In Brief

U.S. finalizing rules to ban certain investments in AI tech in China

Government & Policy /

President Joe Biden’s administration says it’s finalizing rules to curb investments in AI and other tech sectors in China, Reuters reports. The rules, which were first proposed in June by the U.S. Treasury and directed by an executive order President Biden signed in August 2023, cover certain AI systems, quantum information systems, and semiconductors and […]

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Margaret Atwood’s verdict on AI poetry is in — and it’s not good

AI /

Bestselling author Margaret Atwood isn’t worried about the indefatigable rise of generative AI — telling Reuters that she’s too old to be concerned about its impact on the arts. Her remarks follow a petition calling for an end to the unlicensed use of creative works to train AI models that’s now amassed over 31,000 signatures.

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McDonald’s broken ice cream machines could get fixed faster thanks to new federal rule

Gadgets /

McDonald’s ice cream machines have developed a lousy reputation for being broken when you visit the restaurant, largely due to strict copyright laws that only permit specially licensed technicians to legally repair them. The manufacturers have to license each technician, and they put locks on the McFlurry machines to prevent others from repairing them. However,

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Classic Christmas song gets authorized Spanish reworking thanks to ‘responsible’ AI

Media & Entertainment /

In the decades following its 1958 release, Brenda Lee’s rockabilly-tinged “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” has attained status as an all-time holiday classic. Sixty-six years later, it’s getting a Spanish language rework courtesy of “responsible” AI. Universal on Friday announced the release of “Noche Buena y Navidad,” which utilized SoundLabs AI’s MicDrop technology to reconstruct

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Perplexity says it’s now serving 100M search queries a week

AI /

Aravind Srinivas, the CEO of Perplexity, says that the AI-powered search engine is now performing 100 million queries each week. Extrapolated out to a month, that’s roughly 400 million queries — up from 250 million queries in July. Perplexity’s rapid rise comes as the company teases ecommerce features, including the ability for subscribers to its

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Elon Musk reportedly chats often with Putin

Government & Policy /

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been in regular contact with Russian president Vladimir Putin since late 2022. That’s according to The Wall Street Journal, which reports that the conversations have raised national security concerns among some intelligence officials. At one point, Putin reportedly asked Musk to avoid activating Starlink, his satellite-based internet service,

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OpenAI reportedly plans to release its Orion AI model by December

AI /

OpenAI is reportedly planning to release its next frontier AI model, codenamed Orion inside the company, by December of this year, The Verge reported on Thursday. Unlike previous releases, the company reportedly plans to release the model gradually to trusted partners before a broader rollout through ChatGPT. An OpenAI spokesperson tells TechCrunch the report is

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Apple Vision Pro production reportedly scaled back due to disappointing demand

Hardware /

Apple has dramatically scaled back Vision Pro production, according to a new report from The Information. The news comes days after CEO Tim Cook admitted in an interview that the $3,500 mixed reality headset is for early adopters and “not a mass-market product.” The production slowdown is believed to be a response to disappointing sales,

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New White House memo calls for agencies to protect AI from foreign adversaries

AI /

President Joe Biden on Thursday is expected to sign a memorandum detailing how intelligence and national security agencies, including the Pentagon, should use and implement guardrails around AI, reports The New York Times. The order urges keeping humans “in the loop” of AI tools that may be used as targeting weapons, and prohibits letting AI

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