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| Here's a look at today's tech briefing: - DOJ and SEC investigating Cruise after accident.
- Salesforce is the latest tech company to cut jobs.
- Apple will ask EU users to choose their default web browser.
- NASA's Mars helicopter takes final flight.
- AI-generated Taylor Swift images generate backlash from fans.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are investigating GM's Cruise after one of its self-driving cars hit and dragged a pedestrian in San Francisco last October. According to Cruise's third-party report, executives failed to disclose in a post-accident briefing that the autonomous vehicle had dragged the victim 20 feet at 7 mph, worsening her injuries. More: - According to the report, the vehicle mistakenly detected a side instead of a frontal collision and tried to pull over instead of stopping.
- Over 100 Cruise employees, including senior leaders and legal staff, knew about the dragging incident but did not reveal it in post-accident meetings with the NHTSA, DMV, and San Francisco Mayor's Office.
- The company planned to show a video to explain the incident, but playback issues prevented it from being viewed clearly, and employees didn't verbally confirm the details.
- Cruise acknowledged that it "failed to live up to the justifiable expectations of regulators and the communities we serve... [and] also fell woefully short of our own expectations."
Zoom out: - The DOJ and SEC now join multiple government investigations into Cruise, including the California Department of Motor Vehicles, the California Public Utilities Commission, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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| 2 | | Salesforce is cutting 700 jobs to better focus its spending, according to The Wall Street Journal. Around 1% of Salesforce's global workforce is being cut company-wide, per the Journal. More: - The report noted that Salesforce still has 1,000 open positions, suggesting the changes might be part of routine workforce adjustments.
- The San Francisco-based company employed about 71,000 workers at the end of October.
- The layoffs come after Salesforce reduced its staff by 10% and shut down several offices last year, adjusting for an oversized workforce following mass hiring during the pandemic.
- The company also cut travel expenses and employee benefits, including retreats, to satisfy activist investors demanding a faster increase in the company's margins.
- Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has prioritized cost reduction in the company's sales and marketing division. Its most recent hiring has centered on engineering and its new AI-focused services.
Zoom out: - Several other major tech companies ― including TikTok, Riot Games, Brex, and eBay ― have also announced layoffs in the past week. Over 20,000 tech workers from 80 companies have been let go this month, a trend often seen in January as companies realign their budgets.
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| 3 | | Apple will prompt iPhone users in Europe to choose their own default web browser as it works to comply with the EU's new tech law. With the iOS 17.4 update in March, iPhone users in the EU will be asked to select their preferred browser when opening Apple Safari for the first time. More: - While users could change iOS's default browser as far back as iOS 14, those in the EU will now be prompted with specific options such as DuckDuckGo, Opera, and Firefox.
- When opening Safari, users will see a screen asking them to choose from among the 12 most popular web browsers from their respective country's App Store.
Related: - In addition to the above change, Apple will roll out support in the EU for browsers powered by engines other than its own WebKit, the technology behind Safari.
- This means Google's Chrome can use Chromium, the project used by most other browsers, and Mozilla's Firefox can use its own Gecko engine.
- To switch engines, developers must first meet "specific criteria" and commit to privacy rules, Apple said.
Zoom out: - The changes will apply across 23 European countries, excluding the U.K., under the EU's new Digital Markets Act.
- The law seeks to rein in the power of Apple and other big tech "gatekeepers," which must comply by March 6.
- EU industry chief Thierry Breton warned that Apple could face "strong action" if its solutions fail to meet the criteria.
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| 4 | | NASA's Ingenuity helicopter has taken its final flight on Mars after its rotor blades suffered damage last week, rendering it inoperable for future missions, according to NASA. Ingenuity's mission, initially expected to last only 30 Martian days, continued for almost 1,000 days on the red planet. More: - Ingenuity, built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, first landed on Mars in February 2021 alongside NASA's Perseverance rover.
- In April 2021, it took its first flight on the planet as part of a month-long technology demo to showcase the feasibility of flight in Mars' thin atmosphere
- However, the 4-pound helicopter ended up completing 72 flights over nearly three years, staying airborne for nearly 130 minutes and covering 11 miles of ground.
- Ingenuity's fate was sealed on Jan. 18, when imagery from its final flight showed a broken rotor blade, leaving it inoperable.
- "That remarkable helicopter flew higher and farther than we ever imagined and helped NASA do what we do best — make the impossible, possible," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said.
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| 5 | | AI-generated explicit images of Taylor Swift surfaced on social media this week, prompting the singer's fans to counteract by flooding the platforms with real images to drown out the fakes. The situation prompted calls for greater monitoring and regulation of social media and so-called "deepfakes." More: - One of the posts on X drew over 45 million views and 24,000 reposts before it was removed by the platform.
- The images may have originated from a Telegram group before they were shared on X and elsewhere.
- X's policies ban the posting of "synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm."
- To drown out the explicit images, Swift's supporters flooded social media platforms using the phrase "Protect Taylor Swift."
Reactions: - U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) called it "a deplorable situation," saying he would "keep pushing on AI companies to stop this horrible capability and on platforms to stop their circulation."
- Ben Decker of Memetica, a digital investigations agency, told CNN that the incident highlights how AI is being used for malicious purposes without adequate safeguards to protect the public.
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| 6 | | Apple's Vision Pro headset is too "subscale" to justify a dedicated app for the device, according to Netflix's co-CEO Greg Peters. Apple's Vision Pro is launching next week without native support for key apps, including Netflix, YouTube, and Spotify. More: - The companies aren't planning VisionOS native apps or compatible iPad apps for Vision Pro.
- In an interview on Thursday, Peters explained that Netflix's strategy is to invest only in areas that generate returns for the company.
- Peters explains that the Vision Pro is too minor a product to be "particularly relevant" for the majority of Netflix users.
- However, Netflix is "always in discussions with Apple," he added, hinting that a Netflix app could launch for the mixed-reality headset if its user base grows.
Zoom out: - Currently, there are about 200 native apps available for Vision Pro.
- Apple's $3,500 "spatial computing device" opened for pre-orders in the U.S. last week and officially launches on Feb. 2.
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 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is a contributing editor and writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters. She has written for notable publications like USA Today and the Arizona Business Gazette. During her time as a public policy reporter at The Arizona Republic, she received recognition with a Pulitzer Prize nomination and a First Amendment Award for her collaborative reporting on pension cost increases. Beth also authored a book on the solar photovoltaic industry in 2016. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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