Elon Musk dreams of Twitter's AI power
Do you like thrifting, readers? Hello, I'm Emilia David, and I've made it a goal to shop secondhand as much as possible.
Shopping for second-hand items grew in popularity in the last few years. A new report from online consignment store ThredUp showed about 30% of Gen Z bought used items to afford high-end labels. It's not just a generational quirk, either. Heck, I furnished my apartment mainly with second-hand furniture.
So while I make plans to go thrifting this weekend, let's get started on today's tech news.
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1. Elon Musk's personal AI ambitions. Elon Musk was one of the more prominent names on an open letter calling for a pause in AI development. My teammate Asia Martin points out that Musk's position on AI is contradicted by Twitter's investment in generative AI.
- Detractors of the call to pause AI said there's an element of self-interest in asking for a moratorium in developing new AI models. Twitter's recent purchase of hardware normally used to develop generative AI products shows the extent of this ambition.
- It's unclear what Twitter plans to use its new graphics processing units (GPUs) for, but the investment shows Twitter and Musk are accelerating their push into AI.
- Musk has been critical of AI in general, and openly hostile to ChatGPT creator OpenAI, which he helped found.
Read more on Elon Musk's AI ambitions.
In other news:
2. A virtual city awash with AI avatars. Researchers let loose 25 AI agents — basically, virtual people — in a virtual town called Smallville to see if they developed believable social behaviors. Spoiler, they did. Read more here.
3. Salesforce cracking down on overtime pay. Under pressure from investors to improve profits, Insider reports Salesforce is making employees get pre-approval for overtime longer than three hours. Here's why.
4. Is Elon Musk's chaotic management style working out? Twitter owner Elon Musk said the social media app is "roughly breaking even." Insider's Hasan Chowdhury says his style works in the short term, but he needs to do more than be a chaos agent. Here's more.
5. Congress must pass crypto regulations. The global policy head of blockchain data firm Chainalysis said the US needs to pass clear crypto regulations so companies don't choose to move elsewhere. Read why here.
6. Red light, green light… white light? A study proposes US cities create an additional traffic light stop color to make self-driving cars safer. Learn more here.
7. Meet the new breed of generative AI startups. Venture capital has begun circling around the latest batch of startups from prominent startup boot camp Y Combinator's latest class, just a week after their demo day. Here's more.
8. Amazon union president's fame, and the rift it opened. Chris Smalls, who helped found the Amazon Labor Union, found his organization splintering. Insider talked to people close to the union effort about what they said went wrong. Read more.
Odds and ends:
9. OpenAI will pay you to report bugs. ChatGPT maker OpenAI will pay users up to $20,000 to report flaws in its AI algorithms and software. Learn more here.
10. Something to think about before getting a fancy new Nintendo Switch. It's a good idea to protect your Switch console when you bring it along with you. Insider's Reviews team curated 13 of the best Switch cases here.
What we're watching today:
- Delta Airlines will report earnings today. Esports company Gamesquare Holdings will also release earnings.
- Techspo Los Angeles, a summit showcasing advances in mobile, advertising, and software in LA, ends today.
Curated by Emilia David in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email edavid@insider.com or tweet @miyadavid.) Edited by Matt Weinberger (tweet @gamoid) in San Francisco and Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.