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| Here's a quick look at today's daily AI briefing: - EU launches TikTok investigation over child protection.
- Switch 2 release delayed to early 2025.
- Apple faces first-ever EU fine over music streaming access.
- Biden administration to grant $1.5B to chipmaker GlobalFoundries.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | The European Union has opened a formal investigation into TikTok over its alleged failure to protect children. The probe will focus on TikTok's design and safeguards for minors, such as screen time limits, age verification tools, and privacy settings. It will also look into algorithms promoting addiction and the "rabbit hole effect," according to EU industry chief Thierry Breton. More: - Investigators will also examine TikTok's ad transparency and its data access for researchers.
- The move expands a preliminary investigation into whether ByteDance-owned TikTok breached Europe's new Digital Services Act, which makes online platforms legally responsible for their content.
- TikTok said it looks forward to sharing its efforts with the European Commission, including its tools that protect teenagers and keep children under 13 off the platform.
Zoom out: - In September, a European tech regulator fined TikTok €345M ($368M) for allegedly mishandling children's personal data.
- The Irish Data Protection Commission, which oversees TikTok due to its EU HQ in Dublin, found that TikTok lacked transparency and did not adequately protect the data, violating Europe's GDPR.
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| 2 | | Nintendo has reportedly pushed back the release of the Switch 2 from late 2024 to early 2025. According to Bloomberg, the company told some game publishers that the next-gen console will not launch until March 2025, at the earliest. What we know: Last fall, Nintendo showcased the rumored Switch 2 in a private demonstration at Gamescom. The console may feature a bigger hard drive, keep the LCD screen, support physical cartridges, and potentially offer backward compatibility. Why it matters: Nintendo's stock has soared over 50% this year as investors anticipated the new console launch. Investors have expressed concerns about Nintendo's shrinking market share ― the current Switch is nearly seven years old but it has kept up the momentum with releases like the "Super Mario Bros. Movie" and the new Zelda game. Switch sales have declined since peaking in 2021, and delaying the launch would postpone an expected sales boost. It would also result in Nintendo missing this year's holiday shopping season. 
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| 3 | | Apple is facing a €500M ($539M) EU fine for allegedly favoring its own Apple Music service and stifling competitors like Spotify, the Financial Times reports. The penalty, set to be announced in early March, marks the EU's first-ever fine against Apple. More: - EU regulators found that Apple violated competition laws by blocking rival music apps from alerting users to cheaper alternatives beyond its App Store, sources told FT.
- The European Commission is expected to say that Apple's practices violate competition rules in the single market.
- Brussels will accuse Apple of abusing its dominance by imposing "unfair trading conditions" on rivals, the sources said.
- An Apple spokesperson said the company is "not commenting on speculation." The company pointed to an earlier statement highlighting the App Store's role in Spotify's rise as Europe's top music streaming service.
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| 4 | | The Biden administration will provide a $1.5B grant to GlobalFoundries to boost its chip production in New York and Vermont. The world's third-largest global chipmaker will build a new factory in New York, expand another in the state, and upgrade a third facility in Vermont. More: - GlobalFoundries, a foundry whose partners include Lockheed Martin and GM, manufactures semiconductors for other companies.
- The new fabs will produce chips needed for advanced military gear, satellite and space communications, electric vehicles, smartphones, faster internet, and more, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and others said.
- The projects are expected to create 1,500 manufacturing and 9,000 construction jobs in the next decade.
- In addition to the direct grant, the government will offer GlobalFoundries $1.6B in federal loans.
Zoom out: - It's the third time the administration has given direct financial support to a chip company under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act.
- The law earmarked $52B to supercharge U.S. manufacturing of semiconductors, which are mostly made overseas.
- The Biden administration is also in talks about awarding over $10B in subsidies to Intel Corp, comprised of both loans and direct grants.
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| 5 | | Twenty tech giants, including OpenAI, Amazon, and Google, will collaborate to ensure that AI is not used to deceive voters and disrupt global elections this year. The voluntary "Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections" will help fight deepfakes that can mimic politicians and others before elections. More: - Other signatories include Adobe, TikTok, IBM, Anthropic, Inflection AI, Meta, Snap, and X, formerly Twitter.
- The companies agreed to work together on tools to detect deceptive AI-generated media, voter education campaigns, and technologies such as watermarking and metadata embedding.
- Overall, they agreed to eight key commitments, including checking for risks in their models, dealing with fake content on their platforms, and being transparent about it.
- The announcement clarifies that the commitments only apply to the services each company offers.
Zoom out: - At least 83 elections are scheduled around the world this year, the highest concentration expected in the next 24 years.
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| 6 | | Apple's second-generation Vision Pro headset is at least 18 months from launch, according to an estimate from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. This would place the release date of the successor to August 2025 at the earliest. More: - In his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said Apple is actively gathering feedback about retail returns of the first-generation Vision Pro headset, which launched on Feb. 2.
- That would help the company make improvements to the second-gen device.
- The report suggests that the Vision Pro may not receive yearly updates like the iPhone, indicating a longer refresh cycle that could extend beyond even the iPad's.
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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 publications including USA Today, the Arizona Business Gazette, and The Arizona Republic, where she received recognition with a Pulitzer Prize nomination and a First Amendment Award for collaborative reporting on state pension cost increases. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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