Snapchat flagged in nearly half of child abuse imagery crimes, Elon Musk sues OpenAI
Snapchat was flagged in nearly half of the crimes involving child abuse imagery over the past year, new figures reveal. Freedom of information requests submitted by the NSPCC children’s charity to 35 police forces showed Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were named in around a quarter of cases of child abuse imagery crimes when police linked the case with an online platform. The figures also show the number of child abuse image crimes recorded by UK police forces increased by 25% in a year, with a total of 160,000 offences recorded since 2017. Sky News
NSO Group, the maker of one the world’s most sophisticated cyber weapons, has been ordered by a US court to hand its code for Pegasus and other spyware products to WhatsApp as part of the company’s ongoing litigation. The decision by Judge Phyllis Hamilton is a major legal victory for WhatsApp, the Meta-owned communication app which has been embroiled in a lawsuit against NSO since 2019, when it alleged that the Israeli company’s spyware had been used against 1,400 WhatsApp users over a two-week period. The Guardian
Elon Musk is suing Microsoft backed OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, among others, alleging they abandoned the company’s founding mission to develop artificial intelligence “for the benefit of humanity broadly.” In a lawsuit filed on Thursday with a San Francisco court, Musk’s lawyers said the tech billionaire was approached in 2015 by Altman and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and agreed to form a non-profit lab that would develop artificial general intelligence for the “benefit of humanity.” CNBC
America’s Nasdaq index, home to many tech companies, has hit a new high, which analysts attributed to optimism over artificial intelligence (AI). The Nasdaq rose 0.9% on Thursday, to 16,091.92, formally rebounding from the slump that hit shares in 2021. Investors expect AI to unleash a new wave of growth and have been snapping up shares of companies poised to benefit, like chipmaker Nvidia. They are also increasingly optimistic about the path for the US economy. BBC
When Tim Cook told Wall Street a month ago that Apple would unveil new artificial intelligence features this year, he broke with the company’s normal practice of not talking about a new technology until it has something close to shipping. This week, meanwhile, brought news that many of the engineers from Apple’s car project will be moved across to work on generative AI, following the company’s abandonment of a decade-long autonomous vehicle effort. FT.com
Broadband bill payers are heading towards being £53million worse off this year following a drop of more than a third (38%) in switches, analysis by Broadband Genie has found. New advertising rules introduced by the ASA in mid-December could be the cause. Since they were implemented on 15 December 2023, broadband providers and comparison sites must disclose if a provider has a clause in its terms and conditions stating it may raise the price midway through a customer’s contract. TechDigest
Fisker shares skid nearly 40% on Friday after the electric-vehicle startup flagged going-concern risks, saying it would cut its workforce by 15% and pause investments in future projects until it secures a partnership with a manufacturer. The company warned of a “difficult year” ahead, the latest sign of growing pain in the EV sector after weak production forecasts from Rivian and Lucid. Fisker, whose shares were down 38.9% at 44 cents in premarket trading, has received a notice from the New York Stock Exchange that it was not in compliance with a listing rule. Yahoo! Finance
