Development

Eminem sues Meta over copyright violations

Eminem has filed a major lawsuit against Meta, accusing the tech giant of knowingly enabling widespread copyright infringement across its platforms. The rapper’s publishing company, Eight Mile Style, is seeking £80.6 million in damages, claiming 243 of his songs were used without authorisation.

The lawsuit argues that Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, allowed tools such as Original Audio and Reels to encourage unauthorised reproduction and use of Eminem’s music.

The filing claims it occurred without proper licensing or attribution, significantly diminishing the value of his copyrights.

Eminem’s legal team contends that Meta profited from the infringement instead of ensuring his works were protected. If a settlement cannot be reached, the artist is demanding the maximum statutory damages — $150,000 per song — which would amount to over $109 million.

Meta has faced similar lawsuits before, including a high-profile case in 2022 brought by Epidemic Sound, which alleged the unauthorised use of thousands of its tracks. The latest claim adds to growing pressure on social media platforms to address copyright violations more effectively.

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Cyber attacks and ransomware rise globally in early 2025

Cyber attacks have surged by 47% globally in the first quarter of 2025, with organisations facing an average of 1,925 attacks each week.

Check Point Software, a cybersecurity firm, warns that attackers are growing more sophisticated and persistent, targeting critical sectors like healthcare, finance, and technology with increasing intensity.

Ransomware activity alone has soared by 126% compared to last year. Attackers are no longer just encrypting files but now also threaten to leak sensitive data unless paid — a tactic known as dual extortion.

Instead of operating as large, centralised gangs, modern ransomware groups are smaller and more agile, often coordinating through dark web forums, making them harder to trace.

The report also notes that cybercriminals are using AI to automate phishing attacks and scan systems for vulnerabilities, allowing them to strike with greater accuracy. Emerging markets remain particularly vulnerable, as they often lack advanced cybersecurity infrastructure.

Check Point urges companies to act decisively by adopting proactive security measures, investing in threat detection and employee training, and implementing real-time monitoring. Waiting for an attack instead of preparing in advance could leave organisations dangerously exposed.

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Bing rolls out Sora powered video maker

Microsoft has launched a new feature in its Bing app called Bing Video Creator, allowing users to generate videos using text prompts. That tool leverages OpenAI’s advanced Sora model, marking the first time Sora is available for free to the public, as it was previously restricted to paying OpenAI customers.

However, the feature is currently limited to the Bing mobile app and is not yet accessible on desktop. To use the service, users must be signed into a Microsoft account.

Initially, they can create up to 10 videos for free; after that, each video costs 100 Microsoft Rewards points, which can be earned by searching with Bing or shopping in the Microsoft Store. For instance, users get five points for each Bing search on a PC, up to 150 points daily.

Each video is limited to five seconds and must be generated in vertical 9:16 format, a layout ideal for social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Users can generate up to three clips at a time.

Although labelled ‘fast’ mode, the generation process may still take hours. Microsoft says support for horizontal formats is on the way.

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AI to take over all Meta ads under new plan

Meta is preparing to transform digital advertising on its platforms, with reports indicating that by 2026, all adverts on Facebook and Instagram could be fully created and targeted using AI.

The company’s vision would see AI tools take over the entire process—from ad generation to audience selection—requiring advertisers to provide only a product image and budget.

Since introducing generative AI features for advertisers in May 2023, Meta has continued to expand its automation capabilities. Currently, AI plays a major role in targeting ads across Meta’s platforms.

Under the new system, Meta’s AI will go several steps further by generating text, visuals, and video, as well as optimising ad delivery for the most suitable audience.

The initiative is aligned with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s broader vision of AI-led automation, especially within advertising—Meta’s financial backbone, which accounted for over 97% of the company’s revenue last year.

Speaking at Meta’s annual shareholder meeting, Zuckerberg outlined a future where businesses simply define their marketing goal and budget, link a payment method, and allow Meta’s AI to handle the rest.

The company is also developing real-time personalisation tools. These will allow the same ad to appear differently depending on a user’s location or context—for example, showing a car in snowy terrain to one user, while another might see it in an urban setting.

Meta is also exploring integration with third-party AI models such as DALL·E and Midjourney to further enhance creative capabilities.

