News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

GOOGLE

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reveals $4B stake in Google parent, sells more Apple

Berkshire Hathaway revealed a $4.3 billion stake in Google parent Alphabet and further reduced its stake in Apple, detailing its equity portfolio for the last time before Warren Buffett ends his 60-year run as chief executive.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Berkshire said it owned 17.85 million Alphabet shares as of Sept. 30.

Berkshire lowered its Apple stake to 238.2 million shares from 280 million in the third quarter, and has now sold nearly three-quarters of the 905 million shares it once held. Apple remained Berkshire’s largest stock holding, at $60.7 billion.

The filing listed Berkshire’s US-listed stock holdings as of Sept. 30, which comprised most of the conglomerate’s $283.2 billion equity portfolio.

Berkshire’s investment in Alphabet, which became its 10h-largest US stock holding, is surprising given Buffett’s usual value-investing style and aversion to technology companies.

Buffett considers Apple, which makes the iPhone, more of a consumer products company.

It is not clear whether Buffett, his portfolio managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, or CEO-designate Greg Abel make specific purchases, though Buffett normally makes larger investments.

At Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting in 2019, Buffett and late Vice Chairman Charlie Munger lamented not investing in Google. Buffett said its advertising model bore similarities to what was working for Berkshire’s Geico car insurance unit.

“We screwed up,” Munger said.

“He’s saying we blew it,” Buffett responded.

Alphabet shares rose 1.7% in after-hours trading. Stock prices often rise when Berkshire reveals new stakes, reflecting what investors view as Buffett’s seal of approval.

Berkshire sells more Bank of America

Berkshire bought $6.4 billion of stocks and sold $12.5 billion between July and September, the 13th straight quarter it was a net seller of stocks, while cash grew to a record $381.7 billion.

Apple may have accounted for three-quarters or more of the sales.

Berkshire also sold 6% of its Bank of America shares, extending selling that began in last year’s third quarter.

Public Wi-Fi leaves door open for criminals to steal bank details: Google

Don’t be susceptible to cyber Fi-jackers.

Google has warned Android users against “using public Wi-Fi whenever possible,” claiming that cybercriminals can use it as a Trojan horse to pilfer their bank account info. They issued the PSA in a “Behind the Screen” advisory for Android (and iPhone) users as online scams become ever more pervasive.

According to the brief, 94% of people reported receiving a text scam, while 73% of people are “very or extremely concerned about mobile scams.”

Google wrote that these messaging schemes have evolved into “a sophisticated, global enterprise designed to inflict devastating financial losses and emotional distress on unsuspecting victims.”

The latest hot scheme pulling the wool over people’s eyes? Hijacking public Wi-Fi. The doc states that the networks can be “unencrypted and easily exploited by attackers,” meaning that by using them, we could essentially be gifting bank account details and other sensitive info to hackers.
Google is echoing warnings that cybersecurity experts have been issuing for a long time.

“Many public Wi-Fi hotspots are unencrypted networks that transmit data in plain text, making it vulnerable to cybercriminals with the right tools,” cautioned cyber expert Oliver Buxton at the security firm Norton. “Hackers on the same network can intercept your online activities, including banking information, login credentials, and personal messages.”

He also warned of “malicious hotspots” aka “deceptive networks that trick users into connecting by mimicking legitimate Wi-Fi names.”

“For instance, if you were staying at the Goodnight Inn and wanted to connect to the hotel’s Wi-Fi, you might mistakenly select ‘GoodNight Inn’ (with a capital N) instead of the correct network,” Buxton said. “By doing so, you risk connecting to an ‘evil twin’ network set up by cybercriminals to access your internet traffic.”

Meanwhile, in June, the Transportation Security Administration warned plane passengers against using “free public Wi-Fi,” as well as plugging their devices into airport charging ports, for this same reason.

To determine whether something phishy is afoot, Google advises keeping “an eye on your bank accounts and credit report regularly” as they may hold clues that your account has been compromised.

Forbes security expert Zak Doffman said travelers can prevent Fi-jacking by following some simple steps.

These include disabling auto-connection to public or unknown networks, ensuring that network connections are encrypted (as denoted by a padlock icon) and vetting Wi-Fi networks carefully to ensure that it’s the official one for the hotel, coffee shop or other location in question — and not a cybernetic wolf in sheep’s clothing.

