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☆ Why ChatGPT Could Remain Free Amid Paid 'Pro' Version
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

OpenAI is floating a paid version of its product, prompting questions about future access. The Microsoft tie-up could help develop more sophisticated ChatGPT versions, experts said. The evolution toward paid versions is a common framework for newer technologies, where companies may release free or low cost versions to entice users and to gauge adoption. Keeping a version of ChatGPT free will still help the company develop its technology, Astvansh said. "A free version will help gather data on how people are asking questions, and help it improve other versions of GPT," he said.

Twitter accounts that offer to trade or sell child sexual abuse material under thinly veiled terms and hashtags have remained online for months, even after CEO Elon Musk said he would combat child exploitation on the platform. The tweets reviewed by NBC News offer to sell or trade content that is commonly known as child pornography or child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The tweets do not show CSAM, and NBC News did not view any CSAM in the course of reporting this article. The problem has been pervasive enough to catch the attention of some Twitter users. In 25 tweets, users tagged Musk using at least one of the major hashtags to alert him to the content.

☆ Australia takes aim at Apple, Microsoft over child protection online
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The disclosure confirms gaps in the child protection measures of some of the world's biggest tech firms, building public pressure on them to do more, according to the commissioner. Meta Platforms Inc, (META.O) which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and Snapchat owner Snap Inc (SNAP.N) also got demands for information. The responses overall were "alarming" and raised concerns of "clearly inadequate and inconsistent use of widely available technology to detect child abuse material and grooming", commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a statement. Microsoft and Apple "do not even attempt to proactively detect previously confirmed child abuse material" on their storage services, although a Microsoft-developed detection product is used by law enforcement agencies. An Apple announcement a week ago that it would stop scanning iCloud accounts for child abuse, following pressure from privacy advocates, was "a major step backwards from their responsibilities to help keep children safe" Inman Grant said.

☆ Apple abandons controversial plan to check iOS devices and iCloud photos for child abuse imagery
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Apple is abandoning its plans to launch a controversial tool that would check iPhones, iPads and iCloud photos for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) following backlash from critics who decried the feature’s potential privacy implications. Apple first announced the feature in 2021, with the goal of helping combat child exploitation and promoting safety, issues the tech community has increasingly embraced. Apple was criticized in 2021 for its plan to offer a different tool that would start checking iOS devices and iCloud photos for child abuse imagery. Many child safety and security experts praised the attempt, recognizing the ethical responsibilities and obligations a company has over the products and services it creates. But they also called the efforts “deeply concerning,” stemming largely from how part of Apple’s checking process for child abuse images is done directly on user devices.

☆ Exclusive: Green logistics company GoBolt raises $55 million to build out a fleet of electric trucks
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

GoBolt raised a $55 million in funding, bringing its total capital raised to $162 million CAD. The company achieved a higher valuation compared to its Series B, despite the market "bloodbath". GoBolt seeks to build out its fleet of electric trucks and one day be "carbon negative". The 3rd party logistics company Second Closet hired had just called to say they weren't going to make it. The company raised the funds in Canadian dollars but the amounts have been converted to US dollars for this article.

☆ Airbnb Details Road Map to Lower Cloud Costs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

PREVIEWMany companies that have shifted their enterprise-technology tools to the cloud in recent years are similarly seeking to reduce their cloud costs, especially in the market downturn. Corporate cloud spending will moderate from recent highs, analysts say, as companies seek more discipline in that spending. “That reduced a significant amount of our storage costs right off the bat,” Mr. Nagle said. Airbnb, one of Amazon’s largest cloud customers according to Amazon, also worked with the cloud provider to figure out what it was overpaying for. By putting its spending toward lower-cost cloud services it uses more often, Airbnb is allocating its cloud budget “in a smarter way,” Mr. Bala said.

☆ Want a 'short term defensive move' with up to 5% return? Buy this fund, says strategist
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-04 | by ( Weizhen Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

I personally like short-dated corporate bonds, which are yielding close to 5%," he told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" on Monday. "[It] would be a very quick, convenient way to diversify your money over a wide range of highly-rated corporate bonds. And that way, it's … a short term defensive move. The ETF's 12-month trailing yield – the yield investors receive if they held the fund for the last 12 months – is at 3.07%. Stock picks If investors are still interested in stocks, Dietze says that some energy and cyclical stocks still looked appealing.

Many companies that have shifted enterprise-technology tools into the cloud in recent years, in part as a cost-saving measure, say those investments have yet to pay off. Rather than run software and systems in their own hardware, commercial cloud users tap computing capabilities from providers such as Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. They are also turning to multiple cloud providers, rather than relying on one cloud, for different systems and applications for different business areas. “Many first movers expected significant IT cost efficiency from their cloud investments,” said Barry Brunsman, a principal in KPMG’s CIO Advisory group. “You really do need to not just take it for granted that cloud is where you should head,” she said.

"Either Twitter is going to fix this, or we'll fix it by any means we can, which includes not buying Twitter ads." Twitter's challenges in identifying child abuse content were first reported in an investigation by tech news site The Verge in late August. Like all social media platforms, Twitter bans depictions of child sexual exploitation, which are illegal in most countries. Ghost Data identified the more than 500 accounts that openly shared or requested child sexual abuse material over a 20-day period this month. Twitter suspended over 1 million accounts last year for child exploitation material, according to the company's transparency reports.

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