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“I would love to see a trillion humans living in the solar system”: Jeff Bezos
This Week’s News Roundup
Aditya Kumar Saroj
December 21, 2023
In this week’s news roundup:
“I would love to see a trillion humans living in the solar system”: Jeff Bezos
Barely any IT professionals say they actually know how AI tools work
Adobe and Figma call off $20 billion acquisition after regulatory scrutiny
Ad Company Claims “It’s True. Your Devices Are Listening to You”
The Epic question: how Google lost when Apple won
And other news you might like…
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“I would love to see a trillion humans living in the solar system”: Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos with Lex Fridman | Image from X
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos envisions a future where humans inhabit massive cylindrical space stations, similar to those described by science-fiction writer Gerard K. O'Neill.
Bezos' vision differs from that of his space industry rival, Elon Musk. While Musk aims for human settlement on other planets like Mars, Bezos sees Earth turning into a holiday destination with humans having the choice to live on space colonies or return to Earth.
Bezos expresses optimism about the future of artificial intelligence (AI), suggesting that concerns about its dangers are overstated.
Barely any IT professionals say they actually know how AI tools work
Image from Getty Images
Despite the increased availability of AI tools in the workplace, only 22% of IT professionals truly understand how these tools work.
A significant portion (90%) of IT professionals believe that their colleagues would embrace AI tools for productivity improvement, but only 38% actually use such solutions themselves.
The study indicates that those who use AI often do so at a basic level, focusing on tasks like information gathering and research.
Adobe and Figma call off $20 billion acquisition after regulatory scrutiny
Adobe + Figma | Image from Forbes
Adobe and Figma have decided to terminate their planned $20 billion merger due to challenges in obtaining necessary regulatory approvals from the European Commission and the UK Competition and Markets Authority.
Adobe's CEO, Shantanu Narayen, expressed strong disagreement with the regulatory findings but stated that both companies are well-positioned to capitalize on their respective market opportunities independently.
As part of the termination agreement, Adobe will pay Figma a $1 billion breakup fee.
Ad Company Claims “It’s True. Your Devices Are Listening to You”
Image from Shutterstock
Cox Media Group Local Solutions, a marketing subsidiary of Cox Media Group, is promoting a strategy called "Active Listening" on its website, claiming the ability to deploy active listening through smartphones, smart TVs, and other devices.
The company suggests using voice data to precisely target advertising to specific individuals based on their conversations.
Past research indicates limited evidence supporting the idea that smartphones actively listen to users.
The Epic question: how Google lost when Apple won
Image from Epic Games
Epic Games won its legal battle against Google, with a jury finding that Google maintained an unlawful monopoly with its Play store. This contrasts with Apple's mostly successful defense against Epic Games' claims in a similar trial in 2021.
The trials against Apple and Google are distinct cases with different evidence, in front of different judges. The judge in the Google case barred references to the Apple case, and Apple's case is still pending a Supreme Court decision.
Several factors are suggested for Google's loss, including the company's control over its ecosystem through third-party deals, perceived unfair deals with developers, the presentation of potentially damaging documents during the trial, and revelations of intentional evidence deletion by Google.
Other news you might like…
Elon Musk wants to open a university in Texas. READ MORE
GPT-4 driven robot takes selfies, 'eats' popcorn. READ MORE
Google Brain co-founder tests AI doomsday threat by trying to get ChatGPT to kill everyone. READ MORE
Google Gemini is not even as good as GPT-3.5 Turbo, researchers find. READ MORE
VR market keeps shrinking even as Meta pours billions of dollars a quarter into metaverse. READ MORE
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