| Here's a look at today's tech briefing: - New York City sues tech companies over youth mental health crisis.
- SpaceX rocket launches Intuitive Machines' moon lander.
- Meta to pass on Apple 30% fee for boosted posts.
- Nvidia is now worth more than Alphabet and Amazon.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | New York City has sued Meta, Google, Snap, and TikTok, alleging that their platforms undermine the mental health of young users. The lawsuit accuses the tech companies of public nuisance, negligence, and gross negligence, alleging violations of city laws through the addictive design and marketing of their products. More: - The lawsuit claims the social media platforms are "endangering our children's mental health, promoting addiction, and encouraging unsafe behavior."
- Mayor Eric Adams said NYC is the first major U.S. city to take steps "of this magnitude" to directly address these dangers, comparing it to surgeon general's warnings on tobacco and guns.
- Through the suit, the Adams administration is asking tech companies to compensate for the city's youth mental health services, which are estimated to cost over $100M annually.
Response: - Both Google and Meta said they frequently consult with youth safety experts and offer tools for parental control.
- Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, claims to provide over 30 supportive tools and features to protect young people online.
- A Snap spokesperson said the platform prioritizes communication between close friends along with camera-first interaction, differing from traditional social media feeds.
|     | |
| 2 | | SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched a robotic lunar lander toward the moon on Thursday. The Odysseus lander is now en route to the moon's south pole, a key scientific area due to water ice, with an expected landing on Feb. 22. More: - If the spacecraft developed by Houston-based Intuitive Machines completes its mission, it will mark the first U.S. moon landing since the 1972 Apollo 17 mission.
- The lander developed under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program would also become the first privately-owned spacecraft to ever make it to the moon's surface.
- Odysseus is carrying a CubeSat camera system from Embry-Riddle University for dust plume analysis and Jeff Koons' "Moon Phases" mini-moon sculptures, touted as the "first authorized artwork on the Moon."
- The mission's payload also includes a Laser Retro-Reflector Array and a radio navigation beacon for the CLPS program, which can help it gather crucial data to support NASA's goal of returning humans to the moon in 2025.
Zoom out: - Thursday's launch, postponed by a day due to a methane fuel error, comes just over a month after a failed moon landing by another American company, Astrobotic Technology.
Photo credit: Intuitive Machines, Inc. | | | |
| 3 | | Meta will begin charging a 30% fee on advertisers who boost the visibility of their posts on Facebook and Instagram's iOS apps, passing on Apple's fee to customers. However, Meta notes that users can avoid the Apple fee by buying the boosts through Instagram and Facebook desktop or mobile sites, rather than through the iOS apps. More: - Influencers and small business owners buying boosts on iOS will soon be billed through Apple, which takes the 30% service fee on the total ad payment before taxes.
- Meta says the changes, which stem from a 2022 App Store update, force it to "either comply with Apple's guidelines, or remove boosted posts from our apps."
- The company is also requiring users to add prepaid funds for boosting posts through its iOS apps before publication.
- The new process will debut in the U.S. this month, with plans to expand to other markets and countries later this year.
Zoom out: - Meta and Apple have long disputed whether boosted posts are ads, as Meta argues, or in-app purchases subject to Apple's 30% fee.
- Like Epic Games and Spotify, Meta wants to challenge Apple's in-app sales commission by advocating for alternative payment options and pushing for regulatory changes.
| | | |
| 4 | | Nvidia's market capitalization surpassed Amazon's on Tuesday and Alphabet's on Wednesday, making it the world's fourth most valuable company after Microsoft, Apple, and Saudi Aramco. Nvidia's stock was worth $1.83 trillion at Wednesday's close, eclipsing Alphabet's $1.82 trillion, as it continues to ride the wave of the AI boom. 
What the numbers show: On Wednesday, Nvidia shares climbed 2.5% to $739, outpacing Alphabet's $145.94 finish. Fueled by AI excitement, the U.S. chipmaker has seen its stock rise 49% this year and more than 400% since the start of 2023. The bigger picture: Nvidia dominates about 80% of the market for high-end AI chips, including those used to build the world's most advanced AI models. The company developed the H100 chip, used by OpenAI, Amazon, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced Meta's plan to purchase 350,000 H100 chips by year's end. The graphics cards used for AI training and inference reportedly cost around $30,000 apiece, amounting to billions of dollars. Still: Dave Sekera of Morningstar warned that any threat to Nvidia's rapid growth could have a "very negative impact" on the company's valuation, advising investors to be cautious. | | | |
| 5 | | Cisco Systems is cutting 4,000 jobs as it predicts slower demand for its internet products and services over the next several months. The digital communications giant believes customers will exercise "a greater degree of caution" due to the uncertain economic outlook. More: - The layoffs — part of a restructuring to realign its business and invest in critical areas — represent 5% of Cisco's workforce of 84,900 employees worldwide.
- Cisco, headquartered in San Jose, California, announced the layoffs alongside its quarterly results on Wednesday.
- Cisco reported a 5% decline for the quarter compared to the previous year, with revenue dropping 6% to $12.8B.
Zoom out: - In late 2022, Cisco cut 5,000 jobs ahead of its $28B purchase of cybersecurity firm Splunk.
- Management now expects to complete that deal by April 30.
| | | |
| 6 | | Apple researchers debuted "Keyframer," a generative AI tool that animates images using natural language prompts. According to a pre-print research paper, the AI tool allows users to animate static 2D images based on provided motion descriptions. More: - To create the AI tool, the researchers merged design principles for language prompts with LLM's code-generation abilities.
- Keyframer uses GPT-4 to generate CSS animation code for animating Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) images or resizable illustrations that maintain quality.
- Users can edit the animation by directly editing the code or providing more text prompts, with no coding experience required.
- Keyframer is not yet available to the public.
Zoom out: - Last week, Apple and UC Santa Barbara researchers detailed an AI model that edits photos based on typed user instructions.
- The "MGIE" model can do various edits, including modifying, resizing, cropping, flipping, and filtering images through simple natural language commands.
| | | |
| 7 | | QUICK HITS *This is a sponsored post. | | | |
| Upcoming Events | | MAR
7 | | Portfolio Diversification - Learn from knowledgable experts on the latest trends in alternative investment assets like private equity, crypto, real estate, and the art market. | | | | | | | MAR
27 | | Discover how generative AI can speed up your enterprise, expand your business model, and improve your value proposition. Network with hundreds of AI leaders.* | | | | | | * This is a sponsored event | | | |
 | 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. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
| |
| |
