
Famed tech journalist deletes X account with epic rant at Elon Musk and his ‘cesspool’ site
Veteran tech journalist Walt Mossberg announced on Tuesday he was deactivating his X (formerly known as Twitter) account, saying Elon Musk’s takeover of the site turned it into a “cesspool.” Mr Mossberg is a well-respected name and expert in the US tech writing industry, who also co-founded media sites such as Recode and AllThingsD. He announced his boycotting of X on Meta’s new platform Threads, saying his reasons revolve around business tycoon Mr Musk’s threats to sue the Anti-Defemation League (ADL). Mr Musk is threatening to sue the ADL for around $22bn, claiming that the Jewish civil rights group is “destroying” his platform’s value by accusing him of antisemitism. Mr Mossberg cut back his usage of X after Mr Musk bought back controversial figures accounts when he took over ownership of Twitter. Among others, Mr Musk restored the accounts of media personality Andrew Tate, who has been charged over rape and human trafficking claims, as well as Rep Majorie Taylor Greene, who is known for spreading conspiracy theories. “Under Elon Musk, Twitter has not only decided to stop blocking bigots and liars and pro- insurrectionists, it has actively welcomed them, with apparent support from Mr. Musk. I had already cut my participation there by 90%. But Musk’s latest move, to threaten to ban and sue the ADL – to the delight of antisemites and other haters – is the last straw for me,” Mr Mossberg wrote on Threads. He continued on to say he will only be found on Threads, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. “They have their own drawbacks. (I even boycotted Meta for awhile pre-pandemic over privacy issues). But none comes close to the cesspool of Twitter under Musk, which, IMO, is steadily approaching the level of Truth Social,” he wrote. Mr Mossberg famously quit Facebook back in 2018 “because my own values and the policies and actions of Facebook have diverged to the point where I’m no longer comfortable here”. This time, Mr Mossberg has quit X over fears that “antisemites and other haters” will revel in Mr Musk’s decision to ban and sue the ADL. “It is profoundly disturbing that Elon Musk spent the weekend engaging with a highly toxic, anti-Semitic campaign on his platform,” ADL CEO Johnathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “But to be clear, the real issue is neither ADL nor the threat of a frivolous lawsuit. This urgent matter is the safety of the Jewish people in the face of increasing, intensifying antisemitism.” While there has yet to be a lawsuit filed, Mr Musk took to X to promote the hashtag #BantheADL, which inevitably became popular amongst the far-right X community. Before retiring from journalism back in 2017, Mr Mossberg wrote for The Wall Street Journal for over twenty years. His admired status makes his leave from X ten times louder in the media industry. Read More Elon Musk vows to sue ADL for calling him antisemitic after he promoted antisemitic campaign on X Why is Elon Musk obsessed with the letter X? Elon Musk calls Burning Man ‘best art on Earth’ amid chaos that saw thousands stranded and one dead SpaceX launch of Starship rocket on hold amid ‘mishap investigation’ Why is Elon Musk obsessed with the letter X? Elon Musk ‘borrowed $1bn from SpaceX’ at same time as Twitter acquisition
2023-09-07 22:27

San Francisco Loses Tech Firm to Miami After $10 Billion Buyout
Anaplan Inc. is moving its headquarters to Miami after more than a decade in San Francisco, marking a
2023-09-15 04:20

Faraday Future Launches Survey to Solicit Opinions on Ticker Symbol Change from FFIE to FFAI
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 24, 2023--
2023-05-24 13:54

