disinformation

Experts warn 'AI-written' paper is latest spin on climate change denial

BY MANON JACOB

  • The paper rejects climate models on human-induced global warming and has been widely cited on social media as being the first "peer-reviewed" research led by artificial intelligence (AI) on the topic.  
  • Climate change deniers are pushing an AI-generated paper questioning human-induced warming, leading experts to warn against the rise of research that is inherently flawed but marketed as neutral and scrupulously logical.
  • The paper rejects climate models on human-induced global warming and has been widely cited on social media as being the first "peer-reviewed" research led by artificial intelligence (AI) on the topic.  
Climate change deniers are pushing an AI-generated paper questioning human-induced warming, leading experts to warn against the rise of research that is inherently flawed but marketed as neutral and scrupulously logical.
The paper rejects climate models on human-induced global warming and has been widely cited on social media as being the first "peer-reviewed" research led by artificial intelligence (AI) on the topic.  
Titled "A Critical Reassessment of the Anthropogenic CO2-Global Warming Hypothesis," it contains references contested by the scientific community, according to experts interviewed by AFP.
Computational and ethics researchers also cautioned against claims of neutrality in papers that use AI as an author.
The new study -- which claims to be entirely written by Elon Musk's Grok 3 AI -- has gained traction online, with a blog post by Covid-19 contrarian Robert Malone promoting it gathering more than a million views.
"After the debacle of man-made climate change and the corruption of evidence-based medicine by big pharma, the use of AI for government-funded research will become normalized, and standards will be developed for its use in peer-reviewed journals," Malone wrote.
There is overwhelming scientific consensus linking fossil fuel combustion to rising global temperatures and increasingly severe weather disasters.

Illusion of objectivity

Academics have warned that the surge of AI in research, despite potential benefits, risks triggering an illusion of objectivity and insight in scientific research.
"Large language models do not have the capacity to reason. They are statistical models predicting future words or phrases based on what they have been trained on. This is not research," argued Mark Neff, an environmental sciences professor.
The paper says Grok 3 "wrote the entire manuscript," with input from co-authors who "played a crucial role in guiding its development."
Among the co-authors was astrophysicist Willie Soon -– a climate contrarian known to have received more than a million dollars in funding from the fossil fuel industry over the years.
Scientifically contested papers by physicist Hermann Harde and Soon himself were used as references for the AI's analysis.
Microbiologist Elisabeth Bik, who tracks scientific malpractice, remarked the paper did not describe how it was written: "It includes datasets that formed the basis of the paper, but no prompts," she noted. "We know nothing about how the authors asked the AI to analyze the data."
Ashwinee Panda, a postdoctoral fellow on AI safety at the University of Maryland, said the claim that Grok 3 wrote the paper created a veneer of objectivity that was unverifiable. 
"Anyone could just claim 'I didn't write this, the AI did, so this is unbiased' without evidence," he said.

Opaque review process

Neither the journal nor its publisher –- which seems to publish only one journal –- appear to be members of the Committee of Publication Ethics.
The paper acknowledges "the careful edits provided by a reviewer and the editor-in-chief," identified on its website as Harde.
It does not specify whether it underwent open, single-, or double-blind review and was submitted and published within just 12 days.
"That an AI would effectively plagiarize nonsense papers," does not come as a surprise to NASA's top climate scientist Gavin Schmidt, but "this retread has just as little credibility," he told AFP.
AFP reached out to the authors of the paper for further comment on the review process, but did not receive an immediate response.
"The use of AI is just the latest ploy, to make this seem as if it is a new argument, rather than an old, false one," Naomi Oreskes, a science historian at Harvard University, told AFP.
mja/rl/aha

tariff

Penguin memes take flight after Trump tariffs remote island

  • "The penguins have been ripping us off for years," Anthony Scaramucci, who was Trump's former communications chief for 11 days in his first term and is now a vocal critic, joked on X. "Donald Trump slapped tariffs on penguins and not on Putin," posted US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, referring to the fact that Russia was not on the US tariff list.
  • Donald Trump's tariffs have become a black and white issue on social media, where penguin memes have gone viral after he targeted an island inhabited by the flightless birds, but no people.
  • "The penguins have been ripping us off for years," Anthony Scaramucci, who was Trump's former communications chief for 11 days in his first term and is now a vocal critic, joked on X. "Donald Trump slapped tariffs on penguins and not on Putin," posted US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, referring to the fact that Russia was not on the US tariff list.
Donald Trump's tariffs have become a black and white issue on social media, where penguin memes have gone viral after he targeted an island inhabited by the flightless birds, but no people.
One widely shared image on Thursday showed a penguin in place of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office during his recent row with the US president and Vice President JD Vance.
Another meme showed US First Lady Melania Trump gazing up at an emperor penguin -- in place of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau -- while Trump looks askance.
Trump's announcement of worldwide tariffs on Wednesday certainly received an icy reception in many countries.
But there has also been bafflement about why some of the most remote parts of the world have been targeted.
A case in point: why would Trump slap 10 percent tariffs on all exports from the Heard and McDonald Islands, a barren sub-Antarctic Australian territory without a human population, but four different species of penguin? 
"The penguins have been ripping us off for years," Anthony Scaramucci, who was Trump's former communications chief for 11 days in his first term and is now a vocal critic, joked on X.
"Donald Trump slapped tariffs on penguins and not on Putin," posted US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, referring to the fact that Russia was not on the US tariff list.
The White House said sanctions on Russia over President Vladimir Putin's war on meant that there was no "meaningful" trade on which to impose tariffs.
Trump also caused puzzlement with his 29 percent tariff on Norfolk Island, a tiny Australian territory in the Pacific with a population of a little over 2,000 humans.
"I'm not quite sure that Norfolk Island, with respect to it, is a trade competitor with the giant economy of the United States," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
Britain's remote Falkland Islands -- home to one million penguins, and most famous for a 1982 war fought by Britain to repel Argentinian invaders -- was hit by 41 percent exports even though the UK only faces 10 percent.
Trump's tariffs have however been no laughing matter for global markets, with US stocks suffering their worst day since the Covid pandemic in 2020.
dk/st

merger

Trump says 'very close to a deal' on TikTok

  • Trump has downplayed risks that TikTok is in danger of being banned in the United States, saying he remains confident of finding a buyer for the app's US business.
  • President Donald Trump said his administration was "very close" to a deal to find a buyer for TikTok, which faces a US ban if not sold by its Chinese owner by the weekend.
  • Trump has downplayed risks that TikTok is in danger of being banned in the United States, saying he remains confident of finding a buyer for the app's US business.
President Donald Trump said his administration was "very close" to a deal to find a buyer for TikTok, which faces a US ban if not sold by its Chinese owner by the weekend.
"We're very close to a deal with a very good group of people," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that it involved "multiple" investors but giving no further details.
The hugely popular video-sharing app, which has over 170 million American users, is under threat from a US law that passed overwhelmingly last year and orders TikTok to split from its Chinese owner ByteDance or face a ban in the United States.
Motivated by national security fears and widespread belief in Washington that TikTok is ultimately controlled by the Chinese government, the law took effect on January 19, one day before Trump's inauguration.
But the Republican president quickly announced a delay that has allowed it to continue to operate; that delay is set to expire on April 5.
Trump has downplayed risks that TikTok is in danger of being banned in the United States, saying he remains confident of finding a buyer for the app's US business.
The US president also suggested TikTok could even be part of a broader deal with China to ease the stinging tariffs he imposed on Beijing as part of a worldwide blitz of levies.
Asked Thursday if he was willing to make deals with countries on tariffs, he said: "As long as they are giving us something that is good. For instance with TikTok."
He added: "We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say we'll approve a deal but will you do something on the tariffs. The tariffs give us great power to negotiate."
According to reports, the most likely solution would see existing US investors in ByteDance roll over their stakes into a new independent global TikTok company.
Additional US investors, including Oracle and Blackstone, the private equity firm, would be brought on to reduce the proportion of Chinese investors.
Much of TikTok's US activity is already housed on Oracle servers, and the company's chairman, Larry Ellison, is a longtime Trump ally.
But uncertainty remains, particularly over what would happen to TikTok's valuable algorithm. The New York Times suggested the new company could licence it from ByteDance.
Amazon has also reportedly made a last-minute bid to buy TikTok.
dk/st

