Ethicists fire back at ‘AI Pause’ letter they say ‘ignores the actual harms’

A group of well-known AI ethicists have written a counterpoint to this week’s controversial letter asking for a six-month “pause” on AI development, criticizing it for a focus on hypothetical future threats when real harms are attributable to misuse of the tech today. Thousands of people, including such familiar names as Steve Wozniak and Elon Musk,...

6h

Daily Crunch: Citing data privacy concerns, Italy temporarily bans ChatGPT

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Fri-yay Crunch! We are pretty excited about Disrupt 2023 getting a whole stage dedicated to fintech. And while we’re talking about events…There’s just a few hours left to save $200 on TC Early Stage tickets in Boston...

8h

NASA’s DAGGER could give advance warning of the next big solar storm

There’s enough trouble on this planet already that we don’t need new problems coming here from the sun. Unfortunately, we can’t yet destroy this pitiless star, so we are at its mercy. But NASA at least may soon be able to let us know when one of its murderous flares is going to send our terrestrial systems into disarray. Understanding and predicting...

9h

A judge dismissed Phhhoto’s antitrust suit against Meta

A U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of New York threw out a lawsuit against Meta this week that had been simmering for a year and a half. The suit, filed in late 2021 by now-shuttered social app Phhhoto, alleged that Meta violated federal antitrust law by copying its core features with the Instagram-adjacent video looping app Boomerang....

10h

Celebrities don’t want to pay Elon for a blue check

April 1 is the dumbest day on the internet, and this year, it’s not just because brands will try to prank you by selling “hot iced coffee.” Starting on Saturday, Twitter will begin removing blue checks from “legacy verified” users if they don’t sign up for a Twitter Blue subscription. This is part of new owner Elon Musk’s grand plan to make Twitter...

10h

Twitter reveals some of its source code, including its recommendation algorithm

As repeatedly promised by Twitter CEO Elon Musk, Twitter has opened a portion of its source code to public inspection, including the algorithm it uses to recommend tweets in users’ timelines. On GitHub, Twitter published two repositories containing code for many parts that make the social network tick, including the mechanism Twitter uses to control...

12h

Stability AI CEO has the ambition to IPO in next few years

Emad Mostaque, the CEO and founder of open source platform Stability AI, hinted at plans to go public in the next few years, during the Cerebral Valley AI Conference in San Francisco on Thursday. He also shut down the idea that Stability AI, an OpenAI rival and leader in the generative artificial intelligence space, will ever get acquired. “I think...

12h

Netflix restructures its film units, aiming to make fewer (but better) original movies

Netflix is restructuring its film units and vowing to make fewer but better movies, according to a new report from Bloomberg, which Netflix partially confirmed. The report said the streaming giant is combining film units that produce small and midsize films, resulting in a handful of layoffs, including two longtime executives. Netflix told TechCrunch...

12h

What’s going on with the TikTok ban?

With a U.S. ban of TikTok looming, it might look like game over for the hit video sharing app, which has taken the world by storm in recent years, reshaping every aspect of culture in the process. Uncertainty abounds right now, but TikTok’s fate is far from sealed. We’ve answered some common questions about a situation that’s complex, confusing and...

12h

Hulu debuts a new interface with a vertical sidebar on Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku

Hulu is slowly rolling out a new interface on streaming devices like Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku, among other compatible devices. The new redesign moves the navigation to the left side with options for TV, Movies and My Stuff. The company confirmed to TechCrunch that the updated interface began rolling yesterday. It will be available across all supported...

13h