Techmeme
December 5, 2020, 7:00 PM

Top News

Karen Hao / MIT Technology Review:
A summary of the draft paper co-authored by Timnit Gebru, which outlined the main risks of large language AI models and provided suggestions for future research  —  The company's star ethics researcher highlighted the risks of large language models, which are key to Google's business.  —  hide
Julia Carrie Wong / The Guardian:
1,200+ Google employees and 1,500+ academic, industry, and civil supporters have signed a petition condemning the termination of AI scientist Timnit Gebru  —  More than 1,500 researchers also sign letter after Black expert on ethics says Google tried to suppress her research on bias
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple launches a display module replacement program for iPhone 11 devices manufactured between November 2019 and May 2020 experiencing touch issues  —  Apple today launched a new display replacement program for iPhone 11 devices to address a problem that cases a “small percentage” of iPhone 11 displays to stop responding to touch.
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Inside WarnerMedia's transition to streaming: current and former execs say it was marred by rushed decision making, culture clashes, HBO brand confusion, more  —  - CNBC spoke with more than a dozen former and current WarnerMedia executives to gauge how John Stankey and Jason Kilar are progressing with HBO Max.
Bloomberg:
Sources: the US will not extend the December 4 deadline for TikTok's forced sale but will not enforce the order either, allowing the negotiations to continue  —  - No new deadline is expected while deal discussions progress  — Administration wants to finalize deal before Trump's term ends
Cade Metz / New York Times:
Some police departments in California and Georgia have started using autonomous drones this year to track vehicles and people, raising civil rights questions  —  In one Southern California city, flying drones with artificial intelligence are aiding investigations while presenting new civil rights questions.
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
OnlyFans says it will generate $2B+ in sales in 2020, now has 85M users, is adding around 500K users a day, and is paying out $200M+ a month to its 1M+ creators  —  As Cardi B prepared the release for her new song “WAP,” she checked off all the usual components of her promotional plan …
Mary Ann Azevedo / FinLedger:
Moov Financial, which developed an open source platform for adding banking and payment functionality into apps, raises $27M Series A led by a16z  —  Startup's goal is to empower developers with developer-first code that's “modular, portable, and bank agnostic”

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack  —  Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
Connecting, collaborating, and growing: Zoho Mail 2025 wrap-up  —  Your inbox has been home to a lot this year—quick updates, long threads, approvals, reminders, and the occasional late-night draft you weren't sure about.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Grit:
How Brands Stay Visible When AI Decides | Profound CEO James Cadwallader
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
The coming AI security crisis (and what to do about it) | Sander Schulhoff
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's Potential, Google's Speedy Model, Copilot Hits Turbulence
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin' Xmas Song
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
Betting on reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:00 PM ET, December 5, 2020.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Alan Ohnsman / Forbes:
Eileen Yu / ZDNet:

Earlier Picks

Caroline O'Donovan / BuzzFeed News:
Tom Simonite / Wired: