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Here's the latest tech news from the last 24 hours:

🔎 FTC investigates OpenAI over ChatGPT's potential consumer harms
🗣️ Meta could soon commercialize its AI model
💸 Celsius' ex-CEO arrested and charged with fraud
🗞️ OpenAI to use AP news stories for AI training
💼 Twitter faces a $500m lawsuit over unpaid severance payments

🔎 FTC investigates OpenAI over ChatGPT's potential consumer harmsLINK

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has begun investigating OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT and DALL-E, over potential violations of consumer protection laws linked to privacy, security, and reputation.

The FTC's probe includes examining a bug that exposed sensitive user data and investigating claims of the AI making false or malicious statements, alongside the understanding of users about the accuracy of OpenAI's products.

The investigation signifies the FTC's intent to seriously scrutinize AI developers and could set a precedent for how it approaches cases involving other generative AI developers like Google and Anthropic.

🗣️ Meta could soon commercialize its AI model LINK

Meta is reportedly planning to release a new customizable commercial version of its language model, LLaMA, aiming to compete with AI creators like OpenAI and Google.

The shift towards open-source platforms, as per Meta's Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun, could significantly alter the competitive landscape of AI, potentially leading to more tailored AI chatbots for specific users.

Although the initial access to Meta's commercial AI model is expected to be free, the company might eventually charge enterprise customers who wish to modify or tailor the model.

💸 Celsius' ex-CEO arrested and charged with fraudLINK

Alex Mashinsky, founder of Celsius, has been arrested and charged with multiple counts of fraud, including securities, commodities, and wire fraud, and is being sued independently by the FTC, CFTC, and SEC.

Allegations include misrepresentation of his company's nature, manipulating the price of the company's proprietary crypto token, and misleading customers about the safety of Celsius's yield-generating activities, its profitability, and the risks associated with depositing crypto assets.

Celsius has agreed to a $4.7 billion settlement with the FTC, the funds to be paid after the return of customer assets as part of ongoing bankruptcy proceedings; Mashinsky, who resigned as CEO of Celsius last year, and former Chief Revenue Officer Roni Cohen-Pavon could face decades in prison if convicted on all counts.

🗞️ OpenAI to use AP news stories for AI trainingLINK

OpenAI has entered a two-year agreement with The Associated Press (AP), gaining access to some of AP's archive content dating back to 1985 for training its AI models.

In return, AP will gain access to OpenAI’s technology and product expertise, with the exact details yet to be clarified; AP has been leveraging AI for various applications, including automated reporting on company earnings and sports.

Despite the partnership, AP has clarified that it does not currently utilize AI in the production of its news stories, leaving open questions about the specific applications of the technology under the new agreement.

💼 Twitter faces a $500m lawsuit over unpaid severance paymentsLINK

Courtney McMillian, a former HR executive at Twitter, has filed a lawsuit against the company and owner Elon Musk, accusing them of failing to pay $500 million in severance to laid-off employees.

The lawsuit alleges that Twitter had a matrix to calculate severance, based on factors like role, base pay, location, and performance, but under Musk's leadership, terminated employees were offered significantly less than what they were entitled to under this plan.

The lawsuit requests that the court order Twitter to pay back at least $500 million in unpaid severance; Twitter has been subjected to a series of lawsuits since Musk's takeover, including from vendors claiming unpaid invoices and employees not receiving promised bonuses.

Other news you might like

Google's Bard AI chatbot, now compliant with EU's GDPR regulations, is available across the EU and Brazil with new features including multilingual support and user-customizable responses.LINK

X Corp., owned by Elon Musk, is suing four unidentified data scrapers, seeking damages of $1 million for allegedly overtaxing Twitter's servers and degrading user experience.LINK

Major tax prep firms, including TaxSlayer, H&R Block, and TaxAct, are accused of sharing taxpayers' sensitive data with Meta and Google, potentially illegally. LINK

Elon Musk made an appearance at the Vivatech technology start-ups and innovation fair in Paris on June 16, 2023.LINK

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority launched an in-depth probe into Adobe's $20 billion acquisition of Figma over antitrust concerns.LINK

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