November 22, 2024

The Download: how OpenAI tests its models, and the ethics of uterus transplants

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. How OpenAI stress-tests its large language models OpenAI has lifted the lid (just a crack) on its safety-testing processes. It has put out two papers describing how it stress-tests its powerful large language…

August 2023

Large language models aren’t people. Let’s stop testing them like they were.

August 30, 2023
When Taylor Webb played around with GPT-3 in early 2022, he was blown away by what OpenAI’s large language model appeared to be able to do. Here was a neural network trained only to predict the next word in a block of text—a jumped-up autocomplete. And yet it gave correct answers to many of the…

Longevity loving Fairphone 5 unwrapped, with pledge of 8+ years software support

August 30, 2023
Ethical electronics startup, Fairphone, has taken the recycled wrapping off a new flagship smartphone, the Fairphone 5, which will start shipping to buyers in Europe next month. The Android 13-powered handset comes with a five year warranty and the promise of software support that it says will last until at least 2028 — and even […]

The involuntary criminals behind pig-butchering scams

August 30, 2023
This story first appeared in China Report, MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology developments in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. There’s something so visceral about the phrase “pig-butchering scam.” The first time I came across it was in my reporting a year ago, when I was looking into how strange LinkedIn…

Hyperproof, a compliance and risk management startup, raises $40M

August 30, 2023
Hyperproof, a software-as-a-service risk and compliance management company, today announced that it raised $40 million in a funding round led by Riverwood Capital with participation from Toba Capital, an early-stage VC firm. The tranche brings Hyperproof’s total raised to $66.5 million and “doubles” the company’s valuation from nine months ago, according to co-founder and CEO […]

With Beijing’s greenlight, mobility unicorns Zeekr and WeRide inch closer to US IPOs

August 30, 2023
Six months ago, China’s securities authority announced a set of new rules to facilitate overseas IPOs of Chinese companies, allowing Beijing to tighten its grip on businesses seeking to sell shares abroad. Since then, companies have committed themselves to meeting these new requirements, and now news is surfacing that some have managed to receive regulatory […]

Google discontinues its Pixel Pass subscription, which combined phones and services

August 30, 2023
Google is discontinuing its Pixel Pass subscription service, which allowed people to get a Pixel phone combined with premium services including YouTube Premium, Google Play Pass, and YouTube Premium for a monthly fee. The company said on its support page — spotted first by 9to5Google — that it will stop offering purchases or renewals for […]

PhonePe dives into stock and mutual fund arena

August 30, 2023
India’s PhonePe is getting into stock and mutual fund investment, the latest in a series of expansion by Walmart-backed payments app as it looks to leverage its 450 million-plus user base to win new categories. The Bengaluru-headquartered startup launched Share.Market, an app that allows users to open their trading accounts and invest in stocks, mutual […]

General Motors to use Google AI chatbot for its OnStar service

August 29, 2023
General Motors has found a new way to get in on the generative AI buzz. The automaker is now using Google Cloud’s conversational chatbot, dubbed Dialogflow, to handle some non-emergency OnStar features. GM announced the collaboration alongside a keynote from Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai at the Google Cloud Next 23 event Tuesday. OnStar, GM’s in-car […]