Walmart’s plans were accidentally revealed by Microsoft’s security chief
Two former Microsoft employees interrupted a session at the company’s Build developer conference to protest the company’s cloud contracts with the Israeli military. The disruption comes days after Microsoft announced it had conducted an internal review of how its technology is used in the war in Gaza. Microsoft said its relationship with Israel’s Ministry of Defense is “structured as…standard commercial relationship”.
Bill Gates felt that Musk was involved in the death of the world’s poorest children
In an interview with The New York Times, Microsoft Co-founder and world’s second-richest person Tim Gates said, “I thought there’d be, like, a 20 percent cut.” He added, “Instead, right now, it’s like an 80 percent cut. I don’t think anybody expected that.” Gates further said his foundation was “rattled” by Elon Musk’s commitment to the ‘Giving Pledge’.
Microsoft lowers the Surface Laptop size to 13 inches
Microsoft has launched its new Surface Pro 12-inch and 13-inch tablets. The new tablets will be available through its own store, Best Buy, and other online stores starting from $679. The 13-inch model will be available starting at $899 and the 12-inch model at $999. The pricing for the new tablets has not been announced yet.
A Microsoft employee calls an artificial intelligence boss a war profiteer
An employee at Microsoft has claimed that Israel’s military uses Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform to sift through “mass surveillement” of data gathered through mass surveillement. “I joined Microsoft believing in its mission to ’empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more’,” the employee wrote. He added that Microsoft tried to suppress any protests from his coworkers.
The Trump campaign suggests that Iran is behind the hacking of its emails
The FBI is investigating whether documents from the Trump campaign were stolen in a cyber intrusion days after the campaign claimed it had been hacked by Iran. A campaign spokesperson said these documents were obtained illegally and “intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process”. Earlier, Microsoft had said Iran had breached US presidential campaign’s network.
Section 230 immunity could be carved out for intimate Artificial Intelligence deepfakes
Microsoft has urged US lawmakers to update laws on child sexual exploitation, abuse and non-consensual intimate imagery to include ‘deep fake fraud’ generated due to the misuse of Artificial Intelligence. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the private sector has a responsibility to prevent misuse of artificial intelligence. Earlier, Microsoft had said that there are more than 50,000 cases of deep fake fraud in US.
SearchGulp is Openai’s direct assault on the internet
OpenAI has announced that it is working on an AI-based search engine, SearchGPT, that it says will help users connect with publishers by prominently citing and linking to them in searches. It added that the platform will be available for download in the next few weeks. Notably, Microsoft had released a generative AI-powered version of Bing in 2023.
After the security backlash, microsoft will switch off recall
Microsoft recently announced the update of Copilot+ PCs’ set-up experience to give users a “clearer choice” to opt in to saving snapshots using Microsoft’s’recall’ feature. The feature is designed to let users record their PC history in the cloud. It allows users to save personal data in a “perfect, artificial intelligence-enabled memory”.
It is not possible for Windows to take everything you do if you do not opt in
Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President, Windows + devices, Pavan Davuluri has said the company will continue to listen to and learn from customers, including consumers, developers and enterprises, on how to evolve experiences in ways that are meaningful to them. “We’ll continue to build these new capabilities and experiences for our users by prioritising privacy, safety and security first,” he added.