Meta

Authors hold London protest against Meta for 'stealing' work to train AI

BY JAMES PHEBY

  • A Meta spokesperson told the Guardian that "we respect third-party intellectual property rights and believe our use of information to train AI models is consistent with existing law."
  • Around 100 authors on Thursday protested outside the London headquarters of Meta, accusing the US tech giant of "stealing" content to train its Artificial Intelligence models.
  • A Meta spokesperson told the Guardian that "we respect third-party intellectual property rights and believe our use of information to train AI models is consistent with existing law."
Around 100 authors on Thursday protested outside the London headquarters of Meta, accusing the US tech giant of "stealing" content to train its Artificial Intelligence models.
Writers chanted "Meta, Meta, book thieves" as they made their way to the Meta building, with some carrying placards reading "I'd write a sign but you'd steal it" and "Get the Zuck off our books", in reference to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
A US court filing earlier this year alleged that Zuckerberg approved the company using the online library "LibGen", which provides access to copyrighted works and contains more than 7.5 million books. 
The Atlantic magazine has published a searchable database of the titles contained in "LibGen", allowing authors to find out if their works may have been used to train Meta's AI models. 
A Meta spokesperson told the Guardian that "we respect third-party intellectual property rights and believe our use of information to train AI models is consistent with existing law."
But AJ West, author of "The Spirit Engineer", said he felt "abused and disgusted" when he found his work on the database.
"To have my work that took years to write, and that I poured my heart and soul into, used to make tech billionaires even more money, without my permission, is so disgusting," he told AFP.
"They've taken my books and fed them into a machine that is specifically designed to ruin me," he added.
West attempted to deliver a letter, signed by leading authors including Kate Mosse and Richard Osman, at the Meta front desk, but found the doors locked.
"It's very telling that a company that saw fit to steal billions of words is now afraid of 500 words on one sheet of paper. It's insult piled upon insult," he said.
West called on the UK government to intervene, saying it was "reprehensible" that Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy had "said nothing" about "the biggest attack on British copyright in history". 

'Has to be consequences'

Author and TV writer Gail Renard, 69, told AFP that "if you stole a diamond ring there'd be consequences and there has to be consequences".
"The creative industry is Britain's second-biggest industry. We bring in £125 billion ($164 billion) a year. If you want to kill off the creative industries, kill off our copyright. There's a lot of anger here," added the author.
Artist and author Sophie Parkin, 63, said the situation was "a life-changer for everybody, because what's the point of going on writing?" 
"They aren't even creating anything, they are stealing our words and then making money out of it," added Parkin, who was wearing a sign on her sunhat reading "AI pay authors".
She also urged the government to take action, accusing Prime Minister Keir Starmer of "toadying up to these billionaires".
The protest was yet another instance of creators of copyrighted works focusing anger on companies building generative AI platforms that ingest huge amounts of words, images or sounds to build their predictive models. 
The leading AI companies have put forward claims that they are allowed to do so under US "fair use" provisions, but that argument is started to be tested in courts in America and elsewhere. 
jwp/jkb/rmb

Nintendo

Is the Switch 2 worth the price? Reviews are mixed

BY KILIAN FICHOU

  • "The console feels very good in your hands, very light," said Nicolas Dixmier from the French specialist gaming website jeuxvideo.com after handling the much-hyped successor.
  • Gaming specialists who have handled Nintendo's new Switch 2 say the console is a clear upgrade on its predecessor, but it lacks must-have new features and the progress comes at a steep price.
  • "The console feels very good in your hands, very light," said Nicolas Dixmier from the French specialist gaming website jeuxvideo.com after handling the much-hyped successor.
Gaming specialists who have handled Nintendo's new Switch 2 say the console is a clear upgrade on its predecessor, but it lacks must-have new features and the progress comes at a steep price.
Dozens of European journalists, including a reporter from AFP, were invited to the Grand Palais exhibition space in Paris on Wednesday for a preview in one of two events held globally.
They were allowed in shortly after the Kyoto-based company announced the hotly awaited launch of its latest iteration of the Switch for June 5 in a YouTube presentation watched by millions around the world. 
"The console feels very good in your hands, very light," said Nicolas Dixmier from the French specialist gaming website jeuxvideo.com after handling the much-hyped successor.
The Switch 2 retains the core features of the original that made it such a hit: detachable "Joy-Con" controllers and hybrid functionality that means it can be portable or plugged into a screen or projector. 
But it comes with a bigger, higher resolution screen, larger joysticks, improved buttons, faster processing time, and a battery that the company says will last between two to six-and-a-half hours.

Must-buy?

The two major design changes are a new "C" button that activates a GameChat function, enabling players to talk with their friends while playing.
And the controllers, now attached with magnets rather than sliding on, can be used like a computer mouse.
They were demonstrated with shooting games such as "Metroid Prime 4" or strategy challenges such as "Civilization VII".
"We have made adjustments so you can control the mouse on the pants (trousers)," Kouichi Kawamoto, one of the creators at Nintendo, told journalists during a roundtable.
But this was not enough to impress some critics, given that the price of the console is set to be about 30 percent higher than the original at $449.99 in the United States. 
It has gone on pre-sale for £395.99 in Britain and 469.99 euros in France.
Shares in Nintendo dropped more than 3.0 percent on the Tokyo stock exchange on Thursday due to disappointment among fans who are used to Nintendo being more accessible than its Sony and Microsoft competitors.
"Impressed is not a word I would use. It's a logical evolution," Alexander Bohn-Elias from the website Eurogamer Germany told AFP after playing with the Switch 2 in Paris.
Paul Hinrich Aeils, from German media Gamestar, agreed.
"The new features are cool but I don't know if it is a must-buy day one for Switch 1 users," he said.
He was also left underwhelmed by the number of games exclusively available for the Switch 2 at launch which include "Mario Kart World".
Games will also cost around 30 percent more than for the original Switch. 

Succession

Analysts had predicted beforehand that Nintendo would likely go for an upgrade, rather than trying to rewrite the Switch script.
The original version launched to relative indifference in 2017 before going on to be the third best-selling console of all time, with 150 million units bought globally. 
But the creator of Mario Bros has had trouble with successors in the past: after its phenomenally popular Wii device, its Wii U flopped commercially.
Kawamoto and his colleagues from Nintendo revealed that they started working on the new Switch in 2019.
They had many discussions about the name, he revealed, saying one idea had been to call it the "Super Nintendo Switch" -- a reference to its star console from the 1990s. 
On Friday, fans who entered a lottery to handle the Switch 2 are set to get their hands on it at events in Paris and New York as part of promotional efforts ahead of the launch. 
kf/adp/phz

AI

AI could impact 40 percent of jobs worldwide: UN

BY AGNèS PEDRERO

  • And by 2033, AI will be the leading technology in this sector, with an expected value of $4.8 trillion, it showed.
  • The global artificial intelligence market is projected to reach $4.8 trillion -- roughly the size of Germany's economy -- by 2033, the UN said Thursday, warning nearly half of jobs worldwide could be affected.
  • And by 2033, AI will be the leading technology in this sector, with an expected value of $4.8 trillion, it showed.
The global artificial intelligence market is projected to reach $4.8 trillion -- roughly the size of Germany's economy -- by 2033, the UN said Thursday, warning nearly half of jobs worldwide could be affected.
While AI is transforming economies and creating vast opportunities, the technology also risks deepening existing inequalities, the UN trade and development agency UNCTAD warned in a report. 
In particular, the report cautioned that "AI could impact 40 percent of jobs worldwide, offering productivity gains but also raising concerns about automation and job displacement".
While previous waves of technology mainly impacted blue-collar jobs, UNCTAD highlighted that knowledge-intensive sectors would be left most exposed by AI.
This means advanced economies will surely be hardest-hit, it said, adding though that these economies were better positioned to harness the benefits of AI than developing economies. 
"The benefits of AI-driven automation often favour capital over labour, which could widen inequality and reduce the competitive advantage of low-cost labour in developing economies," UNCTAD said.
In a statement, the agency chief Rebeca Grynspan underlined the importance of ensuring people are at the centre of AI development, urging stronger international cooperation to "shift the focus from technology to people, enabling countries to co-create a global artificial intelligence framework".
"History has shown that while technological progress drives economic growth, it does not on its own ensure equitable income distribution or promote inclusive human development," she warned in the report.

