Netcompany Snippets #1

So.. what is a snippet?

A snippet is a small piece or brief extract or a brief quotable message. In coding, a snippet is a programming term for a small region of re-usable source code, machine code or text.

The Netcompany snippet covers what we believe to be the most important, interesting, and inspiring stories in the world of tech, with a special focus on Europe. Here we go!

ChatGPT competitor Bard goes live and ditches Europe?

The ChatGPT competitor Bard will be available in 180 markets – just not in the EU. Regulatory concerns are the culprit, as per Stratechery's Ben Thompson.?

The EU AI Act advances?

The EU is plenty active in the sphere of AI regulation. After two years of negotiations, the AI Act will finally be put to a plenary vote in the EU parliament in June.??

AI gets its first constitution

The ChatGPT competitor Claude, by Anthropic, introduces constitutional AI.? A few days later, they release a chatbot that can read entire books in one go.?

The 'Godfather of AI' quits Google.??

Geoffrey Hinton has quit Google to be able to speak freely about the possible dangers of AI. Also, he thinks artificial general intelligence might be only “20 years or less” away.?

The case for an AI productivity boom?

Economist Erik Brynjolfsson and colleagues think we might be on the transition point of a j-curve, and that AIs impact on productivity will soon explode.?

Goodbye to passwords??

Passwords are vulnerable to phishing – so-called passkeys are not. Now, Google, Microsoft, and Apple turn to this more secure way of identification.?

Can ChatGPT forecast Stock Price Movements??

The answer: yes it can.?

The TikTok security scandal in hindsight?

The TikTok ban is old news. Looking back, Financial Times technology correspondent Cristina Criddle asks: why did TikTok spy on me??

Stripe’s Patrick Collison interviews OpenAI’s Sam Altman?

… And it’s one worth listening to.?

New Charles Munger book by Stripe Press?

This November, Stripe Press releases an updated version of the now classic business memoir Poor Charlie’s Almanac (2005), and the press release is quite interesting to say the least.?

How do we identify alien lifeforms??

Biologist and computer scientist Lee Cronin thinks we should just use assembly theory. Might assembly theory tell us whether AI is alive or not??