Techmeme
May 21, 2024, 8:15 AM

Top News

Kris Holt / Engadget:
Microsoft unveils Copilot+ PCs as a new class of AI-capable Windows PCs that have at least 40 TOPs of NPU performance, with several OEMs and chipmakers on board  —  The aim is to handle more AI processing locally rather than in the cloud.  —  We've been hearing rumblings for months …
Umar Shakir / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils Recall for Windows 11, an AI-powered search tool for Copilot+ PCs that keeps track of users' actions and gives them an explorable timeline  —  Microsoft's launching Recall for Windows 11, a new tool that keeps track of everything you see and do on your computer and …
Joanna Stern / Wall Street Journal:
Impressions of Windows 11 AI features Recall, Live Captions, and Cocreator, and a chat with Satya Nadella on how the Copilot+ PC push will outperform MacBooks  —  Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told our columnist new efficient, powerful chips equip Windows Copilot+ laptops to compete with Apple's MacBooks
Lawrence Bonk / Engadget:
Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Samsung, and Lenovo joined Microsoft in debuting laptops featuring Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite or Plus chips and a dedicated Copilot key  —  They all have similar processors, but there are plenty of differences in design and functionality.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Kat Tenbarge / NBC News:
Scarlett Johansson says she declined OpenAI's ChatGPT voice offer and was “shocked, angered” that Sam Altman would pursue Sky, a voice “eerily similar” to hers  —  The “Her” actor released a statement following OpenAI pulling its “Sky” voice from ChatGPT, which many people said sounded like her.
More: Platformer, CNET, E! Online, Engadget, New York Times, Wired, CNBC, The Wrap, The Verge, Variety, Mercury News, New York Times, The Hill, MEDIANAMA, 9to5Google, Reuters, The Stack, CCN.com, The Decoder, Cybernews.com, Telegraph, TweakTown, Neowin, The Information, Livemint, Australian Financial Review, Mashable, Windows Central, Fortune, Benzinga, Financial Times, VentureBeat, and TechCrunch
Bloomberg:
OpenAI pulls ChatGPT's Sky voice after users compared the sound to Scarlett Johansson, saying Sky is an actress' voice and wasn't chosen to be an “imitation”  —  - Selecting the Sky profile redirects ChatGPT users to Juniper  — Company said it was not trying to imitate Johansson's voice
Wired:
How Indian politicians are using deepfakes for voter outreach; an estimated 50M+ AI voice calls were made in the two months before the elections in April 2024  —  India's elections are a glimpse of the AI-driven future of democracy.  Politicians are using audio and video deepfakes of themselves …
Hannah Ellis-Petersen / The Guardian:
Mike Scarcella / Reuters:
US v. Google: Google has preemptively paid damages to the US government, an unusual move aimed at avoiding a jury trial in the DOJ's antitrust lawsuit  —  Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google has preemptively paid damages to the U.S. government, an unusual move aimed at avoiding a jury trial …
Samantha Cole / 404 Media:
The FBI arrests a man on criminal charges for allegedly producing and distributing AI-generated images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct  —  He allegedly used Stable Diffusion, a text-to-image generative AI model, to create “thousands of realistic images of prepubescent minors,” prosecutors said.
David Heaney / UploadVR:
LG denies reports over canceling its partnership with Meta, three months after the companies agreed to develop XR devices, says it is “controlling its pace”  —  LG denied reports from Korean news outlets claiming it canceled its partnership with Meta, but said it is “controlling its pace”.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple releases iOS 17.5.1 and iPadOS 17.5.1, saying the bug that let some deleted photos reappear has now been fixed  —  Apple today released iOS 17.5.1 and iPadOS 17.5.1, minor updates to the iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 operating system updates that came out last September.
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
The DOJ announces the arrest of a Taiwanese national at JFK Airport who allegedly owned Incognito Market, a dark web site used by 200K+ to buy $100M+ in drugs  —  The owner and operator of Incognito Market, a dark web marketplace for selling illegal narcotics online, was arrested at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on May 18.
Bailey Lipschultz / Bloomberg:
SEC filing: Chicago-based Tempus, which uses AI to process medical data, files for an IPO, reporting a $266M net loss on $532M revenue in 2023 and 2,300 staff  —  The company said in its filing Monday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it's creating “intelligent diagnostics” for precision medicine.

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More News

Joyce Lee / Reuters:
Los Angeles Times:
X: @latimes, @latimes, and @rverrier
LinkedIn: Tony Knopp and Agnes M. Sokol.  Forums: r/TechLA
Julia Love / Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Jeremy Kahn / Fortune:
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC: