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X fixes bug that labelled legit posts as ‘sensitive media’

Musk also said that an “X spam/scam bot accidentally flagged many legitimate accounts” which was being fixed by the company…reports Asian Lite News

Elon Musk-run X on Monday said it has fixed a bug that caused the platform to incorrectly label numerous posts as ‘Sensitive Media’.

According to the company, the vulnerability in its system flagged several genuine accounts.

“A bug in our system caused X to incorrectly label numerous posts as Sensitive Media,” the company posted.

“We’ve fixed the underlying issue and are now working to remove labels from impacted posts, it added.

Musk also said that an “X spam/scam bot accidentally flagged many legitimate accounts” which was being fixed by the company.

A follower reacted, saying that Musk can also fix the problem with the porn bots.

“Porn accounts should be flagged and there should be some kind of system where as a user, you can have in your settings to allow/not allow these flagged accounts to follow, repost or comment on a post,” the follower posted.

Another user commented: “Community Notes has also been hijacked. Fix that as well”.

Last October, the world’s richest man said that in order to tackle bots, new X users will need to pay $1 per year to post on the platform, although they can read other posts for free.

The company rolled out the test of this new programme in New Zealand and the Philippines, before it launches it globally.

X will require new users in New Zealand and the Philippines to pay $1 to create accounts. “Read for free, but $1/year to write. It’s the only way to fight bots without blocking real users,” Musk had posted. “This won’t stop bots completely, but it will be 1000X harder to manipulate the platform,” he added.

ALSO READ-EU Commissioner Warns Twitter over Dissemination of Illegal Content

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Musk denies report claiming his AI firm secured $500 mn funding

However, Elon Musk dismissed the report, saying, “This is fake news from Bloomberg”, in response to a user who shared the news article on X…reports Asian Lite News

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has denied the report claiming that his artificial intelligence (AI) company ‘xAI’ secured $500 million in funding toward a $1 billion goal.

A report by Bloomberg, citing sources, stated that xAI was in talks with investors for an additional $500 million in funding.

However, Elon Musk dismissed the report, saying, “This is fake news from Bloomberg”, in response to a user who shared the news article on X.

In the report, Bloomberg, citing sources, mentioned that xAI is considering a valuation of $15 billion to $20 billion, although the terms could change in the coming weeks. Musk, in another post on X, dismissed the report. “This is simply not accurate,” he said in a reply to a post.

According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has raised $134.7 million so far for xAI. The $135 million came from four unnamed investors, with the first sale occurring on November 29.

The SEC filing noted that xAI will only accept a minimum of $2 million from outside investors. The xAI ‘Grok’ AI assistant is being provided to the users as part of X Premium Plus which costs $16 per month via the web.

ALSO READ-Musk’s X loses appeal to block California law

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Musk’s X loses appeal to block California law

Mark Schobinger, the former senior director of compensation for Twitter, had filed suit against Twitter on behalf of himself and other current and former Twitter employees in June, reports Courthouse News Service…reports Asian Lite News

Elon Musk-run X (formerly Twitter) has lost a bid to block a California law requiring social media companies to disclose how they handle content moderation on their platforms.

In September, X sued California to undo the state’s content moderation law, saying it violated free speech rights under the US Constitution’s First Amendment and California’s state constitution, reports Deadline.

On Thursday, US District Judge William Shubb dismissed the company’s request in an eight-page decision.

The law mandates that large social media companies issue semiannual reports describing their content moderation practices, including data on objectionable posts and how they were addressed, the report mentioned.

“While the reporting requirement does appear to place a substantial compliance burden on social media companies, it does not appear that the requirement is unjustified or unduly burdensome within the context of First Amendment law,” Shubb wrote.

Meanwhile, a US federal judge has ruled that X violated a contract when it failed to pay tens of millions of dollars in bonuses to its employees promised after Elon Musk acquired the platform for $44 billion.

Mark Schobinger, the former senior director of compensation for Twitter, had filed suit against Twitter on behalf of himself and other current and former Twitter employees in June, reports Courthouse News Service.

In the verdict, US District Judge Vincent Chhabria said that Schobinger stated a breach of contract claim under California law and that Schobinger was covered by the bonus plan and followed all of Twitter’s directions.

ALSO READ-Musk backs moon base, cities on Mars

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Musk backs moon base, cities on Mars

The tech billionaire has predicted that SpaceX’s Starship mega rocket can make an uncrewed mission to Mars in three or four years...reports Asian Lite News

Half a century has passed since the last Moon landing, which is disappointing for humanity and we should now aim to have a living base in space, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Monday. The Apollo 11 mission in 1969 first landed humans on the Moon.

Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969 and Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon’s surface six hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21. Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later, and they spent about two and a quarter hours together exploring the site they had named Tranquility Base upon landing. “Only 66 years from first flight to landing on the moon, but now half a century has passed since the last moon landing,” Musk posted on X. He said that this cannot be “our high water mark as a civilisation”.

“Humanity should have a moon base, cities on Mars and be out there among the stars,” the X owner added. Musk has bigger plans for traveling beyond Earth’s orbit. “We should have a base on the moon, like a permanently occupied human base on the moon, and then send people to Mars. Maybe there’s something beyond the space station, but we’ll see,” he had said in the past. The tech billionaire has predicted that SpaceX’s Starship mega rocket can make an uncrewed mission to Mars in three or four years.

ALSO READ-xAI, Musk’s Startup, Eyes $1B Funding

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Musk’s Jet Tracker Jack Sweeney Featured in Forbes’ 30 Under 30

According to Sweeney, the acknowledgement is one of the many reasons he’s glad he didn’t give in to Musk’s demands that he stop tracking his private jet…reports Asian Lite News

Jack Sweeney, the college student who used to track Elon Musk’s private jets, has been named in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list.

Sweeney, 21, who studies at the US-based University of Central Florida, was listed on Forbes’ list of entrepreneurs in consumer technology, reports Insider.

“Jack Sweeney has created bots that track the private jets of the rich and famous, including Mark Cuban, Taylor Swift, and various Russian oligarchs, and has helped journalists, researchers, and hobbyists track planes across social media,” the Forbes’ profile reads.

According to Sweeney, the acknowledgement is one of the many reasons he’s glad he didn’t give in to Musk’s demands that he stop tracking his private jet.

“I’m thankful I got on the list. I think this event just adds to the reasons why I’m glad I didn’t take it down. It’s allowed me to meet great people and continue to expand on what I love, jet-tracking,” Sweeney was quoted as saying.

Sweeney has collected and published flight data for some of the world’s most influential people, including American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in recent years.

He originally came to public attention last year after Musk offered him $5,000 to stop sharing his flight information on social media, but he refused and demanded $50,000.

Musk said he would think about it, but has not paid up.

Sweeney’s X accounts, including @ElonJet and @ZuccJet, were later suspended in December after Musk took over the company.

Musk claimed that the account was a “personal safety risk”.

In July this year, Sweeney moved to Meta’s Twitter-rival Threads after being suspended from the microblogging platform last year.

ALSO READ-Elon Musk Invited to Witness Gaza’s Reality

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Starship Launch Pad in ‘Great Condition’ After Successful Test Flight

The launch of Starship has also again triggered an investigation by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over the booster explosion…reports Asian Lite News

The recent test flight of SpaceX’s Starship did not damage the launch pad, said CEO Elon Musk.

The Starship successfully lifted off under the power of all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy Booster and made it through stage separation on Saturday evening.

The booster, however, experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly shortly after stage separation while Starship’s engines fired for several minutes on its way to space, SpaceX said.

During the first test flight in April, the integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket blew apart the launchpad shortly after the launch. It spewed debris up to 20 acres outside the area that federal regulators initially expected.

To prevent this, one of the “several upgrades” that SpaceX did was to install a water-spewing steel plate beneath the pad. Musk said the plate prevented damage to the Starship launch pad so that no additional changes are needed to it before the next launch.

