Tag:

app

Pudgy Penguins Launches Pudgy Party Game On Mobile App
GameFi Guides

Pudgy Penguins Launches Pudgy Party Game on Mobile App

by admin



Ethereum NFT brand Pudgy Penguins has teamed up with Mythical Games to launch Pudgy Party, a mobile party game which is now available on iOS and Android. 

The game looks and feels similar to games like Fall Guys and Stumble Guys, with colorful party battles where players race through and try to survive unique mini-games. 

Each round is designed to feel different with multiple challenges players can expect new twists every time they join a match.

A Game Full of Fun Built on Blockchain

The Pudgy Party game is built on the Mythical Platform and integrates blockchain quietly in the background. When a player joins the game, a wallet is automatically created for them with them even knowing.

“The Web3 stuff is kind of just seamlessly behind it. You’re suddenly getting assets and you’re leveling them up, and you can change them and you can burn them for other things. All that’s fairly hidden from the user initially.” Mythical Games CEO John Linden explained in a press release.

Memes, Costumes, and Endless Play

The game’s stars are the Pudgy Penguins characters, which are already well known on social media and in toy stores. Each penguin has a fun personality and can be dressed in costumes or upgraded with emotes and other items. Some costumes can also be minted as NFTs, which means they can be traded on Mythical’s marketplace.

At launch, the game started with a seasonal event called Dopameme Rush. This event is based on internet memes and includes funny costumes like John Pork and Tung Tung Sahur. The game will have new seasons every month, with both free and premium passes. Players can also take part in tournaments and leaderboard competitions.

“The heart of Pudgy Penguins has always been about connection and spreading good vibes. Bringing our beloved, viral characters to life in a mobile multiplayer game is an exciting step forward in our mission to create joyful, meaningful experiences for our growing global community.” Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins, said in the press release.

Pudgy Penguins has grown far beyond NFTs since its 2021 debut, and expanded into plush toys sold at Walmart and Target, with launching earlier games like Pudgy Worlds. It also rolled out its Solana-based PENGU token. Today, the collection is the second most expensive NFT series by floor price and is valued at $417 million, according to on-chain data.

Also Read: Amdax Initiative AMBTS Plans To Acquire 1% of Total Bitcoin Supply



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Google adds iPhone-like ‘Calling Cards’ to its Phone app
Gaming Gear

Google adds iPhone-like ‘Calling Cards’ to its Phone app

by admin


Google’s Phone app is adding “Calling Cards” that let you customize the appearance of contact screens for incoming calls. They’re similar to the Contact Poster feature that iPhone users have had since 2023, allowing Google Phone app users to replace the teeny contact photos that appear when someone is calling you with full-screen images and stylized names.

The update is part of Android’s Material 3 Expressive design language overhaul, which Google used to test a revamped Phone app interface in June. Calling Cards started appearing in beta versions of Google’s Contacts and Phone apps earlier this month, but now they’re getting a public release in version v188 of the Phone app. Google says Calling Cards will be available worldwide, and are being rolled out “in phases,” so they might take a while to appear for everyone.

When the feature becomes available, Phone app users will see a banner on the Home tab that reads “Introducing calling card: Customize how you see your contact when they call you.” Tapping on this takes users to the Calling Card page, but you can also navigate to it manually in Contacts. From there, Calling Cards can be created for each contact by selecting an image from the device’s camera, gallery, or Google Photos, and choosing a font and color option that will be used to display the contact’s name.

Unlike Contact Posters on iOS, you can’t design your own Calling Card that will appear for other contacts when you call them. Google’s Calling Cards only let you set customized screens that are specific to your device, so you’ll have to set these for every individual person if you want to use the feature. Those contacts can’t edit how their Calling card appears on your device, however, so you can have some fun with how you customize them.

This is rolling out alongside a new “Take a message” feature for the Phone app that automatically answers and transcribes voicemails when you miss a call. Users can record a custom greeting that callers hear when leaving a voicemail for Take a Message, or select from one of the available greeting presets. Transcripts and voicemail audio can be found in the Phone app Recents tab, and Google says that all messages are “stored privately on your device.” The feature is available on Pixel 4 phones or newer, and on Pixel Watch 2 models or newer when paired with Pixel 6 or more recent Google phone models.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Decrypt logo
Crypto Trends

US Trading App Webull Launches Crypto Service in Australia to Challenge Incumbents

by admin



In brief

  • Webull has launched crypto trading for Australian users, with access to 240 digital assets and a 30 basis point spread through Coinbase Prime.
  • Experts say Australian exchanges charge double the spreads of international peers for major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
  • The launch follows Webull’s Monday announcement of resuming U.S. crypto trading after suspending services in 2023 during its IPO process.