This move follows similar developments by rivals like Google, which recently launched its Veo video generation model. With AI continuing to reshape the advertising landscape, Meta is betting on full automation as the next frontier in digital marketing.

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Microsoft and CrowdStrike align naming of threat actors

Microsoft and CrowdStrike have announced a joint initiative to align their threat actor taxonomies, aiming to improve clarity and coordination in the fight against cyberattacks.

While the two cybersecurity giants are not creating a unified naming standard, they are publishing a cross-referenced mapping that shows how threat actors tracked by both companies correspond under their respective naming systems.

The inconsistency in threat actor names across the cybersecurity industry has long created confusion, often slowing response times and complicating collaboration between teams.

A single actor might be known as Midnight Blizzard by Microsoft, Cozy Bear by another firm, and APT29 or UNC2452 by others — all referring to the same group. This fragmentation of identifiers has made tracking and defending against threats more difficult.

To address this, Microsoft and CrowdStrike have released a reference document that maps common threat actors across both organisations’ taxonomies and includes aliases from other vendors.

The goal is to provide security teams with a clearer understanding of which groups are being discussed, regardless of the terminology used.

Although the mapping effort currently involves only Microsoft and CrowdStrike, other major players in the cybersecurity industry — including Google’s Mandiant and Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 — are expected to contribute to the initiative in the future.

‘Security is a shared responsibility, requiring community-wide efforts to improve defensive measures,’ said Vasu Jakkal, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Security. ‘We are excited to be teaming up with CrowdStrike and look forward to others joining us on this journey.’

As more companies adopt this collaborative approach, experts believe it will enhance collective defence by making threat intelligence easier to interpret and act upon across the security ecosystem.

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Google’s AI Edge Gallery boosts privacy with on-device model use

Google has released an experimental app called AI Edge Gallery, allowing Android users to run AI models directly on their devices without needing an internet connection.

The app supports several publicly available models from Hugging Face, including Google’s own lightweight Gemma 3n, and offers tools for image generation, Q&A, and code assistance.

The key feature of the app is its local processing capability, which means data never leaves the user’s device.

This addresses rising concerns over privacy and data security, particularly when interacting with AI tools. By running models locally, users benefit from faster response times and greater control over their data.

AI Edge Gallery includes features such as ‘AI Chat,’ ‘Ask Image,’ and a ‘Prompt Lab,’ where users can experiment with tasks like text summarisation and single-turn AI interactions.

While the app is optimised for lighter models like Gemma 3—just 529MB in size—Google notes that performance will depend on the hardware of the user’s device, with more powerful phones delivering faster results.

Currently in Alpha, the app is open-source and available under the Apache 2.0 licence via GitHub, encouraging developers to explore and contribute. Google is also inviting feedback to shape future updates and improvements.

To enhance app security, especially as AI features become more embedded in mobile experiences, Google suggests integrating secure, passwordless login methods.

Solutions like MojoAuth—offering OTP-based logins via phone or email—can reduce risks of data breaches while offering a smooth, user-friendly authentication process.

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Agentic Intelligence set to automate complex tasks with human oversight

Thomson Reuters has unveiled a new AI platform, Agentic Intelligence, designed to automate complex workflows for professionals in tax, legal, and compliance sectors.

The platform integrates directly with existing professional tools, enabling AI to plan, reason, and act on tasks while maintaining audit trails and data control to meet regulatory standards.

A key component of the launch is CoCounsel for Tax, a tool aimed at tax, audit, and accounting professionals. It consolidates firm-specific data, internal knowledge, and regulatory materials into a unified workspace.

Early adopters have reported significant productivity gains, with one accounting firm, BLISS 1041, cutting time spent on residency and filing code reviews from several days to under an hour.

Agentic Intelligence leverages over 20 billion proprietary and public documents and is supported by a network of 4,500 subject matter experts.

Built on partnerships with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Cloud, and AWS, the platform reflects Thomson Reuters’ strategic shift towards embedding AI across sectors traditionally dependent on manual expertise.

David Wong, chief product officer at Thomson Reuters, said the new platform represents more than a technological upgrade. ‘Agentic AI isn’t a marketing buzzword. It’s a new blueprint for how complex work gets done,’ he said.

‘These systems don’t just assist — they operate within professional workflows, break down tasks, act independently, and escalate where needed, all under human oversight.’

