China's AI assistants are getting more handy -- and more invasive
Vivian Toh is chief editor of London-based TechTechChina, a Chinese tech news startup.
When ByteDance quietly launched a new screen-sharing function for its AI assistant Doubao in March, the announcement received little fanfare. Yet the technology behind it marks a notable -- and controversial -- advance in China's increasingly assertive AI push.

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Yomiuri Shimbun
42 minutes ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Newspaper Group Calls on AI Companies to Get Permission to Use News Content; Says Unauthorized Training Could Amount to Copyright Infringement
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo The Nippon Press Center building, which houses the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association, in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo The Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association on Wednesday released a statement calling for generative artificial intelligence service providers to obtain permission from news organizations when training AI tools on news content. The association also urged the government to establish a system to protect news content, saying that a growing number of AI-based services are now using this material without permission. In the statement, the association noted that some of its member news organizations have taken technical measures on their news sites to indicate their rejection of unauthorized AI training and use of their news content, but that some AI service providers have ignored these measures. The association stated that such acts 'could amount to copyright infringement' if they 'unreasonably prejudice the interests of the copyright owner,' in the words of the Copyright Law, which governs AI training on copyrighted works. In addition, the statement addressed the worsening problem of so-called 'zero-click searches,' in which users find information to their query directly in their search results, so they do not click through to visit the website that the information comes from. The association expressed serious concern about this issue and raised questions over AI services 'free riding' on news content. 'If the functions of news organizations, which are responsible for disseminating the news, deteriorate, the public's right to know is sure to be hampered,' the statement said, calling for the implementation of 'comprehensive measures that go beyond the existing framework.'


Kyodo News
2 hours ago
- Kyodo News
Nintendo debuts Switch 2 console to strong demand amid reselling woes
KYODO NEWS - 3 hours ago - 20:10 | All, Japan Nintendo Co. on Thursday released the Switch 2, its first new gaming console in over eight years, with strong preorder demand fueling optimism that the device will bolster the company's fortunes, but concerns remain that reselling may distort the set price. The Kyoto-based gaming giant expects to sell 15 million units of the device globally in the current business year through March. Nintendo said in April it attracted larger-than-expected preorder interest, with some 2.2 million people in Japan applying for a lottery in hopes of securing one at release. The successor to the original Switch, released in March 2017, is priced at 49,980 yen ($350) for the Japanese-only version. The multilanguage version of the device is available for 69,980 yen. The new console includes new features such as screen sharing and voice chat via a built-in microphone. It also features a larger screen with roughly twice the pixel count of the original Switch and supports 4K output on televisions. Along with the console, the company released the "Mario Kart World" game, its latest installment of the popular racing series. In Tokyo, dozens of people who won the lottery lined up in the morning before the opening of an electronics store in the Ikebukuro area. "It's great that players can see each other while playing. I can't wait to go home and play," said Koji Takahashi from Saitama Prefecture, who was first in line after arriving before 6 a.m. Satoshi Ayame was unsuccessful in the lottery but went to the store's release event to get hands-on experience with the long-awaited console. "I took a half-day off because I wanted to try this so bad," the 39-year-old said. Online stores and auction platforms have tightened measures against resellers, with some banning the sale of the Switch 2. But by midday Thursday, multiple listings had already appeared on Japanese e-commerce site Mercari, priced well above the official retail level. Many of the units on Mercari were listed for between 70,000 yen and 90,000 yen, with one reaching a staggering 800,000 yen. The unusually high prices have drawn public attention and prompted renewed debate over resale practices in Japan's digital marketplaces. Ken Naganuma, a professor at Doshisha University and an expert in e-commerce, said implementing uniform rules is difficult as reselling is not illegal, but added that it is "rational" for companies to act to protect their brand value as resale becomes a "social issue." Reflecting the solid interest in the Switch 2, Nintendo said in May that it expects the company's sales for fiscal 2025 to jump 63.1 percent from the previous year to 1.9 trillion yen. President Shuntaro Furukawa said it will increase production of the new device in response to the strong demand. The Switch has been one of Nintendo's best-performing consoles, with more than 150 million units moved. However, it has seen declining sales in recent years as the hardware aged after peaking at 28.8 million units in fiscal 2020. Related coverage: Nintendo to release Switch 2 console on June 5 for 49,980 yen Japanese game maker Sega opens 1st permanent shop in Shanghai


Japan Today
9 hours ago
- Japan Today
Private Japanese lunar lander heads toward moon touchdown
By MARCIA DUNN A private lunar lander from Japan is closing in on the moon, aiming for a touchdown in the unexplored far north with a mini rover. The moon landing attempt by Tokyo-based company ispace on Friday Japan time is the latest entry in the rapidly expanding commercial lunar rush. The encore comes two years after the company's first moonshot ended in a crash landing, giving rise to the name Resilience for its successor lander. Resilience holds a rover with a shovel to gather lunar dirt as well as a Swedish artist's toy-size red house that will be lowered onto the moon's dusty surface. Long the province of governments, the moon became a target of private outfits in 2019, with more flops than wins along the way. Launched in January from Florida on a long, roundabout journey, Resilience entered lunar orbit last month. It shared a SpaceX ride with Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost, which reached the moon faster and became the first private entity to successfully land there in March. Another U.S. company, Intuitive Machines, arrived at the moon a few days after Firefly. But the tall, spindly lander face-planted in a crater near the moon's south pole and was declared dead within hours. Resilience is targeting the top of the moon, a less forbidding place than the shadowy bottom. The ispace team chose a flat area with few boulders in Mare Frigoris or Sea of Cold, a long and narrow region full of craters and ancient lava flows that stretches across the near side's northern tier. Once settled with power and communication flowing, the 2.3-meter Resilience will lower the piggybacking rover onto the lunar surface. Made of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic with four wheels, ispace's European-built rover — named Tenacious — sports a high-definition camera to scout out the area and a shovel to scoop up some lunar dirt for NASA. The rover, weighing just five kilograms, will stick close to the lander, going in circles at a speed of less than one inch (a couple centimeters) per second. Besides science and tech experiments, there's an artistic touch. The rover holds a tiny, Swedish-style red cottage with white trim and a green door, dubbed the Moonhouse by creator Mikael Genberg, for placement on the lunar surface. Takeshi Hakamada, CEO and founder of ispace, considers the latest moonshot 'merely a steppingstone,' with its next, much bigger lander launching by 2027 with NASA involvement, and even more to follow. 'We're not trying to corner the market. We're trying to build the market,' Jeremy Fix, chief engineer for ispace's U.S. subsidiary, said at a conference last month. 'It's a huge market, a huge potential." Fix noted that ispace, like other businesses, does not have 'infinite funds' and cannot afford repeated failures. While not divulging the cost of the current mission, company officials said it's less than the first one which exceeded $100 million. Two other U.S. companies are aiming for moon landings by year's end: Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Astrobotic Technology. Astrobotic's first lunar lander missed the moon altogether in 2024 and came crashing back through Earth's atmosphere. For decades, governments competed to get to the moon. Only five countries have pulled off successful robotic lunar landings: Russia, the U.S., China, India and Japan. Of those, only the U.S. has landed people on the moon: 12 NASA astronauts from 1969 through 1972. NASA expects to send four astronauts around the moon next year. That would be followed a year or more later by the first lunar landing by a crew in more than a half-century, with SpaceX's Starship providing the lift from lunar orbit all the way down to the surface. China also has moon landing plans for its own astronauts by 2030. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.