Techmeme
March 21, 2023, 12:15 PM

Top News

James Vincent / The Verge:
Hands-on with Google's Bard, available via waitlist in the US and UK: quick and fluid, more constrained than Bing, three responses/query, disclaimers, and more  —  Today, Google is opening up limited access to Bard, its ChatGPT rival, a major step in the company's attempt to reclaim …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Microsoft begins rolling out Bing Image Creator to Edge, powered by OpenAI's DALL-E and accessible via Bing Chat, letting users create images from text prompts  —  Microsoft today announced that its new AI-enabled Bing will now allow users to generate images with Bing Chat.
Ashley Capoot / CNBC:
Rachel Metz / Bloomberg:
OpenAI temporarily shut down ChatGPT after a bug let some users see the titles of other users' chat histories; some chat histories are still missing  —  OpenAI temporarily shut down its popular ChatGPT service on Monday morning after receiving reports of a bug that allowed some users to see the titles of other users' chat histories.
Karl Bode / Techdirt:
Instead of myopically fixating on TikTok, the US should pass a real privacy law to regulate data brokers, who offer anyone info on US citizens, including China  —  from the you're-not-actually-fixing-the- problem dept  —  We've noted for a while now how the great TikTok moral panic of 2023 is largely a distraction.
James Vincent / The Verge:
TikTok refreshes its Community Guidelines, expanding a section to cover “synthetic and manipulated media”, or deepfakes, as pressure from the US increases  —  As the prospect of a US TikTok ban continues to grow, the video app has refreshed its content moderation policies.
David Shepardson / Reuters:
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Adobe announces Firefly, a “family” of creative generative AI models, and releases a DALL-E-like image generator and a WordArt-like stylized text generator  —  Adobe is finally launching its own AI image generator.  The company is announcing a “family of creative generative AI models” …
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:
Google suspends Pinduoduo's app on the Play Store over “security concerns” and flags several Pinduoduo apps as malware, alerting users who had installed them  —  On Monday, Google announced that it had flagged several apps made by a Chinese e-commerce giant as malware …
Bloomberg:
How Elon Musk acquiring and running Twitter, adding to SpaceX and Tesla, became a headache for the Biden administration, which worries over foreign influence  —  Argentina was headed toward its thrilling victory over France at the World Cup in Qatar, and Elon Musk, the Tesla Inc. CEO and Twitter owner …
Mandiant:
An overview of 55 zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in 2022, mostly in products from Apple, Microsoft, and Google; Chinese groups exploited more than others  —  - Mandiant tracked 55 zero-day vulnerabilities that we judge were exploited in 2022.  Although this count is lower …
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
eToro secures $250M at a $3.5B valuation via an Advanced Investment Agreement signed in 2021, after scrapping its SPAC plans in 2022 amid slowing growth  —  After calling off its plans to go public via a SPAC at a $10.4 billion valuation in 2022, trading platform eToro has secured $250 million in funding at a $3.5 billion valuation.
Varun Mishra / Counterpoint Research:
Global premium smartphone sales rose 1% YoY in 2022, taking 50%+ of the smartphone market's revenue for the first time; Apple took 75% of the premium market  —  Although overall global smartphone sales in 2022 fell 12% YoY due to macroeconomic difficulties, global premium (≥$600 wholesale price) …
Michael Kan / PCMag:
Study: GPT models and related technologies could seriously affect ~19% of workers in the US, with higher-income jobs potentially facing greater exposure  —  Researchers examine how OpenAI's GPT technology could affect the workforce, and find 'the influence spans all wage levels …
Jacquelyn Melinek / TechCrunch:
OP3N, which develops the blockchain chat app Superapp and aims to be the “Web3 version of WhatsApp meets Amazon”, raised a $28M Series A at a $100M valuation  —  OP3N, a web3 AI-powered platform, raised a $28 million Series A round that values the company at $100 million, the startup shared exclusively with TechCrunch.
More: The Block and NFTgators
Noam Scheiber / New York Times:
A year after its Staten Island win, the Amazon Labor Union has endured setbacks and conflicts, including between president Chris Smalls and longtime organizers  —  Nearly a year after its victory on Staten Island, the Amazon Labor Union is grappling with election losses and internal conflict.

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:
From content collaboration to content intelligence: Zoho WorkDrive's 2025 journey  —  As 2025 draws to a close, we're reflecting on a year marked by meaningful progress, purposeful innovation, and continuous learning at Zoho WorkDrive.
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

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.
Big Technology Podcast:
Sam Altman: How OpenAI Wins, AI Buildout Logic, IPO in 2026?
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.
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.
Lenny's Podcast:
The new AI growth playbook for 2026: How Lovable hit $200M ARR in one year | Elena Verna (Head of Growth)
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
"Neither Side Is Used to Losing." Lucas Shaw on What's Next for Netflix and Paramount in the Battle for Warner Bros.
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
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 12:15 PM ET, March 21, 2023.

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

Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:
Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Earlier Picks

Qianer Liu / Financial Times:
Christine Hall / TechCrunch:
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Pete Schroeder / Reuters: