Unveiling the Tech Titans of the European Commission
Teresa Ribera Rodríguez: The Climate and Tech Enforcer
Big Tech will be closely observing Teresa Ribera Rodríguez. As an executive vice president for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, she holds a significant EVP role in the incoming Commission, focusing on climate and economic transformation. She will also take over competition enforcement from Margrethe Vestager, a portfolio that has posed challenges to tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Meta over the years.
The EU has been emphasizing the need to rein in platform power with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into force this March. Ribera Rodríguez will wield major decision-making power in tech, inheriting active DMA investigations into Apple, Meta, and Google. Penalties under the DMA can be substantial, and we have already seen operational changes as tech giants comply. Expect more service reconfigurations as enforcement intensifies.
Henna Virkkunen: Tech Sovereignty and Digital Regulation
Henna Virkkunen is responsible for "Digital and Frontier Technologies" in addition to a tech-focused EVP portfolio. She will play a crucial role in shaping the bloc's approach to web technologies and AI. Her responsibilities include fostering investment, addressing areas like cybersecurity and digital skills, and enforcing existing digital rules.
The EU adopted an AI Act this summer, and enforcement is set to start next year. Virkkunen is tasked with prioritizing ecosystem growth in AI. She is also involved in initiatives such as getting EU supercomputers ready for AI startups, devising an "Apply AI Strategy," and setting up the European AI Research Council. She will also lead on steering enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA), which aims to ensure digital services meet consumer expectations.
Ekaterina Zaharieva: The Startup and Innovation Catalyst
Ekaterina Zaharieva, as commissioner-designate for startups and R&D, will become a familiar figure in the European startup and research communities. Her mission includes working on a "European Innovation Act" to streamline the regulatory framework and facilitate access to venture capital for European startups.
She is also tasked with proposing a "European Research Area Act" to foster research and innovation. Expanding the European Innovation Council and European Research Council are other important missions. During her confirmation hearing, she pledged to push EU member states to meet a 3% spending target on research and innovation.
"Unraveling the Data Deletion Conundrum in the AI War"
Section 1: The Alleged Data Scraping and Training
Lawyers for The New York Times and Daily News are firmly in court, claiming that OpenAI's actions have violated their copyrights. OpenAI's alleged scraping of their works to train its AI models without permission has sparked a heated dispute. This incident has raised serious questions about the ethical and legal boundaries of AI development.These newspapers have been at the forefront of the digital media landscape, and the potential loss of their intellectual property through OpenAI's actions is a significant concern. The lawsuit highlights the need for clear regulations and guidelines in the rapidly evolving field of AI.Section 2: The Data Deletion Incident
Earlier this fall, OpenAI agreed to provide two virtual machines for the publishers to search for their copyrighted content in its AI training sets. However, on November 14, OpenAI engineers accidentally erased all the publishers' search data stored on one of the virtual machines. This was a major setback for the publishers, who had already spent over 150 hours since November 1 searching OpenAI's training data.Although OpenAI tried to recover the data and was mostly successful, the loss of the folder structure and file names made the recovered data unusable. This has forced the publishers to recreate their work from scratch, using significant person-hours and computer processing time. The incident has underscored the importance of proper data management and security in the AI industry.Section 3: OpenAI's Response and Denials
In response to the publishers' letter, OpenAI's attorneys unequivocally denied that OpenAI deleted any evidence. Instead, they suggested that the plaintiffs were to blame for a system misconfiguration that led to a technical issue. OpenAI's counsel argued that implementing the plaintiffs' requested change resulted in removing the folder structure and some file names on one hard drive, which was supposed to be used as a temporary cache.However, the publishers' counsel remains skeptical and believes that OpenAI is in the best position to search its own datasets for potentially infringing content using its own tools. The ongoing dispute between the two parties highlights the challenges of navigating the complex world of AI and copyright law.Section 4: Fair Use and Licensing Deals
In this case and others, OpenAI has maintained that training models using publicly available data is fair use. The company believes that it isn't required to license or otherwise pay for the examples used to create models like GPT-4o. However, OpenAI has also inked licensing deals with a growing number of new publishers, including the Associated Press, Business Insider owner Axel Springer, Financial Times, People parent company Dotdash Meredith, and News Corp.Although OpenAI has declined to make the terms of these deals public, one content partner, Dotdash, is reportedly being paid at least $16 million per year. This raises questions about the fairness and transparency of OpenAI's licensing practices and the potential impact on the publishing industry.Unlock the Potential of AI for Thanksgiving Delights
ChatGPT's Thanksgiving Menu
ChatGPT starts off with a fancy cocktail hour featuring whipped sweet potato and goat cheese crostini. For the appetizer, it suggests "pumpkin soup shooters with cinnamon crème fraîche," followed by a main course of miso-butter turkey with a ginger-soy glaze. On the side, it recommends a chili-lime corn bread and pistachio risotto. And for the big finish, it has you stick to staples like pie, cheesecake, and saffron-flavored ice cream.
