AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Wednesday.
- Mark Zuckerberg struggled to curry favor with the EU this week, with skeptical lawmakers questioning Facebook's dominance and the spread of coronavirus misinformation. One MEP who met with Zuckerberg said Facebook undermined officials' ability to govern.
- Elon Musk criticized an artificial intelligence company he helped found - and said his confidence in the safety of its AI is 'not high.' OpenAI is racing to be the first to build a machine with the reasoning powers of a human mind.
- Apple could lose out on $4 billion in sales as the coronavirus affects its ability to produce sufficient iPhones and AirPods. Analysts say Apple's facilities in China have reopened "more slowly than expected."
- Climate activists accused Jeff Bezos of hypocrisy over his $10 billion environment pledge because Amazon works with oil and gas firms. Greenpeace campaigner Elizabeth Jardim told Business Insider that Bezos was speaking out of "both sides of his mouth."
- Apple's plans to launch a new iPad Pro model early this year could be delayed thanks to the coronavirus. The company's plans to launch a low-cost iPhone model in March don't appear to be affected.
- Uber is laying off around 80 staff at its office in LA. The Los Angeles Times reports that the customer service operation will be closed and moved to Manila.
- Twitter has acquired Chroma Labs, an app that lets you create collages and more to social media sites. Founded in 2018 by a number of former Facebook employees the company specialises in visual storytelling.
- A Facebook employee reportedly blow-dried Mark Zuckerberg's armpits before he gave speeches to get rid of his anxiety sweat. A new book by Wired's Steven Levy claims Zuckerberg is obsessed with his public image.
- Kickstarter employees have voted to unionize. It's a first for a major tech company with 85 employees represented by the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU).
- Deepfakes have infiltrated an upcoming election in India. Manoj Tiwari's AI-generated video went viral after he criticized the incumbent Delhi government in a number of different languages.
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