Here are the top trending stories from the world of technology. Stories that we feel every tech enthusiast should keep in touch with.
1)
China’s Baidu planning to launch ChatGPT-style bot soon
Chinese search engine giant Baidu is mulling to launch AI powered chatbot similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT in March, people privy to the matter informed Reuters. Baidu is planning to integrate the chatbot into its main search engine just like Microsoft’s Bing plans to do. Last week, Microsoft also announced that it will be making a multi-billion-dollar investment in ChatGPT’s parent company OpenAI as it tries to ensure that the company remains ahead in the AI race. ChatGPT, which uses vast amount of data to respond to queries in a human-like way, is predicated to redefine the way search engine functions. Google, which sees ChatGPT as its competitor, is said to be also focusing on creating an AI based chatbot.
2)
Trump all set to make a comeback on Facebook and Instagram
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has removed all the hurdles for the former U.S. President Donald Trump to make a comeback in the ensuing weeks. The decision to reinstate Trump’s accounts comes two years after he was banned across all leading social media platform following the January 6th attack on Capitol Hill. The Meta’s decision is likely to give much needed boost to Trump’s election campaign for 2024 presidential election. However, whether Trump is actually serious about making a comeback on Facebook and Instagram is still not known. Notably, Twitter had also reinstated Trump’s account but the latter said that he won’t be returning back to the microblogging platform.
3)
Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg hints at another round of layoff
Last year Meta hogged lot of headlines for resorting to one of the biggest layoffs in the tech industry, laying off as many as 11,000 people in one single swoop. But guess what, Meta is probably not done yet. According to media reports, Meta’s co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed during a recent Q&A session in a internal meeting that he is not much fan of “managers managing managers,” implying that the company is spending unwanted resources on mid-level managers. Earlier this month, Meta’s Chief Product Officer also hinted in a company’s official newsletter that employees should brace more job cuts in coming months. Prominent investors have been putting pressure on Meta to opt for cost-cutting measure as it struggles to scale up Metaverse and this has reflected poorly on its future earnings.
4)
TikTok CEO all set to testify before U.S. Congress
TikTok CEO Shou Zi will testify before the U.S. Congress on March 23 to give clarification on app’s security and privacy practices and its contentious relation with China through its parent company ByteDance. This comes as the company’s ongoing talks with the American government over security and privacy issues have not yield desired results. The U.S. lawmakers even passed a legislation preventing and banning U.S departments from using the TikTok app, citing security concerns. However, despite all the allegations and controversies TikTok maintains that it is fully compiling with the U.S. privacy laws and the China’s communist government neither has direct or indirect access to its data.
5)
Gautam Adani drops off list of World’s top 10 richest list
Indian business tycoon Gautam Adani, the founder & CEO of Adani Enterprise, has knocked out of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He now sits on the 11th position with the current fortune of 84.4 Bn while its Indian counterpart Mukesh Ambani sits just one spot below with total fortune of $82.2 Bn. Nearly $34 Bn has been wipped out of Adani’s personal wealth in barely three days following the allegations by Hindenburg Research report alleging the Adani company of resorting to brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud.