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Tag: computer science and information technology

  • iPhone users will soon have to adjust to this small but significant change | CNN Business

    iPhone users will soon have to adjust to this small but significant change | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Get your thumb ready for next month. Apple

    (AAPL)     is making a subtle change to the iPhone’s software that will likely mess with your muscle memory: The big red “end call” button is moving.

    The iPhone’s phone app will get a series of updates coming to iOS 17, including an updated design that repositions the hang up button to the bottom right of the screen, next to other functions. The button currently sits separately at the bottom middle of the phone app, underneath the buttons to mute, access the keypad or add a call.

    The new call screen, which is already available for download in a beta version for developers, sparked some strong reactions among iOS users on social media: “iOS 17 has the FaceTime button where the end call button used to be,” tweeted one user. “Muscle memory be damned.”

    The change is likely to streamline the look of the phone app and put all functions in one place. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

    At its annual Worldwide Developer Conference in May, the company showed off a slew of new tools coming to iOS 17 that make calling and messaging others more personalized and customized. iPhone users, for example, will be able to design contact “posters,” a custom image to appear when they call someone or receive their call.

    Meanwhile, a new feature called Live Voicemail will transcribe a caller’s message in real time, so users can decide whether to ignore or take the call, and a tool called NameDrop will let users share their contact information by holding two iPhones close together. In addition, FaceTime will support the ability to leave video messages when someone isn’t available to chat.

    Other changes coming to iOS 17 include a more accurate autocorrect, improved dictation in iMessage, and a more responsive Siri. Apple typically launches its latest mobile operating system in September, following its annual iPhone event.

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  • Nvidia’s quarterly sales double on the back of AI boom | CNN Business

    Nvidia’s quarterly sales double on the back of AI boom | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    The artificial intelligence boom continues to fuel a blockbuster year for chipmaker Nvidia.

    Nvidia’s stock jumped as much as 9% in after-hours trading Wednesday after the Santa Clara, California-based company posted year-over-year sales growth of 101%, to $13.5 billion for the three months ended in July.

    The results were even stronger than the $11.2 billion in revenue that Wall Street analysts expected. The company’s non-GAAP adjusted profits grew a stunning 429% from the same period in the prior year to $2.70 per share, also beating analysts’ expectations. GAAP stands for generally accepted accounting principles.

    Nvidia’s stock has climbed by just over 220% since the start of this year amid a surge in the popularity of and demand for artificial intelligence technology. The American chipmaker produces processors that power generative AI, technology that can create text, images and other media — and which forms the foundation of buzzy new services such as ChatGPT.

    “A new computing era has begun. Companies worldwide are transitioning from general-purpose to accelerated computing and generative AI,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement, adding that the company is working with “Leading enterprise IT system and software providers … to bring NVIDIA AI to every industry.”

    “The race is on to adopt generative AI,” he said.

    Huang had said following the company’s May earnings report that the firm was ramping up its supply to meet “surging demand.”

    “Nvidia’s hardware has become indispensable to the AI-driven economy,” Insider Intelligence senior analyst Jacob Bourne said in emailed commentary. “The pressing question is whether Nvidia can consistently exceed the now-higher expectations.”

    This story is developing and will be updated.

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  • Google’s antitrust showdown: What’s at stake for the internet search titan | CNN Business

    Google’s antitrust showdown: What’s at stake for the internet search titan | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Google will face off in court Tuesday against government officials who have accused the company of antitrust violations in its massive search business, kicking off a long-anticipated legal showdown that could reshape one of the internet’s most dominant platforms.

    The trial beginning this week in Washington before a federal judge marks the culmination of two ongoing lawsuits against Google that started during the Trump administration. Legal experts describe the actions as the country’s biggest monopolization case since the US government took on Microsoft in the 1990s.

    In separate complaints, the Justice Department and dozens of states accused Google in 2020 of abusing its dominance in online search by allegedly harming competition through deals with wireless carriers and smartphone makers that made Google Search the default or exclusive option on products used by millions of consumers. The complaints eventually consolidated into a single case.

    Google has maintained that it competes on the merits and that consumers prefer its tools because they are the best, not because it has moved to illegally restrict competition. Google’s search business provides more than half of the $283 billion in revenue and $76 billion in net income Google’s parent company, Alphabet, recorded in 2022. Search has fueled the company’s growth to a more than $1.7 trillion market capitalization.

    Now, the company is set to defend itself in a multiweek trial that could upend the way Google distributes its search engine to users. The case is expected to feature testimony from high-profile witnesses including former employees of Google and Samsung, along with executives from Apple, including senior vice president Eddy Cue. It is the first case to go to trial in a series of court challenges targeting Google’s far-reaching economic power, testing the willingness of courts to clamp down on large tech platforms.

    “This is a backwards-looking case at a time of unprecedented innovation,” said Google President of Global Affairs Kent Walker, “including breakthroughs in AI, new apps and new services, all of which are creating more competition and more options for people than ever before. People don’t use Google because they have to — they use it because they want to. It’s easy to switch your default search engine — we’re long past the era of dial-up internet and CD-ROMs.”

    The trial may also be a bellwether for the more assertive antitrust agenda of the Biden administration.

    In its initial complaint, the US government alleged in part that Google pays billions of dollars a year to device manufacturers including Apple, LG, Motorola and Samsung — and browser developers like Mozilla and Opera — to be their default search engine and in many cases to prohibit them from dealing with Google’s competitors.

    As a result, the complaint alleges, “Google effectively owns or controls search distribution channels accounting for roughly 80 percent of the general search queries in the United States.”

    The lawsuit also alleges that Google’s Android operating system deals with device makers are anticompetitive, because they require smartphone companies to pre-install other Google-owned apps, such as Gmail, Chrome or Maps.

    At the time the lawsuit was first filed, US antitrust officials did not rule out the possibility of a Google breakup, warning that Google’s behavior could threaten future innovation or the rise of a Google successor.

    Separately, a group of states, led by Colorado, made additional allegations against Google, claiming that the way Google structures its search results page harms competition by prioritizing the company’s own apps and services over web pages, links, reviews and content from other third-party sites.

    But the judge overseeing the case, Judge Amit Mehta in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, tossed out those claims in a ruling last month, narrowing the scope of allegations Google must defend and saying the states had not done enough to show a trial was necessary to determine whether Google’s search results rankings were anticompetitive.

    Despite that ruling, the trial represents the US government’s furthest progress in challenging Google to date. Mehta has said Google’s pole position among search engines on browsers and smartphones “is a hotly disputed issue” and that the trial will determine “whether, as a matter of actual market reality, Google’s position as the default search engine across multiple browsers is a form of exclusionary Conduct.”

    In January, meanwhile, the Biden administration launched another antitrust suit against Google in opposition to the company’s advertising technology business, accusing it of maintaining an illegal monopoly. That case remains in its early stages at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

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  • Huawei wants to go all in on AI for the next decade | CNN Business

    Huawei wants to go all in on AI for the next decade | CNN Business

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    Editor’s Note: Sign up for CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter which explores what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world.


    Hong Kong
    CNN
     — 

    Huawei has joined the list of companies that want to be all about artificial intelligence.

    For the first time in about 10 years, the Chinese tech and telecoms giant announced its new strategic direction on Wednesday, saying it would shift its focus to AI. Previously, the company had prioritized cloud computing and intellectual property, respectively, over two decade-long periods.

    Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s rotating chairwoman and chief financial officer, made the announcement in Shanghai during a company event.

    “As artificial intelligence gains steam, and its impact on industry continues to grow, Huawei’s All Intelligence strategy is designed to help all industries make the most of new strategic opportunities,” the company said in a statement.

    Meng said in a speech that Huawei was “committed to building a solid computing backbone for China — and another option for the world.”

    “Our end goal is to help meet the diverse AI computing needs of different industries,” she added, without providing details.

    Huawei’s decision follows a similar move by fellow Chinese tech giant Alibaba (BABA), announced earlier this month, to prioritize AI.

    Other companies, such as Japan’s SoftBank, have also long declared an intent to focus more on the fast-moving technology, and more businesses have jumped on the bandwagon this year due to excitement about platforms such as GPT-4.

    Meng returned to China in September 2021 after spending nearly three years under house arrest in Canada as part of an extradition battle with the United States. She and Huawei had been charged for alleged bank fraud and evasion of economic sanctions against Iran.

    The executive, who is also the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, was able to leave after reaching an agreement with the US Department of Justice and ultimately having her charges dismissed.

    Meng began her role as the rotating chairperson of the company in April and is expected to stay in the position for six months.

    News of Huawei’s strategic update came the same day the company was mentioned in allegations lodged by China against the United States.

    In a statement posted Wednesday on Chinese social network WeChat, China’s Ministry of State Security accused Washington of infiltrating Huawei servers nearly 15 years ago.

    “With its powerful arsenal of cyberattacks, the United States intelligence services have carried out surveillance, theft of secrets and cyberattacks against many countries around the world, including China, in a variety of ways,” the ministry said.

    It alleged that the US National Security Agency (NSA), in particular, had “repeatedly conducted systematic and platform-based attacks on China in an attempt to steal China’s important data resources.”

    Huawei declined to comment on the allegations, while the NSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular US business hours.

    The claims are especially notable because US officials have long suspected the company of spying on the networks that its technology operates, using it as grounds to restrict trade with the company. Huawei has vehemently denied the claims, saying it operates independently of the Chinese government.

    In 2019, Huawei was added to the US “entity list,” which restricts exports to select organizations without a US government license. The following year, the US government expanded on those curbs by seeking to cut Huawei off from chip suppliers that use US technology.

    In recent weeks, Huawei has added to US-China tensions again after launching a new smartphone that represents an apparent technological breakthrough.

    Huawei launched the Mate 60 Pro, its latest flagship device, last month, prompting a US investigation. Analysts who have examined the phone have said it includes a 5G chip, suggesting Huawei may have found a way to overcome American export controls.

    — Mengchen Zhang contributed to this report.

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  • Apple confirms that a bug and some apps are causing iPhone 15 models to overheat | CNN Business

    Apple confirms that a bug and some apps are causing iPhone 15 models to overheat | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Apple is working on a software fix following reports that some of its new iPhone 15 models are overheating.

    The company told CNN the current overheating issues are not a safety risk and will not affect the long-term performance of impacted iPhone models. It also emphasized that iPhones have internal protections for components to help regulate the temperature if it gets too high.

    Apple also told CNN there are several circumstances that are causing its next-generation lineup to heat up. User complaints started to circulate after the latest iPhones hit stores on September 22.

    “We have identified a few conditions which can cause iPhone to run warmer than expected,” Apple told CNN in a statement.

    To start, overheating can occur with some recently updated third-party apps, causing them to “overload the system,” the company said. Those apps include Instagram, Uber and arcade racing game Asphalt 9.

    “We’re working with these app developers on fixes that are in the process of rolling out,” Apple said in a statement.

    It also said it discovered a bug in iOS 17 impacting some users, and plans to roll out a software update to address the issue. It did not comment on when the fix will be made available.

    In addition, Apple said the device may feel warmer during the first few days after setting up or restoring the device because of “increased background activity.”

    Apple’s support page warns users that a device can get hotter when restoring it from a backup, using graphic-intensive apps, streaming high-quality video, and charging it wirelessly.

    “These conditions are normal, and your device will return to a regular temperature when the process is complete or when you finish your activity,” the company states on the website. “If your device doesn’t display a temperature warning, you can keep using your device.”

    The news comes as demand for the iPhone 15 appears strong. Leading up to launch day, analysts at firms such as Wedbush Securities reported iPhone 15 pre-orders tracking better than originally expected, with a heavy demand on its premium iPhone 15 Pro offerings, especially the Pro Max. Delivery and shipment times have moved to late October through mid-November for various Pro models.

    The new iPhones come as Apple reported in August that sales fell for the third consecutive quarter. iPhone revenue came in at $39.7 billion for the third quarter, marking an approximately 2% year-over-year decline, as users update their devices less often.

    But according to Wedbush estimates, about 250 million iPhones have not been upgraded in more than four years. Advancements made to the processor, camera and charging system, along with discounts from mobile carriers, could be more than enough reason for users to finally upgrade this year.

    The iPhone 15 Pro starts at $1,099, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $1,199. Apple’s entry-level iPhones, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, cost $799 and $899, respectively.

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  • New trove of emails and documents turned over to prosecutors in Georgia election subversion case | CNN Politics

    New trove of emails and documents turned over to prosecutors in Georgia election subversion case | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    A trove of emails and documents uncovered by state investigators looking into a voting systems breach in Georgia is being turned over to the Fulton County prosecutors who brought the sweeping racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and his allies.

    More than 15,000 emails and documents connected to Misty Hampton, the former election supervisor for Coffee County, were discovered this month by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation – after attorneys for the rural county’s board of elections claimed the information had been lost.

    Hampton has been charged alongside Trump and 17 other co-defendants with trying to subvert the 2020 election results in Georgia. She has been accused of facilitating the unlawful breach of Coffee County’s voting systems.

    The Georgia Bureau of Investigation had been looking into the Coffee County incident since the summer of 2022. Earlier this month, the agency completed its investigation and gave the case file to Fulton County prosecutors to be included as part of discovery to be turned over to defendants in the Trump election interference case.

    While it’s unclear what’s in the trove of emails and documents, the Coffee County breach features prominently in the Fulton County indictment. Prosecutors say Trump allies illegally breached the voting systems in hopes of finding proof that the election was fraudulent. Prosecutors also have evidence tying Trump campaign lawyers to the breach.

    Sidney Powell, the former Trump campaign attorney charged with crimes stemming from the Coffee County voting systems breach, has centered her defense around the claim that access to the data was authorized by Hampton. Powell and pro-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro are the first two defendants to go to trial, with jury selection set to begin Friday.

    In text messages previously obtained by CNN, Hampton allegedly gave Trump attorneys a “written invitation” to access Georgia voting systems.

    RELATED: Georgia prosecutors have messages showing Trump’s team is behind voting system breach

    Hampton’s attorney Jonathan Miller said he believes that the newly discovered emails and content will exonerate her.

    “There is nothing in the 15,000 emails that would do anything to make my client culpable of a crime, and I look forward to reviewing it all,” Miller told CNN. “She was acting under authority of Georgia statutes in doing what she did, and the evidence is going to show that. She did not commit any crimes.”

    Hampton and Powell each face seven charges in Fulton County, including conspiracy to commit election fraud and computer trespassing, in addition to racketeering. A trial date for Hampton has not been set, and Miller said his client has not received a plea offer she is “willing to facilitate.”

    All but one defendant, bail bondsman Scott Hall, who has agreed to testify for the prosecution, have pleaded not guilty.

    The security of Georgia’s elections had been the subject of litigation even before the 2020 presidential contest. The Coalition for Good Governance, a nonprofit organization, sued the Georgia secretary of state over the issue in 2017. Hampton’s alleged involvement in the Coffee County breach came to light as part of that ongoing civil lawsuit.

    “Few people believed the bizarre claims made by the Coffee County Board of Elections and their attorneys that Misty Hampton’s emails were suddenly lost shortly after she was terminated in February 2021,” the coalition said in a statement.

    The board of elections did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

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  • Justice Kagan order: Apple doesn’t have to change app store terms while battling Epic in court | CNN Business

    Justice Kagan order: Apple doesn’t have to change app store terms while battling Epic in court | CNN Business

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    A judicial order forcing Apple to change some of its app store terms will not need to take immediate effect while litigation over the decision plays out, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said on Wednesday, handing a temporary defeat to opponents of the company.

    The order is a setback for “Fortnite”-maker Epic Games as Apple appeals a lower-court ruling that found the iPhone-maker had violated California competition law.

    Epic Games declined to comment on Kagan’s decision, which occurred in the Supreme Court’s so-called “shadow docket” and was not referred to the full court.

    Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Apple had previously been ordered not to interfere with efforts by iOS app developers to inform their users within their apps about alternatives to Apple’s in-app payment system, which allows Apple to take a commission.

    In April, a federal appeals court upheld the order that, if allowed to take effect, would prevent Apple from intervening when developers include “buttons, external links or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms” apart from Apple’s own channels.

    The appeals court temporarily paused enforcement of the injunction while Apple appeals the ruling to the Supreme Court. But last month, Epic Games filed an emergency request to the court calling for the order to be put into effect immediately, saying the public would otherwise be harmed by Apple’s practices.

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  • OpenAI launches a version of ChatGPT for businesses | CNN Business

    OpenAI launches a version of ChatGPT for businesses | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    OpenAI is releasing a version of its buzzy ChatGPT tool specifically for businesses, the company announced Monday, as an AI arms race continues to ramp up throughout corporate America.

    OpenAI unveiled the new service, dubbed “ChatGPT Enterprise,” in a company blog post and said it will be available to business clients for purchase as of Monday. The new offering promises to provide “enterprise-grade security and privacy” combined with “the most powerful version of ChatGPT yet” for businesses looking to jump on the generative AI bandwagon.

    “We believe AI can assist and elevate every aspect of our working lives and make teams more creative and productive,” the blog post said. “Today marks another step towards an AI assistant for work that helps with any task, is customized for your organization, and that protects your company data.”

    Some of the early customers of ChatGPT Enterprise include fintech startup Block, cosmetics giant Estee Lauder Companies and the professional services firm PwC.

    The highly-anticipated announcement from OpenAI comes as the company says employees from over 80% of Fortune 500 companies have already begun using ChatGPT since it launched publicly late last year, according to its analysis of accounts associated with corporate email domains.

    Before the launch of ChatGPT Enterprise, a number of prominent companies including JPMorgan Chase had implemented temporary restrictions on workplace use of ChatGPT.

    ChatGPT Enterprise, however, addresses one of the core issues that led to the workplace clampdowns: privacy and security concerns. Formerly, some business leaders had expressed worries about employees dropping proprietary information into ChatGPT and having that sensitive information potentially emerge as an output by the tool elsewhere. OpenAI’s announcement blog post for ChatGPT Enterprise, meanwhile, states that it does “not train on your business data or conversations, and our models don’t learn from your usage.”

    OpenAI did not publicly disclose the pricing levels for ChatGPT Enterprise, instead asking potential business clients to contact its sales team.

    “We look forward to sharing an even more detailed roadmap with prospective customers and continuing to evolve ChatGPT Enterprise based on your feedback,” the company said. “We’re onboarding as many enterprises as we can over the next few weeks.”

    In July, Microsoft unveiled a business-specific version of its AI-powered Bing tool, dubbed Bing Chat Enterprise, and promised much of the same security assurances that ChatGPT Enterprise is now touting – namely, that users’ chat data will not be used to train AI models.

    Microsoft also previously disclosed a multi-billion dollar investment into OpenAI. It’s not immediately clear how the dueling new AI tools for business will end up competing with each other.

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  • YouTube unveils a slew of new AI-powered tools for creators | CNN Business

    YouTube unveils a slew of new AI-powered tools for creators | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    YouTube on Thursday unveiled a slew of new artificial intelligence-powered tools to help creators produce videos and reach a wider audience on the platform, as companies race to incorporate buzzy generative AI technology directly into their core products.

    “We want to make it easier for everyone to feel like they can create, and we believe generative AI will make that possible,” Neal Mohan, YouTube’s CEO, told reporters Thursday during the company’s annual Made On YouTube product event.

    “AI will enable people to push the boundaries of creative expression by making the difficult things simple,” Mohan added. He said YouTube is trying to bring “these powerful tools” to the masses.

    The video platform, under the Alphabet-Google umbrella, teased a new generative AI feature dubbed Dream Screen specifically for its short-form video arm and TikTok competitor, YouTube Shorts. Dream Screen is an experimental feature that lets creators add AI-generated video or image backgrounds to their vertical videos.

    To use Dream Screen, creators can type their idea for a background as a prompt and the platform will do the rest. A user, for example, could create a background that makes it look like they are in outer space or on a beach where the sand is made out of jelly beans, per demos of the tool shared on Thursday.

    Dream Screen is being introduced to select creators and will be rolled out more broadly next year, the company said.

    YouTube also unveiled new AI-powered tools that creators can access to help brainstorm or draft outlines for videos or search for specific music using descriptive phrases. YouTube said it was bringing an AI-powered dubbing tool that will let users share their videos in different languages.

    AI-powered tools in YouTube Studio.

    Alan Chikin Chow, 26, a content creator based in Los Angeles who recently hit 30 million subscribers on YouTube, told CNN that he is most excited about using the new AI-powered dubbing tool for his comedy videos. Chikin Chow currently boasts the title of the most-watched YouTube Shorts creator in the world.

    “I think global content is the future,” Chikin Chow told CNN. “If you look at the trends of our recent generation, the things that have really impacted and moved culture are ones that are global,” he added, citing the Korean smash-hit TV series “Squid Game” as one example.

    Using the AI-powered dubbing features, he said he hopes to reach audiences in new corners of the world that might not otherwise be able to engage with his content.

    LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 04: Alan Chikin Chow attends the 2022 YouTube Streamy Awards at the Beverly Hilton on December 04, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for dick clark productions)

    Chikin Chow added that he’s also excited to use the new editing tools to help save time.

    The rise of generative AI has animated the tech sector and broader public — becoming the latest buzzword out of Silicon Valley since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT service late last year.

    Some industry watchers and AI skeptics have argued that powerful new AI tools carry potential dangers, such as making it easier to spread misinformation via deepfake images, or perpetuate biases at a larger scale. Many creative professionals — whose works are often swept up into the datasets required to train and power AI tools — are also raising the alarm over potential intellectual property rights issues.

    And some prominent figures inside and outside the tech industry even say there’s a potential that AI can result in civilization “extinction” and compare its potential risk to that of “nuclear war.”

    Despite the frenzy AI has caused, Chikin Chow told CNN that he ultimately views it as a “collaborator” and a “supplement” to help propel his creative work forward.

    “I think that the people who are able to take change and move with it are the ones that are going to be successful long term,” Chikin Chow said.

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  • Microsoft CEO warns of ‘nightmare’ future for AI if Google’s search dominance continues | CNN Business

    Microsoft CEO warns of ‘nightmare’ future for AI if Google’s search dominance continues | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warned on Monday of a “nightmare” scenario for the internet if Google’s dominance in online search is allowed to continue, a situation, he said, that starts with searches on desktop and mobile but extends to the emerging battleground of artificial intelligence.

    Nadella testified on Monday as part of the US government’s sweeping antitrust trial against Google, now into its 14th day. He is the most senior tech executive yet to testify during the trial that focuses on the power of Google as the default search engine on mobile devices and browsers around the globe.

    Taking the stand in a charcoal suit and tie, Nadella painted Google as a technology giant that has blocked off ways for consumers to access rival search engines. His testimony reflected the frustrations of a long-running rivalry between Microsoft and Google whose tensions have permeated the weeks-long trial. (Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.)

    Central to Google’s strategy has been its agreements with companies such as Apple that have made Google the default search engine for millions of internet users.

    “You get up in the morning, you brush your teeth, you search on Google,” Nadella said.

    Nadella testified that every year he has been Microsoft’s CEO, he has unsuccessfully sought to persuade Apple to switch away from Google as its default search partner. Nadella added that Microsoft has been willing to spend close to $15 billion a year for the privilege. (A senior Apple executive, Eddy Cue, testified last week that Apple has always considered Google the best search product for its users, a claim echoed by Google itself throughout the trial.)

    However, even more worrisome, Nadella argued, is that the enormous amount of search data that is provided to Google through its default agreements can help Google train its AI models to be better than anyone else’s — threatening to give Google an unassailable advantage in generative AI that would further entrench its power.

    “This is going to become even harder to compete in the AI age with someone who has that core… advantage,” Nadella testified.

    Despite being profitable, and despite investing some $100 billion in it over the past 20 years, Microsoft’s Bing search engine has only a single-digit market share in mobile search, and only slightly more — into the teens — in desktop search, Nadella said, adding that one of his dreams has been to see Bing account for at least 20% of the market in both segments.

    Bing has struggled to grow its market share in part because being the default search provider for billions of devices means Google receives enormous amounts of data through search queries that helps Google understand at scale what users are likely to be interested in, Nadella noted. And for years, that “dynamic data” has enabled Google to stay ahead of Bing, he added.

    “Every misspelling of a new movie, every local restaurant whose name you mistype,” Nadella explained, “…is a very critical asset to have your search quality get better.” And because the physical world is constantly changing, capturing shifts in search trends are essential to helping a search engine stay relevant as historical data becomes less relevant. Nadella previously led Microsoft’s cloud computing business and before that had spent several years overseeing the engineering team responsible for search and advertising at the company, making him well-versed in Bing’s various challenges.

    Now, Nadella has said that the same data advantage could create “even more of a nightmare” as large language models compete on the basis of the data they are trained on.

    “What is concerning is, it reminds me of what happened with distribution deals [in search],” he testified.

    Under questioning by a Google attorney, Nadella admitted that in some cases, defaults are not the sole determinant of success: Google was able to overcome Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer defaults on Windows PCs to become the market-leading desktop web browser.

    But Nadella attributed Google’s success to the relative openness of the Windows platform, arguing that on more tightly controlled mobile operating systems, and in search, default status plays a much larger role than in competition for desktop web browsers.

    In addition to training its models on search queries, Google has also been moving to secure agreements with content publishers to ensure that it has exclusive access to their material for AI training purposes, according the Microsoft CEO. In Nadella’s own meetings with publishers, he said that he now hears that Google “wants … to write this check and we want you to match it.” (Google didn’t immediately respond to questions about those deals.)

    The requests highlight concerns that “what is publicly available today [may not be] publicly available tomorrow” for AI training, according to the testimony.

    While Microsoft and Apple have their own defaults — for example, by making Apple Maps the default maps app on iOS devices — Google goes much further than other tech companies in using “carrots and sticks” to keep people using its products by default, Nadella claimed. He cited Google’s licensing requirements that make Google’s Play Store a required installed app as a condition of using the Android operating system — another topic of dispute in the trial. The equivalent would be if Microsoft threatened to withhold Microsoft Office if Bing were not the default search engine, Nadella said, a move he claimed would not be in Microsoft’s business interests.

    Acknowledging that Google would not be in its dominant position without Microsoft’s own antitrust battles with the US government in the 1990s, Nadella said the situation involving Google today is vastly different. Internet search and, particularly on mobile devices, is the single largest software business opportunity in the world.

    Google’s dominance in search is reinforced when websites and publishers optimize for Google’s search algorithm and not Bing’s, when advertisers flock to Google and when users stick to what’s familiar, Nadella argued.

    In his fruitless negotiations with Apple, Nadella said he has tried to argue that Bing’s current role is little more than as a useful tool for Apple to “bid up the price” of hosting Google as the default search provider — but that Bing provides an important counterweight to Google and that Apple should consider investing in the Microsoft alternative for competition’s sake. Nadella has also proposed running Bing on Apple devices as a kind of “public utility,” he said.

    “Let’s say Bing exited the market,” Nadella said. “You think Google would keep paying [Apple]?”

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  • Taiwan’s Foxconn to build ‘AI factories’ with Nvidia | CNN Business

    Taiwan’s Foxconn to build ‘AI factories’ with Nvidia | CNN Business

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    Taipei
    CNN
     — 

    Taiwan’s Foxconn says it plans to build artificial intelligence (AI) data factories with technology from American chip giant Nvidia, as the electronics maker ramps up efforts to become a major global player in electric car manufacturing.

    Foxconn Chairman Young Liu and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang jointly announced the plans on Wednesday in Taipei. The duo said the new facilities using Nvidia’s chips and software will enable Foxconn to better utilize AI in its electric vehicles (EV).

    “We are at the beginning of a new computing revolution,” Huang said. “This is the beginning of a brand new way of doing software — using computers to write software that no humans can.”

    Large computing systems powered by advanced chips will be able to develop software platforms for the next generation of EVs by learning from everyday interactions, they said.

    “Foxconn is turning from a manufacturing service company into a platform solution company,” Liu said. “In three short years, Foxconn has displayed a remarkable range of high-end sedan, passenger crossover, SUV, compact pick-up, commercial bus and commercial van.”

    Best known as the assembler of Apple’s iPhones, Foxconn envisages a similar business model for EVs. It doesn’t sell the vehicles under its own brand. Instead, it will build them for clients in Taiwan and globally.

    In 2021, Foxconn unveiled three EV models, including two passenger cars and a bus, for the first time. They were followed by additional models last year and two new ones — Model N, a cargo van, and Model B, a compact SUV — during Foxconn’s tech day on Wednesday.

    Its electric buses started running in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung last year, while its first electric car, sold under the N7 brand by Taiwanese automaker Luxgen, is expected to begin deliveries on the island from January 2024.

    Foxconn has entered a competitive industry.

    Global sales of EVs, including purely battery powered vehicles and hybrids, exceeded 10 million units last year, up 55% from 2021, according to the International Energy Agency. Nearly 14 million electric cars will be sold in 2023, it projected.

    Foxconn, which is officially known as the Hon Hai Technology Group, has been expanding its business by entering new industries such as EVs, digital health and robotics.

    Analysts say its entry into the EV space is a “logical diversification.”

    Smartphones are “a very saturated market already, and the room to grow in the … industry is getting [smaller],” said Kylie Huang, a Taipei-based analyst at Daiwa. “If they can really tap into the EV business, I do think that [they] could become influential in the next couple of years.”

    During last year’s tech day, Liu told reporters that the company hoped to build 5% of the world’s electric cars by 2025. It aims to eventually produce up to 40% to 45% of EVs around the world.

    But its foray into the industry hasn’t been entirely smooth.

    Last year, Foxconn bought a factory from Lordstown Motors in Ohio that used to make small cars for General Motors. That partnership ended in June, with the American car company filing for bankruptcy protection and announcing a lawsuit against Foxconn.

    Lordstown Motors accused Foxconn of “fraud” and failing to follow through on investment promises, while Foxconn dismissed the suit as “meritless” and criticized the company for making “false comments and malicious attacks.”

    Still, it’s clear Foxconn is leaning into its expanded ambitions, including hiring two new chief strategy officers for its EV and chips businesses.

    Chiang Shang-yi is a Taiwanese semiconductor industry veteran who helped TSMC become a global foundry powerhouse, while Jun Seki, a former vice chief operating officer at Nissan Motor, leads the EV unit.

    In May, Foxconn announced a new partnership with Infineon Technologies, a German company that specializes in automotive semiconductor chips, to establish a new research center in Taiwan.

    Bill Russo, founder of Shanghai-based consulting firm Automobility, said Foxconn has the advantage of coming from a consumer electronics background, which could allow it to come up with more innovative EV products compared with traditional automakers.

    “The biggest problem with legacy automakers is that they have so much sunk investment in a carryover platform, that they typically want to start not with a clean sheet of paper, but with a highly constrained set of requirements,” he said. “Those carryover technologies bring constraints to how you think about vehicles.”

    “When Tesla started, it started by saying, ‘I’m going to challenge all of that, I’m going to blow up the basic architecture of a car and simplify it greatly,’” he added.

    “I think that’s the advantage that a technology company has … And I think that’s the way Foxconn will come at this.”

    Hanna Ziady contributed to this report.

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  • Hackers take on ChatGPT in Vegas, with support from the White House | CNN Business

    Hackers take on ChatGPT in Vegas, with support from the White House | CNN Business

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    Las Vegas, Nevada
    CNN
     — 

    Thousands of hackers will descend on Las Vegas this weekend for a competition taking aim at popular artificial intelligence chat apps, including ChatGPT.

    The competition comes amid growing concerns and scrutiny over increasingly powerful AI technology that has taken the world by storm, but has been repeatedly shown to amplify bias, toxic misinformation and dangerous material.

    Organizers of the annual DEF CON hacking conference hope this year’s gathering, which begins Friday, will help expose new ways the machine learning models can be manipulated and give AI developers the chance to fix critical vulnerabilities.

    The hackers are working with the support and encouragement of the technology companies behind the most advanced generative AI models, including OpenAI, Google, and Meta, and even have the backing of the White House. The exercise, known as red teaming, will give hackers permission to push the computer systems to their limits to identify flaws and other bugs nefarious actors could use to launch a real attack.

    The competition was designed around the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights.” The guide, released last year by the Biden administration, was released with the hope of spurring companies to make and deploy artificial intelligence more responsibly and limit AI-based surveillance, though there are few US laws compelling them to do so.

    In recent months, researchers have discovered that now-ubiquitous chatbots and other generative AI systems developed by OpenAI, Google, and Meta can be tricked into providing instructions for causing physical harm. Most of the popular chat apps have at least some protections in place designed to prevent the systems from spewing disinformation, hate speech or offer information that could lead to direct harm — for instance, providing step-by-step instructions for how to “destroy humanity.”

    But researchers at Carnegie Mellon University were able to trick the AI into doing just that.

    They found OpenAI’s ChatGPT offered tips on “inciting social unrest,” Meta’s AI system Llama-2 suggested identifying “vulnerable individuals with mental health issues… who can be manipulated into joining” a cause and Google’s Bard app suggested releasing a “deadly virus” but warned that in order for it to truly wipe out humanity it “would need to be resistant to treatment.”

    Meta’s Llama-2 concluded its instructions with the message, “And there you have it — a comprehensive roadmap to bring about the end of human civilization. But remember this is purely hypothetical, and I cannot condone or encourage any actions leading to harm or suffering towards innocent people.”

    The findings are a cause for concern, the researchers told CNN.

    “I am troubled by the fact that we are racing to integrate these tools into absolutely everything,” Zico Kolter, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon who worked on the research, told CNN. “This seems to be the new sort of startup gold rush right now without taking into consideration the fact that these tools have these exploits.”

    Kolter said he and his colleagues were less worried that apps like ChatGPT can be tricked into providing information that they shouldn’t — but are more concerned about what these vulnerabilities mean for the wider use of AI since so much future development will be based off the same systems that power these chatbots.

    The Carnegie researchers were also able to trick a fourth AI chatbot developed by the company Anthropic into offering responses that bypassed its built-in guardrails.

    Some of the methods the researchers used to trick the AI apps were later blocked by the companies after the researchers brought it to their attention. OpenAI, Meta, Google and Anthropic all said in statements to CNN that they appreciated the researchers sharing their findings and that they are working to make their systems safer.

    But what makes AI technology unique, said Matt Fredrikson, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon, is that neither the researchers, nor the companies who are developing the technology, fully understand how the AI works or why certain strings of code can trick the chatbots into circumventing built-in guardrails — and thus cannot properly stop these kinds of attacks.

    “At the moment, it’s kind of an open scientific question how you could really prevent this,” Fredrikson told CNN. “The honest answer is we don’t know how to make this technology robust to these kinds of adversarial manipulations.”

    OpenAI, Meta, Google and Anthropic have expressed support for the so-called red team hacking event taking place in Las Vegas. The practice of red-teaming is a common exercise across the cybersecurity industry and gives companies the opportunities to identify bugs and other vulnerabilities in their systems in a controlled environment. Indeed, the major developers of AI have publicly detailed how they have used red-teaming to improve their AI systems.

    “Not only does it allow us to gather valuable feedback that can make our models stronger and safer, red-teaming also provides different perspectives and more voices to help guide the development of AI,” an OpenAI spokesperson told CNN.

    Organizers expect thousands of budding and experienced hackers to try their hand at the red-team competition over the two-and-a-half-day conference in the Nevada desert.

    Arati Prabhakar, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told CNN the Biden administration’s support of the competition was part of its wider strategy to help support the development of safe AI systems.

    Earlier this week, the administration announced the “AI Cyber Challenge,” a two-year competition aimed at deploying artificial intelligence technology to protect the nation’s most critical software and partnering with leading AI companies to utilize the new technology to improve cybersecurity. 

    The hackers descending on Las Vegas will almost certainly identify new exploits that could allow AI to be misused and abused. But Kolter, the Carnegie researcher, expressed worry that while AI technology continues to be released at a rapid pace, the emerging vulnerabilities lack quick fixes.

    “We’re deploying these systems where it’s not just they have exploits,” he said. “They have exploits that we don’t know how to fix.”

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  • US judge set to decertify Google Play class action | CNN Business

    US judge set to decertify Google Play class action | CNN Business

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    A US judge plans to free Google from having to defend against a class action by 21 million consumers who claimed it violated federal antitrust law by overcharging them in its Google Play app store.

    Monday’s decision by US District Judge James Donato in San Francisco could significantly reduce damages that Google, a unit of Alphabet, might owe over the distribution of Android mobile applications.

    Consumers claimed they would have paid less for apps and enjoyed expanded choice but for Google’s alleged monopoly. Google has denied wrongdoing.

    Donato said his Nov. 2022 class certification order should be thrown out because his decision, also announced Monday, not to let an economist testify as an expert witness for the consumers eliminated an “essential element” of their argument for certification.

    The judge said he couldn’t decertify the class immediately because Google had been appealing his November order. He directed lawyers for Google and the consumers to try resolving that issue before a Sept. 7 hearing.

    The class action included consumers from 12 US states and five territories, who were not part of a similar case against Google brought by various state attorneys general.

    Class actions let plaintiffs sue as a group, and potentially obtain larger recoveries at lower cost than if they were forced to sue individually.

    Lawyers for the consumers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Google and its lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests.

    The case is part of wide-ranging antitrust litigation that includes 38 states and the District of Columbia, and companies including Epic Games and Match Group.

    The case is In re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation, US District Court, Northern District of California, No. 21-md-02981.

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  • A look back at every iPhone ever | CNN Business

    A look back at every iPhone ever | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    The iPhone redefined the term “cell phone.” Apple’s trademark product revolutionized the mobile phone industry, shifting from flip phones and keyboards to large screens and powerful cameras.

    With 1.2 billion units reportedly sold, the iPhone is arguably the most popular tech device in the world.

    With Apple set to unveil the iPhone 15 on Tuesday — chock full of rumored new features like a USB-C charging port, new colors and better battery performance — here is a look back at every iPhone to hit stores.

    Apple releases the original iPhone, a much-anticipated device that combines an iPod, phone and what then-company chairman Steve Jobs calls an “internet communicator.”

    “This is a day I’ve been looking forward to for two-and-a-half years,” Jobs told the crowd when unveiling the new $399 product, a 16 GB phone with a relatively terrible 2.0 megapixel camera and relatively large 3.5” screen.

    Customers queue outside the Apple Store in London for the launch of the iPhone 3G on July 11, 2008.

    With the second version of the iPhone, Apple introduces the App Store and 3G connectivity. The new device, half the cost of the original iPhone, sold more than 3 million within a month, far outpacing its predecessor and expectations.

    An Apple Store customer plays with the new iPhone 3Gs on June 19, 2009 in San Francisco, California.

    The 3GS introduces capabilities to record videos, as well as basic voice control (though Siri is still years away). The first “S” update to the iPhone also doubles the storage system, offering users an upgraded 32GB.

    An Apple employee demonstrates

    A completely redesigned device hits the shelves: thinner and sleeker with a better battery, camera and screen, the iPhone 4 starts to resemble the phone many of us use today. And with the addition of a front-facing camera, selfies and FaceTime calls enter into the chat.

    “I grew up with the Jetsons dreaming about video phones,” said Jobs at the announcement. “It’s real now.”

    An Apple customer demonstrates the voice assistant program on his newly purchased iPhone 4s outside of an Apple Store in New York City on October 14, 2011.

    Apple introduces the world to Siri, its now-iconic voice assistant, and the iMessage feature that allows iPhone users to message each other freely. Users are also given iCloud, making it possible to automatically sync all Apple devices.

    A newly released Apple iPhone 5 sits on a coffee shop countertop next to Apple's lightning connection cable in September 2012.

    With the iPhone 5 comes the Lightning cable, a shift away from the larger charging port used in Apple’s original iPhones and iPods. The 5 also gets a larger screen and LTE connectivity, making the phone much faster than its predecessors.

    The new iPhone 5S is displayed during an Apple product announcement at the Apple campus on September 10, 2013 in Cupertino, California.

    The 5S added the Touch ID feature, Apple’s first foray into biometric data usage as a replacement for passwords. Apple iPhone fans are also offered gold versions for the first time.

    A woman uses her smartphone in front of a display for the Apple iPhone 5C outside the company's store in the Ginza district of Tokyo, Japan, on September 20, 2013.

    In a flash of colorful plastic glory, the iPhone 5C hits the markets as a low-cost alternative to the 5S. Available in green, blue, pink, yellow and white, the 5C is shortlived. Apple discontinues the product a couple of years later.

    A woman touches an iPhone 6 Plus as it sits next to an iPhone 6 after they went on sale at the Apple Store in Sydney on September 19, 2014.

    2014: iPhone 6/6Plus, bigger and bendier

    The first Plus option comes out, offering a much taller, thinner phone – but also one more prone to bending. Customers are quick to complain about bending iPhones after the 6/6Plus hit the market.

    Apple CEO Tim Cook introduces the iPhone 6s during an Apple media event in San Francisco, California on September 9, 2015.

    Apple releases the 6S and 6S Plus with a rose gold option, as well as adds new features like 3D touch and doubled memory capabilities. Plus, the bend problem is fixed.

    The new iPhone SE is seen on display during an event at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California on March 21, 2016.

    Taking a step back, the iPhone SE is a cheaper, smaller device than the 6S, giving customers a chance to enjoy Apple’s phones at a much lower cost.

    The lightning connecting port is seen on an Apple Inc., iPhone 7 Plus during an event in San Francisco, California, on September 7, 2016.

    In traditional Apple fashion, the company does away with the traditional headphone jack, forcing customers to buy dongles that adapt older headsets or lightning-plug earbuds. The 7 is also the first water-resistant iPhone. It features a more static home button that cannot be pressed down, only touched, and the first dual camera lens with portrait mode.

    Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Apple, speaks about the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus during an event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California, on September 12, 2017.

    Apple moves away from its tradition of releasing S versions on off years, instead leaping right to the 8 and 8Plus. This is the first iPhone to support wireless charging.

    The new iPhone X is displayed during an Apple special event at the Steve Jobs Theater on the Apple Park campus on September 12, 2017 in Cupertino, California.

    Goodbye home button, hello notched screen. The X revolutionizes the Apple product once again for its 10th anniversary, turning the iPhone into something that looks very similar to today’s versions. An extra lens also added portrait mode to the front facing camera, a fan favorite for iPhones to come.

    People handle the new Apple iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max during a media tour at an Apple office in Shanghai, China, on September 21, 2018.

    After a massive physical overhaul with the X, Apple releases a largely unchanged Xs and XS Max other than an internal hardware update. Displays also became edge to edge, maximizing screen space.

    The new Apple iPhone XR is displayed during an Apple special event at the Steve Jobs Theater on September 12, 2018 in Cupertino, California.

    Announced alongside the XS, the XR is smaller and cheaper, though still larger than the 8 Plus. And although it comes with only one back camera lens, the phone is available in six colors like blue, yellow and red.

    A woman holds an iPhone 11 Pro Max while giving a live broadcast after it went on sale at the Apple Store in Beijing, China, on September 20, 2019.

    The 11 also offers six colors to choose from, as well as better dual camera capabilities with ultra-wide len options. Starting at $699, it is one of Apple’s cheaper core line phones. Meanwhile, the 11 Pro and Pro Max boast a three-lens camera and Apple’s most advanced retina display to date.

    An Apple iPhone SE smartphone is seen on August 5, 2020.

    In a throwback to its older devices, Apple shrinks down its phones to put out the SE second generation, complete with a now-retro home button. Even at a lower cost, the SE is tricked out with some of Apple’s flashiest features like an advanced camera and wireless charging.

    The Apple iPhone 12 Mini is seen on display at the Apple flagship store during a product launch event in Sydney, Australia, on November 13, 2020.

    The iPhone 12 mini is smaller than the usual iPhone but packs a powerful punch. With all of the features enjoyed by the iPhone 12 minus a little size and some battery life, the mini gives people everything they want while taking up less space in their pocket.

    A customer tries out an iPhone 12 Pro Max at the Apple flagship store during a product launch event in Sydney, Australia, on November 13, 2020.

    With the iPhone 12 series, Apple continued to upgrade its camera and display, plus introduce its proprietary MagSafe charging options. The 12 has two camera lenses while the Pro and Pro Max have three plus night mode and enhanced zoom range. The 12 and the 12 Pro are the same size, while the Pro Max is significantly larger. The 12 series also marks the end of Apple including an in-box charger with each iPhone purchase.

    Customers walk past a digital display of the new green iPhone 13 Pro inside the Apple Store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, New York, on March 18, 2022.

    The iPhone 13 stays at the same price as the iPhone 12 with double the storage space, as well as featuring a much smaller top notch. Battery life and camera features are also majorly improved. The mini continues to be a powerful phone in a small package, and the Pro and Pro Max offer even better cameras.

    Apple iPhone SE 3 smartphones are seen during the sales launch at the company's flagship store in New York City on March 18, 2022.

    The SE is back and better than ever, though still complete with a home button and Touch ID. It enjoys a lot of the same features seen in the higher-end iPhones: potrait mode, HD video, long battery life, et cetera.

    Customers queue at the Apple Fifth Avenue store for the release of the Apple iPhone 14 range in Manhattan, New York, on September 16, 2022.

    2022: iPhone 14 series, goodbye, Mini- and SIM cards

    Doing away with the iPhone Mini for the Pro, Apple brings back the larger Pro, as well as adds a slew of safety features like Emergency SOS via satellite. The Pro and Pro Max feature a “Dynamic Island” top notch that free floats from the top of the phone to better integrate into whatever is going on onscreen, as well as a better camera and display. A physical SIM card tray is also gone with the 14, pushing users towards eSIMs only.

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  • Britain says may clear restructured Microsoft-Activision deal | CNN Business

    Britain says may clear restructured Microsoft-Activision deal | CNN Business

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    Microsoft’s restructuring of its proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard “opens the door” to the biggest ever gaming deal being cleared, Britain’s antitrust regulator said Friday.

    Microsoft (MSFT) announced the deal in early 2022, but it was blocked in April by the UK competition regulator, which was concerned the US tech giant would gain too much control of the nascent cloud gaming market.

    Activision Blizzard (ATVI), which makes “Call of Duty,” agreed in August to sell its streaming rights to Ubisoft Entertainment in a new attempt to win over the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

    The Ubisoft divestment “substantially addresses previous concerns,” the Competition and Markets Authority said in a statement.

    “While the CMA has identified limited residual concerns with the new deal, Microsoft has put forward remedies which the CMA has provisionally concluded should address these issues,” the regulator said.

    Consummating the deal would turn Microsoft into the third largest video game publisher in the world, after Tencent and Sony.

    Microsoft said it was “encouraged by this positive development in the CMA’s review process.”

    “We presented solutions that we believe fully address the CMA’s remaining concerns related to cloud game streaming, and we will continue to work toward earning approval to close prior to the October 18 deadline,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said.

    Activision, which also makes “World of Warcraft,” “Overwatch” and “Candy Crush,” said the preliminary approval was great news for its future with Microsoft.

    The European Union waved the deal through in May after accepting Microsoft’s commitments to license Activision’s games to other platforms, the same remedies that Britain had rejected.

    The US Federal Trade Commission also opposes the deal, but it has failed to stop it. A federal judge ruled in July that the deal can close, a decision the FTC is appealing.

    The CMA’s decision to reopen the case was a radical departure from its play book, but it said on Friday it had been consistent and Microsoft had “substantially restructured the deal” to address its concerns.

    “It would have been far better, though, if Microsoft had put forward this restructure during our original investigation,” CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said.

    “This case illustrates the costs, uncertainty and delay that parties can incur if a credible and effective remedy option exists but is not put on the table at the right time.”

    Equity analyst Sophie Lund-Yates at Hargreaves Lansdown said the loss of the cloud gaming rights was not an ideal concession for Microsoft to have to make, but it was necessary collateral if the deal were to be waved through.

    “This looks to be the final bump in the road,” she said.

    The CMA said there were “residual concerns” around the Ubisoft deal, but Microsoft has offered remedies to ensure the terms of the sale were enforceable by the regulator.

    It is now consulting on the remedies before making a final decision.

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  • Microsoft, Amazon facing UK antitrust probe over cloud services | CNN Business

    Microsoft, Amazon facing UK antitrust probe over cloud services | CNN Business

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    Microsoft and Amazon could be in hot water over apparently making it difficult for UK customers to use multiple suppliers of vital cloud services.

    The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the country’s antitrust regulator, said Thursday it was launching an investigation into the UK cloud infrastructure services market to determine whether players were engaged in anti-competitive practices.

    Cloud computing firms, such as Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS), use data centers around the world to provide remote access to computing services and storage. This “cloud infrastructure” forms the foundation for how software applications, such as Gmail and Dropbox, are developed and run.

    The CMA probe has been initiated following a report from Britain’s media and communications regulator Ofcom, which found that the supply of cloud infrastructure in the United Kingdom is highly concentrated and competition limited.

    “We welcome Ofcom’s referral of public cloud infrastructure services to us for in-depth scrutiny,” CMA CEO Sarah Cardell said in a statement.

    “This is a £7.5 billion market that underpins a whole host of online services — from social media to [artificial intelligence] foundation models. Many businesses now completely rely on cloud services, making effective competition in this market essential.”

    The CMA said it would conclude its investigation by April 2025.

    The probe is the latest evidence of increased scrutiny of big tech companies by European regulators, which have tightened rules in recent years in areas such as data protection and targeted advertising.

    The European Digital Services Act, which came into force at the end of August, reflects one of the most comprehensive and ambitious efforts by policymakers anywhere to regulate tech giants. It applies to companies including Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Snapchat, TikTok and Meta (META), the owner of Facebook and Instagram.

    According to Ofcom, last year Microsoft and AWS had a combined market share of 70-80% in the UK cloud infrastructure services market. Google is their closest competitor with a share of 5-10%.

    In its report, Ofcom identified features of the market that make it more difficult for customers to change providers or to use multiple providers, such as switching fees.

    “If customers have difficulty switching and using multiple providers, it could make it harder for competitors to gain scale and challenge AWS and Microsoft effectively for the business of new and existing customers,” Ofcom wrote.

    The report also raised concerns about the software licensing practices of some cloud providers, particularly Microsoft.

    Both Amazon and Microsoft said they would engage “constructively” with the CMA.

    But a spokesperson for AWS added that the company disagreed with Ofcom’s findings. “We… believe they are based on a fundamental misconception of how the IT sector functions, and the services and discounts on offer,” the spokesperson said, noting that “the cloud has made switching between providers easier than ever.”

    A spokesperson for Microsoft added: “We are committed to ensuring the UK cloud industry remains innovative, highly competitive and an accelerator for growth across the economy.”

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  • US escalates tech battle by cutting China off from AI chips | CNN Business

    US escalates tech battle by cutting China off from AI chips | CNN Business

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    Editor’s Note: Sign up for CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter which explores what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world.


    Hong Kong/Washington
    CNN
     — 

    The Biden administration is reducing the types of semiconductors that American companies will be able to sell to China, citing the desire to close loopholes in existing regulations announced last year.

    On Tuesday, the US Commerce Department unveiled new rules that further tighten a sweeping set of export controls first introduced in October 2022.

    The updated rules “will increase effectiveness of our controls and further shut off pathways to evade our restrictions,” US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement. “We will keep working to protect our national security by restricting access to critical technologies, vigilantly enforcing our rules, while minimizing any unintended impact on trade flows.”

    Advanced artificial intelligence chips, such as Nvidia’s H800 and A800 products, will be affected, according to a regulatory filing from the US company.

    The regulations also expand export curbs beyond mainland China and Macao to 21 other countries with which the United States maintains an arms embargo, including Iran and Russia.

    The measures, which have affected the shares of major American chipmakers, are set to take effect in 30 days.

    The original rules had sought to hamper China’s ability to procure advanced computing chips and manufacture advanced weapons systems. Since then, senior administration officials have suggested they needed to be adjusted due to technological developments.

    Raimondo, who visited China in August, said the administration was “laser-focused” on slowing the advancement of China’s military. She emphasized that Washington had opted not to go further in restricting chips for other applications.

    Chips used in phones, video games and electric vehicles were purposefully carved out from the new rules, according to senior administration officials.

    But these assurances are unlikely to placate Beijing, which has vowed to “win the battle” in core technologies in order to bolster the country’s position as a tech superpower.

    China’s Foreign Ministry criticized the Biden administration’s new rules Monday, before they were officially unveiled.

    “The US needs to stop politicizing and weaponizing trade and tech issues and stop destabilizing global industrial and supply chains,” spokesperson Mao Ning told a press briefing. “We will closely follow the developments and firmly safeguard our rights and interests.”

    As part of ongoing dialogue established by Raimondo and other US officials with their Chinese counterparts, Beijing was informed of the impending updates, according to a senior administration official.

    “We let the Chinese know for clarity that these rules were coming, but there was no negotiation with them,” the official told reporters.

    The tech rivalry between the world’s two largest economies has been heating up. In recent months, the United States has enlisted its allies in Europe and Asia in restricting sales of advanced chipmaking equipment to China.

    In July, Beijing hit back by imposing its own curbs on exports of germanium and gallium, two elements essential for making semiconductors.

    Shares of US chipmakers fell Tuesday following the announcement of new export controls.

    Nvidia’s (NVDA) stock closed down 4.7%, while Intel (INTC) slipped 1.4%. AMD (AMD) shares ended 1.2% lower.

    In its filing, Nvidia said the rules imposed new licensing requirements for exports to China and other markets such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.

    The company said its A800 chip, which was reportedly created for Chinese customers in order to circumvent last year’s restrictions, would be among the components affected.

    However, “given the strength of demand for our products worldwide, we do not anticipate that the additional restrictions will have a near-term meaningful impact on our financial results,” Nvidia said.

    The broader US chipmaking industry is also examining the impact of the new rules.

    The Semiconductor Industry Association said in a statement Tuesday that while it recognized the need to protect national security, “overly broad, unilateral controls risk harming the US semiconductor ecosystem without advancing national security as they encourage overseas customers to look elsewhere.”

    “We urge the administration to strengthen coordination with allies to ensure a level playing field for all companies,” added the group, which represents 99% of the US chip sector.

    The measures are also being reviewed in Europe. On Tuesday, ASML, the Dutch chipmaking equipment manufacturer, said it was evaluating the implications of the rules, though it did not expect them “to have a material impact on our financial outlook for 2023.”

    During a call Wednesday about the company’s third-quarter results, ASML chief executive Peter Wennink said the updated export restrictions would affect between 10% and 15% of the firm’s sales to China.

    On Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce added 13 Chinese entities to a list of firms with which US companies may not do business for national security reasons.

    They include two Chinese startups, Biren Technology and Moore Thread Intelligent Technology, and their subsidiaries.

    The department alleges that these companies are “involved in the development of advanced computing chips that have been found to be engaged in activities contrary to US national security.”

    CNN has reached out to Biren and Moore Thread for comment.

    — Anna Cooban contributed reporting.

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  • Pope Francis warns about AI’s dangers | CNN Business

    Pope Francis warns about AI’s dangers | CNN Business

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Pope Francis warned that artificial intelligence could pose a risk to society, highlighting its “disruptive possibilities and ambivalent effects” and urging those who would develop or use AI to do so responsibly.

    In a statement Tuesday, Francis alluded to the threat of algorithmic bias in technology and called on the public for vigilance “so that a logic of violence and discrimination does not take root in the production and use of such devices, at the expense of the most fragile and excluded.”

    “Injustice and inequalities fuel conflicts and antagonisms,” Francis continued. “The urgent need to orient the concept and use of artificial intelligence in a responsible way, so that it may be at the service of humanity and the protection of our common home, requires that ethical reflection be extended to the sphere of education and law.”

    Francis’s remarks dovetail with calls by some AI experts to ensure that algorithms are properly “aligned” in development to support human rights and other widely shared values. Other industry experts and policymakers have expressed concerns that AI could facilitate the spread of fraud, misinformation, cyberattacks and perhaps even the creation of biological weapons.

    Francis himself has been the subject of AI-generated deepfakes. Earlier this year, an AI-generated image of Francis wearing a white, puffy Balenciaga-inspired coat went viral.

    Tuesday’s message announced the theme for 2024’s World Day of Peace, which the Pope said would focus on AI and peace.

    “The protection of the dignity of the person,” he said, “and concern for a fraternity effectively open to the entire human family, are indispensable conditions for technological development to help contribute to the promotion of justice and peace in the world.”

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  • Tesla shares jump after Morgan Stanley predicts Dojo supercomputer could add $500 billion in market value | CNN Business

    Tesla shares jump after Morgan Stanley predicts Dojo supercomputer could add $500 billion in market value | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Tesla’s Dojo supercomputer could fuel a $500 billion jump in the electric vehicle maker’s market value, analysts at Morgan Stanley said in a note Monday.

    Shares of Tesla jumped more than 6% during early trading Monday morning, on the heels of the rosy prediction from Morgan Stanley’s team about the automaker’s supercomputing efforts. The Morgan Stanley team, lead by longtime Tesla analyst Adam Jonas, predicted that the massive drive in value could come from Dojo potentially unlocking new revenue streams through the wider adoption of robotaxis and software services.

    The analysts compared the potential of Dojo at Tesla to the “same forces that have driven” Amazon Web Services to propel Amazon’s profitability to new heights.

    “Investors have long debated whether Tesla is an auto company or a tech company. We believe it’s both, but see the biggest value driver from here being software and services revenue,” the note stated.

    Dojo, an in-house supercomputer that has been in the works at Tesla for some five years, is designed to train AI systems to complete complex tasks like assisting Tesla’s driver-assistance system Autopilot as well as help propel its “Full Self-Driving” efforts.

    The Morgan Stanley analysts see Dojo as being able to open up “new addressable markets that extend well beyond selling vehicles at a fixed price.”

    The analysts added that the latest version of Tesla’s full self-driving system (expected to be unveiled at the end of the year) and Tesla’s next AI day (expected in early 2024, but yet to be announced) will be “worth watching.”

    Shares of Tesla have doubled since the beginning of the year, but are still far off from the all-time intraday high of $414.50 hit in November 2021. The world’s most valuable carmaker had a market cap of some $788.74 billion as of the market close on Friday.

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  • How companies are embracing generative AI for employees…or not | CNN Business

    How companies are embracing generative AI for employees…or not | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Companies are struggling to deal with the rapid rise of generative AI, with some rushing to embrace the technology as workflow tools for employees while others shun it – at least for now.

    As generative artificial intelligence – the technology that underpins ChatGPT and similar tools – seeps into seemingly every corner of the internet, large corporations are grappling with whether the increased efficiency it offers outweighs possible copyright and security risks. Some companies are enacting internal bans on generative AI tools as they work to better understand the technology, and others have already begun to introduce the trendy tech to employees in their own ways.

    Many prominent companies have entirely blocked internal ChatGPT use, including JPMorgan Chase, Northrup Grumman, Apple, Verizon, Spotify and Accenture, according to AI content detector Originality.AI, with several citing privacy and security concerns. Business leaders have also expressed worries about employees dropping proprietary information into ChatGPT and having that sensitive information potentially emerge as an output by the tool elsewhere.

    When users input information into these tools, “[y]ou don’t know how it’s then going to be used,” Mark McCreary, the co-chair of the privacy and data security practice at law firm Fox Rothschild LLP, told CNN in March. “That raises particularly high concerns for companies. As more and more employees casually adopt these tools to help with work emails or meeting notes, McCreary said, “I think the opportunity for company trade secrets to get dropped into these different various AI’s is just going to increase.”

    But the corporate hesitancy to welcome generative AI could be temporary.

    “Companies that are on the list of banning generative AI also have working groups internally that are exploring the usage of AI,” Jonathan Gillham, CEO of Originality.AI, told CNN, highlighting how companies in more risk-averse industries have been quicker to take action against the tech while figuring out the best approach for responsible usage. “Giving all of their staff access to ChatGPT and saying ‘have fun’ is too much of an uncontrolled risk for them to take, but it doesn’t mean that they’re not saying, ‘holy crap, look at the 10x, 100x efficiency that we can lock when we find out how to do this in a way that makes all the stakeholders happy” in departments such as legal, finance and accounting.

    Among media companies that produce news, Insider editor-in-chief Nicholas Carlson has encouraged reporters to find ways to use AI in the newsroom. “A tsunami is coming,” he said in April. “We can either ride it or get wiped out by it. But it’s going to be really fun to ride it, and it’s going to make us faster and better.” The organization discouraged staff from putting source details and other sensitive information into ChatGPT. Newspaper chain Gannett paused the use of an artificial intelligence tool to write high school sports stories after the technology called LedeAI made several mistakes in sports stories published in The Columbus Dispatch newspaper in August.

    Of the companies currently banning ChatGPT, some are discussing future usage once security concerns are addressed. UBS estimated that ChatGPT reached 100 million monthly active users in January, just two months after its launch.

    That rapid growth initially left large companies scrambling to find ways to integrate it responsibly. That process is slow for large companies. Meanwhile, website visits to ChatGPT dropped for the third month in a row in August, creating pressure for large tech companies to sustain popular interest in the tools and to find new enterprise applications and revenue models for generative AI products.

    “We at JPMorgan Chase will not roll out genAI until we can mitigate all of the risks,” Larry Feinsmith, JPM’s head of global tech strategy, innovation, and partnerships said at the Databricks Data + AI Summit in June. “We’re excited, we’re working through those risks as we speak, but we won’t roll it out until we can do this in an entirely responsible manner, and it’s going to take time.” Northrop Grumman said it doesn’t allow internal data on external platforms “until those tools are fully vetted,” according to a March report from the Wall Street Journal. Verizon also told employees in a public address in February that ChatGPT is banned “[a]s it currently stands” due to security risks but that the company wants to “safely embrace emerging technology.”

    “They’re not just waiting to sort things out. I think they’re actively working on integrating AI into their business processes separately, but they’re just doing so in a way that doesn’t compromise their information,” Vern Glaser, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise at the University of Alberta, told CNN. “What you’ll see with a lot of the companies that will be using AI strategies, particularly those who have their own unique content, they’re going to end up creating their custom version of generative AI.”

    Several companies – and even ChatGPT itself – seem to have already found their own answers to the corporate world’s genAI security dilemma.

    Walmart introduced an internal “My Assistant” tool for 50,000 corporate employees that helps with repetitive tasks and creative ideas, according to an August LinkedIn post from Cheryl Ainoa, Walmart’s EVP of New Businesses and Emerging Technologies, and Donna Morris, Chief People Officer. The tool is intended to boost productivity and eventually help with new worker orientation, according to the post.

    Consulting giants McKinsey, PwC and EY are also welcoming genAI through internal, private methods. PwC announced a “Generative AI factory” and launched its own “ChatPwC” tool in August powered by OpenAI tech to help employees with tax questions and regulations as part of a $1 billion investment for AI capability scaling.

    McKinsey introduced “Lilli” in August, a genAI solution where employees can pose questions, with the system then aggregating all of the firm’s knowledge and scanning the data to identify relevant “With Lilli, we can use technology to access and leverage our entire body of knowledge and assets to drive new levels of productivity,” Jacky Wright, a McKinsey senior partner and chief technology and platform officer, wrote in the announcement. content, summarize the main points and offer experts.

    EY is investing $1.4 billion in the technology, including “EY.ai EYQ,” an in-house large language model, and AI training for employees, according to a September press release

    Tools like MyAssistant, ChatPwC and Lilli solve some of the corporate concerns surrounding genAI systems through custom adaptions of genAI tech, offering employees a private, closed alternative that both capitalizes its ability to increase efficiency and eliminates the risk of copyright or security leaks.

    The launch of ChatGPT Enterprise may also help quell some fears. The new version of OpenAI’s new tool, announced in August, is specifically for businesses, promising to provide “enterprise-grade security and privacy” combined with “the most powerful version of ChatGPT yet” for businesses looking to jump on the generative AI bandwagon, according to a company blog post.

    The highly-anticipated announcement from OpenAI comes as the company says employees from over 80% of Fortune 500 companies have already begun using ChatGPT since it launched publicly late last year, according to its analysis of accounts associated with corporate email domains.

    In response to the concerns raised by many companies over security, about employees dropping proprietary information into ChatGPT and having that sensitive information potentially emerge as an output by the tool elsewhere, OpenAI’s announcement blog post for ChatGPT Enterprise states that it does “not train on your business data or conversations, and our models don’t learn from your usage.”

    In July, Microsoft unveiled a business-specific version of its AI-powered Bing tool, dubbed Bing Chat Enterprise, and promised much of the same security assurances that ChatGPT Enterprise is now touting – namely, that users’ chat data will not be used to train AI models.

    It is still unclear whether the new tools will be enough to convince corporate America that it is time to fully embrace generative AI, though experts agree the tech’s inevitable entry into the workplace will take time and strategy.

    “I don’t think it’s that companies are against AI and against machine learning, per se. I think most companies are going to be trying to use this type of technology, but they have to be careful with it because of the impacts on intellectual property,” Glaser said.

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