Techmeme
August 20, 2023, 11:30 AM

Top News

Matt Novak / Forbes:
X appears to have deleted all images posted directly on the website between 2011 and 2014; links that used Twitter's native shortening service are also broken  —  Twitter, the social media platform officially known as X, appears to have deleted all images from the website that were posted between 2011 and 2014.
Alex Reisner / The Atlantic:
Analysis: Books3, a dataset used to train Meta's Llama, BloombergGPT, and EleutherAI's GPT-J, contains 170K+ books from Stephen King and other authors  —  One of the most troubling issues around generative AI is simple: It's being made in secret.  To produce humanlike answers to questions …
Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
Cruise complies with California DMV's request to halve its fleet, as the regulator probes “recent concerning incidents” involving its robotaxis in San Francisco  —  Cruise, the self-driving car subsidiary of GM, has been asked to reduce its robotaxi fleet by 50% in San Francisco following …
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Windows file archiver utility maker WinRAR fixes a vulnerability that could let an attacker remotely execute arbitrary code, after a researcher flagged the flaw  —  A high-severity vulnerability has been fixed in WinRAR, the popular file archiver utility for Windows used by millions …
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
A judge upholds a US Copyright Office finding that artwork created by AI isn't eligible for copyright protection as “human authorship is a bedrock requirement”  —  A federal judge on Friday upheld a finding from the U.S. Copyright Office that a piece of art created by AI is not open to protection.
Julian E. Barnes / New York Times:
US intelligence agencies warn US space companies that China and Russia are targeting them and preparing cyberattacks that could disable satellites in a conflict  —  U.S. officials say Chinese and Russian spy agencies are trying to steal technology from private American space companies …
Amanda Hoover / Wired:
How Science, Nature, and other peer-reviewed journals are grappling with outlines, drafts, or papers that authors wrote using generative AI, without disclosure  —  Ethics watchdogs are looking out for potentially undisclosed use of generative AI in scientific writing.  But there's no foolproof way to catch it all yet.
Brody Ford / Bloomberg:
As Big Tech companies compel employees back to the office, some companies, like Atlassian, Airbnb, Dropbox, and Twilio, remain steadfast backers of remote work  —  - Some tech companies still see benefit of work-from-home policy  — Move runs counter to effort to revive US office comeback
More: InsiderThreads: @carnage4lifeX: @news_by_nick and @business
Pete Evans / CBC News:
Evacuees from the wildfires threatening Yellowknife say that Meta's news fight with Canada's government makes it harder for them to share lifesaving information  —  Meta notes government sources not blocked as northerners duck ban by sharing screenshots of information
David Ljunggren / Reuters:
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Western Digital refuses to answer questions about how its portable SanDisk Extreme SSDs may lose users' data; the company is being sued for fraud and data loss  —  Eleven days ago, we sent these questions to Western Digital's head of PR and published them publicly on The Verge:
Reuters:
Nestlé, Unilever, and other big advertisers are experimenting with using generative AI ads, but many remain wary of the security, copyright, and data bias risks  —  Some of the world's biggest advertisers, from food giant Nestle (NESN.S) to consumer goods multinational Unilever (ULVR.L) …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental) is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
Introducing the UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation  —  UiPath's new platform empowers enterprises to experience the full power of AI to transform industries
Zoho:
2025: World Password Day is now also World Passkey Day  —  Since 2013, the first Thursday of May has been recognized as World Password Day to spread awareness about good password practices and protecting our online accounts.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Techmeme Ride Home:
GTA 6 Delayed To 2026
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Hard Fork:
The Dangers of A.I. Flattery + Kevin Meets the Orb + Group Chat Chat
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
EP 141 Ben Lamm (Founder & CEO, Colossal Biosciences) On The Breakthroughs Making De-Extinction Actually Possible
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
Great Chat:
What's the deal with Deel?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Lenny's Podcast:
The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can't stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Josh Kopelman from First Round Capital
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:30 AM ET, August 20, 2023.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

Emily Bobrow / Wall Street Journal:
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
More: 9to5Mac, TechCrunch, Daring Fireball, MacRumors, Livemint, Slate, Insider, Reuters, Variety, TweakTown, Washington Post, AppleInsider, TechCrunch, Business Today, PCMag, BBC, Insider, CNBC, The Economic Times, Fast Company, Metro.co.uk, Android Police, PYMNTS.com, Android Central, Decrypt, Variety, SlashGear, New York Post, Appuals.com, Pixel Envy, Forbes, Watcher Guru, The Hill, The Sun, Fortune, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, Engadget, Neowin, Mediaite, The Economic Times, The Hollywood Reporter, XDA Developers, IGN, MobileSyrup, and iMore
X: @elonmusk, @elonmusk, @lindayax, @monicalewinsky, @aqueelmiq, @leyawn, @espiers, @dmitryopines, @pt, @jack, @alx, @chancehmiller, @khayhoe, @kimdotcom, @teslaownerssv, @williamlegate, @dylanmcd8, @dexerto, @elonmusk, @katienotopoulos, @delafina777, @brendaneich, @aqueelmiq, @timsweeneyepic, @radiofreetom, @dieworkwear, @andylevy, @wallstreetsilv, @abughazalehkat, @steinkobbe, @nash076, @jay_m_thomas, @steinkobbe, @katienotopoulos, @aridrennen, @keiths, @karaswisher, @goldengateblond, @amydiehl, @panzer, @ebboyd, @alexstamos, @alexstamos, @pavelasamsonov, @cassidoo, @fed_speak, @davidmweissman, @atabarrok, @jbarro, @stillgray, @mehdirhasan, @thedouggernaut, @davidkurten, @jamessurowiecki, @sargon_of_akkad, @dieworkwear, @dieworkwear, @brimalandro, @junlper, @lessin, @joshtpm, @gwensnyderphl, @kyleclark, @jrs_rankings, @oliverjia1014, @jessekellydc, @possumfan777, @davidafrench, @kelemencari, @mattwalshblog, @philosophi_cat, @cbucksrules, @oneunderscore__, @zsk, @film_girl, @abughazalehkat, @ditzkoff, @jesawyer, @radiofreetom, @bzamayo, @auschwitzmuseum, @shoe0nhead, @byyourlogic, @kattenbarge, @evacide, @daveleebbg, @hassankhan, @stephenkb, @lexnfx, @teroterotero, @zoeschiffer, @film_girl, @mikedrucker, @film_girl, @danprimack, @tomcoates, @tomcoates, @pt, @tomcoates, @cubeapril, @giagia, @normative, @stealthygeek, @atrupar, @mikedrucker, @samsantala, @normative, @brosandprose, @junlper, @rmac18, @brianmcc, @radleybalko, @daveleebbg, and @mattyglesiasLinkedIn: Rafael Brown