The Biden administration has reportedly come to the conclusion that ByteDance must sell its stake in TikTok or face the possibility of a U.S. ban. The decision comes as Congress turns up the heat on action against TikTok, which is suspected of compromising U.S. data and potentially manipulating news feeds to influence opinion. It follows a quiet, years-long assessment by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), which The Wall Street Journal says “made the sale demand recently.” The Treasury Department, which oversees CFIUS, declined to comment. Continue reading ByteDance Must Sell Chinese TikTok Stake or Face U.S. Ban

T-Mobile has agreed to purchase Ka’ena Corp., whose subsidiaries include the Mint Mobile prepaid wireless brand in which actor Ryan Reynolds holds a 25 percent stake, in a deal worth up to $1.35 billion. Terms of the agreement include celebrity spokesman Reynolds continuing in his creative role at Mint, while co-founders David Glickman and Rizwan Kassim remain onboard to manage the brands, which include the Ultra Mobile international wireless offering and wholesaler Plum. Under Glickman and Kassim those adjuncts “will generally operate as a separate business unit,” according to T-Mobile. Continue reading T-Mobile Will Pay Up to $1.35B for Mint Mobile Owner Ka’ena

YouTube TV is rolling out a new feature aimed at live sports fans. Called “multiview,” it lets people watch up to four different streams at once. Just in time for March Madness, multiview is debuting in early access to select U.S. subscribers and only for sports content, YouTube says, adding that it’s exploring how to apply the quad-screen format across a variety of content and will gradually make it available to more users. Slow-walking the initial launch will allow the platform to collect feedback and improve the feature in time for the fall NFL football season. Continue reading YouTube TV Launches Its ‘Multiview’ Display, Ideal for Sports

OpenAI has released GPT-4, which it says is a more powerful and reliable version of the artificial intelligence technology powering its viral ChatGPT chatbot. GPT-4 can analyze images and handle larger blocks of text and is generally “more creative and collaborative” than earlier iterations when it comes to things like composing songs, writing screenplays and mimicking a user’s authorial style. “GPT-4 can solve difficult problems with greater accuracy, thanks to its broader general knowledge and problem-solving abilities,” OpenAI says. GPT-4 is already driving the chatbot technology behind Microsoft’s Bing AI search engine, now in beta. Continue reading OpenAI Announces Official Launch of GPT-4 Multimodal Tech

The demand for artificial intelligence by enterprise as well as consumers is putting tremendous pressure on cloud service providers to meet the vast data center resources required to train the models and deploy the resulting apps. Microsoft recently opened up about the pivotal role it played in getting OpenAI’s ChatGPT to the release phase via its Azure cloud computing platform, linking “tens of thousands” of Nvidia A100 GPUs to train the model. Microsoft is already upgrading Azure with Nvidia’s new H100 chips and latest InfiniBand networking to accommodate the next generation of AI supercomputers. Continue reading Microsoft Believes Azure Platform Is Unlocking ‘AI Revolution’

Google is readying an API and other enterprise tools for its Pathways Language Model (PaLM) — a large language model similar to GPT — to encourage developers to create chatbots and other apps using the platform. PaLM is one of Google’s most advanced systems, with the capability to generate text, images, code, video and audio from natural language prompts. Much like OpenAI’s GTP series and the LLaMA family from Meta Platforms, it is suitable for a wide variety of general tasks. To facilitate PaLM’s use for specific tasks, Google is launching the MakerSuite along with the PaLM API. Continue reading Google’s PaLM API, MakerSuite Coming to Select Developers

A California appeals court upheld most of Proposition 22, the 2020 ballot measure impacting gig workers. The decision — a victory for Uber and Lyft, among the companies spending upward of $200 million to support the measure — overturned a 2021 California Superior Court decision that found the proposition “unenforceable.” The Service Employees International Union, party to the lawsuit challenging Prop 22, is expected to appeal to the California Supreme Court, which may hear or reject the case at its discretion. Either way, that result can then be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Continue reading California Upholds Most of Prop 22 in Win for Gig Companies

ChatGPT “occupational exposure” is a new area of study for jobs vulnerable to replacement by AI chatbots with strong language skills. A Princeton University survey suggests telemarketers, history teachers and sociologists are among those at risk, while physical laborers needn’t worry right now. A second study, by MIT graduate students, says language-dependent jobs are not destined for replacement, but are in for an AI assist. Asked to complete office tasks like writing press releases, emails and short reports, those using ChatGPT were 37 percent faster, and produced superior results. Continue reading Generative AI May Improve Knowledge Workers’ Productivity

Chat app Discord is expanding the use of artificial intelligence on its platform, including the addition of OpenAI technology to its chatbot and moderation features. Discord says it has 150 million users across 19 million interest groups, called “servers,” that dialogue using text, audio and video chat. Discord’s Midjourney text-to-image generation group is its largest community, with in excess of 13 million members. “Harnessed properly, AI can fundamentally enhance and empower genuine human connection,” Discord CEO Jason Citron said at a press event last week, heralding “the most exciting moments in technology emerging.” Continue reading Discord Integrates OpenAI Tech, Updates AI-Driven Features

Digital filmmaking tools have become increasingly accessible, and now Wonder Dynamics wants to make photorealistic CG characters available for any budget. The software firm says its product enables users to drag and drop computer-generated characters into live-action scenes as if they were custom generated. The company’s web-based editor, Wonder Studio, is billed as a full-blown tool, not a toy, and aims to help ease artists’ workload. The three-year-old startup has raised $12.5 million to date. Co-founders Nikola Todorovic, a writer-director, and actor Tye Sheridan, who starred in Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One,” say it’s the tool they’ve craved. Continue reading Wonder Dynamics Leverages AI for Web-Based CGI Platform

AI startup Humane, founded by former Apple employees, has raised $100 million in a Series C round to fund its vision to deliver an “integrated device and cloud services platform” for artificial intelligence. That brings Humane’s total funding to $230 million from investors including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. This recent round, led by Kindred Ventures, includes Microsoft, SK Networks and OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman. While Humane hasn’t been publicizing its plans, the company — founded by ex-Apple execs Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri — drew attention after hiring dozens of former Apple staffers. It now numbers about 200 employees. Continue reading AI Startup Led by Former Apple Execs Raises Its Next $100M

A former TikTok employee has stepped forward to inform congressional investigators that the company’s proposal for protecting U.S. user data is “deeply flawed,” potentially leaving data for more than 100 million American citizens exposed to parsing by China-based entities, including parent company ByteDance and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rulers. The allegations come at a sensitive time in negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to keep TikTok operating in the U.S. over the objection of a bipartisan contingent of lawmakers, who are calling for a ban. Continue reading Former TikTok Worker Tells Congress Project Texas ‘Flawed’

The European Union’s implementation of the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is poised to trigger worldwide changes on familiar platforms like Google, Instagram, Wikipedia and YouTube. The DSA addresses consumer safety while the DMA deals with antitrust issues. Proponents say the new laws will help end the era of self-regulating tech companies. Although as in the U.S., the DSA makes clear that platforms aren’t liable for illegal user-generated content. Unlike U.S. law, the DSA does allow users to sue when tech firms are made aware of harmful content but fail to remove it. Continue reading Changes Ahead for Big Tech When EU Regulations Enforced

China’s Baidu is racing to meet the March 16 deadline to debut Ernie Bot, which it hopes will be the Eastern equivalent to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Teams have been working around the clock. In addition to programming duties, staff has been reaching out to borrow compute time on high-powered processors that Chinese companies can no longer purchase at their discretion due to U.S. sanctions. Ernie is still being trained ahead of its highly anticipated launch. Baidu intends to roll out its chatbot in stages, first to a limited pool of public users who can provide test feedback, observers say. Continue reading Baidu Rushes Ernie Launch to Meet China’s Chatbot Demand

Roku is upgrading to OS 12, which will offer improvements including to streaming live TV and sports, among other things. A concurrent mobile app update features a new home screen and new tools for account management and photo storage. The company also announced that new Roku-branded TVs will be sold exclusively through Best Buy and online. Unveiled at CES 2023, the Roku Select and Plus series TVs made by Roku are now shipping, with 11 models spanning two lineups that offer sizes ranging from 24- to 75-inches. Pricing starts at $150 and scales to $1,200. Continue reading Roku Updates OS, Adds News, Announces Best Buy TV Deal