Techmeme
May 18, 2024, 5:10 PM

Top News

Greg Brockman / @gdb:
Sam Altman and Greg Brockman respond to Jan Leike, say they've raised awareness of the risks and opportunities of AGI, will keep doing safety research, and more  —  We're really grateful to Jan for everything he's done for OpenAI, and we know he'll continue to contribute to the mission from outside. In light of the questions his departure has raised, we wanted to explain a bit about how we think about our overall strategy. First, we have
Steven Levy / Wired:
Despite some skeptics claiming that AI is an industry-wide delusion, last week's demos from OpenAI and Google show that the rate of AI progress is not slowing  —  Some pundits suggest generative AI stopped getting smarter.  The explosive demos from OpenAI and Google that started the week show there's plenty more disruption to come.
Nitish Pahwa / Slate:
How bots monopolizing DeviantArt's promotional and revenue apparatuses and the platform's unwillingness to address the issue are driving artists to abandon it  —  Once a vibrant platform for artists, DeviantArt is now buckling under the weight of bots and greed—and spurning the creative community that made it great.
Sam Altman / @sama:
Sam Altman says he is embarrassed that there was a provision about potential equity cancellation in exit docs, and OpenAI never took back anyone's vested equity  —  in regards to recent stuff about how openai handles equity: we have never clawed back anyone's vested equity, nor will we do that if people do not sign a separation agreement (or don't agree to a non-disparagement agreement). vested equity is vested equity, full stop. there was
Jonathan Randles / Bloomberg:
A US judge approves Genesis Global Capital's Chapter 11 repayment plan to return Bitcoin and other tokens to creditors, defeating a challenge by its parent DCG  —  - Genesis defeated a challenge by parent Digital Currency Group  — Judge also approved a related settlement with the New York AG
Pranshu Verma / Washington Post:
A look at an ISIS-affiliated media program called News Harvest, which is using AI-generated news anchors to disseminate extremist propaganda quickly and cheaply  —  The Islamic State-affiliated media broadcast News Harvest shows how artificial intelligence can be used to disseminate extremist propaganda quickly and cheaply.
Lisa Feldman Barrett / Wall Street Journal:
Training AI on stereotypical facial expressions is bound to mislead because scientific evidence indicates that there are no universal expressions of emotion  —  Training algorithms on stereotypical facial expressions is bound to mislead.  —  Imagine that you are interviewing for a job.
Politico:
Critics warn the French government's first-of-its-kind move within the EU to suspend TikTok in New Caledonia amid widespread protests sets a dangerous precedent  —  PARIS — In a first-of-its-kind move within the European Union, the French government has moved to block TikTok in one of its overseas territories amid widespread protests.
Leah Nylen / Bloomberg:
Epic v. Apple: Phil Schiller told a US judge that Apple's new 27% fee on purchases made outside its App Store are a good-faith attempt to comply with the law  —  - Top Apple executive took stand Friday to defend new fee  — Epic Games has challenged Apple proposed antitrust remedy
Astha Rajvanshi / TIME:
Access Now: 2023 was the worst year for internet shutdowns since monitoring began in 2016, with 283 shutdowns across 39 countries, led by India at 116  —  Last year, an internet shutdown in the state of Manipur, India, lasted a staggering 212 days when the state government issued 44 consecutive orders …

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Earlier Picks

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Reed Albergotti / Semafor:
Kate Irwin / PCMag:
Will Knight / Wired:
Kiuyan Wong / Bloomberg:
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
William Gallagher / AppleInsider: