Latest news with #virtual
The Verge
4 days ago
- Business
- The Verge
Here are three new apps building out the open social web
For the past couple of years, the virtual FediForum conference has offered a glimpse at what's new in the open social web, with last year's big news being Threads' foray into the fediverse. This year's presentation was no different, with several developers showing off new apps that will help to expand the ecosystem of decentralized social networks. Bonfire Social, one of the new apps, is meant to serve as a framework for creating digital communities, each with their own governance and style. During FediForum, Bonfire announced that they're releasing Bonfire Social 1.0 as the first 'flavor' of the platform. Bonfire Social comes with a 'a pre-configured bundle of Bonfire extensions that defines which features are included,' like custom feeds, profiles, and threaded discussions, along with the ability to share posts and follow other users. The makers of Bonfire are working on other 'flavors' of the platform, including Bonfire Community, which is geared toward private groups and organizations, as well as Open Science, a platform designed for collaboration between academic communities. Bonfire Social federates with Mastodon, Peertube, Mobilizon, and others. You can install Bonfire Social now or check out the demo. Another new service announced at FediForum is which is designed to help you curate the content you see across the open social web. Users can tailor their feed by tracking specific hashtags and users, including bridged Bluesky accounts and RSS parrots. Other users can follow the channels you create, which are distributed across the Fediverse, Bluesky, and over RSS. You can filter out certain keywords and mute accounts not related to the topics you want to follow, and there are also built-in filters that block NSFW content and hate speech. is built on a customized Mastodon server run by the Newsmast Foundation, a fediverse-focused charity based in the UK, and it sounds like a neat way to create an ultra-curated social feed. The service is currently available in an invite-only beta, but you can sign up for the waitlist to receive updates. You can check out some examples of channels from website. One of the other notable services highlighted today was Bounce, an app that allows you to move your Bluesky account to Mastodon, all without losing any of your followers. The app is built by A New Social, the creators of the Bridgy Fed tool that Bounce uses to connect your Bluesky account to Mastodon. Once your account is bridged, Bounce can then transfer personal data servers using the 'move' capability offered by ActivityPub and the AT Protocol, letting you retain your Bluesky followers — and the people you follow — when heading to Mastodon.
The Independent
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Job hunter realizes he's being interviewed by AI when the script starts glitching
Taking the humans out of human resources. A hopeful, then quickly disappointed job applicant is going viral for his reaction to realizing he's being interviewed by AI for his dream job. Wearing a suit and tie, Leo Humps sat down for a virtual interview in aTikTok posted earlier this month that has since garnered 6.8 million views. He believed he was speaking with the hiring manager for a news reporter position. But seconds into the interview, Humps noticed the woman's voice sounded robotic — then she started glitching. 'Keep in mind this is a 'national company,'' Humps wrote atop the video. 'I applied on their website and I had talked on the phone and emailed with multiple people.' Leo Humps' TikTok of him being interviewed by a glitching AI bot has received over 6.8 million views. (TikTok/@leohumpsalot) The female voice stumbled over her words, to which Humps replied, 'I think the internet's breaking up.' The robot decided to 'move on' to a different question but again failed to actually put a sentence together. 'Talk about a time when, when, when, let's, when, when, when,' she malfunctioned. 'At this point I'm just waiting for someone to tell me they're pranking me,' Humps wrote, capturing his blank expression while he tries to process what he's seeing. Despite the technical difficulties, the robot thanked Humps for answering her questions — which he didn't do — and said she got 'great information' about his background. 'I WAS SO HAPPY YALL 😭😭😭😭,' Humps captioned the video. Fellow TikTok users felt Humps' anger in the comments. 'Their apology better be a in the form of a job,' one person said. 'It's so disrespectful to the applicants,' another person wrote. A third person joked, 'But did you tell him about a time when when when?' Someone else summed the experience up perfectly: 'Taking the HUMANS out of Human Resources is the worst corporate move ever.' Humps was not able to answer any questions during the interview because of the AI glitch. (TikTok/@ leohumpsalot) Sadly for Humps, he did not move forward in the hiring process, as stated in an automated email he received about 30 minutes after the disastrous interview. The email was wrongly addressed to 'Henry' despite that not being Humps' name. 'It was truly such a pleasure meeting you yesterday,' the email read.' I had such a great time speaking with you and learning more about your background, your goals, and your passion for storytelling. You have such a wonderful energy and personality - it really made the interview an enjoyable and memorable experience.' The company wrongly called Humps "Henry" in his rejection email. (TikTok/@ leohumpsalot) However, the email said the company will be moving forwards with other candidates. 'I genuinely appreciate the time you took to speak with me, and I just want to say again how nice it was to meet you,' the email said. ' You're a truly good person, and I believe there is so much success ahead for you in your journey.' Fellow TikTok users again left encouraging comments on Humps' update post. 'As someone in HR, this is WILD 😂 this is so wrong I'm so sorry,' one person said. Another HR professional wrote, 'This is a direct reflection of the company and goes to show that maybe this isn't the best place to work at after all. You may have dodged a bullet.' 'This being for a journalism position makes it 10x worse,' someone else said.
News.com.au
09-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
‘Scary' job interview moment caught on video
Picture this: You've polished off your resume, triple-checked your outfit and you're ready to charm your way into a dream job. Then, you log into the virtual meeting room only to be met with a robotic voice instead of the typical friendly manager. This is the disturbing new reality of job interviews in 2025. In clips posted to social media, job applicants have shared their experiences with the new technology. 'This was so scary guys,' one post was captioned. Gathering over 2.5 million views, many were quick to brand the new practice as 'disrespectful' and 'dystopian'. A woman who appears to be interviewing for a job at international gym chain Club Pilates can be seen dressed in a blazer with her hair and makeup done. She is then met with the voice of an AI assistant who says, 'Hello, I'm Alex the recruiter at Club Pilates.' Before she can even reply, the bot continues to speak saying, 'Thank you for taking the time to interview today,' before going on to explain the role. 'I just wanted to interview in real life,' the woman told her viewers. 'AI interviews are so disrespectful and dehumanising. You don't want anything to do with this company if this is how they are treating their candidates,' said one viewer. 'If a company doesn't have the decency to use a real human to interview you that shows exactly who the company is,' agreed another. 'Oh wow. This is so unacceptable,' said a third. AI software is becoming increasingly popular with employers who are using it as an efficient, cheaper and quicker way to sift through large volumes of applicants. Sometimes, the technology is used to filter likely-candidates through to a second human-led interview. Other times, the AI tool may decide whether a candidate moves forward in the hiring process without any human review. AI interview bots are digital systems powered by artificial intelligence that can ask questions, listen to your answers, analyse your tone, and even your facial expressions. Big-name companies such as L'Oreal are already implementing this technology to screen thousands of candidates. Why AI? Unlike human recruiters, AI bots have the ability to interview 500 people before lunch. It serves as a time and cost-effective way of getting through the interview process. In theory, AI's supposed bias reduction is meant to provide applicants with a more level playing field where their looks, outfits or even voice are not considered. Their data-driven decisions take all the hard work out of crunching the numbers, patterns and keywords to determine who's ready for the job. However, the human touch and personal connection is missing. What's the big problem with AI? Recruitment expert and workplace consultant Tammie Ballis told that the use of AI in interviews can be 'irresponsible and dangerous'. 'When it comes to human factor you still need instinct, you still need to hear the motivation of the candidate and assess their body language. All the things AI can't do,' she said. Ms Ballis has been in the industry for 10 years and believes Australians aren't willing to put up with AI interviewing. She believes that candidates who have their first interview in-person are 'more likely to stay for the duration of the recruitment process'. Applicants are not only missing out on human connection, they are also being met with a lack of transparency. Having no idea what criteria the AI bot is using to interview you can mean that key points and creativity are easily lost in translation. 'Because you're not speaking to a real person you can't ask questions. You can't ask for feedback or for them to rephrase the question,' Ms Ballis said. Not only this, using AI presents the obvious issue of malfunctions. In clips shared to social media, people have captured the moment their AI interviews took a turn for the worst. In one video captioned 'I was expecting a real human. They didn't tell me ahead of time they'd use AI,' a man in a shirt and tie can be seen on a video call with an AI bot. The bot can be heard repeatedly saying 'lets touch base' as it appears to malfunction over and over before becoming incoherent. Ms Ballis believes recruitment is a strictly 'human job' but that agencies can benefit from the implementation of AI in other ways such as writing job ads, completing tedious manual tasks or screening resumes.