$4.8 trillion

In 2023, so-called frontier technologies like the internet, blockchain, 5G, 3D printing and AI, represented a $2.5-trillion market, with that number expected to increase sixfold in the next decade to $16.4 trillion, the report said.
And by 2033, AI will be the leading technology in this sector, with an expected value of $4.8 trillion, it showed.
But UNCTAD cautioned that access to AI infrastructure and expertise remained concentrated in just a few economies, with only 100 firms, mainly in the US and China, currently accounting for 40 percent of global corporate research and development spending.
"Countries should act now," the agency said, insisting that "by investing in digital infrastructure, building capabilities, and strengthening AI governance", they could "harness the AI potential for sustainable development".
"AI is not just about replacing jobs," it said, insisting the technology could "also create new industries and empower workers". 
"Investing in reskilling, upskilling, and workforce adaptation is essential to ensure AI enhances employment opportunities rather than eliminating them."
The UN agency stressed the need for all countries to take part in discussions around how to govern AI.
"AI is shaping the world's economic future, yet 118 countries - mostly in the Global South - are absent from major AI governance discussions," it said.
"As AI regulation and ethical frameworks take shape, developing nations must have a seat at the table to ensure AI serves global progress, not just the interests of a few."
apo/nl/yad

Nintendo

Nintendo Switch 2 sparks excitement despite high price

BY CAROLINE GARDIN, WITH ADAM PLOWRIGHT IN PARIS

  • Some media reported that export data shows Nintendo has been amassing an inventory of the new Switch in the United States to get ahead of the tariffs.
  • Nintendo fans excited over the upcoming Switch console said Thursday they were disappointed by the high price tag, as US tariffs bite.
  • Some media reported that export data shows Nintendo has been amassing an inventory of the new Switch in the United States to get ahead of the tariffs.
Nintendo fans excited over the upcoming Switch console said Thursday they were disappointed by the high price tag, as US tariffs bite.
The Japanese video game giant revealed details about the Switch 2 on Wednesday, announcing an update to the hugely successful 2017 original that has sold over 150 million units.
But shares in the Kyoto-based company tanked nearly six percent following the announcement, partly because the recommended retail price -- $449.99 in the United States, 395.99 pounds in Britain and 469.99 euros in France -- is at least a third more than its predecessor.
Shares closed down 3.3 percent in the wake of US President Donald Trump's sweeping levies.
These include 46 percent on Vietnam and 49 percent on Cambodia -- countries where Nintendo has reportedly shifted an increasing share of its production in recent years.
The Switch 2 games, including "Donkey Kong Bonanza", "Kirby Air Riders" and "Mario Kart World", will cost 80-90 euros ($86-$97).
"I will buy it, but maybe not when it's released," Felix Sorge, a 33-year-old data analyst told AFP in Tokyo. "It's quite expensive in comparison to the old one."
Industry research firm Niko Partners poured cold water on the idea of waiting for a discount, however.
"We do not expect a price drop for the Switch 2 within its first five years given continued uncertainty around reciprocal tariffs, global trade and higher component costs," it said.
The original Switch was an all-ages hit thanks to its hybrid concept, which allows players to use it on the go and connect to a TV. The new version retains many of its features, including detachable "Joy-Con" controllers.
What's new is a "C" button that activates "GameChat" -- allowing users to speak with one another while playing.
"Even when you're apart, you can play games and hang out as if you were together in the same room," Nintendo said.

 'GameShare'

The Switch 2, which will be released on June 5, will have eight times the memory of the first Switch at 256 GB, and a 7.9-inch (20-centimetre) screen up from 6.2 inches for the original.
Its controllers, which attach with magnets, can also be used like a desktop computer mouse, a new functionality the company clearly hopes game developers will use.
A "GameShare" function will also enable users to share games with friends and temporarily play together.
Rio Narita, a 21-year-old Japanese university student, called the wider range of gameplay possibilities "a big deal" and said Sony's PlayStation 5 console was also expensive.
"Given all these functions and the larger screen, it's sort of unavoidable," he said.
But student Sayaka Motoya, 18, said the price was "tough for younger people or those who don't have much money".
Nintendo offered a glimpse of the hotly anticipated new console in mid-January, ahead of the live presentation Wednesday.
"The Switch 2 is more of an iteration than a reinvention of the wheel," Niko Partners said.
Despite recent diversification efforts into movies and theme parks, Nintendo's core business still relies on video games.
The company could sell around 19 million units in 2025 and 21 million the following year, Toyo Securities estimated.
Some media reported that export data shows Nintendo has been amassing an inventory of the new Switch in the United States to get ahead of the tariffs.
According to Niko Partners, the higher cost of the console in the United States compared to Japan is likely intended "to avoid potential impacts from US tariffs".
The video game industry has been struggling with a global slowdown, with sales down by 35 percent in 2024 year-on-year in the United States, according to US market researchers Circana.
burs-cg-kaf/lb

Nintendo

Nintendo to launch Switch 2 console on June 5

BY ADAM PLOWRIGHT

  • The Switch won favour with all ages thanks to its hybrid concept, which allows players to use it on the go and connect to a TV. Despite recent diversification efforts into movies and theme parks, Nintendo's core business still relies heavily on video games.
  • Nintendo's new Switch console will be launched on June 5, the Japanese video game giant said Wednesday, starting the countdown for one of the most hotly awaited gaming launches in years.
  • The Switch won favour with all ages thanks to its hybrid concept, which allows players to use it on the go and connect to a TV. Despite recent diversification efforts into movies and theme parks, Nintendo's core business still relies heavily on video games.
Nintendo's new Switch console will be launched on June 5, the Japanese video game giant said Wednesday, starting the countdown for one of the most hotly awaited gaming launches in years.
Millions of fans tuned in on YouTube for an hour-long presentation about the Switch 2 -- an update to the 2017 original model that has sold around 150 million units.
But shares in the Kyoto-based company tanked nearly six percent in early Japanese trade on Thursday, partly on profit-taking but also as investors apparently baulked at the gadget's high price.
The shares' fall also followed US President Donald Trump's announcement of sweeping global tariffs, including 46 percent on Vietnam and 49 percent on Cambodia, where Nintendo has reportedly shifted an increasing amount of production in recent years.
The Switch 2 retains many of its predecessor's features, including its detachable "Joy-Con" controllers.
But it comes with a larger, higher resolution screen and quicker processing speeds.
After giving a glimpse of the new console in mid-January, Nintendo provided further details about some of the changes including a "C" button that activates "GameChat", allowing players to speak with one another while playing.
"Even when you're apart, you can play games and hang out as if you were together in the same room," the firm said.
Nintendo also announced a new version of its best-selling Mario Kart game, "Mario Kart World", which allows players to go exploring off-grid.

High price

Other notable new games, intended to drive uptake of the more expensive hardware, include "Donkey Kong Bonanza" and "Kirby Air Riders".
They will be priced around 30 percent higher than existing Switch games at 80-90 euros ($86-$97), while the console will also be at least a third more than its predecessor.
The recommended retail price is listed as $449.99 in the United States, £395.99 in Britain and 469.99 euros in France -- which quickly became a sore point among commentators on game sites and forums.
"These price tags have created such negativity around its release that I'm actually flabbergasted," streamer Sendo DX wrote on social media platform X.
The Switch 2 will have eight times the memory of the first Switch at 256 GB, and a screen that measures 7.9 inches (20 centimetres) versus 6.2 inches for the original.
Its controllers, which attach with magnets rather than sliding on, can also be used like a desktop computer mouse, a new functionality the company clearly hopes game developers will make use of.
A new "GameShare" function will also enable users to share games with friends to allow them to temporarily play together.

