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Moscow says Russia-France ties hit new low after Telegram CEO arrest
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said their relationship with France have reached its lowest point after Russian-born Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested. Durov, who was arrested near Paris over the weekend over allegations that content related to child sexual abuse, drug trafficking and fraud was prevalent on the platform. His detention has been extended until today. If Durov ends up facing charges, judges will have to include his flight risk status as a factor to determine pretrial detention as per French law.
While Russia is willing to help Durov but given that he has a dual citizenship of both France and Russia makes matters more complex. Durov also has a UAE passport. Kremlin spokesperson has demanded France for evidence of the allegations levelled against Durov or else will consider their actions as an attack on free speech. X CEO Elon Musk responded to the news saying the right to expression to Europe was under attack.
OpenAI to launch ‘Strawberry’ in fall
OpenAI is reportedly planning to release their new advanced AI product “Strawberry” in fall this year. The reasoning tool will be able to solve advanced math problems, perform high-level tasks like forming market strategies and solving complex word puzzles and do “deep research.” CEO Sam Altman has previously hinted at the project via images he posted on X of strawberries. The AI tool will probably be included with their AI chatbot ChatGPT-4o.
The project was initially known as Q and will be used to develop the AI firm’s next AI model, Orion. According to the report, OpenAI is also seeking new investors to help fundraise them so they have ramp up their AI chatbot business. OpenAI’s last release was SearchGPT, meant to give competition to the traditional search engines.
Apple cuts 100 jobs
Apple has cut around 100 jobs in its digital services business with the maximum layoffs from the Apple Books app and Apple Bookstore as well as some engineering roles and other services teams like Apple News. While the hardware maker hasn’t confirmed the news yet, the company has been shifting its direction towards AI technologies more.
Earlier this year, it had shut down work on its next high-end Vision headset and a project to build their own smartwatch displays. Apple started the year with 161,000 full-time employees as of September 30 2023. The company’s sales in China have been impacted since last year with sales falling by 6.5% last quarter.
