Good morning and welcome to a new week. Let’s get you up to speed on five things headlining tech news today in Australia.
1. Leaked internal Musk documents
As reported by Business Insider (and as originally reported by Bloomberg), a leaked internal message from Twitter has alleged that new owner Elon Musk deliberately ordered the November suspension of anti-fascist activist Chad Loder (as was suspected earlier this month). Bloomberg viewed the internal email, titled “Suspension: direct request from Elon Musk”. Loder’s investigation into the U.S. Capital riot reportedly led to the arrest of a masked Proud Boys member.
Twitter is silencing people who document extremism, alt-right violence & police abuse in LA.@chadloder and @vps_reports were suspended after alt-right requests — while Twitter is reinstating people who promote racism & incite anti-trans violence.
This is ugly and dangerous. pic.twitter.com/7cnhItUY8T
— Mike Bonin (@mikebonin) November 26, 2022
2. 7kg meteorite discovered in Antarctica
A monster 7kg meteorite has been discovered in Antarctica, as reported by Digital Trends. It’s unusual for one of this size to be found on Earth, but the researchers at the University of Chicago claim that the cold and barren environment of the south pole makes it an ideal place for meteorite hunting. “Finding a big meteorite like this one is rare, and really exciting,” research scientist Maria Valdes said.
3. D&D publisher walks back OGL changes
Following Gizmodo’s report highlighting a leaked draft of OGL (open gaming licence) changes coming to the table-top game Dungeons and Dragons, publisher Wizards of the Coast has announced that it’s not changing the OGL at all, and that it’ll remain as is for now. According to survey results that Wizards of the Coast published, 88 per cent of respondents did not want content published under OGL 1.2, and 90 per cent of respondents would need to have changed an aspect of their business to accommodate for the changes.
Over the past few weeks you, the community, have made your voices heard. And we’ve listened. OGL 1.0a will remain untouched AND the entire SRD 5.1 is now available under a Creative Commons license.🧵 https://t.co/hJTm2Rgruo pic.twitter.com/qiBODaB7oj
— D&D Beyond (@DnDBeyond) January 27, 2023
4. Google is making a musical AI bot
Google is developing “a model generating high-fidelity music from text descriptions such as ‘a calming violin melody backed by a distorted guitar riff’,” according to a research paper and as originally reported on by Business Insider. It’s not the first time that AI has been introduced to the musical world, with researchers at the Australian National Museum also experimenting with the tech, but it’s interesting that Google is trying to create an AI that can generate riffs and songs entirely from word prompts.
5. Europe and U.S. launch an AI agreement
Staying on AI and the European Union and the U.S. have agreed to “speed up” the use of AI in agriculture, healthcare, emergency response, climate forecasting and electricity, as reported by Reuters. “The U.S. data stays in the U.S. and European data stays there, but we can build a model that talks to the European and the U.S. data because the more data and the more diverse data, the better the model,” a senior U.S. administration official said. More countries will reportedly be invited to join the agreement in the coming months.
BONUS ITEM: The Last of Us has been renewed for a second season.
The journey continues. #TheLastOfUs will return for another season on @HBOMax. pic.twitter.com/FQNG6vhk1d
— The Last of Us (@TheLastofUsHBO) January 27, 2023
Have a lovely day.