AI REGULATIONS EMERGE FROM THE WHITEHOUSE
In this weekâs Whatâs Appening, we cover the scramble to regulate AI. The Biden Administration has released an Executive Order on AI, promising to regulate the sector while promoting innovation. Regulation is needed, of course, but critics contend thereâs too much emphasis on the risks and not enough on the rewards of the technology. We also cover a slew of new AI innovations this week, including ChatGPTâs new feature where it can analyze PDFs. We have news on X and Apple, and our Stat of the Week looks at a milestone for GitHub Copilot. Finally, Whatâs dAppening says a big Happy Birthday to the biggest fish in the crypto sea - Bitcoin.
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đ§ââď¸đ¤Â AI â White House Executive Order Weighs Risks and Benefits
On Monday, The White House released an Executive Order (EO) on âSafe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence.â. The EO covers several areas, ranging from privacy to cyber-security, but the emphasis is on risks much more than innovation. In fact, the term ârisksâ is mentioned 14 times in what is a relatively short document. Parallels have been drawn with web3 regulation (or lack thereof); there are a few vague sentences on how AI might be beneficial someday, with the rest justifying regulation of the technology. The fear is, like web3, we operate in a regulatory limbo, with regulation by enforcement pushing US innovation offshore. Others claim the regulations will hurt smaller AI startups while protecting the big fish like OpenAI, Amazon, and Google. The order comes in a big week for AI regulation: The UK is hosting the World AI Safety Summit this week, which will include an interview between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Elon Musk, and the G7 released an AI governance edict mere hours after the Biden Administrationâs announcement. #AIOrder Read more here.
đđ More AI â A Brief Roundup of Innovations and News this Week
Itâs been a busy, busy week for new AI product launches and updates. Letâs start with ChatGPT, which can now directly analyze uploaded documents, including PDFs, which could be a game-changer for businesses and research bodies. Over at Amazon, there have been several new AI initiatives, including an âExplore with Alexaâ AI conversational tool for kids and AI-powered image generation for advertisers. Not to be left out, Google has made a huge $2 billion investment in Anthropic, the AI platform that Google believes will one day rival OpenAI. #AIWeek Read more here.
đď¸ News â The Other Stories Catching Our Eye this Week
đ Twitter/X is now valued at $19 billion, according to Fortune. Itâs now a year since Elon Musk paid $44 billion to take control of Twitter. Itâs now worth less than half that amount, at least according to a report citing an employee stock plan. Get the details here.
đ Back to Black: Apple unveils newest workstations. Apple teased a spooky-themed event last night, and it delivered new Macbooks and iMacs with M3 chips. Cool, except theyâre still plugging lightning cables? đ¤Śđťââď¸ Choose your holiday gifts wisely. Read more here.
âď¸ SBF takes to the stand and has a bout of âSamensiaâ. The disgraced âKing of Cryptoâ, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been given the chance to tell his side of the story at his trial in New York. His statements were characterized by a lot of âI donât recallâ moments. In fact, SBF used a variant of âI donât recallâ or âI donât knowâ no fewer than 150 times. Get the details here.
đđŠâđťÂ GitHub â AI Copilot Has Crossed 1 Million Subscribers
Thereâs an AI theme to this weekâs newsletter, so letâs factor that into our Stat of the Week. Github Copilot has passed one million paid subscribers across more than 37,000 organizations. Itâs an incredible affirmation of how quickly the AI tools have been adopted by developers and tech companies, and we might add that itâs another sign that Microsoft (owner of GitHub) is way ahead in the AI race. #1MCopilots Read more here.
đĽ¸đŞÂ Bitcoin â White Paper on First Cryptocurrency Turns 15 Today
On Halloween 2008, the mysterious and anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin White Paper. How time flies. But where are we after 15 years? It might seem sensible to say that the promised revolution has not quite materialized, but then again, consider that this âfunny internet moneyâ has countries using it as legal tender, schoolchildren being taught on the subject, and the worldâs largest hedge funds queuing up to secure it for their clients. It might not have completely disrupted finance â yet â but itâs made quite the start. #HBBitcoin Read more here.
No time for meanwhile this week. Weâre off trick-or-treating!!! Happy Halloween everybody! đ§đ
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