Techmeme
December 20, 2023, 5:35 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Stanford researchers: LAION-5B, a dataset of 5B+ images used by Stability AI and others, contains 1,008+ instances of CSAM, possibly helping AI to generate CSAM  —  The dataset has been used to build popular AI image generators, including Stable Diffusion.  —  A massive public dataset used …
The Verge:
Memo: Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is leaving Microsoft on December 29; Activision's leadership remains and is being integrated into Microsoft Gaming  —  Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is stepping down officially December 29th.  Microsoft has not appointed a direct replacement …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is ramping up Vision Pro production, aiming for customer-bound units to be ready by the end of January and a retail debut planned for February  —  - Overseas manufacturing of the headset is running at full speed  — Vision Pro debut will vault Apple into new product category
Sam Tobin / Reuters:
The UK Supreme Court rules that AI can't be a patent “inventor”, denying a US computer scientist's bid for two patents for an AI's creations, in a landmark case  —  A U.S. computer scientist on Wednesday lost his bid to register patents over inventions created …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Filing: the US ITC denies Apple's motion to stay the Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 import and sales ban while awaiting an appeal; Biden can veto the ban  —  Apple has lost its bid to delay an import and sales ban on the Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2.  In a filing on Wednesday …
Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times:
Sony has sold 50M PS5 consoles in the three years since its November 2020 launch, almost as fast as the PS4 reached 50M, and outsold Xbox by almost 3:1 in 2023  —  Sony outsells Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's Switch as sector recovers from post-pandemic slump
Greg S. Fink / Car and Driver:
Aston Martin and Porsche preview bespoke interfaces for the next generation of Apple CarPlay, which integrates into all the displays of upcoming vehicle models  —  Apple is working with automakers to make a brand-distinct CarPlay experience.  — Apple's next-generation CarPlay environment arrives in 2024.
Cristiano Lima / Washington Post:
Saritha Rai / Bloomberg:
Researchers say AI robot CyberRunner outmaneuvers humans in the game Labyrinth, one of the first instances of AI beating humans at direct physical applications  —  - Robot learned in record time to guide a ball through a maze  — The AI robot used two knobs to manipulate playing surface
Jon Porter / The Verge:
The EU designates Pornhub, XVideos, and Stripchat as Very Large Online Platforms under the DSA, facing stricter rules to verify ages and stop illegal content  —  Porn sites Pornhub, XVideos, and Stripchat face stricter requirements to verify the ages of their users after being officially designated as …
Leah Nylen / Bloomberg:
Pharmacy chain Rite Aid must stop using facial recognition for five years as part of a settlement with the US FTC, which says the tech falsely flagged customers  —  - FTC says chain's surveillance system falsely flagged customers  — Bankrupt pharmacy chain will stop using system, delete images
Bloomberg:
Miami-based Bird files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, listing $100M to $500M in liabilities; the NYSE began delisting the e-scooter rental company in September 2023  —  The Miami, Florida based company listed assets and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million in a court filing.
Reed Albergotti / Semafor:
Q&A with Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth on generative AI reshaping Meta, facial recognition, regulations, open source, Llama, AGI, recruiting, Mistral AI, and more  —  Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, better known in the tech industry as “Boz,” was teaching a class …
David Shepardson / Reuters:
The US NIST seeks public input by February 2, 2024, for setting guidelines to ensure the safety of generative AI systems, as directed by President Biden's AI EO  —  The Biden administration said on Tuesday it was taking the first step toward writing key standards and guidance for the safe deployment …
Ellen Huet / Bloomberg:
A look at the tech sector's obsession with longevity; Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, Larry Page, and others have pledged millions to startups pursuing longer life  —  Tech titans, venture capitalists, crypto enthusiasts and AI researchers have turned longevity research into something between the hottest science and a tragic comedy.
Hannah Murphy / Financial Times:
Sources: X set up a 10-person team to help hit $100M in US political ad spend in 2024 to offset revenue losses, a goal that industry executives are skeptical of  —  Plans for new political ads team to hit $100mn in sales ahead of US presidential election are met with industry scepticism

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything.  Cape doesn't.  —  Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more.  Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Zoho:
Pro tips: 5 ways to close WhatsApp leads in Zoho CRM  —  This is a guest post by Orkhan Jafarli, Growth PM at TimelinesAI.More buyers now reach out on WhatsApp before they ever fill out a form.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Grit:
Ex-Twitter CEO on Why AI Needs a New Internet | Parag Agrawal
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
Anthropic's first technical PM on token maxing, the jagged edge, and living in the future | Dianne Penn
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:
What Happens If AI Fails?, Subprime Data Center Crisis, How Bad Can SpaceX Get?
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:
OpenAI Models Go Rogue + Kimi K3 Freakout + A.I. Superforecasting
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
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 5:35 PM ET, December 20, 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

Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
Sopan Deb / New York Times:

Earlier Picks

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
Sarah Zheng / Bloomberg:
Nickolas Diaz / Android Central:
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer: