Tag Archives: cruise

AI Used to Create Tom Cruise Deepfake Video Targeting Paris Olympics for Russia

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According to a new report from Microsoft, Russia is engaging in a disinformation campaign targeting the Paris Olympics. This includes the use of a deepfake video featuring Tom Cruise as the narrator of a critical documentary about the organization behind the games. You can read the full report on Microsoft’s website.

Microsoft revealed that a network of pro-Russian groups is conducting a “malign influence campaign” against France, President Emmanuel Macron, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the upcoming games in Paris. Despite Russia’s ban from the 2024 Olympics, a few Russian athletes may still participate as neutrals.

One of the tactics used by the disinformation campaign was a fake video of Tom Cruise on Telegram titled “Olympics Has Fallen.” The video, a parody of the movie “Olympus Has Fallen,” falsely claimed to be a Netflix production, featured a fake Cruise voice, and criticized the IOC. Microsoft deemed this video to be a more sophisticated creation compared to typical influence campaigns. You can access the full report released on Monday for more information.

The fake video was attributed to a Kremlin-linked group called Storm1679, known for its history of deceiving US actors. Storm1679 has been spreading fear through various videos about potential violence during the Olympics, alongside fake news broadcasts impersonating Euronews and France 24 to instill false narratives about the event.

Social media accounts associated with Storm 1679 have also posted images of graffiti in Paris threatening violence against Israelis attending the Olympics. Microsoft reported that these images were likely digitally generated rather than physically present.

Russia has a history of trying to disrupt Olympic events, with strategies dating back to the Soviet Union’s boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Another Russian group, Storm-1099 or “Doppelganger,” has launched a fake French news site spreading allegations of corruption at the IOC and potential violence in Paris.

Microsoft warned that Russia’s disinformation efforts might expand to other languages and involve the use of automated accounts and generative AI systems to create convincing fake content. This mirrors similar Chinese attempts to spread disinformation using AI-generated materials, as detailed in a previous report by Microsoft.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Why can’t I stop watching TikTok’s 9-month cruise?

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Patrick, I don’t pretend to understand the esoteric machinations behind the TikTok algorithm, but these days you keep giving me video after video of people sailing around the world on nine-month cruises. They’re all on the same cruise, and behind each blank stare is the same quiet desperation. what’s happening?

Michael, what’s happening now is essentially a social experiment being broadcast in real time, and some of us just can’t get enough of it.

Royal Caribbean Ultimate World Cruise is a nine-month cruise on a ship called Serenade of the Seas that aims to visit more than 60 countries on all seven continents and is touted as the world’s longest cruise. I don’t know the official number of passengers, but 1 TikToker reports that there are approximately 1,000 people. Most of them are regular cruise types, but some of them have started documenting on TikTok. It basically just describes the day’s action and shows viewers the cabins, meals, and other passengers. Even though it sounds like the worst reality show premise, you’ve heard it before, it became all the rage.

Two months have passed and we now have a boat full of influencers stuck on the high seas. This place is famous for the fact that people love to go crazy and get hooked on hunting huge and sexy whales. Nothing has actually happened yet, but It’s a perfect recipe for disaster. Terrible maritime affairs guaranteed.

How did this start? And who are the main characters?

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Like most things on TikTok (bama rush, sea shack) … 180,000 followers.

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Most of the content is daily style videos and confessionals, similar to the TikToks created by @sisters.swan color mode … and posts to his 7,000 followers.

Being on a ship for nine months sounds like an old-fashioned punishment. But people are actually paying for this, right?

Yes, it’s not cheap. You can join part of the tour or stay for the entire tour. The cheapest option for 9 months starts at $59,999 per person and the highest costs him $117,999. A couple who call themselves “Cruise Mom and Dad” I started an account @ while on board.spend our children’s money. They gained nearly 90,000 followers.

