New Zealand lawmakers and other workers inside the nation's Parliament will be banned from having the TikTok app on their devices, following similar moves in many other countries.
**[As the company accelerates its push into AI products, the ethics and society team is gone](https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/13/23638823/microsoft-ethics-society-team-responsible-ai-layoffs)**
[@technology](https://lemmy.ml/c/technology)
Microsoft laid off its entire ethics and society team within the artificial intelligence organization as part of **[recent layoffs that affected 10,000 employees](https://www.geekwire.com/2023/full-memo-microsoft-to-cut-10k-jobs-about-5-of-workforce-and-take-1-2b-restructuring-charge/)** across the company, Platformer has learned.
The move leaves Microsoft without a dedicated team to ensure its AI principles are closely tied to product design at a time when the company is leading the charge to make AI tools available to the mainstream, current and former employees said.
#### [Microsoft lays off team that taught employees how to make AI tools responsibly - The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/13/23638823/microsoft-ethics-society-team-responsible-ai-layoffs) ####
The government is right to prohibit the use of Tiktok on work devices, but experts think that the ban should also apply to other apps. "I don't think it's as simple as TikTok - bad; American companies - good. I think they're all bad," Australian National University cybersecurity researcher Vanessa Teague says.
TikTok execs had doubled down on efforts to convince UK policy advisers that their data is safe, but the UK will join the EU, US, Canada and other countries in banning TikTok. The move comes after a UK security review.