As we head into the weekend, there are rumors that Qualcomm may be looking to acquire Intel as the company struggles to maintain its footing in the chip manufacturing industry. In August, Intel announced massive layoffs and other cost-cutting measures after reporting a 1.6 billion loss in its second-quarter earnings report. Qualcomm will lay off approximately 200 workers from its San Diego office this November.
Why it matters: Both chip makers are losing market share and street cred to NVIDIA, which has become the poster child for powering today’s AI models. Joining forces could bring together the right resources to emerge as a viable competitor.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed eight new laws governing the use of AI into law on Thursday. They include two laws about obscene deepfakes: SB 926 makes it illegal to blackmail someone with AI-generated nude images; SB 981 requires social media platforms to make it easy to report illicit deepfakes and that the platforms block the images while under review and remove them if confirmed fake. Also included were three laws regarding the use of deepfakes during the upcoming election, two creating new standards for the use of AI in the media industry, and a law requiring AI-generated images to store that detail in the file’s metadata.
Why it matters: These laws are some of the first in America to regulate the legal use of artificial intelligence – and, in many cases, may require significant resources to enforce. Given that today’s AI software industry resembles the Wild West, it’s unclear how companies would be forced to implement features like watermarking, what standards or protocols can determine the legitimacy of potential deepfakes, or what can be done about organizations outside of California that flat-out ignore the legislation.
Tor seems to be running a massive PR campaign after investigative reporters at the Norddeutscher Rundfunk discovered that German officials were able to “de-anonymize” user data to locate and shut down a dark web platform promoting child sexual abuse.
Why it matters: The Tor Project promotes anonymous internet use through free software and open networks. It exists to create and deploy “anonymity and privacy technologies.” The incident in question happened in 2021. Technology changes quickly – ChatGPT didn’t launch until the end of 2022 – so the Tor Project has some strength behind the argument that it is still safe today.
Other mishaps to be aware of:
And a few positives:
