The Great Tech Worker Revolution Has Begun

(Inc.) “I don’t like my job. And I don’t think I’m going to go anymore.” That there is maybe the best line from the 1999 Mike Judge movie Office Space, the precursor to the even more on-the-nose Silicon Valley. Look at the four-digit-number in that sentence again. That line was uttered (checks watch) 25 years…

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Researchers say an AI-powered transcription tool used in hospitals invents things no one ever said

(AP) Tech behemoth OpenAI has touted its artificial intelligence-powered transcription tool Whisper as having near “human level robustness and accuracy.” But Whisper has a major flaw: It is prone to making up chunks of text or even entire sentences, according to interviews with more than a dozen software engineers, developers and academic researchers. Those experts…

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Need to Add Three NYCs to the US Power Grid by 2030

(KKR Academy) The power need for the largest hyperscale data centers is currently 1 GW, and estimates show that 18 GW of additional power capacity will be needed to service US data centers by 2030. For comparison, the total power demand for New York City is currently around 6 GW. In other words, there is…

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OpenAI Hires Ex-Uber Executive Scott Schools as Chief Compliance Officer

(Bloomberg) OpenAI has hired former Uber Technologies Inc. executive Scott Schools to serve as its first chief compliance officer, bolstering the startup’s efforts to adapt to emerging global regulations around artificial intelligence. Schools most recently was the chief ethics and compliance officer at Uber, another tech company that has dealt with a complicated regulatory landscape…

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Nuclear-Powered AI: Big Tech’s Bold Solution or a Pipedream?

(WSJ) The tech industry is enamored with nuclear power, but for now it will lean heavily on fossil fuels to power its artificial-intelligence boom. Amazon.com, Google and Microsoft each struck recent deals meant to bring more nuclear power online to satiate burgeoning energy demand tied to AI. They are betting billions of dollars that nuclear…

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Google will block election ads after polls close

(Axios) Google will block election ads across all of its platforms after the last polls close on Nov. 5, according to a memo sent to its advertising partners Thursday and obtained by Axios. Why it matters: The policy, first introduced during the 2020 election, is meant to prevent misinformation about voting, including candidates prematurely claiming…

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Tonight’s strange debate with an AI congressional candidate

(Politico) In one of the zanier twists of this campaign season, two Virginia congressional candidates will face off tonight, in a virtual debate, against an AI bot. The candidates are Bentley Hensel and David Kennedy, both running for Virginia’s 8th district — both independents, and both expected to lose. The bot is based on Rep.…

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Amazon Could Be Forced to Treat Drivers as Employees

(NYT) Amazon’s delivery system depends on third-party companies. But labor regulators have challenged that model, possibly opening the way for unionization. Hundreds of thousands of drivers who deliver Amazon packages don’t work directly for the e-commerce giant; instead, they’re employed by third-party logistics companies, called delivery service partners. Last year, Amazon ended a contract with…

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AI May Not Live Up to the Hype, MIT Economist Daron Acemoglu Warns

(Bloomberg) Daron Acemoglu wants to make clear right away that he has nothing against artificial intelligence. He gets the potential. “I’m not an AI pessimist,” he declares seconds into an interview. What makes Acemoglu, a renowned professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, come off as a doomsayer locked in on the mounting economic and financial…

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