TSA may expand its facial recognition ID system, Adobe expands creations made with generative AI, and vendors selling stolen data products on darknet markets had more than $140 million in revenue.
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That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now, welcome to Hashtag Trending. It’s Tuesday December 6 and I’m your host, Ashee Pamma.
The TSA may expand the pilot program of its facial recognition identification system to include airports nationwide next year. As of now, the system is currently being used in 16 domestic airports across the United States. According to reports from Insider and The Washington Post, the TSA’s use of the controversial technology, which relies on “live photos” cross-referenced to your driver’s license photo, was originally rolled out at DC’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport due to Covid-19. Since its introduction, it has now expanded to the Los Angeles International Airport, Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and Orlando International Airport. The tech is currently opt-in, with passengers stepping up to a kiosk, inserting their ID, and having their faces scanned. Passengers are able to alternatively choose a standard TSA screening process instead.
Source: Business Insider
Adobe is opening its stock images service to creations made with the generative AI programs like Dall-E and Stable Diffusion. At its Max conference in October of this year, Adobe said it sees AI as a complement to, not a replacement for, human artists. However many artists see emerging AI creation tools as a threat to jobs or a legal minefield. But latest news from Adove reveals it will now accept images submitted from artists who have made use of generative AI on the same terms as other works. According to Axios, the company does require artists to indicate any generative AI programs they’ve used. Earlier this year, Getty Images, said it won’t accept contributions that use generative AI, citing legal risks.
Source: Axios
An Ars Technica report has found that several thousand vendors selling tens of thousands of stolen data products on 30 darknet markets had more than $140 million in revenue over an eight-month period. Darknet markets are known for selling illicit products. The company found further information about the stolen data being sold. In total, there were just over 2000 vendors who advertised at least one of the 96,672 product listings across the 30 marketplaces. Marketplaces recorded 632,207 sales across these markets, which generated about $140 million in total revenue.
Source: Ars Technica
A study published in Science Advances found that laser light therapy has been shown to be an effective method in improving short term memory. Scientists at the University of Birmingham in the U.K. and Beijing Normal University in China, demonstrated that the non-invasive therapy could improve short term, or working memory in people by up to 25 per cent.The treatment is applied to an area of the brain known as the right prefrontal cortex, which is an important area for memories. In their experiment, the team showed how working memory improved among research participants after several minutes of treatment.
Source: Medicalxpress
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash briefings or your Google Home daily briefing. Make sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire newsletter to get all the news that matters directly in your inbox every day. Also, catch the next episode of Hashtag Tendances, our weekly Hashtag Trending episode in French, which drops every Thursday morning. If you have a suggestion or a tip, drop us a line in the comments or via email. Thank you for listening, I’m Ashee Pamma.