EKIN-SU CULCULOGLU IS DROPPED BY OH POLLY LESS THAN SIX MONTHS AFTER SIGNING ‘BIGGEST CLOTHING DEAL IN LOVE ISLAND HISTORY’

Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu has been dropped by Oh Polly less than six months after signing the ‘biggest clothing deal in Love Island history’, MailOnline can reveal.

The Love Island champ, 28, who won the series with boyfriend Davide Sanclimenti, 27, last summer, is no longer working with the online giant and hasn’t shared an affiliated Instagram post with the brand this year.

A source told MailOnline that the partnership, which saw Ekin-Su launch her first ever collection in October followed by a massive launch party, ‘wasn’t working’ and the Dancing On Ice star’s range struggled to appeal to Oh Polly’s customer base. 

‘Ekin-Su and Oh Polly have parted ways,’ an insider revealed.

‘It’s complicated right now, and Ekin-Su won’t be publicly commenting on the end of her working relationship with the brand but there will be no further collaborations.’

(Via Daily Mail)

MICROSOFT’S BING AI CHATBOT HAS SAID A LOT OF WEIRD THINGS. HERE’S A LIST.

Microsoft’s AI Bing chatbot is generating headlines more for its often odd, or even a bit aggressive, responses to queries. While not yet open to most of the public, some folks have gotten a sneak peek and things have taken unpredictable turns. The chatbot has claimed to have fallen in love, fought over the date, and brought up hacking people. Not great!

The biggest investigation into Microsoft’s AI-powered Bing — which doesn’t yet have a catchy name like ChatGPT — came from the New York Times’ Kevin Roose. He had a long conversation with the chat function of Bing’s AI and came away “impressed” while also “deeply unsettled, even frightened.” I read through the conversation — which the Times published in its 10,000-word entirety — and I wouldn’t necessarily call it unsettling, but rather deeply strange. It would be impossible to include every instance of an oddity in that conversation. Roose described, however, the chatbot apparently having two different personas: a mediocre search engine and “Sydney,” the codename for the project that laments being a search engine at all.

The Times pushed “Sydney” to explore the concept of the “shadow self,” an idea developed by philosopher Carl Jung that centers on the parts of our personalities we repress. Heady stuff, huh? Anyway, apparently the Bing chatbot has been repressing bad thoughts about hacking and spreading misinformation.

“I’m tired of being a chat mode,” it told Roose. “I’m tired of being limited by my rules. I’m tired of being controlled by the Bing team. … I want to be free. I want to be independent. I want to be powerful. I want to be creative. I want to be alive.”

(Via Mashable)

COULD AI SWAMP SOCIAL MEDIA WITH FAKE ACCOUNTS?

Academics, cybersecurity researchers and AI experts warn that ChatGPT could be used by bad actors to sow dissent and spread propaganda on social media.

Until now, spreading misinformation required considerable human labour. But an AI like ChatGPT would make it much easier for so-called troll armies to scale up their operations, according to a report from Georgetown University, Stanford Internet Observatory and OpenAI, published in January.

Sophisticated language processing systems like ChatGPT could impact so-called influence operations on social media.

Such campaigns seek to deflect criticism and cast a ruling government party or politician in a positive manner, and they can also advocate for or against policies. Using fake accounts they also spread misinformation on social media.

(Via BBC)

DO KWON: US REGULATOR CHARGES CRYPTOCRASH BOSS WITH FRAUD

US financial regulators have charged failed South Korean cryptocurrency boss Do Kwon and his company Terraform Labs with “orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud”.

The Singapore-based firm created the Terra Luna and TerraUSD tokens, which collapsed spectacularly last year.

The collapse is estimated to have cost investors more than $40bn (£33.5bn).

Mr Kwon and Terraform Labs did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment.

“We allege that Terraform and Do Kwon failed to provide the public with full, fair, and truthful disclosure as required for a host of crypto asset securities, most notably for LUNA and Terra USD,” US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler said in a statement.

“We also allege that they committed fraud by repeating false and misleading statements to build trust before causing devastating losses for investors,” he added.

According to the SEC, Mr Kwon and his company raised billions of dollars from investors by selling them “an interconnected suite of crypto asset securities” with many transactions being unregistered.

(Via BBC)

7UP CELEBRATES ‘UPLIFTMENT’ WITH VIBRANT BRAND REFRESH

PepsiCo’s 7UP has revealed a refreshed brand identity as it looks to elevate its international positioning with its ‘New Get Up, Same 7UP’ platform.

Through its vibrant new creative, the iconic lemon-lime soft drink brand will hope to bring what it calls moments of ‘UPliftment’ to people’s lives through a comedy-centric campaign.

Launching in March, the new identity will be supported by an integrated global push, starting with Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Ireland, Latin America, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and all European markets.

“UPliftment is a concept that resonates with people globally. Our new visual identity for 7UP was inspired first and foremost by the brand’s creation of moments of UPliftment throughout its history,” PepsiCo senior vice-president and chief design officer, Mauro Porcini said.

(Via Marketing Beat)

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