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Musk Calls Out Canadian PM Over Free Speech

Elon Musk.(photo:IANS/Twitter)

Musk reacted after the Canadian government made it compulsory for online streaming platforms to register with the government for “regulatory controls”….reports Asian Lite News

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Monday slammed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to crush free speech in his country, saying this is “shameful”.

He reacted after the Canadian government made it compulsory for online streaming platforms to register with the government for “regulatory controls”.

Author-Journalist Glenn Greenwald posted on X: “The Canadian government, armed with one of the world’s most repressive online censorship schemes, announces that all online streaming services that offer podcasts must formally register with the government to permit regulatory controls”.

Musk reacted: “Trudeau is trying to crush free speech in Canada. Shameful.”

When one of his followers posted that Trudeau should change his name to “Falsedeau”, the tech billionaire reacted with a crying face emoji.

Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said that India’s diplomatic row with Canada was discussed in his meeting with top US officials — Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan — and he gave them both an exhaustive account of India’s case, which included its assessment of “a very permissive Canadian attitude towards terrorists”.

The US has been supportive of Canada’s allegation that India was behind the killing of Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June.

The US has publicly and privately urged India to cooperate with the investigation.

New Delhi has dismissed the allegations as “absurd” but has said that if Canada has anything, it would take a look at it.

But Ottawa has not provided any evidence to India or presented it publicly.

ALSO READ: ‘India Needs ‘Musks’ In Space Sector’

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Musk’s Neuralink to start human trial of brain implant

Elon Musk.(photo:IANS/Twitter)

The study will evaluate the safety and functionality of the technology, according to a statement…reports Asian Lite News

Elon Musk’s brain-implant startup, Neuralink, said it has received approval from an independent review board to begin recruiting patients for its first human trial. The company is seeking people with paralysis to test its experimental device in a six-year study.

Neuralink is one of several companies developing a brain-computer interface (BCI) that can collect and analyze brain signals. But its billionaire executive’s bombastic promotion of the company, including promises to develop an all-encompassing brain computer to help humans keep up with artificial intelligence, has attracted skepticism and raised ethical concerns among neuroscientists and other experts.

Last year, the Food and Drug Administration denied the company’s request to fast-track human trials, but in May approved Neuralink for an investigational device exemption (IDE) that allows a device to be used for clinical studies. The agency has not disclosed how its initial concerns were resolved.

Neuralink says it is looking for patients with quadriplegia due to vertical spinal cord injury or ALS. Participants will have a BCI surgically implanted using a proprietary robot in a region of the brain that controls movement, with the goal of enabling them to control a computer cursor or a keyboard using just their thoughts. The study will evaluate the safety and functionality of the technology, according to a statement.

The company’s announcement comes months after it received regulatory approval for a trial. Its previous testing in animals is under scrutiny, after reports that trials caused unnecessary suffering. Former employees characterized tests as “hack jobs”, telling Reuters that in one instance, the device was implanted in the wrong position in pigs, leading to their euthanasia.

The allegations triggered several investigations, including inquiry from the Department of Agriculture into animal abuse and the Department of Transportation over mishandling of biohazardous materials across state lines.

The company did not respond immediately to queries about when and where the trial will be conducted, or how many participants it will involve. If its device proves safe for human use, it could still take decades before it is cleared for patients outside the trial.

ALSO READ-Musk, Netanyahu hold discussion on AI

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Musk, Netanyahu hold discussion on AI

The Israeli Prime Minister is also scheduled to meet US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the opening session United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)…reports Asian Lite News

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk held a discussion on Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. Earlier, in a post on the official handle of his social media platform X, Musk responded to Netanyahu’s post stating, “Artificial intelligence discussion with PM Netanyahu in an hour.

“Later in the evening, the Israeli Prime Minister took to his official handle on ‘X’ to post that he was looking forward to the discussion with the Tesla CEO on how they could mitigate the risks of AI for the betterment of civilization.  “I look forward to speaking at 9:15 (19:15 Israel time) on X with @elonmusk about how we can harness the opportunities and mitigate the risks of AI for the good of civilization,” Netanyahu wrote.

