๐ End of Apple's Electric Car Dream, Tumblr, WordPress Data Sold for AI, Google Tests AI with Publishers
Todayโs pick
Apple to Wind Down Electric Car Effort After Decadelong Odyssey. Executives tell staff to end work on endeavor known as Titan Employees on some car teams will move to Apple's AI division Apple Inc. is canceling a decadelong effort to build an electric car, according to people with knowledge of the matter, abandoning one of the most ambitious projects in the history of the company. By Mark Gurman via Bloomberg
๐: My take: Apple has realized they don't need to make a whole car to control the entire car software experience... car manufacturers are so bad at software that everyone just puts CarPlay on anyway - Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD)
Tumblr and Wordpress to Sell Users' Data to Train AI Tools. Tumblr and WordPress.com are preparing to sell user data to Midjourney and OpenAI, according to a source with internal knowledge about the deals and internal documentation referring to the deals. The exact types of data from each platform going to each company are not spelled out in documentation weโve reviewed, but internal communications reviewed by 404 Media make clear that deals between Automattic, the platformsโ parent company, and OpenAI and Midjourney are imminent. By Samantha Cole via 404 Media
๐: NEW from @samleecole: Tumblr and Wordpress are preparing to sell user data to Midjourney and OpenAI, according to internal documentation we've reviewed - Jason Koebler (@jason_koebler)
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Google Is Paying Publishers Five-Figure Sums to Test an Unreleased Gen AI Platform. Google launched a private program for a handful of independent publishers last month, providing the news organizations with beta access to an unreleased generative artificial intelligence platform in exchange for receiving analytics and feedback, according to documents seen by ADWEEK. By Mark Stenberg via Adweek
๐: This is sad. Is this the web Google wants? - Alex Kantrowitz (@Kantrowitz)
How the Pentagon Learned to Use Targeted Ads to Find its Targets-and Vladimir Putin. In 2019, a government contractor and technologist named Mike Yeagley began making the rounds in Washington, DC. He had a blunt warning for anyone in the country's national security establishment who would listen: The US government had a Grindr problem. A popular dating and hookup app, Grindr relied on the GPS capabilities of modern smartphones to connect potential partners in the same city, neighborhood, or even building. By Byron Tau via WIRED
๐: Great excerpt from @ByronTau's new book - how the Pentagon learned to use targeted ad data to locate and track Putin and other targets - Kim Zetter (@KimZetter)
Klarna says its AI assistant does the work of 700 people after it laid off 700 people. Klarna is bullish on bots. One month after taking its OpenAI-powered virtual assistant global, the Swedish buy-now, pay-later company has released new data touting its ability to handle customer communications, make shoppers happier, and even drive better financial results. By Christopher Zara via Fast Company
๐: This is a breakthrough in practical application of AI! Klarnas AI assistant, powered by @OpenAI, has in its first 4 weeks handled 2.3 m customer service chats and the data and insights are staggering - Sebastian Siemiatkowski (@klarnaseb)
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