Bytes: What’s new in tech
A bigger MacBook Air
Apple’s new MacBook Air “hits the sweet spot for most people in terms of price, capability, and portability,” said Kif Leswing in CNBC.com. “This is the first time it’s had a 15-inch screen, which is the most popular laptop size.” That alone could boost flagging MacBook sales. But it also comes supplied with battery life so good “it lasts an entire day and only needs overnight charging.” Apple’s M2 chip “can handle what feels like infinite windows and apps at the same time.” The cost is $1,299 for the base model, making it “one of the first laptops from Apple’s M-series transition to be priced aggressively.” If you haven’t upgraded your laptop in the past two years, this model “should be particularly attractive.”
Remember: ChatGPT is not a lawyer
OpenAI has been hit with its first defamation lawsuit after its AI chatbot allegedly fabricated information about a gun rights activist, said Ashley Belanger in Ars Technica. Mark Walters, a host on Armed America Radio, says ChatGPT has been making libelous statements about him. The misinformation was first uncovered by journalist Fred Riehl, who asked ChatGPT to summarize a complaint that the Second Amendment Foundation, a gun rights group, filed in federal court. The chatbot “generated a wholly inaccurate response,” saying that “the case was filed against Walters for embezzlement that never happened while serving at an SAF post he never held.” In actuality, the case was filed against Washington state’s attorney general, accusing him of misusing the legal process, and never mentioned Walters at all.
Stealing plans for a giant chip factory
A former Samsung executive was arrested this week for trying to sell China the plans for an entire semiconductor plant, said Shinhye Kang in Bloomberg. Korean prosecutors say the unnamed 65-year-old, who worked at Samsung for 18 years before moving to another company, allegedly “stole blueprints and designs” in 2018 and 2019 to try to replicate the whole Samsung factory in China. The accused initially had backing from an unnamed Taiwanese company, which “promised to invest more than $6 billion in the new facility,” but then failed to deliver on that investment. The executive then allegedly “turned to a group of Chinese investors and started producing trial products from a chip plant in Chengdu based on the Samsung technology.”