Mon. 09/30 – Controversial AI Bill Vetoed

Google has updated Lens and is taking a page out of Perplexity’s book. OpenAI’s new canvas workspace. Why an upcoming iPhone SE might have some interesting internals. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.Links:Google Lens now lets you search with video (The Verge)Google brings ads to AI Overviews as it expands AI’s role in search (TechCrunch)OpenAI launches new ‘Canvas’ ChatGPT interface tailored to writing and coding projects (TechCrunch)iPhone SE 4 to feature Apple’s first 5G modem, A18 chip, same cameras as iPhone 15 (9to5Mac)159 employees are leaving Automattic as CEO’s fight with WP Engine escalates (TechCrunch)Weekend Longreads Suggestions:Saving Cyberpunk 2077: How CD Projekt Red recovered from one of video games' most disastrous launches (EuroGamer)The Flying Car Is Finally Here. It’s Slightly Illegal. (Intelligencer)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

OpenAI raised their round, and it basically broke all the records. The whole Wordpress mess has gotten so crazy that WPEngine is suing. Using Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses to dox people in real time. And you’ll never guess the reason why you’re about to see more ads on streaming video. Hint: you’ll endure it.Sponsors:Lumen.me/rideLinks:OpenAI raises $6.6 billion in largest VC round ever (Axios)OpenAI asks investors not to back rival start-ups such as Elon Musk’s xAI (Financial Times)OpenAI feels competitors breathing down its neck (Financial Times)WP Engine sues WordPress co-creator Mullenweg and Automattic, alleging abuse of power (TechCrunch)Someone Put Facial Recognition Tech onto Meta's Smart Glasses to Instantly Dox Strangers (404Media)Spotify adds a new, automatically updating playlist for offline listening (TechCrunch)Amazon to increase number of advertisements on Prime Video (Financial Times)Venture Dealmaking Reflects Selective Tastes of Investors (Bloomberg)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Catching you up on a bunch of other Microsoft announcements we missed yesterday. Is Nvidia trying to break open the black box of AI? It’s absolutely wild that there’s still no viable YouTube app for the Vision Pro. And we were worried about disruption to the semiconductor industry if a typhoon hit Taiwan, but it turns out, a hurricane hitting North Carolina can be bad too.Links:Microsoft is using AI to improve Windows search (The Verge)Microsoft starts paying publishers for content surfaced by Copilot (TechCrunch)Telegram CEO Downplays Service Term Changes Amid French Probe (Bloomberg)Nvidia just dropped a bombshell: Its new AI model is open, massive, and ready to rival GPT-4 (VentureBeat)Threads users can now see who follows them from other fediverse servers (TechCrunch)Christian Selig’s unofficial YouTube app for the Vision Pro just got taken down (The Verge)Hurricane Helene Will Send Shockwaves Through the Semiconductor Industry (Wired)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do we have the first IPO of the AI era? Do we have the first AI model beyond the transformer architecture? Microsoft has a bunch of new AI tools inside Windows. We try to explain that whole controversy around PearAI. And what about that NotebookLM feature that lets you create a two-hander podcast out of any text.Links:AI chipmaker Cerebras files for IPO to take on Nvidia (CNBC)MIT spinoff Liquid debuts non-transformer AI models and they’re already state-of-the-art (VentureBeat)Microsoft Copilot can now read your screen, think deeply, and speak aloud to you (TechCrunch)Oura Nears $500 Million in Annual Revenue and Readies New Ring (Bloomberg)Y Combinator is being criticized after it backed an AI startup that admits it basically cloned another AI startup (TechCrunch)NotebookLM’s automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective (Simon Willison's Blog)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

That controversial AI bill in California has been vetoed by Governor Newsom. Is even Apple now thinking that its Vision Pro strategy might need a rethink? What really is OpenAI’s situation right now, and this time I’m talking money-wise? And the strange resurrection of the point and shoot camera.Links:California’s Gavin Newsom Vetoes Controversial AI Safety Bill (WSJ)California Passes Law Protecting Consumer Brain Data (NYTimes)Meta’s New Headsets Show Apple Has Lost Its Way With the Vision Pro (Bloomberg)OpenAI’s Complex Path to Becoming a For-Profit Company (WSJ)Songs by Adele, Bob Dylan, Green Day, Many More Blocked by YouTube in Legal Dispute (Variety)This Camera Went Viral Two Years Ago. You Still Can’t Buy One (Bloomberg)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Founder Mode? Not for me, says Sam Altman, but we will see. A few new gadgets from Samsung. Maybe ARM should buy Intel. Are AI startups hitting revenue traction faster than SaaS startups did? And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.Links:Sam Altman tells OpenAI staff there’s no plan for him to receive a ‘giant equity stake’ in company (CNBC)Samsung Galaxy S24 FE goes official starting at $649 – is it still a ‘Fan Edition?’ (9to5Google)Arm Is Rebuffed by Intel After Inquiring About Buying Product Unit (Bloomberg)Exponential growth brews 1 million AI models on Hugging Face (ArsTechnica)AI start-ups generate money faster than past hyped tech companies (FT)Weekend Longreads Suggestions:McDonald’s touchscreen kiosks were feared as job killers. Instead, something surprising happened (CNN)Apple Rolls Back Its Big Plans to Release Movies in Theaters (Bloomberg)The 27-Year-Old Economic Adviser for Gen Z (WSJ)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There’s only two stories really. If you can believe it, more executive departures at OpenAI, as it looks like they’re serious about going for profit. And yes, Meta announced a new Quest headset, but the real headlines are the Orion smartglasses, which you can’t actually buy. What? I’ll explain.Sponsors:Thorne.fit/ridehomeLinks:OpenAI considering restructuring to for-profit, CTO Mira Murati and two top research execs depart (CNBC)Exclusive: OpenAI to remove non-profit control and give Sam Altman equity (Reuters)Meta’s cheaper Quest 3S might just be an upgrade (The Verge)A Few Brief Thoughts on Meta Connect 2024 (Daring Fireball)Meta pitches VR to mobile developers with new support for Android apps on Quest (TechCrunch)Meta’s big tease (The Verge)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Caroline Ellison benefits from being cooperative. Has your company unknowingly hired remote workers from North Korea? What is going on with this WordPress back and forth? Why OpenAI has to let people look at their training data. And why is everyone upset at Marquess Brownlee?Sponsors:Hims.com/rideLinks:Caroline Ellison sentenced to two years in prison for her role in FTX scandal (Axios)Dozens of Fortune 100 companies have unwittingly hired North Korean IT workers, according to report (The Record)The DOJ sues Visa for locking out rival payment platforms (The Verge)Automattic sends WP Engine its own cease-and-desist over WordPress trademark infringement (TechCrunch)OpenAI Training Data to Be Inspected in Authors’ Copyright Cases (The Hollywood Reporter)Marques Brownlee says ‘I hear you’ after fans criticize his new wallpaper app (The Verge)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sam Altman has a manifesto. Kinda. Telegram is beginning to walk things back a bit. Cloudflare wants to help you block the AI bots. New streaming device from Roku. And I guess TikTok can’t win at everything.Sponsors:Lumen.me/rideLinks:The Intelligence Age (Sam Altman)Sam Altman catapults past founder mode into ‘god mode’ with latest AI post (TechCrunch)OpenAI CEO: We may have AI superintelligence in “a few thousand days” (ArsTechnica)Some Kaspersky customers receive surprise forced-update to new antivirus software (TechCrunch)Telegram CEO Durov Says App to Provide More Data to Governments (Bloomberg)New Cloudflare Tools Let Sites Detect and Block AI Bots for Free (Wired)The new Roku Ultra is faster, has better Wi-Fi, and comes with a backlit remote (The Verge)Spotify’s AI playlist builder is now available in the US (The Verge)TikTok to Shut Down its Music Streaming Business in November (Bloomberg)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Qualcomm as a white knight to save Intel? A huge bitcoin heist gets busted for the usual reasons. What if the US bans imports of all cars from China? And why can’t US car makers keep up when it comes, simply, to software?Sponsors:Timeline.com/rideLinks:Qualcomm Approached Intel About a Takeover in Recent Days (WSJ)Intel Gets Multibillion-Dollar Apollo Offer as Qualcomm Circles (Bloomberg)Chip Giants TSMC and Samsung Discuss Building Middle Eastern Megafactories (WSJ)Suspects behind $230 million cryptocurrency theft arrested in Miami (BleepingComputer)US proposes banning Chinese software and components in vehicles (FT)Israel’s Pager Attacks Have Changed the World (NYTimes)Toyota and VW fall further behind in the software race (FT)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.