'Higher performance'

Analysts had predicted that the company would opt to bring out an improved iteration of a winning formula, rather than announce revolutionary changes -- and that appeared to be the case overall. 
Gamers "mention performance and game software, but in reality, they seem to want the same experience as the original Switch", Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Japanese brokerage Toyo Securities, had said beforehand.
"I think what they truly want is simply higher performance."
The Switch won favour with all ages thanks to its hybrid concept, which allows players to use it on the go and connect to a TV.
Despite recent diversification efforts into movies and theme parks, Nintendo's core business still relies heavily on video games.
The company cut profit forecasts in February due to slowing sales of the original Switch, but its shares have risen this year overall on expectations of strong demand for the Switch 2.
Nintendo could sell around 19 million units in 2025 and 21 million the following year, Toyo Securities estimated.
The video game industry has been struggling with a global slowdown, with sales down by 35 percent in 2024 year-on-year in the United States, according to US market research firm Circana.
adp-kf-dax/phz/cg-kaf/jfx

gaming

'Shenmue' voted most influential video game ever in UK poll

  • "Games are an immensely innovative force and it's brilliant to recognise those titles which have truly shaped the course of our medium," said Luke Hebblethwaite, head of the BAFTA video games division. 
  • The 1999 action game "Shenmue" was on Thursday named the most influential video game of all time following a survey organised by BAFTA, the British association that honours films, television, and video games. 
  • "Games are an immensely innovative force and it's brilliant to recognise those titles which have truly shaped the course of our medium," said Luke Hebblethwaite, head of the BAFTA video games division. 
The 1999 action game "Shenmue" was on Thursday named the most influential video game of all time following a survey organised by BAFTA, the British association that honours films, television, and video games. 
The series, created by Japanese designer Yu Suzuki, stars a young Ryo Hazuki as he seeks to avenge the death of his father, killed by a mysterious martial arts specialist. 
The game is split into three instalments (Shenmue I, II, and III) and was, at the time of the first instalment’s release, the most expensive game in history to produce.
While the third instalment was available on PlayStation 4 and PC, the first two defined the brief history of the Dreamcast console, the first so-called sixth-generation console, released by Japanese manufacturer Sega in 1998.
Having become a cult classic among many gamers, "Shenmue" is known as a pioneer in open-world gaming and for popularising the "quick time event," a moment in which the player is asked to perform a specific action within a given time limit. 
"Games are an immensely innovative force and it's brilliant to recognise those titles which have truly shaped the course of our medium," said Luke Hebblethwaite, head of the BAFTA video games division. 
Yu Suzuki said he was "deeply honoured and grateful" to see "Shenmue" come out on the top in the poll and thanked the "fans around the world who have continued to love and support" the game. 
"Doom", the series that helped popularise first-person shooters and enjoyed immense commercial success, came second in the survey of thousands of players.
Developed by id Software for PC and released in 1993, the game puts players in the role of a soldier facing demons in a universe blending science fiction and horror. 
In third place was "Super Mario Bros", the famous platform game developed by Nintendo in 1985, in which the red-suited plumber Mario navigates various levels to save Princess Peach. 
Unanimously acclaimed upon its release, it remains one of the best-selling games of all time, with over 40 million copies sold worldwide. 
Also included in the top 10 are "Half-Life" (1998), "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" (1998), "Minecraft" (2011), "Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2" (2025), and "Super Mario 64" (1996). 
The annual Bafta Game Awards will take place at a ceremony in London on April 8. 
jwp/jkb/yad

merger

Amazon makes last-minute bid for TikTok: report

  • The hugely popular video-sharing app, which has over 170 million American users, is under threat from a law that passed overwhelmingly last year and orders TikTok to split from its Chinese owner ByteDance or face a ban in the United States.
  • Amazon has made a last-minute bid to buy TikTok, which faces a US ban if not sold by its Chinese owner, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
  • The hugely popular video-sharing app, which has over 170 million American users, is under threat from a law that passed overwhelmingly last year and orders TikTok to split from its Chinese owner ByteDance or face a ban in the United States.
Amazon has made a last-minute bid to buy TikTok, which faces a US ban if not sold by its Chinese owner, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
The offer arrived in a letter to officials involved in talks regarding the sale of TikTok to appease US national security concerns, according to the New York Times.
Amazon declined to comment on the report.
President Donald Trump has downplayed risks that TikTok is in danger of being banned in the United States, saying he remains confident of finding a buyer for the app's US business by a Saturday deadline.
US media reported that Trump plans to meet with top White House officials on Wednesday to discuss possible solutions.
The Times added that its sources said the parties involved in the talks did not appear to be taking Amazon's bid seriously.
According to reports, the most likely solution would see existing US investors in ByteDance roll over their stakes into a new independent global TikTok company.
Additional US investors, including Oracle and Blackstone, the private equity firm, would be brought on to reduce the proportion of Chinese investors.
Much of TikTok's US activity is already housed on Oracle servers, and the company's chairman, Larry Ellison, is a longtime Trump ally.
The hugely popular video-sharing app, which has over 170 million American users, is under threat from a law that passed overwhelmingly last year and orders TikTok to split from its Chinese owner ByteDance or face a ban in the United States.
Motivated by widespread belief in Washington that TikTok is ultimately controlled by the Chinese government, the law took effect on January 19, one day before Trump's inauguration.
But the Republican president quickly announced a delay that has allowed it to continue to operate; that delay is set to expire on April 5.
"We have a lot of people that want to buy TikTok," Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One recently.
Any deal to divest TikTok from ByteDance will require the approval of Beijing, and Trump has said he may offer to reduce tariffs on China as a way to get Beijing's approval for the sale.
Trump, though he supported a ban in his first term, has lately become the app's greatest defender, seeing it as a reason more young voters supported him in November's election.
The lineup of bidders includes an initiative called "The People's Bid for TikTok," launched by real estate and sports tycoon Frank McCourt's Project Liberty initiative.
Others in the running are artificial intelligence startup Perplexity and a group that includes internet personality MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson.
gc/arp

animation

AI coming for anime but Ghibli's Miyazaki irreplaceable, son says

BY NATSUKO FUKUE

  • OpenAI, which is already facing a barrage of copyright lawsuits, said generating images in the style of individual living artists is banned, but "we do permit broader studio styles".
  • Artificial intelligence risks taking Japanese anime artists' jobs but nothing can replicate Hayao Miyazaki, the creative lifeblood of the studio behind classics such as "Spirited Away", his son told AFP. Thanks to ChatGPT's new image generator, the internet is awash with pictures imitating Studio Ghibli's whimsical style, raising fresh debate over potential copyright infringements.
  • OpenAI, which is already facing a barrage of copyright lawsuits, said generating images in the style of individual living artists is banned, but "we do permit broader studio styles".
Artificial intelligence risks taking Japanese anime artists' jobs but nothing can replicate Hayao Miyazaki, the creative lifeblood of the studio behind classics such as "Spirited Away", his son told AFP.
Thanks to ChatGPT's new image generator, the internet is awash with pictures imitating Studio Ghibli's whimsical style, raising fresh debate over potential copyright infringements.
Movies such as "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Howl's Moving Castle" are famous for their lush nature and fantastical machinery, painstakingly drawn by hand.
While the studio has not commented directly on the image trend, Goro Miyazaki, 58, predicted that artificial intelligence could one day replace animators.
"It wouldn't be surprising if, in two years' time, there was a film made completely through AI," he said in an interview last week.
But whether audiences would want to watch a fully AI-generated animation is another matter, he added.
Despite the rapid changes, new technology also brings "great potential for unexpected talent to emerge", added Goro, Studio Ghibli's managing director.
He was speaking at the Ghibli atelier in western Tokyo, days before the San Francisco-based ChatGPT maker OpenAI released its latest image generator.
OpenAI, which is already facing a barrage of copyright lawsuits, said generating images in the style of individual living artists is banned, but "we do permit broader studio styles".
"Our goal is to give users as much creative freedom as possible," the US company said.

Bittersweet

Japan is grappling with a shortage of skilled animators, partly because most spend years in low-paid jobs to learn the ropes.
Digitally savvy Gen Z may be also less enthusiastic about the manual labour involved, Goro said.
"Nowadays, the world is full of opportunities to watch anything, anytime, anywhere," making it harder to imagine making a living from the physical act of drawing, he added.
Goro's father founded Studio Ghibli with Isao Takahata in 1985, a year after directing the post-apocalyptic "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind".
After Takahata's death in 2018, Hayao -- now 84 and a heavy smoker -- continued to create films with 76-year-old producer Toshio Suzuki.
"If those two can't make anime or can't move, then what happens?" Goro said when asked about Ghibli's future.
"It's not like they can be replaced."
Despite his age, Hayao won his second Oscar last year with "The Boy and the Heron" -- likely his last feature film.
Anime cartoons are usually for children, but Takahata and Hayao, men "from the generation that knew war", included darker elements that appeal to adults, Goro said.
"It's not all sweet -- there's also a bitterness and things like that which are beautifully intertwined in the work," he said, describing a "smell of death" that permeates the films.
"That's actually what makes the work so deep."
For younger people who grew up in peacetime, "it is impossible to create something with the same sense, approach and attitude that my father's generation had," Goro said.
Even "Totoro", with its cuddly forest spirit creatures, is in some ways a "scary" movie that explores the fear of losing a sick mother, he explained. 

'Insult to life'

As the Ghibli-style AI images proliferated, a 2016 video of Hayao resurfaced that many said showed his disdain for the technology.
"I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself," the director says in the short clip, taken from a documentary.
However, he was in fact reacting to an AI-assisted computer graphic of a zombie-like creature, which he calls "extremely unpleasant" in the full footage.
Goro joined Studio Ghibli in 1998 and directed animations including the 2006 feature "Tales from Earthsea" and 2011's "From Up on Poppy Hill".
He also oversaw the development of the Ghibli Museum and newly opened Ghibli Park in Japan.
Goro enjoyed drawing as a boy and said he learned a lot watching his father's and Takahata's work, although he didn't think he could live up to their talent.
"My mother, who was also an animator, told me not to pursue this career because it's a tough and busy job," Goro said, adding that his father was rarely at home.
"But I always wanted to do something creative."
nf/kaf/cms/hmn

Nintendo

Nintendo to unveil upgrade to best-selling Switch console

BY KILIAN FICHOU WITH CAROLINE GARDIN IN TOKYO

  • "There is huge demand for a better version of the original Switch," he added.
  • Japanese video game giant Nintendo is set to unveil the new version of its hugely popular Switch console on Wednesday, with the update eagerly awaited by both gamers and investors.
  • "There is huge demand for a better version of the original Switch," he added.
Japanese video game giant Nintendo is set to unveil the new version of its hugely popular Switch console on Wednesday, with the update eagerly awaited by both gamers and investors.
Everything from the release date to the price of the Switch 2 is set to be announced at 1300 GMT during a one-hour video broadcast online following a brief first glimpse in mid-January.
Very similar visually to its best-selling predecessor, which was launched in 2017, the Switch 2 features a larger screen, a wider stand, and retains its detachable "Joy-Con" controllers.
It will also be more powerful than the original model while keeping its hybrid console concept, allowing players to use it both on-the-go and connected to a TV -- a key factor in the success of the first Switch which has sold 150 million units worldwide.
Experts says no major gaming revolution is expected with the Switch 2 to rival the 2006 appearance of motion controls on the Wii, or to a lesser extent, the Wii U's screen-controller in 2012.
"When you ask gamers, they mention performance and game software, but in reality, they seem to want the same experience as the original Switch," said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Japanese brokerage Toyo Securities.
"I think what they truly want is simply higher performance."

June release?

Piers Harding-Rolls, an expert at Ampere Analysis, a London-based consultancy, said a successful launch was "fundamental" for Nintendo's future. 
"There is huge demand for a better version of the original Switch," he added.
Despite recent diversification efforts into movies and theme parks, Nintendo's core business still relies heavily on video games.
The company cut its profit forecasts in February due to slowing sales of its star console.
Industry rumours suggest a possible June release, with Yasuda estimating six million units would be initially made available. 
In the long run, Nintendo could sell 19 million units in 2025 and 21 million the following year, according to Toyo Securities estimates.
Another key factor is pricing, which experts estimate will range from $430 to $540.
Uncertainty over US import tariffs also remain a concern, although Nintendo has recently switched an increasing amount of production from China to Vietnam, which faces lower customs duties.

New Mario Kart?

As the video game industry faces a global slowdown, marked by waves of layoffs, the arrival of the Switch 2 could revitalise console sales which have been declining worldwide.
Sales fell by 35 percent in 2024 year-on-year in the United States, according to data from US market research firm Circana.
The key to the success of the Switch 2 is likely to be its games line-up. 
"They are hugely important, especially for early adopters," said Harding-Rolls, as fans eagerly wait to know the exclusive titles for the new console.
During its January preview, Nintendo revealed a few seconds of a new Mario Kart game, suggesting that it was bringing back one of its most popular franchises.
With over 75 million copies sold on the Wii U and Switch, Mario Kart 8 is the second best-selling game in Nintendo's history, close to Wii Sports' record of 82 million copies.
Nintendo's recent announcement that players can loan digital versions of Switch games to friends via "virtual game cards" could also encourage players to invest in a second console, making game sharing easier.
Starting Friday, select players chosen by lottery will get to test the new console at events in New York, Tokyo, Paris and other cities.
kf-cg/adp/phz/rjm

Nintendo

Nintendo's megahit Switch console: what to know

BY MATHIAS CENA

  • But plans for the console were unveiled in 2015 to overwhelming indifference after the successor to Nintendo's popular Wii device, the Wii U, flopped commercially.
  • Gaming giant Nintendo is set to unveil the successor to its phenomenally popular Switch console on Wednesday.
  • But plans for the console were unveiled in 2015 to overwhelming indifference after the successor to Nintendo's popular Wii device, the Wii U, flopped commercially.
Gaming giant Nintendo is set to unveil the successor to its phenomenally popular Switch console on Wednesday.
Here are some facts about its success: 

150 million sold

Nintendo has sold around 150 million Switch machines since the gadget's launch in March 2017.
That makes it the third best-selling console in video game history, behind Sony's PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo DS.
Nintendo estimates it has sold a colossal 1.3 billion games that run on the console.
The biggest hit by far was "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" (67 million copies sold), followed by "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" which became a must-play during Covid (47 million sold).

Initial indifference

The arrival of the Switch -- a hybrid console that can be played on-the-go or at home connected to a television -- revolutionised the video game world.
But plans for the console were unveiled in 2015 to overwhelming indifference after the successor to Nintendo's popular Wii device, the Wii U, flopped commercially.
The Switch was at first seen as pricey, lacking games and with little to no chance of competing for consumers' wallets with Sony's more powerful PlayStation 4.
"Console games had lost ground to mobile games, and were seen by investors, media and the general public as no longer having any utility," said analyst Hideki Yasuda of Toyo Securities.
"Expectations for the Switch were very low," he told AFP.
"But once it started selling well, opinion quickly changed."

'Lateral thinking'

The Switch was a high point in Nintendo's creativity over the past 40 years, according to Florent Gorges, a French author of books on the Kyoto-based company's history.
On a technical level, the console was anything but cutting-edge, however.
But Nintendo's knack for creating appealing games, combined with the console's portability, made it a winner.
"The Switch perfectly respects Nintendo's DNA, which is 'lateral thinking with withered technology'," said Gorges.
"This means to succeed in making something new out of something old," he explained.
It was the philosophy of Gunpei Yokoi, the father of Nintendo's Game & Watch series of electronic games, which sold tens of millions of units in the 1980s.

