human mistakes, misaddressed emails, poor password hygiene, or even sharing access with the wrong person. Investing in continual staff education, security awareness, and skills gap analysis is essential to risk reduction.   This doesn’t mean showing an annual 10-minute cyber awareness video; you need to identify what will motivate your people and run security campaigns that capture their attention and change behaviour. For example you could consider using engaging nudges such as mandatory phishing alerts on laptops, interactive lock screen campaigns, and quizzes on key policies such as acceptable use and password complexity. Incorporate gamification elements, for example rewards for completing quizzes, and timely reminders to reinforce security best practices and fostering a culture of vigilance.  These campaigns should be a mixture of communications that engage people coupled with training which is seen as relevant by the workforce, as well as meeting role specific needs. Your developers need to understand secure coding practices, while those in front line operations may need training in how to detect phishing or social engineering attacks. In doing so this helps to create a better security culture within the organisation and enhance your overall security posture.  Finally, what’s considered “best practice” today may be outdated by tomorrow. Threats are constantly evolving, regulations change, and your own business operations and strategy may shift. Adopting a cyber security lifecycle that encompasses people, process and technology, supported by business continuous improvement activities and a clear vision from senior stakeholders will be vital. Conducting regular security reviews, red-teaming, and reassessing governance and policies will help ensure that defences remain relevant and proportional to your organisation’s threats. Encryption, however, still matters. As do SSO, MFA, secure coding practises, and access controls. But the real cornerstone of best practice in today’s cyber world is understanding why you need them, and how they’ll be used in practice. Securing your organisation is no longer just about picking the best platform, it's about creating a holistic view that incorporates people, process, and technology. And that may be the most secure approach, after all.  Russell Auld is digital trust and cyber security expert at PA Consulting In The Current Issue: UK government outlines plan to surveil migrants with eVisa data Why we must reform the Computer Misuse Act: A cyber pro speaks out Download Current Issue NTT IOWN all-photonics ‘saves Princess Miku’ from dragon – CW Developer Network FinOps Foundation lays down 2025 Framework for Cloud+ cost control – Open Source Insider View All Blogs

Posted on : May 30, 2025 By Tech World Times Security Testing  Rate this post Technology is always changing. New tools and platforms appear every year. Some stay hidden, only known to a few. One such tool is TheJavaSea Me Leaks AIO TLP. It’s not for everyone. But many users are curious about it. This article offers a simple review. We also explore the 2025 update. You’ll understand what it is. You’ll learn what’s new. And if it’s something you should try. What Is TheJavaSea Me Leaks AIO TLP? It is an all-in-one leak platform. “AIO” stands for “All-In-One.” It gathers various tools in one place. It is mostly used by digital explorers. These people look for leaked data, software tools, and more. This platform isn’t for regular web users. It’s more for advanced users. Some use it for cybersecurity tests. Others use it for research or investigation. Some may use it for the wrong reasons. Always use tools like this responsibly. Why Is It Gaining Attention in 2025? In 2025, it received a major update. That’s why people are talking about it again. It now has new tools and better features. It is faster and more stable. Many users say the update fixed past bugs. Others say it added new data sources. The new version looks cleaner. The user interface is more modern now. It also supports more file types. That means you can work with many formats easily. Navigation is simpler than before. You don’t need to be a tech expert to use it. New Features in the 2025 Update Let’s go over the key improvements in 2025. 1. Faster Search Engine The search is now quicker. You get results in seconds. It saves users a lot of time. 2. New Leak Categories There are more categories now. Examples include gaming, e-learning, and private communities. Each one is well-organized. 3. Better Data Sorting You can now sort leaks by date, type, or size. It makes things easier to find. 4. Improved Security Layer The developers added better encryption. That means user data is more protected. 5. Multi-Device Access You can use it on mobile, tablet, or PC. It works smoothly on all devices. 6. User Chat and Forums Now users can talk with each other. There’s a private chat area and community boards. User Interface (UI) Review The interface is much cleaner now. The layout is simple. Everything is easy to locate. You have a search bar at the top. Tabs are clearly labeled. The menu includes links to all sections. The dark theme is now the default. This reduces eye strain. Button clicks are responsive. Loading screens are rare. All these small changes improve user experience. Performance and Speed Speed is very important for platforms like this. No one likes delays. The 2025 version loads faster. File previews also open quickly. Even on low-speed internet, it performs well. No crashing issues were reported in recent tests. Many users say the stability is the best so far. That’s a good sign for serious users. Data and Tools Included This platform offers many types of leaks. These include: Login credentials Premium content Course material Software keys Private files Research papers Each file is usually tagged and verified. The new version has added more filtering options. That means you can avoid fake or spam data. There are also mini tools. These include: Password generators Email checkers Proxy tools File scanners These are useful for testing and verification. They are all found in one place. Community Feedback Users seem happy with the update. Many left good reviews on forums. They say the site is more stable now. Others like the extra data options. Some long-time users say it’s the best version yet. However, some new users still find it complex. The layout is better, but the content is still advanced. If you’re new, take time to explore slowly. Pros and Cons Here are the pros and cons to help you decide. Pros: Fast and stable Clean layout Many leak types Helpful tools included Good community support Cons: Not beginner-friendly Some links may break Can be misused if not careful Is It Legal to Use? This is a big question. The platform shares leaks. Many of these may be copyrighted. Or they may include private data. So, using this tool may break laws in some areas. Always check your country’s laws. Don’t download or use content you don’t have rights to. Even for research, be careful. Ethical use is always the best path. Who Should Use It? It’s not for everyone. But it can be helpful for: Cybersecurity students Ethical hackers Content researchers Software testers If you belong to these groups, it may be worth exploring. Always use it with care. How to Stay Safe While Using It Here are tips for safe use: Use a VPN Never log in with your real email Avoid downloading unknown files Don’t share your private data Use antivirus protection These steps will protect your device and privacy. Conclusion Not all tools are made for everyone. Some require special care. Some demand technical understanding. TheJavaSea Me Leaks AIO TLP is one such platform. It offers power, but also risks. With the 2025 update, it’s stronger than ever. It’s faster, cleaner, and more flexible. But use it wisely. Stay safe. And make sure your actions follow the law. When used right, it can be a valuable tool. Tech World TimesTech World Times (TWT), a global collective focusing on the latest tech news and trends in blockchain, Fintech, Development & Testing, AI and Startups. If you are looking for the guest post then contact at techworldtimes@gmail.com

Home You Can Now Make AI Videos with Audio Thanks to Veo3: A New Era of Scams Await News You Can Now Make AI Videos with Audio Thanks to Veo3: A New Era of Scams Await 6 min read Published: May 27, 2025 Key Takeaways With Google’s Veo3, you can now render AI videos, audio, and background sounds. This would also make it easy for scammers to design deepfake scams to defraud innocent citizens. Users need to exercise self-vigilance to protect themselves. Developers’ responsibilities and government regulations will also play a key part. Google recently launched Veo3, an AI tool that lets you create videos with audio, including background tracks and various sound effects. Until recently, you could either use voice cloning apps to build AI voices or video rendering apps to generate AI videos. However, thanks to Veo3, folks can now create entire videos with audio. While this is an exciting development, we can’t help but think how easy it would be for scammers and swindlers to use Veo3’s videos to scam people. A video posted by a user on Threads shows a TV anchor breaking the news that ‘Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth has died after drinking an entire litre of vodka on a dare by RFK.’ At first glance, the video is extremely convincing, and chances are that quite a few people might have believed it. After all, the quality is that of a professional news studio with a background of the Pentagon. Another user named Ari Kuschnir posted a 1-minute 16-second video on Reddit showing various characters in different settings talking to each other in various accents. The facial expressions are very close to those of a real human. A user commented, ‘Wow. The things that are coming. Gonna be wild!’ The ‘wild’ part is that the gap between reality and AI-generated content is closing daily. And remember, this is only the first version of this brand-new technology – things will only get worse (worse) from here. New AI Age for Scammers With the development of generative AI, we have already seen countless examples of people losing millions to such scams.  For example, in January 2024, an employee of a Hong Kong firm sent $25M to fraudsters who convinced the employee that she was talking to the CFO of the firm on a video call. Deloitte’s Center for Financial Services has predicted that generative AI could lead to a loss of $40B in the US alone by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 32%. Until now, scammers also had to take the effort of generating audio and video separately and syncing them to compile a ‘believable’ video. However, advanced AI tools like Veo3 make it easier for bad actors to catch innocent people off guard. In what is called the internet’s biggest scam so far, an 82-year-old retiree, Steve Beauchamp, lost $690,000 after he invested his retirement savings in an investment scheme. The AI-generated video showed Elon Musk talking about this investment and how everyone looking to make money should invest in the scheme. In January 2024, sexually explicit images of Taylor Swift were spread on social media, drawing a lot of legislative attention to the matter. Now, imagine what these scammers can do with Veo3-like technology. Making deepfake porn would become easier and faster, leading to a lot of extortion cases. It’s worth noting, though, that we’re not saying that Veo3 specifically will be used for such criminal activities because they have several safeguards in place. However, now that Veo3 has shown the path, other similar products might be developed for malicious use cases. How to Protect Yourself Protection against AI-generated content is a multifaceted approach involving three key pillars: self-vigilance, developers’ responsibilities, and government regulations. Self Vigilance Well, it’s not entirely impossible to figure out which video is made via AI and which is genuine. Sure, AI has grown leaps and bounds in the last two years, and we have something as advanced as Veo3. However, there are still a few telltale signs of an AI-generated video.  