With concerns about misinformation spreading online, European Union officials want to more closely regulate artificial intelligence, and they're asking the world's biggest tech companies for help. In mid-May, the EU passed a law that would regulate how companies create and train their artificial intelligence tools, but those laws won't go into effect for years. In the meantime, officials are asking companies like Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft to immediately begin labeling all AI-generated content, and for services that already incorporate AI, like Google's Bard, to safeguard against "malicious actors" who could attempt to spread harmful or false information.
MICROSOFT OUTAGES
Thousands of users on Monday reported not being able to access their emails through Microsoft Outlook on both the web and Outlook app. Other Microsoft 365 services, such as Teams, SharePoint, and One Drive, were also affected. By mid-afternoon on the East Coast, Microsoft confirmed on its customer service Twitter account that the issue should be resolved. The company did not explain what was behind the outage.
Ford CFO John Lawler joined Cheddar News to talk about the auto giant's Q1 earnings report that beat on revenue and EPS. Despite the good numbers, Lawler spoke to challenges Ford had to navigate. "We also see the continued disruption to the supply chain impacting our production, and that hit us in the first quarter as well. So it kept us from having an even stronger quarter," he said. Lawler noted that chip shortages leading to the supply constraints should ease up throughout the year.
Tech giant Microsoft won a military contract for the production of its IVAS (integrated visual augmentation system) combat goggles, based on its HoloLens ARG tech, worth up to $21.9 billion over 10 years. However, the Pentagon is now saying that the device "has not yet demonstrated the capability to serve as a fighting goggle," and that the Army made mistakes in the program's initial stages by not clearly describing minimum performance standards. While testing continues, concerns have grown outside of the Defense Department to Congress and even within Microsoft itself. Cheddar's Ken Buffa takes a deeper look at the possible boondoggle.
U.S. stocks fell sharply to close Tuesday's session, with the Nasdaq dropping 3.95% and hitting a new one-year low. Frances Newton Stacy, Director of Strategy for Optimal Capital, joins Cheddar News to discuss her reaction to how markets closed the session, and to break down Q3 2022 earnings from Microsoft. "Netflix was sort of the big warning, and I think Big Tech was down today in anticipation of these earnings," she says.
With Netflix losing 200,000 subscribers in one quarter, and CNN+ shutting down just weeks after launch, the streaming industry is in a place of uncertainty. Hundreds of people who once thought they had steady jobs now face potential unemployment as streamers figure out how to navigate the constantly changing landscape. Greg Martin, co-founder of Rainmaker Securities, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the state of streaming, its troubles, and how its impacting hundreds of workers.
With mask mandates lifted across various parts of the country, healthy indoor air quality in public spaces is more crucial than ever before. According to the CDC, proper ventilation, in addition to other preventative measures, is instrumental to preventing the rapid spread of covid-19 indoors. As the push for higher air quality ramps up, AtmosAir is providing a high-tech solution for cleaner, greener air indoors. Steve Levine, CEO, AtmosAir, joined Cheddar’s Opening Bell to discuss.
