Techmeme: A look at AI companies gathering data from real people to create “digital twins”, to use as fashion models, focus group members, or clinical trial participants (Isabelle Bousquette/Wall Street Journal)

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May 4, 2024, 2:40 AM

Top News

Wendy Lee / Los Angeles Times:

How the AI-generated music video for Washed Out's The Hardest Part was created entirely using OpenAI's Sora, a first from a major record label — “The Hardest Part,” a new song from indie pop artist Washed Out, is all about love lost, among the most human of themes.

More: Washed Out on YouTube, Interesting Engineering, TechEBlog, Stereogum, Boing Boing, Tom's Guide, VentureBeat, Cybernews.com, Mashable, Paul Trillo on Vimeo, TechRadar, Voicebot.ai, and Analytics India Magazine

Threads: @billyfx.ig and @patrickromeoau

X: @paultrillo, @ankitpr89, @vividfeverdrms, @thisisnalaa, @counternotions, @carlfranzen, @kennyle31, @abelowrob, @paultrillo, @paultrillo, @paultrillo, @realwashedout, @realwashedout, @realwashedout, @realwashedout, @realwashedout, and @realwashedout. LinkedIn: Kamila Sultanova

Forums: r/videos and r/washedout

See also Mediagazer

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

X launches Stories on X, with news curated and summarized by Grok AI, available for Premium subscribers in the Explore tab on iOS and on the web — X, formerly Twitter, is now using Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok to power a feature that summarizes the personalized trending stories in the app's Explore section.

More: Engadget and TweakTown

Bluesky: @rocksizedrock.bsky.social and @annlaabs.bsky.social

X: @xeng, @brij, @matthewkeyslive, @lindayax, and @x

Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology:

Elon Musk says he wants Grok to create news summaries by relying solely on X posts, without looking at article text, and improved story citations are coming

Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:

Russian national Alexander Vinnik, one of the operators of crypto exchange BTC-e from 2011 to 2017, pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering — Vinnik was first arrested in 2017, but faced a lengthy extradition process that saw him spend time in Greece and France before being sent to the U.S.

More: US Department of Justice, Cryptopolitan, CoinGape, Bloomberg, and The Crypto Times

X: @nikhileshde, @usao_ndca, and @usao_ndca

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft outlines security principles and goals tied to executive compensation packages, following a scathing US Cyber Safety Review Board report in April 2024 — - Protect identities and secrets. … - Protect tenants and isolate production systems. … - Protect networks.

More: Source, The Verge, Ars Technica, Cybersecurity Dive, SiliconANGLE, The Official Microsoft Blog, Axios, WebProNews, SecurityWeek, Thurrott, GeekWire, TechRadar, PCMag, Neowin, CyberScoop, GeekWire, OSnews, CSO, and Beyond Search

Mastodon: @againsthimself@ioc.exchange. X: @msftsecurity, @tomwarren, @david_obrien, @ericgeller, @frankmcg, @cisagov, @markrussinovich, @hackinglz, @johnlatwc, @sherrod_im, @tomwarren, @stonepwn3000, @thurrott, @vasujakkal, and @cisajen

LinkedIn: Roger Grimes, Antonio Hawkins, Najat Messaoud, and Rich Mogull. Forums: r/technews

Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Roundtable:

Google updates its ad policy to ban the promotion of services that generate, distribute, or store synthetic sexually explicit content, starting May 30, 2024 — Google Ads, Shopping Ads, Admob, and other Google Ads products will soon disallow deepfake sexual content, synthetic sexually explicit content …

More: Google Help Center, iThinkDifferent, 404 Media, Google Help Center, The Verge, and Search Engine Land

Tim Stelloh / NBC News:

Defense lawyers question the accuracy and reliability of Cybercheck, an AI tool used in thousands of US cases to identify suspects' locations and other details — Cybercheck's founder has said the software tops 90% accuracy. Defense lawyers have said he lied under oath about his expertise …

Threads: @lllafalce, @hashimwarren, and @lavishtantrums. Mastodon: @Wolven@ourislandgeorgia.net

X: @timstelloh and @eff. Forums: r/boulder

Isabelle Bousquette / Wall Street Journal:

A look at AI companies gathering data from real people to create “digital twins”, to use as fashion models, focus group members, or clinical trial participants — AI that can predict how specific humans will look, act and feel could do the jobs of fashion models, focus group members and clinical trial participants

More: Applied Clinical Trials, PharmaVoice, arXiv, and New York Post

X: @charleskfisher, @charleskfisher, @charleskfisher, @hamishbrock, @danielcitron, @scribblevc, @miramurati, and @brox_ai. LinkedIn: Rachel Kalmar

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Filing: CRM software maker Freshworks acquires Connecticut-based Device42, which helps companies manage their IT infrastructure and had raised $38.5M, for $230M — Freshworks, the publicly listed SaaS firm, is acquiring U.S.-based startup Device42 for $230 million, the company disclosed in an SEC filing.

More: Freshworks, The Hindu BusinessLine, CMSWire.com, Reuters, Freshworks, Inc42 Media, diginomica, TechCircle, Freshworks, and Inc42 Media

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:

Synergy Research: cloud revenue grew 21% YoY in Q1 2024 to $76B; Altimeter: AWS now has 31% market share followed by Azure with 25% and Google with 11% — Last year's doldrums are in the rearview thanks to AI — If you were concerned about slowing cloud infrastructure growth for a time in 2023 …

More: Synergy Research Group, Clouded Judgement, The Register, Channel Futures, Analytics India Magazine, and CIO Dive

X: @srg_research and @jaminball

Joanna Stern / Wall Street Journal:

Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses are a simple, reliable, and smartly priced AI gadget, whereas Humane's AI Pin and the Rabbit R1 are more akin to science projects — There's a new WANTED poster in town... PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1: The smartphone ACCUSED OF: Stealing your attention, sanity and well-being REWARD …

More: The Verge, The Wall Street Journal on YouTube, Engadget, BGR, 9to5Google, New York Post, CNET, Mashable, and Wccftech

Threads: @joannastern, @daultonvenglar, @daultonvenglar, @joannastern, @brian_c_weaver_, @phillydesign, and @joannastern

X: @joannastern, @tvanschadewijk, and @alexeheath

Agence France-Presse:

Ukraine unveils an AI-generated foreign ministry spokesperson called Victoria Shi, who will make official statements “written and verified by real people” — Victoria Shi is modelled on Rosalie Nombre, a singer and former contestant on Ukraine's version of the reality show The Bachelor

Sara Fischer / Axios:

A look at news publishers' conflicting approaches toward AI companies, and how the lack of a data marketplace makes it hard for buyers and sellers to set rates — - The new suits add heft to the Times' claims. … Several other large news publishers, including the Financial Times …

X: @sarafischer. LinkedIn: Digimentors and Peter Csathy

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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.

From Mediagazer

Tierney Sneed / CNN:

CNN, MS NOW, and Politico ask a federal judge for a preliminary injunction to keep their White House access restored after a temporary order expires October 8

Gene Maddaus / Variety:

Paramount and 12 state AGs defend their antitrust settlement after a judge held off on approving the settlement citing concerns raised by Senator Cory Booker

Hassan Ali Kanu / Politico:

NYT and other publishers ask a court to disregard the DOJ's statement supporting OpenAI in their copyright suit, saying the Trump administration may be biased

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More News

Vikas SN / Moneycontrol:

Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal's Krutrim launches an Android app for its eponymous AI chatbot as the startup prepares to launch its developer offerings on May 4

More: YourStory. X: @krutrim and @krutrim. LinkedIn: Krutrim

C.C. Weiss / New Atlas:

Natron Energy starts production of sodium-ion batteries that it says charge and discharge 10x faster than lithium-ion, initially for use at data centers

More: Bloomberg, CleanTechnica, and Tech Xplore

Mastodon: @HollyCo26588808 … and @ernie@writing.exchange. X: @perpetualmaniac

Forums: Hacker News and r/technology

Nico Grant / New York Times:

Google employees have mostly ignored the DOJ's antitrust case, and some expect only small business tweaks and some fines; closing arguments concluded on May 3

More: The Verge, Associated Press, The Information, PBS NewsHour, New York Post, Digiday, NTD, Reuters, NPR, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg, Search Engine Land, and Channel NewsAsia

Threads: @alexheath and @shiraovide

X: @jason_kint, @nicoagrant, @daveyalba, @khushitavasant, @jason_kint, @daveyalba, and @jason_kint

Alison Snyder / Axios:

CSET: global AI research more than doubled between 2017 and 2022; Chinese Academy of Sciences was the top producer of highly cited AI papers, followed by Google

More: Emerging Technology …, Emerging Technology …, and Blockworks

X: @emergingtechobs, @emergingtechobs, @csetgeorgetown, and @emergingtechobs

Christina A. Cassidy / Associated Press:

In a letter, several Democrats serving as their state's top election officials ask Meta to repeal a policy allowing ads that claim the 2020 election was stolen

X: @nicktuell

Reuters:

Sources: Fei-Fei Li raised a seed round for a “spatial intelligence” startup using human-like visual data processing to create AI capable of advanced reasoning

More: The Information. X: @lexnfx

Counterpoint Research:

Global smartphone market grew 6% YoY to 296.9M units in Q1; Samsung recaptured the top spot with a 20% market share; Apple shipments fell 13% but ASP grew 2%

More: International Business Times, Light Reading, Gizchina, Android Headlines, and Investing.com. X: @carnage4life

Dan Primack / Axios:

SVB agrees to sell its VC arm SVB Capital, which manages ~$9.8B in assets, to a new entity backed by Brookfield and Sequoia Heritage for $340M in cash

More: VCWire, SVB Financial Group, Reuters, Silicon Valley Business …, The Information, and Finextra

X: @koolhead17, @pitdesi, and @danprimack

Earlier Picks

Eva Dou / Washington Post:

The FCC warns that US rural areas may lose cell service if Congress does not fill a $3B funding shortfall for US carriers to replace Huawei and ZTE equipment

More: The Verge, Huawei Central, and Android Headlines

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

What to expect from Apple's May 7 event: OLED iPad Pros possibly with M4 chips, 10.9" and 12.9" iPad Airs, and updates to the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard

Ashley Stewart / Business Insider:

Sources: Bill Gates remains intimately involved in Microsoft's operations, advising on strategy, nurturing Microsoft's relationship with Sam Altman, and more

More: Fox News, CRN, Benzinga, and Windows Copilot News

Bluesky: @marypcbuk.bsky.social. X: @tomwarren, @_darrencohen, @timothywschwab, @hkanji, @timothywschwab, and @scottjla

LinkedIn: David Subar, Ashley Stewart, and Alistair Barr

Lisa O'Carroll / The Guardian:

Germany “unambiguously” finds that Russian state-backed hacker Fancy Bear was behind cyberattacks in 2023 that took down several German government websites

More: mzv.gov.cz, Politico, Cyber Daily, DataBreachToday.com, BleepingComputer, ComputerWeekly.com, Associated Press, Euractiv, Reuters, and Metacurity

X: @georgeszamuely. LinkedIn: Berta Jarosova. Forums: r/worldnews

Lindsay Clark / The Register:

A committee of UK legislators says the government's “reticence” to address alleged copyright theft is a “de facto endorsement” of how tech companies build LLMs

More: Lords Communications and Digital Committee, Cryptonews, diginomica, TechRadar, ComputerWeekly.com, The Times, and Cointelegraph

X: @lordscommscom and @lordscommscom

Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:

Coinbase reports Q1 net revenue up 116% YoY to $1.59B, vs. $1.32B est., net income of $1.18B, consumer transaction revenue of $935M, up 99% QoQ

More: Cryptopolitan, Unchained, PYMNTS.com, CoinGape, Blockworks, Fortune, CCN.com, Proactive, Cryptonews, CNBC, Crypto Briefing, Cointelegraph, Decrypt, The Information, The Block, and Coinbase

MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:

Block reports Q1 revenue up 19% YoY to $5.96B, vs. $5.82B est., gross profit up 22% to $2.09B, Square profit up 19%, and Cash App profit up 25%

More: MarketWatch, investors.block.xyz, Block, DL News, Decrypt, Proactive, Benzinga, Unchained, Cryptonews, The Information, PYMNTS.com, Cointelegraph, and Bloomberg

Apple:

Apple reports Q2 revenue down 4% YoY to $90.75B, net income down 2% to $23.64B, and announces a $110B share buyback, its largest yet

More: Fortune, mjtsai.com, Bloomberg, Inc.com, Yahoo Finance, Silicon Valley Business …, New York Post, Spyglass, 24/7 Wall St., Finbold, Neowin, Euronews, Reuters, TechCrunch, City A.M., Patently Apple, NewsBytes, SiliconANGLE, Macworld, AppleInsider, MacRumors, Business Times, FX Empire, TipRanks Financial, MobileSyrup, AppleInsider, Axios, Invezz, The Irish Times, Investor's Business Daily, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, BGR, Investing.com, Daring Fireball, Variety, and Nikkei Asia

Threads: @lukehurd, @carnage4life, @neil.cybart, and @chancehmiller

Mastodon: @nickheer@c.im, @jsnell@zeppelin.flights, and @jsnell@zeppelin.flights

Forums: r/economy, r/stocks, r/dividends, r/wallstreetbets, and r/apple