Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

By now, most people know not to trust everything they see on TikTok. But scams on the platform are becoming increasingly sophisticated, thanks to deepfake technology. A new report from Media Matters for America, published this week, identified multiple TikTok accounts using deepfake influencers and fake storytimes to promote wellness products to unsuspecting users. These accounts appear to be part of an affiliated network, using the same content format and often promoting exactly the same products with little to no scientific backing. One now-deleted TikTok account, which had over 245,000 followers, amassed more than 4.1 million likes promoting its “secret to perf…

For years, deepfakes were treated as a political or social media oddity, a strange corner of the internet where celebrity faces (of women 99% of the time) were pasted onto fake videos (porn in 99% of the cases) and nobody quite knew what to do about it. But that framing is now dangerously outdated, because deepfakes have quietly evolved into something much more systemic: an operational risk for corporations, capable of corrupting supply chains, financial workflows, brand trust, and even executive decision-making. Recent headlines show that synthetic media is no longer a fringe experiment. It is a strategic threat, one that companies are not prepared for. When a …

AI-generated content is making it harder to trust what we see and hear. But at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, a new installation is using the same tech to place people inside history’s most defining moments. “The Great Dictator,” which premiered this week in Austin, flips the script on what deepfakes have come to represent. Instead of using generative AI to create misinformation, it uses AI video and voice tools to blend participants into archival footage to experience history through their own voice and likeness. It’s the latest project from filmmaker and artist Gabo Arora, who wanted to show how emerging tech can be used for something other than profit…

Over the course of 2025, deepfakes improved dramatically. AI-generated faces, voices, and full-body performances that mimic real people increased in quality far beyond what even many experts expected would be the case just a few years ago. They were also increasingly used to deceive people. For many everyday scenarios—especially low-resolution video calls and media shared on social media platforms—their realism is now high enough to reliably fool nonexpert viewers. In practical terms, synthetic media have become indistinguishable from authentic recordings for ordinary people and, in some cases, even for institutions. And this surge is not limited to quality. The v…

Recently, Chinese startup DeepSeek created state-of-the art AI models using far less computing power and capital than anyone thought possible. It then showed its work in published research papers and by allowing its models to explain the reasoning process that led to this answer or that. It also scored at or near the top in a range of benchmark tests, besting OpenAI models in several skill areas. The surprising work seems to have let some of the air out of the AI industry’s main assumption—that the best way to make models smarter is by giving them more computing power, so that the AI lab with the most Nvidia chips will have the best models and shortest route to artificial…

Yesterday, shockwaves rippled across the American tech industry after news spread over the weekend about a powerful new large language model (LLM) from China called DeepSeek. News of DeepSeek’s capabilities—not to mention the fact that it is open-source and free for anyone to use and modify—sent U.S. markets reeling, including the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which saw $1 trillion evaporate from its market cap as AI-adjacent stocks such as Nvidia and Broadcom were hit hard. U.S.-listed shares of TSMC, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), also took a dive. But today, some of those stocks are recovering, at least to a degree. Here’s what you need to know about …

Deere & Co. has agreed to pay $99 million as part of a settlement that would resolve a class action lawsuit accusing the farm equipment giant of monopolizing repair services. The Moline, Illinois-based manufacturer, which does business under the John Deere brand, has faced a handful of “right to repair” complaints over the years. The deal announced Monday — which still needs final approval from the court — would settle a 2022 lawsuit that accused the company of withholding repair software and conspiring with authorized dealers to force farmers to use their services for repairs, when they could otherwise fix tractors and other equipment themselves or use independen…

America’s defense technology sector is rapidly expanding. Top talent, ambitious founders, and serious capital are flooding into a mission that matters, delivering products and solutions that will send us to the moon, deploy unimaginably capable unmanned aerial devices, and redefine what’s possible in modern warfare. It’s an exciting moment—one full of possibility and potential. But here’s the problem: while everyone is focused on the moonshots, we’re overlooking the foundation. The unsexy stuff. The quiet, mission-critical gaps that don’t make headlines but could leave us dangerously vulnerable. We’re building skyscrapers without checking if the ground beneath us is s…

Snow has returned to the Philadelphia region, and along with it, the white residues on streets and sidewalks that result from the overapplication of deicers such as sodium chloride, or rock salt, as well as more modern salt alternatives. As an environmental scientist who studies water pollution, I know that much of the excess salt flows into storm drains and ultimately into area streams and rivers. For example, a citizen science stream monitoring campaign led by the Stroud Water Research Center in Chester County (about 40 miles west of Philadelphia) found that chloride concentrations in southeastern Pennsylvania streams remained higher than levels recommended by t…

Delaware is trying to protect its status as the corporate capital of the world amid fallout from a judge’s rejection of billionaire Elon Musk’s landmark Tesla compensation package, although critics say fast-tracked legislation will tilt the playing field against investors, including pensioners and middle-class savers. A Delaware House committee was expected to vote Wednesday on the bill, which is backed by Democratic Gov. Matt Meyer who says it’ll ensure the state remains the “premier home for U.S. and global businesses” to incorporate. Backers say it’ll modernize the law and maintain balance between corporate officers and shareholders in a state where the courts, for a…

