Tag: News

• AI "slop" images all over Facebook. They're surreal and sometimes grotesque. Pure engagement bait.
• There's even a Twitter/X account dedicated to posting the most ridiculous stuff.
• So why isn't Facebook cracking down?

Jesus's head on a fried chicken. A woman bicycling with a basket full of babies and burritos.

This is all "AI slop," the new term describing the sudden flood of garbage AI-generated content, from ebooks to viral photos. Slop is everywhere on the internet, but its most pure version exists on Facebook.

This is the Shrimp Jesus kind of slop: bizarre, obviously fake, and sometimes vaguely unsettling in a trypophobia-triggering way. Common themes involve old people holding a birthday cake asking you to wish them a happy birthday; babies doing things babies shouldn't do; snakes eating buses, bikes, or other vehicles overloaded with hundreds of babies or some other cargo; soldiers with prosthetic legs; women with missing limbs and huge busts; and Jesus. The images are often sort of eerily exploitative.

These tend to be posted on Facebook pages with generic-sounding names and captions that don't necessarily reflect the photo, like "why don't photos like this ever trend," or "beautiful cabin crew," and "Scarlett Johansson" for an image of Jesus built into the hood of a car.

Why slop? The best explanation is that the Facebook pages posting these are making bait for potential scam targets, helping scammers identify gullible people in the comments who they can potentially extract money from.

Another possibility is that posting these images is a good tactic to build up a large page audience, which can be lucrative.

The vague similarities among the pages suggest that the AI slop is being posted by a network of shady actors based in countries outside the US. It's spam-adjacent stuff — if not outright spam.

This slop is sloppy enough that it can sometimes be very funny — and there's even an X account, Insane Facebook AI Slop, dedicated to cataloging it.

It's embarrassing to Facebook that people on Twitter/X — X!!! a place full of bad things!!! — are laughing at Meta's poor content moderation.

This has been going on for quite a few months now. 404 Media, which has been diligently covering this, described how these images are part of a larger AI-fuelled "zombie internet" full of bots talking to bots. Not too long ago, I speculated about why Meta hasn't cracked down, but considering nothing has seemed to change, I find myself wondering yet again …

Why doesn't Facebook just ban this slop?

Here are a few of my theories:

• These images don't technically violate any rules — no nudity or other forbidden imagery.
• Facebook did make a warning label to note an image might be made with AI when its systems detect it.
• Users actually enjoy this content — you see plenty of people in the comments who are probably duped and think it's a real image, or maybe just an interesting artistic rendition. Why mess with content people like?
• Facebook does ban this stuff, but only at an account level when the account posting it engages in obvious spam tactics. But not all of the accounts are spamming.
• Slop is often scam-adjacent, but the accounts posting it may not be directly always the ones doing the scams, so they don't get banned.
• Facebook worries that banning this kind of AI content will set a bad precedent because it wants to encourage people to make stuff with its own Llama 3 tools.
• Facebook doesn't like the AI slop but has bigger things to worry about.
• Facebook has stopped trying. This is what Jason Koebler from 404 Media speculates. Meta's previous commitments to working with researchers and academics have fizzled away, and the scrutiny over content moderation (helped by Elon Musk lowering the bar to the basement) has shifted. Meta is penny-pinching and focusing on the newest shiny thing (AI tools, Instagram, the Metaverse) and cares less and less about Facebook, this theory goes. Basically, they don't give a shit anymore.

I imagine that some combination of all of these might be true to some degree. A representative for Meta didn't reply to questions about why they don't simply ban AI slop. (I had recently also asked a VP of product at Meta about why they don't just ban this slop and he sort of changed the subject; it seemed like maybe he wasn't sure what I was talking about.)

Facebook has gone through so many different flavors of spammy/scammy engagementbait, from Minions memes to videos from magicians, to actually dangerous fake news and extremist groups. If the AI slop isn't suggesting you get together in real life and overthrow the government, hey, Facebook has seen way worse.

• A slew of new tank designs are emerging from European drawing boards.
• Many are alternatives to the pan-European tank envisioned by France and Germany.
• It faces domestic pressure to favor national projects that benefit a nation's workforce.

For years, the European tank market was fairly stable. Germany's Leopard 2 was the most common model in European armies, with Britain, France, and Italy producing a small number of indigenous models for their own armies.