To further ensure a secure connection, Doffman also advises employing a VPN from a reputable and purchasable version from Bluechip developers. Just don’t get a free version, he warns, as this could be more dangerous than not using one at all.

TESLA

Tesla turns to $60-a-day rentals as US sales slump after EV tax credit expires

Tesla is shifting gears from selling cars to renting them out after a collapse in US demand, launching a short-term rental program out of its stores as inventories swell across the country.

The company quietly rolled out the new service in early November, starting with its San Diego and Costa Mesa, Calif., locations, according to the news sites Electrek and Teslarati.

The program comes as Tesla shareholders approved a whopping $1 trillion pay package for CEO Elon Musk, who is banking that the company will gain significant traction in the humanoid robots industry.

Customers can rent a Tesla for three to seven days at a time at prices starting around $60 a day, depending on the model.

The program covers Model 3, Model Y, Model S, Model X and Cybertruck vehicles.

Each rental includes free “Supercharging” and “Full Self-Driving (Supervised),” Tesla’s advanced driver-assist feature, with no mileage limits.

But renters can’t take the cars out of the state where they’re booked.

Customers who decide to buy a Tesla within a week of their rental receive a $250 credit toward their purchase.

The program is the automaker’s latest attempt to put more drivers behind the wheel as US electric-vehicle sales falter following the expiration of the federal EV tax credit last quarter.

The loss of the $7,500 incentive has eaten into consumer demand while putting a dent in Tesla’s profit margins.

Just prior to the expiration of the tax credit, customers made a run on dealerships and snapped up last-minute deals — temporarily boosting the company’s sales.

The company’s new rental initiative is expected to expand beyond Southern California before the end of the year.

Tesla first hinted at entering the rental market two years ago when job listings surfaced for a “Tesla Rental Program” pilot in Texas.

The current rollout marks the first nationwide implementation of the concept.

The carmaker is framing the new rentals as an extended test-drive program aimed at converting hesitant buyers rather than competing with traditional agencies.

COINBASE

Coinbase joins Tesla in leaving Delaware for Texas: ‘Left us with little choice’

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is departing Delaware and reincorporating itself in Texas, the company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday, citing the new business hub’s growing attractiveness for innovative companies.

Texas is establishing itself as the new darling of Corporate America by drawing companies with its favorable business environment, friendlier tax rules, lighter regulatory requirements, and new legislation aimed at establishing specialized business courts.

Several companies with a valuation of over $1 billion have moved their legal home out of Delaware since last year, in what some have nicknamed “Dexit.”

Tesla shifted its headquarters to Texas last year in a high-profile relocation, while Trump Media & Technology, the owner of Truth Social, moved its base to Florida in April.

Coinbase, with a market capitalization of nearly $82 billion, according to LSEG, will be one of the largest companies to move base.

“For decades, Delaware was known for predictable court outcomes, respect for the judgment of corporate boards and speedy resolutions,” Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal said in a opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

Delaware judges, however, have expanded the court’s most stringent legal standard to a growing range of situations involving controllers, increasing the risk of shareholder lawsuits.

The decisions culminated with the blockbuster ruling last year that rescinded Musk’s $56 billion pay package from Tesla. “Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware,” Musk had said on X after the ruling.

“It’s a shame that it has come to this, but Delaware has left us with little choice,” Grewal added.

Texas has stepped up efforts to attract cryptocurrency firms, touting regulatory clarity and lower operating costs, with recent legislation positioning the state as a growing hub for blockchain development amid uncertainty in other jurisdictions.

Coinbase is the largest publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange in the US.

FLYING CARS

Pennsylvania state senator introduces bill legalizing flying cars

Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.

A Democrat state senator in Pennsylvania introduced an oddball bill last Wednesday seeking to legalize flying cars that aren’t anywhere near being readily available for widespread public use.

Sen. Marty Flynn is shooting his shot a second time after the same bill failed to pass during last year’s Pennsylvania General Assembly session.

Flynn hit the ground running as early as January, where he announced in a memo that he would be reintroducing the bill even after it flopped. In the note, he explained he was looking for eager co-sponsors to help make Pennsylvania “one of the first states to introduce this revolutionary technology.”

