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☆ China releases rules for generative AI like ChatGPT after Alibaba, Baidu launch services
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

These are AI services that are able to generate images or text after user queries. The powerful Cyberspace Administration of China released draft rules governing how generative AI products should be developed. Chinese regulators on Tuesday released draft rules designed to manage how companies develop generative artificial intelligence products like ChatGPT. So-called generative AI refers to algorithms trained with huge amounts of data that are able to generate content such as images and texts. On Tuesday, Alibaba unveiled Tongyi Qianwen, its generative AI product, that the e-commerce giant plans to integrate across various services.

☆ Portugal party Chega sets far-right world summit with Brazil's Bolsonaro, Italy's Salvini
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LISBON, April 7 (Reuters) - Portuguese party Chega will hold a world summit in Lisbon with several far-right party leaders in May, including former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, the president of Chega said on Friday. In a video statement, the president of Chega, Andre Ventura, said Bolsonaro and Salvini "already accepted the invitation to the great right-wing world summit" on the 13th and 14th of May. In January 2022, Portugal's ruling Socialist Party gained an unexpected outright majority and the Social Democrats finished second, but Chega increased its support and became the third largest party in parliament. In March, Ventura told journalists he also planned to invite Marine Le Pen of France or Geert Wilders of the Netherlands, leaders of far-right parties in their countries. Reporting by Sergio Goncalves and Catarina Demony; Editing by David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Peace, love, and Hitler: How Lex Fridman's podcast became a safe space for the anti-woke tech elite
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +26 min

Seemingly overnight, episodes of Fridman's podcast began racking up millions of views. YouTube/Lex FridmanIn his podcast, Fridman asks world-renowned scientists, historians, artists, and engineers a series of wide-eyed questions ("Who is God? But recently, "The Lex Fridman Podcast" has become a haven for a growing — and powerful — sector looking to dismantle years of "wokeness" and cancel culture. Twitter"The Lex Fridman Podcast" offered a rare opportunity to listen to four-hour conversations with luminaries of tech and science. Bhaskar Sunkara, the founder and publisher of the socialist magazine Jacobin who appeared on Fridman's podcast in December, praised Fridman's interviewing style.

☆ Fact Check-Marjorie Taylor Greene photo ‘without makeup’ is digitally altered
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A photograph circulating alongside the claim that it shows U.S. Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene without makeup is digitally altered to make her appear older. Greene, 48, first posted the unaltered photograph on Twitter in December 2020, with the description: “Absolutely loved getting a workout in this morning with @CawthornforNC! Madison is a real champion, and I’m thrilled that we will battle together against the Socialist Squad’s radical plans for America. STOP SOCIALISM!”The tweet has since been deleted, but archived versions are available (bit.ly/3yZ17qA) and (bit.ly/40o91Gl). The photograph has been digitally altered to make Marjorie Taylor Greene appear older than in the original.

☆ Trump's plan to build 10 new American cites is a right-wing dream of 'trad havens for beautiful families,' the internet's favorite architecture critic says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Architecture critic Kate Wagner says Trump's plan to build "freedom cities" is nothing new. There's a whole eco-system of classical architecture proponents on Twitter with Roman statues as their avatars who decry modernism. The order made classical architecture — think columns, marble, symmetry — the preferred style for federal buildings. Wagner says Trump's embrace of classical architecture echoes the right-wing war on modernism that began in the 1980s. "For some reason, there also emerged alongside of those advocates a group of people who started to make statements that people neurologically prefer classical architecture."

☆ OpenAI CEO admits a bug allowed some ChatGPT users to see others' conversation titles
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Tuesday disclosed a bug that allowed some users of its popular AI chatbot ChatGPT to view messages from others. "A small percentage of users were able to see the titles of other users' conversation history." Some users had reported seeing messages from others as early as Monday. Another person on Twitter shared a screenshot of their ChatGPT, showing chat titles from conversations they had never had. It took TikTok nine months to reach 100 million users, with Instagram achieving the same popularity after two and a half years.

☆ Lloyd Blankfein on safety of money: 'Sort of yes'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Lloyd Blankfein, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs said the answer is not black and white on “Fareed Zakaria GPS” Sunday. Instead, the central bank along with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Treasury Department, have the power to guarantee deposits bank by bank if they find a systemic emergency. “Do we want to make it the duty of depositors to do that kind of forensic accounting analysis on banks?” Blankfein said. If it’s certified, we get on them.”The difference between 2008 and now is the difference in assets, Blankfein said. If the current model of banking stays in place, most Americans will think their money is only safe in too-big-to-fail banks, Blankfein said.

According to CNBC analysis of state media reports, 7.7 million people took the civil service exam in the 2023 application round, vying for more than 200,000 government jobs at the national and provincial level. Qilai Shen | Corbis Historical | Getty ImagesA record number of people in China took the civil service exam this year, as unemployment among young people soared. According to CNBC analysis of state media reports, 7.7 million people took the civil service exam in the 2023 application round, vying for more than 200,000 government jobs at the national and provincial level. China's National Civil Service Administration could not be reached for comment despite multiple attempts by CNBC. However, Xi and other senior leaders did not need to take the civil service exam to gain their current roles.