Reorganisation

The success of the Switch prompted Nintendo to combine its home and portable consoles divisions into one unit.
"Nintendo had two activities, with totally different prices, totally different software development," said Serkan Toto from Tokyo firm Kantan Games.
But since 2017, thanks to the Switch, "there has been a constant and very reliable flow of games developed directly by Nintendo, and that has helped them enormously," he told AFP.
mac/stu/adp/rmb/jfx

Trump

Meme politics: White House embraces aggressive alt-right online culture

BY MAGGY DONALDSON

  • Responding to online outrage over the Ghibli portrayal of a deportation arrest, White House communications official Kaelan Dorr re-posted the image, vowing that "the arrests will continue.
  • Posting for provocation's sake has long been the province of internet antagonists and the alt-right, but these days, even the official White House X account is embracing the communications strategy that often celebrates others' suffering.
  • Responding to online outrage over the Ghibli portrayal of a deportation arrest, White House communications official Kaelan Dorr re-posted the image, vowing that "the arrests will continue.
Posting for provocation's sake has long been the province of internet antagonists and the alt-right, but these days, even the official White House X account is embracing the communications strategy that often celebrates others' suffering.
Recently, the account posted about the arrest of a weeping, handcuffed alleged felon before her deportation by depicting her likeness in the AI-generated Ghibli style that has flooded the internet, giving the image of her sobbing an animated aesthetic.
Not long prior, the account posted a video of shackled deportees set to the tune of "Closing Time," the 90's-era Semisonic hit.
"I think it sums up our immigration policy pretty well: 'You don't have to go home but you can't stay here,'" said Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, quoting the lyrics with a smile as she defended the message, which Semisonic immediately denounced.
And then there was the Valentine's Day post: "Roses are Red / Violets are Blue / Come Here Illegally / And We'll Deport You" read a card featuring the floating heads of President Donald Trump and his border czar, Tom Homan.
For Marcus Maloney, a sociology professor at Coventry University, it is a social media strategy that speaks to "the 4Chanification of American politics."
An image-based online forum that has become a hub of disinformation, 4Chan was an early home of "shitposting," a brand of internet communication intended to shock, offend or muddle discourse with absurdity.
And if Trump 1.0 embraced the 2016-era alt-right "shitposters" who bolstered his candidacy, Trump 2.0 is incorporating their methods into official communication channels.
It is a new tactic on an account that not long ago, even in the Republican president's first term, featured a stream of press releases and relatively innocuous statements.
Responding to online outrage over the Ghibli portrayal of a deportation arrest, White House communications official Kaelan Dorr re-posted the image, vowing that "the arrests will continue. The memes will continue."
"They're leaning pretty heavily into meme culture and to chronically online individuals," said Jacob Neiheisel, a political science professor at the University of Buffalo.
"That's where a lot of the energy in the MAGA movement is."

Offensive 'outsider'

Trump presented himself as the iconoclastic opposite of the more polished Democrats when he won his first term. 
By the time he won his second, "the gloves were really off in terms of his communication style -- and people really responded to that," Maloney said, adding that the offensiveness can actually come off as more "authentic."
"That offensiveness signals a kind of outsider status," he continued, "even though we're talking about a guy who's a billionaire."
The trolling now adopted by the White House is meant to simultaneously shock and be brushed off as a joke, the genre of "locker room talk" that has been a through-line of Trump's non-consecutive presidencies.
The former reality TV star has brought that genre's energy to governing, firing off frenetic statements that often denigrate his opponents and apply crass labels to them.
This style appeals to people already fluent in trolling, particularly younger males, Neiheisel said: "It's funny for them. It's entertainment."

Demeaning and trivializing

Another of the White House's infamous posts likened images and sounds of shackled people boarding a deportation plane to ASMR, the auditory-sensory phenomenon that sees people find relaxation or pleasure in certain sounds.
The flippant language "hurts, ultimately, the gravitas of the presidency -- the world's most powerful office -- and it hurts the perception of it not only domestically but internationally," said Mark Hass, a digital marketing expert and strategic communication professor at Arizona State University.
"It trivializes" important issues like immigration and demeans people, Hass said.
And it can represent an insidious reflection of the Trump administration's political aims, Maloney said. That callousness can open the door to policies that dehumanize or render vulnerable minority groups, he added.
"It's a nihilism in respect specifically to how things are communicated," he said. 
"In terms of what they're actually doing," he said, it's "a mainstreaming of far-right dream policies."
mdo/aha

film

Digging for box office gold, 'A Minecraft Movie' hits cinemas

BY FRANCOIS BECKER AND ADAM PLOWRIGHT

  • For every Super Mario Bros success story -- the 2023 adaptation of the Nintendo racers grossed an estimated $1.3 billion in 2023 -- there are other games-turned-films that have turned into epic box office turkeys.
  • With an A-list cast and a big budget, "A Minecraft Movie" releasing this week is hoping to follow in the slipstream of Super Mario Bros by turning a gaming phenomenon into a global cinema blockbuster.
  • For every Super Mario Bros success story -- the 2023 adaptation of the Nintendo racers grossed an estimated $1.3 billion in 2023 -- there are other games-turned-films that have turned into epic box office turkeys.
With an A-list cast and a big budget, "A Minecraft Movie" releasing this week is hoping to follow in the slipstream of Super Mario Bros by turning a gaming phenomenon into a global cinema blockbuster.
Critics have been given limited access to the film ahead of the start of its theatrical release on Wednesday, with those present at Sunday's world premiere in London asked to hold back their write-ups.
Made by "Napoleon Dynamite" director Jared Hess, the film stars Jack Black -- who also appeared in Super Mario -- alongside Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Jennifer Coolidge, Jemaine Clement and Matt Berry.
At the London premiere, Black cast the film as escapism for families in an increasingly worrying world.
"There's so much violence and war and hatred," Black told The Hollywood Reporter. "And that's what I love about this movie -- there's a lot of love in it and there's a lot of creativity."
A trailer released late last year drew largely negative comments while a handful of online reviews have been varied.
One described it as "easily the worst movie I have seen in years", yet another tipped it to become a "cult classic".
Part of the challenge for backers Warner Studios is that adapting the world's most successful game -- around 300 million sales and counting -- is set to provoke strong feelings from fans who grew up exploring the Minecraft universe. 
For every Super Mario Bros success story -- the 2023 adaptation of the Nintendo racers grossed an estimated $1.3 billion in 2023 -- there are other games-turned-films that have turned into epic box office turkeys.

Games to big screens

Minecraft was first released 16 years ago, developed by Swedish designer Markus Persson, who sold it for $2.5 billion to Microsoft several years later.
Players explore and build while fending off creepers and zombies, all in a world of simple cubic lo-fi graphics.
The film's plot sees four humans sucked into the game through a mysterious portal who must then try to find their way home with the help of the Minecraft character Steve, played by Black.
Warner spent an estimated $150 million on the film and experts say cinemas need a box office hit after a slow start to 2025.
Disney's big-budget Snow White adaptation, released last month, has been widely panned and there are still more than six weeks to go until the release of the next instalment of the bankable "Mission: Impossible" franchise.
"We hope it's going to be big thing for cinemas because the market is a bit quiet at the moment," Eric Marti, director at box office consultancy Comscore, told AFP.
He stressed that Minecraft, unlike Super Mario, had not crossed generations in the same way as the Nintendo characters which first emerged in the 1980s.
"Minecraft doesn't necessarily have the same ability to become universal," he explained.
Transferring gaming success to the big screen is a tricky balancing act, involving careful plotting.
"Some adaptations of video games to the cinema have been total failures like 'Street Fighter' or 'Mortal Kombat'," explained Julien Pillot, a French expert on digital culture. "Others have had commercial success despite not being particularly appreciated by gamers." 
A first live-action take on Super Mario Bros in 1993 appears on some "worst of all time" film lists, while the 2005 movie version of "Doom" -- a franchise which revolutionised the shoot-'em-up genre in the 1990s -- remains another memorable flop.
Studios are keen on adaptations because games are like classic comic books, which have long been plundered: rich in characters, with an established following and a widely recognised visual universe.
There have been recent successes on the small screen, including Netflix hits "The Witcher" in 2019 and "Arcane" in 2021.
HBO's "The Last of Us", a thriller set in post-apocalyptic America, was a breakout success in 2023 and a new season is set to be released in April. 
A sequel in the Mortal Kombat franchise is set to be released in cinemas in October, while "Five Nights at Freddy's 2", based on a popular horror game, will hit screens in December. 
fbe-adp/sbk