He managed to secure just two co-sponsors, according to the bill’s status tracker.

In the memo, Flynn didn’t hesitate to admit that the “roadable aircraft” industry isn’t “fully realized,” but insisted that there is still a “significant need” for legislation like his to pave the way for urban and rural aviation technologies.

“Across the nation, advanced air mobility — a rapidly evolving sector within aviation that encompasses a range of innovative aircraft, technologies, and infrastructure — has the potential to generate new revolutionary transportation options and transform how people access essential services, like emergency and medical services, goods, and mobility across urban, rural, and regional communities,” Flynn wrote.

“As technology continues to advance, the integration of these types of vehicles requires forward-thinking legislation that addresses operating and equipment requirements.”

The state legislator added that it’s important to start installing “key regulations” early in order to make sure flying cars “are integrated safely into existing traffic systems without causing disruption or safety hazards,” according to the memo.

Other states and agencies have floated normalizing flying vehicles — and fast.

APPLE

Apple reportedly pulls plug on iPhone Air 2 after weak sales of debut model

Apple has delayed the release of the next-generation iPhone Air after disappointing sales of the ultra-thin smartphone prompted production lines to grind to a halt, according to The Information.

The follow-up model — internally known as “V62” — had been slated to debut in fall 2026 alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Apple’s first foldable iPhone.

But Apple has now pulled it off the release schedule without setting a new date, The Information reported Monday, citing three people involved in the project.

The decision is the latest sign that Apple’s effort to expand beyond its flagship iPhone lineup is faltering.

The iPhone Air was touted as the company’s thinnest and most durable handset yet when it launched in September, but reviewers and consumers criticized its single-camera setup, short battery life and weaker speakers compared with the Pro models.

Manufacturing partners Foxconn and Luxshare have already stopped or drastically reduced production of the current iPhone Air.

Foxconn has dismantled all but one and a half of its production lines and plans to halt the rest by the end of November, according to the report. Luxshare ended its production run in October.

People familiar with Apple’s supply chain told The Information that only about 10% of its iPhone manufacturing capacity was devoted to the Air, but even that limited output has proved difficult to sell.

The model remains widely available in stores and online — a sharp contrast to Apple’s top-tier iPhone 17 Pro, which continues to sell out in some markets.

In September, the iPhone Air accounted for just 3% of total iPhone sales, compared with 9% for the iPhone 17 Pro and 12% for the iPhone 17 Pro Max, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners data cited by The Information.

Apple had been developing the iPhone Air 2 with plans for a lighter frame, a larger battery and improved cooling using vapor chamber technology already found in the iPhone 17 Pro.

Engineers were also exploring a redesign that would add a second rear camera — a feature absent from the first version and widely cited as a dealbreaker for many consumers.

Some engineers and suppliers are continuing work on the device, raising the possibility that a revamped iPhone Air 2 could surface as soon as spring 2027 alongside the standard iPhone 18 and lower-cost iPhone 18e, The Information reported.

While the move stops short of an outright cancellation, taking a major iPhone model off the release calendar at this stage is highly unusual for Apple, current and former employees told the outlet.

The company had only begun early production trials of the new model this summer, just as the first iPhone Air hit store shelves.

X

Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman denies looking at porn on flight, blames X algorithm for salacious pics on iPad

The algorithm has gone wild!

Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman denied looking at porn on a flight after photos of him staring at racy images on his iPad went viral — instead blaming his algorithm for serving up the scantily clad shots.

Sherman spoke out after a fellow passenger snapped pictures of the California congressman, showing him ogling salacious images at full brightness of women wearing nothing but their bras and underwear.

The shocking photographs were shared Friday by the X account “Dear White Staffers,” which accused Sherman of looking “at porn on his iPad during a flight.”

The post racked up more than 13.7 million views in 24 hours.

But Sherman, in a Saturday statement, pointed his frisky finger at Elon Musk, accusing the billionaire xAI owner of flooding his feed with the steamy snaps.

“This was nothing more than scrolling through Twitter — and unfortunately Elon Musk has ruined the Twitter algorithm to give people content that they don’t ask for or subscribe to,” a spokesperson for the 71-year-old lawmaker told The Post.

