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☆ China's tech feud with the US is heating up
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Joe Mcdonald | Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

China is clamping down on the use of computer chips from US tech giant Micron Technologies. China's government claims Micron products have unspecified "serious network security risks." It's the latest development in the United States' tech feud with China. They import more than $300 billion worth of foreign chips every year. Beijing is pouring billions of dollars into trying to accelerate chip development and reduce the need for foreign technology.

☆ China Bans Some Sales of Chips From U.S. Company Micron
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Chang Che | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Beijing on Sunday told Chinese companies that deal with critical information to stop purchasing products from Micron Technology, the U.S.-based manufacturer of memory chips used in phones, computers and other electronics. Many analysts viewed the move as retaliation for Washington’s efforts to cut off China’s access to high-end chips. The decision to bar Micron from selling its chips to key companies could have a ripple effect through China’s supply chains as Micron’s Chinese customers seek to replace the U.S. memory chips with homegrown or Korean versions. South Korean chip makers like Samsung and SK Hynix are Micron’s competitors and already do significant business with China. Micron said at the time that it was “cooperating fully” with the investigation and that its China business was operating as normal.

☆ Bezos' Blue Origin wins NASA astronaut moon lander contract to compete with SpaceX’s Starship
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Michael Sheetz | In Michaeljsheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON — Jeff Bezos has his NASA moon ticket. The billionaire's space company Blue Origin won a key contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Friday to develop a crewed lunar lander for delivering astronauts to the moon's surface later this decade under the agency's Artemis program. NASA's contract award is worth just over $3.4 billion, officials said Friday, while Blue Origin Vice President John Couluris said the company will contribute "well north" of the contract's value as well. "We're making an additional investment in the infrastructure that will pave the way to land the first humans on Mars," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in announcing the Blue Origin award. Bezos said in a tweet Friday he's "honored to be on this journey with @NASA to land astronauts on the Moon — this time to stay."

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) launched a special campaign to clean up online information, focusing on social media accounts that disseminate "fake news" and impersonate state-controlled media. The regulator said it had wiped 107,000 accounts of counterfeit news units and news anchors and 835,000 pieces of fake news information since April 6. The cleanup comes as China and countries across the globe grapple with an onslaught of fake news coverage online, with many implementing laws to punish culprits. News dissemination on Chinese social media, however, is already heavily controlled, with platforms like the Twitter-like Weibo favouring topic hashtags produced by state media, while censoring hashtags on issues or incidents considered sensitive by Beijing, even if they go viral. China recently arrested a man in Gansu province for allegedly using ChatGPT to generate a fake story about a train crash.

☆ ChatGPT: Chinese police detain man for allegedly using it to spread rumors online
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Chris Lau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

According to a statement from police in the northwest province of Gansu, the suspect allegedly used ChatGPT to generate a bogus report about a train crash, which he then posted online for profit. ChatGPT, developed by Microsoft (MSFT)-backed OpenAI, is banned in China, though internet users can use virtual private networks (VPN) to access it. State broadcaster CGTN says it was the country’s first arrest of a person accused of using ChatGPT to fabricate and spread fake news. Formally known as deep synthesis, deep fake refers to highly realistic textual and visual content generated by artificial intelligence. The new legislation bars users from generating deep fake content on topics already prohibited by existing laws on China’s heavily censored internet.

☆ It's riskier than ever to be a foreign business in China, as evidenced by a series of recent sanctions, detentions, and an updated anti-espionage law that has watchdogs on edge
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The updated law doesn't clearly define what constitutes China's national security or interests. The new law follows a recent spate of sanctions, probes, and detentions into foreign firms in China. Even now, the terms relating to national security and interest are still "not explicitly defined," the Eurasia Group wrote. The updated law is also particularly concerning because of the recent developments surrounding foreign firms in China. China's recent crackdown on foreign businesses is spurring concernsIn April, Chinese police questioned staff at American consultancy Bain in Shanghai.

☆ Fact Check-NASA did not announce a 100-foot fissure at Yellowstone volcano
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has not announced that a 100-foot crack opened at Yellowstone National Park, contrary to claims online suggesting that a disaster is imminent. There are no alerts on the National Park Service webpage describing current conditions at Yellowstone (here) or on the website of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (here). A crack about 100-feet wide did occur at the Grand Teton National Park in July 2018, as reported by the National Park Service (here) and news media (here), (here), (here). “A 100ft wide fissure-crack has not opened up in Yellowstone National Park in the past 24 hours,” a representative for Yellowstone National Park said in an email to Reuters. NASA did not announce a 100-foot fissure at Yellowstone National Park.

☆ Fact Check-NASA did not announce a 100-feet fissure crack at Yellowstone volcano
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

☆ Sick of Bumpy, Delayed Flights? New Weather Tech Could Help.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Julie Weed | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Better data, smarter softwareThe travel industry “cares about getting their weather predictions right because weather affects everything,” said Amy McGovern, director of the National Science Foundation’s A.I. Those better weather predictions rely on a type of artificial intelligence called machine learning, where in essence, a computer program is able to use data to improve itself. In this case, companies create software that uses historical and current weather data to make predictions. In addition, it incorporates satellite and radar reports from sources like the National Weather Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration. Here’s how all this may improve your future trips:Safer and calmer flightsThe skies are getting bumpier.

☆ New rules compel leading China financial data provider to limit offshore access, sources tell Reuters
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

China's leading financial data provider Wind Information Co is limiting offshore access to some business and economic data, in response to new rules from the country's cybersecurity regulator finalized last September. China's biggest financial data provider Wind Information told some customers late last year that it was restricting offshore users from accessing certain business and economic data as a result of the cybersecurity regulator's new data rules, two sources said. Restricted access to Wind by offshore users comes as China sharpens its focus on data usage and security amid rising geopolitical tensions and concerns about privacy in the world's second-largest economy. A Wind salesperson told the source in September the company had made the changes as per instructions from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which asked it to stop providing offshore users with certain data. The second source was also told by another Wind salesperson that the restrictions were put in place after the CAC unveiled new data rules last year.

HONG KONG, May 4 (Reuters) - China's biggest financial data provider Wind Information Co told some customers late last year that it was restricting offshore users from accessing certain business and economic data as a result of the cybersecurity regulator's new data rules, two sources said. Restricted access to Wind by offshore users comes as China sharpens its focus on data usage and security amid rising geopolitical tensions and concerns about privacy in the world's second-largest economy. A Wind salesperson told the source in September the company had made the changes as per instructions from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which asked it to stop providing offshore users with certain data. The restrictions on offshore users' access to certain Wind data have expanded since last September, said the first source. Reuters has reported, citing sources that Chinese data providers including company databases Qichacha, partially owned by Wind, and TianYanCha have stopped opening to offshore users for at least months.

☆ SpaceX Is Pushing to Quickly Launch Another Starship, NASA Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Micah Maidenberg | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Illustration: Jordan KranseSpaceX believes it can repair damage to the launchpad used for its first Starship flight and will be ready to fly a second rocket by early summer, the leader of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said. “It blew a hole in that launchpad,” Bill Nelson, the agency’s administrator, told lawmakers at a House Science Committee hearing on Thursday, referring to SpaceX’s inaugural Starship flight on April 20.

☆ China wants its AI to only say nice things about the communist party. Good luck with that.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AI systems must reflect China's "socialist core values," according to new rules reported by The New York Times. Proposed regulations could make it harder for Alibaba, Baidu and other Chinese tech companies to chase OpenAI. Bytedance and Tencent are also competing in the new AI race against Google and Facebook. A new wave of AI models is already beginning to disrupt Western business and society by automating some tasks and convincingly lying about important topics. Tencent, Bytedance, Baidu, Alibaba, Sensetime, and other big Chinese tech companies have the technical prowess to develop their own generative AI models.

☆ China Says Chatbots Must Toe the Party Line
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Chang Che | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Five months after ChatGPT set off an investment frenzy over artificial intelligence, Beijing is moving to rein in China’s chatbots, a show of the government’s resolve to keep tight regulatory control over technology that could define an era. The Cyberspace Administration of China unveiled draft rules this month for so-called generative artificial intelligence — the software systems, like the one behind ChatGPT, that can formulate text and pictures in response to a user’s questions and prompts. According to the regulations, companies must heed the Chinese Communist Party’s strict censorship rules, just as websites and apps have to avoid publishing material that besmirches China’s leaders or rehashes forbidden history. systems will need to reflect “socialist core values” and avoid information that undermines “state power” or national unity. Companies will also have to make sure their chatbots create words and pictures that are truthful and respect intellectual property, and will be required to register their algorithms, the software brains behind chatbots, with regulators.

☆ China to test out 3D printing technology on moon to build habitats
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, April 24 (Reuters) - China will explore using 3D printing technology to construct buildings on the moon, the official China Daily reported on Monday, as Beijing solidifies plans for long-term lunar habitation. In the 2020 Chinese lunar mission, the Chang'e 5, named after the mythical Chinese goddess of the moon, an uncrewed probe took back to Earth China's first lunar soil samples. China, which made its first lunar landing in 2013, plans to land an astronaut on the moon by 2030. China wants to start building a lunar base using soil from the moon in five years, Chinese media reported earlier this month. The race to set foot on the moon has intensified in recent years, particularly with the United States.

☆ US urges South Korea not to fill China shortfalls if Beijing bans Micron chips, Financial Times reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 23 (Reuters) - The United States asked South Korea to urge its chipmakers not to fill any market gap in China if Beijing bans memory chipmaker Micron (MU.O) from selling chips, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The United States made the request as South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol prepares to travel to Washington on Monday, the newspaper reported, according to four people familiar with the talks. China's cyberspace regulator Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in March that it would conduct a cybersecurity review of products sold in the country by Micron. In a response, Micron said that it is cooperating with the Chinese government and that its operations in China are normal. It has blacklisted a number of China's largest chip firms, including Micron rival Yangtze Memory Technologies Co Ltd.