But a slew of new tank designs are emerging from European drawing boards. This is partly spurred by the Ukraine war, which has seen the most intense armored warfare in Europe since 1945. But it may also reflect a lack of faith in the Main Ground Combat System, a joint project between France and Germany to develop a main battle tank by 2040.

"It seems that every industrial partner is working on its own alternative to MGCS," Léo Péria-Peigné, a French defense expert, told Business Insider.

It was inevitable that a new generation of tanks would emerge to replace the late Cold War designs that still dominate Western armies, such as the Leopard 2, M1 Abrams, and Britain's Challenger. Even the US Army is aiming for a next-generation version of the M1 Abrams that would slim down the 70-ton behemoth to less than 60 tons.

MCGS is meant to replace the Leopard 2 and France's Leclerc as the primary tanks in the German and French armies. Both nations recently signed an agreement to begin development and manufacturing of a prototype. But at the same time, MGCS seemed like it might also replace the Leopard 2 as a sort of pan-European tank. MGCS is supposed to be a modular design with advanced features such as a 140-mm gun, hybrid propulsion, advanced sensors, and the ability to team up unmanned ground vehicles. A conceptual model displayed in 2018 used a Leopard 2 hull and a Leclerc turret.

However, there are indications that Germany wants a fallback design, based on the latest Leopard 2A8 model, in case MCGS fizzles out. "The Leopard 2AX, an improved version of the Leopard 2A8 battle tank, is being developed by the German defense industry at the express request of the Bundeswehr," according to Army Recognition, a defense news site.

"This development also serves as a Plan B for Germany in case of failure of the Franco-German program, or even as a lever in future negotiations, thus confronting France with a fait accompli regarding the crucial decisions that remain to be made," Army Recognition said.

Meanwhile, two new designs are being offered by KNDS, a joint venture between German defense firm Krauss-Maffei Wegmann — manufacturer of the Leopard 2 — and France's Nexter, which produces the Leclerc.

The Leopard 2 A-RC 3.0 is a modular design with an unmanned turret with the crew nestled in the hull, similar to Russia's T-14 Armata. It can fire guided missiles and heavy cannon rounds, plus it has a 30-mm cannon and improved armor buttressed by an active protection system to stop anti-tank rockets. Existing Leopard 2 models can also be fitted with these features.

Significantly, KNDS "assesses the Leopard 2 A-RC 3.0 not only as a bridge solution until introduction of the next-generation land combat system MGCS, but also as a decisive technological precursor to MGCS," according to a company press release.

KNDS is also touting the Leclerc Evolution, which is fitted with the company's Ascalon turret and gun. The company describes Ascalon as "a main gun for battle tanks that is more powerful than all comparable barrel weapons. It can fire compact and programmable ammunition beyond the line of sight with minimal wear. Due to its scalability, Ascalon can be fitted with any barrel from 120 to 140 mm."

As if the procurement picture wasn't complicated enough, four companies — KNDS Germany, KNDS France, Germany's Rheinmetall and France's Thales — have also just announced a joint venture to develop the MGCS. Yet Rheinmetall is also marketing its KF51 Panther tank, armed with a new 130-mm cannon. Hungary has signed a development contract for the Panther, which Rheinmetall has also offered to Ukraine.

Political turmoil in France has also cast a shadow over MGCS, with far-right parties favored to win the upcoming parliamentary election. "It seems that even the German government believes the MGCS project could be abandoned if the right takes power," Péria-Peigné said.

"Things will get clearer over time, but it is obvious that both partners are keeping alternative solutions up their sleeves. Germany did for a long time. The new surprise is that even KNDS France seems to have done the same."

European defense budgets are already being strained by the need to replenish depleted stockpiles, sending a constant flow of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, and building up the manufacturing capacity to produce all these arms. This raises the question of whether there is enough money for all these various tank designs.

But the woes of MGCS also illustrate the problem that has always bedeviled joint European defense projects: the tension between saving money through joint development, versus domestic pressure to favor national projects that benefit a nation's manufacturers and workforce. If MGCS were to be abandoned, it would be a bad omen for the Future Combat Air System, a Franco-German-Spanish project to develop a sixth-generation fighter as well as air combat drones.