☆ Minnesota Republican votes against free school meals bill because 'I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that is hungry'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Republican state senator voted against a bill to provide free school meals to Minnesota students. Steve Drazkowski said it wasn't needed as he was "yet to meet a person in Minnesota that is hungry." "I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that is hungry," said Drazkowski. "I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that says they don't have access to enough food to eat." Though Drazkowski voted against the bill, it passed 38-26 in the Senate.

☆ Whole Foods co-founder John Mackey, who is worth $75 million, says that business is 'judged and attacked' by society. 'We are the real value creators in the world.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Whole Foods co-founder John Mackey thinks business is "judged and attacked" by society. Mackey spoke at a conference, in one of his first appearances since stepping down as Whole Foods CEO. "I always felt that business is misunderstood by society," Mackey said during the presentation, according to industry publication Baking Business. "Entrepreneurs are the true heroes in a free-enterprise economy, driving progress in business, society, and the world," he wrote. Now, he plans to start a chain of health restaurants in Southern California called Love.Life!, according to Baking Business.

☆ Bernie Sanders says Silicon Valley Bank's failure is the 'direct result' of a Trump-era bank regulation policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sen. Bernie Sanders is blaming a Trump-era policy for the Silicon Valley Bank run. "Now is not the time for US taxpayers to bail out Silicon Valley Bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation shut down the Silicon Valley Bank on Friday following a catastrophic bank run. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has now become the largest bank failure in the US since the 2008 financial crisis. However, startups with money in Silicon Valley Bank exceeding $250,000 are now in danger of not being able to make payroll next week.

☆ Investors implore the government to step in after Silicon Valley Bank failure
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Matt Rosoff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Big names in Silicon Valley and the finance sector are calling publicly for the federal government to push another bank to assume Silicon Valley Bank's assets and obligations after the financial institution failed on Friday. But the vast majority of SVB's customers were businesses that had more than that on deposit at the bank. As of December, more than 95% of the bank's deposits were uninsured, according to regulatory filings. Investors are concerned that these failures could reduce confidence in the banking sector, particularly mid-sized banks with under $250 billion in deposits. "This was a hysteria-induced bank run caused by VCs," Ryan Falvey, a fintech investor at Restive Ventures, told CNBC on Friday.

☆ China is scrambling to find pilots to fly from its growing aircraft carrier fleet
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

China's fleet of aircraft carriers has grown quickly, expanding from one to three in a decade. To use that fleet effectively, China's navy also has to train pilots to operate carrier aircraft. "Starting in 2023, the Navy will select carrier-based aircraft pilots from fresh graduates from local ordinary colleges and universities," according to a Chinese navy brochure. Yet it takes more than ships to build an effective carrier fleet. In fact, the Chinese navy ended up copying a Russian carrier jet without permission to give its carrier program a boost.

☆ Paul Ryan Says Even MAGA Diehards Believe Trump Can’t Win in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +23 min

Photo illustration by Bráulio Amado Talk Paul Ryan Says Even MAGA Diehards Believe Trump Can’t Win in 2024For a good long time during the George W. Bush and Obama presidencies, Paul Ryan was considered one of the intellectual leaders and shining stars of the Republican Party. Get out of this race.” But I don’t think Trump is going to get the nomination. I don’t think we want the lack of liberty that comes with government-made equality. Where I part company with the left is I don’t believe in socialism. I don’t believe in equality of outcomes.

☆ Far-right Republican groups surge in swing state Michigan
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Nathan Layne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/6] Candidate for district party chair for Michigan Republican Party Jon Smith speaks with guests during a fundraiser in Hillsdale, Michigan, U.S., February 8, 2023. "What's going on in Michigan is a microcosm of what is going on with the Republican Party nationally," said Michael Traugott, a professor at the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan. The judge declined to intervene, leaving it up to Michigan Republican Party officials to set the rules on delegate selection. The top two candidates for state party chair have both promoted conspiracy theories in support of Trump's false claims about voter fraud. "There's some people that are thinking this is the end of the Republican Party," he said.

☆ North Korea's Kim launches housing and greenhouse projects amid economic woes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SEOUL, Feb 16 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has broken ground on a large greenhouse project and the development of 10,000 apartments, state media reported on Thursday, highlighting the construction projects amid foreign suspicion of food shortages. Neighbouring South Korea said on Wednesday that a food crisis appeared to be worsening in the North, and the South's DongA Ibo newspaper reported that North Korea had cut rations to its soldiers for the first time in more than two decades. The housing development, meanwhile, would be "another luxurious street of socialism full of the people's happiness", KCNA said in a separate report. In recent months North Korea has reopened freight rail services with China and Russia, and on Thursday, Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported that trucks had also begun crossing between the Chinese city of Hunchun and North Korea's Rason. Reporting by Josh Smith; Additional reporting by Eduardo Baptista in Beijing; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Robert BirselOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Nikki Haley digs at Trump’s age and calls for mental competency tests on pols over 75 in campaign kickoff
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Among her policy promises were term limits and mental competency tests for politicians over 75. Haley, 51, leaned heavily into a narrative focused on a new generation of leaders as she launched her campaign in Charleston, South Carolina. "We're ready," she said, "ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past. Leaning into portraying Trump as a leader of the past, Haley noted that Republicans failed to gain a majority of support from voters during numerous election cycles. The Trump campaign was quick to hit back at Haley on Wednesday, sending an email titled "The Real Nikki Haley" to reporters.

