Good morning, and happy hump day. Let’s get into the tech news.
1. Court hears Uber attempted to destroy Aussie Rival
The Guardian reports that rideshare giant Uber sought to destroy its Australian hire car rival GoCatch, according to lawyers for the Aussie company, when the international company started operating its business illegally down under. Lawyers for GoCatch app maker Taxi Apps claim that Uber knowingly began operating as such, and has also accused Uber of corporate espionage and hacking competitor systems. Uber has denied the claims, and the court case is set to continue over the next 10 weeks.
2. Aussie Broadband dumps Superloop shares to avoid regulatory scrutiny
Aussie Broadband is downgrading its stake in rival Superloop from 19.9 per cent of shares to 11.99 per cent, after the company failed to acquire the smaller NBN provider in February, iTnews reports. By buying a stake greater than 12 per cent in Superloop, Aussie put itself in the sights of Singaporean authorities, which is required to have input on such large stakes, as Superloop has some Singaporean operations. So much for all of that.
3. Twitter (X) gets a new head of safety
Kylie McRoberts has been appointed as X’s new head of safety to oversee changes to policies that have alarmed advertisers, Bloomberg reports. Another person, Yale Cohen, has also been brought in to improve advertiser relations with the platform. “When we say safety and freedom of speech can and must coexist on X — we mean it. And the safety team works tirelessly, day and night, across the globe to make that happen,” Chief Executive Officer Linda Yaccarino said in an internal email viewed by Bloomberg. It comes shortly after X’s case against an anti-hate research group was thrown out of court for being, in fact, an attack on free speech.
4. Musicians call on AI developers to not devalue the rights of human artists
More than 200 artists united by the Artist Rights Alliance, including Stevie Wonder, Billie Eilish, and Nicki Minaj, have signed an open letter calling on AI developers and companies to stop using AI “to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.” The letter acknowledges that AI could have real world benefits, but it also brings dangers to real artists, citing things like training models on artists work and, therefore, diluting royalty systems. “We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem.”
5. Jon Stewart tells all on Apple
Late night host Jon Stewart has opened up about the restrictions imposed on him by Apple during his time creating a show for the tech giant’s Apple TV+ streaming service, Engadget reports. During an interview on his new show with Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan, Stewart said that Apple told him not to have the Chair on the show’s satellite podcast. Stewart also claimed that Apple wouldn’t let him do a segment called ‘the false promise of AI.’ “I think it just shows the danger of what happens when you concentrate so much power and so much decision making in a small number of companies,” Khan said on the show.
BONUS ITEM: Discord accidentally viewbotting its own YouTube video over and over again for an April Fools Day prank is just so funny.
Discord managed to create a working YouTube view bot in 2024 by playing their loot box announcement trailer on loop in the background of the in-app toast 🙃 pic.twitter.com/xVSTIh5M1L
— Marvin Witt (@NurM4rvin) April 1, 2024
Have a lovely day.
Image: iStock