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

👉 Sergey Brin returns to active role at Google
🤖 Major AI firms commit to enhanced safety measures
🛰️ Amazon invests $120M in Florida satellite facility
🤖 ChatGPT update enhances personalized interactions
💸 Fed's instant payment system challenges PayPal and Venmo

👉 Sergey Brin returns to active role at GoogleLINK

Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, has a keen interest in artificial intelligence technology.

Brin is frequently interacting with Google employees who are engaged in AI research.

These regular meetings suggest an active role from Brin in shaping Google's AI direction.

🤖 Major AI firms commit to enhanced safety measuresLINK

Seven major AI companies, including Amazon, Anthropic, Inflection, Google, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI, have voluntarily agreed to undergo independent security and vulnerability testing for their AI models before launch, as part of a wider deal with the US government to improve AI safety and alignment.

The agreement, which mainly applies to future, theoretically more powerful AI models, also requires these companies to watermark AI-generated content, test for misinformation risk, share information on risk reduction, invest in cybersecurity, and facilitate third-party discovery and reporting of vulnerabilities.

This move is seen as an initial step by the Biden administration to regulate AI development in the US, with the administration currently developing an executive order and seeking bipartisan legislation for responsible innovation in AI.

🛰️ Amazon invests $120M in Florida satellite facilityLINK

Amazon will invest $120 million in a new satellite processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to support the launch of Project Kuiper prototype satellites in 2024.

The 100,000-square-foot facility, located at KSC’s historic Launch and Landing Facility, will handle final check-outs of satellites manufactured at Amazon's Kirkland, Washington-based facility before they are launched.

Through Project Kuiper, Amazon aims to launch more than 3,200 high-speed internet satellites into low Earth orbit, competing with SpaceX's Starlink; the company plans to launch two prototype satellites in the coming months.

🤖 ChatGPT update enhances personalized interactionsLINK

OpenAI has updated its AI chatbot, ChatGPT, with a new feature that allows users to input 'custom instructions' for more personalized responses and memory of these instructions in future conversations.

This update aims to enhance user experience by saving time and reducing the need for repeated instructions in each new conversation, especially beneficial for heavy users of ChatGPT.

Currently, this feature is exclusive to Plus subscribers, who can enable 'Custom instructions' under the 'Beta features' section of the ChatGPT website settings.

💸 Fed's instant payment system challenges PayPal and VenmoLINK

The US Federal Reserve has launched FedNow, a system designed to process instant payments between financial institutions, currently available to 35 early-adopting banks and credit unions.

The long-term goal is to connect more than 9,000 banks and credit unions across the US, potentially challenging the relevance of fast payment apps like PayPal and Venmo.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell highlighted the service's benefits to consumers and small businesses, allowing for immediate transactions such as instant receipt of paychecks or accessing funds when an invoice is paid.

Other news you might like

The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is using AI-powered surveillance by Spanish developer AWAAIT to tackle fare evasion, costing $285 million in 2022, across New York City's subway system.LINK

Cerebras Systems has secured a $100 million deal with UAE-based tech group G42 to deliver up to nine AI supercomputers, challenging market leader Nvidia. LINK

A Reddit user exposed a content scraping bot by creating a fake post about a non-existent feature in World of Warcraft, which was then reported as news.LINK

Dave Willner, OpenAI's head of trust and safety, is stepping down to focus on family time, taking on an advisory role at the firm.LINK

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