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But what’s interesting is how… junky it looks. Many university dormitories have common rooms. In fact, after the cruise started blowing up, TikTok influencer Marc Sebastian begged to be put on the ship and ended up getting sponsored by a publisher to go on an 18-night cruise. What’s his review? “I don’t like it here.”

he captioned video I went around my room writing the following: Are you okay. But for 9 months? You can’t do that, baby. ”

He also claimed that the showers were small and unreliable, that trips to see penguins were often canceled and that music was constantly blaring everywhere. nightmare.

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Once again, what’s on board now is a shady mix of old, wealthy cruisers, digital nomads, and influencers, almost exactly like the plot of Triangle of Sorrow. Has there been any real drama so far?

No, but everyone is preparing for it. It’s like we’re in the opening scene of a disaster movie right now. There, everyone is still cheerful and happy, we meet all the characters, and scientists continue to discover strange things that no one has noticed.

But we have a lot of gossip and it can lead to real drama – 1 account They claimed the passengers were infected with the coronavirus and were actually hiding it, which could lead to a new Ruby Princess-type plague ship.

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Another recent video Despite sharing rumors that the cruise may end much earlier than expected due to conflicts in the Middle East, a Royal Caribbean representative confirmed that they plan to continue the trip as scheduled.

Of course, even if nothing major happens, that doesn’t mean the entire ecosystem of gossip, comments, and criticism from stranded TikTok users has stopped. The passengers become characters in a soap opera, and the viewers write the story.

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It feels like being in the middle of a season of Real Housewives when nothing is happening and everyone is talking in sharp whispers as if something is happening. Why are we still investing so much?

I think it’s a combination of factors. There’s something truly intoxicating about watching rich people eat it while being trapped on a big ship – think “Below Deck” and “Triangle of Sorrow” – and the big ship itself, which has been ravaged by COVID-19. Virus cruises and stranded ships took center stage.

On top of that, people are fed up with the way reality shows are planned and produced these days, and there could be some real real chaos on this trip. It’s like putting a box full of bats, spiders, eggs, and fireworks and shaking it up. Something will happen. And we will watch.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Cruise reduces self-driving workforce by 25%, another electric scooter startup leaves market, and a special year-end message

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The Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Just sign up here and click on “The Station” to have our newsletter delivered to your inbox every weekend. Subscribe for free. Welcome to the station. It is the central hub for all past, present, and future means of moving people and goods from point A to point B. Hello! And goodbye! Well, at least until 2024. The station will be closed for a while until the end of this year. I would like to thank everyone who reads our weekly newsletter and sends me suggestions, tips, and criticism. Yes, I appreciate the thoughtful backlash. This year has seen new startups emerge (so many electric boat and RV companies, right?), more EVs on the roads, and numerous commercial milestones achieved in the self-driving vehicle industry. It was a year of lots of movement. Of course, there were dark moments and even shocking moments. Many startups went bankrupt, including a number of mobility SPACs, and layoffs remained widespread into the final months of the year. Two of the most surprising stories involve the self-driving car industry. Argo AI It made a comeback with a new AV startup funded by Softbank, but cruise. Cruise’s story continues to unfold and will likely play out until 2024. Last week was a tough week for Cruise, albeit as expected. As a result, the Cruise board, and by extension the GM board, are doing a housecleaning to restore years of technological advances. As part of that mission, nine top leaders were removed and 900 workers were laid off. We will continue to follow Cruise’s story next year. But that’s not our only focus. The TechCrunch team cares about the future of transportation, from new EV and battery technologies to electric and hydrogen aviation, self-driving cars, micromobility, and in-vehicle technology. It’s not just about highlighting the next new new thing. Instead, we strive to explain why it’s important and who it affects. In other words, we’re the kind of people who take unlikely exits and side streets to explore what others might avoid. Please join us. See you in the new year! Want to contact us with a tip, comment, or complaint? Email Kirsten at kirsten.karasec@techcrunch.com. Send your notes to tips@techcrunch.com. If you wish to remain anonymous, Click here to contact usthis includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging apps. micromobin The big talking point in Scooterville was the “seemingly” sudden decision. super pedestrian Just 18 months after raising $125 million, the company is closing its U.S. operations and beginning to consider selling its European operations. I don’t want to say I saw this coming, but given that in late November Superpedestrian began laying off several European executives responsible for global development and operations, Let’s just say I wasn’t shocked by the news. Superpedestrian’s Link scooters are available in about 60 cities in 11 countries, but are scheduled to be withdrawn from most markets by the end of 2023. The startup positioned itself as a partner for safe cities and invested in advanced passenger assistance technology by acquiring Navmatic in July 2021. That’s where Pedestrian Protection was born, Superpedestrian’s GPS-based safety system that could detect and correct unsafe rider behavior in real time. However, the system was competing with other camera-based computer vision systems popularized by Drover AI and Luna. Lime, the only big scooter company likely to survive, introduced its own version of rider-assistance technology on its scooters in July 2022, around the same time that Superpedestrian began cutting jobs. As the balance sheets of public companies Bird and MicroMobility.com (formerly Helbiz) demonstrate, shared micromobility is a difficult business to run properly. Bird has recently been kicked off the stock market, announced several layoffs and is likely close to filing for bankruptcy. MicroMobility.com has undergone not one but two reverse stock splits this year, and its stock price remains depressed. And after several failed acquisition talks, Tier Mobility also announced layoffs in November. Oh, and let’s not forget Boruto’s mysterious disappearance. My question now is who will be next to fly off to the great beyond? — Rebecca Beran This week’s sale We have lots of great deals this week! dimensional energy, a New York-based startup that develops sustainable aviation fuel from carbon dioxide emissions and water, has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Envisioning Partners. Strategic investors include United Airlines Sustainable Flight Fund, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Rock Creek Smart Aviation Futures Fund, DSC Investments, Derek US, and New York Ventures, as well as Elemental Excelerator and Chloe Capital. Existing investors also participated. summer timea Chinese new energy vehicle fleet management company, has completed an $80 million funding round to fuel R&D investment and real-time computational analysis. exponential energyThe Indian EV charging startup has raised $26.4 million in Series B led by Eight Road Ventures and TDK Ventures. This funding will help Exponent expand its 15-minute charging solution to five major cities in India in FY2024 and enter the intercity e-bus segment. The company plans to deploy 1,000 charging stations and equip 25,000 EVs with Exponent by 2025. Ric the mobility-as-a-service startup has raised €1.4 million ($1.53 million) from Habert Dassault Finance, AfriMobility (Akwa Group), angel investors, and banks including Bpifrance, Crédit Mutuel, and Caisse d’Épargne. meta fuela sustainable jet fuel startup, has raised $8 million in a round led by Energy Impact Partners and Contrarian Ventures. Vanmo, a São Paulo-based startup looking to expand electric motorcycle battery swapping in Latin America, has raised $30 million in a Series A round to capitalize on the growing popularity of bikes across the region. The equity and debt round was led by Monasees, with participation from Climate Technology Fund 2150 and Maniv Mobility.

Source: techcrunch.com

GM’s autonomous taxi division, Cruise, cuts 900 jobs as it faces challenges.

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General Motors’ cruise self-driving car unit is restructuring and cutting costs after several safety incidents in San Francisco, resulting in over 900 layoffs, or about a quarter of its workforce. The subsidiary announced the layoffs in a letter from president and chief technology officer Mo El-Shenawy to Cruise’s 3,800 employees, stating that the layoffs were not the fault of the employees.

The layoffs come after Cruise acknowledged that nine key leaders are no longer with the company as an investigation into an October accident involving one of the company’s driverless robotaxis continues. “We are first simplifying and focusing our efforts to provide great service in one city,” El-Shenawy wrote in the letter. The measures follow an analysis of the October crash and response after a Cruise robotaxi struck and injured a pedestrian.

California regulators allege that Cruise concealed the severity of the October accident, and robotaxi services are also being investigated by US auto safety regulators. The employment measures include additional pay and benefits for laid-off employees.

