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U.S. producer prices barely rose in June and the annual increase in producer inflation was the smallest in nearly three years. Keeping a lid on optimism, a separate report showed weekly jobless claims unexpectedly fell last week, indicating that the labor market remains tight. InflationTraders expect a 20% probability that the central bank will hike borrowing costs in its November meeting but have fully priced in a 25-basis-point rate hike later in July. Five of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors advanced, with communications services (.SPLRCL) leading gains boosted by a 4.9% jump in Alphabet (GOOGL.O). Overall, earnings for the S&P 500 constituents are expected to have dropped 6.4% in the second quarter, Refinitiv data showed.

Persons: IRPR, David Russell, Bard, ChatGPT, Johann M Cherian, Shashwat Chauhan, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Maju Samuel Organizations: PepsiCo, Dow, Nasdaq, Federal Reserve, Dow Jones, Google, Microsoft, Delta Air Lines, Meta, NYSE, Thomson Locations: Europe, Brazil, Bengaluru

BRUSSELS, July 13 (Reuters) - Alphabet (GOOGL.O) said it is rolling out its artificial- intelligence chatbot, Bard, in Europe and Brazil on Thursday, the product's biggest expansion since its February launch and pitting it against Microsoft (MSFT.O)-backed rival ChatGPT. Bard and ChatGPT are human-sounding programs that use generative artificial intelligence to hold conversations with users and answer myriad prompts. Earlier this week, billionaire Elon Musk also launched his long-teased artificial-intelligence startup xAI, whose team includes several former engineers at Google, Microsoft and OpenAI. Krawczyk said Google had since then met the watchdogs to reassure them on issues relating to transparency, choice and control. In a briefing with journalists, Amar Subramanya, engineering vice president of Bard, added that users could opt out of their data being collected.

Persons: Bard, ChatGPT, Elon Musk, Jack Krawczyk, Krawczyk, Amar Subramanya, Subramanya, Foo Yun Chee, Isabel Woodford, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Europe, Brazil, U.S, Brussels, Mexico

☆ Stability AI is sued by co-founder who says he was duped in to selling stake for $100
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Hodes, a self-described "world-renowned thought leader" in artificial intelligence, said Stability AI and Mostaque also never revealed their talks with venture capital firms before Mostaque bought his stake in October 2021 and May 2022. Stability AI said in an email: "The suit is without merit and we will aggressively defend our position." He said he had worked "countless hours" since early 2020 at Stability AI, including on an ultimately unsuccessful project to help governments respond faster to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stability AI describes itself as the "world's leading open source generative AI company," whose technology is open to the public, as opposed to at closed source companies. In May, the stock photo provider Getty Images asked a London court to stop Stability AI from selling its image-generation system in Britain, citing alleged copyright violations.

Persons: Cyrus Hodes, Emad Mostaque, Mostaque, Hodes, Harvard University's John F, Jonathan Stempel, Matthew Lewis Organizations: YORK, United Arab, Harvard University's, Kennedy School of Government, Getty, Bloomberg News, Court, Northern District of, Thomson Locations: San Francisco federal, London, Hodes, United Arab Emirates, Britain, U.S, Northern District, Northern District of California, New York

The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said that several thousand Apple phones had been infected, including those of domestic Russian subscribers. "The FSB has uncovered an intelligence action of the American special services using Apple mobile devices," the FSB said in a statement. 'SOFTWARE VULNERABILITIES'The FSB said the plot showed the close relationship between Apple and the NSA, the U.S. agency responsible for U.S. cryptographic and communications intelligence and security. "The hidden data collection was carried out through software vulnerabilities in U.S.-made mobile phones," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement. Officials in Russia, which Western spies says has constructed a very sophisticated domestic surveillance structure, have long questioned the security of U.S. technology.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Putin, Sergei Kiriyenko, Guy Faulconbridge, Gareth Jones, Mark Potter Organizations: NSA, Apple, Russia Apple, Russia, Federal Security Service, . National Security Agency, FSB, Soviet, NATO, U.S, Harvard University's, Officials, Kremlin, KGB, Kommersant, Thomson Locations: Russia, Russian, Soviet Union, Israel, Syria, China, U.S, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Ukraine

☆ Kremlin tells officials to stop using iPhones - Kommersant newspaper
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, March 20 (Reuters) - Russia's presidential administration has told officials to stop using Apple (AAPL.O) iPhones because of concerns the devices are vulnerable to Western intelligence agencies, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Monday. At a Kremlin-organised seminar for officials involved in domestic politics, Sergei Kiriyenko, first deputy head of the presidential administration, told officials to change their phones by April 1, Kommersant said, citing unidentified sources. The Kremlin may provide other devices with different operating systems to replace the iPhones, Kommersant said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he could not confirm the report, but that smartphones could not be used for official purposes anyway. President Vladimir Putin has always said he has no smartphone, though Peskov has said Putin does use the Internet from time to time.

☆ Pro-Ukraine group sabotaged pipelines, intelligence suggests, NYT reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Olena Harmash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

On the battlefield, Ukraine's forces continued to fight for the eastern city of Bakhmut on Tuesday despite Russian troops and mercenaries nearly encircling them. "Without a doubt, Ukraine is absolutely not involved in the excesses on the pipelines," presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said in a statement. Several towns and villages near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region came under Russian shellfire, including Dubovo-Vasylivka, Ivanivske, Dyliivka and Bohdanivka, the statement said. Other provinces of Ukraine were attacked by Russian troops on Tuesday, the Ukrainian military said, including in central Zaporizhzhia region. That narrative is rejected by Kyiv and the West, which say Ukraine is fighting for survival against a Russian imperial land grab.

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