AI Safety is back in focus, Twitter is officially D.E.A.D, and more

Welcome back my Tech Curious friend. I’m so glad you’re here. Below you can find information about the most recent tech news. So let’s get started.

Table of Contents

• Google Lost How Much?!

• Twitter Gets Put Out of It’s Misery

• The Shuttering of OpenAI’s Safety Department

• Streaming Ads

• Apple’s Accessibility Inclusivity

• TikTok Grows…

Google Lost How Much?!?!

I always like to remind people that the “cloud” is just someone else’s computer. That means that not only can you delete your data, but so can your provider. And that’s what happened in that case?

Earlier this week it was reported that Google “accidentally deleted” the data of a $125 Million pension fund called UniSuper. Supposedly something like this has never happened before, and Google is working to make sure it never happens again. But the fact that it did, and it prevented clients of UniSuper from accessing their account info for a week is troubling.

Luckily, UniSuper had a backup on a different provider.

Google Cloud counts about 60% of the world’s 1,000 biggest companies and 90% of generative AI unicorns as its customers. I wonder how many of them are rethinking who’s managing their servers?

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Twitter Gets Put Out of It’s Misery

Elon Musk has finally put Twitter out of its misery. What started last July in it move to x.com, is now complete.

“The Twitter name made sense when it was just 140-character messages … but now you can post almost anything, including several hours of video,” Musk wrote, as he says he wants it to be an everything app.

This means that any remnant is now gone. While some may mourn it’s passing, others will praise the new app. Only time will tell if its successful in its ambition.

The Shuttering of OpenAI’s Safety Department

Earlier this week, I mentioned how OpenAI had a huge announcement, and then several high-profile executives left the company. Now, on the heels of that news, reports of more people leaving the department to ensure the safety of AI, called the superalignment have come to light. A total of five safety focused individuals have left, or been forced out, since Sam Altman’s departure and return in November of 2023 (six months).

Because of those departures, OpenAI, has decided to essentially shutter (or is it actually closed down and not just figuratively) that department by watering it down and choosing who’s in it. This is part of my earlier concerns about companies being tasked with defining AI safety regulations if they can easily neuter the regulations if it doesn’t fit their needs.

Whether this is a problem industry wide, specific to OpenAI’s team, or not, since OpenAI is one of the leading organizations in this field, it is important for them to focus on true safety.

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Streaming Ads

Netflix has been the most recent streaming service to start rolling out ads to everyone…that they can. Some streaming organizations have found that they make more money from the ads than from the paid service.

To make more off of this, Netflix has announced they are creating their own ad service. They had originally partnered with Microsoft, which allowed them to take on their competitors such as Disney (Hulu), Google, and Amazon quickly. But now they are looking to refine and control more of the process themselves.

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Apple’s Accessibility Inclusivity

Accessibility is something that everyone needs to make sure we’re taking part in. That is, how can we design and deliver experiences to people who may have certain physical limitations (a common example is someone is visually impaired) to still be able to use the product.

Apple has, as part of their recent releases, updated their iPads and iPhones to allow people with motor skills limitations to be able to interact with it, by eye tracking, and if they hold their gaze on a section of the screen, it will “click” that element.

This part of their inclusive design, is one of the most talked about, however, there are others, which can be read on their release notes in the link below.

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TikTok Grows…

It’s video length that is.

TikTok is expecting to be around even as it battles for its existence. This is evident in that it is testing longer video formats. Up from the original 15 seconds, (then a minute, and then 10 minutes,) to a whopping 60 minutes.

People are guessing, this is their attempt to move from short form content, to longer content and take on Google’s YouTube.

It should be noted, that only a few people have this option, and only in a few markets. No word on if or when it will expand.

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