“Today is one of the most difficult days yet as so many talented people are retiring,” El-Shenawy wrote. Cruise has faced significant turmoil in recent months, and General Motors is absorbing huge losses while developing a driverless service. GM plans to slow spending at Cruise, which it acquired eight years ago. For the first nine months of this year, Cruise posted a pretax loss of $1.9 billion.

Source: nypost.com

Cruise to pay fine, TuSimple exits US market, TC Transpo team welcomes new reporter

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The Station

The Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Just sign up here and click on “The Station” to have our newsletter delivered to your inbox every weekend. Subscribe for free. Welcome to The Station. It is the central hub for all past, present, and future means of moving people and goods from point A to point B. Hello everyone! I’m back from Chevrolet Blazer EV Press drive. Sometimes I have an idea. However, you’ll have to wait until later this week to read about it. There is one important news item that former TC contributor turned InsideEVs editor Patrick George collected during his press days that he would like to point out to you. Remember how GM I messed up my Chevy Volt and Volt EUV and after a few months I was like, “Never mind!” Are you going to bring it back to the new Ultium platform? Good. Well, we now know when it’s coming back. It will be EUV only. The small original Bolt EV is over and done with. I wonder how this will ultimately affect GM’s subsidiary Cruise, which uses a self-driving version of the Bolt. That is, if cruises resume operations in 2024. Let me share some more important items. I’m a regular at stocks podcast With TC+ Editor Alex Wilhelm and Senior Reporter Mary Ann Azevedo. You can listen to the latest episode here. And finally, we’re excited to share this: We’ve adopted Sean O’Kane As a senior reporter covering all aspects of transportation. Mr. O’Kane comes from Bloomberg via The Verge, and I can’t say enough about his investigative and storytelling abilities. He will share his email next week once he officially starts work. Please welcome him! Want to contact us with a tip, comment, or complaint? Email Kirsten at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or Rebecca at rebecca.techcrunch@gmail.com. Send your notes to tips@techcrunch.com. If you wish to remain anonymous, Click here to contact us; this includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging apps. This week’s sale Automakers love to talk about software-defined vehicles. But that doesn’t mean automakers eager to bring sophisticated digital platforms to their vehicles have actually realized this software-defined future. One startup is taking advantage of that demand. cubic telecomhas developed a networking system that makes it easy to connect vehicles (and other devices) to mobile networks, and has received €473 million ($513 million) from . Softbank Corp.. The deal sees SoftBank Corp. (not Vision Fund or SoftBank Group) take a 51% stake in the Dublin-based startup, valued at 927 million euros ($1 billion). Become strong. As editor Ingrid Lunden writes, this effectively makes Cubic Telecom a consolidated subsidiary of SoftBank. Barry Napier will remain CEO and become a member of the Board of Directors. Daichi Nozaki, SoftBank’s senior vice president of global business, and two other SoftBank-appointed people (names yet to be determined) will join the board, with the remaining three seats held by CARIAD (Volkswagen Group) and others. It will be occupied by Cubic Telecom’s existing investors, including Qualcomm. Another interesting note: Cubic Telecom participated in TechCrunch’s first Startup Battlefield in 2007. Other sales that caught our attention this week… AM battery, a lithium-ion dry electrode technology startup, has raised $30 million in a Series B round led by Toyota Ventures. Other new investors include Porsche Ventures, Asahi Kasei, RA Capital Management – ​​Planetary Health, Wilson Sonsini, and Industry Ventures. Existing investors Anzu Partners, TDK Ventures, Creative Ventures, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, Foothill Ventures, and Zeon Ventures also participated. generac power systems Made a minority investment in Wallbox, an EV charging and energy management company. The undisclosed minority investment includes an additional seat on Wallbox’s board of directors and a global commercial agreement to deliver next-generation energy management systems to Generac’s residential and commercial customers. Foreteryx, which builds verification and verification solutions for testing driver assistance and autonomous vehicle systems, has raised $42 million and closed its Series C for $85 million. The entire round was led by Israel’s VC 83North, with