“Just inspected the Starship launch pad and it is in great condition! No refurbishment needed to the water-cooled steel plate for next launch,” Musk said in a post on X.

The launch of Starship has also again triggered an investigation by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over the booster explosion.

“A mishap occurred during the @SpaceX Starship OFT-2 launch from Boca Chica, Texas, on Saturday, November 18. The anomaly resulted in a loss of the vehicle. No injuries or public property damage have been reported,” the aviation regulator posted on X.

“The FAA will oversee the @SpaceX-led mishap investigation to ensure SpaceX complies with its FAA-approved mishap investigation plan and other regulatory requirements,” the agency added.

Meanwhile, the billionaire also said that the next flight of Starship is likely before Christmas.

“Starship Flight 3 hardware should be ready to fly in three to four weeks. There are three ships in final production in the high bay (as can be seen from the highway),” Musk said.

Starship is the tallest rocket ever assembled. The fully-integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket stands 394 feet tall, and is about 30 feet in diameter.

SpaceX aims to use Starship as a fully reusable transportation system to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, help humanity return to the Moon, and travel to Mars and beyond.

ALSO READ-Apple, Disney Halt Ads On X After Musk’s ‘Antisemitic’ Post

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Musk meets Xi Jinping at Gala Dinner in San Francisco

The gala dinner was hosted by the US-China Business Council and the National Committee on US-China Relations…reports Asian Lite News

From Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to Apple chief Tim Cook, top tech honchos and corporate leaders met Chinese President Xi Jinping during a gala dinner here during his state visit.

Xi received standing ovations from more than 300 corporate leaders and top officials, including Cook and Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman.

Musk on Friday posted his photo with the Chinese President on X, saying, “May there be prosperity for all”.

The gala dinner was hosted by the US-China Business Council and the National Committee on US-China Relations.

“Whatever stage of development it may reach, China will never pursue hegemony or expansion, and will never impose its will on others,” the President told the gathering.

Earlier, US President Joe Biden told his Chinese counterpart that they should keep their communications lines open and get to understand each other so as “to ensure that competition (between their countries) does not veer into conflict”.

Xi reiterated his opposition to describing the relationship as competition saying it “is not the prevailing trend of current times”.

Biden said that the US is not trying to “decouple” from China, but pursuing better relations with its assertive rival.

Xi arrived in San Francisco this week for a summit with Biden, and to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting.

ALSO READ-Elon Musk reveals his son’s middle name is Chandrasekhar

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Musk to do a live interview with Sunak

Elon Musk.(photo:IANS/Twitter)

In March he signed an open letter calling for a pause to “Giant AI Experiments”. In an interview with the BBC in April Musk said he had been worrying about AI safety for over a decade…reports Asian Lite News

Elon Musk and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are to do a live interview together on Thursday evening. The tech billionaire is expected to attend the global summit on artificial intelligence ahead of this meeting.

The summit, at Bletchley Park, hopes to bring together AI experts and global leaders to discuss the potential risks of artificial intelligence. US Vice-President Kamala Harris and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are due to attend.Open AI’s Sam Altman and Meta’s Nick Clegg will join the gathering – as well as a host of other tech leaders. Yoshua Bengio has confirmed that he will be there. It is also understood that Prof Yann LeCun, Meta’s chief AI scientist, will be there.In contrast to the other godfathers LeCun has described fears that AI could pose a threat to humanity as “ridiculously preposterous” and has posted critically about the summit on X (formerly Twitter).In a post on X, Sunak said: “In conversation with Elon Musk. After the AI Safety Summit. Thursday night on X.” It was revealed on Monday that X, which Musk acquired for $44bn (£36bn), is now worth $19bn, according to internal correspondence first reported by Fortune.Musk launched his own AI venture, xAI in June. He was also one of the original backers of OpenAI but parted ways with the firm. Recent advances in AI have been hailed as revolutionary but also dangerous – even a possible threat to humanity itself. It could lead to mass job losses and supercharge disinformation.On Monday US President Joe Biden signed an executive order that would require AI developers to share safety results with the US government. However, Musk may argue for the US and other countries to go further.In March he signed an open letter calling for a pause to “Giant AI Experiments”. In an interview with the BBC in April Musk said he had been worrying about AI safety for over a decade.”I think there should be a regulatory body established for overseeing AI to make sure that it does not present a danger to the public,” he said.Musk has also pitted himself against AI companies due to the data they use to train chatbots – the software that learns how humans interact by scraping masses of data from various sources to fuel its knowledge and interaction styles.

