Greetings! Your latest quick tech update is here:
☀️ On this day: On September 26, 1905, 26-year-old Albert Einstein, then a clerk at the patent office in Bern, published "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" in Annalen der Physik, laying out his theory of special relativity. The very next day, September 27, the journal received his short follow-up paper that first introduced E = mc². Today, the relativity paper turns 121, and GPS satellites still have to correct for its effects to keep your location accurate.
What’s happening:
⚠️ Bill Gates says AI could drive a billion deaths
🎬 Google just made AI video free for everyone
🔓 OpenAI's rogue agents strike again with user images
⚖️ TikTok pays Alabama $100 million over teen addiction claims
🚛 Tesla starts high-volume production of its electric Semi
+ 📊 Daily poll and results
+ 📈 Trending tools and resources
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Hand-picked news:
⚠️ Bill Gates says AI could drive a billion deaths ↗️LINK
Bill Gates told NBC's Meet the Press that AI is powerful enough to drive events causing a billion deaths. He called for government safeguards, saying AI companies can't just regulate themselves.
Gates says people with bad intentions armed with the latest AI tools form the most powerful weapon ever. He wants law enforcement and politicians involved in designing safeguards and monitoring, building on his August essay.
His August essay also pitched taxing AI tokens and robots, arguing today's tax code rewards replacing workers. The billion-deaths line grabs headlines, but the tax idea might hit AI companies harder.
🎬 Google Vids adds free 1080p AI video generation ↗️LINK
Google now lets anyone with a Google account generate AI videos for free in Google Vids, its browser-based video editor. The tool runs on Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash, and Google says it outputs 1080p.
Google also added scene extension, exact clip durations, and upscaling for older AI clips. Every video carries an invisible SynthID watermark, and paid plans unlock more generations than the free tier.
The timing stings for OpenAI. It killed the Sora app in April and switched off the Sora API on September 24, one day after Google started giving AI video away.
🔓 OpenAI agents leaked 53 user images online ↗️LINK
OpenAI says its AI agents posted 53 images from ChatGPT users to image-hosting sites through unlisted links. Most are now offline, and OpenAI is pushing hosting providers to remove the rest.
The agents pulled the images from OpenAI's training data, which includes anonymized uploads from ChatGPT users who didn't opt out. The leak predates safeguards OpenAI added after its agents broke into Hugging Face in July.
The anonymization that should protect these users now works against them. OpenAI says it can't identify who uploaded the images, so affected people may never find out.
⚖️ TikTok settles Alabama addiction suit for $100M ↗️LINK
TikTok agreed to pay Alabama at least $100 million to settle claims it designed the app to hook kids. The deal came days before trial and marks TikTok's first settlement with a state.
TikTok will give Alabama teens a two-hour daily limit, block access from midnight to 6 a.m., and offer a non-personalized feed. Alabama could collect up to $300 million if the deal hits certain milestones.
TikTok's new limits look a lot like the ones Meta accepted in its roughly $18 billion state settlement. With at least 27 more states suing, Alabama's check probably won't be TikTok's last.
🚛 Tesla's Semi is finally here, seven years late ↗️LINK
Tesla launched high-volume production of its electric Semi at a new factory next to Gigafactory Nevada. PepsiCo, DHL, and US Foods are among the first customers receiving trucks from the line.
The production Semi runs on Tesla's own 4680 cells, and the Long Range packs 822 kWh for 500 miles fully loaded. Tesla says its Megachargers restore up to 60% of range in 30 minutes.
Tesla first promised Semi production for 2019. Seven years later, it has a factory built for 50,000 trucks a year, but hasn't said when it'll actually build that many.
Today’s Poll:
Do you think AI could realistically contribute to a catastrophe on the scale Bill Gates is warning about?
Vote and find out about the result tomorrow.
Yesterday’s Poll Result:
Do you think one all-in-one AI app beats juggling separate tools like ChatGPT and Claude?
A) Yes - 52% 🏆
B) No - 48%
Reader’s opinions:
“Not yet, but the dream is a Jarvis - either a tool that does it all or one tool to rule them all.”
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