Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk now has a new artificial intelligence startup xAI, years after he left ChatGPT-owner OpenAI. The Twitter owner announced the “formation” of the new firm on Wednesday in a tweet, sharing that its goals are “to understand reality”. He did not reveal any more details about the company’s plans and the firms website also doesn’t say much other than that its aims are “to understand the true nature of the universe”. The startup, however, noted it is a separate entity from “X Corp” – the new name of the company formerly known as Twitter. However, the company mentions in its website that it would work closely with X Corp, Tesla, and firms owned by Mr Musk as well as other companies “to make progress towards our mission.” While xAI does not reveal a lot on its website about its “mission”, the new company’s sole Twitter post hints it would look into the “most fundamental unanswered questions” of the universe. The company’s website also reveals the names of its employees, led by Mr Musk and listing Dan Hendrycks – the director of the Centre for AI Safety – as an advisor. Employees listed with the company are all men, and people who have “previously worked at DeepMind, OpenAI, Google Research, Microsoft Research, Tesla, and the University of Toronto.” “Collectively we contributed some of the most widely used methods in the field,” xAI mentions in its website. “We have worked on and led the development of some of the largest breakthroughs in the field including AlphaStar, AlphaCode, Inception, Minerva, GPT-3.5, and GPT-4,” the company noted about its employees. Mr Musk’s new venture also comes as companies including Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and even smaller firms and competitors in other countries like China continue to invest heavily in AI technology. The multibillionaire had previously co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but left the firm in 2018 to avoid conflicts of interest with Tesla which had its own AI operations for the vehicles’ autopilot mode. Following the launch of the now popular ChatGPT AI chatbot by OpenAI, the Tesla titan had also hinted in interviews that he was planning to start his own new artificial intelligence firm. In April, he told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he planned to develop “TruthGPT,” which he called a “maximum truth-seeking AI”. This was followed by an xAI statement calling for the world to prioritise reducing AI’s dangers, signed by prominent members of the tech industry, and Mr Musk also reportedly acquired thousands of GPU processors from Nvidia seemingly to run a large language model like ChatGPT. The xAI team is planning to host a Twitter Spaces discussion on Friday – one in which listeners can “meet the team and ask us questions,” according to the startup’s website. Read More Elon Musk posts series of explicit tweets about Mark Zuckerberg Twitter gets strange endorsement from Taliban over rival Threads Tucker Carlson’s Twitter show is haemorrhaging viewers, reports says Mark Zuckerberg trains with UFC champions amid rumours of Elon Musk fight Threads: Elon Musk posts series of explicit tweets about Mark Zuckerberg Twitter traffic ‘tanking’ after record-breaking Threads launch

