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| These are our top stories today: - OpenAI researchers reportedly warned of a breakthrough before Sam Altman was fired.
- Hackers stole an estimated $115M worth of crypto.
- European data mobile traffic is set to triple by 2028.
Arbër
p/Arber | |
| 1 | | OpenAI researchers reportedly warned of a breakthrough before Sam Altman was fired as CEO last week. The researchers said in a letter to OpenAI's board that the breakthrough could potentially threaten humanity, reports Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter. More: - OpenAI's board fired Sam Altman as CEO last Friday, claiming that he was "not consistently candid in his communications."
- According to Reuters, staff researchers wrote a letter to the board ahead of its decision warning about the potential risks of a powerful new AI discovery.
- In an internal memo to employees, OpenAI acknowledged the existence of a so-called Project Q* and confirmed that a letter was sent to the board ahead of Altman's brief departure.
- The letter was one of several concerns that prompted the board to fire Altman, according to sources cited by Reuters.
- Some OpenAI staffers believe Q* may be a breakthrough in the company's effort to develop artificial general intelligence that would be above human capacity.
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| 2 | | Hackers have stolen an estimated $115M worth of crypto from HTX and Heco Chain, two popular crypto platforms. Heco Chain is linked to Justin Sun, a high-profile entrepreneur in the crypto space. More: - Hackers are believed to have stolen around $30M from HTX, a cryptocurrency exchange founded in China in 2013.
- $85.4M worth of cryptocurrency was stolen from the Hero Chain, a blockchain bridge in which Justin Sun is an investor.
- Sun confirmed the news regarding the breach himself via social media.
- Most of the amount stolen from the Heco Chain is believed to have been denominated in two main coins: USDT and ether.
- While the official reasons for the incident are being investigated, the breach was likely caused by a private key leak.
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What happened: European data mobile traffic is set to triple by 2028 due to 4G and 5G adoption, according to a report by GSMA, an industry association for mobile network operators. More details: In order to keep up with this demand, telecom companies need to spend around €198B ($216B) by 2030 to upgrade their networks. These costs could be partially covered by big tech companies such as Meta, Alphabet, Netflix, and Amazon if European telecom companies get their way. The companies say tech giants should pay for network upgrades because they account for most of the internet traffic. So far, there has been no decision from EU legislators on this request. What the numbers say: Around 85% of the European population was connected to mobile internet in 2022, according to the report. Mobile data traffic per smartphone in Western Europe will increase to 22 exabytes per month in 2028, compared with 9 exabytes in 2023. | | | |
| 4 | | The global smartphone market is growing after a two-year decline, according to a report by Counterpoint Research. Global sales grew by 5% in October, the first year-on-year increase since June 2021. More: - The markets that grew the most were the Middle East and Africa.
- Huawei's sales in China, which surged 37% in Q3, also contributed to the increase.
- Smartphone sales decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused supply shortages and manufacturing disruptions.
- While sales in saturated markets have seen slow growth, the release of the iPhone 15 in September has boosted the industry, the report says.
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| 5 | | Amazon is expected to win the iRobot European Union regulator antitrust case, according to a Reuters report. The deadline for the final decision is February 14, 2024. More: - In July, Amazon said it had acquired vacuum robot maker iRobot for $1.4B in a deal that would add the Roomba smart vacuum to Amazon's list of smart home devices, such as Alexa and Ring.
- Soon after, EU antitrust regulators launched an investigation to determine if the acquisition could reduce competition in the sector of robotic cleaners.
- Following a preliminary review, UK regulators gave the deal the go-ahead.
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| 6 | | Alpheya has raised a $300M funding round to offer AI-powered wealth management services. The company, which is based in Abu Dhabi, plans to use the funds to build a wealth management technology platform for clients in the Middle East and Northern Africa. More: - Alpheya offers client relationship management, financial planning, portfolio construction, and trading through an AI platform that uses data in real time.
- The funding round was led by Lunate, a company with $50B worth of assets under management, and BNY Mellon, which has $1.8T worth of assets under management.
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- The head of Spain's securities regulator said the country needs to revamp its IPO process in order to attract more companies.
- Klarna has been cleared to offer credit products in the U.K., but won't be allowed to offer buy-now-pay-later loans.
- Prosecutors have asked a federal court to prevent Binance's co-founder Changpeng Zhao from leaving the U.S. until his sentencing hearing next February.
- Jack Ma will not proceed with his plan to sell over $800M worth of his Alibaba shares after the company's stock plummeted last week.
- Experience exciting new stories of innovation from prominent brands like LEGO, Ben and Jerry's, Delta, and VMware on the second season of Adobe's The Power of Teamwork podcast.*
*This is sponsored content. | | | |
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 | Writer | | Arbër is an Inside writer who also has experience in entrepreneurship. He has experience covering Consumer Tech, Venture Capital, NFTs, Crypto, etc. Arbër holds a Bachelor's degree in Business from XAMK University in Finland. When he is not reading(and writing) business news, he chooses to watch sports or anime...and then read news about sports or anime. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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