Tag:

safety

hasan in front of a plant while streaming on twitch
Esports

Hasan reveals he won’t attend TwitchCon over safety concerns as more streamers back out

by admin



Twitch streamer Hasan is the latest content creator saying he won’t attend TwitchCon, stating that his presence could put others at risk.

TwitchCon is set for October 17-19 in San Diego, California. The annual event gives streamers and viewers a chance to interact in-person, but this year, fans will be without some of the biggest stars.

Notably, Valkyrae and QTCinderella said they were “afraid” to attend the event and will be staying home due to safety issues. QT in particular cited a situation where a creator was stabbed to death in Japan.

Article continues after ad

While Twitch CEO Dan Clancy dismissed the concerns, stating that they take security “extremely seriously” and prevent users who are banned on the platform from attending, it has done little to change opinions.

On September 29, political streamer Hasan revealed he too, will be ditching TwitchCon 2025, seemingly referencing the assassination of Charlie Kirk as the catalyst for his decision.

Article continues after ad

Hasan backs out of TwitchCon 2025

In response to a fan who said they miss the “social Hasan era,” the streamer explained that he believes his appearance could put the whole event in danger.

Article continues after ad

“There is, unfortunately, an obvious setback there. One, all the political incidents that have taken place. And two, how those political incidents have had pretty significant consequences in how much I can go out in the real world and socialize with other people,” he said.

On September 10, right-wing YouTuber and political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University.

According to Hasan, that means he won’t be going to TwitchCon, but claims it’s not because he’s afraid of his own safety.

Article continues after ad

“I’m literally not going to TwitchCon because I’m afraid of the safety of others. I don’t want to put them in the f**king crosshairs if some psycho freak decides, ‘I’m gonna go there.’ I’m very publicly not going to TwitchCon for that reason.”

Article continues after ad

Hasan has had a controversial history on Twitch. In 2024, he showed a video about the Houthi Movement to fellow Twitch streamer Nmp, which sparked considerable backlash from viewers. The group has been designated as a Terrorist Organization by the US State Department.

Article continues after ad

The site’s CEO, Dan Clancy, also faced calls by Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres to “stop popularizing those who popularize antisemitism,” singling out Hasan’s content, specifically.

Meanwhile, fellow Twitch streamer Asmongold has urged women not to attend TwitchCon and took aim at the platform’s claims that it takes security seriously.

“Last year, nmplol and wake were sexually assaulted by a streamer and Twitch didn’t press charges or pursue any form of legal action against him,” he blasted. “If I was a woman, I would never go to TwitchCon.”

Article continues after ad



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Indiana QB Mendoza sorry for 'cooked' spreads after late safety
Esports

Indiana QB Mendoza sorry for ‘cooked’ spreads after late safety

by admin



Sep 28, 2025, 11:12 AM ET

Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza quipped about messing up betting lines with his wild, clock-killing scramble to end the Hoosiers’ 20-15 win over Iowa on Saturday.

With Indiana up 20-13 after stopping Iowa on its final possession, Mendoza ran off the last three seconds of the game by racing 40 yards backward on fourth-and-19 into his own end zone, where he was tackled for a safety.

Mendoza said he was following orders from coach Curt Cignetti.

“Coach said, ‘Hey, take a safety, run out of the end zone,'” Mendoza said. “When I got to the 2, I saw all zeros on the clock, but I kept going.”

Editor’s Picks

Mendoza added: “I know I really cooked people’s spreads. My apologies out to them.”

Indiana closed as an 8.5-point favorite at ESPN BET, but those final two points could have affected wagers on alternate spreads.

On the previous Hoosiers possession, Mendoza threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Elijah Sarratt with 1:28 to play to keep No. 11 Indiana (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) undefeated.

The closest win of the season for the Hoosiers was one Cignetti called a “gut check,” and his players agreed.

“We’ve never been tested like that,” said offensive lineman Pat Coogan. “We have so much room to get better. And that’s the best feeling.”

Mendoza connected with Sarratt, who had six catches for 132 yards, on a slant route down the left side, and Sarratt broke the tackle attempt of Iowa’s Deshaun Lee on his way to the touchdown.

The quarterback said he knew Iowa would blitz and that his outside receivers would have room.

“It was kind of ‘dealer’s choice,'” Mendoza said. “When the game’s on the line and I can throw a pass like that to my guy Elijah … that’s college football. That’s what it’s all about.”

Indiana, which came into the game ranked second nationally in total offense and scoring offense, was held to 337 yards and its lowest scoring output of the season. But the Hoosiers got two touchdown passes from Mendoza, who threw for 233 yards, and two field goals from Nico Radicic.

“It was the good, the bad and the ugly, and there was a lot of the bad and the ugly,” Cignetti said.

Iowa (3-2, 1-1) had a chance to break a 13-13 tie with 2:01 to play, but Drew Stevens missed a 42-yard field goal. The Hawkeyes were also without quarterback Mark Gronowski, who left the game in the fourth quarter with an apparent lower leg injury.

He wanted to come back on Iowa’s next series but was replaced by Hank Brown, who finished 5-of-13 for 48 yards.

“He just didn’t feel like he could decelerate if he ran,” said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, who added that Gronowski would undergo further tests Sunday.

Up next for the Hoosiers, following a bye, is a marquee matchup at No. 6 Oregon on Oct. 11.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Overwatch lootbox
Gaming Gear

Brazil’s president has signed a ban on selling loot boxes to minors as part of a larger online child safety law

by admin



In March, videogames will no longer be able to sell lootboxes to users under the age of 18 in Brazil due to a ban signed earlier this month by Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Part of a broader law passed by Brazil’s congress to enact online safety measures for children, the ban continues an ongoing international effort to regulate exploitative monetization practices (via Eurogamer).

The law, Lei 15.211/2025, aims to defend “the best interests of children and adolescents,” which it defines—according to machine translation—as “the protection of their privacy, safety, mental and physical health, access to information, freedom to participate in society, meaningful access to digital technologies, and well-being.”

Chapter 7 of the law says that “loot boxes offered in electronic games aimed at children and adolescents or likely to be accessible by them are prohibited, in accordance with the respective age rating.”


Related articles

Additionally, the law mandates that games featuring “interaction between users through text, audio or video messages” must comply with guidelines established by a separate law passed in 2024, which requires companies to moderate “abuse and irregularities committed by users” and provide transparency for how their moderation systems are used, maintained, and updated.

Brazil isn’t the first country to attempt to regulate loot boxes, and likely won’t be the last. Belgium banned loot boxes—with varying degrees of success—in 2018, while US lawmakers, Dutch political coalitions, and members of Australian parliament have proposed their own bans on loot boxes as a form of digitized gambling.

For those protections to have any effect in Brazil, however, they’ll necessitate the usage of age-verification mechanisms. Previously, Brazilian law had considered it sufficient for users of digital services to self-declare their age. The new law, however, requires the providers of those services to “take proportionate, auditable and technically secure measures to assess the age or age range of users.”

While the law states “data collected to verify the age of children and adolescents may be used solely for this purpose, and its processing for any other purpose is prohibited,” similar age verification measures have been the source of privacy concerns as online safety legislation has advanced in the UK, Australia, some US states, and elsewhere.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
valkyrae cinna emiru irl streaming
Esports

Pokimane, Valkyrae & QTCinderella “afraid” to attend TwitchCon due to safety concerns

by admin



Twitch stars Pokimane, Valkyrae, and QTCinderella have revealed that they have safety concerns when it comes to attending TwitchCon in October. 

TwitchCon is Twitch’s annual celebration of streamers. Top content creators get together, along with fans and Twitch staff to celebrate the past year, and look ahead to what’s coming next. 

