• The Biden administration’s goal of closing the digital divide and providing broadband internet access to the millions of U.S. households that are currently without it by 2030 is being hamstrung by a fiber technician worker shortage. The Fiber Broadband Association said an additional 205,000 workers will need to be hired by 2026, and the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimated that around 34,000 additional workers could be needed this year alone to meet the goals of the broadband expansion program, which is supported by a $42.5 billion spending package. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Some of the tech industry’s richest figures, including OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, Bill Gates and Marc Benioff, have invested in a number of companies pursuing nuclear fusion, a potential clean-energy alternative that, in theory, could create massive amounts of energy with no carbon emissions and limited radioactivity. Atlman alone has put $375 million into fusion startup Helion Energy Inc., and nearly $5 billion in private funding has poured into fusion efforts — most of which has come since 2021 when a U.S. lab came close to achieving nuclear fusion. (The Wall Street Journal)
• The White House has asked South Korea to urge its chipmakers including Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and SK Hynix Inc. not to increase sales in China if the country bans U.S.-based Micron Technology Inc. from selling within its borders, according to four people familiar with the talks between the White House and the presidential office in Seoul. Micron is currently being probed by the Cyberspace Administration of China in what is viewed as a possible retaliatory effort by the Chinese government in response to the Biden administration’s crackdowns on Chinese technologies. (Financial Times)

Happening today:

• RSA Conference, one of the largest IT security conferences, starts today in San Francisco, Calif., and runs through Thursday. The event will feature keynote addresses by Sumit Dhawan, president of VMware Inc.; Lisa Monaco, deputy attorney general of the United States; and Vijay Bolina, chief information security officer of Google’s DeepMind.
• Project Voice 2023: The World of Conversational AI is set to kick off today in Chattanooga, Tenn. The multiday event will feature conversations on how artificial intelligence will affect different industries and will include a keynote event that will reunite Apple Inc.’s Siri co-founders Robert Scoble, Adam Cheyer (currently a partner at Project Voice Capital Partners), Dag Kittlaus (now CEO of Riva Health Inc.) and Tom Gruber (chief technology officer of LifeScore Music).

HR tech: when the computer says no

Financial Times

Subscription Price Creep Is Real. Our Guide to Pushing Back.

Nicole Nguygen, The Wall Street Journal

Track down hidden recurring costs, binge strategically and consider free alternatives.

SVB’s new owner fights to rebuild brand and stem outflows

Tabby Kinder et al., Financial Times

First Citizens president Peter Bristow says it will stick to the failed bank’s model while trying to restore confidence.

In 24 Hours, Elon Musk Reignited His Reputation for Risk

Tim Higgins, The Wall Street Journal

Between Wednesday and Thursday evenings, he stripped celebrities, journalists and other high-profile users of their free, legacy verification on Twitter, risking a VIP revolt on the social-media platform. He promised that the electric-car maker Tesla Inc. would chase sales volume at the expense of profitability. And he launched SpaceX’s first of its kind giant space rocket, which exploded on the way to the heavens. 

Autonomy founder Mike Lynch loses bid to appeal against extradition to US

Jane Croft, Financial Times

Billionaire faces trial on criminal charges linked to Hewlett-Packard’s $11bn takeover of the company in 2011.

Schools bought millions of Chromebooks in 2020 — and three years later, they’re starting to break

Monica Chin, The Verge

The US Public Interest Research Group Education Fund has found that cheap Chromebooks, due to their short lifespans and lack of repairability, are both less sustainable and more expensive for schools than pricier devices might be.

Billionaire Brin Sold Tesla Near Its Peak for New Giving Vehicle

Ben Steverman and Biz Carson, Bloomberg

Sergey Brin’s latest nonprofit, Catalyst4, offers the Google co-founder tax breaks, as well as increased levels of flexibility, secrecy and political influence. 

Chip industry slowdown will last longer than expected, manufacturers warn

Tim Bradshaw, Financial Times

Weakening demand for automotive components compounds slumping PC and smartphone sales.

Chile’s lithium nationalization shines light on emerging tech

Ernest Scheyder, Reuters

Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s plan to nationalize his country’s immense lithium industry is putting the spotlight on an emerging crop of filtration technologies aimed at revolutionizing how the metal is produced for the electric vehicle industry.

UK set to legislate to create new regulator to tackle Big Tech

Kate Beioley and Jim Pickard, Financial Times

Draft bill expected within days that will put CMA’s digital markets unit on a statutory footing.

YouTube case at Supreme Court could shape protections for ChatGPT and AI

Andrew Goudsward, Reuters

When the U.S. Supreme Court decides in the coming months whether to weaken a powerful shield protecting internet companies, the ruling also could have implications for rapidly developing technologies like artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT.

The Future of AI Relies on a High School Teacher’s Free Database

Marissa Newman and Aggi Cantrill, Bloomberg

With over five billion images, LAION has become central to the future of artificial intelligence — and a growing debate over how to regulate it.

