Why China is so bad at disinformation: China’s state-sponsored disinformation campaign has been running at a massive scale for seven years—but no one is looking at it. Wired
TikTok, Tesla show US-China battle over data is just beginning Bloomberg
+ Data fight threatens to reshape US-China trade relations
+ Electric vehicles, healthcare, drones all facing scrutiny
Self-driving Teslas can’t duck the US-China silicon curtain: Elon Musk’s decision to tie up with search giant Baidu makes sense. It’s an admission that he needs to pool expertise with rivals in order to keep pace. David Fickling
Why Musk now needs China more than it needs him: China used Elon Musk’s trip to promote its message that it is open to American businesses, despite rising tensions with the US. WSJ
Second global AI safety summit faces tough questions, lower turnout: Reuters reports Last year, a who’s who of world leaders, corporate executives, and academic experts gathered at Britain’s Bletchley Park for the world’s first global AI Safety Summit, hoping to reach consensus on the regulation of a technology some warned posed a threat to humanity. Six months later, the second AI Safety Summit, a primarily virtual event co-hosted by Britain and South Korea, will take place as hype around artificial intelligence’s potential gives way to questions over its limitations.
Microsoft to invest $1.7 billion in AI infrastructure in Indonesia: WSJ reports Microsoft said the investment would help its goal of training 2.5 million people across the region in AI skills.
EU to probe Meta over handling of Russian disinformation: FT reports European Union regulators are expected to open a probe into Meta Platforms over concerns that the company is failing to do enough to counter disinformation from Russia and other countries.
Bloomberg: Apple’s iPad hit by EU’s digital dominance crackdown
+ Company has six months to comply with raft of new rules
+ Apple’s mobile iOS, App Store and Safari already targeted
Military is the missing word in AI safety discussions: Government attempts to regulate the technology must look at its use on the battlefield. Marietje Schaake
+ Marietje Schaake is the international policy director at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center and special adviser to the European Commission
AI supercharges intelligence analysis, but mitigating bias is key Val Dockrell
AI on the Hill: Senators are now working toward holding a markup on “a number” of AI bills in May.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) joined Punchbowl News on Tuesday for a wide-ranging conversation on the top issues dominating Washington and the future of artificial intelligence. You can watch the full video here.
NIST launches a new platform to assess generative AI: NIST GenAI will release benchmarks, help create “content authenticity” detection (i.e. deepfake-checking) systems and encourage the development of software to spot the source of fake or misleading AI-generated information. TC
+ Department of Commerce announces new actions to implement President Biden’s executive order on AI
+ DOE announces new actions to enhance America’s global leadership in artificial intelligence
There’s an AI lobbying frenzy in Washington. Big Tech is dominating Time
+ From 2022 to 2023, the number of groups lobbying the US government on AI skyrocketed from 158 to 451, according to OpenSecrets data.
8 major newspapers join legal backlash against OpenAI, Microsoft: The Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and six other dailies accused the tech companies of taking their work to train AI algorithms. WP
8 daily newspapers sue OpenAI and Microsoft over AI: The suit, which accuses the tech companies of copyright infringement, adds to the fight over the online data used to power artificial intelligence. NYT
+ @OpenAI: We’ve partnered with FT to enhance news content in ChatGPT and collaborate on new AI experiences for FT readers.
Eric Schmidt and Yoshua Bengio debate how much AI should scare us: Two top artificial intelligence experts—one an optimist and the other more alarmist about the technology’s future—engaged in a spirited debate at the TIME100 Summit. YouTube
‘Eugenics on steroids’: The toxic and contested legacy of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute: Founded in 2005 and lauded by Silicon Valley, the Nick Bostrom’s centre for studying existential risk warned about AI but also gave rise to cultish ideas such as effective altruism. Guardian
Recruiters are going analog to fight the AI application overload: Indeed and LinkedIn are incorporating more generative AI to improve the recruiting and job-hunting processes. Some recruiters are still unconvinced. Wired
Sam’s Club says its AI tech allowing customers to exit without receipts is in 20% of its stores, with plans to expand to all locations by year-end.
Apple targets Google staff to build artificial intelligence team: FT reports the iPhone maker has also created a secretive Zurich lab as it prepares fightback against rivals.
Apple is expected to unveil an iPad Pro with an M4 chip at an event on May 7. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman believes Apple will market the new iPad Pro as "its first truly AI-powered device."
Amazon sales surge as company focuses on AI: Chief Executive Andy Jassy said artificial-intelligence capabilities are reaccelerating growth in the company’s cloud business. WSJ
Amazon cloud sales growth accelerates as it prepares for more AI spending: FT reports the e-commerce company’s operating income more than triples as Amazon Web Services and adverts provide a boost.
Fortune: Elon Musk says any company that isn’t spending $10 billion on AI this year like Tesla won’t be able to compete
Microsoft's motivation for investing heavily and partnering with OpenAI came from a sense of falling badly behind Google, according to an internal email released Tuesday as part of the Justice Department’s antitrust case against the search giant.
Big Tech is pouring hundreds of billions into AI. Should it also get to decide if the technology is ‘safe’? Fortune
FFX Now: Google to invest $1 billion to expand data centers in Northern Virginia
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was ordered to spend four months in prison for failures that allowed cybercriminals and terrorist groups to freely trade on the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Tesla shares jumped 15%, posting their best day in three years as investors react to Elon Musk’s quick and unannounced visit to China.
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
