Techmeme
May 18, 2024, 2:25 AM

Top News

Jan Leike / @janleike:
Kelsey Piper / Vox:
OpenAI has an unusual, extremely restrictive off-boarding agreement with a lifelong nondisparagement commitment; those who don't sign it lose all vested equity  —  Why is OpenAI's superalignment team imploding?  —  Editor's note, May 17, 2024, 11:20 pm ET: This story has been updated …
Will Knight / Wired:
OpenAI's entire Superalignment team, which was focused on the existential dangers of AI, has either resigned or been absorbed into other research groups  —  The entire OpenAI team focused on the existential dangers of AI has either resigned or been absorbed into other research groups, WIRED has confirmed.
The Information:
Sources: Apple is working on a significantly slimmer iPhone that could be released concurrently with the iPhone 17, a major redesign, similar to the iPhone X  —  Apple is developing a significantly thinner version of the iPhone that could be released as early as 2025, according to three people with direct knowledge of the project.
Reed Albergotti / Semafor:
Google DeepMind releases its Frontier Safety Framework, a set of protocols for analyzing and mitigating future risks posed by advanced AI models  —  The Scoop  —  Preparing for a time when artificial intelligence is so powerful that it can pose a serious, immediate threat to people …
Kate Irwin / PCMag:
Slack confirms it is training some of its AI-powered features, but not its generative AI tool, on user content and uploads, with all users opted-in by default  —  Slack feeds user content, messages, and uploads to its machine learning models.  All users are opted-in by default.
Sarah E. Needleman / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Microsoft plans to add the latest installment of Call of Duty to Xbox Game Pass at launch this fall, a major shakeup of its video game sales strategy  —  Software company will add the latest installment of the hit videogame series to its Game Pass subscription service at launch this fall
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 …
Brendan O'Boyle / Reuters:
The US DOJ charges two arrested Chinese nationals for allegedly orchestrating a crypto pig butchering scam that laundered at least $73M from defrauded victims  —  U.S. authorities charged two Chinese nationals in a cryptocurrency scam that laundered at least $73 million from defrauded victims, the Justice Department said on Friday.
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  —  An unexpected and drastic measure to cut off access to the app in New Caledonia marks an EU first.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack  —  Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
Zoho Webinar: A look back at 2025  —  As 2025 comes to a close, it's the perfect time to look back at how Zoho Webinar has transformed the way businesses connect, engage, and grow.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'A Naughty Citizen', With Quinn Nelson
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Big Technology Podcast:
2025 In Review, 2026 Predictions — With Reed Albergotti
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Podcast Pioneer PJ Vogt's Second Act: Less Budget, More Control
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
BG2 Pod:
AI Enterprise - Databricks & Glean
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Great Chat:
The stories we told ourselves in 2025
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
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 2:25 AM ET, May 18, 2024.

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

Thomas Claburn / The Register:

Earlier Picks

Wall Street Journal:
William Gallagher / AppleInsider:
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Carl Franzen / VentureBeat:
Reuters:
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times: