Techmeme
August 26, 2024, 9:20 PM

Top News

New York Times:
French prosecutors: Pavel Durov's arrest is part of a probe “against person unnamed” into CSAM, drug sales, and more on the app and not working with authorities  —  A case was opened last month to investigate child pornography, drug sales, fraud and other criminal activities on the platform.
Victor Goury-Laffont / Politico:
French President Emmanuel Macron says the government was not involved in the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov and “this is in no way a political decision”  —  French president condemns “false information” as Pavel Durov's detention in Paris triggers global outcry.
Bloomberg:
Elon Musk / @elonmusk:
Elon Musk says that “all things considered”, California “should probably” pass the AI safety bill  —  This is a tough call and will make some people upset, but, all things considered, I think California should probably pass the SB 1047 AI safety bill. For over 20 years, I have been an advocate for AI regulation, just as we regulate any product/technology that is a potential risk
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple announces a September 9 event at Apple Park with the iPhone 16 lineup, new Apple Watch models, and AirPods 4 expected; the invitation says “It's Glowtime”  —  Apple today announced plans to hold its annual iPhone-centric event on Monday, September 9 at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California.
Apple:
Apple announces CFO Luca Maestri will transition from his role on January 1, 2025; Kevan Parekh, Apple's VP of Financial Planning and Analysis, will become CFO  —  CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today announced that Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri will transition from his role on January 1, 2025.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Anthropic publishes a changelog for the system prompts of its Sonnet, Opus, and Haiku models, the first major AI vendor to do so  —  Generative AI models aren't actually human-like.  They have no intelligence or personality — they're simply statistical systems predicting the likeliest next words in a sentence.
Siobhan Hughes / Wall Street Journal:
In a letter to US Rep. Jim Jordan, Mark Zuckerberg says he regrets Meta wasn't more outspoken about the Biden admin's pressure to restrict some COVID-19 content  —  Meta CEO also says he won't repeat 2020 efforts to fund local elections, which Republicans criticized as ‘Zuckerbucks’
Sarah Jacob / Bloomberg:
The Dutch Data Protection Authority fines Uber a record €290M for failing to abide by European protection standards when sending sensitive driver data to the US  —  - Uber was fined for not sufficiently protecting driver data  — The fine is the highest penalty ever issued by Dutch regulator
Anna Tong / Reuters:
OpenAI supports CA bill AB 3211 to require companies generating AI content to add watermarks; the bill passed in the state Assembly 62-0 and heads to Senate  —  ChatGPT developer OpenAI is supporting a California bill that would require tech companies to label AI-generated content …
Jesse Hamilton / CoinDesk:
Crypto platform Abra agrees to settle with the SEC over claims of unregistered securities; the SEC said the Abra Earn product had almost $500M from US investors  —  The securities regulator says Abra sold half a billion dollars in unregistered Abra Earn while also operating without registration as an investment company.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack  —  Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
Connecting, collaborating, and growing: Zoho Mail 2025 wrap-up  —  Your inbox has been home to a lot this year—quick updates, long threads, approvals, reminders, and the occasional late-night draft you weren't sure about.
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

Grit:
How Brands Stay Visible When AI Decides | Profound CEO James Cadwallader
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
The coming AI security crisis (and what to do about it) | Sander Schulhoff
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.
Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's Potential, Google's Speedy Model, Copilot Hits Turbulence
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:
Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin' Xmas Song
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:
Betting on reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
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 9:20 PM ET, August 26, 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

Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Raffaele Huang / Wall Street Journal:
Joe Supan / CNET: