🗞 Apple to Spotlight AI Across Platforms at WWDC 2024 🍎

🔎 The Latest on the AI Frontier:

• Apple to Spotlight AI Integration at WWDC 2024 🍎

• OpenAI Seeks Clean Energy from Fusion Startup Helion 🤝

• Secretive Atmosphere Surrounds OpenAI's San Francisco Office 🕵️

• Elon Musk Praises Indian-Origin Tesla AI Lead Ashok Elluswamy 🙏

• Microsoft Makes Controversial AI-Powered Recall Feature Opt-In 🔒

• Meta to Train AI Using Facebook and Instagram User Data 📸

• Google's AI Search Threatens News Industry, Experts Warn 📰

• AI-Powered Headphones Focus on Single Sound Source 🎧

🍎 Apple's WWDC 2024 keynote is expected to focus heavily on AI integration across its platforms, potentially overshadowing last year's emphasis on the Vision Pro headset. Read More

• The AI announcements at WWDC may provide clues about the iPhone 16's hardware capabilities, with rumors suggesting that advanced AI features could be limited to the Pro models.

• With the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust suit against Apple, the company may indirectly address allegations by highlighting efforts to bridge gaps with third-party devices and services.

• As the keynote is typically limited to two hours, Apple may have to prioritize which platforms receive the most attention, with iOS 18 and iPadOS likely taking center stage due to their anticipated AI features.

🤝 OpenAI is in talks with Seattle-based fusion energy startup Helion to potentially purchase future electricity, as the AI company seeks clean energy solutions for its power-hungry data centers. Read More

• Helion, in which OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman has invested heavily, aims to produce commercially viable fusion energy by 2028.

• While the collaboration highlights Seattle's emergence as a hub for fusion energy innovation, it also raises questions about potential conflicts of interest and the intertwined nature of technology and energy sectors.

• Despite the optimism surrounding fusion energy, the path to commercial viability is fraught with technical, financial, and regulatory challenges that Helion and other startups must overcome.

🕵️ The Standard's investigation into the scene outside OpenAI's San Francisco office reveals a secretive and mysterious atmosphere, with suspected security guards and employees refusing to confirm their roles or the company's presence. Read More

• Neighbors and local business owners describe OpenAI as a "secretive" and "mysterious" presence in the Mission District, with security personnel closely monitoring the area around the office.

• Attempts to engage with the supposed security guards and employees were met with evasive responses and refusals to confirm their affiliation with OpenAI.

• While some nearby restaurant staff report serving OpenAI employees, they note that the workers don't speak openly about their jobs, adding to the company's enigmatic reputation in the neighborhood.

🙏 Elon Musk thanked Indian-origin Ashok Elluswamy for Tesla's "success in AI" and autopilot software development. Read More

• Ashok Elluswamy, the first person hired for Tesla's autopilot team, credited Elon Musk as the key driver of AI and autonomy at the company, pushing the team to achieve seemingly impossible goals.

• Elluswamy highlighted Tesla's achievements in developing in-house computer vision systems, custom AI hardware, and vision-based autonomous driving capabilities, despite skepticism from experts in the field.

• He emphasized Musk's technical intuition, perseverance, and hard work as critical factors in positioning Tesla as a leader in real-world AI applications, including fully autonomous cars and household robots.

🔒 Microsoft is making its AI-powered computer history feature, Copilot+ Recall, opt-in rather than a default setting in response to criticism from cybersecurity experts. Read More

• Copilot+ Recall takes constant screenshots of a user's activity, including sensitive information, and makes it searchable, raising concerns about privacy and security risks.

• In addition to making Recall opt-in, Microsoft will require users to enroll in Windows Hello, a security feature using facial recognition, fingerprint, or PIN, to enable and access Recall.

• The company is also adding additional layers of data protection, such as encrypting Recall snapshots and the search index database, to address security concerns.

📸 Meta will start using Facebook and Instagram user data, including posts, photos, and messages to its AI chatbot, to train its AI tools starting June 26. Read More

• The policy applies to data from as far back as 2007, and users in Australia won't have the option to opt out, raising concerns about privacy and the impact on artists' livelihoods.

• The lack of AI protection laws in Australia means users cannot opt out, unlike those in the European Union and the US state of Illinois, leading to frustration and surprise among Australian users.

• Artists and illustrators are particularly concerned about the impact on their industry, with some considering leaving the platforms or turning to alternative, artist-run social media apps like Cara.

📰 Experts warn that Google's AI-powered search engine, particularly its AI Overviews feature, could have a "catastrophic" impact on the news industry unless the courts or Congress intervene. Read More

• Google stands accused of scraping copyrighted news articles without credit or compensation to train its AI models, potentially leading to a significant loss of organic traffic for news websites.

• While the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are examining the issue, some experts believe that Congressional intervention or a fresh antitrust case specifically focused on AI would be more effective in addressing the concerns of the news industry.

• Potential remedies in the ongoing DOJ antitrust lawsuits against Google, such as the forced divestiture of Chrome or Android, could provide some relief for news publishers, but may quickly become irrelevant if they don't address AI's rapid transformation of the internet economy.

🎧 Scientists have developed an AI-powered technology called "Target Speech Hearing" that allows noise-canceling headphones to focus on a single external sound source while blocking out all other noises. Read More

• The technology uses a small, embeddable computer and the headphones' built-in microphone to identify and lock onto a speaker's voice, even if the speaker moves around or turns away.

• The system, developed by researchers at the University of Washington, is an advancement of their previous work on "semantic hearing," which allowed headphones to single out specific preset sound classes.

• While the technology currently has some limitations, such as only being able to enroll a single audio source at a time, the scientists hope to embed the system into commercial earbuds and hearing aids to assist people with impaired hearing.

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