Techmeme: Source: a16z closed $7.2B for its newest set of funds, with allocations for AI infrastructure, AI apps, its “American Dynamism” strategy, and more (Kia Kokalitcheva/Axios)

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April 15, 2024, 3:45 PM

Top News

Stephen Nellis / Reuters:

Adobe says it is in the early stages of developing a way to let Premiere Pro users tap AI models from OpenAI, Runway, and Pika Labs to generate and use video — Adobe (ADBE.O) on Monday said it is in the early stages of allowing the use of third-party generative artificial intelligence tools …

More: Adobe Video \u0026 Motion on YouTube, Adobe Press Releases, The Adobe Blog, PCWorld, Tech Monitor, Laptop Mag, Tech.co, Unite.AI, Neowin, Maginative, AndroidGuys, The Decoder, CoinGape, AppleInsider, ZDNet, WinBuzzer, Engadget, The Verge, Tom's Guide, and Lifewire

LinkedIn: James Ratliff, Kyle Gesuelli, and Todd Burke

Alex Koller / CNBC:

Adobe releases Acrobat AI Assistant to summarize documents and answer questions about them for $4.99/month, an “early access” rate, and a mobile version in beta

More: Adobe Press Releases, Thurrott, PCMag, and Inc.com

Financial Times:

The US awards Samsung up to $6.4B in CHIPS Act funding and says the company plans to make 2nm chips at its Taylor, Texas plant by 2026, two years ahead of TSMC — South Korean group set to outdo rival TSMC with cutting-edge 2nm chip production in US by 2026 as part of $40bn investment

Artificial Intelligence Index:

Stanford's AI Index report: training top AI models is way more expensive, AI still trails humans on complex tasks, people are more nervous about AI, and more — Welcome to the seventh edition of the AI Index report. The 2024 Index is our most comprehensive to date and arrives …

More: San Francisco Chronicle, Stanford HAI, The Decoder, New York Times, SiliconANGLE, IEEE Spectrum, Stanford HAI, EnterpriseAI, and Artifical Intelligence Index

X: @benjaminklieger, @stanfordhai, @epochairesearch, @stanfordhai, @jsevillamol, @stanfordnlp, @stanfordnlp, @ankareuel, @russellwald, and @stanfordnlp

Bloomberg:

OpenAI opens a Tokyo office, releases a Japanese language GPT-4 model, and taps former President of AWS Japan Tadao Nagasaki to woo enterprises in the country — OpenAI named the former president of Amazon Web Services's Japan arm to spearhead its push to woo enterprise clients in the world's fourth-largest economy.

More: OpenAI, TechCrunch, PYMNTS.com, The Information, GeekWire, Cryptopolitan, CCN.com, CNBC, Tech in Asia, Cybernews.com, Silicon Republic, Maginative, MSPoweruser, and Reuters

X: @openai, @allgarbled, @borismpower, and @dyett. LinkedIn: Aliisa Rosenthal

IDC:

Global smartphone shipments grew 7.8% YoY to 289.4M in Q1 2024; iPhone fell 9.6% YoY, more than all top brands, Xiaomi grew 33.8% YoY, and Samsung retook first — Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker , global smartphone shipments increased 7.8% year over year to 289.4 million units in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24).

More: Android Authority, Bloomberg, The Guardian, HotHardware, Computerworld, The Hill, CNET, SamMobile, Interesting Engineering, 9to5Google, Yen.com.gh, PCMag, Forbes, ExtremeTech, Reuters, Fortune, TechCrunch, Tom's Guide, RCR Wireless News, GSMArena.com, The Irish Times, iMore, TechRadar, Associated Press, Gizchina, Sherwood News, The Register, Proactive, PYMNTS.com, BGR, MacRumors, The National, TechSpot, City A.M., Android Headlines, AppleInsider, MySmartPrice, PhoneArena, Sam Lover, Cult of Mac, iClarified, Engadget, Livemint, 24/7 Wall St., Business Insider, Sammy Fans, Phandroid, CNBC, MacDailyNews, Benzinga, Forexlive, Financial Times, and Yahoo Finance

Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to. X: @matthewstoller, @idc, @metacriticcap, @alvinfoo, @aeyakovenko, @tomgara, @swarajk_, @dividendmaster, @nabilapopal, @jamessurowiecki, @thestalwart, and @gurgavin

Forums: r/Android, r/wallstreetbets, r/apple, Slashdot, and MacRumors Forums

Vittoria Elliott / Wired:

ISD: fake footage of Iran's attack on Israel went viral on X, including AI-made videos and photos, with many posts from verified accounts and “OSINT experts” — Misleading posts including AI-generated videos, photos, and repurposed footage from other conflicts have been viewed millions of times.

More: ISD. X: @shayan86, @shayan86, @shayan86, @shayan86, @shayan86, @shayan86, @shayan86, @ghonchehazad, @shayan86, @shayan86, @shayan86, @arsenkeklikoglu, @merlynthomas, @eliothiggins, @shayan86, @vabvox, @shayan86, @decodingfoxnews, @shayan86, and @talhagin

Bloomberg:

As Microsoft begins its most ambitious security reboot in two decades, critics question if the company has sufficient incentive to make deep and lasting changes — Company has embarked on biggest security reboot in two decades, but critics question whether it has wherewithal to complete the job.

