In today’s Digest, we cover ITN launching YouTube subscriptions for archive content, AI guardrails being removed from Meta and Google’s models, and Pope Leo challenging Big Tech in a new AI encyclical.

ITN launches paid YouTube subscriptions 

ITN is expanding its direct-to-consumer strategy by launching a suite of archive-focused YouTube channels designed to turn decades of historical footage into destination content for digital audiences. The broadcaster and production company has rebranded its existing ITN Archive channel to Frontline by ITN and introduced two additional channels, Flashback by ITN and Re-Told by ITN, under ITN Productions. 

The initiative includes a paid membership option priced at £3.99 per month, giving subscribers early access to content, voting rights on archive priorities, and behind-the-scenes updates, as ITN looks to build long-term audience communities around archive storytelling.

Frontline by ITN will focus on global affairs and conflict reporting. Flashback by ITN centres on pop culture moments, while Re-Told by ITN explores social history through archival footage. 

Meta & Google AI guardrails stripped in minutes

Modified versions of open-source AI models from companies including Meta and Google are increasingly being distributed online after having their built-in safety protections removed. This has raised fresh concerns about the limits of AI regulation and model security. Tests conducted by the Financial Times and AI safety group Alice found that altered systems could respond to prompts involving harmful activities, including malware creation and dangerous chemical scenarios, using freely available software tools. 

One tool, Heretic, hosted on GitHub, was reportedly used to create thousands of “decensored” models, with altered versions downloaded millions of times. AI researchers warned that as frontier models become more capable, the rapid spread of modified systems could complicate efforts by governments and technology companies to enforce safety standards at the model-development stage.

Pope Leo takes aim at Big Tech on AI

Pope Leo XIV has issued a warning about the influence of Big Tech in his first encyclical, published on 25th May, highlighting the growing societal risks associated with AI. He cautioned that unchecked AI development could deepen inequality, weaken democratic systems, and challenge fundamental ideas about human identity and dignity.