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Less than two weeks before Donald Trumps inauguration, Meta announced sweeping changes to its content moderation procedures, reportedly at the behest of Mark Zuckerberg and a small group of advisors. Among those caught off guard was the companys own Oversight Board, the independent organization created by Meta to help shape its most sensitive policy decisions. The group is now looking to examine those changes, and in doing so, will test the enforceability of its own powers. The changes Meta has enacted drastically reshape how the company polices content across Facebook, Instagram and Threads. It ended its fact-checking program in the US, and rolled back hate speech rules that protected immigrants and LGBTQ users on its apps. Unlike its previously proactive approach, it also reoriented its content moderation procedures so that many types of rule-breaking posts will only be removed if other users reported them. The changes have raised questions about the role of the Oversight Board, which was created, Zuckerberg once said, because Facebook should not make so many important decisions about free expression and safety on our own. If thats what Meta is now doing, critics have asked, what exactly is the point of an ostensibly independent Oversight Board? But the Oversight Board is already working to address Metas rewritten hateful conduct policy, according to board member Paolo Carozza, who spoke to Engadget. When Zuckerberg announced the changes in early January, the board already had four open cases involving Metas hate speech rules. The board now plans to use those cases to examine the new policies, which were rewritten to allow people to use dehumanizing language to describe immigrants and accuse LGBTQ people of being mentally ill. We deliberately delayed the decision of those cases after January 7, precisely so that we could go back to Meta again and ask a new round of questions, Carozza, a law professor at Notre Dame who joined the Oversight Board in 2022, told Engadget. We're trying as much as possible to use the tools that we have to find out more information, bring more transparency and more certainty to how it's going to play out in practice. The board, according to Carozza, has already had briefings with Meta as it pushes for more details about the new hate speech policies. But it could still be some time before its findings are made public. The open cases deal with several aspects of Metas hate speech rules, including immigration, gender identity, hateful symbols and incitement of violence. In addition to the questions surrounding each case, Carozza said that the board is also grappling with how to prioritize the case decisions given the renewed importance of the underlying policies. There are competing concerns about being quick and efficient versus being more thoughtful and deliberative, he said. But while the board may hope to provide more transparency about Metas decision-making, its unclear how much influence the board will ultimately end up having. Under its rules, Meta is only required to comply with the groups decisions surrounding individual posts. The boards policy recommendations are non-binding and Meta has a mixed track record at implementing its suggestions. Its also unclear how the board might be able to weigh in on Metas other changes, like the shuttering of fact-checking programs or shift away from proactive content moderation. We were quite critical of the fact checking program in general, but our ordinary cases make it a little bit hard to get at that problem because it doesn't come up through an appeals process within the scope of the kinds of cases that we get, Carozza says. The board, he notes, could write a policy advisory opinion as it has with rules around COVID-19 misinformation and Metas cross-check rules for celebrities. But the board is only empowered to make those kinds of non-binding recommendations at Meta's request. That gets at one of the fundamental tensions of the Oversight Board: it may operate independently, but Meta ultimately dictates how much influence it can wield. It would be unrealistic to expect that the standard for value and success of the board is that Meta, 100% of the time, does everything we ever tell them to do, Carozza says, Were one piece of a complicated jigsaw puzzle of accountability and oversight. Still, the fact that the group wasnt consulted on such major policy moves has raised some uncomfortable questions for the board. Dozens of civil society groups recently signed an open letter urging board members to resign in protest. In a letter to Zuckerberg, some members of Congress said the board is rendered toothless when Meta refuses to follow its own principles. Carozzo acknowledges the Oversight Boards limitations, but says that the billions of people on Metas apps are ultimately better off with the board intervening where it can. If everybody were to resign en masse the only people who would lose are Metas end users, especially those who are in especially vulnerable situations [and] communities around the world.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/the-oversight-board-will-weigh-in-on-metas-new-hate-speech-policies-174044682.html?src=rss
