Techmeme
January 1, 2024, 5:42 PM

Top News

Mohar Chatterjee / Politico:
A look at AI chatbots modeled on real experts, like US psychologist Martin Seligman, that are often created without permission, highlighting a policy gray area  —  New AI-generated digital replicas of real experts expose an unnerving policy gray zone.  Washington wants to fix it, but it's not clear how.
Ash Parrish / The Verge:
The scale of layoffs in the gaming industry in 2023 was far beyond a typical year, with an estimated 9,000+ workers losing their jobs globally  —  Layoffs are an unfortunate reality of any industry, but the scope and scale of video game layoffs in 2023 are far beyond a typical year.
John Kruzel / Reuters:
In his year-end report, US Chief Justice John Roberts says AI is a mixed blessing for the legal field and urges “caution and humility” as the tech is adopted  —  Artificial intelligence represents a mixed blessing for the legal field, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts …
Nikkei Asia:
Nikon, Sony, and Canon are developing camera tech that embeds digital signatures in images so that they can be distinguished from realistic AI-generated fakes  —  Digital signatures to provide way to tell real photos from  —  Sony will release a firmware for professional-grade cameras to embed digital signatures to photos.
More: PCMag and TechLifeWeb
Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.toX: @anastasiabekt, @stevesi, and @mikecaneLinkedIn: Tariq Krim
Keza MacDonald / The Guardian:
A profile of Mario and Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto, who joined Nintendo in the 1970s and says he has no plans to retire as game director at the company  —  Few people have influenced global pop culture as much as the creator of Mario and Zelda, widely considered the father of modern gaming.
Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times:
Counterpoint: about 16M foldable phones were sold in 2023, just 1.3% of the 1.2B smartphone market, as foldables start to gain traction in the US and China  —  Samsung, Motorola and Huawei continue to invest in high-priced flip devices despite weak sales  —  Every large smartphone maker except Apple …
Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:
A look at the rise of AI-generated virtual influencers, with some charging thousands of dollars to promote products, leading to concerns from human influencers  —  Hyper-realistic ‘virtual influencers’ are being used to promote leading brands — drawing ire from human content creators
Aaron Tilley / Wall Street Journal:
A profile of Joe Kiani, whose company Masimo spent ~$100M suing Apple, as some say his aggressive use of the US patent system stymies the innovation of others  —  Joe Kiani has taken on Apple in a patent dispute that has cost his company millions of dollars to pursue.  So far he is winning, but the fight isn't over.
Justin Garrison / Justin Garrison:
An AWS developer claims Amazon is “silently sacking” staff by pushing them to take a different role that they would quit later, to avoid the need for severance  —  Amazon has a stock problem.  It's not only Amazon, but they have more to lose.  If you're a customer, that's going to be bad for your business too.

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!
Equals:
Stop vibe coding analytics  —  Equals AI turns questions about your business into auditable spreadsheet models and dashboards.  Build once, iterate for years.
Zoho:
Zoho named an overall leader in Dresner's 2026 Wisdom of Crowds® BI Market Study  —  Zoho Analytics has once again earned top honors in the analytics and business intelligence space.
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

Big Technology Podcast:
Zuckerberg's Disappointment, OpenAI's Equity Gamble, Alex Karp's Rally Cry
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.
Hard Fork:
Fable Ban Reversed + Dr. Dana Suskind on Parenting With A.I. + Prediction Market Drama
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.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Blitzy's Brian Elliott: Cursor And Claude Code Are Looking At Your Enterprise Code 'Through A Straw'
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.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
Re-Release: The Death of Hollywood? W/ Allan Loeb
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:
Maybe Twitter isn't real life
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:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
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 5:42 PM ET, January 1, 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.

More News

J. Edward Moreno / New York Times:
Joan Westenberg:
Brendan Bordelon / Politico:

Earlier Picks

Anil Dash / Rolling Stone:
The Information:
Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch: