🇪🇺 Unprecedented AI Legislation Passed in Europe, Setting Global Trend

Hello tech enthusiasts,

Welcome to our daily technology news briefing this December 11th. Here's a sneak peek of what we've got lined up:

• Musk & Jones - Controversial account revival sparks unrest.

• M3 MacBook - Revolutionary Air and iPads coming soon.

• TikTok's Big Move - $1.5B venture in Indonesia.

• Apple's Shake-Up - Major designer departure.

• EU's AI Law - Setting a global trend.

• Bard vs. ChatGPT - Google's Gemini enters the fray.

• Grok's Plagiarism Claims - Musk's AI under scrutiny.

• Gemini's Reality - Google's AI effectiveness questioned.

• Venture Fund Insights - Small funds outperform big ones.

• Mistral's $2B Leap - French AI startup's rapid growth.

• Google's AI Notetaker - Revolutionary app hits the US market.

• and more…

Also, we have included a fun and fast tech quiz; check it out at the bottom of the email.

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Tech Companies

Elon Musk Revives Controversial Alex Jones' X Account, Causes Advertiser Unrest (7-minute read)

Elon Musk has reinstated conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' account on the social media platform X, following a public poll in which 70% of participants voted in favor. This has raised concerns among advertisers, fearing the appearance of hate speech next to their content. Musk, a self-proclaimed advocate of free speech, argues the move is about protecting those rights. He also signaled X's fact-checking service would provide oversight in correcting any misleading posts.

Revolutionary M3 MacBook Air & Enhanced iPads Coming This March (5-minute read)

Apple is projected to roll out major hardware updates in 2024, debuting the M3 MacBook Air and a new iPad lineup in March. The redesigned iPad Pro and iPad Air will feature clearer distinctions to reduce consumers' confusion and incorporate the latest M3 and M2 chips, respectively. A delayed timeline is expected for the upgraded Mac Studio and Mac Pro, potentially arriving in late 2024 or 2025.

TikTok's $1.5B Takeover Venture Boosts Indonesia's Largest Online Market (3-minute read)

TikTok agreed to invest $1.5 billion in a joint venture with Indonesia's GoTo Group, acquiring a controlling 75% stake. The deal allows TikTok to merge its Indonesian TikTok Shop with GoTo's e-commerce unit Tokopedia, thereby reviving its online shopping service in Southeast Asia's largest retail market.

Startup Scene

Small Venture Funds Outperform Bigger Ones: The Intriguing Data (6-minute read)

Venture funds under $350 million are 50% more likely to generate a 2.5x return compared to larger funds, according to Santé Ventures data. Whilst almost half of venture dollars went into U.S. funds of $500 million and larger in Q1-Q3 2023, Santé suggests the optimal venture fund size is $200-350 million, which differs from optimal sizes indicated in 2011. This change, which references higher returns via typical exits, may reflect market regimes varying from bear, balanced to bubble.

French AI Startup Mistral Rockets to $2 Billion Value: Friend or Foe? (5-minute read)

Mistral, a French A.I. start-up, has reached a valuation of $2 billion following its latest funding round. Despite criticism from rivals including OpenAI and Google, the company has openly released its novel technology encouraging enthusiasts to develop their own chatbots.

AI Corner

Unprecedented AI Legislation Passed in Europe, Setting Global Trend (7-minute read)

The European Union has reached a preliminary agreement on the first comprehensive artificial intelligence (AI) rules worldwide. The Artificial Intelligence Act will provide legal oversight on AI technology, including generative AI and police use of facial recognition. However, criticism has been voiced due to fears insufficient protection for potential harm caused by AI. The EU anticipates the act will act as a global blueprint after it was the first to draft AI regulations in 2021.

Google's New Gemini-Powered Bard Takes on OpenAI's ChatGPT: Round Two Showdown (8-minute read)

Google's Gemini-powered Bard AI chatbot was tested against OpenAI's ChatGPT-4, following Google's claim that Gemini beats GPT-4 in "30 of the 32 widely used academic benchmarks". However, the results were mixed, with no clear winner. While both bot models struggled with originality in producing dad jokes, ChatGPT articulated the PowerPC vs Intel debate well without relying on confusing jargon. Gemini-powered Bard was noted for its improvement in providing a more realistic argument.

Elon Musk's Grok AI Accused Of Plagiarizing ChatGPT: Battle Ensues (7-minute read)

Elon Musk's Grok AI faced accusations of plagiarizing content from its competitor, OpenAI's ChatGPT. The alleged plagiarism drew ridicule from observers, including NBC reporter Ben Collins. An engineer from xAI, Musk's startup behind Grok, acknowledged the issue, attributing it to the AI inadvertently picking up outputs from ChatGPT off the web during training. The company promised to rectify the situation in future versions.

Google's Latest AI Gemini: A Smoke and Mirrors Show? (7-minute read)

Google recently unveiled Gemini, its superior AI model, but has since been accused of partially falsifying the demonstration. The firm acknowledged that the demo featured reduced latency and shortened outputs. Critics argue this misrepresents Gemini Pro's speed at recognizing a series of images, suggesting the demo was much faster than the model's actual capabilities. Questions are now being raised about Gemini's true capabilities.

Markets & Money

S&P 500 Closes at 23-Month High: Strong Jobs Data Fuels Soft Landing Hope (12-minute read)

The S&P500 Index closed at nearly 23-month highs despite stronger-than-expected November jobs data triggering concerns about interest rate outlook. Job creation in November was reported at 199,000 with unemployment falling to 3.7%. Energy firms led the stock rally following a positive jobs report and consumer sentiment data, counterbalancing the initial hesitation brought on by rising Treasury yields. Rate cut expectations did retreat slightly but linger on, with around 45% of the futures market now pricing in an initial Federal Reserve rate cut by March. Investor's eyes will now turn to the Federal Open Market Committee meeting next week.

Apps & Gadgets

Major Shake-Up at Apple: Key iPhone and Apple Watch Designer Departs (5-minute read)

Apple's VP of product design, Tang Tan, who helmed the design for the iPhone and Apple Watch products, will depart in February. His duties are set to be divided amongst the hardware engineering team. Richard Dinh will assume an enlarged role covering iPhone product design, reporting directly to the SVP of hardware engineering, John Ternus. Kate Bergeron will conduct the Apple Watch design. The departure of Tan, recognized for his pivotal role in product decisions, reportedly unsettles the design team.

Threads Unleashes Global Hashless Tags: Key Points for Techies (5-minute read)

Meta's social network, Threads, is globally launching a major update featuring tags without the hash symbol. This new feature, which was tested last month in Australia, enables users to tag a single topic per post to curb tag spam. Unlike hashtags, tags can include spaces and special characters, making them more diverse. Instagram's head, Adam Mosseri, predicts this change will lead to decreased engagement hacking.

Google's AI App Revolutionizes Note-taking, Now Available for US Users (4-minute read)

Google's AI-enabled note-taking app, NotebookLM, is now available across the US, offering users a way to transform notes into various documents such as outlines, study guides, emails, etc. The app uses Google's Gemini Pro AI model for document understanding and reasoning while suggesting actions based on app usage. It also allows for up to 20 sources in a notebook, with a limit of 200,000 words each.

Tech quiz - Just for fun..

In a world of pixels and shares, I was born from a bourbon's flair. First, I focused on checking in, then I framed your world within. What am I?

1. Flickr

2. Instagram

3. Twitter

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