Big Tech Depends on AI Shining Through Cloud Haze

Dan Gallagher, The Wall Street Journal

Microsoft, Amazon and Google expected to show another slowdown in cloud growth.

Russia’s Sberbank releases ChatGPT rival GigaChat

Alexander Marrow, Reuters

Russian lender Sberbank said on Monday it had released technology called GigaChat as a rival to ChatGPT, initially in an invite-only testing mode, joining the artificial intelligence chatbot race.

Tesla’s Autopilot never claimed to be self-pilot, juror says

Abhirup Roy et al., Reuters

Jurors in what appears to be the first trial related to a crash involving Tesla’s Autopilot feature told Reuters after the verdict on Friday that the electric-vehicle maker clearly warned that the partially automated driving software was not a self-piloted system, and that driver distraction was to blame.

The Secret History of AI, and a Hint at What’s Next

Christopher Mims, The Wall Street Journal

Artificial intelligence is already a big part of our daily lives. ‘We are at an inflection point.’

German magazine fires editor over AI ‘interview’ with Michael Schumacher

Alan Baldwin, Reuters

The publishers of a German magazine that ran an ‘interview’ with Michael Schumacher generated by artificial intelligence have sacked the editor and apologised to the Formula One great’s family.

Welcome to the age of automated dating

Taylor Lorenz, The Washington Post

Rizz, which is meant to function as a digital wingman, helps users come up with killer opening lines and responses to potential matches. The company behind it is just one of many start-ups trying to transform romance through artificial intelligence by optimizing and automating online dating, now one of the primary ways by which people find romantic connections.

AI Art Sites Censor Prompts About Abortion

Debbie Nathan, The Intercept

Two of the hottest new artificial intelligence programs for people who aren’t tech savvy, DALL-E 2 and Midjourney, create stunning visual images using only written prompts. Everything, that is, that avoids certain language in the prompts — including words associated with women’s bodies, women’s health care, women’s rights, and abortion.

How 5G Is Helping Surgeons Operate With Greater Precision

Jiyoung Sohn, The Wall Street Journal

Using augmented-reality technology, doctors can hold a tablet PC above a patient’s chest and see the precise location of tumors and tissues.

Chip designer Arm makes its own advanced prototype semiconductor

Cheng Ting-Fang et al., Financial Times

Company to build test chip with factory partners, stoking fears it could in future compete with its biggest customers

The voice note boom

Natalie Daher, Axios

The voicemail might be dead, but the quick little audio note is thriving. People can increasingly drop quippy or professional self-recorded files on apps for work, dating and other personal comms, which many senders and recipients feel builds better connections.

Before You Die, Secure Your Digital Life

Julie Jargon, The Wall Street Journal

Tips to make sure heirs can access your photos, files and passwords when you’re gone.

China building cyber weapons to hijack enemy satellites, says US leak

Mehul Srivastava et al., Financial Times

Classified CIA document assesses Beijing’s ambitions to take control of communications critical to fighting wars.

Hacker Group Names Are Now Absurdly Out of Control

Andy Greenberg, Wired

Pumpkin Sandstorm. Spandex Tempest. Charming Kitten. Is this really how we want to name the hackers wreaking havoc worldwide?

Twitter Blue Ticks for Dead Celebrities Add to Verification Confusion

Low De Wei, Bloomberg

Twitter Inc. users already having to navigate a flurry of fake accounts after the removal of legacy blue ticks are noticing more inconsistencies: personalities who have been dead for years supposedly holding paid verification accounts.

Wall Street Wants to Dance With TikTok—but Not When Anyone’s Watching

Michael Roddan, The Information

Big banks aggressively chase deals with TikTok parent ByteDance, while conspicuously avoiding its flagship app.

Twitter gives dril a spite checkmark

Mike Pearl, Mashable

The latest speed bump in the rollout of Twitter’s revamped verification policy under new owner Elon Musk is here: Spite checkmarks. Twitter is capriciously awarding unwanted blue verification badges to the most prominent critics of those very badges.

Elon Caves, Gives Blue Checks Back to Twitter’s Biggest Celebs

Victor Swezey, The Daily Beast

Across Twitter on Saturday, some of the platform’s biggest names expressed surprise when their fickle checkmarks suddenly reappeared.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s 2022 Compensation Valued at $226 Million

Miles Kruppa, The Wall Street Journal

Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Alphabet Inc. and Google, was awarded compensation in 2022 valued at $226 million, according to a regulatory filing Friday, including a triannual stock award valued at more than $200 million.

‘The flattening’: tech sector calls time on middle managers

Hannah Murphy, Financial Times

Moves to carve out a layer of staff aim to speed up decisions but could leave a talent gap.

Apple MacBook Maker to Build Plant in Vietnam, Finance Reports

Mai Ngoc Chau, Bloomberg

Quanta Computer Inc., Apple’s major contract manufacturer for MacBooks, will set up a $120-million plant in Vietnam’s northern province of Nam Dinh, Vietnam Finance reported, citing information from a Friday signing ceremony between the company and the provincial government.