Creative Tech Bytes

AI-Generated Drake Song Submitted for Grammys

A highly contentious AI-generated song featuring the cloned vocals of Aubrey “Drake” Graham and Abel Makkonen “the Weeknd” Tesfaye has officially been submitted to the Grammy Awards for consideration. The song, “Heart on my Sleeve,” was submitted for “Best Rap Song” and “Song of the Year,” both of which technically are awarded to the writers, not performers. Produced by an anonymous artist called ‘Ghostwriter’, the song made major headlines earlier this year, when it went viral on TikTok — and then immediately drew the ire of Graham and Tesfaye’s label, Universal Music Group. The label forced the song to be taken offline across a number of streaming platforms, but not before it racked up 600,000 streams on Spotify and 15 million views on TikTok.

Cruise Nears Approval to Mass-Produce Robotaxis With No Steering Wheel, Pedals

Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt said Thursday at an investor conference that the company is close to from getting the green light to begin mass production of its purpose-built autonomous vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals. NHTSA told TechCrunch that no decision to grant or deny GM’s petition has been reached, nor has a deadline been set for such a decision. That said, federal safety regulators are expected to announce a new rule-making in September. If passed, it also will benefit Amazon’s Zoox, which has built and is testing a similar type of vehicle to Cruise’s Origin. Cruise, via GM, has been waiting for an exemption from the federal government’s motor vehicle safety standards, which require vehicles to have a steering wheel and pedals. NHTSA only grants 2,500 such exemptions each year, but there is legislation to increase that number to 25,000.

It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy

“Car makers have been bragging about their cars being “computers on wheels” for years to promote their advanced features. However, the conversation about what driving a computer means for its occupants’ privacy hasn’t really caught up. While we worried that our doorbells and watches that connect to the internet might be spying on us, car brands quietly entered the data business by turning their vehicles into powerful data-gobbling machines with an unmatched power to watch, listen, and collect information about what you do and where you go in your car.

All 25 car brands we researched earned our *Privacy Not Included warning label — making cars the official worst category of products for privacy that we have ever reviewed.”