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| 1 | During Tesla's annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday, CEO Elon Musk announced that the company will embark on its first-ever advertising campaign. The move marks a departure from Tesla's previous reliance on word-of-mouth, which Musk has said was driven by high demand for its vehicles. More: - In response to a shareholder question, Musk said Tesla will now "try a little advertising, and see how it goes."
- For years, the billionaire CEO maintained that paid advertising was unnecessary for Tesla due to demand outstripping supply.
- Increased competition in the electric vehicle market likely contributed to the move.
Other announcements: - Also during the shareholder meeting, Musk dismissed the idea of stepping down as Tesla CEO. He referred to his time as Twitter CEO as a "short term distraction."
- Musk confirmed that Tesla would begin delivering its Cybertrucks later this year, with a projected annual production of 250,000 to 500,000 units.
- He briefly teased two new electric vehicles, which are expected to be more affordable and produced in higher volumes.
- An image of one of the vehicles was shown, potentially representing the previously mentioned $25,000 hatchback.
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| 2 | | The news: YouTube's recommendation algorithm is again under fire after a recent study revealed its tendency to suggest videos on guns and gun violence to children and teens. According to a Pew Research survey, nearly one in every five U.S. teens uses YouTube "almost constantly." 
What happened: The Tech Transparency Project (TTP), a nonprofit watchdog, conducted a study using four test accounts, two for 9-year-old boys and two for 14-year-old boys. Researchers intentionally watched gaming-related videos, including inappropriate ones, from these accounts over 30 days to simulate the content young people might come across on YouTube. The results: YouTube suggested videos about toy firearms and real firearms to all four test accounts. But the accounts that clicked on YouTube's recommended videos received more of the violent content, including videos related to gun crimes and school shootings. 
The response: In its response, YouTube cited limitations in the study's approach. The company said its YouTube Kids app and in-app supervision tools can help provide safer experiences. What it means: The report raises fresh concerns about Big Tech algorithms prioritizing engagement over responsible content recommendations. While the TTP emphasized that video games are not responsible for violent behavior, it warned that YouTube's algorithm can further expose young gamers to a world of gun violence. | | | |
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| 3 | | Google plans to delete unused personal accounts that are inactive for two years or longer, including Gmail, YouTube, and Google Photos. The goal is to improve safety by addressing security vulnerabilities in accounts, like outdated passwords, it said. More: - While the new policy is already in effect, Google said it will start deleting accounts in December.
- During the process, Google will delete any content stored by the user in Google Workspace, YouTube, and Google Photos
- The company plans to send multiple warnings to users and do the account purges in phases. It will prioritize accounts that were created but never used.
- To keep an account active, users only need to do a minimal activity, like reading or sending an email, watching a YouTube video, or doing a Google search.
- The policy only applies to personal accounts and not businesses or schools.
Related: - Earlier this month, Twitter began purging accounts that have been inactive for "several years," which Elon Musk said was likely to result in a decrease in users' follower counts.
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| 4 | | Amazon introduced its latest entry-level Alexa-powered smart speaker as part of its new Echo lineup. The $40 Echo Pop features a new semi-sphere form factor and a front-facing speaker optimized for smaller spaces, like an apartment or dorm room. More: - While cheaper than the Echo Dot, Amazon said the Pop has two of the same features: an AZ2 Neural Edge processor for on-device machine learning and built-in Eero to extend users' mesh Wi-Fi coverage.
- The Pop is available in charcoal, white, lavender, and teal.
- Also today, the company unveiled an updated version of the Echo Show 5 smart display ($90) and a space-themed kid-friendly version, the Echo Show 5 Kids ($100).
- It announced new Echo Buds ($50) with a semi-open design, excluding active noise cancellation, and ear tips. They integrate with Alexa, support multi-device pairing, and have customizable tap controls.
Zoom out: - Amazon said most of the devices will ship at the end of the month.
- Additionally, Echo Auto is now available in more countries.
- The company said sales of Alexa-enabled devices have surpassed half a billion.
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| 5 | | IBM and Google are investing a combined $150M in quantum computing research at the University of Chicago and the University of Tokyo. The support could help the U.S. maintain a competitive edge over China, which has made significant investments in quantum computing, raising concerns about its military applications. More: - The partnership arose after the University of Tokyo's president discussed the school's quantum computing program with former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who had backed the University of Chicago's efforts in the field.
- "We have to count on our allies more for primary research," said Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan.
- IBM plans to contribute $100M to both universities for the eventual development of a quantum-centric supercomputer with 100,000 qubits.
- While digital bits can be either zero or one, qubits or quantum bits are the building blocks of quantum computing, representing information in a superposition of 0 and 1 simultaneously.
Zoom out: - Last November, IBM showcased a 433-qubit processor, its most powerful quantum computer to date.
- Quantum computing has significant potential in various areas, such as drug molecule modeling and atomic-scale battery research.
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| 6 | | Anthropic, an AI startup founded by ex-OpenAI engineers, claims its chatbot Claude can analyze entire novels within a minute. By increasing the chatbot's context window from 9,000 to 100,000 tokens (equivalent to about 75,000 words), Claude can comprehend novels like "A Farewell to Arms," "Frankenstein," and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," which range from 69,000 to 74,800 words. More: - During a test, Anthropic modified a sentence in "The Great Gatsby" and asked Claude to identify the change.
- Remarkably, it accomplished this task in only 22 seconds.
- Comparatively, the average person takes around five hours to read 100,000 tokens of text, whereas Claude can do it in less than a minute.
- Claude's expanded capabilities surpass other chatbots, including OpenAI's GPT-4 model, which handles up to 8,000 tokens, and its extended version, capable of processing 32,000 tokens.
- Currently, ChatGPT is limited to approximately 4,000 tokens.
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| Upcoming Events | | MAY
17 | | Monthly Meditation guided by Nicholas Whitaker | | | | | | | MAY
23 | | In-depth webinar on ML Monitoring at Scale with TruEra | | | | | | | MAY
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25 | | Inside.com Book Club - Zero To One by Peter Thiel | | | | | | * This is a sponsored event | | | |
Term of the Day Venture debt: Venture debt is a form of non-dilutive debt financing used by startups, especially early-stage, to supplement their equity fundraising. Question of the Week How do you approach networking, and what advice can you give others looking to build their professional connections? Join the conversation |
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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 Eduardo Garcia | |
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