U.S. trading app Webull launched crypto services for Australian users on Wednesday, offering access to hundreds of different digital assets in a move experts say will force local exchanges to slash fees or risk losing customers.

The launch through Coinbase Prime adds Australia as Webull’s third crypto market, alongside the U.S. and Brazil, with the company promising a 30-basis-point spread, according to a statement.

Industry experts predict the entry will trigger competitive pressure across Australia’s crypto exchange market, where fees have remained stubbornly high compared to international markets.



Pratik Kala, head of research and portfolio manager at Apollo Crypto, told Decrypt that “Australian exchanges have much higher fees and spreads compared to our international peers; in some cases, more than double the spread even for liquid pairs like Bitcoin and Ethereum.”

“Australian exchanges list a small fraction of coins—Webull’s entry with 240 coins will expand overall options for Australians,” he said, with competition expected to “expand overall options for Australians.”

Webull announced Monday that it resumed crypto trading in the U.S. after suspending services in 2023 during its public listing process, part of what CEO Anthony Denier called a “full-throttle” global expansion into digital assets.

James Volpe, founding director of uCubed, told Decrypt that Webull faces “entrenched competition from established players in Australia who will work hard to defend their market share.”

“Competition in such a young market tends to create competitive fee structures and additional service features for users,” he added.

He said new entrants “raise the bar for incumbents,” pushing more competitive fees and better user experiences, but cautioned that “the key” for investors is understanding risks tied to custody and centralized platforms.

“The greatest challenge,” he said, “is the shift toward non-custodial and decentralized technologies, giving users control over their identity, custody of assets, and lowering trading costs.”

Despite such hurdles, he acknowledged “while the institutional backing and infrastructure via Coinbase may provide an edge, success here depends on building trust and demonstrating value in an increasingly sophisticated market.”

Webull supports trading through individual accounts, SMSFs, trusts, and company structures, positioning crypto as part of traditional investment frameworks with 24/7 customer support.

Volpe said this may boost crypto’s role in wealth management, but “true integration” hinges on “education, regulation, and investor confidence.”

Daily Debrief Newsletter

Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Google Will Make All Android App Developers Verify Their Identity Starting Next Year
Product Reviews

Google Will Make All Android App Developers Verify Their Identity Starting Next Year

by admin


Android’s open nature set it apart from the iPhone as the era of touchscreen smartphones began nearly two decades ago. Little by little, Google has traded some of that openness for security, and its next security initiative could make the biggest concessions yet in the name of blocking bad apps.

Google has announced plans to begin verifying the identities of all Android app developers, and not just those publishing on the Play Store. Google intends to verify developer identities no matter where they offer their content, and apps without verification won’t work on most Android devices in the coming years.

Google used to do very little curation of the Play Store (or Android Market, if you go back far enough), but it has long sought to improve the platform’s reputation as being less secure than the Apple App Store. Years ago, you could publish actual exploits in the official store to gain root access on phones, but now there are multiple reviews and detection mechanisms to reduce the prevalence of malware and banned content. While the Play Store is still not perfect, Google claims apps sideloaded from outside its store are 50 times more likely to contain malware.

This, we are led to believe, is the impetus for Google’s new developer verification system. The company describes it like an “ID check at the airport.” Since requiring all Google Play app developers to verify their identities in 2023, it has seen a precipitous drop in malware and fraud. Bad actors in Google Play leveraged anonymity to distribute malicious apps, so it stands to reason that verifying app developers outside of Google Play could also enhance security.

However, making that happen outside of its app store will require Google to take a page from Apple’s playbook and flex its muscle in a way many Android users and developers could find intrusive. Google plans to create a streamlined Android Developer Console, which devs will use if they plan to distribute apps outside of the Play Store. After verifying their identities, developers will have to register the package name and signing keys of their apps. Google won’t check the content or functionality of the apps, though.

Google says that only apps with verified identities will be installable on certified Android devices, which is virtually every Android-based device—if it has Google services on it, it’s a certified device. If you have a non-Google build of Android on your phone, none of this applies. However, that’s a vanishingly small fraction of the Android ecosystem outside of China.

