No need to sift through the web for crucial stories – we’ve got you covered. Here are the key global technology highlights for January 8, 2024.
1. Microsoft, OpenAI hit with new lawsuit by authors over AI training
Two authors sued OPENAI and its financial backer Microsoft in Manhattan federal court on Friday (Jan 5), claiming the companies infringed their copyright by misusing several of their books as part of the data used to train OpenAI’s GPT giant language model.Train the AI models behind the chatbot ChatGPT and other AI-based services. (Reuters)
2. EU’s Vestager to meet Big Tech CEOs in the US next week
European Union antitrust Commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s communications adviser said on Friday she would meet the chief executives of Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), Broadcom Inc (AVGO.O) and Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) in the United States next week.The meeting will focus on the European digital regulation and competition policy. (Reuters)
3. PREVIEW AI to dominate this year’s CES, even without OpenAI’s Altman on hand
OpenAl boss Sam Altman won’t be at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but the artificial intelligence fever his startup set off last year will be on full display as gadget makers race to find consumer uses for the technology. (Reuters)
4. Vietnam’s VinFast to set up $500 million EV facilities in India
Vietnamese electric car maker VinFast on Saturday signed a deal to set up its first manufacturing plant in India, as the ambitious company seeks to enter the world’s third-largest auto market.It is investing up to $2 billion and plans to spend $500 million over the first five years of the project. (Reuters)
5. Honda considers $14 billion plan for EV production in Canada, Nikkei reports
Honda Motor Co is considering building an electric vehicle plant in Canada in a nearly 2 trillion yen ($13.83 billion) project that could include in-house production of batteries, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported on Sunday.The project is likely to be one of Honda’s biggest investments. (Reuters)
6. US plans $162 million award to Microchip Technology to boost production
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced a program to award $162 million in grants to Microchip Technology to increase domestic production of microcontroller units (MCUS) and other specialty semiconductors used in the consumer, automotive, industrial, defense, and aerospace industries.The funding could also create more than 700 new jobs. (Mobile World Life)
7. Apple slides to eight-week low after second rating downgrade in a week
On Thursday, Apple shares fell further, losing about $176 billion since the beginning of the year.The move comes after piper Sandler became the second brokerage this week to downgrade Apple shares on concerns about the company’s sales.If the losses continue, Apple will lose $47.4 billion in market value that day. Harsh Kumar, principal analyst at PiperSandler, said the worsening macro environment in China could also put pressure on the mobile phone business. (Reuters)
