Good morning! This is your daily ☕️ Techpresso.
On this day, 20 years ago, the United States enacted the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 to curb unwanted emails, but its impact remains questionable as political spam is not covered by the law.
Here's the latest tech news from the last 24 hours:
🤫 ByteDance secretly using OpenAI’s tech to build a competitor
🚀 Jeff Bezos discusses plans for trillion people to live in huge cylindrical space stations
💰 Elon Musk told bankers they wouldn’t lose any money on Twitter purchase
👂 Despite the denials, 'your devices are listening to you,' says ad company
🚗 Tesla’s largest recall won’t fix Autopilot safety issues, experts say
🤫 ByteDance secretly using OpenAI’s tech to build a competitorLINK
ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, reportedly used OpenAI's API to develop its own chatbot, which is seen as a violation of OpenAI's terms of service, as reported by the Verge. Internal communications from ByteDance revealed instructions to employees to hide their use of the API using 'data desensitization' techniques, even after being instructed to stop for regulatory approval in China. OpenAI suspended ByteDance's account for breaching terms of service, while ByteDance claims it was licensed to use GPT APIs by Microsoft and uses its own model for services in China.
🚀 Jeff Bezos discusses plans for trillion people to live in huge cylindrical space stationsLINK
Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and Blue Origin CEO, envisions humanity living in massive cylindrical space stations, as per his recent interview with Lex Fridman. Bezos shared his aspiration for a trillion people to live in the solar system, facilitated by these space habitats, citing the potential to have thousands of Mozarts and Einsteins at any given time. His vision contrasts with Elon Musk's goal of establishing cities on planets like Mars, seeing Earth as a holiday destination and highlighting the future role of AI and Amazon's influence in space living.
💰 Elon Musk told bankers they wouldn’t lose any money on Twitter purchaseLINK
Elon Musk assured bankers lending him $13 billion for Twitter's acquisition that they wouldn't face losses, despite the company's value drop.
The banks are hesitating to sell the Twitter-related debt at a major loss, opting to wait for an improvement in the company's performance.
Musk's personal guarantees are met with skepticism as banks could incur over $4 billion in losses if forced to sell the debt below market expectations.
👂 Despite the denials, 'your devices are listening to you,' says ad companyLINK
An advertising company has recently claimed that it can deploy 'active listening' technology through devices like smartphones and smart TVs to target ads based on voice data from everyday conversations. This controversial claim suggests that these targeted advertisements can be directed at individuals using specific phrases they say, intensifying concerns about privacy and surveillance in the digital age. The assertion highlights a growing debate about the balance between technological advancement in advertising and the imperative to protect individual privacy rights in an increasingly digital world.
🚗 Tesla’s largest recall won’t fix Autopilot safety issues, experts sayLINK
Tesla agreed to a software update for 2 million cars to improve driver attention on Autopilot, though experts believe it doesn't address the main issue of limiting where Autopilot can be activated.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is still investigating Autopilot after over 900 crashes, but the recall only adds alerts without restricting the feature to designated highways.
Tesla's recall introduces more "controls and alerts" for Autopilot use but does not prevent drivers from using it outside the intended operational conditions, despite safety concerns.
Other news you might like
Inside mountain where billionaire Jeff Bezos is building clock that will last longer than us.LINK
Twitch retracts its relaxed stance on artistic nudity within two days due to community boundary testing and AI realism concerns.LINK
DocuSign's stock surged after reports of potential sale talks, despite slower post-pandemic growth and increasing competition from Adobe and Dropbox.LINK
NASA refuses to say what it found about drug use at SpaceX.LINK
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