The biggest giveaway is the lip sync. If you see a video of someone speaking, pay close attention to their lips. The audio in most cases will be out of sync by a few milliseconds. The voice, in most cases, will also sound robotic or flat. The tone and pitch might be inconsistent without any natural breathing sounds. We also recommend that you only trust official sources of information and not any random video you find while scrolling Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok. For example, if you see Elon Musk promoting an investment scheme, look for the official page or website of that scheme and dig deeper to find out who the actual promoters are.  You will not find anything reliable or trustworthy in the process. This exercise takes only a couple of minutes but can end up saving thousands of dollars. Developer’s Responsibilities AI developers are also responsible for ensuring their products cannot be misused for scams, extortion, and misinformation. For example, Veo3 blocks prompts that violate responsible AI guidelines, such as those involving politicians or violent acts.  Google has also developed its SynthID watermarking system, which watermarks content generated using Google’s AI tools. People can use the SynthID Detector to verify if a particular content was generated using AI. However, these safeguards are currently limited to Google’s products as of now. There’s a need for similar, if not better, prevention systems moving forward. Government Regulations Lastly, the government needs to play a crucial role in regulating the use of artificial intelligence. For example, the EU has already passed the AI Act, with enforcement beginning in 2025. Under this, companies must undergo stringent documentation, transparency, and oversight standards for all high-risk AI systems.  Even in the US, several laws are under proposal. For instance, the DEEPFAKES Accountability Act would require AI-generated content that shows any person to include a clear disclaimer stating that it is a deepfake. The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives in September 2023 and is currently under consideration.  Similarly, the REAL Political Advertisements Act would require political ads that contain AI content to include a similar disclaimer. That said, we are still only in the early stages of formulating legislation to regulate AI content. With time, as more sophisticated and advanced artificial intelligence tools develop, lawmakers must also be proactive in ensuring digital safety. Krishi is a seasoned tech journalist with over four years of experience writing about PC hardware, consumer technology, and artificial intelligence.  Clarity and accessibility are at the core of Krishi’s writing style. He believes technology writing should empower readers—not confuse them—and he’s committed to ensuring his content is always easy to understand without sacrificing accuracy or depth. Over the years, Krishi has contributed to some of the most reputable names in the industry, including Techopedia, TechRadar, and Tom’s Guide. A man of many talents, Krishi has also proven his mettle as a crypto writer, tackling complex topics with both ease and zeal. His work spans various formats—from in-depth explainers and news coverage to feature pieces and buying guides.  Behind the scenes, Krishi operates from a dual-monitor setup (including a 29-inch LG UltraWide) that’s always buzzing with news feeds, technical documentation, and research notes, as well as the occasional gaming sessions that keep him fresh.  Krishi thrives on staying current, always ready to dive into the latest announcements, industry shifts, and their far-reaching impacts.  When he's not deep into research on the latest PC hardware news, Krishi would love to chat with you about day trading and the financial markets—oh! And cricket, as well. View all articles by Krishi Chowdhary Our editorial process The Tech Report editorial policy is centered on providing helpful, accurate content that offers real value to our readers. We only work with experienced writers who have specific knowledge in the topics they cover, including latest developments in technology, online privacy, cryptocurrencies, software, and more. Our editorial policy ensures that each topic is researched and curated by our in-house editors. We maintain rigorous journalistic standards, and every article is 100% written by real authors. More from News View all News OpenAI Academy – A New Beginning in AI Learning Krishi Chowdhary 44 minutes ago View all