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Amazon just held an event in New York City to reveal the long-awaited revamp of its Alexa chatbot. This refreshed assistant can perform many new tasks, thanks to some AI wizardry, and there are a few different ways for consumers to access the digital companion. Theres voice activation with Echo devices, of course, but the company has also built a dedicated web portal for Alexa+. This portal will allow Amazon customers to interact with Alexa+ without having to boot up the app or interact with a smart speaker or smart display. This could be handy for making adjustments while at work or for those who feel comfortable drafting lengthy queries with a traditional keyboard. Consumers will also be able to continue using the app, but Amazon promises a redesign in the near future to accommodate the new features offered by Alexa+. Amazon For the uninitiated, Alexa+ is a juiced up version of the long-standing chatbot. It leverages conversational AI and integration with Amazon services to assist users in a number of new ways. It has contextual awareness, so it can remember earlier parts of a conversation, and can complete relatively complex tasks. The company showed off demos of the assistant finding recipes, booking dinner reservations, searching for the correct part of a movie and a whole lot more. It looks pretty cool, but its also fairly expensive. Alexa+ begins rolling out over the next few weeks to select Echo Show devices and costs $20 per month. However, its free for Prime subscribers. Prime currently costs $15 per month in the US. Hopefully that price wont be rising with the inclusion of Alexa+.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/amazons-ai-heavy-alexa-will-be-accessible-on-the-web-164724844.html?src=rss
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Amazon held its first major product event of the year on Wednesday and, as expected, it was largely about Alexa. The company first announced its next-gen, AI-powered voice assistant back in 2023, but technical issues forced Amazon to delay its formal unveiling and rollout. An Alexa upgrade means that Amazon has a swathe of new devices ready to support the latest version of the voice assistant. Amazon's hardware chief, Panos Panay, and his devices and services team were at the event to show off Alexa+. Here's a rundown of everything Amazon announced at its first devices event of 2025: Alexa+ Sam Rutherford for Engadget After lots (and lots) of boring rambling about generative AI from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy at Wednesday's event, Panay took the mic to start sharing the actual news. Alexa+ is the name of the company's upgraded voice assistant. The company will start to roll it out next month, beginning with Echo Show devices. It costs $20 per month, but Prime members get access at no extra cost. Prime currently costs $15 per month, so we have to wonder if a price increase is coming there. Alexa+ is designed to be more conversational and useful across compatible devices. It can remember your preferences, such as the types of food you like and dislike when asking for a recipe. Panay claimed that, among other things, smart home management "has transformed with Alexa+." You can use the voice assistant to, for instance, move music from an Echo device to another speaker or a TV, or jump to a certain scene in a movie that's on Prime Video. Alexa+ can detect your tone and mood. In a live demo, it appeared to try to help Panay remain calm during his presentation. Amazon claims the upgraded voice assistant can answer questions about footage captured with Ring cameras, photos taken with an Echo Show, emails, files such as PDFs, hand-written notes, your calendar, upcoming sports games and much more. Alexa+ can use a service called Suno (which record labels have sued for scraping their music to train its AI modes) to generate custom songs on the fly. Much like OpenAI has for ChatGPT, Amazon has partnered with a number of news organizations with the aim of answering questions about a variety of topics with current information. Other partners include Uber for ordering rides, OpenTable for booking a restaurant reservation, Spotify, Sonos, Samsung, Xbox, Tidal, Dyson, NASA and "tens of thousands" more. There's Amazon Fresh integration for grocery ordering, and you can see what's in your cart on your screen. Elsewhere, Alexa+ has some features that are apparently kid-friendly. The voice assistant can use genAI to tell kids customized stories based on what they want to hear about. It can also answer questions they have (hopefully without any of those incorrect or false results that delayed Alexa+). Panay led into the announcement and demos by noting that Alexa, as it stands, can be frustrating to use but generative AI can help to mitigate those annoyances. He added that an AI chatbot wouldn't be sufficient for Amazon's vision for Alexa and that people need something easy to use that allows them to "actually take action." With Alexa+, Panay claimed that the "intimidation factor" of genAI is no more. Sure! Alexa.com and new phone apps Amazon There are other ways to access Alexa+ other than on an Echo device. Amazon revealed that you'll be able to use the upgraded voice assistant via alexa.com, which looks very basic at the time of writing. Seriously, the screenshot above is all that's on the website, which looks like it was knocked together in five minutes. That'll surely change soon, as a demo at the event indicated that you'll be able to type in queries. Amazon is also revamping the Alexa iOS and Android apps to include access to the upgraded assistant. New devices There was diddly squat on this front. It was widely expected that Amazon would introduce new hardware to go along with Alexa+, such as fresh Echo Buds, Echo speakers, smart displays and so on. But nope! The event was all about the upgraded voice assistant which, at least to start with, requires a screen like an Echo Show, smartphone or computer to use. However, the company says Alexa+ will run on nearly every Alexa-compatible device it has released.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/everything-announced-at-amazons-alexa-ai-event-164613305.html?src=rss
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