According to ChatGPT, this menu takes familiar Thanksgiving flavors and elevates them through unexpected ingredients and combinations. Each dish tells a story and invites conversation, making the meal not just about food, but about shared experience and creativity.
Claude's Thanksgiving Menu
Claude goes for the moon with an appetizer of "butternut squash bisque with sage foam" that definitely checks the "unique" box. For the main course, it suggests "lavender and fennel dry-brined turkey with a honey-thyme glaze," an herbaceous departure from classic roast turkey. On the side, it recommends whipping out the fine liquor for a "wild mushroom and chestnut stuffing with aged sherry."
Claude writes that its creations take familiar Thanksgiving flavors and elevate them through unexpected ingredients and combinations. Each dish tells a story and invites conversation, making the meal not just about food, but about shared experience and creativity.
OpenAI's Sora Leaks
A group appears to have leaked access to OpenAI's video generator, Sora, in protest of what it's calling "art washing" on OpenAI's part. This has raised concerns about the security and ethics of AI technology.
OpenAI needs to address these issues and ensure that its technology is used in a responsible and ethical manner.
Amazon Backs Anthropic
Anthropic has raised an additional $4 billion from Amazon and has agreed to train its flagship generative AI models primarily on Amazon Web Services. This partnership could have a significant impact on the development and deployment of AI technology.
It remains to be seen how this partnership will shape the future of AI and what benefits it will bring to users.
AI App Connectors
In other Anthropic news, the company has proposed a new standard, the Model Context Protocol, for connecting AI assistants to the systems where data resides. This could make it easier for users to integrate AI into their existing workflows and applications.
The Model Context Protocol has the potential to revolutionize the way we use AI and make it more accessible and useful.
OpenAI Funds "AI Morality" Research
OpenAI is pouring $1 million into a Duke University research program to develop algorithms that can predict humans' moral judgments. This is an important step in ensuring that AI is developed with ethical considerations in mind.
By understanding human moral judgments, AI can be developed to make more ethical decisions and avoid causing harm.
YouTube Gets AI Backdrops
YouTube's Dream Screen feature for Shorts now lets users create AI-generated video backdrops. This could make it easier for content creators to add visual effects and enhance their videos.
With AI-generated backdrops, YouTube Shorts can become even more engaging and immersive for viewers.
Brave Adds AI Chat
Search engine Brave has introduced an AI chat mode for follow-up questions based on initial queries on Brave Search. This is an expansion of Brave's Answer with AI feature that provides AI-generated summaries of web searches.
Brave's AI chat mode makes it easier for users to get the information they need and have more engaging conversations with the search engine.
AI2 Open Sources Tülu 3
The Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) has released Tülu 3, a generative AI model that can be fine-tuned and customized for a range of applications. This could make it easier for developers to build their own AI applications and services.
Tülu 3 has the potential to revolutionize the way we develop and use AI and make it more accessible to a wider range of users.
Crusoe Raises Cash
Crusoe Energy, a startup building data centers reportedly to be leased to Oracle, Microsoft, and OpenAI, is in the process of raising $818 million. This could help the company expand its operations and bring more AI-powered services to market.
With the additional funding, Crusoe Energy could become a major player in the world of AI and data centers.
Threads Tests AI Summaries
Meta's Threads has begun testing AI-generated summaries of what people are discussing on the platform, taking a page from rival X. This could make it easier for users to stay up-to-date on the latest conversations and trends.
Threads' AI summaries could become an important tool for social media users and help them stay connected with the world around them.
DeepMind's AlphaQubit
DeepMind has developed a new AI system called AlphaQubit that can accurately identify errors inside of quantum computers. This is an important step in improving the reliability of quantum computers and making them more useful for a wide range of applications.
AlphaQubit has the potential to revolutionize the way we use quantum computers and make them more accessible and reliable.
Runway's Frames Model
Runway has released a new image-generation model called Frames that offers better stylistic control than most. The model is slowly rolling out to users of Runway's Gen-3 Alpha video generator and can reliably create images that stay true to a particular aesthetic.
Runway's Frames model has the potential to revolutionize the way we create and edit images and make it easier for content creators to bring their visions to life.
Nvidia's Fugatto
Nvidia has unveiled a model called "the world's most flexible sound machine," dubbed Fugatto. The chip giant's model can create a mix of music, voices, and sounds from a text description and a collection of audio files. It can even generate things that don't exist in the real world.
Fugatto has the potential to revolutionize the way we create and experience sound and make it easier for musicians and content creators to bring their ideas to life.