Techmeme: The Irish Data Protection Commission says X has agreed to pause training Grok using millions of Europeans' public posts it collected between May 7 and August 1 (Clothilde Goujard/Politico)

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August 9, 2024, 4:25 PM

Top News

Michael Kan / PCMag:

Intel delays its Innovation event, slated for September and expected to include details about new CPUs, until 2025, citing its financial results and H2 outlook — The chipmaker is delaying one of its biggest events, which was slated for September and expected to include more details about upcoming processors.

Matt Burgess / Wired:

A researcher shows five proof-of-concept ways that Copilot can be manipulated by attackers, including turning it into an automatic spear-phishing machine — Attacks on Microsoft's Copilot AI allow for answers to be manipulated, data extracted, and security protections bypassed, new research shows.

More: The Register, PC Gamer, Security Boulevard, Dark Reading, Cybernews.com, and Zenity

Mastodon: @mattburgess@infosec.exchange. LinkedIn: Lana Salameh. Forums: r/technews and r/technology

Andy Greenberg / Wired:

IOActive researchers detail “Sinkclose”, a vulnerability in almost all AMD chips dating back to 2006 that allows attackers to run code in System Management Mode — Researchers warn that a bug in AMD's chips would allow attackers to root into some of the most privileged portions of a computer …

More: PCMag, Engadget, Tom's Hardware, BleepingComputer, and IOActive

Mastodon: @agreenberg@infosec.exchange. X: @a_greenberg, @notolymp1a, and @ioactive

Forums: Hacker News, r/technology, r/cybersecurity, r/Amd, r/pcmasterrace, r/hardware, r/wallstreetbets, Beehaw, and Lobsters

Reuters:

Sources: Cisco plans a second round of layoffs in 2024, affecting at least as many as the 4,000 laid off in February, to be announced as soon as August 14 — Cisco (CSCO.O) will cut thousands of jobs in a second round of layoffs this year as the U.S. networking equipment maker shifts focus …

More: DatacenterDynamics, CRN, Bloomberg, and Reuters

LinkedIn: Utkarsh Shetti and Dave Lewis

The Guardian:

UK PM Keir Starmer says ministers will review the Online Safety Act, after London mayor Sadiq Khan said it was “not fit for purpose” following far-right riots — Move comes after London mayor Sadiq Khan said role of misinformation in unrest showed law was unfit for purpose

Clothilde Goujard / Politico:

The Irish Data Protection Commission says X has agreed to pause training Grok using millions of Europeans' public posts it collected between May 7 and August 1 — X will pause training its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok with some European users' posts, according to Europe's chief privacy watchdog.

More: TechCrunch, Tech Xplore, The Cyber Express, Silicon Republic, PYMNTS.com, Computerworld, MEDIANAMA, and PhoneArena

X: @dwaynephillips and @euratol

Financial Times:

Perplexity says its AI search engine answered ~250M queries in the past month vs. 500M in 2023; sources: Perplexity recently raised $250M at a $3B valuation — Artificial intelligence app boosts usage and sales despite controversy over its data-gathering techniques

More: Benzinga and 24/7 Wall St.

X: @mandarkagade. LinkedIn: Damian Burns

Financial Times:

Since the OpenAI board dispute, Microsoft diversified AI investments and partnerships, built its own models, and hired aggressively for its consumer AI efforts — The tech giant has worked to execute an AI strategy independent of Sam Altman's start-up following a leadership crisis last year

X: @hkanji and @rwang07

Kaya Yurieff / The Information:

TikTok is offering steep discounts on goods to US users who invite friends to the app, expanding a referral scheme from countries like Japan and Thailand — TikTok is testing a truism: Money talks. — TikTok users in the U.S. who invite their friends to the app can now get steep discounts on goods …

Theo Wayt / The Information:

Amazon partners with TikTok and Pinterest to let users buy items from Amazon ads without leaving the social media apps, expanding on deals with Meta and Snap

More: Search Engine Land, Barron's Online, Tubefilter, PCMag, Bloomberg, Quartz, Engadget, ChannelX, Chain Store Age, Dexerto, TikTok For Business, PYMNTS.com, esports.gg, and Affiverse. X: @banana3stocks

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:25 PM ET, August 9, 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.