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TikTok is now the most used single source of news across all platforms for teenagers in the UK, new research from Ofcom has found. The regulator’s News Consumption In The UK 2022/23 report found TikTok is the favoured single news source among 12 to 15-year-olds. TikTok is most popular with young people and used by 28 per cent of teenagers, followed by YouTube and Instagram, both at 25 per cent, according to the figures. But, taking into account all news content across its platforms, the BBC still has the highest reach of any news organisation among this age group – used by 39 per cent of teenagers. Over the last 12 months we've seen most major publishers refocus their strategy, partly as otherwise there's more risk of young people seeing unreliable news Nic Newman, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism It comes after the UK Government banned ministers from using TikTok, which is a Chinese-owned video-sharing app, on their work phones following a security review. The House of Commons and the Lords also cited security concerns as they decided to ban the app across the Palace of Westminster. TikTok, owned by Chinese internet company ByteDance, argues it does not share data with China. However, Beijing’s intelligence legislation requires firms to help the Communist Party when requested. Nic Newman, senior research associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, said there is a big shift taking place in terms of how people consume news and that more publishers have been joining TikTok. He said: “TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, the people younger people are listening to tend to be influencers, personalities, they film for a range of reasons – in some instances you have specific news creators, in other cases it’s just personalities, comedians, talking about issues including free school meals. “In terms of the implications for the industry, one of the things we’ve really seen in the last 12 months is we have publishers who are very reluctant to go into TikTok, but over the last 12 months we’ve seen most major publishers refocus their strategy, partly as otherwise there’s more risk of young people seeing unreliable news. “That’s more challenging as there’s no business model for TikTok, so it’s very hard. “It’s just starting to build relationships with young people. “There’s been surveys that show TikTok is amongst the least trusted platforms, partly as it’s one of the newest.” He added: “During the war in Ukraine we saw young people going to traditional news brands – but not for very long, it depends what the subject is to some extent. “Covid was a big change because people were at home and people were talking about Covid on TikTok and people had a bit of time. “That’s a case of very serious news being carried on TikTok. “Passions and celebrity news, that’s a big part of what’s going on with the younger people, but there’s also serious news, that’s the wider big shift.” When considering perceptions of trust, teenagers rated traditional sources better than their online counterparts, as BBC One/Two was trusted by 82 per cent of its teenage users, compared to TikTok at 32 per cent, Instagram at 38 per cent, Facebook at 41 per cent and Snapchat at 31 per cent. Twitter was the exception, with a 50 per cent rating on trust, Ofcom found. The news topics of most interest to younger teens generally are “sports or sports personalities” (23per cent), “music news or singers” (15 per cent), “celebrities or famous people” (11 per cent), “serious things going on in the UK” (8 per cent) and news about “animals or the environment” (9). Meanwhile, those aged 16-24 are much less likely than the average adult to access news from traditional media sources, such as TV (47 per cent vs 70 per cent), radio (25 per cent vs 40 per cent) and print newspapers (16 per cent vs 26 per cent). Social media platforms dominate the top five most popular news sources among 16-24s. Instagram is the most-used single news source at 44 per cent, followed by Facebook at 33 per cent, Twitter at 31 per cent, and TikTok at 29 per cent. Coming in joint second, BBC One at 33 per cent is the only traditional media source to feature in the top five. But Ofcom said its figures show broadcast TV news maintains its position as the most popular source among adults in the UK, used by 70 per cent, which rises to 75 per cent when broadcast video on-demand news content is included. BBC One remains the most-used news single source across all platforms at 49 per cent, followed by ITV at 34 per cent – although both channels have seen gradual declines over the past five years as they are down from 62 per cent and 41 per cent respectively. Similarly, Facebook – the third most popular news source among adults – is showing signs of decline, from 33 per cent to 30 per cent over the same period. TikTok’s popularity as a source of news for adults is growing, with one in 10 adults saying they use it to keep up with the latest stories – overtaking BBC Radio 1 and Channel 5, both at 8 per cent for the first time. TikTok, at 55 per cent, along with Instagram, at 53 per cent, is particularly popular among adults for celebrity news. Twitter is the favoured destination for breaking news, with 61 per cent of adults choosing it, and political news, at 45 per cent, while Facebook is the preferred source for local news, at 59 per cent. Among users of the platforms, news sourced via social media is rated lower for trust, accuracy and impartiality than the more traditional sources of news, but is rated moderately well on “offers a range of opinions”, “helps me understand what’s going on in the world today” and being “important to me personally”. One in ten (10 per cent) 16-24s claims to consume no news – twice the figure for all adults. After a long-term decline in the use of print newspapers – with overall reach of these news brands being supplemented by their digital platforms – Ofcom’s most recent data shows print newspaper reach was consistent between 2022 and 2023. Just over a quarter of adults (26 per cent) accessed news via print newspapers, increasing to 39 per cent when including their online platforms. The Daily Mail/Mail on Sunday and The Guardian/Observer were the most widely-read print and digital news titles overall. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Talk of AI dangers has ‘run ahead of the technology’, says Nick Clegg Eurostar passengers can avoid UK passport checks by having faces scanned ‘Hostile states using organised crime gangs as proxies in the UK’

