We’re kicking this week off with news about OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot, which became available for everyone to demo last week.
While the chatbot produces some pretty convincing answers to complex questions, mods of the popular question-and-answer site for developers, Stack Overflow, are temporarily banning answers generated by the tool, citing “a high rate of being incorrect.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says ChatGPT has already surpassed 1 million users.
In other news, we got a boatload of trailers for upcoming shows and movies from Brazil’s CCXP pop culture convention over the weekend. That includes previews for The Boys spinoff Gen V, The Last of Us, The Witcher: Blood Origin, and more.
And now, here’s a silly tweet:
Stay tuned as we continue to update this list with the most important news of today: December 5th, 2022.
Dec 5, 2022, 11:02 PM UTCSheena Vasani
Apple may shift some iPad production away from China to India
The tech giant’s reportedly discussing manufacturing some iPads in India after new covid restrictions sparked countrywide protests in China.
- EChinese hackers reportedly stole over $20 million in US covid benefits.
According to a report from NBC, the Secret Service pinned the attack on APT41, a hacking group known for its ties to the Chinese government. This is the same group that was blamed for a hack affecting government agencies in over six states in March.
Dec 5, 2022, 10:20 PM UTCAllison Johnson
Pixel 7 phones are getting a VPN and call enhancements today
Features promised at launch for the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro are officially arriving today with Google’s latest feature drop.
Dec 5, 2022, 10:06 PM UTCAsh Parrish
Around 300 QA workers at Microsoft-owned ZeniMax are organizing a union
The union would be Microsoft’s first and the biggest union of video game workers in the US so far.
Dec 5, 2022, 10:03 PM UTCEmma Roth
Facebook threatens to ban news in the US over journalism bill
Meta’s policy communications head says the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act doesn’t recognize that news publishers share content on Facebook “because it benefits their bottom line — not the other way around.”
- MThe St. Louis Apple union election would’ve failed.
Last month, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union announced that it was canceling its union drive at an Apple Store in St. Louis. Now, 66 of the store’s 90 employees have said they wouldn’t want to join the union, and have no interest in doing so in the future, according to Bloomberg.
The employees say their decision wasn’t because of pressure from management, which unions have alleged in the past.
Dec 5, 2022, 9:57 PM UTCAllison Johnson
The alert slider lives on in leaked OnePlus 11 render
The alleged renders of an upcoming OnePlus flagship showcase a redesigned camera bump and the fan-favorite alert slider.
Dec 5, 2022, 9:31 PM UTCMia Sato
Shein will spend $15 million on ‘improving standards’ at factories after a report found labor violations
Shein says it will upgrade hundreds of its suppliers’ factories and increase audits and training. The e-commerce platform was valued at $100 billion earlier this year.
Dec 5, 2022, 9:15 PM UTCJay Peters
Starlink is delaying its daytime data caps
Starlink’s data caps were set to kick in this month, but now they’re scheduled to go into effect in February instead.
Dec 5, 2022, 7:39 PM UTCTom Warren
Microsoft says it has offered Sony a 10-year deal on new Call of Duty games
Microsoft’s new Call of Duty offer comes after weeks of regulatory pressure over its plans to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion.
Dec 5, 2022, 7:34 PM UTCAsh Parrish
Ramattra will be easier to earn in the Overwatch 2 battle pass
With the arrival of season 2, Overwatch 2 developers are lowering the level at which the new hero is acquired.
- TPUBG is heading to the Epic Games Store this week.
PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS will be available on the Epic Games Store (EGS) on December 7th at 4PM PT / 7PM ET. The game went free-to-play almost a year ago, and the addition of EGS includes full cross-play with PC players on Steam. There’s even a free PUBG Founder’s Pack with cosmetic items and DLC that you can claim from EGS from today until January 4th.
Image: Krafton Dec 5, 2022, 6:41 PM UTCMitchell Clark
Now you won’t have to get a Real ID for two more years
The DHS has pushed back the deadline for Real IDs to May 7th, 2025.
Dec 5, 2022, 6:39 PM UTCTom Warren
Microsoft to raise Xbox first-party game prices from $60 to $70 in 2023
Microsoft joins Sony, Ubisoft, and others with Xbox Game Studios titles priced at $69.99 next month.
Dec 5, 2022, 6:22 PM UTCJustine Calma
Climate misinformation explodes on Twitter
2022 has been the worst year yet for ‘climate-sceptic’ content on the social media platform, according to recent analysis.
Dec 5, 2022, 6:00 PM UTCMitchell Clark and Emma Roth
The race to build a better Twitter
Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has left users wondering where to go should the platform go up in flames or its content moderation policies unravel. But is there really a viable alternative to Twitter yet?
Dec 5, 2022, 6:00 PM UTCAriel Shapiro
Apple Podcasts’ top shows of the year show true crime reigns supreme
Crime Junkie took the top spot, with Morbid joining the top five.
Dec 5, 2022, 5:37 PM UTCTom Warren
Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield is leaving in January
Butterfield has helped co-found Slack and Flickr, and now he’s leaving Salesforce.
Dec 5, 2022, 5:31 PM UTCAsh Parrish
Riot shows off some tag team battles in its League of Legends fighting game
Riot shows off Illaoi gameplay and all the slick assist moves coming to Project L.
Dec 5, 2022, 5:00 PM UTCMia Sato
Meta is expanding its use of AI face scanning to verify users’ age on Facebook Dating
Meta has used AI face scanning tools to verify the age of Instagram users. Now, the company says it will test the tool on Facebook Dating users.
Dec 5, 2022, 4:48 PM UTCMakena Kelly
Sam Bankman-Fried says he will testify before Congress on FTX collapse
But he hasn’t promised to attend the House Financial Services Committee hearing planned for next week.
Dec 5, 2022, 4:31 PM UTCChris Welch
The combined HBO and Discovery app will reportedly just be called ‘Max’
Ditching the HBO naming could make the service seem less prestigious, but Warner Bros. Discovery clearly wants to put all of its content on equal footing.
- TH&R Block customers sue Meta for collecting their financial data.
That didn’t take long! On November 22nd, we co-published an in-depth report from The Markup that revealed multiple tax filing websites had been quietly sending a bunch of sensitive financial info to Meta through the Meta Pixel. While Meta says it doesn’t want to receive that kind of information, the suit alleges that the company did basically nothing to stop it.
- JDon’t bet on AI replacing Google just yet.
With the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, many are proclaiming the death of Google is nigh. Why search when you can chat with an all-knowing AI?
Well, because, as we wrote last year, those AIs have a tendency to make up their answers. If you need proof of the trouble this can cause: Stack Overflow just banned responses from ChatGPT for being plausibly wrong too often.
Dec 5, 2022, 2:00 PM UTCDavid Zipper
Why automating trucking is harder than you think
An interview with Karen Levy, an associate professor of information science at Cornell, about her new book, Data Driven: Truckers, Technology, and the New Workplace Surveillance