From Mediagazer

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

The BBC is seeking to subpoena Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner in the defamation lawsuit the president is pressing against the broadcaster

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Filing: WBD president and CEO David Zaslav sold $195M+ worth of WBD stock since the company agreed to be acquired by Paramount; his latest sale totaled $21.7M

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

ABC and NBC plan to air a combined 90 NBA games in the 2026-2027 season, a 14% increase over last season, continuing the shift away from comedies and dramas

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More News

Bloomberg:

Sources: Guangzhou-based robotaxi company WeRide is seeking ~$100M in a US initial public offering and around $200M to $300M in a concurrent private placement

More: TechCrunch and Pandaily

Mackenzie Hawkins / Bloomberg:

A look at the US' Chips and Science Act two years after its enactment on August 9, 2022, as the Biden administration nearly finishes divvying up $39B in grants

More: AnandTech and Columbus Business Journal

Bluesky: @patrickmaroney.bsky.social. X: @mackhawk

Reuters:

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blocks X in the country for 10 days, accusing Elon Musk of using X to incite hate after Venezuela's disputed election

More: Inc.com, CNBC, Engadget, Reuters, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, Agence France-Presse, Xataka On, TweakTown, TechRadar, Deutsche Welle, BBC, MercoPress, Benzinga, and Anadolu Ajansı …

X: @kanthan2030, @santasurfing, and @daveatherton20. Forums: r/worldnews

Earlier Picks

Emily Bary / MarketWatch:

Unity reports Q2 revenue down 16% YoY to $449M, vs. $438M est., a $125.6M net loss, vs. $192.2M in Q2 2023, and trims its FY 2024 forecast; U jumps 5%+

More: Cautious Optimism, Game Developer, Unity, GamesIndustry.biz, Developer Tech News, PC Games Insider, MarketWatch, VentureBeat, and Benzinga

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: enterprise AI company Glean is in advanced talks to raise $250M led by DST Global at a $4.5B valuation, about double its valuation from February 2024

More: Silicon Valley Business … and PYMNTS.com

Jay Peters / The Verge:

OpenAI now lets ChatGPT free users to generate up to two images per day using DALL-E 3, after launching DALL-E 3 to ChatGPT Plus subscribers in October 2023

More: Financial Express, How-To Geek, Android Authority, MacRumors, iPhone in Canada Blog, Tom's Guide, Benzinga, 9to5Mac, WinBuzzer, ZDNET, Wccftech, Digital Trends, Business Today, Business Standard, Neowin, Moneycontrol, Notebookcheck, and Pocket-lint

X: @openai. Forums: Hacker News and r/singularity

Wired:

OpenAI reveals details of GPT-4o's safety testing, including concerns that its anthropomorphic voice may make some users emotionally attached to their chatbot

More: OpenAI, Ars Technica, Silicon Valley Business …, The Verge, Mashable, TechCrunch, Quartz, Tom's Guide, The Decoder, Android Headlines, MarkTechPost, Windows Central, Financial Express, WinBuzzer, Business Today, Cointelegraph, Neowin, and CoinGape

X: @aisafetymemes, @simonw, @joheidecke, @teknium1, @lindsmccallum, and @openai

LinkedIn: Sebastian Mueller, Emil Protalinski, and Sandro Gianella. Forums: r/OpenAI

Brian Heater / TechCrunch:

Google's DeepMind Robotics team shows a table tennis robot that it says is a “solidly amateur human-level player” when pitted against a human

More: arXiv.org, Cybernews.com, TNW, Tech Xplore, WinBuzzer, MIT Technology Review, Financial Express, Digital Trends, CryptoGlobe, NewsBytes, How-To Geek, Ars Technica, Popular Science, The Decoder, and AIM. X: @googledeepmind

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

Apple debuts new rules and fees for apps in the EU that link to the web for purchases, including allowing links to any website, and removes other restrictions

More: Computerworld, The Verge, Apple Developer, Android Authority, Mobile Dev Memo, MusicTech, Xataka On, Reuters, Daring Fireball, PhoneArena, MacRumors, Pixel Envy, iThinkDifferent, BGR, iClarified, TechCrunch, Spyglass, Thurrott, mjtsai.com, PYMNTS.com, Macworld, Neowin, Cult of Mac, AppleInsider, and TechCrunch

Threads: @eshumarneedi. Mastodon: @stroughtonsmith …, @iKyle@mastodon.social, and @stroughtonsmith …

X: @eric_seufert, @mysk_co, @mgsiegler, @carnage4life, @carnage4life, @bzamayo, @ballmatthew, and @mgsiegler. Forums: r/apple

Josh Self / Politics.co.uk:

In a now-deleted X post, Elon Musk reposted a fake Telegraph story shared by a far-right party about the UK opening “Detainment Camps”; the post had 1.8M views

More: The Guardian, Politico, Reuters, Business Today, BBC, Wired, Fortune, Tech.eu, The Mirror, The Guardian, Times of India, The Independent, The Daily Beast, and NBC News

Threads: @martinsfp and @daveleebbg

Mastodon: @bodhipaksa@mastodon.scot, @bodhipaksa@mastodon.scot, and @JoshuaHolland@mastodon.social

X: @josh_self_, @shayan86, @telegraph, @josh_self_, @mattzeitlin, @jimmysecuk, @jakubkrupa, @jackbailey2, @sundersays, @jonathanpienews, @elonmusk, @elonmusk, @philmoorhouse76, @drjennings, @gerryhassan, @mij_europe, and @albertonardelli

Forums: r/news, r/Law_and_Politics, r/LabourUK, and r/EnoughMuskSpam