ChatGPT's mobile app just had its biggest month yet (2 minute read)
The launch of GPT-4o sent ChatGPT's revenue soaring - it pulled in $28 million in net revenue from the App Store and Google Play in July. The app grossed $39.9 million before paying in-app purchase fees. ChatGPT saw an estimated 2 million new paying customers last month. Growth is expected to continue in the months to come.
Reddit considers search ads, paywalled content for the future (3 minute read)
Reddit's plans for making more money from the platform include showing ads in more places and possibly putting some content behind a paywall. The company, which has never been profitable, lost $10.1 million during Q2 2024, down from Q2 2023's $41.1 million loss. It recently blocked all search engines besides Google, OpenAI, and approved education/research instances from showing its content in search results. Reddit seems to be trying to capitalize on how people use its name as a filter for search results.
Don't pivot into AI research (3 minute read)
Chip design used to be a high-profile role, with the most famous chip designers viewed similarly to how famous machine learning researchers are seen today. Many students flocked to the industry as the number of chip companies boomed and the field was in demand. However, as market dynamics changed, the supply of hardware engineers grew too high. The high capital costs for chip manufacturing drove the number of employers down to a handful of major chip makers. The field of AI research will likely play out the same way.
Google antitrust verdict leaves Apple with “inconvenient alternatives” (7 minute read)
Apple benefited greatly from Google's monopoly. While the Department of Justice has not yet said what it will seek for a remedy to the antitrust case, Apple will likely be deeply involved. Apple could be forced to accept a much less lucrative agreement with Microsoft or may be prevented from selling search defaults at all. Mozilla may also be heavily impacted by the decision - Google's 2021 payment to the company for the default position on its browser was about 80 percent of Mozilla's operating budget.
Major shifts at OpenAI spark skepticism about impending AGI timelines (4 minute read)
Several prominent figures have left OpenAI, leading some to question whether the company is really that close to achieving artificial general intelligence.
OpenAI worries people may become emotionally reliant on its new ChatGPT voice mode (3 minute read)
A report from OpenAI on the safety review it conducted on its new voice mode revealed a risk of users becoming too reliant on ChatGPT for companionship.
Elon Musk continues to siphon Tesla talent to train xAI's Grok (2 minute read)
xAI has now hired over a dozen Tesla employees to train Grok.
The proliferation of AI tools means there's a growing disconnect between where people are getting their information and where it comes from. This could affect contributions to Wikipedia in the long run as people are less likely to contribute if they don't visit the site directly. Wikipedia hasn't seen any decline in traffic due to AI so far. Without clear attribution and source links, AI applications risk introducing an unprecedented amount of misinformation into the world.
The stagnation in hiring has resulted in a rise of 'stuck' workers who want to quit their jobs but are staying put due to a fear of a potential recession. Americans are quitting their jobs at the slowest pace since the pandemic, despite job satisfaction falling. Job market forecasters say the slowdown in hiring will likely continue.
Apple says Patreon must switch to its billing system or risk removal from App Store (3 minute read)
Patreon will move all creators to Apple's iOS in-app purchase system by November 2025.
US Considers a Rare Antitrust Move: Breaking Up Google (9 minute read)
The Department of Justice is considering breaking up Alphabet following a ruling that found the company monopolized the online search market. The most likely units for divestment are the Android operating system and Chrome web browser. Less severe options include forcing Google to share more data with competitors and measures to prevent it from gaining an unfair advantage in AI products. The government will likely see a ban on the type of exclusive contracts that were at the center of the case.
Deep-Live-Cam goes viral, allowing anyone to become a digital doppelganger (4 minute read)
Deep-Live-Cam can take a person's face and apply it to a live webcam video source while following pose, lighting, and expressions - from a single photo. It is available for download for free on GitHub. There are many face-swapping software projects out there - while most of them take some knowledge to install, it is only a matter of time before these tools become more accessible. Examples of face swaps produced with the tool are available.