Hello, and welcome to Decoder! This is Jake Kastrenakes, executive editor at The Verge. I’m filling in for Nilay for one Thursday episode while he’s settling back into full-time podcast hosting duties. We’ve got a very good episode for you today. My guest is Verge transportation editor Andy Hawkins, and we’re talking about the federal […]
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In its quest to become the ultimate app for “flexible work,” Uber launched today a new pilot to allow its US drivers and couriers to earn extra money by performing “microtasks” to train AI models. These tasks include audio voice recording, capturing and uploading images, and submitting documents in certain languages. The prompts will vary, […]
Guillermo del Toro has been thinking about Mary Shelley’s novel for a lifetime. He has described Frankenstein as “the quintessential teenage book,” and his famous Bleak House in Los Angeles is filled with versions of the creature from various film and stage adaptations. Naturally, the director has also imagined turning it into a movie himself. […]
Spotify has announced new partnerships with major record labels — including Sony, Universal, Warner, and Merlin — to build “responsible AI” tools that protect artists’ rights and ensure fair compensation. The initiative will let artists opt in or out of AI use.
The recently-rumored AI partnership between Spotify and the major record labels is now a reality. The streaming service announced today that it’s entering into an agreement with Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Merlin, and Believe to develop “responsible AI products.” Unfortunately, your guess is as good as ours as to what […]
The internet has long been a source of information and support for transgender people. Now, trans rights and the internet itself are in a moment of crisis. What happens next? How trans visibility became a trap People who have documented their lives online are discovering the dark side of digital permanence. The return of the […]
While oceans of ink paint trans women as a monstrous threat or pitiable curiosity, trans women themselves have often remained locked out of the publishing world as both writers and presumptive readers — spoken of but not to. Traditional publishing can flatten the diversity of queer experience as a whole, homogenizing it for the benefit […]
DoorDash customers in Phoenix may soon have their delivery order brought to them by an autonomous Waymo vehicle. The two companies announced a partnership today that will bring Waymo’s driverless Jaguar SUVs into the DoorDash delivery fleet. It’s another example of delivery companies like DoorDash trying to slash costs associated with its human workforce by […]
As Microsoft bids farewell to Windows 10 and gets ready to mark the 40-year milestone of its operating system, it’s looking forward to what’s next for Windows. Microsoft might not be ready to announce Windows 12 just yet, but it clearly wants to turn every Windows 11 PC into an AI PC that Copilot controls […]