John Smeddle
Editor's ChoiceThe Spotify Layoff Email, Through the Lens of a Staff Member
DANIEL EK (CEO): Team, Over the last two years, we’ve put significant emphasis on building Spotify into a truly great and sustainable business – one designed to achieve our goal of being the world’s leading audio company and one that will consistently drive profitability and growth into the future. While we’ve made worthy strides, as I’ve […]
Editor's ChoiceApparently Air Traffic Control Needs AI Quicker Than We Thought
Drunk, Stoned and Depressed Air Traffic Controllers Guiding Your Plane “Hi everyone, this is your Captain again. We’re about 200 kilometres from Kennedy. We’ll be commencing our descent in two minutes.” After a long haul or a short haul, when you hear this, you can’t help but feel relieved you’ll be on the ground again […]
The Weeknd Delivers 4 Million Meals to Gaza
With seven No.1 songs on the charts, The Weeknd has just scored another hit . He has donated $2.5 million to the United Nation’s World Food Programme, more commonly known as WFP. This was done through his XO Humanitarian Fund. This amount will ensure that 173,000 Palestinians have meals for two weeks. Abel Tesfaye (his […]
Editor's ChoiceThe Next Arabian Renaissance is Here
Riyadh Expo 2030 Announced I’m a westerner and I spent seven years of the previous decade in the United Arab Emirates. The news of Riyadh winning the bid to host World Expo 2030 came as no surprise at all. The volume and speed of societal progress recently has been barely comprehensible in the Kingdom and […]
Editor's ChoiceWhere the Biggest Lies Will Come from in 2024
The Israel Palestine conflict has reopened one of society’s widest and deepest latter-day schisms, augmented by ghastly truths such as Hellfire R9X missiles, and grisly lies like beheaded babies. Even people far away from the region find themselves passionately fighting with friends and family over who represents good and evil. Because everyone, near and far, […]
Editor's ChoiceWhy History May Treat Elon Musk More Kindly Than We Do
Neuralink and Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) Whilst the world is busy figuring out how humans will remain relevant in an AI world, this new technology called BCI has emerged which will increase productivity, re-enable the physically challenged and bring the human brain closer to its assumed potential. Obviously, there’s a paradoxical hurdle in the preceding […]
Editor's ChoiceOpenAI: Will Microsoft Move from Shareholder to Owner?
At a board meeting last week at OpenAI, Sam Altman was presenting a strategy that would reverse the losses of ChatGPT and render a profit within three months. It involved a cost-sharing idea whereby the AI tool would prioritise information linked to participating, fee-paying commercial partners. This would achieve one significant goal. Namely, the major […]
Editor's ChoiceI’ll Be Back
Sam Altman Returns In a post published just hours ago on X, OpenAI have announced that Sam Altman returns as CEO. The gang of four who threw him out are gone. And a new board will take the company forward. It is understood that Netflix already has 6 scripts in contention and will be negotiating […]
Editor's ChoiceSam Altman’s Previous Employers Get Rebranded
So Let’s Have a Recap, Shall We? Day 1. First, AI media superstar Sam Altman leaves the company he started. The Board of OpenAI says he was ‘less than candid’ with them, but offers nothing more by way of explanation. Day 2. The technology chief, Mira Murati – a staunch acolyte of Mr. Altman, was […]
Editor's ChoiceDoes the Appointment of this Prophet of Doom Foretell OpenAI's Future?
Emmet Shear Takes Over From Sam Altman The co-founder and ex-CEO of Twitch TV has taken on the OpenAI seat vacated by Sam Altman and Mira Murati. Admittedly, the latter didn’t last 48 hours and Emmet’s position has been communicated to the media as an ‘interim’ appointment. Nonetheless, it’s still a statement of intent from […]
