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May 22, 2024, 1:25 PM
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Top News

Imran Rahman-Jones / BBC:
The UK ICO is “making enquiries with Microsoft” over the company's Recall feature, which some privacy campaigners have called a potential “privacy nightmare”  —  The UK data watchdog says it is “making enquiries with Microsoft” over a new feature that can take screenshots of your laptop every few seconds.
Kate Rooney / CNBC:
Sources: Amazon plans to launch a more conversational Alexa with generative AI features later in 2024, and charge a monthly subscription to offset the cost  —  WATCH NOW  —  Amazon is upgrading its decade-old Alexa voice assistant with generative artificial intelligence and plans to charge …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Humane is seeking a buyer for its business, after the rocky launch of its Ai Pin; a source says the startup, founded in 2018, is seeking $750M to $1B  —  - Humane's AI pin was billed as an alternative to smartphones  — AI hardware product received poor reviews after its launch
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google starts rolling out its Magic Editor and other AI tools to all Android and iOS users for free via Photos, offering 10 Magic Editor library saves per month  —  Last month, Google Photos announced that it would be making Magic Editor and other AI-powered tools free for all Android and iOS users.
Charlie Warzel / The Atlantic:
OpenAI's Scarlett Johansson debacle is merely a reminder of AI's manifest-destiny philosophy: “This is happening, whether you like it or not”, consent be damned  —  If you're looking to understand the philosophy that underpins Silicon Valley's latest gold rush, look no further than OpenAI's Scarlett Johansson debacle.
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Link-in-bio startup Linktree passes 50M users, up from 41M in December 2023 and 47M+ in March 2024, and launches a beta of its social commerce product  —  Link-in-bio startup Linktree said on Wednesday that it has surpassed 50 million users.  —  The figure represents a significant uptick …
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Spotify begins rolling out Spotify Mix, a new bespoke font, replacing the Circular typeface variant used in everything from playlists to marketing campaigns  —  Spotify's latest update is visibly changing the audio streaming service to improve the experience for your eyeballs, rather than your ears.
More: Spotify and TechCrunch
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft will soon let businesses build custom Copilot AI agents for automating tasks, and unveils Team Copilot to help with tasks in Teams, Loop, and Planner  —  Microsoft will soon allow businesses and developers to build AI-powered Copilots that can work like virtual employees and perform tasks automatically.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils a developer preview of Windows Volumetric Apps, which will let developers use an API to put Windows apps in 3D space on Meta Quest headsets
Scott Gilbertson / Wired:
A review of privacy-focused /e/OS, a fully “deGoogled” OS based on the Android Open Source Project, that combines Micro G, to handle Google APIs, and LineageOS  —  Even if you aren't technically inclined, this privacy-first mobile operating system helps you escape surveillance capitalism.
Mastodon: @serpicojam@mas.to
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
TikTok launches its Symphony AI suite for brands, using generative AI to let marketers write scripts, produce videos, and enhance current assets  —  TikTok is the latest tech company to incorporate generative AI into its ads business, as the company announced on Tuesday that it's launching a new “TikTok Symphony” AI suite for brands.
Louise Matsakis / Wired:
Google is rolling out a new ad format that uses AI-generated images to show shoppers how items of clothing would look on different skin tones and body types
Glenn Rifkin / New York Times:
Gordon Bell, who helped design several influential minicomputers at Digital Equipment Corporation, including the 12-bit PDP-8, died on May 17 at age 89  —  It cost $18,000 when it was introduced in 1965, but it bridged the world between room-size mainframes and the modern desktop.
Wired:
An investigation into ticketing service Eventbrite found 7,400+ illicit listings, such as for escort services and drugs, some of which its algorithm recommended  —  A WIRED investigation found thousands of Eventbrite posts selling escort services and drugs like Xanax and oxycodone …
Isabelle Bousquette / Wall Street Journal:
Cologne-based AI translation startup DeepL, which develops its own models, raised $300M led by Index Ventures at a $2B valuation and reports 100K+ customers  —  The round, led by Index Ventures, reflects businesses' increasing interest in function-specific AI models

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From Mediagazer

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Richard Parsons, who had a long career as chairman, CEO, and as a board member of media companies including CBS and Time Warner, died at 76 of bone cancer

Reuters:
Palestinian sources say an Israeli airstrike killed five journalists from Al-Quds Today; the Israeli military called the five “operatives posing as journalists”

Inside Radio:
iHeart reduces its total debt by over $440M and extends most of its debt maturities by three years, by using debt exchange transactions

More News

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Paytm parent One 97 Communications reports a ~$66.1M net loss in Q4, up from ~$20.11M in Q4 2023, on ~$272.4M in revenue, as it faces a regulatory clampdown
Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
AWS says the transition from Nvidia's Grace Hopper to Blackwell chips applies only to Project Ceiba, a supercomputer that AWS and Nvidia are building together
Mimi Billing / Sifted:
London-based LabGenius, which uses ML to find and design antibody therapies to treat cancer, raised a £35M Series B led by Merck's VC arm, M Ventures

Earlier Picks

Michael Nuñez / VentureBeat:
Generative AI music startup Suno raised $125M from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Matrix, Founder Collective, and others
Steven Levy / Wired:
Anthropic researchers detail attempts to peer inside the “black box” of LLMs, learning which combinations of neurons evoke specific concepts
Bradley Keoun / CoinDesk:
Farcaster, an Ethereum-based social media project, raised $150M led by Paradigm, with participation from a16z and others, and reports “350,000 paid sign-ups”
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
Tech Against Scams, a coalition to fight “pig butchering” ploys with better industry coordination, launches with Meta, Coinbase, Match, Kraken, others on board
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Adobe adds generative AI tools to Lightroom, including Firefly-powered Generative Remove to let users “paint” over unwanted objects, available in early access
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