"Abandoning MGCS would be more of a burden for France than for Germany, as Germany does not need France to build a new tank," Péria-Peigné said. "Unlike in the FCAS, where France can do it alone technically but lacks the money to develop it alone."

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds an MA in political science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

• Jensen Huang is becoming more of a household name as Nvidia's value skyrockets amid the AI boom.
• The CEO has some unusual management practices, including having 50 direct reports and no 1-on-1s.
• Here are some of Huang's most notable tips when it comes to business leadership and management.

Nvidia overtook Apple and Microsoft separately earlier this month to briefly become the world's most valuable company.

With the AI chip company's stock skyrocketing, Huang has also seen his fame — and fortune — grow, and there are plenty of eyes on him to see how he runs one of the world's biggest companies.

Here is some of Huang's most notable advice for leading teams and managing a business.

Manage a lot of people

Huang believes a CEO should have more direct reports than anyone else in an organization. He, in fact, has more than 50 direct reports, considered an unusually high number for any manager.

"The more direct reports the CEO has, the less layers are in the company," Huang said in an interview at The New York Times DealBook Summit in 2023. "It allows us to keep information fluid, allows us to make sure that everyone is empowered by information."

Management exists "in service of all the other people that work at the company," he said in a separate interview with Stanford's Graduate School of Business earlier this year.

"I don't believe in a culture, in an environment, where the information you possess is the reason why you have power," he said.

Skip the 1:1 meetings

Huang has said he doesn't have one-on-one meetings with his many direct reports.

"Almost everything that I say, I say to everybody all at the same time," he said at Stripe Sessions 2024. "I don't really believe there's any information that I operate on that somehow only one or two people should hear about."

Give feedback publicly

In the same vein, Huang also believes in giving someone feedback in front of their peers.

"The problem I have with one-on-ones and taking feedback aside is you deprive a whole bunch of people that same learning," he said at Stripe Sessions. "Feedback is learning. For what reason are you the only person who should learn this?"

He added the learning from other people's mistakes is "the best way to learn.

"Why learn from your own mistakes? Why learn from your own embarrassment? You've got to learn from other people's embarrassment," he said.

Communicate briefly and often

Nvidia employees can expect to receive a lot of emails from their chief executive. Huang sends his staff hundreds of emails a day, many of which are only a few words long, The New Yorker reported last year.

He expects employees to keep their email communications just as concise.

One former Nvidia worker told Business Insider's Jyoti Mann that "you'd get in trouble for sending a super-long email to him."

"The idea was to nail down what you have to say, send it, and if he, or others, need more information, then it's a conversation, not another email," the former Nvidian said.

Show your work

Huang believes showing others how you reason through a problem is "empowering."

"I show people how to reason through things all the time — strategy things, how to forecast something, how to break a problem down, and you're just empowering people all over the place," he said in the Stanford Graduate School of Business interview.

He continued: "If you send me something and you want my input on it and I can be of service to you and in my review of it, share with you how I reasoned through it, I've made a contribution to you. I've made it possible to see how I reason through something."

That can lead to a lightbulb moment.

"You go, 'Oh my gosh. That's how you reason through something like this. It's not as complicated as it seems.'"

• An economist has said, "AI won't take your job, it's somebody using AI that will take your job."
• AI seems to be a positive for many workers, but some roles are more at risk of replacement.
• Experts advise skilling up and leaning into soft human skills as AI becomes embedded in work life.

You may have heard a version of the phrase, "AI won't take your job, it's somebody using AI that will take your job."

Economist Richard Baldwin said the phrase at the 2023 World Economic Forum's Growth Summit, and variations of it have been mentioned since as people discuss the potential impacts of AI.

Baldwin told BI he wasn't sure if he coined the phrase, but the message is that AI won't replace humans, but it will give those who embrace it an advantage in the workforce.

In the 12 months since Baldwin shared his perspective, interest in artificial intelligence has only increased. A recent survey by consulting firm Bain & Company found that 85% of the companies surveyed said adopting AI was a top-five priority.

As companies ramp up their AI offerings and begin restructuring their workforce, many are revisiting the question of whether AI will be a job killer or an enhancer.

While it's still the early days of AI, we asked experts to weigh in. Should you be more worried about losing your job to a human using AI or to the AI itself?

