Month: August 2023

Enlarge / There's already one open federal safety probe into whether or not these steering wheels can detach. Now a new investigation concerns reports of steering failures. (credit: Sjoerd van der Wal/Getty Images)

Federal vehicle safety regulators are investigating a potential problem with the power steering in some Tesla electric vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Office of Defects Investigation has opened a preliminary evaluation to determine if there's a problem with the power steering in model-year 2023 Tesla Models 3 and Y.

The investigation, sparked by a dozen customer complaints, is one of a number of open safety investigations into Tesla's EVs. Just this year NHTSA's ODI also opened probes into complaints of sudden unintended acceleration, and another is looking at the propensity for steering wheels to detach.

In this case, NHTSA received 12 complaints alleging steering failure in three Model 3s and nine Model Ys. Some complaints describe the steering suddenly and randomly locking in place; others relate power steering failures that required heavy effort to remain in control of the car.

Enlarge (credit: Benj Edwards / Getty Images)

Meta is reportedly developing a range of AI-powered chatbots with different personalities, a move aimed at increasing user engagement on social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, according to the Financial Times and The Verge. The chatbots, called "personas" by Meta staff, will mimic human-like conversations and might take on various character forms, such as Abraham Lincoln or a surfer-like travel adviser.

The move to introduce chatbots to Meta platforms comes amid growing competition from social media platforms like TikTok and a rising interest in AI technology. Meta has also made big investments into generative AI recently, including the release of a new large language model, Llama 2, which could power its upcoming chatbots.

During a recent earnings call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned that the company envisions AI agents acting as assistants and coaches, facilitating interactions between users, businesses, and creators. He also hinted at the development of AI agents for customer service and an internal AI-powered productivity assistant for staff.

Enlarge (credit: Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg)

As Twitter continues its rebrand as X, it looks like Elon Musk hopes to quash any claims that the platform under its new name is allowing rampant hate speech to fester. Yesterday, X Corp sued a nonprofit, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), for allegedly "actively working to assert false and misleading claims" regarding spiking levels of hate speech on X and successfully "encouraging advertisers to pause investment on the platform," Twitter's blog said.

In its complaint, X Corp. claims that CCDH's reports have caused an estimated tens of millions in advertising revenue loss. The company said it's aware of "at least eight" specific organizations, including large, multinational corporations, that "immediately paused their advertising spend on X based on CCDH’s reports and articles." X also claimed that "at least five" companies "paused their plans for future advertising spend" and three companies decided not to reactivate campaigns, all allegedly basing decisions to stop spending due to CCDH's reporting.

X is alleging that CCDH is being secretly funded by foreign governments and X competitors to lob this attack on the platform, as well as claiming that CCDH is actively working to censor opposing viewpoints on the platform. Here, X is echoing statements of US Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who accused the CCDH of being a "foreign dark money group" in 2021—following a CCDH report on 12 social media accounts responsible for 65 percent of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, Fox Business reported.

Enlarge (credit: WIRED staff)

The summer patch cycle shows no signs of slowing down, with tech giants Apple, Google, and Microsoft releasing multiple updates to fix flaws being used in real-life attacks. July also saw serious bugs squashed by enterprise software firms SAP, Citrix, and Oracle.

Here’s everything you need to know about the major patches released during the month.

Apple iOS and iPadOS 16.6

Apple had a busy July after issuing two separate security updates during the month. The iPhone maker’s first update came in the form of a security-only Rapid Security Response patch.

Enlarge / A US Space Command flag is displayed outside the White House during a 2019 ceremony announcing the command's re-establishment. (credit: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

President Biden plans to keep the headquarters of US Space Command in Colorado Springs and not move it to Alabama as the Air Force proposed under the Trump administration in 2021.

It took two-and-a-half years for the decision to come down from the White House, following what the Pentagon said was a "thorough and deliberate evaluation process."

"Locating Headquarters US Space Command in Colorado Springs ultimately ensures peak readiness in the space domain for our nation during a critical period," said Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon's press secretary. "It will also enable the command to most effectively plan, execute and integrate military spacepower into multi-domain global operations in order to deter aggression and defend national interests."

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Priscila Zambotto)

Film companies lost another attempt to force Reddit to identify anonymous users who discussed piracy. A federal court on Saturday quashed a subpoena demanding users' names and other identifying details, agreeing with Reddit's argument that the film companies' demands violate the First Amendment.

The plaintiffs are 20 producers of popular movies who are trying to prove that Internet service provider Grande is liable for its subscribers' copyright infringement because the ISP allegedly ignores piracy on its network. Reddit isn't directly involved in the copyright case. But the film companies filed a motion to compel Reddit to respond to a subpoena demanding "basic account information including IP address registration and logs from 1/1/2016 to present, name, email address and other account registration information" for six users who wrote comments on Reddit threads in 2011 and 2018.

"The issue is whether that discovery is permissible despite the users' right to speak anonymously under the First Amendment," US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler wrote in her ruling against the film copyright holders. "The court denies the motion because the plaintiffs have not demonstrated a compelling need for the discovery that outweighs the users' First Amendment right to anonymous speech."