ChatGPT founder announces plan to scan every human iris on the planet
The Silicon Valley entrepreneur behind ChatGPT has unveiled a plan to scan the iris of every person in the world to help distinguish real people from sophisticated machines. Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, on Monday launched his project Worldcoin in Britain and 34 other countries. The venture aims to scan billions of eyeballs using a football-sized orb, which weighs about six pounds. The orbs scan peoples’ eyes to generate a unique digital record that Worldcoin calls a World ID – or “proof of personhood”. Telegraph
Twitter’s rebranding of its San Francisco headquarters has been left hanging after police were called. The Elon Musk-owned platform is changing its name to X, and attempted to remove the outgoing company name from the offices on Monday. Five letters had been taken down from the office’s large vertical sign before work was interrupted. It now simply reads “er”, mirroring the reaction of some commentators to the firm’s abrupt corporate makeover…Twitter’s new logo – an X on a black background – has replaced the famous blue bird on the social network, and was projected onto the side of the headquarters on Sunday. BBC
Apple is being sued for £1bn (£785m) by UK app developers over its App Store fees. Professor Sean Ennis, from the University of East Anglia Centre for Competition Policy, is bringing the class action lawsuit on behalf of 1,566 app creators because of the tech giant’s “excessive” charges. Some app makers are charged 15% to 30% by Apple in commission when using its in-app payment system – a procedure that has been criticised by antitrust regulators in several countries. Sky News
British mobile operator Virgin Media O2 said on Monday it was planning to lay off up to 2,000 employees by the end of this year. Redundancy notices were issued to some staff on Monday night, the Telegraph reported. The company is a joint venture between the US-listed Liberty Global (LBTYA.O) and Spain’s Telefonica (TEF.MC). Its rival BT Group (BT.L), Britain’s biggest broadband and mobile provider, had said in May that it would cut up to 55,000 roles, or more than 40% of its workforce, by 2030. Reuters
Amazon has closed three of its checkout-free Fresh stores across London, including the first one to open its doors back in 2021. The Amazon Fresh stores in Wandsworth, East Sheen and Ealing Broadway — the first one to arrive in the UK — closed their doors for the last time on Sunday. Like other Amazon Fresh locations in the UK and US, the shops used the firm’s ‘Just Walk Out’ sensor technology, which allows customers to pick up items and leave, with purchases billed to their Amazon accounts. Evening Standard
The Council of the EU has adopted new rules intended to make it much easier for EV owners to travel across Europe, while simultaneously helping to reduce the output of harmful greenhouse gases….From 2025 onward, the new regulation requires fast charging stations offering at least 150kW of power to be installed every 60km (37mi) along the EU’s Trans-European Transport Network, or (TEN-T) system of highways, the bloc’s main transport corridor. The Verge
A rocket launched by Elon Musk’s SpaceX last week from California may have punched a hole in the Earth’s ionosphere, a new analysis suggests. The assessment points out that the Falcon 9 rocket launched on 19 July from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, likely punched a hole in the ionosphere – a layer around Earth consisting of the fourth state of matter plasma, with a sea of electrically charged particles floating at about 80-650km (50-400 miles) above the surface. Independent