Grok vs ChatGPT: How Elon Musk’s ‘spicy’ AI compares to ‘woke’ alternatives
Less than eight months after discouraging companies from developing advanced artificial intelligence, Elon Musk has unveiled his answer to “woke” AI chatbots like ChatGPT. The tech billionaire claims his new Grok AI is both smarter and funnier than its rivals, offering paid users of X (formerly Twitter) the chance to ask it “spicy questions that are rejected by most other AI systems”. The X boss offered an example of how it will answer “almost anything”, sharing a screenshot of a user asking it how to make cocaine. “Grok is designed to answer questions with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak,” a blog post announcing its launch noted. “Please don’t use it if you hate humour!” What differentiates it from OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard is that it has access to real-time data from X, which Mr Musk took over almost exactly a year ago. Before the takeover, AI firms were using Twitter as a data set to train its models, however the tech billionaire shut this down following the release of ChatGPT last November. Initially labelled “TruthGPT”, Grok takes its name from Robert A. Heinlein’s novel Stranger in a Strange Land, meaning understanding something thoroughly and intuitively, while the tone of its responses are modelled on the same writing style as Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. But with X as its training set, Grok risks mimicking the same misinformation and toxic discourse that has plagued the platform since before Musk’s takeover. Not only does it adopt a more informal tone to its rivals, Grok also appears to have less safety filters preventing it from answering questions about sensitive topics. Despite claiming that Grok outperforms ChatGPT, which is freely available, xAI did acknowledge that it does not yet match the capabilities of OpenAI’s more powerful GPT-4 model – which carries a similar monthly fee to Grok. In its own in-house tests, xAI graded Grok against GPT-4 on the 2023 Hungarian national high school finals in mathematics. Grok passed the exam with a mark of 59 per cent, while GPT-4 scored 68 per cent. In March this year, Mr Musk was among hundreds of leading tech figures to add their name to an open letter calling on all AI labs to pause the training of AI systems. The letter warned that artificial intelligence with “human-competitive intelligence” could pose “profound risks to society and humanity”, potentially leading to the loss of control of human civilisation and even its extinction. This letter of discouragement looks increasingly like a plea to allow his own companies – which include the newly formed xAI – to catch up. Just weeks before signing it, Mr Musk was approaching AI researchers to form xAI, with the explicit intention of taking on ChatGPT. The world’s richest person had been instrumental in the formation of OpenAI in 2015 but cut ties after it became a for-profit endeavour. His team included researchers from OpenAI and Google’s DeepMind, who had experience in developing large language models (LLMs) that power AI chatbots. The reason he cited for creating his own chatbot was due to apparent fears that these tech companies were creating “woke” AI systems. “The danger of training AI to be woke – in other words, lie – is deadly,” he tweeted last December in reply to a post by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman. The new chatbot fits in with Musk’s broader goals that he is hoping to achieve with his other companies, including SpaceX’s mission to transform humanity into a multi-planetary species “Unless the woke mind virus, which is fundamentally anti-science, anti-merit, and anti-human in general, is stopped, civilisation will never become multiplanetary,” Mr Musk said. In justifying why it built Grok, xAI said its goal was to create a tool that “maximally benefits all of humanity”. The blog post explained: “We believe that it is important to design AI tools that are useful to people of all backgrounds and political views.” Read More How Elon Musk’s ‘spicy’ Grok compares to ‘woke’ ChatGPT Musk shares cocaine recipe in effort to prove Grok AI is ‘rebellious’ Elon Musk unveils new sarcasm-loving AI chatbot for premium X subscribers 10 ways AI will change the world – from curing cancer to wiping out humanity Musk shares cocaine recipe in effort to prove Grok AI is ‘rebellious’
2023-11-07 18:21

Check out the best deals from the first-ever Bose Week
TL;DR: The first-ever Bose Week began on August 25 and continues through September 4. That
2023-08-30 02:55

South Africa Hydrogen Port Project Gets Bids From AP Moller, Vinci
AP Moller-Maersk A/S, Port of Rotterdam, Bouygues SA and Yapi Merkezi are among companies that have been asked
2023-08-17 00:24

Alibaba Unit to Hire 2,000 Graduates as Big Tech Crackdown Eases
Alibaba Group Holding’s e-commerce arm in China is hiring more than 2,000 graduates amid record youth unemployment and
2023-08-19 13:59

Vanta Sets the Stage for the Upcoming Fall Season With Over 20 New Exciting Game Titles in Its National Esports League, the Most of Any League Organizer.
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 15, 2023--
2023-08-15 20:58

Perfect Corp. Unveils Stacking Ring, Bracelet, and Watch Set Virtual Try-On Technology to Elevate True-to-Life Jewelry Shopping Experiences to the Extreme
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 13, 2023--
2023-09-13 19:28

LEAK: New Storm Point POIs Are Coming to Apex Legends
A leak suggests new Storm Point POIs are coming in Apex Legends Season 19 after leakers found six new zones in the files.
2023-09-28 04:25

Barclays technology banker joins Citigroup
By Milana Vinn NEW YORK Ed Wehle, a senior Barclays Plc technology banker, has resigned to join U.S.
2023-05-17 04:22

South Africa Chides Rich Nations Over ‘Just’ Transition to Green Tech
South African central bank chief Lesetja Kganyago urged wealthy nations to meet commitments to share the cost of
2023-10-15 02:50
You Might Like...

Canada bans WeChat, Kaspersky applications on government devices

Nasa spots shocking number of galaxies like our own in early universe

Israel Illegally Storing Millions of People’s Photos, Audit Says

What to expect from Apple's iPhone 15 reveal

Ted Cruz proposes bill to help detect if your house is spying on you

Perion’s AI-Based SORT® Wins Digiday Technology Award for Mercedes-Benz USA Digital Campaign Success

MSI MAG X670E Tomahawk Review

Behaviour Interactive’s $2-Million Gift to the Campaign for Concordia to Spur Innovation for Quebec’s Video Game Industry