More: Wired and Dark Reading

Mastodon: @jvagle@mastodon.lawprofs.org. X: @kimzetter and @ericgeller. LinkedIn: Dina Bass

Forums: r/politics and r/technology

Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:

Source: a16z closed $7.2B for its newest set of funds, with allocations for AI infrastructure, AI apps, its “American Dynamism” strategy, and more — - About half of the targeted capital was aimed for its growth fund. — Instead of dedicated seed or early-stage funds …

More: Sandhill Report, The Information, and San Francisco Business Times. Bluesky: @marypcbuk.bsky.social

Peter Kafka / Business Insider:

Impressions of Waymo's robotaxis, now running in SF and Phoenix, after several rides: amazing tech that quickly feels “normal”, but they aren't perfect — An curved arrow pointing right. — Unlike other hyped-up tech, self-driving taxis look like they could be the real thing.

Threads: @emetelka, @joeypadge3, @nick_poitier, @motorcityadam, @pkafka, and @nemeseri

X: @pranay01, @alexia, @noampomsky, and @kazanjy

New York Times:

Sources: Instagram is in the early stages of testing “Creator AI” chatbots for top influencers, which would automate DM responses to fans in a creator's “voice” — Instagram is testing a program that offers its top influencers the ability to interact with their followers over direct messages using a chatbot.

More: Crowdfund Insider and The Korea Herald

Bluesky: @blowdart.me and @mikalfm.bsky.social

X: @baxiabhishek, @baekdal, and @mikeisaac. LinkedIn: Emil Protalinski

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From Mediagazer

Todd Spangler / Variety:

José Suárez, president and general manager of three Telemundo-owned TV stations in Florida, died in a helicopter crash Wednesday in Kenya along with six others

Charlotte Klein / New York Magazine:

A look at upcoming changes to 60 Minutes under Nick Bilton, including making greater use of its archive and potentially turning interviews into podcasts

Katie Kilkenny / The Hollywood Reporter:

Letter: movie theater trade organization Cinema United, which previously supported the AGs' lawsuit against Paramount's WBD deal, now favors settlement talks

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More News

Katie McQue / The Guardian:

As nine US states advance online child safety bills, a look at tech giants' lobbying efforts against the legislation, led by industry group NetChoice

X: @blakersdozen

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:

CISA said locks from RealPage's Chirp Systems, reportedly on ~50K US dwellings, can be unlocked via a hack; Chirp was told in 2021 but is quiet about the flaw

Mastodon: @briankrebs@infosec.exchange, @lpar@infosec.exchange, @kurtseifried@infosec.exchange, and @briankrebs@infosec.exchange

LinkedIn: Art Cooper and Brian Krebs

Andrew Cunningham / Ars Technica:

An interview with Framework CEO Nirav Patel on ongoing firmware and software issues with its repairable laptops, the promised fixes, Compal and Insyde, and more

More: The Verge. Forums: Hacker News, r/hardware, r/framework, and Ars OpenForum

Tony Romm / Washington Post:

AT&T, Charter, Comcast, and Verizon quietly lobby to weaken a $42.5B program to improve US internet access, aiming to block new rules on poor customers' bills

Mastodon: @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social. X: @tonyromm, @tonyromm, and @tonyromm. Forums: Slashdot

Meta:

Meta plans to temporarily shut down Threads in Turkey from April 29 to comply with a TCA interim order prohibiting data sharing between Threads and Instagram

More: Engadget, TechCrunch, 9to5Google, Benzinga, News.ng, Cybernews.com, Neowin, Reuters, Bloomberg, MSPoweruser, Turkish Minute, Duvar English, Balkan Insight, Daily Sabah, and Tech Xplore. Mastodon: @ahmetasabanci@mastodon.social

Earlier Picks

Olivia Poh / Bloomberg:

Singapore-based used car marketplace Carro raised ~$100M in pre-IPO funding at a $1.5B+ valuation and reports its first annual operating profit

More: Tech in Asia

David Pan / Bloomberg:

Bitcoin's next halving, set for around April 20, will cut miners' earnings for validating transactions from 900 BTC to 450, costing them ~$10B in annual revenue

More: Blockworks, Cybernews.com, Cointelegraph, CoinGape, Coinspeaker, crypto.news, The Crypto Times, The Block, and Cryptonews. LinkedIn: David Pan

Echo Wang / Reuters:

Source: cloud data management startup Rubrik plans to sell 23M shares priced between $28 and $31 each, raising up to $713M and reaching a ~$5.4B valuation

More: Silicon Valley Business …, Blocks and Files, and Bloomberg

Hannah Giorgis / The Atlantic:

A look at BlackPlanet, a social network for African Americans that went live in 1999, had ~15M users in 2008, and arguably laid the foundation for Black Twitter

X: @chefboiyardie, @thedallas, @kristyt, @joshuaogundu, @abetterboulder, @itsneenzjeez, and @theatlantic

LinkedIn: Anika Collier Navaroli, Japhy Grant, and Tara Turk-Haynes

Joseph Politano / Apricitas Economics:

Bureau of Labor Statistics data: California's percentage of US tech jobs has continued to steadily decline since 2020, now at the lowest levels in over a decade

X: @sasboomstick, @takisk, @__sangheetha__, @soquelcreek, @jm_mcgrath, @_giacomo_volpe_, @josephpolitano, @makeabuck2, @josephpolitano, @josephpolitano, @binarybits, @josephpolitano, @arpitrage, @josephpolitano, and @josephpolitano. LinkedIn: Jeroen de Jong

Forums: Hacker News and r/Economics