Tesla sales fall sharply, Amazon scraps ‘just walk out’ tech in US
Tesla has reported a sharp fall in worldwide sales amid increased competition and slowing demand for electric vehicles. The carmaker said it delivered 386,810 vehicles during the first quarter of the year – down nearly 9% on the 423,000 it shipped from January to March last year. It marks the first year-on-year quarterly sales decline for the company in nearly four years. Tesla said the fall was “partly” due to disruption to shipping in the Red Sea region and an arson attack at its gigafactory in Berlin. Sky News
Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj are among 200 artists calling for the “predatory” use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the music industry to be stopped. In an open letter also signed by Katy Perry and the estate of Frank Sinatra, they warn AI “will set in motion a race to the bottom” if left unchecked. Tech giants including YouTube have tested AI music-making tools. “We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal artists’ voices and likenesses,” they said. BBC
EU’s Digital Markets Act is proving to be a nightmare for Apple. You may have followed the back and forth on deciding just how third-party app stores will work, but there’s more to it than that. For example, Apple is supposed to show a browser choice screen, similar to what Microsoft had to do with Windows a decade ago. And that’s not the end of it either. John Gruber of Daring Fireball noticed comments by Margrethe Vestager, who leads the EC’s “Europe Fit for the Digital Age” initiative. They suggest that Apple must provide not only a choice of which apps to install and use – but also which apps to uninstall. GSM Arena
Global car makers are starting to question their continued presence in China as once healthy sales plummet and profit margins fall amid the rise of local giants such as BYD and Geely. China is the world’s largest automotive market, with 26 million light vehicles sold last year, but tough competition and even tougher price wars have put once-dominant foreign firms on the back foot after a decade of reaping riches from the country. Chinese car makers grew their share in their domestic market from 40% in 2015 to 57% in 2023, according to automotive analyst firm Inovev, and “it will be very difficult for non-Chinese car makers to regain lost market shares”. Autocar
Amazon is scrapping its “just walk out” technology in the US after years of trying to gain traction for its checkout-free offer. The decision to ditch the grocery store technology was revealed on Tuesday, although the move will not affect outlets in the UK. Since its launch in 2016, the system has allowed shoppers to grab items and leave without paying at the checkout, with customers instead charged through their Amazon accounts. Tony Hoggett, the senior vice president of Amazon’s grocery stores, told The Information that it will now prioritise smart trolley technology in the US rather than just walk out equipment. Telegraph
Grok, the edgy generative AI model developed by Elon Musk’s X, has a bit of a problem: With the application of some quite common jail-breaking techniques it’ll readily return instructions on how to commit crimes. Red teamers at Adversa AI made that discovery when running tests on some of the most popular LLM chatbots. By running these bots through a combination of three well-known AI jailbreak attacks they came to the conclusion that Grok was the worst performer – and not only because it was willing to share graphic steps on how to seduce a child. The Register
