Posts

A look at AI chatbots modeled on real experts, like US psychologist Martin Seligman, that are often created without permission, highlighting a policy gray area (Mohar Chatterjee/Politico)

In his year-end report, US Chief Justice John Roberts says any use of AI "requires caution" and that the judicial system "will be significantly affected by AI" (John Kruzel/Reuters)

A profile of Alexander Reben, who will become OpenAI's first artist in residence for three months starting January 2024, amid a debate over the use of AI in art (Leslie Katz/New York Times)

The lawsuits against AI companies could shape the future of copyright or may simply serve as leverage for plaintiffs to secure more favorable licensing deals (J. Edward Moreno/New York Times)

How effective altruism, described by some as a cult obsessed with AI doomsday, is influencing White House, Congress, and others' approach toward AI regulation (Brendan Bordelon/Politico)

In 2024, the internet is about to see the biggest reshuffling of power in 25 years, with the "human web" resurgent and regulators forcing tech giants to open up (Anil Dash/Rolling Stone)

A look at the rise of AI-generated virtual influencers, with some charging thousands of dollars to promote products, leading to concerns from human influencers (Cristina Criddle/Financial Times)

Chinese robotaxi companies are shifting to less advanced but more commercially viable smart-driving solutions, as funding dries up and losses continue to mount (Rita Liao/TechCrunch)

Sources: BuzzFeed is close to selling most of Complex Networks to livestream shopping startup Ntwrk for ~$100M, far below what Jonah Peretti originally sought (The Information)

Researchers: hackers are abusing Google OAuth endpoint "MultiLogin" to restore expired authentication cookies and log into accounts even after a password reset (Bill Toulas/BleepingComputer)

Sources: US intelligence determined that the Chinese spy balloon that flew across the US in January and February 2023 used a US ISP to communicate with China (NBC News)

Immunefi: crypto users lost $1.8B in hacks and scams in 2023, down 54% YoY, as single incidents grew 90% YoY to 319; Lazarus remained the most prolific attacker (Anna Baydakova/The Block)

Sources: Microsoft readies AI-focused Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 for spring 2024, in both Intel and Arm variants with improved designs and new features (Zac Bowden/Windows Central)

Binance CEO Richard Teng says the crypto exchange's user base grew 30% to 170M accounts in 2023; Binance Pay, Binance Earn, and Binance's P2P platform all grew (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Apple resumes Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 sales in some physical US stores starting today, with online sales resuming tomorrow by 3PM ET (Jacob Kastrenakes/The Verge)

Study: social media companies collectively made ~$11B in US ad revenue from minors in 2022; YouTube earned the most at $959.1M from users 12 and under (Associated Press)

Researchers detail a zero-click iMessage attack that used four zero-days and hacked iPhones for over four years, including dozens belonging to Kaspersky staff (Dan Goodin/Ars Technica)

Tiger, Coatue, Vision Fund, a16z, Insight, Accel, Sequoia, Lightspeed, and Index together invested in 44 unicorns in 2023, down from 213 in 2022 and 471 in 2021 (Gené Teare/Crunchbase News)

Sources: Anthropic projects annualized revenue to be $850M+ by 2024's end, or ~$70M/mo, an increase of more than 8x from its monthly revenue around Sept. 2023 (The Information)

Filing: xAI incorporates as a for-profit benefit corporation, allowing it to prioritize having a positive impact on society over its obligations to shareholders (Becky Peterson/The Information)

Microsoft tests a feature that lets Windows 11 users reinstall the OS using Windows Update, a method that preserves files, settings, and installed apps (Mayank Parmar/Windows Latest)

Nielsen: YouTube's share of US viewership by 2- to 11-year-olds jumped from 29.4% in September 2021 to 33% in September 2023, while Netflix fell from 25% to 21% (Jessica Toonkel/Wall Street Journal)

Experts detail how users are getting scammed on Facebook Marketplace; Meta says it plans a notification system to let users identify "scams around payment apps" (Amanda Hoover/Wired)

Google Chrome's Safety Check feature, which checks if users' saved passwords have been compromised, will now run automatically in the background on desktop (Jay Peters/The Verge)

After vocal commitments following George Floyd's murder in 2020, DEI programs at Big Tech companies, including Meta and Google, are in broad retreat in 2023 (Jennifer Elias/CNBC)