Here are some recent updates from the tech world. Meta's Twitter rival Threads had a promising start with 10 million sign-ups in seven hours. French MPs demand a ban on video-sharing platform Tik Tok and Open Al formed a dedicated team to tackle the problem of artificial superintelligence going rouge.
10 million users sign up for Threads in seven hours
Meta's Twitter rival Threads had a promising start with 10 million sign-ups in seven hours, according to its CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
However, it did not get a green light from regulators in the European Union. Unlike Instagram, Threads is text-centric, allowing users to write up to 500 characters and add photos and videos. Users can log in with their Insta account and carry over their user name. It can be customised independently as well. Users without an Insta account can't open accounts.
Also, deleting Threads account will also delete the linked Instagram account, which makes the user experience uncomfortable. When Bluesky, backed up by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, was launched, it was touted as Twitter's alternative.
French MPs demand ban on Tik Tok, want it to come clean
French MPs on Thursday called on the government to ban video-sharing platform Tik Tok unless it clarifies its links to China, days after the government blamed social media for fuelling recent riots.
A Senate commission of inquiry set up to probe Tik Tok's handling of data and "influence strategy" said in its final report that the firm should be given until January 1 next year to come clean or face a ban in France and possibly Europe.
The commission, which held four months of hearings and grilled Tik Tok executives about its ownership structure, also said the platform had to improve content moderation and introduce "effective" age limits or face being suspended. The recommendations are not binding on the government.
Open Al forms team to tackle super intelligence going rouge
Open Al, the creator of ChatGPT, has formed a dedicated team to tackle the problem of artificial superintelligence over the next four years.
The team will be co-led by Ilya Sutskever, one of the co-founders, and Jan Leike. OpenAl will dedicate 20% of its computing power to this effort. While superintelligence seems far off now, it could arrive this decade, the company said.
"Currently, we don't have a solution for steering or controlling a potentially superintelligent Al and preventing it from going rogue. Our current techniques for aligning Al rely on human ability to supervise Al. But humans won't be able to reliably supervise Al systems much smarter than us," it said.
The development comes at a time when regulators are debating Al.
