In a video with Arun Maini, MrBeast finally gave fans a tour of his filming studio—and it's magnificent

Electric car maker Tesla’s profits took a dive in the third quarter, according to an earnings call on Wednesday in which the company’s chief Elon Musk blamed staff working from home for being “detached from reality”. Tesla’s profits in Q3 of 2023 have plunged by over 40 per cent compared to the gains it made in the same period last year after the company slashed its car prices by around 25 per cent in an attempt to compete with other EV makers. The EV manufacturer reported a net profit of about $1.9bn for the time between July through September, which is a 44 percent drop from the $3.3bn it made in the same three-month period last year. While the company has seen a small increase in overall revenue of about $23bn from the $21bn the same time last year, the figures are still lower than Wall Street expectations. Mr Musk also dampened hopes of the company’s anticipated Cybertruck reviving profits in the near future, announcing that it would take at least 18 months for the truck to become profitable as it could go on sale only by the end of November. “There will be enormous challenges in reaching volume production with Cybertruck and making the Cybertruck cash flow positive,” the Tesla titan told investors and analysts in the earnings call. “The blood, sweat and tears that will be required to achieve that is just staggering,” he added. Over the last year, Tesla has slashed the prices of its cars by quarter to boost sales. Growing competition with the introduction of EVs by other car makers in the US, including BMW, Toyota, Mercedes, GM and Hyundai, has also coincided with Tesla’s share of vehicles in the EV market reducing in the last quarter. In the earnings call, Mr Musk also said staff working from home are taking advantage of those who cannot work from home. “Like... what about all the people that have to come to the factory and build the cars?” he asked. “Why did I sleep in the factory so many times? Because it mattered,” the Tesla chief said. Mr Musk echoed the statements he made in an interview with CNN earlier this year in which he called remote work “morally wrong”, arguing that it is unfair to those who cannot have the option. “Get off the goddamn moral high horse with the work-from-home bullshit,” he said. Tesla also pointed fingers at its reduction in production while it upgraded its factories as one of the factors behind the profit slump. It said it has also been making big investments in AI and “commissioned one of the world’s largest supercomputers.” “We have more than doubled the size of our AI training compute, accommodating for both our growing data set & Optimus, which is currently being trained for simple tasks through AI rather than hardcoded software, while its hardware continues to improve,” Tesla said. But all is not gloomy as the company says the first deliveries of its Cybertruck are scheduled for 30 November and Tesla’s Model Y remains the “best-selling vehicle of any kind” in Europe. Read More X begins charging new users to post as part of trial EU asks Elon Musk to ‘walk the talk’ on X/Twitter disinformation over Hamas attack AOC wants to ‘trade in’ her Tesla for union-made electric vehicle amid historic auto workers strike Amazon to start dropping packages into people’s gardens using drones in the UK Facebook has stopped working Facial recognition firm Clearview AI overturns UK data privacy fine

Apple says that its App Store has helped generate more than a trillion dollars for the first time, just days ahead of its major developer event. The App Store ecosystem facilitated $1.1 trillion in developer billings and sales last year, according to an independent study from The Analysis Group and commissioned by Apple. That is the result of rapid growth over recent years: that number rose 29 per cent on last year, and by 27 per cent in each of the two years before that. Those increases were partly a result of an increase in the apps that people use as the world opens up, such as taxi services, the report said. Apple’s announcement came just days ahead of its Worldwide Developers Conference, which begins on Monday. That is likely to see a whole new platform for developers to build apps for, with the launch of its new augmented reality headset. The report also comes amid increasing criticism over Apple’s power over the App Store, which is the only way to get apps onto the iPad and iPhone. Critics have argued that control means that Apple is able to make unfair demands on developers, including taking a cut from some sales made within apps and deciding what apps are available. Apple has commissioned a number of such reports in recent years, aimed at highlighting the economic impact of the App Store and the positive effects that can have for developers. The new report focused not on the money made by Apple, or through the store. Instead, it aimed to quantify how much money is made through the ecosystem built around the App Store, which includes billings and sales that are made through apps but without Apple’s involvement. More than 90 per cent of the billings and sales went specifically to the developers, with Apple not taking a cut, the report said. While Apple takes a cut from the sale of apps and digital goods and services within those apps, companies selling physical goods and other services are able to keep the full amount. Of the $1.1 trillion made last year, App Store developers generated $910 billion in total billings and sales from the sale of physical goods and services, $109 billion from in-app advertising, and $104 billion for digital goods and services, Apple said. Last year, that came particularly from travel apps and ride-hailing. Travel sales on iOS were up 84 per cent last year, the report said. It was not possible to say how much of that gain was the result of the world opening back up after lockdowns and other issues, compared with the specific work of Apple and those App Store developers, economists from Analysis Group said. The report also comes on the 15th anniversary of the App Store, which was launched in 2008. Apple said that iOS developers have earned more than $320 billion on App Store in those 15 years. “We’ve never been more hopeful about — or more inspired by — the incredible community of developers around the world,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “As this report shows, the App Store is a vibrant, innovative marketplace where opportunity thrives, and we’re as committed as ever to investing in developers’ success and the app economy’s future.” Read More Major leak reveals details of Apple’s VR headset days before unveiling Apple is going to reveal something else alongside its headset, rumours suggest Trust and ethics considerations ‘have come too late’ on AI technology New iPhone update ‘completely changes how the lock screen works’ Apple lays bare danger of losing your health data Apple is making a ‘mixed reality’ headset. Here’s what that future might look like