News Sapphire 2025: BASF evolves business with move to SAP S/4Hana Germany-based global chemical giant BASF has elected to move its SAP IT estate to S/4Hana private cloud to evolve its business in uncertain times By Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor Published: 29 May 2025 15:30 Chemical industry giant BASF is moving its SAP IT estate to the supplier’s S/4Hana enterprise resource planning (ERP) system as part of a business modernisation strategy, it was announced at the SAP Sapphire user and partner conference in Madrid. Petra Scheithe, senior vice-president of digitalization of services and ERP platforms at BASF Business Services, outlined the latest development in the company’s long-standing relationship with SAP. BASF, which employs around 112,000 people, has been an SAP customer for 40 years. Its headquarters in Ludwigshafen are a half-hour drive from SAP’s in Walldorf. According to a joint SAP/BASF statement, the chemical firm “adopted a hybrid system landscape to integrate SAP S/4Hana Cloud into BASF’s vast system and reduce the complexity of on-premise management. With a clean core strategy in place, any new customisations and functional extensions will be cloud-ready, allowing simplified system maintenance and operations in the long run.” BASF also intends to use SAP’s artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainability software.   The first of its new systems on S/4Hana, in its coatings business, is already live. BASF has four “core businesses”, in chemicals, materials, industrial solutions, and nutrition and care, and four standalone business units in agriculture and surface technologies, catalysts and metals, battery materials, and coatings. BASF is also using SAP’s Joule copilot for initial use cases in SAP’s SuccessFactors HR system, and is looking at other cases for core business processes. “We signed a new strategic partnership with SAP in December 2024,” said Scheithe, in an interview at Sapphire. “This includes Rise [with SAP], which we did not have before.” Rise is a so-called business transformation as a service programme that is fundamentally about cloud migration, and getting customers, new and existing, onto a cloud-delivered version of its S/4Hana ERP system based on its in-memory database, Hana. BASF’s existing SAP estate is one single global instance. “That has brought some challenges with it because over the last decade, we have really grown that system to a point where we said ‘this is difficult to manage’,” said Scheithe. “We have a very broad product portfolio, from our agricultural business, our coatings business, catalysts, battery materials, and copper and metals,” she said. “Combining all of those requirements in one SAP system led to the point that we have more than 300,000 custom objects in the system, so it’s huge and monolithic. The transition to S/4Hana is a chance to clear that up.” The idea is to back up the BASF strategy, called Winning Ways, with a modernised ERP system. The overall corporate strategy has the goal of BASF being “the preferred chemical company to enable our customers’ green transformation”. It includes a €10bn investment in what the company calls a Verbund site in Zhanjiang in China. At these sites, production plants, energy and material flows, logistics, and site infrastructure are all integrated, according to the company. There are currently six worldwide. In relation to the SAP environment, Scheithe said they decided to split the one instance into several business-related ones. The new company strategy, minted in 2024, means there is a pillar dedicated to “differentiated steering with different market requirements”, she added. Read more about SAP customers Rise with SAP offers a path to the cloud for SAP customers, but adoption is still hindered by customer concerns over costs, flexibility and SAP's cloud-only innovation strategy. SAP sales tactic fuels IT disconnect. SAP customer unrest: How did we get here? BASF started to build an S/4Hana instance in 2022 for the coatings business, with “a greenfield approach using clean core strategy”. This went live in March of this year, “on time and on budget, which I am super proud of”, said Scheithe. The firm is now implementing S/4 for the battery materials division and piloting for the agricultural business. “Clean core” in an SAP context means keeping the core system as standard as possible, with minimal custom modifications.  They also opted for SAP’s Rise programme so that their systems are as close as possible to standard SAP and to leverage the IT supplier’s innovations in AI. Scheithe said she’s very interested to explore the use of the technology from SAP’s 2024 acquisition, WalkMe. This is a digital adoption platform technology that is increasingly associated with the use of SAP’s GenAI assistant, Joule. WalkMe sits on top of an organisation’s IT applications layer and determines where users might experience difficulties such as getting stuck when performing a process or task. WalkMe then provides guidance and automated processes that help the user complete the task. BASF is not using it as yet. It’s using Joule for HR tasks, in SuccessFactors, and Sheithe is especially interested in its use for developers. “We are not so naïve as to believe now that with implementing S/4 we will cover all our business requirements that we had in the past,” she said. “We have more than 300,000 custom objects in our system, and those were not done just because developers like to develop, but for business requirements. If we can’t get rid of those, we don’t want them in our core system, so it will be helpful if we have tools on hand that make our developers more efficient. This why I’m so excited about Joule for developers.” Thomas Saueressig, a member of the executive board of SAP for customer services and delivery, said: “We are proud to partner with BASF on this transformative journey. “By choosing SAP S/4Hana Cloud, BASF is laying a strong foundation for future growth and innovation,” he said. “The ability to leverage a clean core and standardised processes will provide BASF with the agility and resilience needed to thrive in today’s dynamic business environment.” In The Current Issue: UK government outlines plan to surveil migrants with eVisa data Why we must reform the Computer Misuse Act: A cyber pro speaks out Download Current Issue FinOps Foundation lays down 2025 Framework for Cloud+ cost control – Open Source Insider Bit Cloud offers Hope AI for developers  – CW Developer Network View All Blogs