Global smartphone sales down 6%, ChatGPT shows left-wing bias
Global smartphone sales are set to hit their lowest point since 2013 as China’s economic headwinds weakened consumer spending worldwide. Total shipments of smartphones are expected to decline 6pc this year to 1.15bn units, according to figures from Counterpoint Research. Economic pressures in China have hit consumers’ spending on electronics, the consultancy said, triggering a slowdown that impacts the wider Asia-Pacific region. Falling inflation in the US was not enough to offset the decline. Telegraph
ChatGPT, the popular artificial intelligence chatbot, shows a significant and systemic left-wing bias, UK researchers have found. According to the new study by the University of East Anglia, this includes favouring the Labour Party and President Joe Biden‘s Democrats in the US. Concerns about an inbuilt political bias in ChatGPT have been raised before, notably by SpaceX and Tesla tycoon Elon Musk, but the academics said their work was the first large-scale study to find proof of any favouritism. Sky News
With the same unobtrusive design and a slightly larger screen, the Galaxy Watch 6 embodies the term “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” It’s achieved a consistent 36-48 hour battery life, solved outside visibility forever, and (finally) upgraded 2GB of RAM, making everything just a little bit quicker. Samsung Health and One UI Watch are also smoother and more full-featured than any other smartwatch, even if those improvements are coming to the older models, too. Android Police
Apple will begin paying out claims in the $500m iPhone slowdown lawsuit after users claimed that their phones were deliberately slowed down by the tech giant after installing updates. iPhone users complained for a long time about their phones becoming slower after a software update. Back in 2017, people began to notice that some of their device’s performance issues were related to their batteries. However, after having the battery replaced, they noticed that the issues were resolved, according to data from Geekbench. Unilad
The UK government will host a summit on the safety of artificial intelligence at the start of November, with “like-minded” countries invited to the event in Bletchley Park (pictured above) to address global threats to democracy, including the use of AI in warfare and cyber security. Leading academics and executives from AI companies, including Google’s DeepMind, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic, will be asked to the AI Safety Summit at the Buckinghamshire site where British codebreakers were based during the second world war. FT.com
A firm which was contracted to moderate Facebook posts in East Africa has said with hindsight it should not have taken on the job. Former Kenya-based employees of Sama – an outsourcing company – have said they were traumatised by exposure to graphic posts. Some are now taking legal cases against the firm through the Kenyan courts. Chief executive Wendy Gonzalez said Sama would no longer take work involving moderating harmful content. Some former employees have described being traumatised after viewing videos of beheadings, suicide and other graphic material. BBC
Sales data analysis for theft prevention products bought on eBay has uncovered what drivers are buying and their location, revealing the top 10 most security-conscious areas in the UK. eBay analysed the key security items purchased, including steering wheel locks and car immobilisers, between May 2022 to May 2023. This was then compared to population size, with Romford in East London coming out on top of any location in the UK, followed by Motherwell in North Lanarkshire and Redhill, Surrey. Drivers being more security conscious comes at a time when car thefts are on the rise in some areas. Tech Digest