The Los Angeles native — who introduced an article of impeachment against President Trump in 2017 — told Punchbowl News the risqué shots popped up on his “For You” feed, an algorithm-driven stream of recommended content on the social media platform, as he cruised through his cross-country flight.

During the interview, Sherman repeatedly denied looking at porn or having any issues with pornography.

“If you have to fly across the country, you look at a lot of stuff on your tablet,” Sherman charged.

“I must’ve looked at more than 1,000 posts,” he said, adding “If i see a picture of a woman, might I look at it longer than a sunset? Yeah.”

The three pictures of Sherman’s tablet show several women in scant clothing, including one sticking her tongue out while wearing only a bra. While no full nudity was visible, the lawmaker’s feed appeared packed with scandalous photos one after another.

When asked by the outlet whether the content was appropriate to view openly on a plane, Sherman responded, “Is it pornography? I don’t think Elon Musk thinks so. Is it appropriate? No.”

OPENAI & NVIDIA

Softbank sells entire $5.8B Nvidia stake as it goes ‘all in’ on OpenAI bet

Softbank has dumped its entire $5.83 billion stake in AI chip supplier Nvidia as it pours more resources into its “all-in” bet on Sam Altman’s OpenAI.

The Japanese investment giant, led by CEO Masayoshi Son, sold all of its 32.1 million Nvidia shares in October, according to an earnings statement released Tuesday. Softbank also sold part of its $9.17 billion stake in telecom giant T-Mobile.

When asked about the Nvidia sale, Softbank’s chief financial officer Yoshimitsu Goto pointed to the massive size of the firm’s planned investment in OpenAI.

“We want to provide a lot of investment opportunities for investors, while we can still maintain financial strength,” Goto said during an investor presentation, according to CNBC.

“So through those options and tools we make sure that we are ready for funding in a very safe manner,” Goto added.

The Nvidia and T-Mobile selloffs are “sources of cash that will be used to fund the $22.5 billion investment in OpenAI,” a person familiar with the matter told CNBC. The proceeds will also be used on other Softbank bets.

Softbank’s decision to sell the stake came during an ongoing debate on Wall Street about whether AI firms like Nvidia are an overvalued “bubble” as huge sums of money flow into the sector without immediate returns.

“Son is a savvy investor, so selling the entire stake must mean that he is no longer optimistic about the share price,” Wong Kok Hoi, CEO of APS Asset Management in Singapore, told Reuters. “Big tech companies may continue to invest heavily in GPU chips, but not at this year’s level for many years.”

Nvidia shares were down more than 3% in early trading Tuesday.

Softbank did not immediately return a request for comment. Nvidia declined to comment.

In June, Son declared that he was “all in on OpenAI” and said he wanted Softbank to “become the organizer of the industry in the artificial super intelligence era” – or AI that’s smarter than humans.

Softbank’s second-quarter profit swelled to 2.5 trillion yen, $16.6 billion, driven by OpenAI’s surging valuation.

FACEBOOK

Facebook makes major change to Like and Comment buttons

Facebook doesn’t like this feature anymore.

Meta is doing away with two of Facebook’s external social plugins at the beginning of next year,

By February 10, 2026, the social media platform will discontinue its Like button and Share button for third-party websites.

The social plugins currently allow users to “like” and comment on Facebook posts embedded outside of the platform.

Meta explained that the end of these features reflects the company’s “commitment to maintaining a modern, efficient platform.”

They claim that the plugins that will be discontinued exhibit an earlier era of web development, and as the digital landscape continues to change, their usage has naturally deteriorated.

According to Meta, no action is required from developers and site admins. On February 10, the plugins will stop rendering on the site, becoming a 0x0 pixel (invisible element) rather than causing errors or breaking website functionality.

There will not be any error messages, and it should not impact the website’s core features or functions, they said.

However, site developers can choose to remove the plugin code on their own for a cleaner user experience, though it is optional.

Meta noted that changes should be made before the February 10 date.

VERIZON

Verizon to ax 15K jobs — largest ever for wireless carrier: report

Verizon s planning to cut about 15,000 jobs in the telecommunications company’s largest ever layoffs as part of a restructuring under its new CEO, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

The layoffs, affecting about 15% of its workforce, are set to take place as soon as next week, the person said.

Verizon’s shares rose about 1.4% on the news. They have largely stagnated over the last three years, with a gain of 8% compared with the S&P 500’s near-70% rise.

A Verizon spokesperson declined to comment.

The cuts come after the telecommunications company named former PayPal boss Dan Schulman as its new chief executive officer in early October.
The cuts are aimed at its non-union management ranks and will affect more than 20% of that workforce, the source said. Verizon also plans to transition around 180 corporate-owned retail stores into franchised operations, the source added.

The Wall Street Journal reported the cuts earlier.

Schulman said last month that Verizon understood it needs aggressive change including “cost transformation, fundamentally restructuring our expense base. … We will be a simpler, leaner and scrappier business.”

Schulman, who has served on Verizon’s board for seven years, has said he does not want to hike prices and seeks to be more customer-focused. “Our financial growth has relied too heavily on price increases, a strategic approach that relies too much on price without subscriber growth is not a sustainable strategy,” he said last month.

Verizon had about 100,000 US employees at the end of 2024, according to its annual report.

DATA CENTERS

Amazon-backed Anthropic commits $50B to build US data centers

AI startup Anthropic said Wednesday it would invest $50 billion in building data centers in the US, the latest multi-billion-dollar outlay in the industry as companies race to expand their artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The company behind the Claude AI models said it would set up the facilities with infrastructure provider Fluidstack in Texas and New York, with more sites coming online in the future.

The data centers are custom-built for Anthropic.

Tech companies have announced massive spending plans this year, with many focusing on expanding their US footprint, as President Trump pushes for investments on American soil to maintain the country’s edge in the AI sector.

Trump ordered his administration in January to produce an AI Action Plan that would make “America the world capital in artificial intelligence.”

As part of the push, several American companies rolled out a series of big-ticket AI and energy investment pledges at Trump’s tech and AI summit in July.

Anthropic said the project is expected to create about 800 permanent jobs and 2,400 construction jobs in the US as the data centers come online throughout 2026.

The outlay “will help advance the goals in the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan to maintain American AI leadership and strengthen domestic technology infrastructure,” Anthropic said.

The San Francisco-based company, which is backed by Amazon and Google-parent Alphabet, was valued at $183 billion in early September.

Formed in 2021 by a group of former OpenAI employees, Anthropic serves more than 300,000 enterprise customers.

Its Claude large language models are widely regarded as one of the most powerful frontier models on the market.

Google’s ‘moonshot’ project would put AI data centers in space

Google is exploring a “moonshot” plan to build artificial intelligence data centers in space – the latest move in its ongoing scramble to keep pace with OpenAI and other rivals.

Dubbed “Project Suncatcher,” the still-experimental plan would aim to create a series of “solar-powered satellites” equipped with Google’s AI computer chips that could “harness the full power of the sun,” according to a little-noticed Nov. 4 blog post from the tech giant.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai admitted the company faces “significant challenges” to make it a reality, including “thermal management” of its chips and “on-orbit system reliability.”

“Like any moonshot, it’s going to require us to solve a lot of complex engineering challenges,” Pichai wrote on X.  “Early research shows our Trillium-generation TPUs (our tensor processing units, purpose-built for AI) survived without damage when tested in a particle accelerator to simulate low-earth orbit levels of radiation.”

The company plans to launch two test satellites in 2027 to conduct more research on the project’s feasibility.

Huge amounts of energy are required to maintain current AI models and fuel the development of theoretical “artificial general intelligence” – or AI with human-level or better capabilities.

The exorbitant requirements have led to ballooning costs for top firms like Google, Meta and OpenAI, which have spooked some investors on Wall Street and contributed to fears that the much-hyped AI revolution is actually a “bubble” that will eventually burst.

Google alone has outlined $91 to $93 billion in capital expenditures in fiscal 2025 as it pours money into AI development. Industrywide spending on data centers is expected to top a jaw-dropping $3 trillion over the next three years, according to Morgan Stanley.

Google pointed to the “rapid increase in data center energy demand” as the catalyst behind “Project Suncatcher.”

“While there are a number of challenges that would need to be addressed to realize this ‘moonshot,’ in the long run it may be the most scalable solution, with the additional benefit of minimizing the impact on terrestrial resources such as land and water,” Google researchers said in a white paper.

Based on current projections, satellite launches may be affordable enough to make Google’s plans for space-based AI data centers economically viable by the mid-2030s.