Scientists have achieved a net energy gain in nuclear fusion for the second time, marking major progress towards realising the potential of the near-limitless energy source. A team at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, who first achieved the feat last December, claimed to have passed a new milestone with fusion ignition by producing even greater energy output than the original experiment. The nuclear fusion process has been described as the “holy grail” of clean energy, as it requires no fossil fuels and leaves behind no hazardous waste. Instead it mimics the natural reactions that occur within the Sun, though harnessing its potential has puzzled scientists since the 1950s. Achieving nuclear fusion ignition is a crucial step towards building commercial power stations, though the technology needs to be significantly scaled up from the current experiments for it to be a viable energy source. The first ever successful fusion energy gain experiment on 5 December, 2022, used lasers to fuse two light atoms into a single one, releasing 3.15 megajoules of energy from 2.05 megajoules of input. Researchers described the milestone as “one of the most significant scientific challenges ever undertaken by humanity” that would “enable the next steps toward clean fusion energy for the future”. Scientists that were not involved in the fusion experiments said the advance had profound implications for the future of the planet. “We are witnessing a moment in history: controlling the power source of the stars is the greatest technological challenge humanity has ever undertaken,” said physicist Arthur Turrell. “This experimental result will electrify efforts to eventually power the planet with nuclear fusion – at a time when we’ve never needed a plentiful source of carbon-free energy more.” A spokesperson for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said the final results of the latest experiment are still being analysed. The lab plans to present the results at upcoming scientific conferences and in peer-reviewed journals. Several companies are already investing heavily in nuclear fusion, with Microsoft making the world’s first purchase agreement earlier this year. The US tech giant made the deal with Helion Energy, which aims to set up a nuclear fusion power plant within the next five years despite the challenges remaining to make it commercially viable. Helion chief executive David Kirtley said at the time: “We still have a lot of work to do, but we are confident in our ability to deliver the world’s first fusion power facility.” Read More Superconductor breakthrough could represent ‘biggest physics discovery of a lifetime’ – but scientists urge caution Microsoft makes world first nuclear fusion energy deal Zuckerberg says he is ‘ready today’ but ‘not holding breath’ for cage fight with Musk Musk pledges to fund legal bills of X users ‘unfairly treated’ by employers for posts Scientists want to hack the planet to cool it down. The consequences could be extreme

Match Group, the parent company of dating apps like Tinder and OkCupid, announced a new

Staying in touch with a loved one after their death is the promise of several start-ups using the powers artificial intelligence, though...

Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, said on Thursday that it will lay off 16% of its staff, around 830 employees, as it attempts to reverse what CEO Tim Sweeney called "unrealistic" spending.

Mark Zuckerberg’s big bet on the metaverse has now lost $40 billion – and the company intends to lose even more. The huge figures were revealed as part of Meta’s latest results, which generally showed a strong rise in advertising revenue. But they also showed an increase in expenses at the company, with the development not only of the metaverse but also artificial intelligence and legal fees. Meta has been dramatically cutting costs and laying off staff. But at the same time it has been spending heavily on some projects, such as the metaverse, in the face of criticism from those who suggest that the bet is unlikely to pay off. That work on the metaverse is done by the company’s Reality Labs unit, which is responsible for developing technology like augmented reality glasses. It reported sales of $276 million, down from $452 million in the same quarter last year. The unit lost $3.7 billion in the second quarter, putting it on track to have far higher costs than the $5 billion annual target set out in a widely circulated investor note in the fall. The unit has lost more than $40 billion since 2021, including $13.7 billion last year. Meta said it expected Reality Labs operating losses to “increase meaningfully” in 2024 as the company continued to invest in augmented and virtual reality and “scale our ecosystem.” Zuckerberg had previously said Meta would “pace” investments in the division after 2023. He told investors he understood why many of them would feel discomfort over such a long-term bet. But the positive results across the company pushed Meta shares up 7.5 per cent. “We continue to see strong engagement across our apps and we have the most exciting roadmap I’ve seen in a while with Llama 2, Threads, Reels, new AI products in the pipeline, and the launch of Quest 3 this fall,” Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said. Meta’s second-quarter revenue grew 11% to $32 billion in the quarter ended June 30, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $31.12 billion. Ad revenue rose 12% in the quarter, faster than growth at Google, where ad revenue rose 3%. Adjusted earnings per share of $2.98 topped Wall Street targets of $2.91, according to data from Refinitiv. The social media giant has been climbing back from a bruising 2022, buoyed by hype around emerging AI technology and an austerity drive in which it has shed around 21,000 employees since last fall. The company’s shares have more than doubled in value this year as a result. Advertisers are reinforcing those gains by pumping money into digital ads again after months of muted spending, heartened by signs that the economy may overcome a bout of high inflation without suffering a major meltdown. Brands are hedging their bets, however, and sticking with tried and true platforms. That helps Meta and Alphabet while punishing smaller players like Snap, which reported disappointing sales on Tuesday. Meta’s revenue forecast did not specify whether the figure includes any sales that might come from the recently launched Threads app, which does not yet have ads. Additional reporting by Reuters Read More Elon Musk’s ‘X’ is already trademarked by Mark Zuckerberg How Mark Zuckerberg’s new ChatGPT rival could lead to ‘obscene’ AI Meta unveils its ChatGPT rival Llama Here’s how to claim your share of $725m settlement in Facebook’s privacy lawsuit Elon Musk forces firms to pay X $1,000 to keep gold ticks Slack has stopped working

By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella on Monday took the witness stand in the U.S.

Asmongold supported 'Stranger Things' star Grace Van Dien after she received backlash from FaZe Clan's OG members

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