Good morning! This is your daily ☕️ Techpresso.
In today's Techpresso:
👀 Telegram CEO breaks silence after arrest
💸 OpenAI's new AI models could cost up to $2,000/month
🎶 Man accused of using bots and AI to earn $10 million in royalties
📸 Google’s Gemini-powered photo search arrives in early access
🎮 New AI model 'learns' how to simulate Super Mario Bros. from video footage
🎁 + 6 other news you might like
🔮 + 1 handpicked research papers and tools
👀 Telegram CEO breaks silence after arrestLINK
Twelve days after being detained in France, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov released a 600-word statement on his Telegram account, attributing the arrest to "growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform."
French authorities charged Durov with facilitating criminal activities on Telegram, including aiding the spread of child sexual abuse material, but Telegram's statement during his arrest asserted that Durov had "nothing to hide."
In his recent statement, Durov called his arrest unexpected and unjust, acknowledged the challenges of moderating Telegram, and pledged to make substantial improvements, including updating Telegram’s FAQ to indicate that private chats may now be moderated.
💸 OpenAI's new AI models could cost up to $2,000/monthLINK
OpenAI is reportedly considering a subscription fee of up to $2,000 per month for its upcoming large language models, codenamed Strawberry and Orion.
The company plans to launch Strawberry this fall, which is anticipated to surpass current AI models in solving complex problems, including unseen math problems and market strategies.
OpenAI is also reportedly aiming to raise several billion dollars in a new funding round, potentially valuing the company at over $100 billion, with possible investors including Apple, NVIDIA, and Microsoft.
🎶 Man accused of using bots and AI to earn $10 million in royaltiesLINK
A musician named Michael Smith from North Carolina has been charged with wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy for using AI-generated songs to fake music streams and collect over $10 million in royalties.
From 2017 to 2024, Smith allegedly employed AI to create songs and used automated bots to inflate streaming numbers, exploiting platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music, leading to around $1.2 million in annual royalties.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York revealed that Smith is accused of deceiving the streaming systems, with billions of fraudulent streams, resulting in charges that could lead to up to 20 years in prison each.
📸 Google’s Gemini-powered photo search arrives in early accessLINK
Google Photos has revamped its search function, allowing users to search using everyday language for terms like "Alice and me laughing" or "kayaking on a lake surrounded by mountains," rather than specific keywords.
The new 'Ask Photos' feature, now with an open waitlist in the US, uses Gemini-powered AI to answer natural language questions about your photos, making it act like an AI-powered photographic memory.
Google assures users that their data is protected with top-notch security and won't be used for ads, with queries reviewed anonymously if needed to improve the 'Ask Photos' feature.
🎮 New AI model 'learns' how to simulate Super Mario Bros. from video footageLINK
The MarioVGG model, despite showing glitches and being slow, demonstrates how even a limited AI can infer game physics and dynamics from video and input data.
Researchers aim to develop a controllable video game generator or potentially replace traditional game development and engines with video generation models in the future.
Training involved using a public Super Mario Bros. gameplay dataset of over 737,000 frames, focusing on limited inputs like "run right" and "run right and jump" to create consistent gameplay sequences.
Other news you might like
After seeing Wi-Fi network named “STINKY,” Navy found hidden Starlink dish on US warship.LINK
Rivian CEO says he deliberately didn’t follow the same strategy that Elon Musk set out at Tesla.LINK
YouTube is making tools to detect face and voice deepfakes.LINK
Intel's faltering business is attracting another chipmaker.LINK
Waymo thinks it can overcome robotaxi skepticism with lots of safety data.LINK
Marc Benioff says Salesforce is basically starting from a 'beginner's mind' mentality and going all in on AI agents.LINK
Latest research and tools
UE5 Nanite in WebGPU: a project enabling the use of Unreal Engine 5's Nanite virtualized geometry system within web browsers through WebGPU, supporting detailed mesh visualization, software rasterization, and extensive rendering customization, even functioning offline with Deno.LINK
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