Workers already see the benefit of AI at this stage

Baldwin said that AI is like a lawn mower or a power drill — it makes your job easier but it doesn't replace the human behind it. Other experts seemed to share a similar mindset that it's not advanced enough to function without direction, and for the most part, it helps people do better at their jobs.

Jasmine Escalera, a career coach at LiveCareer said incorporating AI can help automate repetitive tasks and "free up time to focus on upskilling."

Matt Betts, a research and development lead at leadership consulting firm RHR International, says it helps create efficiency so that consultants can focus on more impactful work, like interacting with the client.

Data has shown a similar trend that AI has helped many workers produce high-quality work in a shorter amount of time.

One study by MIT and Stanford from 2023 found that access to AI increased productivity by 14% on average, with a 34% impact on new or lower-skilled workers. A Morgan Stanley report indicated that workers with multiple income streams who used generative AI to increase their productivity made 21% more on average than those who didn't.

AI may also be helping people land jobs. Career service LiveCareer surveyed 1,150 US workers in March and found that 85% of job seekers save time using AI for writing applications and 40% think AI improves their grammar, writing, and vocabulary.

The loss of some jobs is inevitable

AI has already redefined a number of roles and even if it doesn't take all jobs, it's bound to replace some.

IBM used to have 800 people working in HR and now has 60 because it was able to automate repetitive tasks, according to the company's marketing chief.

Klarna seems to be following a similar trajectory. The company said in a blog post in February that its AI assistant was doing the work of "700 full-time agents" after pumping the brakes on hiring.

OpenAI CTO Mira Murati also weighed in on the topic at a Dartmouth event on June 8 and turned heads when she said some creative jobs may disappear, but those that could be replaced by AI "shouldn't have been there in the first place."

Carl Benedikt Frey, a director of future and work at Oxford University, said that transportation and logistics are most likely to see outright automation moving forward. He also said warehousing, manufacturing, receptionists, cashiers, and translators are also roles that are moving toward automation or semi-automation.

It's a good idea to skill up

A March Goldman Sachs report found over 300 million jobs around the world could be impacted by AI. But it's impossible to predict how exactly they will change.

Career coach Escalera said the best path forward is to lean into human soft skills while skilling up and "adopting a mindset of continuous learning." For some who are hiring, AI is becoming a prerequisite.

Tripadvisor cofounder Steve Kaufer said on "The Logan Bartlett Show" that he asked candidates during interviews if they tried out new AI chatbots. He said software engineers who didn't experiment with AI tools usually didn't get the job.

"I just don't understand it," Kaufer said. "And I probably don't want to work with that individual."

CEO of global event company Empire Entertainment, J.B. Miller, said it's an "essential new skill set," especially in an industry that involves improvising. He said it cuts down time and helps with generating ideas for set designs and talent sourcing. He asks all new hires what AI tools they use.

"There's no world where I could employ somebody who's like, I don't know how to use Excel or I don't know how to navigate the internet or do an internet search or something online like that," Miller said.

"I think that the same is true of some of these basic, AI tools," he added.

• Kamala Harris' allies are frustrated with chatter about potential Biden replacements, Politico reported.
• The allies feel that Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer are being mentioned more than the VP.
• Harris has stood firmly behind Biden and defended the administration's record following his debate.

After President Joe Biden's widely panned debate performance against former President Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris emerged as perhaps the president's most forceful advocate.

Harris, who has enjoyed a strong governing relationship with Biden, is seen by many as a top successor to the president should he exit the presidential race.

But some of Harris' allies are frustrated that Democratic figures like California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are being touted more frequently than the vice president as potential Biden replacements in many circles, according to Politico.

"The fact that people keep coming back to this is so offensive to so many of us," an unnamed Harris ally told the publication. "They still don't get that the message you're saying to people, to this Democratic Party, is, we prefer a white person."

Another ally told Politico: "If they think they are going to get through South Carolina bashing an effective and qualified Black woman vice president — their instincts are as bad as I thought they were."

Harris ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, and there were high hopes for her campaign among many lawmakers and voters. But even after gaining traction following a primary debate where she skewered Biden over comments he made regarding his work with pro-segregationist lawmakers, her campaign faltered.

Her eventual selection as Biden's running mate was praised by many Democrats — especially among Black voters in the party — which only strengthened after she was elected as vice president.

Harris is also popular among young voters and she has become by far the administration's most prominent defender of reproductive rights following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

But throughout much of her tenure, Harris has been dogged by low approval ratings alongside Biden. During her first two years in office, the coronavirus and a 50-50 Senate largely kept her in Washington, as she was needed to break ties on important votes.

And given her low numbers, some Democrats have expressed concerns that she might not be the party's best option should Biden decide not to continue with his campaign.

• Biden's less-than-stellar debate performance against Trump set off alarms among many Democrats.
• It also shined a light on the party's past struggles in building a farm team of future leaders.
• The debate will likely push Democrats to rethink how power is transferred to younger generations.

After President Joe Biden's middling debate performance Thursday night, many Democrats began to panic.

With voters already on the fence about Biden's readiness for a second term due to concerns over his advanced age, party leaders wanted the president to use the debate to not only reassure the electorate but also make an impression that could turn the race in his favor.

But that didn't happen. And now many Democrats are wondering if Biden should exit the race.

Being faced with that decision just five months before the election is in part due to one of the Democratic Party's more enduring problems: its tortoise-like pace in transferring power to younger generations.

Generational change

For 20 years, Nancy Pelosi led House Democrats as part of a leadership team that included veteran lawmakers Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn. It wasn't until 2023 that Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a Gen Xer, finally assumed the mantle of leading the caucus.

In House primaries across the country, young Democratic candidates are routinely overlooked by party leaders and organizations who often go on to endorse more established candidates.

In 2020, Biden pledged to be a "bridge" to a new cohort of Democrats. But four years later, he decided to run for reelection.

His debate performance against former President Donald Trump exposed this resistance to generational change. If Biden remains in the race but is unable to convince wavering voters that he's up for the job, it could imperil Democrats in other critical races.

What do Democrats need?

The recent ascent of Jeffries, along with the elevation of Katherine Clark to House Democratic whip and Pete Aguilar to House Democratic Caucus chair, was a welcome generational shift — the kind that the party had generally previously eschewed in favor of experience.

Biden's choice of Kamala Harris as his vice president, too, represented a sort of passing of the torch. Shortly after the pair won the 2020 election, Harris said they would be "full partners." The president concurred, remarking that he had made no significant personnel decisions without her.

Many Democrats celebrated the arrival of this younger guard, especially since the party had often lagged behind Republicans in building a farm team of future leaders.

The worry now is, were these recent efforts too little too late?

So far, Biden has given no indication that he's leaving the race. If he remains the nominee, Democrats need him to do well. His political fate will have broad ramifications for key down-ballot races.

No matter what Biden decides, his debate performance will likely accelerate Democratic efforts to cultivate younger leaders who could one day run for the White House, especially as Gen Xers, millennials, and Gen Z will make up the lion's share of the electorate over the next decade.

• Israel could transfer up to eight Patriot missile batteries to Ukraine.
• Israel is upgrading its air defense and looking to retire older Patriot batteries.
• Ukraine has long coveted more of the $1 billion US-manufactured Patriot systems.

The US is involved in discussions about the possibility of transferring up to eight Patriot air defense batteries from Israel to Ukraine, in what would be a major boost for the latter in its fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin's invading forces.

While no agreement has been reached yet, a deal would likely involve transferring the batteries from Israel to the US and then on to Ukraine, the Financial Times reported.

It would be a welcome moment for Ukraine, which has long coveted more of the $1 billion US-manufactured Patriot systems.

"Israel's Patriots would greatly expand Ukraine's air defense capacity at a time when it is sorely needed," John Hardie, the Deputy Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Russia Program, said.

"While they are on the older side, these systems — and Israel's considerable stocks of interceptors — would help Ukraine defend its critical infrastructure and counter Russian jets that are pounding Ukrainian positions and towns with glide bombs," he added.

It comes after the Israeli Air Force announced earlier this year that it would be shutting down its aging Patriot batteries and replacing them with more advanced systems.

Israel has never been impressed with its versions of the Patriot system, having seen them struggle in combat against Iraqi Scud missiles fired at its cities in 1991, as Business Insider previously reported.

Officials estimated that it shot down only one or possibly even none of the missiles.

"Israel has long been looking for a more advanced and more indigenous system to supplement or replace the Patriot, not only given its service history but also the supply chain that it requires," Ryan Bohl, a senior Middle East and North Africa analyst at the risk intelligence company RANE, told BI.