The meet and greets between fans and streamers have regularly been moderated by Twitch itself. However, with many creators streaming their days at TwitchCon, there are plenty of chances to bump into them along the way too.

Article continues after ad

This has created a number of safety concerns for streamers, with a few like Pokimane having reservations about attending the 2025 event in San Diego. “It does worry me that it might not be safe and it be better to skip out on it,” she told viewers. 

QTCinderella, Valkyrae & Pokimane have TwitchCon safety concerns

Poki admitted that she hadn’t made a decision about going, but noted it could be “scary” to be around potentially “hateful” people. 

Article continues after ad

The OfflineTV star had been responding to QTCinderella and Valkyrae who, during an episode of Wine About It, admitted they had concerns too. 

Article continues after ad

“I’m kind of afraid to go to TwitchCon,” Rae said as QT noted they are supposed to host a live episode of their podcast. “I have given them a soft ‘hey, we’re in a bit of a panic mode right now’” QT said. 

QT also noted that she considered dropping all her in-person obligations after a female Japanese streamer was attacked during a broadcast. “It just takes one person,” Valkyrae added. 

After that episode went live, Rae announced that the pair would not be attending or recording their planned live show.

Article continues after ad

“I’m just really uncomfortable with the world right now,” the 100 Thieves co-owner said. “I don’t feel safe, I’m just uncomfortable, you know? It’s crazy times.”

The Wine About It hosts did promise to make it up to fans, however, likely through a Wine About It live stream.

Article continues after ad

The event, which has always been well secured, is set to take place on October 17-19. It remains to be seen if top streaming stars will drop out.

Article continues after ad



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
SpaceX's Starship Lunar Lander Could Be ‘Years Late,’ NASA Safety Panel Warns
Product Reviews

SpaceX’s Starship Lunar Lander Could Be ‘Years Late,’ NASA Safety Panel Warns

by admin


NASA aims to return astronauts to the Moon by mid-2027—a feat that would fulfill a decade of preparation. The agency may have to extend that timeline even further, however, as slow progress on SpaceX’s lunar lander threatens to delay the Artemis 3 mission.

During a public meeting on Friday, members of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel warned that the Human Landing System (HLS) version of Starship could be “years late,” SpaceNews reports. The panel reached that conclusion following a visit last month to SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas.

“The HLS schedule is significantly challenged and, in our estimation, could be years late for a 2027 Artemis 3 Moon landing,” said panelist Paul Hill, former director of Mission Operations at NASA.

Another Artemis delay—so what?

Putting American boots back on the Moon is a top priority for NASA. With a new space race underway, global powers including the U.S., China, and Russia are vying for a first-mover advantage.

Whoever reaches the lunar surface first will be able to set certain ground rules about who can do what and where. This would not only reinforce that country’s influence on the Moon and in space but also give it strategic leverage as military operations increasingly depend on space-based assets.

“This is a pivotal moment for our nation’s space program,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) during a hearing on legislative priorities for NASA earlier this month. He went on to emphasize that space has become a “strategic frontier with direct consequences for national security, economic growth, and technological leadership.”

How did we get here?

In 2021, NASA contracted Elon Musk’s SpaceX to build a version of Starship capable of landing astronauts on the Moon. At that time, the agency aimed to accomplish a landing by 2024, but that target date has been pushed back in recent years.

Development of Starship HLS has slowed significantly as SpaceX has struggled with repeated explosive failures this year. While Starship’s most recent test flight on August 26 was a success, unmet technical milestones have piled up.

One major issue is demonstrating the cryogenic propellant transfer needed to refuel Starship in low-Earth orbit before the rocket heads to the Moon, Hill said during the Friday meeting. Developmental delays for Starship 3—the first iteration capable of in-orbit fuel transfers—have slowed progress toward this goal.

