Good morning, and welcome to a new week. Hopefully, we start to feel the weather cooling down soon. Let’s get into the tech news.
1. X’s hate speech lawsuit heads to court
The legal battle between Twitter (now X) and the Center for Countering Digital Hate has begun, with the two sides to present opening arguments in court, AP reports. X alleges that the organisation breached the social media site’s rules by compiling tweets improperly and that it cost the site millions when advertisers turned away once the report was up. Meanwhile, the organisation argued that it was using automated search tools to analyse publically available tweets and that this is an attempt to silence X’s critics. “I can’t think of anything basically more antithetical to the First Amendment than this process of silencing people from publicly disseminating information once it’s been published,” U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer said.
2. Another Musk suit?
News broke over the weekend that Elon Musk would be taking ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to court for allegedly abandoning its mission of creating open-source technology rather than bowing to corporate priorities, and since then, OpenAI has privately clapped back, Bloomberg reports. In an internal memo viewed by Bloomberg, OpenAI chief strategy officer Jason Kwon dismissed Musk’s accusation that the company is a defacto subsidiary of Microsoft, and claimed that the lawsuit “may stem from Elon’s regrets about not being involved with the company today.”
3. Apple changes course on web app removal in the EU
Bowing to new rules in the European Union, Apple claimed in mid-February that it would need to axe support for phone web apps in the region, claiming that the Digital Markets Act would require an “entirely new integration architecture” for the system. Now, Apple appears to have completely turned around on that statement. In a new statement, Apple claimed the following: “We have received requests to continue to offer support for Home Screen web apps in iOS, therefore we will continue to offer the existing Home Screen web apps capability in the EU. This support means Home Screen web apps continue to be built directly on WebKit and its security architecture, and align with the security and privacy model for native apps on iOS.” Well, never mind all of that then.
4. Speaking of Apple
The last time Apple held a ‘Spring’ event was in March 2022, and as reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, it’s unlikely that the Q1 event will return anytime soon. Rather, the Apple expert claims that the company will announce its new products online, rather than with a full-on event. 13 and 15-inch M3 MacBook Air models are expected to arrive soon, along with the first-ever iPad Pro revamp (expected to have a 12.9-inch OLED screen), an updated iPad Air with a 12.9-inch screen option, and new Magic Keyboards and Pencils.
5. AI could pass human tests in five years, Nvidia boss claims
Reuters reports that artificial ‘general’ intelligence, as in AI that could think like humans and possibly pass human tests, could be a thing within five years. “If I gave an AI … every single test that you can possibly imagine, you make that list of tests and put it in front of the computer science industry, and I’m guessing in five years time, we’ll do well on every single one,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. However, because scientists still agree on how human minds work, artificial general intelligence may be even further away than that.
BONUS ITEM: How’d you get there, little buddy?
An Aussie native has caused quite the flap after it was spotted living in the English countryside, more than 14,000km away from home and any ‘old gum tree’. 🇦🇺
— 9News Australia (@9NewsAUS) March 3, 2024
Believed to be an escapee, the elusive kookaburra was first spotted nine years ago. #9News pic.twitter.com/Av16qcD0l7
Have a lovely day.
Image: Zachariah Kelly/Gizmodo Australia