cryptocurrency

Political support leading to increasing fallout for crypto

BY LUCIE LEQUIER

  • Having reportedly made Trump at least $350 million, according to the Financial Times, about 810,000 buyers went on to lose more than $2 billion combined, stated crypto data group Chainalysis.
  • Support for cryptocurrencies from US President Donald Trump or Argentine leader Javier Milei has seen investors lose billions of dollars and is damaging a sector struggling for credibility, researchers told AFP. "The entire crypto industry is being tarnished," said Claire Balva, strategy director for fintech company Deblock.
  • Having reportedly made Trump at least $350 million, according to the Financial Times, about 810,000 buyers went on to lose more than $2 billion combined, stated crypto data group Chainalysis.
Support for cryptocurrencies from US President Donald Trump or Argentine leader Javier Milei has seen investors lose billions of dollars and is damaging a sector struggling for credibility, researchers told AFP.
"The entire crypto industry is being tarnished," said Claire Balva, strategy director for fintech company Deblock.
Argentine prosecutors are reportedly examining whether Milei engaged in fraud or criminal association, or was in breach of his duties, when he praised the $LIBRA cryptocurrency on social media in February.
The token's value soared from just a few cents to almost $5 and then crashed. Milei deleted his blessing hours later.
He denies all allegations made against him.
"I did not promote it," Milei told broadcaster TN in February, adding it "is a problem between private parties because the State does not play a role here".
"I acted in good faith," he said.
The price collapsed after a handful of early investors decided to sell at a huge profit, causing colossal losses for the majority of those who purchased $LIBRA.
It also dragged down prices of other cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin.
Hayden Davis, who helped launch $LIBRA, said he had been inspired by the initial success of Trump's memecoin, $TRUMP, that marked the president's inauguration.
Having reportedly made Trump at least $350 million, according to the Financial Times, about 810,000 buyers went on to lose more than $2 billion combined, stated crypto data group Chainalysis.
A memecoin is a cryptocurrency that rides on the popularity of a viral personality or phenomenon on the internet and is often seen as a purely speculative asset.

Relying on trust

Once a fierce critic of cryptocurrencies, Trump has become a fervent defender.
He is offering multiple products linked to digital currencies, notably through his World Liberty Financial exchange, increasing accusations of a conflict of interest. 
On paper, his support for crypto projects could boost the sector's legitimacy.
"But at the same time, it can backfire," said Larisa Yarovaya, director of the Centre for Digital Finance at Southampton Business School. 
"Any conflicts that will emerge from it... any hackers, speculative attacks, any problems in relation to these specific coins or these specific projects" can prove counterproductive, she told AFP.
There is scepticism also over the launch in February of the memecoin $CAR by the Central African Republic.
"The domain name had been reserved only a few days before" launch, noted Balva, which "shows that there was too little preparation".
The Central African Republic was the second country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, after El Salvador in 2021, which has since reversed course owing to a lack of local popularity.
A precursor to other cryptocurrencies, bitcoin was launched in 2008 as a way to free transactions from traditional financial institutions, notably banks.
Cryptocurrencies are based on blockchain technology, which publicly records transactions between people holding and exchanging them.
In the absence of a centralised authority, the system relies on "trust" in the people "who are endorsing these products", said Maximilian Brichta, a doctoral student of communication at the University of Southern California.

Rigged game

Many traders will use automated programmes to buy a new token as early as possible in the hope of reselling it for maximum profit.
Milei defended himself by likening losses endured by buyers of $LIBRA to someone entering a casino and knowing they may not win.
However with crypto, it is argued by some that the "game" is rigged from the outset.
To avoid price manipulation, "when launching a cryptocurrency, best practice dictates that the first investors... hold a very small share of the offering" and are prevented from selling for "several years", said Balva.
Except that at the launch of $LIBRA, "more than 80 percent" of the available tokens were in the hands of "a handful of large holders (who) controlled all the liquidity and could liquidate it all at any time", she added.
According to Balva, this was "either monumental recklessness or outright fraud".
lul-bcp/jkb/phz/jfx

politics

Undocumented migrants turn to Whatsapp to stay ahead of US raids

BY ANUJ CHOPRA

  • Amid a lack of reliable information and fears of stepped-up raids, many undocumented immigrants have gone underground, with some even withdrawing their children from school, advocacy groups say.
  • Fearing a US immigration raid will separate her from her children, an undocumented Honduran immigrant hunkers down in her Washington home, anxiously scouring a WhatsApp group for real-time updates on nearby sweeps.
  • Amid a lack of reliable information and fears of stepped-up raids, many undocumented immigrants have gone underground, with some even withdrawing their children from school, advocacy groups say.
Fearing a US immigration raid will separate her from her children, an undocumented Honduran immigrant hunkers down in her Washington home, anxiously scouring a WhatsApp group for real-time updates on nearby sweeps.
Rosario, a 35-year-old mother of two, practically lives in hiding in the face of US President Donald Trump's sweeping campaign to arrest and deport millions of undocumented immigrants since his return to the White House in January.
Her only lifeline is a community group on the messaging app that provides news about immigration raids in Washington neighborhoods -- often mixed with unverified or false information.
"You stay informed and stay a little more alert thanks to the group," Rosario told AFP in her studio apartment, festooned with birthday balloons, stuffed toys, and a wall hanging made from corn husk.
"That way, you get rid of fear a little bit -- but fear always persists," said the part-time dishwasher, who crossed into the United States in 2021 after an arduous journey from her home country.
Rosario, who refused to disclose her real name, peered through her window blinds for any lurking agents from ICE -- the Immigration and Customs Enforcement department, which has been deployed to carry out the Trump administration's promise to target undocumented immigrants.
"Alert: ICE activity was reported at a business center on (Mount) Pleasant around noon," a message flashed in the group, adding that six masked agents were spotted in the Washington neighborhood and one person was detained.
It was not possible for Rosario to ascertain whether the tip was real or fake.
Still, she remained confident the community group, fed by other immigrants and advocates, provided reliable information -- crucial for determining her limited movements to work and to purchase groceries.

'Scary climate'

Rosario also puzzled over another morsel of unverified information in the group that had not appeared in the mainstream media: that an undocumented female immigrant was detained by ICE at a school in the Bethesda neighborhood.
Immigration sweeps on educational institutions are rare, but the Trump administration has said it no longer considers sensitive locations such as schools, churches, and hospitals off-limits to agents. The policy has been legally challenged by religious organizations.
Such uncertainty and fear have spawned a flurry of rumors about suspected immigration raids and movements of ICE agents that ricochet across messaging apps and online platforms, leaving immigrant communities on edge.
In February, AFP's fact-checkers debunked a viral online video that claimed to show an undocumented Colombian woman being expelled from the United States. In reality, it was a fictionalized clip posted in 2023 by an American YouTuber.
Last month, another online video purportedly showed undocumented immigrants being arrested from a US barbershop. AFP found the video staged, with the uniforms worn by the supposed immigration officials appearing inauthentic.
"In the current scary climate, it is hard to know what's true, what's inaccurate," the director of an immigration advocacy group in Washington told AFP, requesting anonymity.
The heightened fears among immigrant communities, he added, have made it harder to "decipher fact from fiction."
- 'Fear grabs you' –
Despite an uptick in immigration arrests, authorities appear to be struggling to meet Trump's mass deportation goals.
The number of deportation flights since Trump took office on January 20 has been roughly the same as those in the final months of President Joe Biden's administration, US media reported, citing data collected by an immigration rights advocate.
That has done little to allay fears among the country's estimated 14 million undocumented immigrants.
Those concerns are aggravated by the government's shock-and-awe tactics of publicizing raids in major cities and footage of shackled migrants being loaded onto deportation flights.
Amid a lack of reliable information and fears of stepped-up raids, many undocumented immigrants have gone underground, with some even withdrawing their children from school, advocacy groups say.
Many also remain vulnerable to exploitation by their employers.
Elizabeth, an undocumented immigrant and mother of five, avoids the messaging groups filled with unverified information, choosing instead to stay vigilant and aware of her surroundings.
"If you don't know what is happening, fear grabs you," she told AFP, declining to share her real name and country of origin.
"Fear is a product of misinformation."
ac/aha

