Techmeme
May 16, 2023, 4:35 PM

Top News

Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
A recap of the testimony from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, IBM VP Christina Montgomery, and professor Gary Marcus at a US Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing  —  OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will testify to Congress on AI like ChatGPT as regulations and oversight are being considered.
Financial Times:
Sam Altman tells Congress that AI regulation is “essential” but must let companies adapt to new tech, suggests safety measures and a licensing regime, and more  —  OpenAI's chief executive Sam Altman called on US lawmakers to regulate fast-advancing artificial intelligence technology …
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Apple unveils new cognitive, vision, and speech accessibility features for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, like an AI voice that sounds like the user's, coming in 2023  —  Apple previewed a suite of new features today to improve cognitive, vision and speech accessibility.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Apple rolls out new concert discovery features, including Set Lists in Apple Music for select artists and Guides to local venues in Apple Maps for select cities  —  Apple is bringing concert discovery to two of its flagship apps, Apple Music and Apple Maps, the company announced today.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google updates its inactivity policy: accounts inactive for at least two years will be deleted, except for those with YouTube videos, starting in December 2023  —  In 2020, Google said it would remove content stored in an inactive account (but not the account itself) to preserve storage space.
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple touts $2B+ in App Store fraud stopped in 2022, nearly 3.9M stolen credit cards blocked, 147M+ ratings/reviews removed, and 428K developer accounts closed  —  Apple is out with a new press release today touting the success of the App Store's ability to prevent fraud.
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:
Source: Twitter acquires recruiting startup Laskie for “tens of millions” in cash and stock, its first deal under Elon Musk; PitchBook: Laskie had raised $6M  —  Twitter appears to have made its first deal of the Elon Musk era: Buying a job-matching tech startup called Laskie, Axios has learned.
Rohan Goswami / CNBC:
The US DOJ alleges former Apple engineer Weibao Wang stole Apple's autonomous tech, including source code, for a Chinese company working on a self-driving car  —  - Weibao Wang was charged with six counts of theft or attempted theft by prosecutors, who allege he stole troves of source code …
Washington Post:
The US announces charges, sanctions, and a $10M reward for info leading to the arrest of Russian national Mikhail Matveev, a Babuk ransomware campaign suspect  —  The Justice, Treasury and State departments announced a crackdown on global ransomware suspect Mikhail Matveev …
Alexandra Alter / New York Times:
Q&A with Michael Lewis on his FTX book, “Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon”, set to debut on October 3, visiting SBF, a possible trial, and more  —  About a year after the author Michael Lewis began to shadow Bankman-Fried, the founder of the crypto exchange FTX, Bankman-Fried was arrested.
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Zoom plans to add Anthropic's AI chatbot Claude across its platform, starting with Contact Center; the company didn't detail the integration for other areas  —  Zoom is partnering with Anthropic to integrate the company's AI assistant across its productivity platform.
CoinDesk:
The EU's Council approves the Markets in Crypto Assets rules, making the EU the first major jurisdiction with a crypto licensing regime, taking effect in 2024  —  The landmark Markets in Crypto Assets regulation was given final approval by the EU's Council, which also agreed a new law for sharing data on crypto tax holdings.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Meta spins out Kustomer, after acquiring the CRM startup for ~$1B in a deal that closed in 2022; Kustomer raises $60M at a reported $250M valuation  —  Meta's grand experiment in building an enterprise-ready customer service platform has come to a close: the parent of Facebook has officially spun …
Casey Wagner / Blockworks:
In its response to a US federal court, the SEC says Coinbase has no right to compel the agency to issue guidelines for crypto companies “on a specific timeline”  —  The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a response to Coinbase's complaint requesting the agency to establish regulatory clarity for the industry.
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
An interview with Kevin Systrom on Artifact's new writer features, serving writers as a key to the news app's growth, matching consumers with writers, and more  —  Artifact aims to unlock new, cross-platform audience relationships for people who write for a living
Alexander Osipovich / Wall Street Journal:
SEC court filings: Jump Trading secretly purchased tens of millions in TerraUSD to help keep its peg and made ~$1B in profit before the coin's May 2022 collapse  —  Chicago firm made about $1 billion through dealings with crypto mogul Do Kwon's company, according to the agency

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle  —  Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify.  Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.
Zoho:
Contract Signed.  Project Ready.  Tasks Created.  —  Every project begins with a promise; a contract that outlines the deliverables, the timelines, and the terms.  But for most businesses …
Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 powers the next generation of high-performing businesses  —  Chat, projects, CRM, and automation — all in one place.  Replace dozens of tools so your team moves faster, collaborates smarter, and grows effortlessly.
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

Hard Fork:
OpenAI Calls a 'Code Red' + Which Model Should I Use? + The Hard Fork Review of Slop
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:
Is Roblox making the internet better or worse? We asked the CEO
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why LinkedIn is turning PMs into AI-powered "full stack builders" | Tomer Cohen (LinkedIn CPO)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Great Chat:
Code red: our favorite tech rivalries
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.
Big Technology Podcast:
How An AI Model Learned To Be Bad — With Evan Hubinger And Monte MacDiarmid
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:35 PM ET, May 16, 2023.

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

Bloomberg:
Financial Times:

Earlier Picks

Ciara O'Brien / The Irish Times:
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Adam Satariano / New York Times:
Jared Newman / Fast Company: