SHOT: Apple, Nvidia Are in Talks to Invest in OpenAI:
Apple and Nvidia are in talks to invest in OpenAI, a move that would strengthen their ties to a partner integral to their efforts in the artificial-intelligence race. The investment would be part of a new OpenAI fundraising round that would value the ChatGPT maker above $100 billion, people familiar with the situation said.
Full story.
CHASER: The Threat to OpenAI Is Growing — More accessible artificial-intelligence systems are proliferating, giving the maker of ChatGPT a run for its money. More here.
Counter-narrative —> Americans HOPE for the future:
A new Wall Street Journal survey found that while a majority of voters continue to hold negative views about the direction of the country and the economy, there has been a slight uptick in optimism. Nearly 30% of respondents said the country is headed in the right direction, a 9-point jump from early July, while 61% said the country is headed in the wrong direction, a 9-point decrease. The figures reflect the most favorable view of the country’s trajectory since at least November 2021.
Full story here.
hello future, it’s me kev.
…and this is a (somewhat hopeful) dispatch from the digital frontier. Your one-stop shop for markets, tech and the future. The day is 245. The year is 2024. The planet is Earth. And my name is Kevin Cirilli.
PUBLISHING NOTE: We will now be publishing in the mornings on Monday… today we’re posting on Tuesday bc of the holiday.
And we’re launching a new segment in our newsletter from the legendary Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Mary O’Brien, who I’m dubbing the Chair of Global Innovators.
The General is the former director of cyber for the Joint Chiefs — the first female to ever hold the post. In cyber — there’s no one in America right now more than Gen. O’Brien who understands the challenges and opportunities of the future. I’m grateful to call her my friend and humbled that she’ll be posting weekly in our little newsletter that could… we think we can… we think we can…
Back to the future…
From the desk of the Chair of Global Innovators: Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Mary F. O’Brien
Welcome to my first contribution to mtf.tv’s meet the future newsletter! Kev asked me what I was thinking about last week and I happen to be following a lot of stories about the struggle schools are having over GenAI policies.
It's back-to-school season! Do you know the policy for your middle or high school student’s use of AI? Do teachers upload writing assignments to one of the numerous new “AI content detectors” and threaten to fail students if it pings on their essay? What about all the parents dropping off their college students last weekend? Did you tell them to pay close attention during orientation to the Dean who discussed the dire consequences of using ChatGPT in a course taught by a professor who prohibits it?
My son’s college doesn’t have a campus-wide AI use policy independent of its honor code for undergraduate students. In fact, there are only recommended AI use options–no use, use with restrictions, and unlimited use–but don’t you dare forget to include citations of which sections include the AI-generated material. However, professors are free to set their own rules and are encouraged, not required to include them in the course syllabus. Students might have a different policy for every course–accidentally apply the wrong policy and next thing they know, they’re facing allegations of violating the honor code and possible academic probation!
Don’t think for a moment that the students are the only ones experimenting with AI–professors now have access to Gradescope, a suite of online and AI-assisted grading tools for higher education that according to one mid-Atlantic university, “dramatically reduces the pain and time associated with grading exams, homework, and other assignments by using AI to automatically group similar answers and grade all the answers in each group at once.”
I’m highlighting academia’s confusion about the role of AI in education for a reason. As a new business owner being bombarded every hour of the day with advertisements for the endless variety of AI-enabled tools out there to help me track business development leads, summarize emails, transcribe Zoom meetings in real time, and draft proposals, I unapologetically see the value of using responsible AI technology to increase my productivity!
In order to meet the future NOW - we need to break through the old-fashioned mindset that the best education for students in 2024 is for them to pretend a powerful new technology hasn’t been unleashed in the world. The recent Presidential Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence states:
“Artificial intelligence (AI) holds extraordinary potential for both promise and peril. Responsible AI use has the potential to help solve urgent challenges while making our world more prosperous, productive, innovative, and secure. At the same time, irresponsible use could exacerbate societal harms such as fraud, discrimination, bias, and disinformation; displace and disempower workers; stifle competition; and pose risks to national security.”
How do we align academia policies that prohibit and restrict the use of AI now with the executive order guidance to use it responsibly in the future? Do we understand the risk of missing the window of opportunity to ensure this generation understands the role we need them to play in determining the outcome?
Is that a risk we’re willing to take? Not me. I’d rather meet the future knowing we’ve done everything possible to use AI to tip the scales toward a more prosperous, productive, innovative, and secure future.
The 15th Annual Billington CyberSecurity Summit is going on this week and I’m already thinking about a few AI-related topics on the agenda–Future Cyber Issues: Addressing the Emerging Threats that AI Systems Create and How is AI Changing the Cyber Threat?
Hopefully, I’ll be back next week with some good news for the future!
— Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Mary F. O’Brien is CEO of Mary O’Brien strategies LLC. She is the previous Director of Command, Control, Communications and Computer/Cyber, and Chief Information Officer, J6, Joint Staff, the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia.
Speaking of young people and technology…
A celebrity ‘Russian spy’ whale spotted with harness found dead in Norwegian waters, via AP.
HELSINKI (AP) — A white beluga whale named “Hvaldimir,” first spotted in Norway not far from Russian waters with a harness that ignited rumors he may be a Moscow spy, has been found dead.
bytes:
Telecom Tech News: China’s Government Says “It Wasn’t Me” after Chinese Hackers Breach US Firms. Author: Muhammad Zulhusni
Telegram CEO’s Behavior Was a Cannonball - Crypto might take the Splash
SHOT: The recent attempt by Durov to implement stablecoin transactions as a central offering of the app may invite more regulatory pressure to the space, especially with his loudmouth reputation.
CHASER: The arrest - and South Korea’s new probe - mainly implicates Durov in Telegram’s allowance of illegal activities such as drug sales and child pornography, so the focus isn’t on crypto. Another area of scrutiny is the lack of end-to-end encryption leaving users without privacy.
JAEGERBOMB: The features that make the coin attractive as a financial service also make it appealing for criminal use. Crypto also leaves users without interpersonal privacy. Exactly what Telegram is already in trouble for.
Original Link: Is Crypto to Blame for Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s Arrest?
UK Women Business Leaders Leading the Way on Tech Expertise
UK Women Business Leaders Leading the Way on Tech Expertise
New UK research from Accenture revealed a surprising insight: there is a gender gap in executive tech expertise, and it’s not what you’d think. Women business leaders are actually more likely than their male counterparts to have technology expertise. Only 40 percent of business leaders are women, but ⅓ of them have what Accenture deemed “tech expertise” compared to 18 percent of men. That’s not the only reason British women have to be proud—British boardrooms have the highest concentration of tech-experienced leaders, with 23 percent of UK business leaders being “proficient” in tech.
Original Link: Women business leaders have double the tech experience of men - Verdict
Author: Helen Clarke
Federal Judge: Social networks can’t be forced to filter content for kids.
Adi Robertson reports in The Verge:
A federal judge issued a last-minute partial block on a Texas law that would require some large web services to identify minors and filter what they see online. Called HB 18 or the Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act, it was signed into law last year and was set to take effect over the weekend on September 1st. But a late Friday court ruling determined that the “monitoring and filtering” requirements posed a significant threat to online speech.
X BLOCKED IN BRAZIL — BAD NEWS FOR MUSK.
Laura Kolodny for CNBC:
A panel of Brazil’s federal supreme court justices voted unanimously to uphold orders suspending the use of Elon Musk’s social network X nationwide.
One justice, Luiz Fux, voted to uphold but expressed “reservations” about a measure of the order that allows the court to fine individuals or businesses that engage in “subterfuge,” for example using VPNs, to use X while it is blocked.
Motley Fool —> Big question: Will TSMC Be Worth More Than Apple by 2030?
More:
Apple's shift to TSMC curbed its dependence on Samsung, which had rapidly evolved from its leading supplier into a major competitor in the smartphone market. It also supported its production of first-party chips and reduced its dependence on third-party components.
space watch:
Here’s what’s happening in our neck of the galaxy…
The Guardian: Nasa astronaut reports ‘strange noise’ from Boeing Starliner spacecraft.
Space.com: NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore reports 'strange noise' coming from Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.
Bloomberg: It’s Time to Plan for Emergency Rescues in Space.
Space.com: Satellites are making the night sky brighter — as a launch site, New Zealand has a duty to combat light pollution.
Extras (they’re really good today):
Apple Helped Nix Part of a Child Safety Bill. More Fights are Expected
A Brain-Imaging Technique uses Artificial Intelligence to Reveal Astonishing Detail
A Drunken Evening, a Rented Yacht: The Real Story of the Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage
about kev: Kevin Cirilli, based in D.C., is a media fellow at the Atlantic Council and former chief Washington correspondent for Bloomberg News, where he launched a daily geopolitical program. His work has appeared on major networks like CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, and more.
With more than a decade in DC, he’s launched successful news verticals and programs. Kevin, who grew up in Delco, is now launching mtf.tv’s Meet the Future NOW, a weekly newsletter on markets, tech, and all things the future. The first season of the mtf NOW video podcast is in development. Stay tuned…
