Techmeme
January 7, 2024, 12:00 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: some executives and board members fear that Elon Musk's use of LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, mushrooms, ketamine, and other drugs could harm his companies  —  Some executives and board members fear the billionaire's use of drugs—including LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, mushrooms and ketamine—could harm his companies
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
A look at Apple's preparations for the Vision Pro's US launch and main challenges in 2024, like lagging in generative AI, reviving revenue growth, and antitrust  —  Apple has a big year ahead for new products, but also faces challenges ranging from trying to catch up in AI to dealing with changes to the App Store.
IEEE Spectrum:
How Midjourney v6 and DALL-E 3 produce “plagiaristic outputs”, even when not directly asked to do so, which could expose users to copyright infringement claims  —  This is a guest post.  The views expressed here are solely those of the authors and do not represent positions of IEEE Spectrum or the IEEE.
Steven Levy / Wired:
A defense of AI hallucinations, which can spur creativity and, by requiring fact-checks, act as a firewall in the transition to coexist with superintelligent AI  —  It's a big problem when chatbots spew untruths.  But we should also celebrate these hallucinations as prompts for human creativity and a barrier to machines taking over.
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
TRM Labs: North Korea-affiliated hackers were responsible for almost a third of all crypto thefts in 2023, stealing $600M+, which is ~30% less than in 2022  —  U.S. national security officials have raised concerns about North Korea's use of stolen crypto to develop nuclear weapons.  —  Register Now
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Adam Mosseri says Threads has had some issues with “low quality recommendations” over the last few weeks and should get “much better over the next few weeks”  —  Adam Mosseri says that Threads has had some issues with what he calls “low quality recommendations” over the last few weeks.
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Users say that X is increasingly showing malicious crypto ads, including links to crypto drainers, fake airdrops, and Telegram channels promoting pump and dumps  —  Cybercriminals are abusing X advertisements to promote websites that lead to crypto drainers, fake airdrops, and other scams.
Washington Post:
Legal experts offer mixed opinions about how earlier copyright and fair use cases could affect The New York Times' case against OpenAI and Microsoft  —  A lawsuit accuses OpenAI and Microsoft of violating the New York Times's copyright.  But the law is anything but clear.

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Featured Podcasts

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Lenny's Podcast:
An AI state of the union: We've passed the inflection point, dark factories are coming, and automation timelines | Simon Willison
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The Upstarts Podcast:
Axiom's Carina Hong: Solving Math's Hardest Problems With AI, And AI's Problems With Math
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Ryan Roslansky: Turning AI Anxiety into Skills for the Future of Work
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.
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More News

Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:
More: New.blicio.us, The Decoder, and Watcher Guru
Threads: @luokai and @luokaiMastodon: @Luk@mamot.frX: @nickfloatsForums: Ars OpenForum
Financial Times:
Daniel Stenberg / daniel.haxx.se:

Earlier Picks

The Verge:
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Lim Hui Jie / CNBC: