OpenAI X Account Hacked, House Passes Chips Act Exemptions, Musk Loses Twitter Severance Case

OpenAI X Account Hacked, House Passes Chips Act Exemptions, Musk Loses Twitter Severance Case

OpenAI News Account on X Compromised, Sends Crypto Posts - Bloomberg

• OpenAI's X account was compromised by an unauthorized individual who posted fake crypto token posts claiming to be related to the AI startup. The posts appeared from the account @OpenAINewsroom and were deleted after being deleted. The company is investigating the issue.

House Approves Permit Exemption for Chips, Sending Bill to Biden - Bloomberg

• US House passes legislation to exempt some semiconductor manufacturing projects from federal permitting requirements

• The bill aims to speed up the build-out of the US semiconductor industry and reduce reliance on Asia

• Chip companies have pledged to invest $400 billion in factories on American soil due to incentives from the 2022 Chips and Science Act

• NEPA review could cause delays and opening up projects to litigation, but green groups warn against allowing chipmakers to bypass the process

• Three ways for Chips Act-funded projects to qualify for a NEPA exemption: starting construction before the end of this year, projects that receive only loans, and facilities with less than 10% grant funding

Ex-Twitter Worker Wins Musk Layoff Pay Fight, Memo Says - Bloomberg

• Elon Musk lost a legal fight over unpaid severance to a former Twitter employee.

• The case could set a precedent for thousands of former employees who have filed similar arbitration grievances.

‘Black Myth: Wukong’ Brings Frenzy of Tourists to Remote China Province - Bloomberg

• Broadcasters are facing a surge in illegal streaming of live sports, depriving them of billions of dollars in potential revenue. Pirates are appealing to cash-strapped fans looking to watch big-ticket events without paying subscription fees. Almost every sport is impacted, including football, cricket, boxing, and Formula One motor racing. Pirates capture legitimate streams and rebroadcast them on another website without the permission of the broadcast rights holder. The streams are advertised widely on social media, giving them an air of legitimacy and reaching audiences who would otherwise not consider breaking the law. The pirates make money by selling advertising or charging subscription fees lower than those of legitimate providers. The number of pirated live sports events has exploded, growing by 30% in 2022 across European Union countries. The recent increase in piracy has coincided with rising subscription fees for streaming services, leading consumers to be more selective about how many they sign up for. The techniques developed to detect pirated content online don't work as effectively for live content. The legal takedown process can take several hours, if not longer.

Constellation CEO Says US Should Copy China to Meet AI Power Use - Bloomberg

• The US should emulate China in building massive data centers alongside power plants to meet the surging demand for electricity to run AI.

• China is already taking this approach in its AI projects, according to Constellation Energy CEO Joe Dominguez

• There is a shortage of long-distance transmission lines in the US, causing delays for data center operators in connecting facilities to the grid

• Nuclear plants that run around the clock are the best options for delivering energy to outsized US data centers

• Energy companies are racing to meet a jump in electricity demand from power-hungry AI data centers, manufacturing facilities, and electric vehicles

• AI is important for national security and the US needs to be successful in AI from a geopolitical security and economic perspective.

Biden Administration Proposes Ban on Chinese Software in Vehicles - New York Times

• The Biden administration has proposed a ban on Chinese-developed software from internet-connected cars in the United States.

• The move is intended to prevent Chinese intelligence agencies from monitoring Americans or using the vehicles' electronics as a pathway into the U.S. electric grid or other critical infrastructure.

• It follows the same logic that resulted in the ban on Huawei telecommunications equipment and the investigations into Chinese-made cranes operating at American ports. The initiative is a major addition to the administration's efforts to seal off what it views as major cyber-vulnerabilities for the US. The ban is likely to be made a permanent rule before President Biden leaves office on Jan. 20.

Can Math Help AI Chatbots Stop Making Stuff Up? - New York Times

• Researchers are building A.I. systems that can verify their own math and produce reliable information

• Chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini can answer questions, write poetry, summarize news articles, and generate images, but they also make mistakes and sometimes make stuff up

• The technology is focused on mathematics, but researchers believe they can extend the same techniques into computer programming and other areas

• Companies like Harmonic and Google DeepMind are building AI systems that check their own answers and never hallucinate

• A system called AlphaProof achieved a "silver medal" performance in the International Mathematical Olympiad, solving four of the competition's six problems

• Some researchers believe these techniques can extend even further, leading to systems that verify physical truths as well as mathematical

Will A.I. Be a Bust? A Wall Street Skeptic Rings the Alarm. - New York Times

• Jim Covello, Goldman Sachs' head of stock research, warns against building too much AI and predicts that the technology boom will lose steam when companies cut spending.

• He cited signs of an economic bubble, such as billboards promoting Writer Enterprise AI and Speech AI, as evidence of the current boom-and-bust cycle in A.I. industries.

• Covello's research paper for Goldman Sachs questioned whether businesses would see a sufficient return on $1 trillion in AI spending in the coming years, leading to a reassessment of Wall Street's hottest trade. The tech industry has a history of spending big to deliver technology transitions, but caution is advised due to the industry's history of tech booms and busts. - Goldman Sachs has been evaluating AI services for the firm to use, but they were found to be costly, cumbersome, and not "smart enough to make employees smarter."

• George Lee, co-head of the firm's geopolitical advisory business, urged Covello to be patient and wait for applications to emerge over time as technology is refined and made more readily available and cheaper.

Inside Jony Ive’s Life After Apple and His LoveFrom Design Business - New York Times

• Jony Ive, former iPhone designer, is building a new life in San Francisco five years after leaving Apple

• He is turning a two-story building in Jackson Square into a home base for his agency, LoveFrom, which he started five years ago

• Ive has accumulated nearly $90 million worth of real estate on a single city block, including half of a city block

• The purchases began early in the pandemic, when many tech luminaries were fleeing San Francisco

• Mr. Ive wanted to draw creative types to the edge of downtown to create a social space for people to socialize outside

• One of his projects is a new automotive headquarters for OpenAI, a new artificial intelligence device

• LoveFrom is a design firm he co-chairs for the Met Gala and helped J.J. Abrams design a new lightsaber for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

How Assouline Built a Business Selling Luxury Books - New York Times

• Assouline is a family-run publishing company that specializes in high-end coffee table books and library accouterments.

• The company was founded two decades ago after experiencing an epiphany that luxury consumers were willing to spend more on shoes than on books

• They produce and sell titles in art history, fashion, interiors, travel, society, and sports, including the priciest, The Ultimate Collection, which represents more than 25% of their annual revenues

• Other elements of their business include photography and art books, curating libraries for corporate and private clients, and venture into podcasting and digital magazine production

• Sales and marketing at the company has increased by 13% in the past year, driven by a surge in e-commerce sales and a rise in consumer spending

• LVMH holds a minority stake in the company, and the family is a significant contributor to Coca-Cola and Emirates brands.

What a Huawei laptop reveals about China’s dream of tech self-sufficiency - Financial Times

• China is pushing for the use of domestic semiconductors in its public sector as part of its localisation campaign known as Xinchuang.

• The Qingyun L540 laptop is a signature model of this campaign, featuring a self-designed processor and Chinese-made operating system, stripping out foreign-made components and software.

• Chinese officials are now acquiring three-quarters of their devices with chips from Chinese companies like Huawei, Shanghai Zhaoxin, and Phytium due to top-down directives and state spending and financial support.

• Automakers, including major European groups producing cars in joint ventures with Chinese state-owned firms, have been directed to use Chinese chips for 25% of the total by next year, according to four people familiar with the matter.

US proposes banning Chinese software and components in vehicles - Financial Times

• The US Commerce Department proposed banning Chinese software and hardware for vehicles with a built-in internet connection, effectively banning Chinese vehicles from the US market.

• The rule follows concerns about Chinese companies collecting data on American drivers and infrastructure and the potential for foreign adversaries to remotely manipulate connected cars on US roads.

• Companies could pursue exceptions to the ban if they could show they are taking mitigating measures such as auditing or site checking. The rule would essentially ban Chinese vehicles, but the assumption is that Chinese vehicles will fall within the prohibition. The software bans would apply in the 2027 model year, while the hardware bans take effect in January 2029 or 2030. The commerce department is assessing other industries where they might want to take similar action.

One way or another, Intel is for sale - Financial Times

• Intel is for sale, with buyer interest indicating confidence in a turnaround

• Buyers or buyers will benefit more from selling at a low point than current shareholders

• Qualcomm is interested in a full acquisition, but a full buyout is unlikely due to regulatory and strategic reasons

• Intel may rely on private capital investments or partial transactions to remain a cutting-edge designer and manufacturer of chips

• Near-term results may overstate the depths of Intel's decline and create an opening for long-dated thinkers

• The company cancelled its dividend, which once paid out $6bn to shareholders in a year.

UFO 50 — ingenious compendium of 1980s arcade games that never existed - Financial Times

• UFO Soft was a game studio founded in 1982 that created games with ingenuity and eccentricity rarely seen today.

• 50 of their best-loved titles have been collected together as UFO 50, a collection of short 1980s-style arcade games packaged together as a single release

• The concept was created by Derek Yu, an American indie developer best known for his popular platformer Spelunky

• Each game in the collection has its own storyline and progression, beautifully packaged with a catchy chiptune soundtrack and visual language

• Retro fans will immediately spot references from Streets of Rage to Bubble Bobble, Gradius, and many more

• Many of the titles are clearly in dialogue with the tropes and trends of contemporary gaming

• UFO 50 tells the story of a time of rapid technological advance, leading from the reductionist, frustratingly clunky first game Barbuta to the slick final title Cyber Owls

• All of them feel relatively simple by modern standards and are a riotous celebration of everything that early video games promised.

UAE president to meet Joe Biden in push for more US AI technology - Financial Times

• UAE leader to meet Biden in Washington to discuss AI co-operation with US

• UAE aims to secure easier access to advanced US-made technology

• AI central to Abu Dhabi's plan to wean itself off fossil fuel exports and partner with American companies

• Gulf states have been restricted from freely importing American-made AI chips due to concerns about technology leaks to China

• Microsoft has invested $1.5bn in the UAE's most important AI group G42

• MGX, a new Abu Dhabi investment vehicle dedicated to AI, has launched a $30bn fund to invest in data centres and energy to power them

• Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan has spearheaded UAE's efforts to secure US backing for its AI ambitions.

Chip Giants TSMC and Samsung Discuss Building Middle Eastern Megafactories - Wall Street Journal

• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics are considering building large factory complexes in the United Arab Emirates. The projects could transform the chip-making industry and become a cornerstone for artificial-intelligence investments in the Middle East. The U.A. is funding the projects, with Abu Dhabi-based sovereign development vehicle Mubadala playing a central role in developing a domestic tech industry. The goal is to increase global chip production and help bring chip prices down without hurting chip-makers' profitability. The discussions are still in the early phases and face technical and other hurdles that mean they might not pan out. There are concerns about the availability of engineering talent to staff major new factories far from the companies' home bases.

How Intel Fell From Global Chip Champion to Takeover Target - Wall Street Journal

• Intel is being considered as a takeover target by Qualcomm due to its strategic missteps and the rise of the artificial-intelligence boom.

• CEO Pat Gelsinger had planned to build up Intel's contract chip-making business and sell it to design-only chip companies such as Qualcomm to catch up to Asian rivals.

• However, Intel has fallen behind in the race to manufacture the fastest-performing chips with the smallest transistors, which has led to a shift towards AI. The rise of generative AI has shifted demand away from Intel's central processors and towards Nvidia's graphics processing units. (

• Intel laid off 15,000 people, cut costs by $10 billion next year, and scraped the dividend last year to preserve its turnaround effort).

• Analysts and investors are still interested in the takeover, but a deal with Qualcomm is far from certain due to regulatory and other reasons.

Tech Jobs Have Dried Up---and Aren't Coming Back Soon - Wall Street Journal

• Glenn Kugelman resorted to using paper and duct tape to advertise his LinkedIn profile to potential employers in the tech industry.

• The job market for tech workers is harder than it was a few years ago, with a shift towards revenue-generating products and services from entry-level hires and cutting back on non-big money-making areas like virtual reality and devices.

• Postings for software development jobs have decreased by over 30% since February 2020, and tech companies have shed around 137,000 jobs since January, according to Layoffs.fyi.com. The pandemic caused tech companies to go on hiring sprees and take on far too many workers, leading to a downturn in the economy. Some tech employers, some of which had never done large-scale layoffs before, are now cutting tens of thousands of jobs. The shift in hiring strategies signals a reset in an industry that is fundamentally readjusting its labor needs and pushing some workers out. Some employees are being hired to do nothing due to the pandemic-induced job market downturn.

They Bought Homes With Their Friends---and Now They Want Out - Wall Street Journal

• More friend groups are buying homes together in recent years, especially those who couldn't afford to go it alone in the pandemic housing market.

• The number of co-buyers with different last names hitting a record in data going back a decade in 2021 fell 29.5% over the following two years, according to real-estate analytics firm Attom Data Solutions.

• When co-ownerships end, it is usually not because of conflict, but rather because people are leaving due to various reasons such as moving, getting married, or moving to a different city

• Falling interest rates could make traditional homeownership more affordable to first-time home buyers, potentially opening up the option to refinance or move to a new home with better terms

• However, close quarters can spark difficulties and conflicts can arise when buying a home with friends

• Pandemic shutdowns in 2020 made things worse, as having disputes in front of another family was awkward and felt like being in a daycare

• Co-ownership agreements can be difficult to work with

Robinhood Touts Rock-Bottom Fees for Options Trading. Then Come the Hidden Costs. - Wall Street Journal

• Robinhood Markets has hidden transaction costs for options trading that are much higher than rival brokers.

• Nearly 7% of the dollar value of options transactions at Robinhood is covered by these costs, according to a study by finance professors

• Vanguard was the best-performing broker in the study, followed by Fidelity Investments

• The study found that Robinhood customers get a bad deal on most options trades, even after accounting for higher fees at other brokers

• Options prices are publicly quoted on exchanges, and the most visible measure of transaction costs is the bid-ask spread -Robinhood profits from its customers' option orders by collecting rebates from electronic trading firms that process the orders, a practice called payment for order flow

• There is little public data on transaction costs in options.