ALSO READ-X’s valuation half of what Musk spent to acquire it

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X’s valuation half of what Musk spent to acquire it

The social media platform previously offered employees stock in March at a $20 billion valuation…reports Asian Lite News

X Corp has seen its valuation drop to $19 billion — less than half of which Elon Musk bought the social media platform for $44 billion last year.

Employees at X (formerly Twitter) were on Monday awarded equity in the company at a valuation of $19 billion, or $45 per share, according to internal documents accessed by The Verge.

That price is a massive 55 per cent drop to Musk’s original purchase price. “The fair market value per share is determined by the Board of Directors based on a number of factors in a manner that complies with applicable tax rules,” according to the documents.

The type of equity X is giving employees is called “restricted stock units”, or RSUs. These RSUs are earned over a period of four years from their grant date and require a “liquidity event,” such as an IPO or sale of the company, to be taxed as income, according to the report.

The social media platform previously offered employees stock in March at a $20 billion valuation. In July, the X owner posted that X is “still negative cash flow” due to a “50 per cent drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load.”

“Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else,” he added. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO took over the micro-blogging platform in a $44 billion acquisition in October last year that included about $13 billion in debt.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino asserted last month that the company will be profitable by early 2024, adding that the platform may now have 200-250 million daily active users. Speaking at the Code conference, she said that “we have a good set of eyes on what is predictable” and “what’s coming is that it looks like in early 2024, we will be turning a profit”.

Yaccarino said that “90 per cent of the top 100 advertisers have returned to the platform in the last 12 weeks alone.” According to her, about 1,700 advertisers have returned to the platform.

ALSO READ-A Bumpy Ride: Musk’s First Year as X Owner

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EU Commissioner Warns Twitter over Dissemination of Illegal Content

Elon Musk.(photo:IANS/Twitter)

The EU Commissioner told Musk to send back a “prompt, accurate, and complete response” to his request in the next 24 hours, adding that the answer will be included in the EU’s DSA compliance file on X…reports Asian Lite News

EU commissioner Thierry Breton has warned Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, saying that his X platform “is being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the EU” after Hamas attacks in Israel.

In a letter addressed to Musk, Breton said that following the “terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel”, they have indications that “your platform is being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the EU”.

He said that the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) sets very precise obligations regarding content moderation.

“You need to be very transparent and clear on what content is permitted under your terms and consistently and diligently enforce your own policies. This is particularly relevant when it comes to violent and terrorist content that appears to circulate on your platform,” Breton wrote.

The EU Commissioner told Musk to send back a “prompt, accurate, and complete response” to his request in the next 24 hours, adding that the answer will be included in the EU’s DSA compliance file on X.

“You need to have in place proportionate and effective mitigation measures to tackle the risks to public security and civic discourse stemming from disinformation. Public media and civil society organisations widely report instances of fake and manipulated images and facts circulating on your platform in the EU,” Breton emphasised.

Musk-run X on Tuesday said that it removed newly-created Hamas-affiliated accounts and purged tens of thousands of posts for sharing graphic media, violent speech, and hateful conduct amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas violence. A recent EU study claimed that X had the largest “ratio of discoverability” of disinformation.

“My message for X is: you have to comply with the hard law. We’ll be watching what you’re doing,” Vera Jourova, EU’s Values and Transparency Commissioner, said last month.

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