James Farrell

James Farrell is the former editor-in-chief of Chiang Mai CityNews, where he wrote and managed daily news, features, op-eds and blogs on a diverse range of topics. Prior to this, in the same city of Northern Thailand where he lives, he was the longstanding deputy editor of the monthly magazine Citylife. He has written on culture, politics, travel, tech, business, human rights, for local, national, and international news services and magazines. He has a keen interest in the role technology is playing in the transformation of society, culture and politics, especially in developing nations. This is reflected in his not-so-successful first novel.

Latest from James Farrell

EU moves to ban social media for kids under 16 who don’t have parents’ consent

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 9 MONTHS AGO

The European Parliament today adopted a proposal calling to ban social media for teenagers under the age of 16 as lawmakers weigh up the effects of addictive technologies on young people’s mental health. The resolution was passed by a majority of Members of the European Parliament, or MEPs. It’s not legally binding, and it’s still ...

Warner Music inks Suno deal amid cooling tensions over AI-generated music

AI - BY JAMES FARRELL - 9 MONTHS AGO

One of the world’s largest music companies, Warner Music Group Corp., today reached a deal with AI music generation platform, Suno Inc., settling a copyright lawsuit and striking up a partnership. Last year, WMG launched its lawsuit against Suno and Uncharted Labs Inc., better known as Udio, another generative AI music startup, citing “widespread infringement” ...

Meta Chief AI Scientist Yann Lecun exits company to begin working on new AI startup

AI - BY JAMES FARRELL - 9 MONTHS AGO

After 12 years at Meta Platforms Inc. the artificial intelligence visionary Yann LeCun is out the door and about to embark on a mission to be part of what he calls the next big revolution in AI. Known as one of the godfathers of AI, LeCun (pictured) left France decades ago to work at AT&T ...

Judge rules WhatsApp and Instagram acquisitions aren’t monopolization

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 9 MONTHS AGO

Meta Platforms Inc. claimed victory in a landmark antitrust battle with the Federal Trade Commission today after a federal judge ruled the company hadn’t monopolized the social media market when it acquired WhatsApp and Instagram. Seven months after the trial began, Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., said the FTC ...

Former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal’s Al startup Parallel raises $100M

AI - BY JAMES FARRELL - 10 MONTHS AGO

Former Twitter Inc. Chief Executive Parag Agrawal today announced that his startup, Parallel Web Systems, has raised $100 million in an early-stage round to build web search infrastructure designed specifically for artificial intelligence agents. The Series A round values the company at $740 million and was co-led by Kleiner Perkins and Index Ventures, with Spark ...

Yann LeCun’s exit highlights tensions in Meta’s shifting AI strategy

AI - BY JAMES FARRELL - 10 MONTHS AGO

Meta Platforms Inc. Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun is leaving the company to launch his own startup, according to the Financial Times. A Turing Award winner who worked under “the Godfather of AI,” Geoffrey Hinton, in the 1980s, LeCun (pictured) is one of the leading figures in artificial intelligence. After moving from France to the ...

EU set to relax data protection rules to boost AI growth

AI - BY JAMES FARRELL - 10 MONTHS AGO

The European Union is looking at loosening the shackles of its strict regulations around privacy to boost the development of artificial intelligence, according to documents obtained by Politico. The bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, touted as a global benchmark for data privacy, was created to protect citizens from tech industries that may exploit ...

Elon Musk to receive $1T Tesla pay package if ambitious targets are met

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 10 MONTHS AGO

Tesla Inc. shareholders today approved a $1 trillion compensation plan for Chief Executive Elon Musk, which would considerably increase the wealth of the world’s richest person if he meets shareholders’ expectations. During Tesla’s annual general meeting today, when it was announced that 75% of investors had given the thumbs up to the future paycheck for ...

Google to make major changes to its app store to settle Epic Games lawsuit

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 10 MONTHS AGO

“Fortnite” video game maker Epic Games Inc. has reached a “comprehensive settlement” with Google LLC that ends a five-year-old legal battle and will lead to reforms to Android and the Google Play Store. In 2020, Epic filed lawsuits against both Google and Apple Inc., claiming that the 15% to 30% commission fee to download apps ...

Amazon blocks Perplexity from sending its AI agents to purchase goods

AI - BY JAMES FARRELL - 10 MONTHS AGO

Amazon.com Inc. has sent a cease-and-desist letter to AI startup Perplexity, asking that the company refrain from using its Comet browser’s AI agents to make purchases on Amazon’s marketplace, a move Perplexity has called “bullying.” Amazon argued that agents taking the place of human shoppers would degrade the customer experience. The company explicitly prohibits “any ...