A moment’s silence for the death of Zuckerberg’s metaverse

Good morning. Here’s today’s Dart:

• A moment’s silence, please, for the death of Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse

• ChatGPT plugins and web browsing beta rollout for Plus users

• EU draft legislation will ban AI for mass biometric surveillance and predictive policing

• Trending news from around the web

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Today’s picks

Highlights if you’ve only got a few minutes

A moment’s silence, please, for the death of Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse

The Guardian covers the demise of Mark Zuckerberg's multibillion-dollar metaverse project which was first announced in October 2021. Zuckerberg even rebranded Facebook as "Meta" in honour of the project. However, despite spending $36 billion on the project and hiring 10,000 engineers in Europe alone, the project failed to materialise into anything substantial, and Zuckerberg quietly had it put down in March 2023.

The article also touches on Zuckerberg's absolute control over the company, as he has the ability to exercise voting rights with respect to a majority of the voting power of their outstanding capital stock, which means he can control the outcome of all matters submitted to stockholders for approval. (link)

ChatGPT plugins and web browsing beta rollout for Plus users

OpenAI has announced the beta rollout of web browsing and plugins features for ChatGPT Plus users. The release comprises 70 plugins for ChatGPT Plus users, enabling users to do a variety of things such as entertainment and shopping, job searches, and weather forecasts. The new features come with selective web browsing, which should know how and when to use features to respond to a user's prompt.

The beta phase will allow OpenAI to gather user feedback to improve user experience, increase stability and meet quality standards before general availability. Developers who want to create ChatGPT plugins can join the plugin waitlist. (link)

EU draft legislation will ban AI for mass biometric surveillance and predictive policing

The EU Parliament has approved a new draft of the AI Act, which bans the misuse of AI for mass surveillance and predictive policing. The legislation still needs to undergo revisions, but it has been welcomed by digital rights campaigners. The AI Act prohibits the use of mass facial recognition programs in public places, predictive policing algorithms, and emotion recognition systems in law enforcement, border management, workplaces, and educational institutions.

The updated draft also introduces new measures aimed at controlling "general purpose AI" systems, including large-scale AI models like GPT-4 and ChatGPT, requiring creators to assess and mitigate various risks before making these tools available. The EU's version of the AI Act will likely affect countries worldwide as companies often comply with EU-specific regulations on a global scale. (link)

Trending

Articles, blogs, podcasts, posts, tweets, etc

• The FT is running a free webinar on AI in marketing ("revolutionary or dangerous?") on Wednesday 17, 3pm BST. (link)

• LinkedIn shuts down Chinese jobs app, the last element of LinkedIn in the region (link)

• Younger Americans more likely than older Americans to believe news trusted on social media (link)

• AI presents political peril for 2024 with threat to mislead voters (link)