"I think Israel views the Patriot as out of date and too expensive to keep up with given the breakthroughs that were demonstrated during that barrage by newer systems," Bohl added.

However, Israel has yet to fully retire its Patriot systems, as it is still using them in the ongoing conflict with Hamas and would likely want them should an all-out war with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah break out.

Zelenskyy's Patriot pleas

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has never been shy about his desire to get his hands on more Patriot systems.

In April, Zelenskyy told NATO members that Ukraine needed at least seven Patriot or other advanced air defense systems to defend against Russian attacks.

"We are telling this directly – to defend, we need seven more 'Patriots' or similar air defence systems, and it's a minimum number. They can save many lives and really change the situation," Zelenskyy said.

"Putin must be brought down to earth, and our sky must become safe again.. And it depends fully on your choice… (the) choice whether we are indeed allies," he added.

And the president has seemingly had some luck in recent months.

President Joe Biden approved the deployment of another Patriot missile system to Ukraine earlier this month, the second the US has sent to the country, The New York Times previously reported, citing senior administration and military officials.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby also announced last week that the US would prioritize delivering Patriot missiles to Ukraine over other countries, calling it a "difficult but necessary decision."

The Patriot air defense system

A 2023 report by the Congressional Research Service describes the Patriot system as an "integral component of U.S. air and missile defense."

One Patriot battery is made up of six key parts, — a power plant, a radar set, an engagement control station, the antenna mast group, launcher stations, and the interceptor missiles.

The systems can operate using either PAC-2 or PAC-3 missiles. The PAC-2 works by detonating near a threatening missile, while the PAC-3 attempts to strike the warhead directly.

The first Patriot systems were used by the US in the 1980s, and they were later used in the Gulf War to defend against Iraqi Scud missiles.

The system's radar has a range of more than 150 kilometers (around 93 miles), and the missiles can travel at 5,000 kph (over 3,100 mph), per NATO.

• Tech companies plan on spending over $1 trillion on artificial intelligence.
• But the return on investment may take a long time and be disappointing, Goldman Sachs says.
• Some experts said AI might not perform well enough to justify its exorbitant cost.

Tech companies are spending big on the AI craze, but it will be a while before they have much — if anything — to show for it.

As companies prepare to spend over $1 trillion on artificial intelligence, a Goldman Sachs report examined the big question at hand: "Will this large spend ever pay off?"

That sizable investment will go toward the data centers needed to run AI, the power grid, and AI chips. But shortages of those AI ingredients could lead to disappointing returns for companies.

"AI technology is exceptionally expensive, and to justify those costs, the technology must be able to solve complex problems, which it isn't designed to do," Jim Covello, the head of Global Equity Research at Goldman Sachs, said in the report.

"The starting point for costs is also so high that even if costs decline, they would have to do so dramatically to make automating tasks with AI affordable," he added. "In our experience, even basic summarization tasks often yield illegible and nonsensical results."

He's not wrong. Google scaled back its AI use in search after its bot began making some odd suggestions, including telling a Business Insider correspondent to put glue on their pizza to keep the cheese in place.

The tech industry is also "too complacent in its assumption that AI costs will decline substantially over time," especially when that assumption seems to rely on competition dethroning Nvidia, which dominates the market with its AI chips, Covello said.

Other experts quoted by Goldman Sachs were more enthusiastic.

"AI technology is undoubtedly expensive today. And the human brain is 10,000x more effective per unit of power in performing cognitive tasks vs. generative AI," said Kash Rangan, a senior equity research analyst at Goldman Sachs. "But the technology's cost equation will change, just as it always has in the past."

Eric Sheridan, another senior equity research analyst at the company, compared it to the tepid initial reactions to technological developments like the iPhone and Uber.

"People didn't think they needed smartphones, Uber, or Airbnb before they existed. But today it seems unthinkable that people ever resisted such technological progress. And that will almost certainly prove true for generative AI technology as well," Sheridan said.

• A US military uncrewed underwater vehicle can be seen on Google Earth at a naval base in California.
• The giant "Manta Ray" sea drone completed water testing in early 2024.
• Footage of the drone in action was recently shared by maker Northrop Grumman.

The US military's giant "Manta Ray" sea drone has been spotted on Google Earth at a naval base in California.

Satellite images show the drone at Naval Base Ventura County in Oxnard, close to Los Angeles.

