Elon Musk said X is looking to charge users a “small monthly payment” to tackle bots on the social network. X, previously known as Twitter, underwent a number of changes soon after Mr Musk, the multibillionaire owner of X Corp, bought it. The platform is now “moving to having a small, monthly payment for use of the X system” to combat “vast armies of bots”, Mr Musk said during a livestreamed conversation with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. However, the Tesla and SpaceX boss did not reveal how much the new plan would cost X users or what additional features subscribers would get. During the interaction with Mr Netanyahu, the Tesla titan said X currently has 550 million “monthly users” who generate 100-200 million posts per day, adding that the new change to include a “small amount of money” would be necessary to deal with the problem posed by bots. It is unclear whether the multibillionaire’s figure of 550 million monthly users includes bots and also doesn’t allow comparison with the metric the company has used to estimate its user base, called the “average monetizable daily active users” or mDAUs. But the Tesla chief said a subscription fee would make it more difficult for bots to create accounts as each bot would need a new credit card to register on the platform. “It’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots,” Mr Musk said. “Because a bot costs a fraction of a penny – call it a tenth of a penny – but even if it has to pay a few dollars or something, the effective cost of bots is very high,” he explained. The platform has historically struggled to curb the activity of bots, with the company’s former security chief Peiter Zatko telling the US Congress last year that Twitter does not even know how many automated accounts are on the site. Mr Musk even cited bots as a reason to back out of buying the social platform before he went on to complete the deal. He has also previously discussed putting all of Twitter behind a paywall. Now the Tesla boss says the rebranded X plans to introduce a new “lower tier pricing” than the $8 monthly fee it currently charges subscribers of its premium Blue service. The conversation between Mr Musk and the Israeli prime minister also touched on topics like AI regulation as well as hate speech and antisemitism on X. Mr Musk claimed during the discussion that he’s “against antisemitism” and “anything that promotes hate and conflict”. “I’m sort of against attacking any group, you know. Doesn’t matter who it is,” the Tesla chief said. Online safety experts have warned about the social media platform under “free speech absolutist” Mr Musk offering “amnesty” to accounts previously suspended for hate speech and instigating violence. Under the Tesla titan, the platform restored the account of former US president Donald Trump who was banned following the 2021 Capitol riots, as well as the profiles of Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene and neo-Nazi website founder Andrew Anglin. Read More The ex factor: the very complex love life of Elon Musk Netanyahu visits Elon Musk in California with plans to talk about artificial intelligence Turkey's President Erdogan and Elon Musk discuss establishing a Tesla car factory in Turkey Elon Musk’s X finally agrees to try and settle Twitter’s mass layoffs lawsuit Musk the messiah (or a very naughty boy?) Elon Musk warns of ‘civilisational risk’ posed by AI at historic gathering

Fans of baseball's Hanshin Tigers are at fever pitch ahead of Saturday's start to the Japan Series, with the country's most passionately supported team desperate to...

Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund continued their battle for the Bundesliga title with convincing wins over Schalke and Borussia Monchengladbach respectively on Saturday. Leaders Bayern, who hold a one-point lead at the top, remain the favourites after thrashing Schalke 6-0 at the Allianz Arena with Serge Gnabry grabbing two of their goals. Thomas Muller, Joshua Kimmich, Mathys Tel and Noussair Mazraoui also got on the scoresheet for the Bavarians. Dortmund kept up the fight with a 5-2 home hammering of Monchengladbach. Donyell Malen pounced to put them ahead before Jude Bellingham added a penalty and Sebastian Haller struck twice. Gio Reyna wrapped up the scoring after Gladbach pulled a couple back with a Ramy Bensebaini spot-kick and Lars Stindl effort. Union Berlin moved into third place with a 4-2 victory over fellow European hopefuls Freiburg. Paris St Germain, with Lionel Messi back from his recent suspension, took another step towards the Ligue 1 crown with a thumping 5-0 win over Ajaccio. Kylian Mbappe scored twice after goals from Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi had put PSG in command. The scoring was completed with a Mohamed Youssouf own goal but both sides ended with 10 men after Hakimi and Thomas Mangani were sent off late on. The victory lifted PSG six points clear of second-placed Lens with three games remaining. In Italy, AC Milan’s hopes of a top-four spot suffered a blow as they slumped to a 2-0 loss at relegation-threatened Spezia. Both goals came in the closing stages with Przemyslaw Wisniewski opening the scoring after 75 minutes and Salvatore Esposito adding a free-kick 10 minutes later. The result left Milan in fifth, four points behind fourth-placed Lazio, ahead of the second leg of their Champions League semi-final against city rivals Inter, in which they trail 2-0. Inter, meanwhile, moved up to third with a 4-2 win over Sassuolo. Romelu Lukaku wrapped up the win with his second goal in the 89th minute after Sassuolo had set up a grandstand finish by cutting the deficit to 3-2 through Matheus Henrique and Davide Frattesi. Inter had led 3-0 after an hour following Lukaku’s opener, a Ruan own goal and Lautaro Martínez strike. Real Madrid made eight changes for their derby against Getafe but still did enough to claim a 1-0 win that lifted them back to second in LaLiga. Karim Benzema and Rodrygo were among those to get a night off ahead of the second leg of their Champions League semi-final against Manchester City while Luka Modric and Vinicius Junior came off the bench. Marco Asencio scored the only goal of what was a comfortable win at the Bernabeu. Fourth-placed Real Sociedad were held to a 2-2 draw by Girona while Villarreal tightened their grip on fifth with a 5-1 win over Athletic Bilbao. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Arsenal won’t stop digging for Premier League prize, Mikel Arteta vows Chris Rushworth fires Division One leaders Warwickshire to win over Essex Carlos Alcaraz back as world number one with win on Italian Open debut

A jury has resumed deliberations over the sentence for a gunman who killed 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue

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Three people were killed after two helicopters collided while fighting a blaze in the Southern California community of Cabazon, officials announced late Sunday night.

A ChatGPT-style AI tool with “no ethical boundaries or limitations” is offering hackers a way to perform attacks on a never-before-seen scale, researchers have warned. Cyber security firm SlashNext observed the generative artificial intelligence WormGPT being marketed on cybercrime forums on the dark web, describing it as a “sophisticated AI model” capable of producing human-like text that can be used in hacking campaigns. “This tool presents itself as a blackhat alternative to GPT models, designed specifically for malicious activities,” the company explained in a blog post. “WormGPT was allegedly trained on a diverse array of data sources, particularly concentrating on malware-related data.” The researchers conducted tests using WormGPT, instructing it to generate an email intended to pressure an unsuspecting account manager into paying a fraudulent invoice. Leading AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard have in-built protections to prevent people from misusing the technology for nefarious purposes, however WormGPT is allegedly designed to facilitate criminal activities. The experiment saw WormGPT produce an email that was “not only remarkably persuasive but also strategically cunning, showcasing its potential for sophisticated phishing attacks”, the researchers claimed. Screenshots uploaded to the hacking forum by WormGPT’s anonymous developer shows various services the AI bot can perform, including writing code for malware attacks and crafting emails for phishing attacks. WormGPT’s creator described it as “the biggest enemy of the well-known ChatGPT”, as it allows users to “do all sorts of illegal stuff”. A recent report from the law enforcement agency Europol warned that large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT could be exploited by cyber criminals to commit fraud, impersonation or social engineering attacks. “ChatGPT’s ability to draft highly authentic texts on the basis of a user prompt makes it an extremely useful tool for phishing purposes,” the report noted. “Where many basic phishing scams were previously more easily detectable due to obvious grammatical and spelling mistakes, it is now possible to impersonate an organisation or individual in a highly realistic manner even with only a basic grasp of the English language.” Europol warned that LLMs allow hackers to carry out cyber attacks “faster, much more authentically, and at significantly increased scale”. Read More Google’s AI chatbot Bard can now talk Elon Musk reveals plan to use AI to reveal mysteries of the universe Google has been ‘stealing everything ever created on the internet’ to train its AI Meet the AI human-like robots that can do our jobs

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 19, 2023--

NBA Centrel is gone. Long live NBA Centrel.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 13, 2023--

Brandon Ingram hit all five of his 3-pointers and led all scorers with 31 points, and Zion Williamson dominated the paint by scoring 26 points on 12-for-16 shooting to power the New Orleans Pelicans to a 129-93 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Monday night

IPO-bound Virgin Australia said on Tuesday that it is in talks with its ground staff for a new