☆ Disney's strategy to win its battle with DeSantis is to just wait until he runs for president, says a top Florida Democrat
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Disney will sue Florida for dissolving its self-governing status, predicted Democratic state Sen. Jason Pizzo. Florida lawmakers are deciding Disney's financial fate this week. Ron DeSantis will be to simply run out the clock, a top Florida Democrat predicted Monday. Other areas state lawmakers will consider would allow Florida to transport migrants from other states and to give the state more power to prosecute election fraud. Today, more than 40 lobbyists represent Disney before the Florida legislature, according to an Insider review of lobbying disclosures.

☆ 86 House Democrats voted against a GOP-proposed resolution 'denouncing the horrors of socialism'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The House passed a resolution on Thursday denouncing the "horrors of socialism." "The socialism resolution is useless. Most Democrats joined every House Republican in voting for it. But 86 Democrats voted against it, and another 14 voted "present." "The socialism resolution is useless.

☆ Meet Bernie Marcus, the Home Depot co-founder who is fearful of 'socialism' and 'woke' workers ruining America
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Ben Tobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

He has also actively given to Republican politicians, donating $64 million to political causes over the years such as the campaigns of former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Sen. John McCain, according to data from the Federal Election Commission. Ric Feld, Evan Vucci/AP ImagesSource: Insider

Body camera video shows punches on ground, Nichols saying 'mom' Portions of body camera video released in the death of Tyre Nichols shows him being punched several times while he is on the ground. The call was made in advance of the expected public release of video in the death of Tyre Nichols, who died after a violent encounter with Memphis police officers on Jan. 7. Share this -Link copiedMemphis fire officials receive video showing Tyre Nichols' beating, will conclude investigation next week The Memphis Fire Department said it received full access to video footage showing the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols earlier Friday. The five Memphis officers involved in the traffic stop were fired and have since been arrested on numerous charges including murder. "I will ask everyone to heed the words of Tyre Nichols' mother," Hochul said.

"I will ask everyone to heed the words of Tyre Nichols' mother," Hochul said. Share this -Link copiedLawyers applaud kidnapping charges and say Nichols was 'terrorized' Attorney Antonio Romanucci said terrorism was part of the kidnapping charges against the five Memphis police officers charged in Tyre Nichols’ death. Attorney Ben Crump said Nichols’ told the officers, “I just want to home home.” “It's a traffic stop for God’s sake. Attorney Ben Crump said Nichols’ last words in the body camera footage of his arrest were three cries for his mother. This week, Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis announced a review of all the police department’s specialized units, including Scorpion, in response to Nichols’ death.

☆ The DeSantis administration's ban on AP African American studies 'is eroding traditional public education' in Florida, state school board member says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Taiyler Simone Mitchell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

"It just feels like there's an erosion of democracy," a school board member told Insider. Ron DeSantis' administration banned the teaching of Advanced Placement African American Studies classes in Florida schools this week. Hillsborough County School Board member Jessica Vaughn, who represents District 3 in Tampa, told Insider the decision made her feel "extremely upset and horrified, but not surprised." I mean, aside from the erosion of traditional public education, it just feels like there's an erosion of democracy," Vaughn told Insider. DeSantis' office, the College Board, and the Florida Department of Education did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ Rep. George Santos's office says he still intends to donate his entire salary to charity and will do so quarterly
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

GOP Rep. George Santos has pledged not to accept his congressional salary several different times. On Friday, his office told Insider he plans to donate his entire salary on a quarterly basis. A spokeswoman for Santos's congressional office told Insider on Friday that Santos will be donating the entirety of his congressional salary, making quarterly donations to an organization "such as a soup kitchen, or animal shelter." In a recent appearance on Steve Bannon's "War Room" show, he repeatedly dodged questions from fellow Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida about where that money came from. "I will not accept a congressional salary at all," he wrote in a May 2021 tweet slamming Suozzi.

☆ The Biden administration just made it easier for Trump to keep a key promise on prescription drugs if he wins in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The Biden administration presented a plan on Wednesday to let the government negotiate drug prices. Trump, who once accused Big Pharma of "getting away with murder," could be president when drug prices fall. Gutting the prescription drug provision would come at a cost to the federal government. President Trump signed a series of four executive orders aimed at lowering prices that for prescription drugs in the United States. "There has been no bigger champion of lowering prescription costs and putting Americans first than President Trump," Steven Cheung, Trump's 2024 campaign spokesman, told Insider.

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