DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

Tune in, and tell us what you think at theheadlines@nytimes.com. For corrections, email nytnews@nytimes.com. For more audio journalism and storytelling, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Organizations: New York Times

☆ Scarlett Johansson Says OpenAI Asked to Use Her Voice. Twice.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Tripp Mickle | More About Tripp Mickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Days before OpenAI demonstrated its new, flirty voice assistant last week, the actress Scarlett Johansson said, Sam Altman, the company’s chief executive, called her agent and asked that she consider licensing her voice for a virtual assistant. It was his second request to the actress in the past year, Ms. Johannson said in a statement on Monday, adding that the reply both times was no. Despite those refusals, Ms. Johansson said, OpenAI used a voice that sounded “eerily similar to mine.” She has hired a lawyer and asked OpenAI to stop using a voice it called “Sky.”OpenAI suspended its release of “Sky” over the weekend. The company said in a blog post on Sunday that “AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity’s distinctive voice — Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice.”

Persons: OpenAI, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Altman, Johannson, Johansson, ” OpenAI, ”

☆ Apple Says Destructive iPad Ad ‘Missed the Mark’
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Tripp Mickle | More About Tripp Mickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Apple doesn’t make mistakes often and seldom apologizes, but on Thursday, its head of advertising said the company had erred in making a new iPad commercial that showed an industrial compressor flattening tools for art, music and creativity. “Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” said Tor Myhren, the company’s vice president of marketing communications, in a statement provided to the publication AdAge. “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”Mr. Myhren said Apple would no longer run the ad on TV. They found the crushing of a trumpet, piano, paints and a sculpture particularly unnerving at a time when artists fear that generative artificial intelligence, which can write poetry and create movies, might take away their jobs.

Persons: ”, Tor Myhren, Mr, Myhren Organizations: Apple, Big Tech

☆ Apple Reports Decline in Sales and Profit Amid iPhone Struggles in China
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Tripp Mickle | More About Tripp Mickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Apple said sales fell 4 percent to $90.8 billion for the three months that ended in March. Revenue from iPhones, iPads and wearables like the Apple Watch declined from the same quarter last year, while sales of software and services rose. Apple’s struggles were most worrisome in China, the world’s second-largest smartphone market, where sales fell 8 percent. Last quarter, Apple’s share of smartphones sold in China fell 4 percent, according to Counterpoint, a technology research firm. Shares of Apple rose 6.5 percent because the results slightly exceeded Wall Street predictions for quarterly sales and profit and were better in China than feared.

Persons: Apple’s, Trump Organizations: Apple, Justice Department, Revenue, Apple Watch, Huawei Locations: iPhones, China

Apple said it pulled the Meta-owned apps WhatsApp and Threads from its app store in China on Friday on government orders, potentially escalating the war over technology between the United States and China. The House of Representatives was preparing to vote on a bill as soon as this weekend that would force the Chinese internet company ByteDance to sell its popular video app TikTok or have it be banned in the United States. U.S. lawmakers have said TikTok poses a security threat because of its ties to China. Apple said that China’s internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration, ordered the removal of WhatsApp and Threads from its app store because of national security concerns. “We are obligated to follow the laws in the countries where we operate, even when we disagree,” an Apple spokesman said.

Persons: Apple Organizations: U.S, Cyberspace Administration, Apple Locations: China, United States

Alphabet, Apple and Meta were told by European Union regulators on Monday that they were under investigation for a range of potential violations of the region’s new competition law. The law requires Alphabet, Apple, Meta and other tech giants to open up their platforms so smaller rivals can have more access to their users. The investigations center on whether Apple and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, are unfairly favoring their own app stores to box out rivals. Meta will be questioned about a new ad-free subscription service and the use of data for selling advertising. The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, can fine the companies up to 10 percent of their global revenue, which for each runs into the hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

Organizations: Meta, European Union, Apple, Google, European Commission

OpenAI has completed a deal that values the San Francisco artificial intelligence company at $80 billion or more, nearly tripling its valuation in less than 10 months, according to three people with knowledge of the deal. The company would sell existing shares in a so-called tender offer led by the venture firm Thrive Capital, the people said. The deal lets employees cash out their shares in the company, rather than a traditional funding round that would raise money for business operations. The deal is another example of the Silicon Valley deal-making machine pumping money into a handful of companies that specialize in generative A.I. The funding boom kicked off early last year, after OpenAI captured the public’s imagination with the release of the online chatbot ChatGPT.