Google plans to begin testing this system with early access in October of this year. In March 2026, all developers will have access to the new console to get verified. In September 2026, Google plans to launch this feature in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand. The next step is still hazy, but Google is targeting 2027 to expand the verification requirements globally.

A Seismic Shift

This plan comes at a major crossroads for Android. The ongoing Google Play antitrust case brought by Epic Games may finally force changes to Google Play in the coming months. Google lost its appeal of the verdict several weeks ago, and while it plans to appeal the case to the US Supreme Court, the company will have to begin altering its app distribution scheme, barring further legal maneuvering.

Among other things, the court has ordered that Google must distribute third-party app stores and allow Play Store content to be rehosted in other storefronts. Giving people more ways to get apps could increase choice, which is what Epic and other developers wanted. However, third-party sources won’t have the deep system integration of the Play Store, which means users will be sideloading these apps without Google’s layers of security.

It’s hard to say how much of a genuine security problem this is. On one hand, it makes sense Google would be concerned—most of the major malware threats to Android devices spread via third-party app repositories. However, enforcing an installation whitelist across almost all Android devices is heavy handed. This requires everyone making Android apps to satisfy Google’s requirements before virtually anyone will be able to install their apps, which could help Google retain control as the app market opens up. While the requirements may be minimal right now, there’s no guarantee they will stay that way.

The documentation currently available doesn’t explain what will happen if you try to install a non-verified app, nor how phones will check for verification status. Presumably, Google will distribute this whitelist in Play Services as the implementation date approaches. We’ve reached out for details on that front and will report if we hear anything.

This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Gemini Overtakes Coinbase On App Store Amid Ipo Chatter
GameFi Guides

Gemini Overtakes Coinbase on App Store Amid IPO Chatter

by admin



American cryptocurrency exchange Gemini has surpassed Coinbase on Apple’s App Store’s financial application charts in the U.S. The development comes hours after it launched an XRP edition of the Gemini Credit Card and ongoing chatter around the exchange’s upcoming initial public offering (ICO). 

The Gemini credit card has been launched in partnership with Mastercard and Ripple Labs. Gemini released a statement on X on the launch of the card. “This limited edition metal card gives up to 4% back in XRP instantly. No waiting, just stacking,” the announcement read. 

Meet the Gemini Credit Card, XRP edition.

Designed for enthusiasts, this limited edition metal card gives up to 4% back in XRP instantly. No waiting, just stacking.

Available now 👀 pic.twitter.com/KU1bX7NvDS

— Gemini (@Gemini) August 25, 2025

This move pushed Gemini to surpass Coinbase in the US finance category rankings, placing 11th while Coinbase ranked 20th, according to Sensor Tower. 

Coinbase Continues Leading in Trading Volume

Interestingly, Coinbase has more than thrice the daily trading volume of Gemini. According to CoinMarketCap, Coinbase ranks third among crypto exchanges by trading volume, recording $4.54 billion in the past 24 hours, while Gemini sits at 24th with $382.49 million. Gemini also filed for the initial public offering (IPO) on August 16 on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol GEMI. 

Also Read: Hyperliquid Tops Robinhood in Monthly Volume for Third Month





Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Zambia dismantles $300m app crypto fraud targeting tens of thousands: Interpol
NFT Gaming

Zambia dismantles $300m app crypto fraud targeting tens of thousands: Interpol

by admin



Interpol reported a massive crypto fraud in Zambia that exploited 65,000 victims through a sophisticated app infrastructure. The criminals used targeted ads to acquire users, then funneled them through a series of applications, mirroring the funnel of a real SaaS company but built on fraud.

Summary

  • Zambian authorities dismantled a $300 million crypto fraud targeting 65,000 victims through a complex app ecosystem.
  • Operation Serengeti 2.0, coordinated by Interpol, led to 15 arrests in Zambia and the seizure of critical digital evidence.
  • Angola simultaneously saw 25 illegal crypto mining centers and 45 illicit power stations confiscated, with equipment worth $37 million.

On August 22, Interpol unveiled the details of a sweeping, multi-national takedown dubbed Operation Serengeti 2.0, which included Zambian authorities arresting 15 individuals connected to a sophisticated modern crypto investment scheme.

The operation exposed a criminal tech stack that leveraged extensive online advertising to lure victims with promises of high-yield returns, before guiding them through a meticulously designed series of proprietary applications that gave the entire operation a veneer of legitimacy.

A coordinated strike on digital crime’s infrastructure

The scale of the Zambian operation is staggering in its precision and impact. Authorities confirmed the scam siphoned an estimated $300 million from its 65,000 victims, a figure that lays bare the devastating efficiency of the app-based model.

In their crackdown, Zambian officials seized the critical digital fingerprints of the operation: key evidence including control domains, mobile numbers, and the bank accounts used to funnel the illicit gains. Investigations are now focused on tracing the international networks that supported the scheme.

Simultaneously, Angola saw a crackdown targeting illicit cryptocurrency mining operations. There, authorities targeted the physical infrastructure of digital asset mining, uncovering 25 illegal centers operated by 60 Chinese nationals.

The operation went beyond seizing mining rigs; it struck at the power source, identifying and confiscating 45 illicit power stations that were diverting national electricity. The total value of the confiscated mining and IT equipment exceeded $37 million, according to Interpol.

Notably, the Angolan government has stated this hardware will be repurposed to support power distribution in vulnerable communities, turning the tools of crime into public utility.

A continental effort against cybercrime

Overall, Operation Serengeti 2.0 led to the recovery of $97.4 million and the dismantling of 11,432 malicious infrastructures, a clear testament to its scope.

Ahead of the operation, Interpol said it facilitated the sharing of intelligence, including suspicious IP addresses, domains, and command-and-control servers, with investigators from 18 African nations and the United Kingdom.

The participating countries included Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Côte D’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Turkish Crypto Trading App Midas Raises $80M In Latest Push
GameFi Guides

Turkish Crypto Trading App Midas Raises $80M in Latest Push

by admin



Midas, Turkey’s leading investment and crypto trading platform, has raised $80 million in its Series B funding round. This is the largest investment ever for a Turkish fintech company, with the firm’s total funding now exceeding $140 million.

According to the announcement, the funding round was led by QED Investors and included new backers like the International Finance Corporation (IFC), HSG, QuantumLight, Spice Expeditions LP, and George Rzepecki. Existing investors such as Spark Capital, Portage Ventures, Bek Ventures, and Nigel Morris also participated.

Founded in 2020, Midas gained popularity during COVID lockdowns and later when inflation in Turkey pushed people toward investing in stocks. The app now serves 3.5 million investors, offering access to U.S. stocks, mutual funds, and cryptocurrencies, as well as stocks listed on Borsa Istanbul.

This funding round brings Midas close to unicorn status. Can Gemici, the company’s head of strategy, said it will probably become a unicorn in the next funding round.

Midas’ Expansion Plans

Midas intends to use the fresh capital to extend its product offerings, which include derivatives, warrants, European stocks, and corporate accounts.

The platform is also expanding its offerings for more experienced investors, including margin investing, advanced analytics, and derivatives trading. Starting in September, U.S. options trading will be available with free real-time data and competitive pricing. 

At the same time, Midas is strengthening its security and infrastructure to ensure a safe and reliable investing experience.

Also Read: Ethereum Dev Freed After 24-Hour Detention in Turkey





Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Decrypt logo
GameFi Guides

This App Pays You Crypto to Share Your Poop Pics

by admin



In brief

  • Doop, an app that pays users to take photos of their poop, is expected to launch its public beta this fall.
  • It will use an AI agent to analyze the photos to provide custom tips and challenges based on the results.
  • Further down the line, the dataset will be sold to organizations and companies in an attempt to further research.

Have you ever finished pooping and wished there was something you could do with the masterpiece you’ve just left in the loo? Well, an upcoming app will pay you to take a photo of it.

Doop is an AI-powered health app that will pay users in cryptocurrency for consistently uploading photos of their poop. These images will then be analyzed by an AI agent, which will set challenges for users to improve their gut health. The app is scheduled to release in public beta this fall, with a waitlist already open.

While the concept may sound hilarious or even ridiculous at first, Doop says that it has a serious goal behind the poop-tography—so much so that it has raised an undisclosed amount via an angel fundraising round, with participation from pseudonymous crypto investor Dingaling, the founder of meme coin launchpad Boop

“People don’t pay attention to poop, but it’s scientific gold because it’s a direct reflection of your diet, your healthstyle, lifestyle, and everything,” Joe Zhou, the founder of Doop, told Decrypt.

We’re not another health tracker 💩

Doop is a daily engagement engine that combines behavioral psychology, delightful design, and tokenized incentives to make self-care instinctive.

Think:

Health + Memes + Rewards → A habit you want to keep pic.twitter.com/Fr9uESvr96

— DoopApp (@DoopApp) August 11, 2025

He explained that most people only go to the doctor a couple of times a year, which creates infrequent snapshots of an individual’s health. Some may wear a fitness watch or smart ring that regularly tracks health data, but Doop aims to go a step further.

By tracking someone’s bowel movements every day for an extended period, Zhou believes that interesting trends, behaviors, and remedies will reveal themselves.

Users will be paid based on how regularly they provide images of their waste, complete health-based challenges set by the app, and if they improve their poop samples. Rewards will be paid out in the project’s Solana-based POOP token, which launched in July and currently sits at a nearly $6 million market cap. Doop will also upsell a premium tier of the app for more in-depth AI analysis.

Zhou told Decrypt that the project is based on several studies and research papers on the importance of healthy bowel movements. Those findings have been run through a custom AI agent, which utilizes an OpenAI and an in-house model, to provide custom tips on how to improve gut health.

However, it is worth noting that just an image of an individual’s faeces only reveals so much about the person.

“A photo alone cannot tell you if you have inflammation, infections, low digestive enzymes, blood in the stool, or an imbalance in your gut bacteria,” Nishtha Patel, gut expert and award-winning nutritionist, told Decrypt. “For this, you need a proper stool test where a swab or full sample is sent to a laboratory. This allows for a detailed look at your microbiome, digestive function, and gut health markers.”

That said, Patel explained that a photo can give some “useful clues” that can be investigated or acted upon. Zhou added that, in the distant future, there could be scope for an add-on that could inspect stool samples deeper than an image can.



“Apps that analyze stool images may be an interesting starting point, but they do not replace medical testing or professional advice,” Patel said. “It is also important to check how your personal data will be stored and used, especially if it will be shared or sold to other companies.”

Zhou told Decrypt that Doop will sell user data once it achieves approximately 500,000 monthly active users—although all data will be anonymized. Doop will look to sell the dataset to research institutions, insurance firms, or health supplement companies.

Data collected will include details like personal identifiers, like sex, height, and weight, as well as lifestyle choices and factors that impact your bowel movements. The user can choose to delete their data at any time they want, Zhou added.

The vision is that Doop could amass the largest and most detailed faecal dataset in the world, which could create a new frontier of health research. To this goal, the app plans to regularly release reports with interesting findings from its dataset, such as whether a specific city’s residents have worse gut health than another’s—possibly prompting an investigation into why.

But, for now, Doop’s methodology has yet to receive a stamp of approval from any gut health professionals. Zhou told Decrypt that the app is “in talks” with university professors to endorse the project’s methodology. Such endorsements are key as the app will give out health advice via its AI agent, incentivizing people to follow the tips via token payments.

Generally Intelligent Newsletter

A weekly AI journey narrated by Gen, a generative AI model.





Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Nvidia’s app gets global DLSS override and more control panel features
Gaming Gear

Nvidia’s app gets global DLSS override and more control panel features

by admin


The Nvidia app is getting improvements to DLSS override, more control panel features, and Project G-Assist changes this week. Nvidia has been gradually improving its new app over the past 18 months since its release, and it’s getting closer to fully migrating all the legacy control panel options.

This week’s Nvidia app update will include anisotropic filtering, anti-aliasing, and ambient occlusion options, meaning you won’t have to navigate to Nvidia’s older control panel app to improve classic games. The setup tool for Nvidia Surround will also be part of the Nvidia app now.

You also won’t have to configure DLSS override features on a per game basis anymore, as Nvidia is now adding a global option. You can set your DLSS preferences across all override supported games, and Nvidia’s overlay will also show which DLSS settings are active if you toggle this option on.

Nvidia is also bringing its new Smooth Motion feature, which was previously exclusive to RTX 50-series GPUs, to all RTX 40-series owners. It’s a driver-based AI model that enables smoother gameplay for games that don’t support DLSS Frame Generation. Smooth Motion can be applied to games running with DLSS Super Resolution, at native resolution, or even titles with other upscaling technologies. Nvidia says it will typically double “the perceived frame rate.”

If you’re a fan of Nvidia’s G-Assist AI assistant, Nvidia is changing the AI model behind the scenes so it will use 40 percent less memory. The smaller footprint won’t affect performance either, as it’s designed to respond even faster to queries.

These latest Nvidia app changes will arrive on August 19th for beta users at 9AM PT / 12PM ET, followed by a general release next week.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Nobody Likes Zuckerberg's Glitchy AI App
Product Reviews

Nobody Likes Zuckerberg’s Glitchy AI App

by admin


Clearly, throwing billions of dollars at a problem can’t solve everything.

Nearly six months after its debut, Meta’s consumer-facing AI app still struggles with inconsistencies and persistent shortcomings, casting doubt on the company’s lofty ambitions for artificial intelligence.

It has been a rough learning curve for Mark Zuckerberg’s efforts to join the AI race after lagging behind an already-crowded field and spending tens of billions of dollars on catching up. So far, the most Meta has to show for it is a glitchy chatbot, a growing chorus of irritated users, and frustrated shareholders who would like to have something to show for that kind of capital outlay.

Now, market watchers and consumers alike are wondering what exactly Meta can deliver if its flagship AI offering remains uneven.

Launched in April 2025, the standalone app was a late entry into the AI space, arriving roughly two and a half years after OpenAI introduced ChatGPT, Meta’s biggest competitor in the space and by far the most commercially recognizable brand for AI currently.

Meta AI also took a different approach: Its AI bot attempts to combine chat, image creation, and a public feed showcasing user-generated content.

Hit or Miss Has Been Mostly Miss

That tack appears to be failing. Users across the internet have expressed frustration with its unpredictability and limited relevance, saying it feels less like a polished product and more like an early prototype struggling to live up to Meta’s new AI-driven vision.

Since its launch, critics and users alike have voiced concerns on social media, highlighting bugs, odd interactions, and a lack of personalization.

The app’s Discover feed, intended to inspire conversations and showcase creative uses of the AI, often displays outdated user-generated images, diminishing its appeal as a dynamic social hub.

Meanwhile, its chat feature, which purportedly learns about user preferences, frequently makes up false information—an issue known as “hallucination” in AI lingo—that calls into question its reliability.

The reception has been lukewarm at best.

A Reddit post titled “Who hates Meta AI?” has garnered thousands of upvotes, with commentators dismissing it as “here anyway,” and “nobody ever asked for it.”

In the company’s own words, the app is still in its infancy. “This is just the first of many steps,” a Meta spokesperson told Bloomberg, promising ongoing updates as the company invests heavily in AI talent and infrastructure.

The success of the program and its importance to Meta’s future cannot be overstated.

Zuckerberg has made AI a cornerstone of Meta’s future, pledging hundreds of billions of dollars toward development, and actively recruiting top researchers from rivals like Apple and OpenAI. Meta even open-sourced its large language model, Llama, positioning itself as a leader in AI research, but its consumer tools, including the Meta AI app, are still far from polished.

Meta’s aspirations go beyond simple chatbot interactions

Zuckerberg has said he thinks of AI as a “personal superintelligence” that empowers individual users, not just a tool for entertainment. The company has said it wants to eventually embed AI across its portfolio of apps, including Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, and hardware.

But the current experience falls short of that vision, because the way Meta is slicing and dicing the data it receives is stymying internal efforts to advance its AI program. Conversations with the AI are siloed across apps, and it doesn’t retain memory or context from previous chats unless explicitly programmed to do so, limiting its usefulness and personalization.

More worryingly, the AI sometimes hallucinates, fabricating details that users may believe to be true. It can also get pretty weird, with many of the AI-generated images and text snippets that it uses to flood feeds with user-generated content ranging from inappropriate to the outright bizarre.

This has been worsened by Meta’s grappling with balancing automation and moderation.

Meta’s goal of harnessing the potential in AI applications for productivity and entertainment remains largely aspirational. For now, the company’s most visible consumer product remains a work in progress, far from fulfilling Zuckerberg’s lofty promises of an AI-powered future designed for “individual empowerment.”

As Meta continues to develop its AI technology, it remains to be seen whether the company can transform this nascent app into a truly useful and trustworthy personal assistant, or if it will continue to flunk its real-time tests and become a cautionary tale of moving too fast.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Close