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has sounded his fears about AI-powered election interference, telling a congressional hearing on Tuesday that the technology needs to be regulated to protect voting integrity. Artificial intelligence chatbots like his company’s ChatGPT were a “significant area of concern”, Mr Altman told the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law “I am nervous about it,” he said about elections and AI, adding rules and guidelines are needed. For months, companies large and small have raced to bring increasingly versatile AI to market, throwing endless data and billions of dollars at the challenge. Some critics fear the technology will exacerbate societal harms, among them prejudice and misinformation, while others warn AI could end humanity itself. “There’s no way to put this genie in the bottle. Globally, this is exploding,” said Senator Cory Booker, one of many lawmakers with questions about how best to regulate AI. Senator Mazie Hirono noted the danger of misinformation as the 2024 election nears. “In the election context, for example, I saw a picture of former President Trump being arrested by NYPD and that went viral,” she said, pressing Altman on whether he would consider the faked image harmful. Mr Altman responded that creators should make clear when an image is generated rather than factual. Speaking before Congress for the first time, Mr Altman suggested that, in general, the US should consider licensing and testing requirements for development of AI models. Mr Altman, asked to opine on which AI should be subject to licensing, said a model that can persuade or manipulate a person’s beliefs would be an example of a “great threshold.” He also said companies should have the right to say they do not want their data used for AI training, which is one idea being discussed on Capitol Hill. Mr Altman said, however, that material on the public web would be fair game. Mr Altman also said he “wouldn’t say never” to the idea of advertising but preferred a subscription-based model. The White House has convened top technology CEOs including Mr Altman to address AI. US lawmakers likewise are seeking action to further the technology’s benefits and national security while limiting its misuse. Consensus is far from certain. An OpenAI staffer recently proposed the creation of a U.S. licensing agency for AI, which could be called the Office for AI Safety and Infrastructure Security (OASIS). OpenAI is backed by Microsoft. Mr Altman is also calling for global cooperation on AI and incentives for safety compliance. Christina Montgomery, International Business Machines Corp chief privacy and trust officer, urged Congress to focus regulation on areas with the potential to do the greatest societal harm. Gary Marcus, a Professor Emeritus at New York University, was also on the panel, and expressed his concerns about the rapid development of artificial intelligence. “We have built machines that are like bulls in a china shop: Powerful, wreckless and difficult to control,” he said. Senator Blumenthal responded by saying it was more like “a bomb in a china shop”. Additional reporting from agencies. Read More ChatGPT is finally connected to the web after huge OpenAI update Regulation ‘critical’ to curb risk posed by AI, boss of ChatGPT tells Congress Watch as OpenAI CEO faces questions from Congress on potential AI regulation Sam Altman testifies before Congress saying there is ‘urgent’ need for regulation

Crypto miners looking to provide services for upstarts in artificial intelligence may be looking at an uphill battle,

NewJeans have announced the release of 'Gods' for the esports tournament.

Faced with mounting pressure over planet-heating pollution, Gulf Arab energy giants are turning to humble tech start-ups as they search for ways to remove...

Nvidia Corp.’s transformation into an artificial intelligence powerhouse — and Wall Street darling with a nearly $1 trillion

Germany and China tentatively agreed to bind their economies more closely together and join forces to tackle climate

The International Olympic Committee is looking at creating an Olympic eSports Games, IOC president Thomas Bach...

A Fidelity fund has slashed its estimate of Twitter's value amid ongoing chaos at the company, implying the social media platform may be worth only a third of its value compared to when Elon Musk acquired it in October.

Facebook users have shared images of cartoon characters wielding weapons, naked celebrities, and child soldiers – all created using the app’s new AI-generated sticker feature. Parent company Meta unveiled the new feature last week, allowing Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Instagram users to generate stickers with artificial intelligence by writing prompts. “I don’t think anyone involved has thought anything through,” 3D artist and illustrator Pier-Olivier Desbiens wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, who used the tool to create stickers with the prompts ‘Waluigi rifle’, ‘child soldier’, ‘Karl Marx large breasts’ and ‘Trudeau buttocks’. “We really do live in the stupidest future imaginable,” he wrote. Another user shared an AI-generated sticker of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones kissing a dog. “It’s completely unhinged,” they wrote. The Independent has reached out to Meta for comment. The new AI stickers are currently only available to a limited number of English-language users, with Meta yet to confirm whether a wider roll out is planned. “Using technology from Llama 2 and our foundational model for image generation called Emu, our AI tool turns your text prompts into multiple unique, high-quality stickers in seconds,” Meta announced in a blog post last week. “This new feature... provides infinitely more options to convey how you’re feeling at any moment.” Meta claims that billions of stickers are sent by Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp users each month, having first introduced the feature in 2013. Other AI-generated image tools, such as OpenAI’s DALL-E 3, have limits in place to prevent misuse. Users are unable to generate images featuring violent content or real people, though other generative AI platforms exist that do not place limitations on the ways content can be generated. In its blog post announcing the new feature, Meta noted that there was a chance that AI tools could be misused, which is why their introduction is being done on a “step by step” basis. “In keeping with our commitment to responsible AI, we also stress test our products to improve safety performance and regularly collaborate with policymakers, experts in academia and civil society, and others in our industry to advance the responsible use of this technology,” the post stated. “We’ll continue to iterate on and improve these features as the technologies evolve and we see how people use them in their daily lives.” Read More Pixel 8: Google unveils ‘AI-centred’ iPhone rival Facebook and Instagram users face monthly fee for ad-free version Zuckerberg says Metaverse can bring back the dead – virtually Meta just took a step towards its dream of the metaverse