In 2024, warning calls about catastrophic AI risks were drowned out by the tech industry's promotion of a practical and prosperous vision of generative AI — For several years now, technologists have rung alarm bells about the potential for advanced AI systems to cause catastrophic damage to the human race.
OpenAI missed its goal to launch Media Manager, an opt-out tool for creators, by 2025; sources: the tool was rarely viewed as an important launch internally — Back in May, OpenAI said it was developing a tool to let creators specify how they want their works to be included in — or excluded from — its AI training data.
PitchBook: the number of VCs investing in US startups fell from a peak of 8,315 in 2021 to 6,175 in 2024; 9 firms raised 50%+ of the $71B raised by VCs in 2024 — Risk-averse financial institutions concentrate money on biggest Silicon Valley VCs in trend that threatens smaller groups
Alibaba sells Sun Art Retail stake to PE firm DCP for ~$1.6B, after paying ~$3.6B in 2020 to double the stake to 70%+, as it focuses on its core online business — - Sun Art had attracted interest from other private equity firms … China's e-commerce pioneer said it could receive gross proceeds …
Link-Busters, an anti-piracy company working for big publishers, passed 2B URL takedown requests sent to Google and is behind 50%+ of Google takedown requests — Link-Busters is the unofficial DMCA takedown champion of 2024. The anti-piracy outfit works for many of the world's largest publishing companies …
India extends a deadline for implementing a 30% cap on any company's share of transactions on UPI payments network, providing relief to Google Pay and PhonePe — India has once again pushed back a contentious plan to limit big technology companies' control of the nation's digital payments system …
The US arrests a US Army soldier on suspicion of being Kiberphant0m, who sold sensitive customer call records stolen from AT&T and Verizon in the Snowflake hack — Federal authorities have arrested and indicted a 20-year-old U.S. Army soldier on suspicion of being Kiberphant0m …
India removes a 100M user cap on WhatsApp Pay, letting Meta roll out the mobile payments service to all of its 500M+ users in the country — India has removed restrictions on WhatsApp's mobile payments service in a significant victory for Meta in its largest market by users as it seeks to compete with entrenched fintech rivals.
Inside Apple labs testing and calibrating iPhone 16 series' audio and video features, including new Audio Mix editing tools and 4K slow motion capabilities — I'm standing on a wire mesh floor in a secluded room at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California.
Johns Hopkins and Stanford researchers say they trained robots with videos to perform surgical tasks with the skill of human doctors, even correcting mistakes — Robots have been trained to perform surgical tasks with the skill of human doctors, even learning to correct their own mistakes during surgeries.
Elon Musk's new political influence may make it harder for regulators and politicians worldwide to resist Space X's Starlink, which added 20+ nations in 2024 — The billionaire SpaceX CEO has the US President-elect's ear. Governments worldwide are waking up to that power.
How cloud computing, AI, and geopolitics could shape the evolution of ransomware, which could cost victims $265B annually by 2031, as the AIDS Trojan turns 35 — Ransomware is now a billion-dollar industry. But it wasn't always that large — nor was it a prevalent cybersecurity risk like it is today.
2024 was a big year for Windows on ARM, and fierce competition between Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm promises to make 2025 an exciting year for Windows laptops — With rumors of Nvidia entering the CPU market, 2025 might be an even bigger year for Microsoft's Arm efforts.
Netflix's foray into live sports caps off a strong year, with its share price up 90%+ in 2024, but the stock's rich valuation sets a high bar for follow-up act — Foray into live sports caps a strong year, but stock's rich valuation sets a high bar for follow-up act
Mexico plans to launch an app in January 2025 that will let Mexican migrants warn relatives and alert the nearest consulate if US immigration agents detain them — - “I have personally attended several open meetings where the key message is to tell our fellow citizens that they are not alone and will not be alone," De la Fuente said.
Saritha Rai / Bloomberg : Inside Naver's 1784, a 36-level office tower in Seoul, which has ~4,500 employees working with 120 robots a...
