Techmeme
December 6, 2020, 7:00 PM

Top News

Karen Hao / MIT Technology Review:
A summary of the draft paper co-authored by Timnit Gebru, which outlined the main risks of large language AI models and provided suggestions for future research  —  The company's star ethics researcher highlighted the risks of large language models, which are key to Google's business.  —  hide
Julia Carrie Wong / The Guardian:
1,200+ Google employees and 1,500+ academic, industry, and civil supporters have signed a petition condemning the termination of AI scientist Timnit Gebru  —  More than 1,500 researchers also sign letter after Black expert on ethics says Google tried to suppress her research on bias
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
OnlyFans says it will generate $2B+ in sales in 2020, now has 85M users, is adding around 500K users a day, and is paying out $200M+ a month to its 1M+ creators  —  As Cardi B prepared the release for her new song “WAP,” she checked off all the usual components of her promotional plan …
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
How Biden's digital campaign, largely focused on positive, authentic messaging and “Facebook moms”, defeated Trump's “Death Star” digital operation  —  The campaign's empathetic digital strategy held up surprisingly well against President Trump's passionate digital following.
Kanishka Singh / Reuters:
Google says it pulled some Chrome extensions of IAC, the holding company behind services like Vimeo, for policy violations and is reviewing enforcement options  —  (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google said on Sunday it has removed a number of browser extensions of online conglomerate IAC/InterActive Corp for …
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou / Bloomberg:
TikTok videos offering dubious financial advice are drawing millions of views, as young people increasingly turn to the app as a source of financial literacy  —  Buy several credit cards with different due dates.  Max out spending on the first one, use another to pay it off …
Jeffrey Paul:
Macs with T2, M1 chips cannot be restored to factory state without contacting Apple over the internet, limiting their use in niche cases like airgapped systems  —  Modern Apple computers can no longer be fully used and maintained in 100% offline environments, or in ways that will reasonably ensure …
Cade Metz / New York Times:
Some police departments in California and Georgia have started using autonomous drones this year to track vehicles and people, raising civil rights questions  —  In one Southern California city, flying drones with artificial intelligence are aiding investigations while presenting new civil rights questions.
Karen Hao / MIT Technology Review:
A growing number of civil lawyers in the US are developing litigation strategies to push back against automated systems that deny the poor basic services  —  A growing group of lawyers are uncovering, navigating, and fighting the automated systems that deny the poor housing, jobs, and basic services.

Sponsor Posts

Soxton:
Fast, affordable law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
F5:
Accelerate AI Adoption at F5's AI Virtual Summit  —  Learn how to architect, secure, and scale AI for production with real-world insights from industry leaders on June 23.  Register now to save your spot.
Zoho:
Say hello to Zia Answer Bot: Your organization's knowledge, on-demand in every Zoho Lens session.  —  Imagine your technician is halfway through a live remote assistance session.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

The Upstarts Podcast:
Mutiny's Jaleh Rezaei: Walking Away From Millions In Software To Grow Even Faster With Sales AI
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Hard Fork:
'Hard Fork' Live, Part 3: Differing Visions of an A.I. Future
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
The billionaire paying AI researchers to stay out of Big Tech
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
The Race to the Middle
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Great Chat:
After you ring the bell
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:
AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
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 7:00 PM ET, December 6, 2020.

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

Earlier Picks

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Bloomberg: