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| 1 | | The news: Montana's new TikTok ban is already facing legal opposition from TikTok creators, who have sued the state in an attempt to block the law. Background: On Wednesday, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill that makes it illegal for TikTok to operate in the state. The ban, set to take effect in January, prohibits app stores from offering TikTok to residents, making it the first state to fully ban the app. What's new: Less than a day after the law was signed, a group of five TikTok users filed a lawsuit, arguing that the ban infringed on their First Amendment rights and exceeded Montana's legal authority as a state. The bigger picture: The lawsuit will be closely monitored across the country, particularly as some federal lawmakers continue to weigh a nationwide TikTok ban. The Biden administration has called for TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app or face a potential ban due to data privacy, content moderation, and national security concerns. By law, China-based ByteDance is obligated to provide U.S. user data to Beijing, although it has denied ever doing so. What the numbers say: A Pew Research Center survey shows that more Americans support banning TikTok than oppose it. Support for a ban is higher among Republicans (60%) compared to Democrats (43%), while people who use TikTok are much more likely to oppose a ban than non-users. 
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| 2 | | Instagram, owned by Meta Platforms, is planning to launch a text-based app to compete with Twitter as early as June. The app, which resembles a mixture of Instagram and Twitter, would let users sign in using their Instagram credentials, with their followers, handle, bio, and verification transferring over. More: - The decentralized app, referred to as "Instagram's new text-based app for conversations," would have a central feed for text posts of up to 500 characters along with links, photos, and videos.
- The platform codenamed P92 or Barcelona, is currently being tested among influencers and creators.
- Users will be able to set who's allowed to reply to them and mention their account, according to a leaked slide shared by social and influencer marketing instructor Lia Haberman.
- The slide also says that users of compatible apps, such as Mastodon, would have the ability to search for, follow, and engage with profiles and content on the Instagram app.
- Meta has not commented on the plans.
Credit: Lia Haberman | | | |
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| 3 | | Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker, has abandoned a review that could have led to Microsoft Bing replacing Google's search engine on its phones. The move indicates that Samsung will not be replacing Google as the default search engine on its devices anytime soon. More: - Samsung recently launched an internal review to explore the possibility of replacing Google with Bing on its pre-installed web-browsing app for Samsung smartphones.
- According to anonymous sources cited by the WSJ, Samsung has now suspended that review.
- Switching search engines would have been a huge blow to Google, which brings in an estimated $3B a year from the Samsung contract.
- Google has a similar Apple contract, worth a reported $20B a year, that is up for renewal later on in 2023.
Zoom out: - Rivals Microsoft and Google have been locked in a race to incorporate AI features into their search and other products, which could dictate the popularity of their search engines in the future.
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| 4 | | A Blue Origin-led team has won a $3.4B NASA contract to build a spacecraft that will deliver astronauts to the moon's surface later this decade. The crewed mission, scheduled to launch no sooner than Sept. 2029, is part of NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon as early as 2025. More: - Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' space company, will oversee a team that will develop a crewed lunar lander for the third crewed moon landing, known as Artemis V (5).
- Blue Origin will partner with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Draper, and Astrobotic to develop the 52-foot-tall lander named Blue Moon.
- NASA plans to use the vehicle, along with SpaceX's Starship, to ferry astronauts between the moon's surface and a future space station in lunar orbit called "Gateway."
- Blue Moon, docked to the Gateway, will touch down at the lunar south pole as part of the long-term goal to establish a permanent human presence on the moon.
- Blue Origin is also making a private contribution beyond the $3.4B contract amount.
Zoom out: - After two test missions under the Artemis program, Artemis III, scheduled for 2025, is set to return humans to the lunar surface after more than half a century.
- NASA already chose SpaceX's Starship for the first (Artemis III) and second (Artemis IV) crewed landings.
Artist's concept of the Blue Moon lander. Credits: Blue Origin | | | |
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| 5 | | The U.K. on Friday unveiled a £1B ($1.24B) investment plan to strengthen its semiconductor industry and improve its chipmaking capabilities over the next decade. The funding is a key part of the country's newly launched National Semiconductor Strategy, which aims to bolster its global competitiveness in technology and science. More: - The 20-year strategy aims to secure chip supplies and foster growth in the U.K.'s chip sector, which has faced supply chain disruptions and geopolitical tensions.
- Between 2023 and 2025, the U.K. will distribute up to £200M for chip-related infrastructure improvements and research and development, with the remaining £800M allocated by the end of 2033
- The U.K.'s strategy also emphasizes international cooperation, including a newly announced partnership with Japan.
Zoom out: - Critics have argued that the U.K.'s investment is significantly less than chip subsidies offered in the U.S. and EU.
- By comparison, the U.S. Chips and Science Act designates $52.7B specifically for semiconductor manufacturing, R&D, and workforce development.
- However, U.K. officials said the amount of proportionate, as the government doesn't see the need to invest in costly chip manufacturing plants.
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| 6 | | U.S. AI company OpenAI has released a free iPhone app for ChatGPT, with an Android version coming soon. The first official mobile app for the popular AI chatbot competes with other third-party apps that use OpenAI software. More: - The new iOS app syncs a user's chat history across devices and integrates Whisper, OpenAI's automatic speech recognition system.
- In addition to text inputs, the mobile app recognizes and responds to voice commands, though it can only generate text-based answers.
- While currently only available in the U.S., the app will be released worldwide "soon," according to OpenAI CTO Mira Murati.
- The app is currently free and has no ads, with an optional $20 per month for ChatGPT Plus, which is a subscription service with enhanced features such as access to GPT-4.
Zoom out: - Consumer demand for AI chatbot apps has been strong, with significant spending in the mobile AI app market.
- ChatGPT's availability on mobile will further transform how people use their phones for search.
Screenshot from Apple App Store: 
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| 7 | | QUICK HITS - Hyundai and Kia have agreed to a $200M settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit over widespread vehicle thefts caused by a TikTok trend. The "Kia Challenge" led to numerous thefts, crashes, and fatalities. The settlement covers 9 million owners of cars made between 2011-2022 with traditional key ignition systems.
- Disney is planning to launch a standalone ESPN streaming service at an unidentified date in the future, which will have a big impact on cable TV providers that rely on ESPN as a key draw for bundles.
- Google is testing an AI-powered "image question and answer" feature in its Lookout app for Android, which assists people with visual impairments. The feature uses DeepMind AI to provide detailed descriptions of images without captions or alt text.
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 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is a writer and editor at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily technology news. She has written the Inside AI newsletter since 2019. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Vibha Chapparike | |
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