TLDR 2024-05-09

Apple CEO Tim Cook, who has held the title since 2011, turns 64 this year. While there is no reason to assume that a change at the helm is imminent, there are multiple possibilities for who may eventually take over. Apple's board will likely want someone who will stick around for at least a decade. This makes 49-year-old John Ternus, Apple's Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, the most likely successor.

Tesla had 3,400 job postings across the US, Mexico, Canada, and Puerto Rico on May 1, but it has since removed almost all of them. The bulk of the positions were in California, Texas, and Nevada, where the company has its gigafactories. This is the second time that Tesla has almost entirely wiped out its job postings since it began laying off workers on April 16. The company entered its fourth consecutive week of layoffs this week. At least six high-profile executives have either already resigned or plan to later this year.

Google DeepMind's AlphaFold 3 can predict the structure of all of life's molecules. Previous versions of the model could only predict the structures of proteins. AlphaFold 3 can model DNA, RNA, and ligands. It shows a 50% improvement in prediction accuracy compared to its previous models. DeepMind is making the AlphaFold Server research platform, powered by AlphaFold 3, to some researchers for free for academic and noncommercial use.

Neuralink encountered a problem with the implant in its first human patient that reduced the amount of data the device could capture from his brain. Some of the implant's threads have come out. Neuralink has not disclosed the reasons why the threads retracted unexpectedly. Despite the implant's degraded capabilities, the patient is still able to navigate around his computer screen and play games. Challenges with the first test in a human patient were expected and the Neuralink team remains optimistic that this problem can be solved.

This thread discusses the different ways open source work can help in one's career. For those without certificates from higher education, open source can work as a CV, demonstrating work to potential employers. Contributing to open source can also widen your network and help you find employment. Working with open source can help develop the ability to jump into other people's codebases very quickly, allowing you to become more efficient quickly. It also shows that you can complete tasks/projects without anyone telling you exactly what to do.

OpenAI and Stack Overflow's recent partnership announcement has raised concerns for some users that their data is being used without permission. Some users who wanted to delete their answers have had their accounts suspended. The site does not generally allow the deletion of posts if the questions have any answers. Stack Overflow moderators say that it doesn't allow users to remove posts as they hurt the company as a whole. While the GDPR gives users in the EU the right to be forgotten, websites have a right not to delete data if it doesn't contain identifiable information to prevent the flow of a topic or question from being disrupted.

If California's Senate Bill 1047 passes, it will require the companies behind the world's largest, most advanced AI models to take steps to guarantee their safety before releasing the models to the public. Despite being a piece of state legislation, the bill has unusual international importance, as most of the companies making such models are headquartered in the state. This article looks over the bill and responds to some of the most serious misconceptions. It also suggests concrete changes that address some of the real concerns.

Google's business is growing at its fastest rate in two years, but the performance isn't translating to higher pay for employees. Employees questioned the company's plans to address a significant decline in morale, increased distrust, and a disconnect between leadership and the workforce during an all-hands meeting last week. At the meeting, Sundar Pichai said that the company plans to continue cutting expenses and driving efficiencies. While Google is growing its expenses this year, it is moderating its pace of growth. Most employees will receive a pay raise this year.

OpenAI's primary threat as the leader of the AI industry is a GPT-4-class model that's available to anyone - something Meta is working on.

Having a good network means that you will always have options if your current job dries up.

FTX says that it will be able to distribute between $14.5 and $16.3 billion in cash.

Slop is AI content that is mindlessly generated and thrust upon someone who didn't ask for it without review.

Microsoft's latest round of layoffs has shocked both employees and fans.

The number of active venture capital firms worldwide in 2021 was more than double 2014 levels, but numbers have since sharply contracted to below 2014 figures.