The steep drop in fresh capital has left many companies in a vulnerable state, while the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, a leading provider of venture debt, has added to the challenge, a report by venture capital (VC) firm Space Capital said on Thursday. Space Capital's report, coming on the heels of a Chapter 11 filing from Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc, tracked 89 companies active in the sector. The risk threshold to invest in space companies was much higher earlier, but given recent market uncertainty, investors may not be as risk-loving and space being a nascent sector, many are dialing back, Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu told Reuters separately. However, Space Capital added that companies in emerging industries, like those associated with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Artemis mission to the Moon are seeing an increased interest. Reuters GraphicsReporting by Akash Sriram and Tanya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita BhattacharjeeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Biden Administration Nudges Federal Workers Back to the Office
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Annie Linskey | Paul Kiernan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Three GOP House members have cited low in-person attendance at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration headquarters in Washington. WASHINGTON—The Biden administration urged federal workers to return to their offices in new guidance that gives agencies broad discretion for how to revamp their work environments and leaves room for some continued telework. The policy is aimed at “substantially increasing in-person work,” said Jason Miller , the Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget in an accompanying blog post. The 19-page memo Thursday set no concrete targets for how many federal workers must come back or by when, and it indicated officials would evaluate where remote work has been effective.

☆ Senate leader Schumer pushes for AI regulatory regime after China action
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday he had launched an effort to win bipartisan agreement for a new regulatory regime to address concerns about artificial intelligence. Schumer's office said "given the AI industry’s consequential and fast-moving impact on our society and global economy" he believes it is a matter of high urgency to act. The Biden administration on Tuesday said it is seeking public comments on potential accountability measures for artificial intelligence systems that have raised national security and education concerns. Schumer's office said he has for months been "discussing and circulating a high-level framework that outlines a new regulatory regime for artificial intelligence, engaging leading artificial intelligence experts to help inform the proposal." Schumer wants to create a "flexible and resilient AI policy framework across the federal government that can adapt as the technology continues to advance."

☆ China reluctantly keeps sanctions powder dry
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Yet most trade measures Xi has taken so far are best seen as defensive tactics to protect market share from aspirant rivals in the West and India. The easiest option is picking on America’s $120-billion-plus of direct investment stock in China. Of course, that is no way for China to revive the decaying quantity and quality of the investment it receives. Chinese officials consistently say they welcome U.S. trade and investment and there is no reason to doubt them. The move comes after the United States implemented multiple restrictions on sales of chipmaking tools and components to China.

☆ China proposes measures to manage generative AI services
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, April 11 (Reuters) - China's cyberspace regulator unveiled draft measures on Tuesday for managing generative artificial intelligence services, saying it wants firms to submit security assessments to authorities before they launch their offerings to the public. The CAC said that China supports AI innovation and application and encourages use of safe and reliable software, tools and data resources, but content generated by generative AI had to be in line with the country's core socialist values. Providers will be responsible for the legitimacy of data used to train generative AI products and measures should be taken to prevent discrimination when designing algorithms and training data, it said. Providers will be fined, have their services suspended, or even face criminal investigations if they fail to comply with the rules. The public can comment on the proposals until May 10, and the measures are expected to come into effect sometime this year, according to the draft rules.

☆ 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.

☆ China's cyberspace regulator releases rules on generative AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailChina's cyberspace regulator releases rules on generative AIThe Cyberspace Administration of China launched draft designed to manage how companies develop generative artificial intelligence products like ChatGPT. It comes after Alibaba unveiled its ChatGPT rival, CNBC's Arjun Kharpal reports.

☆ Micron says operations normal in China amid government review
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 3 (Reuters) - Micron Technology Inc (MU.O) on Monday said that its business operations in China are normal while it is cooperating with a Chinese government cybersecurity review of its products. Last week, the Cyberspace Administration of China said it would conduct a security review of Micron's products sold in the country. The move comes amid a deepening rift between the United States and China over chip technology that has left companies caught in the crossfire. Micron is the only U.S.-based player in the global market for memory chips and is building a new $15 billion factory in upstate New York. Chinese companies have also been working to break into the memory market, but the U.S. last year restricted export of chipmaking tools to the country.

☆ Micron Technology: China probes US chip maker for cybersecurity risks as tech tension escalates
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Hong Kong CNN —China has launched a cybersecurity probe into Micron Technology, one of America’s largest memory chip makers, in apparent retaliation after US allies in Asia and Europe announced new restrictions on the sale of key technology to Beijing. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) will review products sold by Micron in the country, according to a statement by the watchdog late on Friday. Last month, the Netherlands also unveiled new restrictions on overseas sales of semiconductor technology, citing the need to protect national security. In October, the United States banned Chinese companies from buying advanced chips and chipmaking equipment without a license. “The Chinese government may restrict us from participating in the China market or may prevent us from competing effectively with Chinese companies,” it said last week.

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