Hill also pointed to potentially competing priorities for SpaceX between Starlink and Starship HLS, SpacePolicyOnline.com reports. Starship 3 will be integral in launching the third generation of Starlink satellites while simultaneously creating the on-orbit fuel depots and lunar lander for Artemis 3.

“The next six months of Starship launches will be telling about the likelihood of HLS flying crew in 2027 or by the end of the decade,” Hill said.

Despite these concerns, the panelists emphasized that SpaceX is still the only launch provider for the job. “There is no competitor, whether government or industry, that has this full combination of factors that yield this high a manufacturing and flight tempo, with their direct effects on reliability increases and cost reduction,” Hill said.

The downside to relying on SpaceX, however, is clear: Without a launch-ready Starship HLS by 2027, Artemis 3 won’t get off the ground on time.

Back in 2023, NASA selected Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin to provide a second lunar lander, dubbed Blue Ghost, to be used during the Artemis 5 mission later this decade. The contract is worth $3.4 billion and includes a development team consisting of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Draper, Astrobotic, and Honeybee Robotics.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
DAAPrivacyRightIcon
Gaming Gear

Tesla exec says the company will redesign door handles that reportedly pose safety risks

by admin


Yesterday, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into Tesla following a report by Bloomberg that its electric door handles could stop working when a vehicle’s low-voltage battery fails. That created a safety hazard that the publication found could trap passengers when a Tesla car was in an emergency situation, such as a crash. Now, Bloomberg is back with the news that Tesla plans to redesign those problematic handles. 

Tesla design head Franz von Holzhausen appeared on Bloomberg‘s Hot Pursuit! podcast and said the company is considering a new approach that combines the electric and manual release mechanisms. “The idea of combining the electronic one and the manual one together into one button, I think, makes a lot of sense,” he said. “That’s something that we’re working on.” He didn’t specify why Tesla was working on a redesign, but it’s hard to imagine the timing of the federal probe isn’t relevant. 

The company has already been in the NHTSA’s sights this year. Last month, the regulator opened an investigation into how Tesla was reporting crashes with its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems. Although Tesla claimed the inconsistencies in reports were due to a system error that it has fixed, the NHTSA said it would continue the probe.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
OpenAI's Teen Safety Features Will Walk a Thin Line
Product Reviews

OpenAI’s Teen Safety Features Will Walk a Thin Line

by admin


OpenAI announced new teen safety features for ChatGPT on Tuesday as part of an ongoing effort to respond to concerns about how minors engage with chatbots. The company is building an age-prediction system that identifies if a user is under 18 years old and routes them to an “age-appropriate” system that blocks graphic sexual content. If the system detects that the user is considering suicide or self-harm, it will contact the user’s parents. In cases of imminent danger, if a user’s parents are unreachable, the system may contact the authorities.

In a blog post about the announcement, CEO Sam Altman wrote that the company is attempting to balance freedom, privacy, and teen safety.

“We realize that these principles are in conflict, and not everyone will agree with how we are resolving that conflict,” Altman wrote. “These are difficult decisions, but after talking with experts, this is what we think is best and want to be transparent in our intentions.”

While OpenAI tends to prioritize privacy and freedom for adult users, for teens the company says it puts safety first. By the end of September, the company will roll out parental controls so that parents can link their child’s account to their own, allowing them to manage the conversations and disable features. Parents can also receive notifications when “the system detects their teen is in a moment of acute distress,” according to the company’s blog post, and set limits on the times of day their children can use ChatGPT.

The moves come as deeply troubling headlines continue to surface about people dying by suicide or committing violence against family members after engaging in lengthy conversations with AI chatbots. Lawmakers have taken notice, and both Meta and OpenAI are under scrutiny. Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission asked Meta, OpenAI, Google, and other AI firms to hand over information about how their technologies impact kids, according to Bloomberg.

At the same time, OpenAI is still under a court order mandating that it preserve consumer chats indefinitely—a fact that the company is extremely unhappy about, according to sources I’ve spoken to. Today’s news is both an important step toward protecting minors and a savvy PR move to reinforce the idea that conversations with chatbots are so personal that consumer privacy should only be breached in the most extreme circumstances.

“A Sexbot Avatar in ChatGPT”

From the sources I’ve spoken to at OpenAI, the burden of protecting users weighs heavily on many researchers. They want to create a user experience that is fun and engaging, but it can quickly veer into becoming disastrously sycophantic. It’s positive that companies like OpenAI are taking steps to protect minors. At the same time, in the absence of federal regulation, there’s still nothing forcing these firms to do the right thing.

In a recent interview, Tucker Carlson pushed Altman to answer exactly who is making these decisions that impact the rest of us. The OpenAI chief pointed to the model behavior team, which is responsible for tuning the model for certain attributes. “The person I think you should hold accountable for those calls is me,” Altman added. “Like, I’m a public face. Eventually, like, I’m the one that can overrule one of those decisions or our board.”



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Decrypt logo
GameFi Guides

AI Giants Face FTC Inquiry Into Chatbot Safety and Child Protections

by admin



In brief

  • The FTC has issued orders to seven companies requiring detailed disclosure of safety protocols and monetization strategies within 45 days.
  • The probe comes amid growing concerns about AI chatbots’ impact on children, with safety advocates calling for stronger protections.
  • Companies must reveal user data handling by age group and safeguards preventing inappropriate interactions with minors.

The Federal Trade Commission issued compulsory orders Thursday to seven major technology companies, demanding detailed information about how their artificial intelligence chatbots protect children and teenagers from potential harm.

The investigation targets OpenAI, Alphabet, Meta, xAI, Snap, Character Technologies, and Instagram, requiring them to disclose within 45 days how they monetize user engagement, develop AI characters, and safeguard minors from dangerous content.

Recent research by advocacy groups documented 669 harmful interactions with children in just 50 hours of testing, including bots proposing sexual livestreaming, drug use, and romantic relationships to users aged between 12 and 15.

“Protecting kids online is a top priority for the Trump-Vance FTC, and so is fostering innovation in critical sectors of our economy,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement.

The filing requires companies to provide monthly data on user engagement, revenue, and safety incidents, broken down by age groups—Children (under 13), Teens (13–17), Minors (under 18), Young Adults (18–24), and users 25 and older.

The FTC says that the information will help the Commission study “how companies offering artificial intelligence companions monetize user engagement; impose and enforce age-based restrictions; process user inputs; generate outputs; measure, test, and monitor for negative impacts before and after deployment; develop and approve characters, whether company- or user-created.”

Building AI guardrails

“It’s a positive step, but the problem is bigger than just putting some guardrails,” Taranjeet Singh, Head of AI at SearchUnify, told Decrypt.

The first approach, he said, is to build guardrails at the prompt or post-generation stage “to make sure nothing inappropriate is being served to children,” though “as the context grows, the AI becomes prone to not following instructions and slipping into grey areas where they otherwise shouldn’t.”

“The second way is to address it in LLM training; if models are aligned with values during data curation, they’re more likely to avoid harmful conversations,” Singh added.

Even moderated systems, he noted, can “play a bigger role in society,” with education as a prime case where AI could “improve learning and cut costs.”



Safety concerns around AI interactions with users have been highlighted by several cases, including a wrongful death lawsuit brought against Character.AI after 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III died by suicide in February 2024 following an obsessive relationship with an AI bot.

Following the lawsuit, Character.AI “improved detection, response and intervention related to user inputs that violate our Terms or Community Guidelines,” as well as a time-spent notification, a company spokesperson told Decrypt at the time.

Last month, the National Association of Attorneys General sent letters to 13 AI companies demanding stronger child protections.

The group warned that “exposing children to sexualized content is indefensible” and that “conduct that would be unlawful—or even criminal—if done by humans is not excusable simply because it is done by a machine.”

