DeepSeek startled everyone last month with the claim that its AI model uses roughly one-tenth the amount of computing power as Meta’s Llama 3.1 model, upending an entire worldview of how much energy and resources it’ll take to develop artificial intelligence. Taken at face value, that claim could have tremendous …
Read More »Trump’s first round of tariffs is almost here
Electronics, avocados, vegetables, cars, tractors, crude oil — these are some of the things that could soon get more expensive for US consumers. Under President Donald Trump’s proposed plan, goods coming in from Mexico and Canada will be subject to a 25 percent tariff beginning on February 1st. White House …
Read More »How DeepSeek crashed the AI party to take on Nvidia and ChatGPT
On this episode of The Vergecast, we talk about all these angles and a few more, because DeepSeek is the story of the moment on so many levels. Nilay and David discuss whether companies like OpenAI and Anthropic should be nervous, why reasoning models are such a big deal, and …
Read More »This crowdfunded E Ink QWERTY phone isn’t vaporware after all
When the Minimal Phone was first announced this time last year, you might have been forgiven for thinking it was vaporware. But one year — and many delays — later, the world’s first Android phone with both an E Ink display and a physical QWERTY keyboard has begun shipping to …
Read More »Dr Disrespect’s Midnight Society studio and its first game shuts down
Midnight Society was co-founded in 2021 by Beahm, former Call of Duty creative strategist Robert Bowling, and former 343 Industries lead sandbox designer Quinn Delhoyo. “We are actively seeking other game studios that would be interested in offering employment opportunities to our talented team members,” Midnight Society said in its …
Read More »Chip race: Microsoft, Meta, Google, and Nvidia battle it out for AI chip supremacy
The rise of generative AI has been powered by Nvidia and its advanced GPUs. As demand far outstrips supply, the H100 has become highly sought after and extremely expensive, making Nvidia a trillion-dollar company for the first time. It’s also prompting customers, like Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI, Amazon, and Google to …
Read More »Mark Zuckerberg tells Meta employees to ‘buckle up’ in internal meeting
Tensions were high inside Meta ahead of Mark Zuckerberg’s first all-hands meeting of the year. Employee-submitted questions for the CEO touched on a couple of big themes: concerns about his announcement that “low-performers” would be let go on February 10th, his MAGA-fueled changes to Meta’s content moderation policies and DEI …
Read More »Meta warns that it will fire leakers in leaked memo
Moments after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s all-hands comments to employees were widely leaked, a company executive warned in an internal memo that leakers will be fired. “We take leaks seriously and will take action,” Meta’s chief information security officer, Guy Rosen, said in an internal memo I’ve seen. “When information …
Read More »Dr Disrespect’s Twitch ban, explained
Were there twitch whisper messages with an individual minor back in 2017? The answer is yes. Were there real intentions behind these messages, the answer is absolutely not. These were casual, mutual conversations that sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate, but nothing more. Nothing illegal happened, …
Read More »The fallout of Meta’s content moderation overhaul
Meta is eliminating its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs because of the “legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts” in the US, according to a memo to employees seen by Axios. Meta will also roll back representation goals and end its “diverse slate approach” to hiring. …
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