Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

CNN  —  Actor Harris Yulin, an Emmy-nominated actor who appeared in projects including “Frasier” and “Ghostbusters II,” has died. He was 87. The news was confirmed by Yulin’s manager Sue Leibman, who said in an email to CNN that he passed away June 10 in New York City from a cardiac arrest. Yulin was a decorated theater actor, playing Hamlet three times off-Broadway and appearing in plays on Broadway including “Hedda Gabler,” “The Price” and “The Visit.” He also taught at NYC’s prestigious Juilliard School for eight years. Leibman’s email said Yulin was working on new projects with actor and…

Meta is reportedly investing nearly $15 billion in the data-labeling firm Scale AI and taking a 49% stake in the startup, while also bringing on CEO Alexandr Wang to help lead a new “superintelligence” lab within the company. The deal is reminiscent of Meta’s previous large and risky bets, such as its $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp and its $1 billion Instagram purchase. At the time those mergers closed, many people suggested Meta had grossly overpaid for the platforms — and today’s discourse is no different. There’s no shortage of investors and founders who were left scratching their heads this…

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Seven Arkansas families filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging an upcoming state requirement that public school classrooms have posted copies of the Ten Commandments, saying the new law will violate their constitutional rights.The federal lawsuit challenges a measure Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed into law earlier this year, similar to a requirement enacted by Louisiana and one that Texas’ governor has said he’ll sign.The Arkansas law takes effect in August and requires the Ten Commandments to be prominently displayed in public school classrooms and libraries.“Permanently posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library —…

A U.S. government website designed to inform the public about vaccines has been defaced and now hosts apparently AI-generated spam. The domain, which belongs to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), appears to have been hosting the same kind of content — mostly gay-themed and LGBTQ+ posts — since at least May 12, according to an archived version of the site. It’s unclear who is responsible for it, or what is the purpose of this defacement other than pushing AI-generated slop spam. Websites hosted on official U.S. government domains have been hijacked in the past to host…

A Texas man was arrested and accused of spiking a romantic partner’s drink with abortion-inducing medication and ending her pregnancy without consent, officials said Wednesday.Justin Anthony Banta, 38, was booked Friday on suspicion of tampering with evidence and capital murder before he posted a $500,000 bond and was released, Parker County authorities said.A woman claimed she had been seeing Banta and told him in September that was pregnant with his child, the sheriff’s department said in a statement.The woman met Banta at a coffee shop in nearby Tarrant County, where, she believes, the suspect “secretly added abortion-inducing pills to her…

Apple will begin using AI technology to power the discovery of apps on the App Store, the company announced at this week’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 25). In a session focused on updates to App Store Connect, its app distribution platform for developers, the company announced it will introduce App Store Tags — labels that highlight specific features and functionalities found in an app. These tags will initially be generated by Apple’s large language models using various sources, like the app’s metadata. They’ll then be human-reviewed before being applied to apps on the App Store. Apple customers will be able…

Wikipedia has reportedly paused an experiment that used AI to summarize articles on its platform after editors pushed back. Wikipedia announced earlier this month it was going to run the experiment for users who have the Wikipedia browser extension installed and chose to opt in, according to 404 Media. AI-generated summaries appeared at the top of every Wikipedia article with a yellow “unverified” label. Users had to click to expand and read them. Editors almost immediately criticized the pilot, raising concerns that it could damage Wikipedia’s credibility. Often, the problem with AI-generated summaries is that they contain mistakes, the result…

DETROIT (AP) — A judge on Wednesday denied requests for new trials by the parents of a Michigan school shooter, despite finding that prosecutors had committed a violation by failing to disclose agreements with two important witnesses.Setting aside the involuntary manslaughter convictions of James and Jennifer Crumbley and starting over would be too severe, Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews said.“The court would effectively be ignoring the impact of dozens of hours of testimony, postulating a basis for the jury verdict, dismissing a plethora of other evidence suggesting guilt, and impermissibly speculating about what ‘might have happened,’ ” Matthews said.The Crumbleys…

Disney and Universal have sued generative AI platform Midjourney for allegedly training its art-generating and -editing models on their content without permission. Disney and Universal filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming that Midjourney ignored their earlier requests to cease violating their intellectual property rights, according to The Wall Street Journal. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, includes dozens of examples of images generated by Midjourney that depict the studio’s copyrighted characters, like Homer Simpson and Darth Vader. The studios are seeking monetary damages, a jury trial, and an order barring Midjourney from further…

Amazon is integrating Whole Foods more deeply into its core business, in a major reorganization that it hopes will reinvigorate its grocery business under new leadership.In an internal memo last week, Whole Foods CEO and Amazon VP of Worldwide Grocery Jason Buechel explained how the restructuring will bring the two companies closer together.The plan includes a new leadership team and a change that will bring Whole Foods corporate staff under Amazon’s employee programs, including performance reviews and pay structure. The changes will happen over the next 12 months, but won’t affect Whole Foods frontline warehouse and in-store workers, according to…