(This article is part of Today’s Cache, The Hindu’s newsletter on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, innovation and policy. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here.)
Meta’s new AI model
Meta released an improved artificial intelligence model that can pick out individual objects from within an image. Claiming it to be the largest of its kind, Meta’s new AI model can also identify a dataset of image annotations. The Segment Anything Model, or SAM, in a demonstration, was able to draw boxes around several cats within an image, when prompted to identify them with the word “cat”.
While the company currently uses technology like SAM internally for activities like tagging photos, moderating prohibited content, and identifying posts to recommend on Facebook and Instagram, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that incorporating such generative AI “creative aids” into Meta’s apps is a priority this year.
Google adds data deletion in apps
In a move to grant users more control over data collected by apps, Google said it will be adding data deletion requirements on apps in its Play Store.
The change in Google’s policy for app developers will come into effect starting in 2024 and will require developers to display links in the “Data deletion” area within the store that can be used by users to request their account and/or their data be deleted. Apps that do not adhere to the new policy may face removal from Google Play, the company said in a blog post.
Portuguese NGO sues TikTok
A Portugal-based European Consumer protection group is now suing TikTok for allegedly allowing children aged below 13 to sign up for an account without parental consent and failing to implement measures to protect them.
The move comes amid growing concerns that China could use ByteDance Ltd., the Beijing-based parent company for TikTok, to harvest user’s data. Just a day ago, Britain’s data watchdog said it had fined the company 12.7 million pounds for breaching data protection law by using the personal data of children without parental consent. TikTok has also been banned by Australia, the United States, France, and other Western countries from use on government devices.
