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

💥 Nuclear fusion scientists achieve net energy gain
💼 Tesla's CFO Zachary Kirkhorn steps down
🔍 Zoom can now train its AI using customer data
💱 PayPal launches first major U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin
🔎 Google Search launched AI-powered grammar checker

💥 Nuclear fusion scientists achieve net energy gainLINK

U.S. scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have successfully recreated a fusion ignition reaction, yielding an even higher energy gain than the initial experiment announced in December.

The fusion experiment required 2 megajoules of energy and produced 3 megajoules, indicating a significant milestone where fusion reactions output more energy than they consume, traditionally a major challenge in fusion research.

Despite these successes, the development of fusion power stations is still likely decades away, but these breakthroughs show potential for the development of clean, laser-induced fusion energy on Earth.

💼 Tesla's CFO Zachary Kirkhorn steps downLINK

Zachary Kirkhorn, Tesla’s CFO known as the 'Master of Coin', stepped down on August 4 after 13 years, with his role to be succeeded by Vaibhav Taneja, the current chief accounting officer.

Kirkhorn will continue at Tesla until the end of 2023 to assist with the transition, but the reasons for his departure and his future plans remain unclear.

Taneja has a history of various financing and accounting roles at Tesla and SolarCity Corporation, a solar energy company Tesla acquired in 2016.

🔍 Zoom can now train its AI using customer dataLINK

Zoom's updated Terms of Service in March gave the company the right to train AI on user data, but clarified in a recent blog post that they will not use audio, video, or chat content for AI training without customer consent.

The new terms sparked concern as Zoom customers must either agree to data use or leave a meeting if a call starts with generative AI features enabled; Zoom stated that customers decide whether to enable these AI features and share data for product improvement.

Zoom's privacy track record is questionable, with a history of issues such as providing less secure encryption than claimed and sharing user data with Google and Facebook, leading to an $85 million settlement in 2021.

💱 PayPal launches first major U.S. dollar-backed stablecoinLINK

PayPal has announced the rollout of its stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), issued by Paxos Trust Company and backed by U.S. dollar deposits and similar cash equivalents, marking a first for a major U.S. financial institution.

Eligible U.S. PayPal customers can transfer PYUSD between PayPal and compatible external wallets, use it for person-to-person payments and purchases, and convert other supported cryptocurrencies to and from PYUSD.

As an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, PYUSD is available to a growing community of external developers, wallets, and web3 applications, and Paxos will publish monthly reports detailing the assets backing PYUSD.

🔎 Google Search launched AI-powered grammar checkerLINK

Google has introduced an AI-powered grammar check feature in its search bar, which is currently available only in English.

To use the feature, users can enter a sentence or phrase into Google Search, followed by "grammar check", "check grammar" or "grammar checker", and Google will indicate if the phrase is grammatically correct or suggest a correction if needed.

The grammar check tool is accessible on both Google desktop and mobile platforms.

Other news you might like

Elon Musk may require surgery ahead of his proposed cage fight with Mark Zuckerberg, potentially impacting Musk's work and Tesla's share price.LINK

Porcha Woodruff is suing Detroit police for false arrest and imprisonment, alleging facial recognition software erroneously linked her to a robbery and carjacking case.LINK

Microsoft's AI-powered Bing Chat, featuring features like summarized answers and image creation, is set to expand to third-party browsers soon.LINK

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