Good morning. Good news if you’re a Spotify user who’s not quite happy with the service’s myriad tools to curate the listening experience: Discover Weekly is getting a revamp.
The playlist, which serves up new things to listen to each Monday, has added new controls to allow you, dear listener, to put your thumb on the algorithmic scale. Find yourself drifting from your recent Benson Boone kick to rejoin the Black Parade? Nudge it in the direction of eyeliner, elder emo.
It’s a welcome opportunity to allow human intervention when the machine doesn’t quite match the mood. More tech news below. —Andrew Nusca
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Mark Zuckerberg overhauls Meta’s AI org
Mark Zuckerberg is stacking the deck in the AI race, betting that unlimited capital, top talent, and raw computing power will ensure victory.
The Meta CEO announced a major revamp of its AI operations on Monday, putting the company’s collection of AI businesses and projects under the umbrella of a newly created organization called Meta Superintelligence Labs, or MSL.
Zuckerberg also appointed Alexandr Wang, the former CEO of data-labeling startup Scale AI, as Meta’s first ever Chief AI Officer.
“As the pace of AI progress accelerates, developing superintelligence is coming into sight,” Zuckerberg wrote in an internal memo obtained by Fortune. “I believe this will be the beginning of a new era for humanity, and I am fully committed to doing what it takes for Meta to lead the way.”
Zuckerberg also confirmed that former GitHub CEO and investor Nat Friedman has also joined Meta to partner with Wang to lead MSL, heading Meta’s work on AI products and applied research.
Meta has embarked on an extraordinary hiring spree in recent weeks, bringing Wang on board as part of a $14.3 billion deal with Scale, and recruiting top researchers from OpenAI with rumored $100 million compensation offers.
In Zuckerberg’s internal memo on Monday, he named 11 top researchers who had joined Meta from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. —Sharon Goldman
Apple mulls using Anthropic, OpenAI to power Siri
Apple is reportedly considering using AI technology from Anthropic or OpenAI to power a new version of Siri.
The move would effectively ditch the company’s homegrown models in an attempt to rapidly right the company’s listing AI ship.
Apple “has asked [both companies] to train versions of their models that could run on Apple’s cloud infrastructure for testing,” according to a new Bloomberg report.
Apple already allows OpenAI’s ChatGPT to answer web-based search queries via Siri. But this new step would reduce Apple’s control over the voice assistant in exchange for making Siri more competitive with AI assistants on competing devices, e.g. those running Google Android.
Such a move would be very much focused on addressing Apple’s short-term AI woes. In the long term, Apple typically prefers control over core capabilities.
Apple is reportedly still working on a competing Siri project that uses homegrown AI models, and it’s not giving up on the work that has brought it this far.
The report notes that the arrangement is “at an early stage” and a final decision hasn’t been made. But if Apple opted to proceed, a different Siri could appear as soon as next year. —AN
Nintendo reportedly pulled products from Amazon U.S.
Nintendo has apparently pulled its products from the U.S. website of Amazon after a disagreement over unauthorized sales.
That means Amazon is missing out on sales of the new Nintendo Switch 2, already the fastest-selling game console of all time. Nintendo sold more than 3.5 million units in the first four days of sale; it’s aiming for 15 million by March.
According to a Bloomberg report, the Japanese gaming icon noticed that third-party merchants on Amazon were offering Switch games for sale in the U.S. at prices that undercut Nintendo’s advertised rates.
Sellers were apparently buying games in bulk in Southeast Asia, then exporting them to the U.S. Amazon reportedly offered to label authentic games for consumers, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy Nintendo.
Official Nintendo product listings began disappearing from Amazon U.S. last year. (Both companies rejected the report’s findings but declined to elaborate further.)
The companies’ cold relations appear to be thawing, albeit slowly. Nintendo has allowed preorders for the upcoming title Donkey Kong Bananza on Amazon US. But the Switch 2 is still unavailable. —AN
More tech
—Amazon’s robot milestone. The retailer says it has deployed 1 million warehouse ’bots as it paces toward outnumbering human workers.
—Apple denied in court. A U.S. judge rejected Apple’s motion to dismiss the antitrust lawsuit accusing it of unlawfully dominating the country’s smartphone market.
—Crypto fraud ring dismantled. Europol knocked out the ring, which allegedly laundered €460 million ($540 million), in Spain.
—Doctor Microsoft, I presume? The company’s new AI tool diagnosed patients four times more accurately than human doctors.
—Mary D’Onofrio joins Crosslink Capital. The longtime Bessemer investor backed Anthropic and Canva.
—Senator changes tune on AI. Marsha Blackburn reversed her support for a U.S. bill that would bar state AI restrictions for five years.
—North Korean IT crackdown. In two new indictments, the U.S. Department of Justice alleges millions in illicit earnings by remote work impersonators.
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