OpenAI could reportedly enhance its valuation to $100 billion. Nvidia and Apple are apparently in talks to contribute to the company’s next round of funding, with Thrive Capital leading the deal if it goes through, according to The Recent York Times. OpenAI’s annual revenue reportedly topped $3.4 billion earlier this year, but the company is said to be on track to lose $5 billion by the end of the year as it expands its AI training and hiring efforts.
X means Some links to NPR’s website have been deemed “unsafe.” When users click to read the latest story about a spat between a Trump campaign official and an Arlington National Cemetery employee, they get a warning that usually applies to malicious links. It’s unclear why the NPR site would trigger that warning, though it does raise questions about whether X is actively trying to stop the news from spreading.
Lyft’s fresh pilot program aims to to facilitate drivers verify the identity of passengers in a fresh effort to improve safety measures. Riders will now see a verification badge next to their profile, indicating that Lyft has confirmed they are using their legal name. The fresh program is rolling out in markets in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami, Phoenix and Seattle.
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News
ChatGPT won’t be winning a spelling bee anytime soon: Users have noticed that when asked how many times the letter “r” appears in the word “strawberry,” ChatGPT answers twice. The reason? The LLMs that power AI chatbots don’t actually read the information they’re absorbing. Read more
More layoffs at Apple: Apple is reportedly planning to lay off around 100 employees in its digital services division, particularly the teams working on the Apple Books app and Apple News. Read more
Just added a fresh AI pin: Plaud’s AI-powered NotePin focuses on just one task—taking notes. Users can wear it as a necklace or wristband, allowing them to record meetings and dictate notes, and then transcribe those recordings using OpenAI’s GPT-4o. Read more
Spotify accuses Apple: Spotify says Apple may again be in breach of the Digital Markets Act after the company withdrew technology that allowed Spotify users to control the volume of connected devices using physical buttons on an iPhone. Read more
Tesla goes digital detox: Tesla deleted all of its blog posts from before 2019, effectively erasing the company’s digital history. While archive.org still has the record, neither the company nor Musk have explained why the posts were removed. Read more
Watch the iPhone 16 presentation with us: It may have been a spoiled summer, but Apple says it’s “shining time” for its iPhone 16 event. The company will hold an event to unveil the fresh devices on September 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Here’s how to watch it live. Read more
Tumblr officially moves to WordPress: Following its 2019 acquisition by WordPress parent company Automattic, the fresh owner will be moving Tumblr’s backend to WordPress. But don’t worry, bloggers, Tumblr won’t be turning into WordPress; it’ll just run on WordPress. Read more
AI Doctor is in: Google has trained its Gemini AI model using 300 million sound snippets, including the sounds of coughing, sneezing and labored breathing, to identify health issues and predict early signs of disease, sources said. Read more
Analysis
What it’s like to fly through hacked Seattle airport: Days after the Port of Seattle announced a “possible” cyberattack on its systems, Seattle-Tacoma Airport is still largely offline, causing chaos for travelers and acting as a constant warning against neglecting cybersecurity. TechCrunch’s Devin Coldewey knows this because he’s experienced it himself. As he writes, the response to the cyberattack is a lesson in why we have rules about where we lay our eggs. Read more