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Earth Intelligence

19 Nov 2023 — 6 min read

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OpenAI Shakeup
Apple To Adopt RCS Messaging Standard

Week Recap:

The U.S. military launched airstrikes on Iranian-backed group facilities in Syria. This action was a response to numerous attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East, particularly in Syria and Iraq. The targeted sites were a training camp near Abu Kamal and a safe house near Mayadin, believed to be used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and allied groups.
Meta and Amazon have collaborated to integrate shopping features on Facebook and Instagram. Users can now link their Facebook and Instagram accounts to their Amazon accounts, enabling them to shop directly from Meta's social apps using their stored Amazon payment and shipping details.
Nvidia recently announced the H200, a new graphics processing unit (GPU) aimed at enhancing artificial intelligence model development, particularly for generative AI. This GPU is an evolution of the H100, which was notably used by OpenAI for training GPT-4.
Marina Bay Sands, a high-end resort in Singapore, announced that a data breach has affected 665,000 customers. The breach, which occurred on October 19 and 20, was discovered on October 20. It involved unauthorized access to the resort's shopping loyalty program, the Sands Rewards Club. However, there's no evidence suggesting that the casino rewards program was also affected.
For the first time, the U.S. Supreme Court has established an official ethics code. Previously, all federal judges, except those on the Supreme Court, were subject to a specific code of conduct. Supreme Court justices had informally committed to following similar standards for many years. However, recent allegations of some justices receiving gifts and vacations without adequate disclosure heightened public demand for a formal ethics framework for the Supreme Court.
ExxonMobil, traditionally known as a major oil producer, is set to diversify its operations by venturing into lithium production by 2027. This move represents a significant shift in strategy, aiming to leverage the company's existing expertise in drilling and processing to establish itself in the growing market for battery metals.
On Wednesday, near San Francisco, U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping had their first in-person meeting in a year. This meeting happened alongside the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference. The U.S. and China, amidst ongoing tensions, are working on improving high-level talks. Biden emphasized the need to prevent competition from escalating into conflict and highlighted the importance of collaborating on global issues like climate change, drug control, and artificial intelligence.
Samsung Electronics unveiled a new generative AI model called Samsung Gauss on Wednesday. This model, designed for use in Samsung's devices, places Samsung ahead of Apple in integrating generative AI into smartphones. Samsung Gauss, named after mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, has several features. These include a language model for tasks like composing emails and translating text, a tool to assist software developers, and an image generation/editing capability.
BlackRock, the largest asset manager by AUM, recently submitted an application for a spot ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF), named the iShares Ethereum Trust. This move, following their earlier filing for a spot bitcoin ETF (In June 2023), marks a significant expansion into the cryptocurrency market.
Google's Search Generative Experience (SGE) has expanded globally to 120 countries, including support for additional languages like Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, and Indonesian. Initially launched at I/O 2023, SGE offers AI-generated summaries on search results pages.
Starting from 2024, Amazon will introduce a service for buying new cars online, beginning with vehicles from Hyundai. This service will enable customers to select, purchase, and arrange for the delivery or pickup of new cars through Amazon's platform. The initiative represents an expansion of Amazon’s automotive reach, which previously included digital showrooms for comparing vehicles and selling car-related products.

OpenAI Shakeup:

Sam Altman was removed from his position as CEO of OpenAI on Friday, a surprising development given his active role in the company's recent events and initiatives. Alongside Altman's departure, Greg Brockman, OpenAI's president and board chair, also stepped down from his role, marking a significant change in the company's leadership.
Until his ouster, Altman was prominently involved in promoting OpenAI, including an appearance at the APEC summit in San Francisco just a day before the announcement. OpenAI, known for its achievements in AI and its high valuation, recently strengthened its partnership with Microsoft. These achievements made the board's decision to remove Altman unexpected. In the days leading up to these leadership changes, Altman was actively engaged in key company activities, with no outward signs of issues at OpenAI.
Despite the board's decision, which was not related to financial or operational misconduct, the company has sought to reassure employees of its stability and support for the new interim CEO, Mira Murati. The departures of Altman and Brockman represent a notable shift in the tech industry, especially for a company at the forefront of AI development like OpenAI.

Apple To Adopt RCS Messaging Standard:

Apple has revealed plans to integrate the RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging standard into iPhones next year. This move is seen as a response to ongoing requests from competitors like Google and Samsung and evolving regulatory pressures. RCS, which has developed into a more advanced platform over time, will enhance messaging between iPhone and Android users with features similar to those in iMessage.
The introduction of RCS will allow for improved cross-platform messaging, offering functionalities like read receipts, typing indicators, and the ability to send high-quality images and videos. Additionally, it will enable location sharing in text conversations and operate over both mobile data and Wi-Fi. This update, however, doesn't mean iMessage is being replaced or opened to other platforms. iMessage will remain exclusive to iPhone users, while RCS will act as an enhanced substitute for SMS and MMS in interactions with Android devices.
Apple emphasizes that iMessage's security, with its end-to-end encryption, is superior to RCS. The company plans to work with GSMA members to improve RCS's security features, but it won't implement proprietary encryption over RCS. These developments follow Apple's recent enhancements to the SMS experience between iPhone and Android users, like improved Tapback support and new features in SMS group chats.

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