Global Tech Advocates (GTA) Black Women in Tech has partnered with UN Women to release the world’s first interactive historical map illustrating Black women’s untold stories and impact worldwide. GTA Black Women GTA Black Women in Tech is a not-for-profit global organization based in London, UK. They are dedicated to building bridges of opportunities in tech by enabling Black women to excel and companies to have access to Black women of talent. They recently released The Voices in the Shadow, Volume 3 – a book showcasing the journeys of more
YouTube has launched its Inclusive Media Initative, allowing creators to self-identify in ways that capture their multiple identities and allow advertisers to target their advertising better. The initiative is in partnership with Pixability, the leader in brand suitability and contextual targeting solutions for advertisers on YouTube. The Inclusive Media Initative For the first time, YouTubers can self-select how they identify regarding their race, sexuality, and other factors. Previously, creators on the platform had to rely on party ad vendors to choose the identity labels presented to advertisers, which often limits
Elon Musk’s X – formerly Twitter – has been accused of illegally firing an employee after she challenged its return-to-office policy. The complaint, the first filed by the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against X, accuses the company of violating US labor law. Fired Over A Tweet? In November 2022, Elon Musk reportedly ordered workers back to the office, saying, “If you can physically make it to an office and you don’t show up, resignation accepted.” In response, Yao Yue, then a principal software engineer at X, tweeted, “Don’t
Spotify has launched a pilot of Voice Translation for podcasts, using OpenAI technology to translate podcasts into other languages in the original podcaster’s voice. While making English-language podcasts more accessible to global audiences, there are concerns about the growing use of AI translation and voice generation technologies. Voice Translation Spotify announced they are piloting a new feature that translates English-spoken episodes into other languages, such as Spanish, French, and German. The feature is powered by OpenAI’s voice generation technology to clone the original podcaster’s voice. Spotify stated it would match
Following complaints, YouTube has restricted a popular channel that posted videos calling for the ‘elimination’ of Black men by terminating pregnancies. YouTube stopped monetizing YouTube influencer Cynthia G’s channel and removed one video calling for Black male abortions for violating the platform’s hate speech policy. However, other videos with similar content remain, renewing scrutiny over the platform’s content moderation policies. Who Is Cynthia G? YouTube influencer Cynthia G joined the platform in July 2016, describing her channel as a place to start the conversation on reforming Black women. “This is
Corner is a new social media app that turns your memories into recommendations you can share with friends with a personalized social map. The brainchild of Eliza Wu and Jake Xia, Corner aims to move away from the negativity and complaints of traditional review platforms and focus on sharing memorable experiences. Meet the co-founders Wu has an impressive background with a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Southern California and worked as an Investment Intern during her time there. She became an investment associate at JPMorgan for two years before
Kenyan President William Ruto announced that offensive or inappropriate content will be removed from TikTok after a virtual meeting with TikTok’s CEO. TikTok and the Kenyan Government According to the Reuters Institue Digital News Report 2023, Kenya has the highest TikTok usage rate worldwide, with 54% of users in the country using the app for general purposes and 29% for news. During the virtual call with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, it was agreed that TikTok will collaborate with the Kenyan government to review and monitor its content. The collab
Cardi B has reportedly threatened to sue an X – formerly known as Twitter – user who shared fake AI-generated imagery and voice notes of Offset having an affair. What Happened? On Sunday, an X user, @ayywalker, shared what was allegedly evidence that Offset had cheated on Cardi B. The post featured a supposed photo of Offset and a voice memo of a man trying to set up a meeting with a woman. The user captioned the post, saying, “Offset has allegedly cheated on Cardi B once again. How embarrassing.” Cardi
Google’s Product Inclusion and Equity Team, led by Dominique Mungin, is working to ensure that the next generation of AI-driven image generation and recognition technologies does not perpetuate societal biases. Mungin, who has been at Google for 13 years, has worked on projects like the Monk Skin Tone Scale and Google’s Real Tone Tech. Now, her team has collaborated with Tonl, a stock photography company, to supply more diverse imagery for training machine learning models. In an interview with Tech Brew, Mungin admitted that skin tone challenges persist. An entire
Preston Mutanga is the 14-year-old animator that created the Lego Spider-Man segment from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. 14-year-old animator Minnesota native Mutanga created his first video at the age of nine after he was introduced to Blender, a computer graphics 3D software, by his father. Minnesota native Mutanga would make stop-motion Lego videos on his YouTube page for fun. However, they were that good they caught the attention of Sony Pictures Animation’s team. The 14-year-old in Milton was asked to animate a scene in the 2018’s Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse sequel,