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As ChatGPT turns one, big tech is in charge

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As ChatGPT turns one, big tech is in charge

The AI revolution has arrived a year after ChatGPT’s historic release, but any uncertainty about Big Tech’s dominance has been eliminated by the recent boardroom crisis at OpenAI, the company behind the super app.

In a sense, the covert introduction of ChatGPT on November 30 of last year was the geeks’ retaliation, the unsung engineers and researchers who have been working silently behind the scenes to develop generative AI.

With the release of ChatGPT, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman—a well-known figure in the tech community but little known outside of it—ensured that this underappreciated AI technology would receive the attention it merits.

With its rapid adoption, ChatGPT became the most popular app ever (until Meta’s Threads took over). Users were amazed at how quickly the app could generate poems, recipes, and other content from the internet.

Thanks to his risk-taking, Altman, a 38-year-old Stanford dropout, became a household name and became a sort of AI philosopher king, with tycoons and world leaders following his every word.

As for AI, “you’re in the business of making and selling things you can’t put your hands on,” according to Margaret O’Mara, a historian from the University of Washington and the author of “The Code,” a history of Silicon Valley.

“Having a figurehead of someone who can explain it, especially when it’s advanced technology, is really important,” she added.

The supporters of OpenAI are sure that if they are allowed unrestricted access to capital and freedom to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) that is on par with or superior to human intellect, the world will be a better place.

However, the enormous expenses of that holy mission compelled an alliance with Microsoft, the second-biggest corporation in the world, whose primary objective is profit rather than altruism.

In order to help justify Microsoft’s $13 billion investment in OpenAI earlier this year, Altman steered the company toward profitability.

This ultimately led to the boardroom uprising this month among those who think the money-makers should be kept at bay, including the chief scientist of OpenAI.

When the battle broke out, Microsoft stood up for Altman, and the young employees of OpenAI supported him as well. They understood that the company’s future depended on the profits that kept the computers running, not on grand theories about how or why not to use AI.

Since ChatGPT launched a year ago, there has been conflict over whether AI will save the world or end it.

For instance, just months after signing a letter advocating for a halt to AI advancements, Elon Musk launched his own business, xAI, entering a crowded market.

In addition to investing in AI startups, Google, Meta, and Amazon have all incorporated AI promises into their corporate announcements.

Businesses across all industries are registering to test AI, whether it be through magic wands or killer robots, usually from OpenAI or through cloud providers like Microsoft, Google, or Amazon.

“The time from learning that generative AI was a thing to actually deciding to spend time building applications around it has been the shortest I’ve ever seen for any type of technology,” said Rowan Curran, an analyst at Forrester Research.

However, concerns are still widespread that bots could “hallucinate,” producing inaccurate, absurd, or offensive content, so business efforts are currently being kept to a minimum.

In the aftermath of the boardroom drama, tech behemoths like Microsoft, which may soon have a seat on the company’s board, will write the next chapter in AI history.

“We saw yet another Silicon Valley battle between the idealists and the capitalists, and the capitalists won,” said historian O’Mara.

The next chapter in AI will also not be written without Nvidia, the company that makes the graphics processing unit, or GPU—a potent chip that is essential to AI training.

Tech behemoth, startup, or researcher—you have to get your hands on those hard-to-find and pricey Taiwan-made chips.

Leading digital firms, such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, are leading the way.

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Apple has revealed a revamped Mac Mini with an M4 chip

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A smaller but no less powerful Mac Mini was recently unveiled by Apple as part of the company’s week of Mac-focused announcements. It now has Apple’s most recent M4 silicon, enables ray tracing for the first time, and comes pre-installed with 16GB of RAM, which seems to be the new standard in the age of Apple Intelligence. While the more potent M4 Pro model starts at $1,399, the machine still starts at $599 with the standard M4 CPU. The Mac Mini is available for preorder right now and will be in stores on November 8th, just like the updated iMac that was revealed yesterday.

The new design will be the first thing you notice. The Mini has reportedly been significantly reduced in size, although it was already a comparatively small desktop computer. It is now incredibly small, with dimensions of five inches for both length and width. Apple claims that “an innovative thermal architecture, which guides air to different levels of the system, while all venting is done through the foot” and the M4’s efficiency are the reasons it keeps things cool.

Nevertheless, Apple has packed this device with a ton of input/output, including a 3.5mm audio jack and two USB-C connections on the front. Three USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, Ethernet, and HDMI are located around the back. Although the USB-A ports are outdated, it’s important to remember that the base M2 Mini only featured two USB-A connectors and two Thunderbolt 4 ports. You get a total of five ports with the M4. You get an additional Thunderbolt port but lose native USB-A.

