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NYT reveals OpenAI was hacked
Spotlight: Police pull over self-driving Waymo vehicle
Jack Shields
July 09, 2024
Welcome back!
We have some concerning news on deck. Today’s AI tool of the day is an interesting one, but our top story is a bad look for the face of generative AI. Let’s dive in.
In today’s Daily Update:
🗞️ The New York Times reveals OpenAI was hacked last year
🤖 Pestle saves recipes from social media
📸 Police pull over autonomous Waymo vehicle for driving into oncoming traffic
🚨 AI Roundup: Four quick hits
Read time: 2 minutes
TOP STORY
🗞️ The New York Times reveals OpenAI was hacked last year
DALL-E 3
The New York Times reports that a hacker breached OpenAI’s internal messaging systems early last year. OpenAI did not report the incident to the public or law enforcement.
What you should know:
The hacker obtained sensitive information from internal discussions about AI designs. OpenAI’s core systems were not compromised.
The company determined that no customer or partner data was stolen, and that the hacker was likely an individual without government ties.
OpenAI executives disclosed the breach to employees and its board in April 2023, but decided not to report it to the public or law enforcement.
Former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner criticized the company’s security measures following the breach. He was later fired for allegedly leaking sensitive information.
Why it matters: This incident raises valid concerns that hackers linked to foreign adversaries (particularly China) could compromise confidential American AI research. OpenAI's handling of the situation falls short of the transparency and security standards expected from a leading AI company, especially given the public’s distrust of generative AI.
AI TOOL OF THE DAY
🤖 Pestle saves recipes from social media
Source: Pestle
Recipe app Pestle just rolled out a new feature that leverages on-device machine learning to save recipes directly from Instagram Reels.
What it does:
Pestle lets users save recipes from the web by tapping “Share” in their iOS browser and selecting the app as the destination.
This ultimately allows users to conveniently gather their favorite online recipes in a single digital cookbook.
Pestle’s new update is expanding this core feature to Instagram Reels, which is emerging as a popular source for recipes and cooking content.
The updated version of Pestle is available for free on the iOS App Store.
The bottom line: Recipe reels are blowing up on Instagram, and Pestle’s new feature gives users a way to turn mouth-watering videos into actual meals. Yes, this is a fairly niche tool, but it will be useful to young chefs scrolling through social media.
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT: AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
📸 Police pull over autonomous Waymo vehicle for driving into oncoming traffic
Last month a Phoenix police officer pulled over an autonomous Waymo vehicle that was driving in an oncoming traffic lane.
The details:
The self-driving car was confused by signs in a construction zone and ran a red light before pulling over.
The vehicle had no passengers. Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli says it “encountered inconsistent construction signage” and “was blocked from navigating back into the correct lane.”
The officer involved says Waymo’s vehicle stayed in the oncoming lane for roughly 30 seconds. The entire incident lasted about a minute.
Running from the cops: Arizona law technically allows officers to ticket autonomous vehicles, but they must be given to the “person” that owns the vehicle. Earlier this year a Phoenix police spokesperson said it’s “not feasible” to enforce this law for every incident involving a driverless car, so it’s possible that Waymo will walk away scot-free.
MORE TRENDING NEWS
🚨 AI Roundup: Four quick hits
DALL-E 3
Apple Intelligence is reportedly pushed back to iOS 18.4 in spring 2025.
Big Tech turns to AI-powered robots to solve the global labor shortage.
Nvidia plans to leverage LLMs to automate the design process for its next generation of GPUs.
SenseTime unveils China’s first real-time multimodal AI model to rival GPT-4o.
THAT’S A WRAP