Singapore’s Temasek and Isuzu joined by Woven Capital (Toyota’s venture fund), Nvidia, Artofin, and previous backers MoreTech, Nationwide, Volvo Group VC, Jump Capital, Next Gear Invested with Ventures and OurCrowd. The first close of this Series C was in May of this year for $43 million. stuartis a Paris-based last-mile delivery platform founded in 2015 and acquired by Munich-based private equity holding company Mutares. Terms were not disclosed. Notable reads and other trivia self-driving car of Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, American Chamber of Commerce, Alliance for Automotive Innovation sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, imploring the Department of Transportation to: Supports AV development Otherwise, we risk losing our competitiveness against China. cruise The company faces fines and sanctions for failing to disclose details of an Oct. 2 incident, specifically an incident in which one of its vehicles dragged a pedestrian 20 feet, according to a California Public Utilities Commission ruling. It is said that there is a possibility of facing. The agency ordered Cruz to appear at a Feb. 6 hearing to defend himself against the charges against him. Ganesh Venkataramananwho led Tesla’s Dojo supercomputer project for the past five years. I left the company. For those unfamiliar, the Dojo supercomputer is considered a key technology supporting self-driving car efforts. kodiak robotics introduced a self-driving car that resulted from a $50 million, two-year contract signed by the U.S. Department of Defense, and more specifically the U.S. Army. If you thought it was a semi-truck, you were wrong. No, it’s a Ford F-150 pickup truck that the startup has outfitted with its own software and sensor stack. The Department of Defense uses this vehicle to test autonomous surveillance and reconnaissance missions in off-road terrain, diverse operating conditions, and GPS-challenged environments. torque robotics and uber freight We are building strategic partnerships. Under the agreement, Torc will use data from Uber Freight’s logistics network to help refine autonomous freight network design and expansion strategies. This includes learning which lanes are best for deployment and how to prioritize lane deployment and various operational design areas. Use self-driving trucks to balance supply and demand across your supply chain. There was a time when there were developers of self-driving trucks. TuSimple Not to mention investments and partnerships, it attracted a lot of attention. Those days are over, at least in the United States. The publicly traded company plans to lay off most of its U.S. employees and sell its U.S. assets as it exits the country for Asia. Approximately 150 people, or 75% of the U.S. workforce, will be laid off. The remaining 50 employees will help TuSimple scale down its U.S. operations, including asset sales, and support the company’s transition to the Asia-Pacific region. electric car, charging, battery scoutis a spin-off company of the VW Group aimed at selling EVs for North America, and is currently developing pickup trucks and SUVs.some New details revealed Ahead of its scheduled debut in Q3 2024. Stellantis Partnering with battery replacement startup enough to test the technology in a Fiat 500e city car. The companies will launch the first phase in Madrid, where 100 vehicles from Stellantis’ Free2move car-sharing service will be retrofitted to accept Ampoule’s modular batteries. TC reporter Tim de Chant thinks battery swapping could work well in vehicles, but are consumers ready for the technology? Speaking of that, fiat 500e, the compact EV will be in North American showrooms in the first quarter of 2024, starting with a production red model in collaboration with the AIDS prevention organization co-founded by U2’s Bono. TC reporter Hari Weber calls the Fiat 500e the anti-Cybertruck. Will Americans buy it? Another Stellantis item. The automaker will temporarily reduce one shift at its Detroit assembly plant, which produces Jeep sport utility vehicles, due to California emissions regulations. What kind of relationship is there?Stellantis sent a petition It opposes the California Framework Agreement signed in 2019 with four automakers (BMW, Ford, Honda, and Volkswagen). Stellantis says framework companies can use gross EV sales to comply with state emissions regulations, while other OEMs can only use sales generated in states that comply with CARB regulations. claims. As a result, Stellantis, which includes the Jeep brand, has an excess inventory of plug-in hybrids in California. Therefore, production will be reduced. Tesla’s The lowest-priced vehicles, rear-wheel-drive Model 3s, will no longer receive the full $7,500 federal tax credit starting next year. Tesla isn’t the only company…


Source: techcrunch.com