Persons: OpenAI Organizations: SpaceX Locations: San Francisco

☆ Apple Expected to Remove a Health Feature From New Apple Watches
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( Tripp Mickle | More About Tripp Mickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Apple is expected to begin selling its flagship smartwatches without the capability to detect people’s pulse rate. The court ordered Apple to stop selling its Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 devices. Rather than discontinue sales, the company sought permission to continue selling the devices after removing the infringing technology. People with Apple watches capable of detecting their pulse will continue to be able to use that feature, analysts said. The International Trade Commission in October found that several Apple Watches had infringed on patents held by Masimo, a medical technology company in Irvine, Calif., that helped pioneer some pulse oximeter technology.

Persons: Apple, Masimo Organizations: Apple, International Trade Commission Locations: Irvine , Calif, Asia

☆ Nvidia C.E.O. Is Not Worried About Rising A.I. Industry Competition
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Tripp Mickle | More About Tripp Mickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But Jensen Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia, said on Wednesday that he’s not worried about the rising competition. The machine, which was delivered five years later, changed the way computers worked, allowing them to generate sentences, images and videos. was not a chip problem. It’s a reinvention-of-computing problem,” Mr. Huang said, speaking at the DealBook Summit in New York. Every aspect of the computer has fundamentally changed.”Mr. Huang said that it will take time for competitors to catch up.

Persons: Jensen Huang, he’s, “, Mr, Huang, ” Mr Organizations: Nvidia Locations: New York

In a blog post, Mr. Altman, who was rapidly reinstated last week, also outlined his priorities for OpenAI as he retakes the reins of the high-profile artificial intelligence start-up. He added that its board would focus on improving governance and overseeing an independent review of the events that led to and followed his removal as chief executive. Microsoft expands a three-person board that OpenAI announced last week. Microsoft will be able to participate in OpenAI’s board meetings but not vote on business decisions. “Part of what good governance means is that there’s more predictability, transparency and input from various stakeholders, and this seemed like a good way to get that from a very important one,” Mr. Altman said in an interview, referring to Microsoft.

Persons: OpenAI, Sam Altman, Altman, Mr Organizations: Microsoft

For much of the past year, OpenAI’s board of directors has been criticized as too small and too divided to effectively govern one of the fastest-growing start-ups in Silicon Valley history. On Friday, the board’s dysfunction spilled into public view when four of its members fired Sam Altman, OpenAI’s popular and powerful chief executive. Mr. Altman, 38, returned to the company on Tuesday night, after days of haggling over his job and over the makeup of the board. The board and Mr. Altman’s allies discussed more than a half dozen options for its future. The departing board wanted to be sure the replacements would be independent thinkers and experienced enough to stand up to Mr. Altman.

Persons: Sam Altman, OpenAI’s, Altman, Altman’s, Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs, Brian Chesky Organizations: Emerson Locations: Silicon Valley

More board members, who could be plucked from OpenAI’s biggest investor, Microsoft, and the A.I. Mr. Altman was not named to the board on Tuesday night, and it was not clear if he ever will be. But some already argue that it will not be as attuned to OpenAI’s original mission to create A.I. The tech industry — perhaps even the world — will be watching to see if OpenAI is any closer to balancing those dueling aspirations than it was a week ago. “This needs to be a trustworthy organization that’s aligned with its board, and at the end of it all, OpenAI is a more valuable organization than it was a week ago.”

Persons: Altman, ”, Aaron Levie Organizations: Microsoft

Sam Altman was reinstated late Tuesday as OpenAI’s chief executive, the company said, successfully reversing his ouster by the company’s board last week after a campaign waged by his allies, employees and investors. The board of directors will be overhauled, jettisoning several members who had opposed Mr. Altman. Adam D’Angelo, the chief executive of Quora, will be the only holdover. “We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo,” OpenAI said in a post to X. “We are collaborating to figure out the details.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, Adam D’Angelo, Sam, Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, ” OpenAI, Greg Brockman, upended Organizations: Quora

Nearly all of OpenAI’s 800 employees have threatened to follow Mr. Altman to Microsoft, which asked him to lead an A.I. lab with Greg Brockman, who quit his roles as OpenAI’s president and board chairman in solidarity with Mr. Altman. The board has not said what it thought Mr. Altman was not being honest about. There were indications that the board was still open to his return, as it and Mr. Altman held discussions that extended into Tuesday, two people familiar with the talks said. But there was a sticking point: Mr. Altman rejected some of the guardrails that had been proposed to improve his communication with the board.

Persons: OpenAI, Altman, Greg Brockman, Brockman Organizations: Microsoft

OpenAI’s four-person board shocked the tech industry early Friday afternoon when it removed Mr. Altman, saying they could no longer trust him. One of the board members who pushed out Mr. Altman then reversed course on Monday and signed the letter demanding that he be reinstated. The decision by the board set off a frantic weekend of unexpected corporate jockeying that ended with Mr. Altman joining Microsoft to start a new A.I. By early Monday morning, the 700 employees had signed the letter, according to three people familiar with the matter. The upheaval leaves the future of one of the fastest-growing companies in Silicon Valley history in doubt.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman Organizations: Microsoft, Mr Locations: Silicon Valley

Talks at OpenAI to bring back Sam Altman, the artificial intelligence start-up’s recently ousted chief executive, continued on Sunday afternoon but there were disagreements over the makeup of the company’s board of directors, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Mr. Altman, 38, spent the weekend waging a pressure campaign on the start-up’s four-person board of directors who ousted him on Friday afternoon, three people familiar with the matter said. The result was a groundswell of support from investors, employees and OpenAI executives. Mr. Altman was at the OpenAI headquarters on Sunday afternoon. Members of the board have not yet agreed to what a restructured board of directors might look like — nor is Mr. Altman’s reinstatement an inevitability, two of the people said.

Persons: Sam Altman, up’s, Altman, “

Kyle Vogt, a founder and chief executive of Cruise, the driverless car subsidiary of General Motors, resigned on Sunday, less than a month after Cruise suspended all autonomous operations after a series of traffic mishaps. Mr. Vogt had faced criticism for months as Cruise’s self-driving operations ran into issues in cities such as San Francisco. At various points, Cruise’s autonomous vehicles were involved in accidents, with outrage mounting after one of its cars dragged a pedestrian 20 feet after a crash in October. In a statement, Cruise said that its board had accepted Mr. Vogt’s resignation, but it did not specify what had led to his departure. The company did not name a new chief executive but appointed a new president who also became its chief technology officer and a new vice chairman.

Persons: Kyle Vogt, Cruise, Vogt, Vogt’s, ” Organizations: General Motors Locations: San Francisco

Mr. Altman plans to launch the initiative with his longtime partner and co-founder Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s former president who stepped down in solidarity with Mr. Altman on Friday, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plans for the new company are not yet public. Details on the potential company are scarce, because Mr. Altman and Mr. Brockman are still working through what it will be. Plans could change quickly, as the pair are keeping a wide range of options open, the sources said. OpenAI’s board of directors shocked the tech industry on Friday when it abruptly fired Mr. Altman from his position as chief executive. By Friday night, the two men were already working on their plans to pitch investors on their next venture.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s, Brockman Organizations: OpenAI

Warning Part doesn’t work as expected when swapped with the same working part from an identical, new iPhone. Part doesn’t work as expected when swapped with the same working part from an identical, new iPhone. Warning Part doesn’t work as expected when swapped with the same working part from an identical, new iPhone. 2022 14 Part doesn’t work as expected when swapped with the same working part from an identical, new iPhone. Warning2022 SE (v3) Part doesn’t work as expected when swapped with the same working part from an identical, new iPhone.

Sitting beneath a palm tree on a cliff above the ocean at Mr. Benioff’s Hawaiian home in 2018, they explained both devices. “This one,” Mr. Benioff said, pointing at the Ai Pin, as dolphins breached the surf below, “is huge.”“It’s going to be a massive company,” he added. They experimented in secret with hardware components and built a virtual assistant, like Siri or Alexa, working with customized language models based, in part, on OpenAI’s offerings. The device’s most sci-fi element — the laser that projects a text menu onto a hand — started inside a box the size of a matchbook. It took three years to miniaturize it to be smaller than the size of a golf tee.

Persons: Mr, Benioff, “, ”, Siri, Altman Organizations: Apple

Two months ago, Kyle Vogt, the chief executive of Cruise, choked up as he recounted how a driver killed a 4-year-old girl in a stroller at a San Francisco intersection. I get emotional.”To make streets safer, he said in an interview, cities should embrace self-driving cars like those designed by Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors. Now Mr. Vogt’s driverless car company faces its own safety concerns as he contends with angry regulators, anxious employees and skepticism about his management and the viability of a business that he has often said will save lives while generating billions of dollars. On Oct. 2, a car hit a woman in a San Francisco intersection and flung her into the path of one of Cruise’s driverless taxis. The Cruise car ran over her, briefly stopped, and then dragged her some 20 feet before pulling to the curb, causing severe injuries.

Persons: Kyle Vogt, Cruise, ”, “, Vogt’s Organizations: General Motors Locations: San Francisco

☆ Apple’s Sales Drop Slightly While Profit Is Up 11 Percent
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Tripp Mickle | More About Tripp Mickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At a time when the tech industry’s biggest companies are rebounding from a post-pandemic dip, Apple is suffering through its most prolonged sales slump in more than a decade. Apple’s most important business, the iPhone, rallied last month behind the release of four new devices, which boosted sales 3 percent, to $43.81 billion, from last year. And the company’s sales for software and services, such as Apple Music and cloud storage, jumped 16 percent, to $22.31 billion. But sales sank for most of the company’s other businesses, including the Mac, iPad, and the Apple Watch and AirPods. Total product sales dropped by 5 percent, to $67.18 billion.

Organizations: Apple, Apple Watch

Jon Stewart’s show on Apple’s streaming service is abruptly coming to an end, according to several people with knowledge of the decision, the result of creative differences between the tech giant and the former “Daily Show” host. Mr. Stewart and Apple executives decided to part ways in recent days, two of the people said. The Apple show, “The Problem With Jon Stewart,” debuted to some fanfare two years ago as Mr. Stewart’s return to the talk show format after a six-year hiatus. But Mr. Stewart and Apple executives had disagreements over some of the topics and guests on “The Problem,” two of the people said. Mr. Stewart told members of his staff on Thursday that potential show topics related to China and artificial intelligence were causing concern among Apple executives, a person with knowledge of the meeting said.

Persons: Jon Stewart’s, Stewart, Jon Stewart, ”, Stewart’s Organizations: Apple, Comedy Locations: China

Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, testified in Washington that Google’s placement as the default search option on the Safari browser across Apple devices was motivated by quality. “I didn’t think at the time, or today, that there was anybody out there who is anywhere near as good as Google at searching,” said Mr. Cue, who was called to testify by the Justice Department. “Certainly there wasn’t a valid alternative.”The Justice Department has accused Google of illegally locking in its monopoly through deals to make its search option the default on Apple, Samsung, Firefox and other platforms. Those partnerships squashed competitors that struggled to get their products in front of consumers, the Justice Department argues.

Persons: Apple’s, ” Organizations: Google, Justice Department, Justice, Apple, Samsung Locations: Washington

In a court filing last month, Google argued that it needed its privacy in an antitrust trial that would spotlight its dominance in online search. It was part of a pattern of Google’s pushing to limit transparency in the federal government’s first monopoly trial of the modern internet era. v. Google, enters its third week in court, it is shaping up to be perhaps the most secretive antitrust trial of the last few decades. Not only has Google argued for the landmark trial to be largely closed off to the public, but so have other companies that are involved, such as Apple and Microsoft. Apple even fought to quash subpoenas, describing them as “unduly burdensome,” to get its executives out of giving testimony.

Organizations: Google, New York Times, Apple, Microsoft

Search resuls for: "More About Tripp Mickle"

25 mentions found