Palworld sells 5m copies in 3 days, Apple Vision Pro pre-sales exceed expectations
The makers of an online multiplayer game dubbed “Pokémon with guns” say it’s sold five million copies in three days. Palworld, from Japanese company Pocketpair, has been an overnight success since it launched on Friday. But its surprising popularity meant players struggled to log on at times due to server crashes. The game’s also been criticised as a Pokémon rip-off due to the similarity of its creatures. Palworld is described as a “multiplayer monster-collecting game with open-world survival elements”. BBC
OpenAI has removed the account of the developer behind an artificial intelligence-powered bot impersonating the US presidential candidate Dean Phillips, saying it violated company policy. Phillips, who is challenging Joe Biden for the Democratic party candidacy, was impersonated by a ChatGPT-powered bot on the dean.bot site. The bot was backed by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Matt Krisiloff and Jed Somers, who have started a Super Pac – a body that funds and supports political candidates – named We Deserve Better, supporting Phillips. Guardian
Apple’s $3,499 Vision Pro isn’t for everyone, and indeed, the latest pre-order estimates reflect a slow start for this VR spatial computing device. According to analyst Min-Chi Kuo’s calculations based on pre-order inventory and shipping time, he reckons the company sold somewhere between 160,000 to 180,000 Vision Pro headsets during this past weekend. This already far exceeds Kuo’s earlier production figures of 60,000 to 80,000 units. Engadget
An AI business founded by a 29-year old London tech entrepreneur is now worth more than $1 billion dollars after a fresh funding round in signs the capital is cementing its status as Europe’s foremost artificial intelligence hub. ElevenLabs, which uses AI to generate voices use for video dubbing, has hit the unicorn milestone less than two years after its launch following a $80 million Series B funding round led by US venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Standard
Europe is in danger of becoming overdependent on Chinese electric-car batteries, said a leading South Korean industry executive, as the continent struggles to agree on a coherent strategy to boost domestic production. With European carmakers set to increase imports of cheap Chinese batteries amid a supply glut in China, analysts at UBS project that Chinese battery companies’ market share in the EU will increase from 30 per cent to 50 per cent between 2023 and 2027, while South Korean companies’ share will fall from 60 per cent to 40 per cent over the same period. Financial Times
The regulator Ofcom could gain enforcement action over BBC News website articles it does not believe meet relevant broadcast standards in new government reforms aimed at improving impartiality at the corporation. Currently, the communications regulator is only able to issue an opinion on the matter, but government recommendations say Ofcom will be given increased oversight over the BBC’s online public services, including its news site and YouTube channel. Independent