AI

OpenAI says it raised $40 bn at valuation of $300 bn

BY GLENN CHAPMAN

  • SoftBank is to pump $10 billion into OpenAI to start, and $30 billion more by the end of this year pending certain conditions.
  • OpenAI on Monday said it raised $40 billion in a new funding round that valued the ChatGPT maker at $300 billion, the biggest capital-raising session ever for a startup.
  • SoftBank is to pump $10 billion into OpenAI to start, and $30 billion more by the end of this year pending certain conditions.
OpenAI on Monday said it raised $40 billion in a new funding round that valued the ChatGPT maker at $300 billion, the biggest capital-raising session ever for a startup.
The infusion of cash comes in a partnership with Japanese investment giant SoftBank Group and "enables us to push the frontiers of AI research even further," the San Francisco-based company said in a post on its website.
"Their support will help us continue building AI systems that drive scientific discovery, enable personalized education, enhance human creativity, and pave the way toward AGI (artificial general intelligence) that benefits all of humanity," the company said.
AGI refers to a computing platform with human-level intelligence.
SoftBank said in a release that it is on a mission to realize Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) that surpasses human intelligence, and that OpenAI is the partner closest to achieving that goal.
"The advancement of OpenAI's AI models is key to achieving AGI and ASI, and massive computing power is essential," SoftBank stated in its rationale for the latest investment in the company.
SoftBank is to pump $10 billion into OpenAI to start, and $30 billion more by the end of this year pending certain conditions.
OpenAI plans to scale its infrastructure and "deliver increasingly powerful tools for the 500 million people who use ChatGPT every week."

Opening up?

The funding news came the same day OpenAI announced it was building a more open generative AI model as it faces growing competition in the open-source space from Chinese rival DeepSeek, and Meta.
The move would mark a strategic shift by OpenAI, which until now has been a fierce defender of closed, proprietary models that do not allow developers to modify the basic technology to make AI more adapted to their goals.
OpenAI and defenders of closed models -- which include Google -- have often decried open models as riskier and more vulnerable to nefarious uses by malicious actors or non-US governments.
OpenAI's embrace of closed models has also been a bone of contention in its battles with former investor Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest person, who has called on OpenAI to honor the spirit of the company's name and "return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was."
Putting pressure on OpenAI, many large companies and governments have proved reluctant to build their AI products or services on models they have no control over, especially when data security is a concern.
The core selling point of Meta's family of Llama models or DeepSeek's models is addressing these worries by letting companies download their models, and have far greater control to modify the technology for their own purposes and keep control of their data.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this month that Llama hit one billion downloads, while the release of DeepSeek's lower-cost R1 model in January rocked the world of artificial intelligence.
"We've been thinking about this for a long time, but other priorities took precedence. Now it feels important to do," OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said on X of the decision to build a more open model.
OpenAI has been riding on the success of its latest image-generation features in ChatGPT, the world-leading AI app and chatbot.
Altman posted on Monday that the tool helped add "one million users" in one hour.
That claim came days after Altman said the new image features were so popular that they were melting the OpenAI graphics processing units that power the AI due to heavy use.
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justice

US robbers who touted crime on Instagram jailed

  • "Two days after the heist, Tharpe posted images of large amounts of cash on his Instagram with the text 'Robbery Gang,'" federal prosecutors said.
  • Bumbling robbers who left behind a cell phone during a $2.6 million heist and later boasted on Instagram about being part of a criminal gang have been jailed in California, authorities said Monday.
  • "Two days after the heist, Tharpe posted images of large amounts of cash on his Instagram with the text 'Robbery Gang,'" federal prosecutors said.
Bumbling robbers who left behind a cell phone during a $2.6 million heist and later boasted on Instagram about being part of a criminal gang have been jailed in California, authorities said Monday.
The three men used sledgehammers and crowbars to target an upscale jewelery store in Beverly Hills, making off with a huge haul of necklaces, bracelets and watches in the 2022 raid.
The daylight robbery -- which happened in full view of staff and customers -- began when Ladell Tharpe, 39, and his two accomplices careered up to the store in a convoy of vehicles, one of which had been stolen days earlier.
The US Department of Justice said during the terrifying attack, a cell phone fell out of a sweatpants pocket worn by one of the robbers -- identified as 33-year-old Jimmy Lee Vernon -- handing investigators a ready clue.
But the probe was also given a boost by Tharpe's brazenness.
"Two days after the heist, Tharpe posted images of large amounts of cash on his Instagram with the text 'Robbery Gang,'" federal prosecutors said.
Vernon and Deshon Bell, 22, admitted one count of robbery in relation to the heist when they appeared in court in February last year.
Bell was jailed for a year, while Vernon was sent to prison for six years and eight months.
Tharpe was sentenced Monday to serve seven years in federal prison, after earlier admitting robbery.
"Brazen criminal action that directly targets our small businesses in Los Angeles County will not be tolerated," said Acting United States Attorney Joseph McNally. 
"The consequences for such action are severe and penalized accordingly."
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bankruptcy

US regulators tell 23andMe to protect genetic data

  • "Any bankruptcy-related sale or transfer involving 23andMe users' personal information and biological samples will be subject to the representations the company has made to users about both privacy and data security," FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a letter to the company's bankruptcy trustees.
  • The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday warned genetic testing firm 23andMe to honor its promise to protect people's personal information as it navigates bankruptcy.
  • "Any bankruptcy-related sale or transfer involving 23andMe users' personal information and biological samples will be subject to the representations the company has made to users about both privacy and data security," FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a letter to the company's bankruptcy trustees.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday warned genetic testing firm 23andMe to honor its promise to protect people's personal information as it navigates bankruptcy.
The pioneering US company, which sells a mail-back saliva test to determine ancestry or certain health-related genetic traits for less than $200, filed for bankruptcy this month and is looking for a buyer two years after hackers gained access to millions of profiles.
"Any bankruptcy-related sale or transfer involving 23andMe users' personal information and biological samples will be subject to the representations the company has made to users about both privacy and data security," FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a letter to the company's bankruptcy trustees.
Ferguson noted that 23andMe assures users that the company does not share their personal information with third parties, including police, without user permission or valid court orders.
The FTC has powers to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent business practices and investigate suspected violations.
The bankruptcy announcement on March 23 prompted warnings for 23andMe customers to ask the company to delete their data to safeguard privacy.
At its height a few years ago, the DNA testing craze saw millions of consumers rushing to discover their ancestry and health information, with tests from 23andMe becoming popular holiday gifts.
The Silicon Valley-based company, which went public in 2021, claims 15 million customers and has seen its sales decline in recent months as the testing craze faded and the company suffered a data breach.
Faced with the difficulties, 23andMe announced the dismissal of 40 percent of its staff in November, about 200 people. It also suspended its research programs.
23andMe has agreed to pay approximately $37.5 million to settle claims related to the 2023 data breach.
The hacking incident saw 6.9 million accounts affected, of which 5.5 million contained information on genetic matches.
Using customers' old passwords, the hackers compromised data that included names, sex, birth year, location, photos, health information, and genetic ancestry results.
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