1. Federal Judge Says “No Chance“ to Google's Attempt to Dismiss Antitrust Lawsuit
In a crushing blow to the search giant, a US federal judge has denied Google's motion to dismiss a Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that Google has an iron grip on the advertising technology market and demands that the company sells its ad manager suite. Google has denied any wrongdoing, but Judge Leonie Brinkema wasn't having it, rejecting their arguments that the Justice Department's claims were weak. The case will now proceed, and Google is facing the prospect of selling off one of its most lucrative products.
2. OpenAI: The High-Stakes Game of Artificial Intelligence and Libel Risk
OpenAI, the notorious developer of the controversial ChatGPT and GPT language models, has raked in $300 million in cash from a group of big-shot investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, K2 Global, Thrive, and Tiger Global. The investors have valued the company at a staggering $27 billion to $29 billion, not including the Microsoft's $10 billion investment earlier this year. However, despite its astronomical success, OpenAI has been accused of allowing its AI models to spread misinformation and be downright "toxic" and their ChatGPT model, in particular, has become a potential libel risk. Who would have thought that a bunch of ones and zeroes could be so scandalous?
3. Innovation vs. Regulation
The European Union is on track to reach a political agreement this year that will create the world's first major artificial intelligence law, according to Margrethe Vestager, the European Union's tech regulation chief. A preliminary agreement was reached last week by the European Parliament, which will now debate the draft of the Artificial Intelligence Act on May 11. The legislation, which balances innovation with regulation, aims to mitigate the risks of emerging technologies. The G7's digital ministers agreed on Sunday to adopt "risk-based" regulation on AI, marking a first step towards global agreement on regulation.
4. Arm Secretly Files for IPO, Bravely Ignoring the Current State of the Stock Market
SoftBank Group's chip-making subsidiary, Arm, is secretly filing for a US stock market listing, hoping to raise between $8 billion and $10 billion in what would be this year's largest initial public offering. Even though the stock market is currently as volatile as a rollercoaster, Arm is not deterred in its quest for an initial public offering. The IPO is expected to help SoftBank Group recover from losses due to declining valuations of its tech start-up investments. Nothing like an IPO to put the "fun" in "fund."
5. It’s a Me-Mario! ChatGPT in Italy!
OpenAI's ChatGPT is back online in Italy after the company caved to the country's data protection authority. Garante had temporarily banned the chatbot and launched an investigation over concerns that it was invading people's privacy. Additionally, the watchdog accused OpenAI of being oblivious to the fact that ChatGPT was attracting youngsters below the age of 13. In response, OpenAI has promised to include a tool that verifies the age of users signing up in Italy. Furthermore, the company has given users greater control of their privacy by providing more transparency in its policy and user content opt-out form.