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| Here's a look at today's tech briefing: - Judge orders Elon Musk to testify in SEC Twitter probe.
- Police investigating Waymo car set on fire in San Francisco.
- Biden campaign launches TikTok account.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | A U.S. judge has ordered Elon Musk to testify in an SEC investigation regarding his 2022 acquisition of Twitter. The SEC is investigating if Musk or others committed securities fraud during his early Twitter stock purchases before he acquired the platform in October 2022. More: - Magistrate District Judge Laurel Beeler has now affirmed the SEC's right to subpoena Musk for "relevant information" related to its investigation.
- Musk and the SEC have a week to set a date for his testimony or have it scheduled for them, according to the Saturday ruling.
- The order follows Musk's failure to testify in September, leading to the SEC lawsuit.
- Musk challenged the subpoena, describing it as "harassment," adding that he's already been interviewed twice for the probe.
- However, the SEC said it has "thousands of new documents," including those written by Musk, and wants to question him on the new information.
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| 2 | | San Francisco police are investigating a Saturday incident where a crowd vandalized and set fire to a Waymo self-driving vehicle in Chinatown. According to Waymo, the vehicle wasn't carrying passengers and there were no reported injuries. More: - A crowd celebrating the Lunar New Year damaged the car, broke its window, and threw a firework inside, causing it to catch fire, according to Waymo.
- Videos posted online showed the driverless car ablaze on Jackson Street, sending up a large column of black smoke.
- Police are now investigating the cause and haven't confirmed any arrests.
Zoom out: - The incident comes amid ongoing clashes between driverless vehicles and the public in San Francisco.
- A driverless Waymo vehicle collided with a cyclist in San Francisco last week, resulting in minor injuries.
- Videos of people attacking Cruise vehicles have also surfaced online. GM's Cruise is now suspended from operating in the city after a pedestrian accident, leaving Waymo as the only driverless robotaxi service.
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| 3 | | President Joe Biden's re-election campaign has joined TikTok, reversing its previous stance of choosing to work through influencers instead. The TikTok account, @bidenhq, launched on Sunday with a Super Bowl-themed video featuring Biden. More: - Sources previously said the campaign would not use TikTok after the Biden administration labeled it as a national security threat.
- Last year, the Biden administration threatened TikTok with a U.S. ban unless ByteDance divested its stake in the app's U.S. version.
- TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance, is banned on U.S. government devices amid concerns over Beijing's potential access and control over Americans' data.
- To address concerns, Biden campaign advisers "are taking advanced safety precautions" around their devices and using "a sophisticated security protocol" to guarantee security.
Zoom out: - The move is expected to help Biden engage with younger voters, with Pew Research showing a third of U.S. 18-29-year-olds now regularly consume news on the platform, an all-time high.
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| 4 | | Apple has agreed to settle a lawsuit accusing chip startup Rivos of poaching Apple engineers to steal trade secrets. The potential agreement would allow Apple to inspect Rivos' systems and reclaim any confidential information, according to a California federal court filing. More: - Apple sued Rivos in 2022, alleging the startup led a "coordinated campaign" to poach dozens of its engineers so it could steal confidential data.
- Apple claims Rivos used the insider knowledge to create systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) rivaling its A-series and M-series chips for iPhones and other devices.
- Its lawsuit claims Rivos told newly hired employees to steal presentations and proprietary data before leaving Apple.
- Rivos denied Apple's claims, arguing Apple targeted it and its potential hires from the start, and countersued for unfair competition.
- Rivos and Apple said they aim to finalize their settlement by March 15.
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| 5 | | Nvidia surpassed Amazon in market value today, securing its position as the fourth most valuable U.S. public company. The chipmaker surged 2.9% on Monday, reaching a market value of $1.83 trillion, surpassing Amazon's $1.80 trillion. More: - The last time Nvidia exceeded Amazon's value in 2002, when both were valued at under $6B.
- Nvidia now trails Alphabet's $1.85 trillion market capitalization, Apple at $2.9 trillion, and Microsoft Corp. at $3.11 trillion.
- Nvidia's shares soared almost 50% this year, driven by strong demand for its AI data center chips, adding roughly $600B in market value.
- The company dominates with about 80% of the market for high-end AI chips.
- Nvidia is due to report its earnings next Wednesday, Feb. 21.
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| 6 | | OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been engaging with UAE investors and others to secure $5T-$7T to boost global chip production for AI, The Wall Street Journal reports. By building more silicon chip factories, Altman wants to overcome OpenAI's growth barriers, including the shortage of AI chips for training models. More: - Altman has proposed a partnership among OpenAI, investors, chip manufacturers, and power suppliers to fund and build chip foundries, which chip makers would operate, according to the report.
- OpenAI would commit to being a major client for the newly built factories.
- The largely debt-financed project is in early talks, may take years, and is not guaranteed to succeed, the WSJ noted.
- Altman shared on X that OpenAI believes the world needs more AI infrastructure, including fab capacity, energy, and data centers, than what is currently being planned.
Zoom out: - The report notes that the trillions Altman is considering for fundraising far exceed typical corporate standards.
- The $5T-$7T discussed surpasses the U.S.'s 2022 federal budget of $6.3T, the $2.31T cost of the Afghanistan war, and the inflation-adjusted $4T cost of World War II.
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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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