AI

Lawyers hit with fines after AI flubs fill their filings: ‘They should be ashamed’

Lawyers across the country are getting busted for using AI to write their legal briefs — and their excuses are even more creative than the fake cases they’ve allegedly been citing.

From blaming hackers to claiming that toggling between windows is just too hard, attorneys are desperately trying to dodge sanctions for a tidal wave of AI-generated nonsense clogging up court dockets.

But judges are tired of hearing it and a group of “legal vigilantes” is making sure none of these blunders go unnoticed.

A network of lawyers has been tracking down every instance of AI misuse they can find, compiling them in a public database that has swelled to over 500 cases.

The database maintained by France-based lawyer and researcher Damien Charlotin exposes fake case citations, bogus quotes and the attorneys responsible — hoping to shame the profession into cleaning up its act.

The number of cases keeps growing, Charlotin told The Post on Wednesday.

“[T]his has accelerated exactly at the moment I started cataloguing these cases, from maybe a handful a month to two or three a day,” he said in an email.

“I think this will continue to grow for a time,” Charlotin added.

He said some examples are just mistakes, and “hopefully awareness will reduce them, but that’s not a given.”

In other instances, AI is misused by “reckless, sloppy attorneys or vexatious litigants,” the researcher wrote.

“I am afraid there is little stopping them,” he added.

Amir Mostafavi, a Los Angeles-area attorney, was recently slapped with a $10,000 fine after filing an appeal in which 21 of 23 case quotes were completely made up by ChatGPT.

His excuse? He said he wrote the appeal himself and just asked ChatGPT to “try and improve it,” not knowing it would add fake citations.

“In the meantime we’re going to have some victims, we’re going to have some damages, we’re going to have some wreckages,” Mostafavi told CalMatters.

“I hope this example will help others not fall into the hole. I’m paying the price.”

Ars Technica reported that Innocent Chinweze, a New York City-based lawyer, was recently caught filing a brief riddled with fake cases. He said he’d used Microsoft Copilot for the job.

Then, in a bizarre pivot, he claimed his computer had been hacked and that malware was the real culprit.

The judge, Kimon C. Thermos, called the excuse an “incredible and unsupported statement.”

After a lunch break, Chinweze “dramatically” changed his story again — this time by claiming that he didn’t know AI could make things up.

Chinweze was fined $1,000 and referred to a grievance committee for conduct that “seriously implicated his honesty, trustworthiness, and fitness to practice law.”

Another lawyer, Alabama attorney James A. Johnson, blamed his “embarrassing mistake” on the sheer difficulty of using a laptop, according to Ars Technica.

He said he was at a hospital with a sick family member and under “time pressure and difficult personal circumstance.”

Instead of using a bar-provided legal research tool, he opted for a Microsoft Word plug-in called Ghostwriter Legal because, he claimed, it was “tedious to toggle back and forth between programs on [his] laptop with the touchpad.”

Judge Terry F. Moorer was unimpressed, noting that Ghostwriter clearly stated it used ChatGPT.

Johnson’s client was even less impressed, firing him on the spot. The judge hit the attorney with a $5,000 fine, ruling his laziness was “tantamount to bad faith.”

Such cases are “damaging the reputation of the bar,” tephen Gillers, an ethics professor at New York University School of Law, told the New York Times.

“Lawyers everywhere should be ashamed of what members of their profession are doing,” he added.

Still, the excuses for AI mistakes keep coming. One lawyer blamed his client for helping draft a problematic filing. Another claimed she had “login issues with her Westlaw subscription.”

A Georgia lawyer insisted she’d “accidentally filed a rough draft.”

Matthew McConaughey, Michael Caine to partner with ElevenLabs for AI voice cloning

Oscar-winning actors Michael Caine and Matthew McConaughey have made deals with voice-cloning company ElevenLabs that will allow its artificial intelligence technology to replicate their voices.

Caine said in a statement that ElevenLabs is “using innovation not to replace humanity, but to celebrate it.”

“It’s not about replacing voices; it’s about amplifying them, opening doors for new storytellers everywhere,” said the 92-year-old British actor in a written statement.

McConaughey also said he is investing in the New York-based startup and has had a relationship with it for several years. Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed. McConaughey said the deal will enable him to voice his newsletter in Spanish.

Founded in 2022 and based in New York, ElevenLabs initially developed its technology to dub audio in different languages for movies, audiobooks and video games to preserve the speaker’s voice and emotions.

But shortly after its public release, ElevenLabs said in January 2023 it was seeing “an increasing number of voice cloning misuse cases” and promised new safeguards to tamp down on abuse, including limiting features to paid users.

A year later, however, a digital consultant was able to use ElevenLabs software to mimic then-President Joe Biden’s voice in a robocall message sent to thousands of New Hampshire voters.

The company now says it has additional measures to block the cloning of celebrity and other high-profile voices without their consent.

Open Table is spying on you — and ratting out your bad habits like being late, canceling to restaurants

What happens at the dining table no longer stays at the dining table.

If the city’s servers suddenly always seem to know your go-to drink order, or how you always order extra croutons on your salad – you’re not going crazy.

Reservation platform OpenTable is spying on its users and compiling personal information on guests to share with restaurants, both good and bad, from wine preferences to whether they cancel a same-day reservation.

This allows eateries to highlight things to your preference, save preferred seating or — if your AI notes reveal poor etiquette — cancel your reservation altogether, sources tell The Post.

“It’s not just spending habits or if they like Coca-Cola or bottled water. Now, we’re getting a taste of what a diner’s behavior at a restaurant is like: If they’re a late canceler, if they leave reviews a lot,” Shawn Hunter, a general manager for Sojourn Social on the Upper East Side told The Post of the feature he first noticed two weeks ago.

Indeed, when people dine out using OpenTable to make the reservations, hosts can now see purple stars with AI notes in their profiles such as: “Frequently orders these drinks while dining out,” listing everything from wine to cocktails, plus how much a guest pays for them.

Other notes get more specific, like “frequent reviewer;” “high spender;” “dines longer than the average guest;” and “late canceler,” noted Kat Menter, host at a Michelin-star restaurant in downtown Austin, who runs the food account EatingOutAustin.

“It’s for all of the restaurants you’ve ever gone to on OpenTable. They’ve saved what you ordered and how much you paid for it in your profile on the back end,” Kat revealed in a video on her page, noting her personal profile said: “Frequently orders juice.”

“This is OpenTable being way too obvious with the fact that they are data brokers. I guess most of us didn’t assume what we ordered, what we paid, how long we’ve sat for, and other info was tracked next to our name and phone number. But it is,” Menter told The Post in an email.

Hunter says diner data mining has already impacted service at Sojourn Social.

One guest booked for dinner Monday night at the bustling new American restaurant had “red wine, beer, coke, and sparkling water,” listed in the OpenTable AI-assisted portion of their profile.

So, Hunter sat them in the wine cellar of the restaurant thinking they’d enjoy a $68 bottle of Barolo.

“It helps us predict. I’m not going to put this person in the main dining room, they have to sit in the wine cellar. If we can say, ‘they’re going to get a red wine,’ I’m going to have maybe a sip or two on the table and glasses rather than the Happy Hour cocktail menu,” Hunter said.

Another diner, booked for the same evening, had the AI note “long turn times,” meaning the guest is likely to take time between courses and “dines longer than the average OpenTable guest,” prompting Hunter to sit them away from the more popular window seats.

OpenTable insisted to The Post their tech is “beneficial to both restaurants and diners.”

A spokesperson also pointed out that by “agreeing to OpenTable’s privacy policy, the diner grants OpenTable certain permissions to use their data — including the right to share their data with restaurants.

“Diners have the ability to opt-out of certain data sharing activities via their OpenTable account preferences,” they added.

LARRY SUMMERS & JEFFREY EPSTEIN

OpenAI, Harvard, Bloomberg, NYTimes among institutions urged to cut ties with Larry Summers over Epstein emails

OpenAI, Harvard University, Bloomberg and the New York Times kept mum as they faced demands to cut ties with Larry Summers following revelations that the ex-Treasury Secretary exchanged emails with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Summers, 70, was one of the most prominent individuals to surface in a new trove of emails released by the House Oversight Committee this week. He and Epstein discussed women, politics and Harvard-related business in hundreds of messages exchanged between 2013 and 2019.