Depending on the M4 processor you select, those Thunderbolt connectors will have varying speeds. While the M4 Pro offers the most recent Thunderbolt 5 throughput, the standard M4 processor comes with Thunderbolt 4.

With its 14 CPU and 20 GPU cores, the M4 Pro Mac Mini also offers better overall performance. The standard M4 can have up to 32GB of RAM, while the M4 Pro can have up to 64GB. The maximum storage capacity is an astounding 8TB. Therefore, even though the Mini is rather little, if you have the money, you can make it really powerful. For those who desire it, 10 gigabit Ethernet is still an optional upgrade.

Apple has a big week ahead of it. On Monday, the company released the M4 iMac and its first Apple Intelligence software features for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. (More AI functionality will be available in December, such as ChatGPT integration and image production.) As Apple completes its new hardware, those updated MacBook Pros might make their appearance tomorrow. The business will undoubtedly highlight its newest fleet of Macs when it releases its quarterly profits on Thursday.

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Apple Intelligence may face competition from a new Qualcomm processor

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The new chip from Qualcomm (QCOM) may increase competition between Apple’s (AAPL) iOS and Android.

During its Snapdragon Summit on Monday, the firm unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform, which includes a new, second-generation Oryon CPU that it claims is the “fastest mobile CPU in the world.” According to Qualcomm, multimodal generative artificial intelligence characteristics can be supported by the upcoming Snapdragon platform.

Qualcomm, which primarily creates chips for mobile devices running Android, claims that the new Oryon CPU is 44% more power efficient and 45% faster. As the iPhone manufacturer releases its Apple Intelligence capabilities, the new Snapdragon 8 platform may allow smartphone firms compete with Apple on the AI frontier. Additionally, Apple has an agreement with OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT, to incorporate ChatGPT-4o into the upcoming iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.

According to a September Wall Street Journal (NWSA) story, Qualcomm is apparently interested in purchasing Intel (INTC) in a deal that could be valued up to $90 billion. According to Bloomberg, Apollo Global Management (APO), an alternative asset manager, had also proposed an equity-like investment in Intel with a potential value of up to $5 billion.

According to reports, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the situation, Qualcomm may postpone its decision to acquire Intel until after the U.S. presidential election next month. According to the persons who spoke with Bloomberg, Qualcomm is waiting to make a decision on the transaction because of the possible effects on antitrust laws and tensions with China after the election results.

According to a report from analysts at Bank of America Global Research (BAC), Qualcomm could expand, take the lead in the market for core processor units, or CPUs, for servers, PCs, and mobile devices, and get access to Intel’s extensive chip fabrication facilities by acquiring Intel. They went on to say that Qualcomm would become the world’s largest semiconductor company if its $33 billion in chip revenue were combined with Intel’s $52 billion.

The experts claimed that those advantages would be outweighed by the financial and regulatory obstacles posed by a possible transaction. They are dubious about a prospective takeover and think that Intel’s competitors may gain from the ambiguity surrounding the agreement.

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iPhone 16 Pro Users Report Screen Responsiveness Issues, Hope for Software Fix

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Many iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max users are experiencing significant touchscreen responsiveness problems. Complaints about lagging screens and unresponsive taps and swipes are particularly frustrating for customers who have invested $999 and up in these devices.

The good news is that initial assessments suggest the issue may be software-related rather than a hardware defect. This means that Apple likely won’t need to issue recalls or replacement units; instead, a simple software update could resolve the problem.

The root of the issue might lie in the iOS touch rejection algorithm, which is designed to prevent accidental touches. If this feature is overly sensitive, it could ignore intentional inputs, especially when users’ fingers are near the new Camera Control on the right side of the display. Some users have reported that their intended touches are being dismissed, particularly when their fingers are close to this area.

Additionally, the new, thinner bezels on the iPhone 16 Pro compared to the iPhone 15 Pro could contribute to the problem. With less protection against accidental touches, the device may misinterpret valid taps as mistakes, leading to ignored inputs.

This isn’t the first time Apple has faced challenges with new iPhone models. For instance, the iPhone 4 experienced “Antennagate,” where signal loss occurred depending on how the device was held, prompting Steve Jobs to famously suggest users hold their phones differently. Apple eventually provided free rubber bumpers to mitigate the issue.

To alleviate the touchscreen problem, using a case might help by covering parts of the display and reducing the chances of accidental touches triggering the rejection algorithm. The issue appears on devices running iOS 18 and the iOS 18.1 beta and does not occur when the phone is locked. Users may notice difficulties when swiping through home screens and apps.

Many are hopeful that an upcoming iOS 18 update will address these issues, restoring responsiveness to the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max displays.

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