Computers & internet

A collection of 41 posts

Apple Shares Slide After China's iPhone Ban

Apple shares have fallen by over 6% since Wednesday following reports that the PRC has prohibited government employees from using iPhones....

United States

Montana Becomes First US State to Pass Bill Banning TikTok

On Friday, Montana became the first US state to pass a bill banning the video-streaming app TikTok from operating in the state. Montana's House voted 54-43 to pass the bill, which will now head to Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte for his consideration....

China

Elon Musk Creates New AI Company

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has founded an artificial intelligence (AI) company called X.AI that would reportedly rival ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, according to Nevada business records....

Computers & internet

European Privacy Watchdog Creates ChatGPT Task Force

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB), a body that unites Europe's national privacy watchdogs, announced on Thursday that it had set up a task force to study ChatGPT, an important first step in developing privacy guidelines for chatbots....

Artificial Intelligence

Survey: 36% of Researchers Fear ‘Nuclear Level’ AI Catastrophe

In a survey conducted by Stanford University, 36% of researchers said they believe Artificial Intelligence (AI) could lead to a “nuclear-level catastrophe,” underscoring concerns in the sector about the risks posed by rapidly advancing technology....

Artificial Intelligence

Musk: Twitter 'Roughly Breaking Even'

In an interview with BBC broadcast live on Wednesday, Twitter CEO Elon Musk addressed several topics surrounding the company since his $44B purchase of the platform, including revealing that Twitter is “roughly breaking even.”...

Science & Technology

China Tech Giant Alibaba Planning ChatGPT Rival

Chinese technology firm Alibaba on Tuesday announced plans to release its own ChatGPT-style Artificial Intelligence (AI) named Tongyi Qianwen. Alibaba becomes the latest company to reveal its own generative AI chatbot in recent months....

China

Biden Admin. Weighs Possible Rules for AI Tools

The US Dept. of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on Tuesday invited the public to comment on what role the federal government can play to ensure Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms are behaving as they are intended and not causing harm....

Computers & internet

TSMC-US Discuss CHIPS Act 'Guidance' Amid Subsidy Concerns

On Monday, the world's leading contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), stated that it has been talking with Washington about its guidance for the CHIPS Act, which is designed to boost US chipmaking capacity....

China

Foxconn Founder Terry Gou to Run for Taiwan Presidency Again

On Wednesday, Terry Gou, founder of major Apple supplier Foxconn, announced he will run to be nominated by Taiwan's traditionally more pro-China and main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT) in the island's 2024 presidential election....

Artificial Intelligence

Twitter Strips Check Mark for New York Times

Twitter has removed its verification check mark from the site's main profile of the New York Times....

Media

Australia Bans TikTok From Government Devices

On Tuesday, Australia banned Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from all federal government-owned devices amid data and security concerns, with Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus stating the measure would come into effect “as soon as practicable.'...

Politics

Japan to Restrict Semiconductor Equipment Exports

On Friday, Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japan's trade and industry minister, announced that export controls will be imposed on 23 types of chipmaking equipment divided into six categories, requiring Japanese companies to seek export permissions for all regions....

Netherlands

Italy Temporarily Blocks ChatGPT Over Privacy Concerns

On Friday, Italy's Data Protection Authority temporarily blocked the artificial intelligence (AI) software ChatGPT over data privacy concerns, making it the first Western country to take such action against the chatbot....

Artificial Intelligence

Report: Meta Considering Europe Political Ads Ban

Amid concerns about complying with new EU regulations targeting online campaigns, Meta — Facebook and Instagram's parent company — is reportedly exploring changes to its policies surrounding political advertising for its users in Europe....

Greece

TikTok Hearing: US Lawmakers Question CEO During Testimony

In his first appearance before Congress on Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Chew was questioned by US lawmakers concerned about the platform's suspected ties to China, users' privacy, and its impact on children....

China

Report: OpenAI's GPT-4 Generates More Misinformation Than Predecessor

A new report released by NewsGuard says OpenAI's newest generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool, GPT-4, is more likely to spread misinformation, when prompted, than its predecessor GPT-3.5....

Computers & internet

US Threatens to Ban TikTok if ByteDance Doesn’t Sell Ownership Stake

The Biden admin. has demanded ByteDance divest its stake in the video app TikTok or face a possible US ban. The move is the most dramatic in a series of recent steps taken by American officials and legislators concerned that user data could potentially be passed on to the PRC....

China

UK Bans TikTok on Government Phones

The UK on Thursday announced a ban on the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok from all government mobile phones — a policy that has already been adopted by the US and the European Commission....

China

OpenAI Announces GPT-4 AI Language Model

OpenAI has announced the release of GPT-4, the latest product in the line of AI language models that already powers the likes of ChatGPT and Bing's chatbox....

Computers & internet

US Releases a Third of Electronics Detained under PRC Forced Labor Act

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) revealed on Tuesday that it has released over one-third of electronic devices, including solar panels, it had detained since 2022 under the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act (UFLPA)...

Netherlands

Report: China Leading Technology Race In Most Key Areas

On Thursday, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) published its Critical Technology Tracker report, which found that China leads the world in 37 out of 44 critical technologies, with Western democracies losing the race for breakthroughs....

China

US House Panel Approves Bill Allowing Biden to Ban TikTok

The US House Foreign Affairs Committee voted 24 to 16 on Wednesday to give Pres. Joe Biden the power to ban TikTok, the social media app owned by Chinese company ByteDance....

China

Report: Twitter Lays Off 200 More Employees

Twitter on Saturday reportedly laid off roughly 200 employees – about 10% of its remaining workforce – in CEO Elon Musk's continued attempt to cut costs. Those laid off included product managers, data scientists and engineers, and some from the monetization infrastructure team....

Labor

Al Jazeera: Twitter Under Fire for Allegedly Censoring Palestinian Public Figures

According to an Al Jazeera report published on Tuesday, digital rights groups are accusing Twitter and Facebook of censoring Palestinian journalists after a number of prominent accounts were suspended....

Ukraine