Techmeme
May 20, 2024, 7:20 AM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple and OpenAI are preparing a major announcement of their partnership at WWDC; the new AirTag with a better chip is scheduled to arrive by mid-2025  —  Apple was caught flat-footed in the generative AI race, and the company will need to change its strategy if it wants to catch up.
Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:
OpenAI pauses the use of the Sky voice in ChatGPT after users said it sounded too much like Scarlett Johansson, says voice was not chosen to be an “imitation”  —  OpenAI is working to pause the use of the Sky voice from an audible version of ChatGPT after users said that it sounded too much like actress Scarlett Johansson.
Max Tani / Semafor:
Many outlets have increased reliance on Apple News+; The Daily Beast is set to make $3M-$4M from it in 2024, and Time says it delivers a 7-figure annual revenue  —  The Scoop  —  Like many digital publishers, The Daily Beast was struggling at the end of 2023.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: US officials have told Google, Meta, and others about concerns that undersea cables could be vulnerable to tampering by China-owned repair ships  —  Google, Meta Platforms and others partially own many cables, but they rely on maintenance specialists, including some with foreign ownership
Renee DiResta / The Guardian:
How a rightwing smear campaign against NPR and its CEO Katherine Maher, who is on Signal Foundation's board, led Elon Musk to malign Signal  —  Rightwing media personalities on X transmuted a screed against NPR's CEO into a fight over encryption via the Transitive Property of Bad People
Stefanno Sulaiman / Reuters:
SpaceX launches Starlink in Indonesia to improve internet access in remote parts of the country, starting with three local health centers  —  Elon Musk and Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin launched SpaceX's satellite internet service for the nation's health sector on Sunday …
Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch:
A look at Overland AI, Potential, and other startups developing off-road self-driving systems, including for military operations, underground mining, and more  —  A new crop of early-stage startups — along with some recent VC investments — illustrates a niche emerging in the autonomous vehicle technology sector.

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