Techmeme
May 16, 2023, 12:35 PM

Top News

Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
A live blog of testimony from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, IBM VP Christina Montgomery, and professor Gary Marcus before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee  —  OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will testify to Congress on AI like ChatGPT as regulations and oversight are being considered.
Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:
Sam Altman tells Congress that AI regulation is “essential” but must let companies be flexible and adapt to new tech, recommends safety measures, and more  —  OpenAI's chief executive Sam Altman will tell US lawmakers on Tuesday that regulation of artificial intelligence must allow companies …
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Apple announces a suite of features to improve cognitive, vision, and speech accessibility on iOS and iPadOS, rolling out later in 2023  —  Apple previewed a suite of new features today to improve cognitive, vision and speech accessibility.  These tools are slated to arrive on the iPhone, iPad and Mac later this year.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Apple rolls out new concert discovery features in Apple Maps and Apple Music, including Guides to local venues in select cities and Set Lists for select artists  —  Apple is bringing concert discovery to two of its flagship apps, Apple Music and Apple Maps, the company announced today.
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:
Source: Twitter buys recruiting startup Laskie for “tens of millions” in cash and stock, its first deal of the Elon Musk era; 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.
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.
Platformer:
Twitter's encrypted DMs don't offer end-to-end encryption, making them vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks and open to government access requests  —  A promised audit hasn't actually happened, sources say.  PLUS: Twitter's Turkey problem, and a new CEO
CoinDesk:
EU states approve the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) rules, becoming the first major global 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.
Alexandra Alter / New York Times:
Q&A with Michael Lewis on his FTX book, “Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon”, slated for October 3, visiting SBF, the forthcoming 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.
Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
A jailed Saudi dissident's sister sues Twitter under the RICO Act, arguing its negligence let staff reveal his identity and thousands of others' to Saudi agents  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The sister of an imprisoned Saudi dissident filed suit against Twitter Tuesday, arguing that it broke the law …
More: Bloomberg
Alexander Osipovich / Wall Street Journal:
SEC court filings: Jump Trading secretly purchased tens of millions of dollars worth of TerraUSD and made ~$1B profit per year before the coin's 2022 collapse  —  Chicago firm made about $1 billion through dealings with crypto mogul Do Kwon's company, according to the agency
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
Jay Peters / The Verge:
WhatsApp debuts Chat Lock, letting users put chats in a password- or biometrics-protected folder and removing sender and message contents from notifications  —  WhatsApp is getting a new “Chat Lock” feature intended to make it easier to keep conversations more private.
Jessica Donati / Wall Street Journal:
Discord users are scouring servers to find any remaining US military documents from the recent leak, after prosecutors suggested more might still be online  —  The government secrets leaked on Discord have become fodder for users seeking fun and attention  —  WASHINGTON—Videogame enthusiasts …
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Pharmacy services provider PharMerica says hackers breached its system and stole the names, addresses, SSNs, and health data of 5.8M+ patients on March 12, 2023  —  Pharmacy services provider PharMerica has disclosed a massive data breach impacting over 5.8 million patients, exposing their medical data to hackers.
Financial Times:
As the European Central Bank prepares to pilot a digital euro in October, consumers, financiers, and politicians are questioning the project's aims and benefits  —  Europe's central bank is pushing ahead with the development of electronic currency even as politicians question its purpose
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Meta spins out CRM company Kustomer, which the company acquired 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 …

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Earlier Picks

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