Techmeme
July 31, 2024, 9:10 AM

Top News

Alex Heath / The Verge:
After users reported that Meta's AI assistant incorrectly claimed the attempted assassination of Donald Trump did not happen, Meta blames hallucinations  —  Meta's AI assistant incorrectly said that the recent attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump didn't happen …
The Information:
Meta scraps its celebrity AI chatbot feature less than a year after launch and now expects people to use Meta's new AI Studio to customize their own AI avatars  —  Meta Platforms has scrapped its first high-profile foray into consumer artificial intelligence—chatbots played by celebrities …
Microsoft:
Microsoft reports Q4 revenue up 15% YoY to $64.7B, net income up 10% YoY to $22B, Office Commercial revenue up 12% YoY, and LinkedIn revenue up 10% YoY  —  REDMOND, Wash. — July 30, 2024 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the following results for the quarter ended June 30, 2024 …
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Bloomberg:
Sources: Intel may unveil plans as early as this week to cut thousands of jobs to reduce costs and fund a rebound from an earnings slump and market share losses  —  - CEO Gelsinger embarks on ambitious effort to regain share  — Chipmaker is spending on research, development and new plants
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
AMD reports Q2 revenue up 9% YoY to $5.83B, vs. $5.72B est., Data Center revenue up 115% to $2.8B, net income up 881% to $265M, Q3 revenue forecast above est.  —  Advanced Micro Devices reported second-quarter earnings on Tuesday that beat Wall Street expectations for revenue and showed continued growth …
Lauren Feiner / The Verge:
The US Senate passes the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act by a vote of 91 to 3; the bills now head to the House  —  The Senate passed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act (also known as COPPA 2.0) …
Sheila Chiang / CNBC:
Samsung reports Q2 revenue up 23.42% YoY to ~$53.45B, vs. ~$53.3B est., and operating profit up 1,458% YoY to ~$7.5B, as AI memory chip demand remains strong  —  Samsung Electronics on Wednesday reported higher-than-expected second-quarter revenue and operating profit, as demand …
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
OpenAI begins rolling out ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode, initially criticized for sounding like Scarlett Johansson during its demo in May 2024, to ChatGPT Plus  —  OpenAI began rolling out ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode on Tuesday, giving users their first access to GPT-4o's hyper-realistic audio responses.
Boone Ashworth / Wired:
Startup Friend previews a $99 AI pendant with an always-on microphone that's designed to provide the wearer with companionship, set to ship in January 2025  —  The latest attempt at an AI-powered wearable is an always-listening pendant.  But it doesn't help you be more productive, it just keeps you company.
Kate Gibson / CBS News:
The US CPSC rules that Amazon is legally responsible for recalled products sold on Amazon.com, even by third parties, and must remove them and notify purchasers  —  Amazon distributed hundreds of thousands of hazardous products sold by third-parties through the e-commerce giant's platform …
Wall Street Journal:
How Elon Musk and X's division of labor stymied some of Linda Yaccarino's plans, like a Visa deal; internal figures show X had 250.8M DAUs in Q2, up 1.56% YoY  —  Tensions over the division of labor with Musk have stymied some of Yaccarino's initiatives  —  X Corp. Chief Executive Linda …
Salvador Rodriguez / Wall Street Journal:
An investigation finds 450+ illicit drug ads on Facebook and Instagram from March to June 2024, some showing bottles or bricks of cocaine; Meta removed the ads  —  Instagram and Facebook, already under federal investigation, continue to run ads for illegal drugs, including ads showing piles of pills and bricks of cocaine
Andrew Liszewski / The Verge:
Nothing unveils the Phone 2A Plus, offering the same 6.7-inch display as the 2A and a new MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro 5G SoC, available for $399 on August 7  —  Plus is often used in smartphone naming to delineate a larger model with a bigger screen, but that's not the case here.
New York Times:
Reid Hoffman, Vinod Khosla, Mark Cuban, Ron Conway, Chris Sacca, and 100+ other VCs pledge to vote for Kamala Harris and solicit donations for her campaign  —  The group, including Democratic donors such as Reid Hoffman and Vinod Khosla, has been organized under an effort called VCsForKamala.
Chris Miller / Financial Times:
How US safeguards on the Microsoft-G42 deal, aiming to protect critical data center and AI infrastructure, could shape future international data center projects  —  Security hawks in Washington worry that infrastructure deals risk the future of AI  —  If artificial intelligence systems transform …

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