ShinyShiny snippets: TikTok facing complete US ban

TikTok is facing a complete ban in the US over fears that China is using the app as a covert tool for spying and spreading propaganda. CEO Shou Chew will testify before Congress on Thursday, with members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee set to raise their concerns about how much access the Chinese government has to user data, as well as how much influence the Chinese Communist Party has over it. TikTok has consistently denied such allegations, though this has not stopped the US and other countries from banning the app from government and military-issued devices. Some countries like India have even issued a nationwide ban of TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps as a result of national security worries. Independent 

A ChatGPT glitch allowed some users to see the titles of other users’ conversations, the artificial intelligence chatbot’s boss has said. On social media sites Reddit and Twitter, users had shared images of chat histories that they said were not theirs. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company feels “awful”, but the “significant” error had now been fixed. Many users, however, remain concerned about privacy on the platform. Millions of people have used ChatGPT to draft messages, write songs and even code since it launched in November of last year. BBC 

Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot is still making the same error that contributed to a $120bn wipeout for the tech giant’s share price a month ago. Bard, which was opened to the public in the US and UK on Tuesday, still incorrectly claims that the James Webb Space Telescope took “the very first pictures of a planet outside of our own solar system”. The first picture ever captured of a planet outside the solar system – an exo planet – was in fact taken by the Very Large Telescope in Chile in 2004. Bard gave the same wrong answer when it was debuted by Google in February. Telegraph

Ford Motor Co.’s electric vehicle business has lost $3 billion before taxes during the past two years and will lose a similar amount this year as the company invests heavily in the new technology. The figures were released Thursday as Ford rolled out a new way of reporting financial results. The new business structure separates electric vehicles, the profitable internal combustion and commercial vehicle operations into three operating units. Company officials said the electric vehicle unit, called “Ford Model e,” will be profitable before taxes by late 2026 with an 8% pretax profit margin. Independent 

Amazon has confirmed its will be launching its latest Fire TVs including its flagship QLED and bedroom set with a rather retro 720p resolution in a number of new countries. Amazon unveiled the flagship Omni as well as 4-Series and 2-Series sets in 2021, but previously the TVs had been limited to retail in the US. The Omni sets are the most interesting of the group, featuring a QLED panel. This is a custom screen technology that aims to let LCD TVs take on OLEDs in performance made famous by Samsung. What HiFi

Apple is tracking the attendance of its employees at offices using badge records in order to ensure they are coming in at least three times a week, according to Platformer’s Zoë Schiffer. Since April 2022, Apple employees have been operating on a hybrid home/office work policy as part of a gradual return strategy following the pandemic, with staff required to work from the office at least three days per week – Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. However, it appears that Apple is doubling down on this strategy as it looks for ways across the company to cut costs. MacRumors