Good morning! This is your daily ☕️ Techpresso.
In today's Techpresso:
🤔 Microsoft’s AI ambitions lead to 30% rise in emissions
🪫 Stability AI reportedly runs out of money and in negotiations to sell
💸 MIT students exploit ETH blockchain bug for $25M
💥 Microsoft relocates 800 staff from China amid tech tensions
🚸 EU investigates Meta over child safety and mental health concerns
💼 Billionaire real estate mogul organizing 'people's bid' to buy TikTok
🎁 + 5 other news you might like
🔮 + 2 handpicked research papers and tools
🤔 Microsoft’s AI ambitions lead to 30% rise in emissionsLINK
Microsoft's commitment to being carbon-negative by 2030 is threatened by a 30% increase in its carbon emissions, largely due to its growing focus on artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
The company's expansion of AI operations necessitates building more data centers, which rely on energy-intensive materials like steel, concrete, and microchips, further complicating their carbon reduction goals.
Despite its renewable energy claims, Microsoft is acknowledged for using instruments like renewable energy credits (RECs) that might mask actual carbon emissions, indicating a challenging path ahead to meet its sustainability targets.
🪫 Stability AI reportedly runs out of money and in negotiations to sellLINK
Stability AI, known for its open-source image generator Stable Diffusion, is negotiating a sale due to financial struggles, despite a valuation of $1 billion.
The company raised over $100 million in 2022 but struggled to turn its free software into revenue while facing stiff competition from rivals like OpenAI and Midjourney.
Founder and CEO Emad Mostaque resigned amid management issues, and the company faces significant expenses and liabilities, projecting $153 million in costs against only $11 million in revenue for 2023.
💸 MIT students exploit ETH blockchain bug for $25MLINK
Two MIT-educated brothers allegedly exploited a bug in the Ethereum blockchain to steal $25 million in just 12 seconds, according to an indictment from the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
The DOJ explained that the scheme involved setting up shell companies and using specialized skills to alter pending transactions on the Ethereum blockchain before they were validated and added to the ledger.
Both brothers face multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, each carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison per count, and the incident is likely to influence SEC's decision on an upcoming Ethereum ETF approval.
💥 Microsoft relocates 800 staff from China amid tech tensionsLINK
Microsoft has asked at least 100 of its employees in China to consider relocating to other countries, such as the United States, Australia, or Ireland, according to Chinese state media reports.
This move comes as tensions between China and the United States rise over technological advancements in areas like artificial intelligence and clean energy.
Reports indicate that primarily cloud computing engineers with Chinese nationality are affected and have been given less than a month to make their decision, though the relocation is optional.
🚸 EU investigates Meta over child safety and mental health concernsLINK
The European Union has initiated a formal investigation into Meta, focusing on possible mental and physical health risks for children using Facebook and Instagram.
This investigation will determine if Meta's algorithms and user interface cause "behavioral addictions in children" and if the company has effective age-verification systems to protect minors from inappropriate content.
The EU aims to assess whether Meta's content recommendation systems and privacy settings are sufficient for minors' safety; if found in violation, Meta could face substantial fines.
💼 Billionaire real estate mogul organizing 'people's bid' to buy TikTokLINK
Billionaire Frank McCourt is leading a group of investors, called Project Liberty, to buy TikTok from its Chinese parent company ByteDance amid U.S. national security concerns.
The consortium aims to transform TikTok into a digital open-source platform that prioritizes people and data empowerment, with involvement from Guggenheim Securities, Kirkland & Ellis, technologists, and academics.
The proposal comes as the U.S. law signed by President Biden requires TikTok to be sold to a non-Chinese company by mid-January, leading TikTok to file a lawsuit against the law and ByteDance to resist divestment.
Other news you might like
Netflix is becoming an ad-tech company.LINK
Hugging Face is sharing $10 million worth of compute to help beat the big AI companies.LINK
Apple's new accessibility features will let you control an iPhone or iPad with your eyes.LINK
Spoor uses AI to save birds from wind turbines.LINK
Companies are enduring 'AI roulette' when it comes to tech investment.LINK
Latest research and tools
New exponent functions: make SiLU and SoftMax calculations twice as fast without sacrificing accuracy.LINK
LDAPjs: decommissioned by its maintainer, James Sumners, due to a lack of time for dedicated development and in response to receiving a hateful email.LINK
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