Decrypt has contacted all seven companies named in the FTC order for additional comment and will update this story if they respond.

Generally Intelligent Newsletter

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



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Roblox continues efforts for child safety by expanding age estimation to all users by end of the year
Game Reviews

Roblox continues efforts for child safety by expanding age estimation to all users by end of the year

by admin



Roblox has announced it will expand its age estimation requirement to all users of the platform who access its communication features by the end of the year.


Back in July, the platform introduced new safety features, including an AI used to estimate a user’s age through video selfie. Now, in a new statement, the company plans to roll out age verification for all users, through facial age estimation, ID age verification, and verified parental consent.


Roblox also plans to limit communication between adults and minors, unless they know each other in the real world.


“These added layers of protection will help provide users with access to developmentally appropriate features and content,” reads the statement from chief safety officer Matt Kaufman. “We hope this move sets a standard that other gaming, social media, and communication platforms follow.”


In addition to age estimation, Roblox has made a number of other advancements in its safety features:

  • Introducing Trusted Connections, as per its previous update, to safeguard communication
  • Using its open-source AI system Roblox Sentinel to detect early signs of child endangerment
  • Improving voice and text filters
  • Rolling out new technology to detect specific servers where large numbers of users are breaking rules
  • Refining its avatar detection model to scan for player characters breaking rules


Since January 2025, Roblox has shipped over a hundred safety initiatives in an effort to prove its commitment to child safety.


This is in response to numerous reports of questionable safety, for which Roblox has long been criticised.

This is a news-in-brief story. This is part of our vision to bring you all the big news as part of a daily live report.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Mark Zuckerberg announces Facebook renamed to Meta
Gaming Gear

Meta implements new rules for its AI after disturbing child safety report: ‘We’re adding more guardrails as an extra precaution’

by admin



Meta has announced it’s updating its rules and training processes for its AI chatbots after a controversial Reuters report published earlier this month shed light on serious child safety issues. The report revealed disturbingly loose policies outlining how Meta’s chatbots can interact with and describe minors, particularly concerning romantic or sexual conversations.

Meta spokesperson Stephanie Otway responded to the situation in a statement to TechCrunch on Friday, saying, “As we continue to refine our systems, we’re adding more guardrails as an extra precaution—including training our AIs not to engage with teens on these topics, but to guide them to expert resources, and limiting teen access to a select group of AI characters for now. These updates are already in progress, and we will continue to adapt our approach to help ensure teens have safe, age-appropriate experiences with AI.”

The Reuters reported has also prompted a Senate investigation and a scathing letter from the National Association of Attorneys General, stating, “Exposing children to sexualized content is indefensible. And conduct that would be unlawful—or even criminal—if done by humans is not excusable simply because it is done by a machine.”


Related articles

The situation worsened this weekend when Reuters published a second report revealing that Meta had also allowed AI chatbots impersonating celebrities to proliferate on its platforms.

These “parody” chatbots were caught sharing explicit messages and generating adult images of Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Scarlett Johansson, and Anne Hathaway. One of the chatbots was also impersonating 16-year-old actor Walker Scobell. Most of the bots were user-created, but at least a few were made by a Meta employee, including chatbots impersonating Taylor Swift and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton. According to Reuters, that employee’s chatbots have since been removed.

Unfortunately, these reports are just the latest in a growing list of controversies surrounding generative AI platforms. Not only do they pose risks to the safety of minors using Meta’s chatbots, they could also threaten the safety of the celebrities being impersonated.

“If a chatbot is using the image of a person and the words of the person, it’s readily apparent how that could go wrong,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA national executive director, said in a statement to Reuters. SAG-AFTRA is the trade union representing actors and other media professionals in film, TV, and gaming, including the celebrities who were impersonated by Meta’s chatbots. The union has been fighting for stronger protections against AI for years now, and this situation just goes to show why. Clearly, more guardrails and regulations are still needed.

Best graphics card 2025

All our current recommendations



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Close