Footage of the drone taken during water testing earlier this year was also recently shared by manufacturer Northrop Grumman on YouTube.

The uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) completed the "full-scale" testing off the coast of southern California in February and March, the Defense Department's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced in May.

The new footage takes viewers on a "360-degree dive" with the vehicle, offering glimpses of its rounded shape and maneuverability.

A second video posted by the company also shows the drone's propulsion system.

"By incorporating numerous buoyancy engines, all working together efficiently, Manta Ray can operate for extended periods at a time and travel long distances at a variety of depths," the company says in the second video.

"It can even anchor to the sea floor and hibernate until needed," it adds.

While the Manta Ray's dimensions are not publicly available, Northrop Grumman classifies the drone as an "extra-large glider UUV."

The Manta Ray program, launched in 2020, aims to develop payload-capable, autonomous UUVs that can operate in "long-duration, long-range missions in ocean environments."

The drone's unique shape helps it save power and energy and carry "critical payloads or sensors" on lengthy missions, according to its manufacturer.

"Our successful, full-scale Manta Ray testing validates the vehicle's readiness to advance toward real-world operations after being rapidly assembled in the field from modular subsections," Kyle Woerner, DARPA program manager for Manta Ray, said following testing.

"The combination of cross-country modular transportation, in-field assembly, and subsequent deployment demonstrates a first-of-kind capability for an extra-large UUV," he added.

DARPA says it is now working on the next steps for testing the drone.

Sea drones have redefined traditional naval warfare in recent years. Their use in the Russia-Ukraine war has gained them widespread media attention.

The relatively cheap technology has scored major hits for Ukraine on Russian battleships, including the Sergei Kotov patrol ship and the Ivanovets corvette.

Ukraine has also used sea drones to attack key infrastructure like the Kerch Bridge, Russian President Vladimir Putin's prized link between the Russian mainland and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The threat to the Kerch Bridge appears to be significant enough for Russia to have started placing barges and other defenses in the area to reduce "the angles of approach for Ukrainian Unmanned Service Vehicles," the UK Ministry of Defence said.

• A $35 million settlement fund will be established due to a class action lawsuit against Apple.
• The 2019 lawsuit said iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus had audio issues, which Apple denied.
• Some iPhone customers can receive up to $349.

Apple reached a $35 million settlement with iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus users who said their phones had audio problems. That means if you had one of those phones, you could get paid.

The lawsuit — available on the Settlement Administrator website — was first filed in 2019. It argues the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus had audio issues related to the "audio IC chip." The plaintiffs also accused Apple of violating consumer protection laws and breach of warranty.

Apple denied the phones had audio issues or that the company did anything wrong. Representatives for Apple did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Nonetheless, Apple settled the case. Now attorneys for the plaintiffs said affected iPhone users could get up to $349.

"We are proud of the nationwide class action Settlement that is pending final approval before the Court, which if approved will provide Settlement Class Members who complained to Apple about the alleged audio defect up to $349 in monetary relief," attorneys Andrea Gold and Greg Coleman said in a statement.

Here's what iPhone customers need to know.

Who qualifies?

Apple customers in the United States who owned those phone models between September 2016 and January 2023 might be eligible to receive payment for the settlement.

The settlement administrator says customers must have reported the covered audio issues to Apple, including those who paid "out of pocket" for repairs and replacements related to the covered audio issues.

How much money could iPhone customers receive?

iPhone customers who paid Apple "out of pocket" for replacements and repairs related to the audio issue will receive "an equal payment of at least $50 and no more than $349."

Those who reported the audio issues to Apple but did not pay for repairs or replacements will receive "an equal payment of up to $125."

The $35 million settlement fund will be formally established if a judge grants approval during a hearing on July 18.

When is the deadline to apply?

The original deadline for customers who wanted to be included in the settlement was June 3, but the court approved an extension.

The new deadline is July 3, 2024.

Interested customers must provide the settlement administrator with payment information and their preferred payment method. This can be done via an online form or mailing it to the Tabak v. Apple Class Action Administrators.

Some customers included in the settlement may receive a postcard notification or email about the lawsuit.

If customers don't select a payment method and provide payment information, they'll remain in the settlement class but cannot receive payment. They will also waive their rights to sue Apple for the aforementioned issues in the future.