The emails create a dilemma for the wide range of organizations that have business ties to the outspoken Summers, who has been a fixture on corporate boards and cable news networks since exiting government work. Sam Altman’s OpenAI appointed him to its board of directors two years ago — just one of Summers’ many high-profile gigs.

Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, a watchdog group, said the emails “ought to be the final straw” that makes institutions cut ties with Summers.

“It is disgusting that Summers has played such a crucial role in government at one of America’s premier universities for so long. Companies and institutions affiliated with him  — including the world’s most influential AI company, and two of the nation’s premier news outlets— ought to demand his immediate resignation,” Hauser said in a statement.

The recently released emails suggested a cozy relationship between Summers and Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. In one missive, Summers joked that women were less intelligent than men.

“I observed that half the IQ in world was possessed by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of population,” Summers wrote Epstein in October 2017, without providing further context.

In another set of messages that spread quickly on social media, Summers asked Epstein for romantic advice.

“I dint [sic] want to be in a gift giving competition while being the friend without benefits,” Summers told Epstein while discussing his pursuit of a women, adding that “she must be very confused or maybe wants to cut me off but wants professional connection a lot and so holds to it.”

It was not clear who Summers was talking about.

Epstein responded by suggesting that the woman was making Summers “pay for past errors” and advised him that “no whining showed strength.”

Summers, a Democrat who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations, apologized for the emails — which came well after Epstein pled guilty to soliciting prostitution with a minor in 2008 and settled civil lawsuits brought by multiple victims in 2010.

“I have great regrets in my life,” he said in a statement provided to the Harvard Crimson student newspaper earlier this week. “As I have said before, my association with Jeffrey Epstein was a major error of judgement.”

He did not immediately return The Post’s request for comment.

NIPPLEGATE

NJ prosecutors decline criminal charges in ‘Nipplegate’ texting scandal targeting MAGA mom

Local cops were ready to press charges in the vile text-message scandal targeting a MAGA-loving New Jersey board of education member — but the Democratic county prosecutor declined to take the case.

Cops in affluent Marlboro, NJ announced the development this week, noting they consulted with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, which determined the vile behavior did not “meet the threshold of criminal activity.”

Mom of three Danielle Bellomo was the subject of a disturbing group chat labeled “This Bitch Needs to Die,” and during one public board meeting, a member was caught on camera texting, “Bellomo must be cold — her nips could cut glass right n.”

Cops, Bellomo wrote on Facebook this week, told her they were ready to move forward with charges “for terroristic threats, cyber harassment, conspiracy to do harm, and cyber harassment through a deep fake video.”

“However, The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office ultimately chose not to pursue these charges,” she wrote.

The allegations didn’t rise to the level of an “indictable” offense, Monmouth Prosecutor Raymond Santiago’s office told The Post.

“To say the Prosecutor’s Office ‘decline(d) to move forward’ in this matter is a mischaracterization,” a spokesman said, describing the text messages as “clearly disturbing and offensive.”

“Jurisdictionally, our office is tasked with prosecuting indictable matters, whereas lower offenses are charged and prosecuted at the municipal level. After a careful and thorough evaluation, we advised the Marlboro Police Department that, legally, there was insufficient evidence to constitute an indictable charge.”

Outrage was immediate.

“This is not surprising unfortunately. Woman to woman…I am very glad that you’re safe and hope the disgusting pigs that put you through this will stay under their rocks,” one woman responded to Bellomo’s post.

“Does ‘alleged’ mean no threats were made?” another person wrote.

“This is going to turn into a total freefall with what we’re allowed to say,” a third commenter predicted. “Things are about to get wild.”

The controversy came to light in September, when five men — allegedly including board vice president Chad Hyett; then-candidate Scott Semaya; former board candidate Nirav Kadakia; former public school teacher Lenny Thor; and Mitesh Gandhi, the husband of a current board member — were caught in the group chat.

The Post’s story on the controversy caught the attention of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who called it “wrong. And evil” in an X post.

Semaya quickly dropped out of the race, as did his running mate Melissa Goldberg.

“We all saw what happened with Charlie Kirk,” Bellomo, 38, said, noting the conservative activist had been threatened before his Sept. 10 assassination. “This same group of people had a lot of hatred toward me. When you pair that all together, it does create a fear for my life.