Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA
Last week, OpenAI was dumping side quests: Out went Sora, its once-hyped video app. Plans to launch erotic chats were mothballed. Loading audio narration… That was then. This week, OpenAI has become a media company, by buying TBPN, the very buzzy tech-business internet talk show with a small but influential audience.Nope, not an April Fool’s joke. Though that reaction to the news was widespread and understandable.”April Fools was yesterday,” TBPN cofounder and cohost John Coogan told the thousands of viewers who tuned in to TBPN’s live show, minutes after the acquisition was announced. “This is real. This is a very…
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OpenAI has acquired popular tech industry talk show TBPN — Technology Business Programming Network — making this the AI giant’s first acquisition of a media company. The show will report to OpenAI’s chief political operative, Chris Lehane. TBPN, hosted by former tech founders John Coogan and Jordi Hays, is a daily live show that airs on YouTube and X for three hours, focusing on tech, business, AI, and defense. The show has gained a cult following in Silicon Valley, a safe space where industry power players can speak candidly and be questioned by fellow insiders. The show has a reputation…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The president of the 165,000-student University of Wisconsin system is fighting attempts by the board of regents to force him to retire or face being fired. The surprise effort to remove Jay Rothman from the post he has held since 2022 was detailed in letters Rothman sent to regents over the past week that were obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.Here is what to know about the situation:What’s the president’s job?The president of the Universities of Wisconsin oversees the entire university system, which includes the flagship Madison campus, 12 other universities and several other branch campuses.The…
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina Supreme Court on Thursday threw out longtime litigation over education funding in the state, a decision that’s likely to keep intact the power to decide how much money to spend and where with the legislature, not judges.The 4-3 ruling, led by Republican justices on the court, set aside a landmark ruling in 2022 when the court, then with a Democratic majority, ruled that a lower court judge had the authority to order that taxpayer money be directed to state agencies to address longstanding education inequities. The following year, another trial judge calculated that…
Microsoft AI, the tech giant’s research lab, announced the release of three foundational AI models on Thursday that can generate text, voice, and images. The release signals Microsoft’s continued push to build out its own stack of multimodal AI models — and compete with rival AI labs — even though it remains tied to OpenAI. MAI-Transcribe-1 transcribes speech across 25 different languages into text and is 2.5 times faster than Microsoft’s Azure Fast offering, according to a company press release. MAI-Voice-1 is an audio-generating model. This voice model allows users to generate 60 seconds of audio in one second and…
Google on Thursday added new features to its video editor app Vids, including directing and customizing avatars through text prompts, Veo 3.1 support, the ability to export videos to YouTube, and recording with a Chrome extension. Users will be able to use natural language prompts to direct avatars to “act” in a scene. This can include the avatar interacting with a product, a prop, or a piece of equipment. The company said that despite the dynamic nature of the output, Vids maintains character consistency. Google said that based on the theme of the video, users can customize characters by tweaking…
AI-driven job displacement is real, and it’s wreaking havoc in tech. Loading audio narration… US tech layoffs are now at their worst year-to-date point since 2023, according to a new Challenger, Gray & Christmas report. The outplacement firm said US-based tech companies announced 52,050 job cuts so far in 2026, including 18,720 layoffs in March. That first-quarter figure was up 40% from the year before.”Companies are shifting budgets toward AI investments at the expense of jobs,” Challenger said in a release. “The actual replacing of roles can be seen in Technology companies, where AI can replace coding functions.”Challenger said AI…
Planning to buy a new Tesla? You will have plenty to choose from. Loading audio narration… Elon Musk’s automaker announced on Thursday that it had produced 50,000 more vehicles than it sold in the first three months of the year, a sign that the company is struggling to shift its EVs amid an industry-wide downturn.It’s the largest gap between production and sales in Tesla’s history, with the EV giant historically excelling at closely matching supply with demand.The last time it came close to producing this many unsold vehicles was the same period in 2024, when production outstripped deliveries by 46,500…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The president of the 25-campus Universities of Wisconsin said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday that he’s been told to either resign or be fired, but has been given no reason and won’t step aside from the 165,000-student system.Jay Rothman, president of the university system since 2022, said in the letter addressed to the head of the Board of Regents dated March 26 that he’s been given no reason why regents want him to leave. Rothman said he’s been told that his options are to resign or retire, and that if he…