Following CoCounsel for Tax, the next product — Ready to Review — will focus on automating tax return preparation.

The platform is expected to expand into legal, compliance, and risk sectors throughout 2025, building on previous acquisitions such as Materia and Casetext, which have helped lay the foundation for Thomson Reuters’ AI-centric growth strategy.

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Musk’s xAI seeks billions to expand AI data centres

Elon Musk is raising $5 billion in debt for his AI company xAI Corp., in a move that signals a renewed focus on his business ventures after stepping away from a prominent political role.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley is leading the offering, which includes a floating-rate loan, a fixed-rate loan, and senior secured notes — all priced with double-digit interest rates, according to people familiar with the deal.

Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including accelerating development of xAI’s infrastructure, such as its vast Memphis-based data centre, Colossus.

The site currently houses 200,000 GPUs and could soon expand to over one million as Musk ramps up efforts to train advanced AI models. The debt package has already attracted over $3.5 billion in early demand, with commitments due by 17 June.

Musk’s move to raise capital for xAI comes after a string of fundraising rounds across his companies, including $650 million for Neuralink and a $300 million secondary stock sale in xAI.

He has also merged xAI with his social media platform X into a new entity, XAI Holdings, further aligning his ventures in AI, communications, and computing.

Musk’s focus on his business empire follows a controversial period in politics. As a senior adviser and key backer of Donald Trump during the 2024 election, Musk faced scrutiny both personally and in relation to the performance of Tesla, whose stock has dropped 20% since the presidential inauguration.

Morgan Stanley’s continued involvement underscores the bank’s deep ties with Musk, having previously advised on his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter (now X).

While that deal initially left lenders with billions in risky debt, recent improvements in Musk’s business standing helped the bank clear the remaining liabilities earlier this year.

The latest xAI debt sale is another indicator of investor appetite for AI ventures, especially when tied to high-profile figures like Musk. If successful, it will also strengthen the infrastructure needed to support Musk’s vision of AI leadership through xAI and its associated platforms.

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OpenAI turns ChatGPT into AI gateway

OpenAI plans to reinvent ChatGPT as an all-in-one ‘super assistant’ that knows its users and becomes their primary gateway to the internet.

Details emerged from a partly redacted internal strategy document shared during the US government’s antitrust case against Google.

Rather than limiting ChatGPT to existing apps and websites, OpenAI envisions a future where the assistant supports everyday life—from suggesting recipes at home to taking notes at work or guiding users while travelling.

The company says the AI should evolve into a reliable, emotionally intelligent helper capable of handling a various personal and professional tasks.

OpenAI also believes hardware will be key to this transformation. It recently acquired io, a start-up founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, for $6.4 billion to develop AI-powered devices.

The company’s strategy outlines how upcoming models like o2 and o3, alongside tools like multimodality and generative user interfaces, could make ChatGPT capable of taking meaningful action instead of simply offering responses.

The document also reveals OpenAI’s intention to back a regulation requiring tech platforms to allow users to set ChatGPT as their default assistant. Confident in its fast growth, research lead, and independence from ads, the company aims to maintain its advantage through bold decisions, speed, and self-disruption.

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WhatsApp fixes deleted message privacy gap

WhatsApp is rolling out a privacy improvement that ensures deleted messages no longer linger in quoted replies, addressing a long-standing issue that exposed partial content users had intended to remove.

The update applies automatically, with no toggle required, and has begun reaching iOS users through version 25.12.73, with wider availability expected soon.

Until now, deleting a message for everyone in a chat has not removed it from quoted replies. That allowed fragments of deleted content to remain visible, undermining the purpose of deletion.

WhatsApp removes the associated quoted message entirely instead of keeping it in conversation threads, even in group or community chats.

WABetaInfo, which first spotted the update, noted that users delete messages for privacy or personal reasons, and leave behind quoted traces conflicted with those intentions.

The change ensures conversations reflect user expectations by entirely erasing deleted content, not only from the original message but also from any references.

Meta continues to develop new features for WhatsApp. Recent additions include voice chat in groups and a native interface for iPad. The company is also testing tools like AI-generated wallpapers, message summaries, and more refined privacy settings to enhance user control and experience further.

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