Shares of Deliveroo, the food delivery service based in London, are hitting three-year highs on Monday after it received a $3.6 billion proposed takeover offer from DoorDash. Deliveroo announced the bid after markets closed in Europe on Friday. On Monday, the company also said that it was suspending a $133.5 million share buyback it had announced last month. Deliveroo said Friday that its board has informed DoorDash that if a firm offer is made at the financial terms provided, it will recommend the bid to its shareholders. Deliveroo added that its board has decided to engage in talks with DoorDash about the possible offer and has given the company access to du…

The return-to-office (RTO) push at companies such as Amazon and AT&T—which both required employees to be back in the office full-time this month—has been met with discontent and frustration from much of their workforces. Some Amazon employees have said they are looking for new jobs, if they haven’t left already, while people at both companies have reportedly struggled to even find an open desk. But other leaders are not letting the prospect of low morale or limited workspace derail their plans to return to the office full time in 2025. According to a memo obtained by Business Insider, the latest addition to the mix is Dell, which had already tested the waters with…

Dell on Tuesday nearly doubled its annual profit growth target for the next four years, betting on robust demand for its servers that power artificial intelligence workloads. The company, whose customers include Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI and CoreWeave, lifted its expectations for annual growth in adjusted earnings per share to at least 15% from around 8%. Dell also said it expects compounded annual revenue growth between 7% and 9% for the next four years, up from its prior view of 3% to 4%. Insatiable demand for servers that provide the computing power needed to run services such as ChatGPT has turned Dell into one of the biggest winners of the generative AI …

Starting next year, Deloitte and Zoom are cutting back on some of the most treasured employee benefits, Business Insider reports. Zoom is cutting parental leave from 22 to 24 weeks down to 18 weeks, while non-birthing parents will get 10 weeks instead of 16. As for Deloitte, broader cuts to PTO, pension plans and IVF funding will impact employees in support roles like administrative services, IT and finance. Experts warn that Deloitte and Zoom may be paving the way for other companies to follow their lead. “It legitimizes that action for everybody else,” former Google head of human resources Laszlo Bock told Business Insider. The announced cuts struck a …

Deloitte Australia will partially refund the 440,000 Australian dollars ($290,000) paid by the Australian government for a report that was littered with apparent AI-generated errors, including a fabricated quote from a federal court judgment and references to nonexistent academic research papers. The financial services firm’s report to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations was originally published on the department’s website in July. A revised version was published Friday after Chris Rudge, a Sydney University researcher of health and welfare law, said he alerted the media that the report was “full of fabricated references.” Deloitte had reviewed th…

Shares in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE: DAL) are on the rise this morning after the company reported its Q1 2026 results. While Delta comfortably beat revenue expectations, the U.S. air carrier also addressed the biggest challenge it is currently facing, rising gas prices, and how it is working to mitigate that challenge. Here’s what you need to know. Delta’s Q1 beats expectations, stock surges On Wednesday, Delta Air Lines announced its Q1 2026 financial results, covering the January through March period. The results, announced before markets opened, showed the company had a strong quarter. The company reported non-GAAP operating revenue of $14.2 billion a…

A passenger jet flipped onto its roof while landing in Toronto, Canada, the fourth major aviation accident in North America in the past three weeks. While at least 18 people were injured, all 80 people on board the Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis survived the crash Monday. Here are some things to know about the crash: What caused the airplane to flip? Communications between the tower at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport and the pilot were normal on approach and right now it’s not clear what went wrong when the plane touched down. Were strong winds a factor in the crash? Toronto Pearson Fire Chief Todd Aitken has said the runway was dry …

The longest government shutdown on record cost Delta Air Lines an estimated $200 million, CEO Ed Bastian said Wednesday in the first disclosure by a U.S. airline regarding the shutdown’s financial impact. Bastian told investors that refunds “grew significantly” while bookings slowed amid the uncertainty in air travel caused by the 43-day shutdown, contributing to Delta’s loss of about 25 cents per share. The shutdown, which began Oct. 1, led to long delays at major airports and historic flight cancellations at 40 of the country’s busiest airports as more unpaid air traffic controllers missed work, citing additional stress and the need to take on side jobs. As the shutdo…

During a commencement address at Emory University in Atlanta on Monday, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian admitted that he used artificial intelligence to write his speech. “Out of curiosity, I asked AI to prepare the address. I was amazed at how quick and easy it was generated,” Bastian told the graduating class of more than 5,000 students. “But I also noticed the lack of soul nor warmth it conveyed,” he said. “It was not my personal voice, and it did not express my genuine appreciation for the opportunity to impart my insights to thousands of you. You want to hear from me, not some algorithm of me. “So, don’t worry,” he told the crowd. “I threw it away, and too…

Amid an airline industry in crisis, Delta Air Lines found an unexpected way to cut corners: nixing its snack and drink service on flights under 350 miles long. Delta is doing away with its “Express Service” tier of in-flight food and drink, which previously offered basic amenities including water, tea, coffee, and two snack options to passengers on flights between 250 and 500 miles in length. Instead, all flights longer than 350 miles will get Delta’s full beverage and snack service—while all flights shorter than 350 miles will get no food or drink offerings at all. The news of Delta’s new policy comes just days after Spirit Airlines announced its near-immediate c…