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Elon Musk threatens to ban Apple devices at his companies over its new OpenAI deal
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk is threatening to ban his employees from taking Apple devices into their workplaces after Apple CEO Tim Cook announced a partnership on Monday to integrate OpenAI’s artificial intelligence technology into its operating systems.
On Monday evening, Musk wrote on his social media platform X that adding OpenAI’s tech into Apple’s systems “is an unacceptable security violation.” He added that visitors to his businesses, which also include SpaceX, “will have to check their Apple devices at the door, where they will be stored in a Faraday cage.”
Musk’s threat to ban Apple devices at his workplaces, which employ more than 100,000 workers across Tesla, SpaceX and X alone, comes amid a legal battle between the Tesla CEO and OpenAI. In March, Musk sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, alleging that the artificial intelligence company had violated its original mission statement by putting profits over benefiting humanity.
Apple’s announcement of its partnership with OpenAI emphasized that users’ personal data would remain private, even as the iPhone maker integrates AI into operating systems including iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia. The tech giant said it won’t collect data on users or search their personal data stored on their devices when they use the AI system.
Yet Musk expressed skepticism that that Apple users’ personal data will remain private.
“It’s patently absurd that Apple isn’t smart enough to make their own AI, yet is somehow capable of ensuring that OpenAI will protect your security & privacy!” Musk wrote on X. “Apple has no clue what’s actually going on once they hand your data over to OpenAI. They’re selling you down the river.”
Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk helped found OpenAI in 2015, but stepped down from its board in 2018. At the same time, he is working to build a rival AI company, xAI, which has recruited researchers from OpenAI and other top tech firms with the mission to “maximally benefit all of humanity.”
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Questions on neurologist’s White House visits spark heated exchange over Biden’s health
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Russian playwright, theater director sentenced to prison on terrorism charges
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A Russian court on Monday convicted a theater director and a playwright of terrorism charges and sentenced them to six years each in prison, the latest in an unrelenting crackdown on dissent across the country that has reached new heights since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.
Zhenya Berkovich, a prominent independent theater director, and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk have already been in jail for over a year awaiting trial.
Authorities claimed their play “Finist, the Brave Falcon” justifies terrorism, which is a criminal offense in Russia punishable by up to seven years in prison. Berkovich and Petriychuk have both repeatedly rejected the accusations against them.
In one hearing, Berkovich told the court that she staged the play in order to prevent terrorism, and Petriychuk echoed her sentiment, saying that she wrote it in order to prevent events like those depicted in the play.
The women’s lawyers pointed out at court hearings before the trial that the play was supported by the Russian Culture Ministry and won the Golden Mask award, Russia’s most prestigious national theater award. In 2019, the play was read to inmates of a women’s prison in Siberia, and Russia’s state penitentiary service praised it on its website, Petriychuk’s lawyer said.
Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP
The case against Berkovich and Petriychuk elicited outrage in Russia. An open letter in support of the two artists, started by the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper, was signed by more than 16,000 people since their arrest.
The play, the letter argued, “carries an absolutely clear anti-terrorist sentiment.”
Dozens of Russian actors, directors and journalists also signed affidavits urging the court to release the two from custody pending investigation and trial.
Immediately after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin unleashed a sweeping campaign of repression, unparalleled since the Soviet era. It has effectively criminalized any criticism of the war, with the authorities targeting not only prominent opposition figures who eventually received draconian prison terms, but anyone who spoke out against it, publicly or otherwise.
Pressure mounted on critical artists in Russia, too. Actors and directors were fired from state-run theaters, and musicians were blacklisted from performing in the country. Some were slapped with the label “foreign agent,” which carries additional government scrutiny and strong negative connotations. Many have left Russia.
Berkovich, who is raising two adopted daughters, refused to leave Russia and continued working with her independent theater production in Moscow, called Soso’s Daughters. Shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine, she staged an anti-war picket and was jailed for 11 days.
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Which lawmakers are calling for Biden to drop out of 2024 race?
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