On Tuesday, Chinese tech giant Alibaba released a new “open” AI video generation model called Wan 2.1 and shared the software on Github, allowing anyone with the technical know-how and hardware to use and modify freely. It took about 24 hours for the model to be adopted by the AI porn hobbyist community, which has already shared dozens of short AI porn videos using Alibaba’s software. Elsewhere, in a community that’s dedicated to producing and sharing nonconsensual AI-generated intimate media of real people, users are already salivating over how advanced the model is. 

This is the double-edged sword of releasing open AI models that users can modify, which on one hand democratizes the use of powerful AI tools, but on the other is often used by early adopters to create nonconsensual content. 

🌟 Big News from @alibaba_cloud! 🌟
Meet WanX - our next-gen AI model redefining video generation !

🚀 Presenting mind-blowing demos from WanX 2.1！

🔥 Even more exciting:
WanX 2.1 will be OPEN-SOURCE !
Coming soon …#AIart #OpenSource pic.twitter.com/R1laOyJYAL

— Wan (@Alibaba_Wan) February 20, 2025

“Hunyuan just came out when? December?” one user said Wednesday on Telegram channel dedicated to sharing nonconsensual AI-generated porn, referring to another open AI video generator developed by Tencent that’s popular in that community. “Now we get a better Text2Video Model [that] can handle more complicated motions c: This one just came out YESTERDAY and the first Lora which got made for this is a Titfuck 😆.”

That user also shared a short video made with Wan 2.1 that was originally posted to Civitai, a site for sharing modified AI models that multiple 404 Media stories have shown is widely used by people who create nonconsensual content. By my count, however, this model, “Better Titfuck (WAN and HunYuan),” is not the first Wan 2.1 model on Civitai that’s been modified to produce pornography. That dubious honor more likely goes to “Wan-AI 万相/ Wan2.1 Video Model,” which was shared a few hours earlier.  

According to statistics shared by Civitai’s model pages, each of these models has already been downloaded hundreds of times. Civitai model pages also allow people to share videos they created with the AI models, and both pages feature dozens of pornographic videos. Civitai allows users to share AI models that have been modified to produce the likeness of real people and models that have been modified to produce pornography, but does not allow users to share media or models of nonconsensual pornography. However, as 404 Media’s previous stories have shown, there’s nothing preventing Civitai users from downloading the models and using them to produce nonconsensual content off-site. 

Alibaba did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A new firmware update is appearing for the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro for some users in Europe. The update comes as the second since the earbuds’ release.

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Among major TV networks in the US, FOX is the only player that doesn’t yet offer a direct-to-consumer streaming service along the lines of Paramount+ (CBS), Peacock (NBC), and Disney+ (ABC). But that’s changing later this year, and the company has just announced its new streamer’s leader.

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Lazarus, Shinichirō Watanabe’s upcoming anime about  a world plunged into chaos by a mysterious miracle drug, finally has a premiere date.

Today, Adult Swim announced today that Lazarus will debut on April 5th with encores hitting Max on Thursdays beginning April 10th. Along with the announcement, Adult Swim also dropped a new Lazarus trailer teasing how the show’s story is kicked into motion when people start discovering that a popular, seemingly-harmless painkiller is actually a deadly poison designed to eliminate humanity.

In a statement about the show, Adult Swim president Michael Ouweleen sand Watanabe’s praises and said the network was “lucky to be able to watch this genius do his thing.”

“We’re talking Watanabe here — this show is an amazing mix of great characters, super fun high-stakes, brilliant directing, and of course, some pretty great music,” Ouweleen said.

When we spoke with Watanabe about Lazarus last year, he didn’t want to share too much about how the show will be a rumination on the real world opioid crisis, but he promised that “all my thoughts about the future are reflected pretty strongly in the series, and I want people to experience it for themselves.”

While Elon Musk hacks away at the federal bureaucracy in the name of “efficiency,” his company Starlink appears poised to steal a multibillion-dollar government contract from Verizon.

The Federal Aviation Administration is on the cusp of canceling a $2.4 billion contract to overhaul the communication system for the nation’s air traffic control system and handing it to the SpaceX subsidiary instead, The Washington Post reports, citing two unnamed sources briefed on the plans. The news was also confirmed by Bloomberg and The Associated Press.

It’s unclear exactly how this would unfold — whether the FAA would hand some of the work to Starlink while allowing Verizon to continue its own effort or simply cancel the contract with Verizon and award it to Starlink. Whatever the outcome, it is sure to raise accusations of favoritism, cronyism, and conflicts of interest, as Musk continues to serve as the face of the Department of Government Efficiency-run effort to slash spending and lay off federal workers, despite the structural damage that causes.

It is sure to raise serious accusations of favoritism and conflicts of interest

Musk has been sowing doubt about the Verizon system for several days, claiming without evidence that it’s “not working and so is putting air travelers at serious risk.” Earlier today, he posted on X that the Verizon communication system is “breaking down very rapidly” and that the “FAA assessment is single digit months to catastrophic failure, putting air traveler safety at serious risk.” He also claimed that Starlink terminals would be provided at “NO COST to the taxpayer on an emergency basis to restore air traffic control connectivity.”

This, of course, follows a pattern, in which Musk posts on X about something regarding the FAA and then seems to will it into existence. Previously, the billionaire called for FAA administrator Michael Whitaker’s resignation, after the agency fined SpaceX for failing to get approval for rocket launch changes. After his repeated comments, Whitaker resigned on the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration.

A team from SpaceX, Starlink’s parent company, has been working within the FAA in recent weeks to help modernize the agency’s aging technology system. US Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said they were tasked with developing “a new, better, modern and safer system.”

Several SpaceX employees now have FAA email addresses, the Post reports. One SpaceX employee posted a photo of the team on X, with the statement, “Working to improve the safety of the national air space system.”

Super excited with @FAANews, @NATCA, and @SpaceX this week.

Working to improve the safety of the national air space system.

Thank you @elonmusk and @POTUS for your vision and focus on safety pic.twitter.com/qhH0U6pHhV

— Ted Malaska (@TedMalaska) February 20, 2025

The FAA was scheduled to make a decision to start paying out the Verizon contract next month. But the SpaceX team reportedly recommended it be awarded to Starlink instead, the Post reports, citing an unnamed source with knowledge of the plans. So far, the formal process of unwinding one contract and awarding it to another company has reportedly not been followed. Several senior FAA officials have refused to sign the contract, leading Musk’s team to seek help from a Trump appointee within the agency.

Much of Musk’s wealth comes from government largesse. According to the Post, his companies have received approximately $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credits over the years.

There have been four commercial aircraft crashes globally in the last 11 weeks, as well as a handful of private plane crashes and several near misses. Meanwhile, the air traffic control system appears to be in chaos, with hundreds of employees cut. Despite air travel being safer than it has ever been before, many people are left with the perception of a global aviation system that’s coming apart at the seams.

President Donald Trump says his 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, and additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports will go into effect as scheduled on March 4th, unless imports of drugs including fentanyl are stopped or “seriously limited.”

“Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels,” Trump writes in a Truth Social post, without elaborating on the source of his information. “A large percentage of these Drugs, much of them in the form of Fentanyl, are made in, and supplied by, China.”

Earlier this month, the President agreed to pause tariffs on Canada and Mexico for one month, but the new post indicates that the Trump administration is preparing for those agreements to expire. He adds that a separate April 2nd deadline for reciprocal tariffs on countries that impose their own fees on US imports remains in effect. That later wave of tariffs could include a 25 percent tax on computer chips.

While many companies have stayed quiet on the effect of the tariffs, a few are warning consumers of price increases. Acer says a 10 percent import tariff will result in a 10 percent increase of its laptop prices, for example. Automakers are also bracing for what analysts say will be a huge impact on the industry, which could result in fewer deals and buying incentives.

This speaker has a lengthy battery life and everything you need to take the party wherever you go.

The annual spring meeting is a critical part of updating the yearly flu shot to match the strains most likely to be circulating in the U.S. come wintertime.

Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler star as the intergalactic police in the DC Studios Max show.

Microsoft is pushing the Trump administration to change last-minute export controls implemented by Joe Biden on his way out of office that were largely designed to limit access to advanced AI chips so that less surplus could find its way into the hands of China or other foreign adversaries.

Considered critical for US national security, the AI Diffusion rule divides the world into three tiers. At the top are countries that can access US-made AI chips without restrictions, including key chip ally Taiwan and 17 other countries. Access is completely restricted for about 20 countries in the bottom tier, including China, Russia, and North Korea. But stuck in the middle tier are 150 countries that must endure artificial limits on computing supply chains that are kept at least a generation behind US technology accessible by the top tier.

In a Thursday blog, Microsoft President Brad Smith warned that the rule will hurt US businesses by placing heavy restrictions on some of America's "friends"—including countries like Switzerland, Poland, Greece, Singapore, India, Indonesia, Israel, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. He cautioned that the rule makes "uncertain" their "ability to buy more American AI chips in the future," and this will inevitably force US allies to seek supply chains outside the US. And "it’s obvious where they will be forced to turn" if Trump doesn't intervene, Smith suggested.

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To borrow from David Mamet’s sleeper 80s film, Things Change, sometimes it’s the “guy behind the guy” who gets a little attention, even if the guy doesn’t necessarily want it. So it is with Siberia.io, an independent design studio/agency based in New York that does the behind-the-scenes legwork to help clients refresh their brands and digital presences. The firm works with a variety of clients, including Ford, Comcast and Bloomberg, but shared work it’s done for a newer client.

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Chris Mele, Siberia’s managing partner and founder, operates on a simple principle: don’t lead with tech — it should underpin what an agency does for a client, but not be the core or rallying point. And with JBF, that thinking came very much in handy. 

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