North America
Elon Musk asks court to stop OpenAI from becoming a for-profit
Elon Musk's attorneys filed for an injunction against OpenAI and Microsoft on Friday accusing the two of anticompetitive practices and seeking to stop OpenAI's conversion to a for-profit company. The filing, spotted by TechCrunch, also names OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Microsoft's Dee Templeton and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman as defendants. Musk first sued OpenAI earlier this year for allegedly violating its founding mission of building AI "for the benefit of humanity," but withdrew the lawsuit a few months later. He then filed another lawsuit against OpenAI in a California federal court in August, and recently added Microsoft as a defendant. The new motion accuses OpenAI and Microsoft of telling investors not to fund OpenAI's competitors, such as Musk's xAI, of "benefitting from wrongfully obtained competitively sensitive information or coordination" through its relationship with Microsoft, and other alleged antitrust violations.
It Used to Be One of the Main Ways Men Talked to Each Other. Then Everyone Went Silent.
In 2005 I received a copy of World of Warcraft for my birthday. The game clocked in at 3 gigabytes--a behemoth by the standards of the early 2000s, so big that it had to be distributed across four different CDs. I installed those discs onto our creaking, overworked family PC and, hours later, created my first avatar: a humble dwarf paladin named Pumaras, who set off to explore a realm he would soon call home. World of Warcraft was a singular experience, and completely unlike the lonesome corridors of Halo or Call of Duty. Millions of living, breathing human beings logged on to the game at the same time.
What would happen day by day if aliens made contact with earth, according to ex-NASA expert
It's a moment that's been depicted countless times in science fiction -- but what would actually happen when extraterrestrials make contact via a signal picked up on Earth? The moment could come as early as the end of this decade: if aliens receive signals sent by NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) to the Pioneer 10 satellite in the 70s, for example. When the moment comes, the signal is most likely to be received by large ground-based telescopes such as FAST in China, the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico and the Parkes Telescope in Australia, says former NASA expert Sylvester Kaczmarek. There is no universally agreed rule on how scientists or governments would respond - or on questions such as whether aliens would have rights. But extraterrestrial-focused organisations including the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) drew up a framework in 2010.
Canadian publishers take OpenAI to court
In the newest legal battle between artificial intelligence and pretty much everybody else, OpenAI is once again on the chopping block. The group is seeking up to 20,000 Canadian for each article used by OpenAI, The Guardian reported. "Rather than seek to obtain the information legally, OpenAI has elected to brazenly misappropriate the News Media Companies' valuable intellectual property and convert it for its own uses, including commercial uses, without consent or consideration," the filing, which The Verge published, reads. The filing goes on to allege that OpenAI has "capitalized on the commercial success of its GPT models, building an expansive suite of GPT-based products and services, and raising significant capital -- all without obtaining a valid license from any of the News Media Companies. In doing so, OpenAI has been substantially and unjustly enriched to the detriment of the News Media Companies."
304 Absolute Best Black Friday Deals (2024)
The football is over, the turkey is picked clean, and the fam is heading home. Now, it's time to shop, shop, shop, and we have the absolute best Black Friday deals of 2024 for you. The WIRED team has been diligently digging to find the bargains worth your while, and we'll be here, working shifts for the next four days, to bring you every deal you need to know about. So grab a beverage, a turkey sandwich, and your wallet or purse. For Black Friday, we cross-reference our buying guide recommendations with the latest sale prices to find the absolute best Black Friday deals on the gadgetry worth owning. An actual person from the WIRED Reviews team has tested every product we list in our deals coverage, and we don't recommend anything we don't like. We always strive to find deals at their best price ever, or very close to it (some match previous discounts, but we have never seen them lower unless stated). Updated November 30: We've checked prices, removed dead deals, and added new ones.
In Memoriam: The tech that died in 2024
Another year is coming to a close. As we say goodbye to 2024, let us take a moment to remember the tech that won't be continuing on with us into 2025. As it goes with the passing of time, tech products that were once shiny and new have been rendered obsolete. Others lived short lives at the expense of companies pivoting to different, more lucrative goals. On that note, the generative AI boom shows no signs of slowing down.This year's AI offerings highlighted the challenges of finding killer use cases that deliver genuine, transformative technology that, at best, provide minor productivity gains and, at worst, create frustrating inaccuracies.
Artificial intelligence changes across the US
Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier has the latest on regulatory uncertainty amid AI development on'Special Report.' An increasing number of companies are using artificial intelligence (AI) for everyday tasks. Much of the technology is helping with productivity and keeping the public safer. However, some industries are pushing back against certain aspects of AI. And some industry leaders are working to balance the good and the bad.
Five Canadian news media outlets sue OpenAI for copyright breach
Microsoft is OpenAI's major backer. In a statement, Torstar, Postmedia, The Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press, and CBC/Radio-Canada said OpenAI was scraping large swaths of content to develop its products without getting permission or compensating content owners. "Journalism is in the public interest. OpenAI using other companies' journalism for their own commercial gain is not. A New York federal judge dismissed a lawsuit on November 7 against OpenAI that claimed it misused articles from news outlets Raw Story and AlterNet.
Canadian news organizations sue OpenAI for ChatGPT copyright infringement
The joint lawsuit accuses the company of "capitalizing and profiting" from the unauthorized use of their content for ChatGPT. The legal action was filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The plaintiffs include CBC/Radio-Canada, Postmedia, Metroland, the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail and The Canadian Press. They're seeking punitive damages from OpenAI, payments for any profits the ChatGPT creator made from using their news articles and a ban on further use of their content. "OpenAI is capitalizing and profiting from the use of this content, without getting permission or compensating content owners."