The Israeli Prime Minister is also scheduled to meet US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the opening session United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Netanyahu is scheduled to address the international body on Thursday in New York. He is also likely to visit Silicon Valley for a tour of the tech industry and meet with Elon Musk. (ANI)

ALSO READ-Musk’s Tesla In Talks For Saudi EV Factory

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Musk’s Tesla In Talks For Saudi EV Factory

Saudi Arabia is in talks with Tesla about setting up a manufacturing facility in the country….reports Asian Lite News

Billionaire Elon Musk, who is still toying with the idea to establish a Tesla factory in India, is in early talks with South Arabia to build a new EV manufacturing facility there, a report claimed on Monday. The Tesla CEO, however, denied any such talks.

According to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources, Saudi Arabia is in talks with Tesla about setting up a manufacturing facility in the country.

This is part of an ambitious push by the oil-rich nation “to secure metals needed for electric vehicles and help diversify its economy away from oil”.

However, any deal would need to overcome hurdles, including Musk’s contentious relationship with the Saudis, the report added.

Musk reached to the report in a post, saying “yet another utterly false article from WSJ”.

They had declined to take Tesla private back in 2018 and the country has a majority stake in rival EV maker Lucid Motors. 

According to the report, much of the talks seem to focus on Saudi Arabia’s desire for Tesla’s help securing more cobalt from Africa.. 

“Kingdom is trying to boost foreign investment but has contentious history with Elon Musk,” the report mentioned.

Tesla, Musk or Saudi Arabia did not comment on the report.

In 2018, after his controversial tweet about taking Tesla “private,” Musk had said that he met with Saudi Arabia sovereign fund representatives to discuss the electric carmaker’s possible exit from the stock market.

Musk said in a statement posted on the Tesla website that the Saudi sovereign fund had first contacted him “at the beginning of 2017 to express (their) interest because of the important need to diversify away from oil”.

The Saudi sovereign fund then owned about 5 per cent of the outstanding Tesla shares.

The report came as Musk is finally building a Tesla supply system via India.

The electric vehicle major is planning to source automobile parts worth up to $1.9 billion this year from India, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said last week.

The imports will be around double as compared to auto parts worth $1 billion imported by Tesla from India last year, Goyal said while addressing the annual convention of Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA).

The minister said that last year, Tesla had already bought $1 billion worth of components from India and this year their target is $1.7-$1.9 billion.

Goyal’s statement came after reports said that the Musk-led company has held talks with the government, and is exploring the possibility of bringing its auto parts and electronics chain to the country.

ALSO READ: Musk vouches to ‘fight for max freedom of speech’ on X

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-Top News Tech Lite USA

Musk vouches to ‘fight for max freedom of speech’ on X

Elon Musk.(photo:IANS/Twitter)

The article also claims that this is in contrast to other countries such as Turkey and India, where X continues to legally contest censorship demands…reports Asian Lite News

Billionaire Elon Musk on Sunday vouched that his social media company X, formerly Twitter, will fight for maximum freedom of speech under the law.

Musk said that while his company follows the aforesaid policy, anyone working at X who does not comply with the principle can join “other social media companies who sell their soul for a buck”, he wrote in a post on X.

The Tesla CEO quoted a Washington Post article, which claimed prosecutors in German as saying that under Musk, X is complying with more requests from the country to identify users in hate speech cases, than before.

The article also claims that this is in contrast to other countries such as Turkey and India, where X continues to legally contest censorship demands.

“At the risk of stating the obvious, I don’t know what’s going on with every part of this platform all the time, but our policy worldwide is to fight for maximum freedom of speech under the law,” Musk wrote in a post on X on Sunday.

“Anyone working for X Corp who does not operate according to this principle will be invited to further their career at any one of the other social media companies who sell their soul for a buck.”

Recently, the Musk-owned X also filed a lawsuit alleging that a new California law requiring social media platforms to declare certain moderation practices is “unconstitutional” and a clear violation of the company’s right to free speech.

The law, called AB 587, requires social media companies to publicly detail moderation practices around hate speech, racism, extremism, disinformation, harassment and foreign political interference, TechCrunch reported.

In the lawsuit, X said through AB 587, “the State is compelling social media companies to take public positions on controversial and politically-charged issues”.

“Because X Corp. must take such positions on these topics as they are formulated by the State, X Corp. is being forced to adopt the State’s politically-charged terms, which is a form of compelled speech in and of itself,” the lawsuit alleged.

“AB 587 thus mandates X Corp. to speak about sensitive, controversial topics about which it does not wish to speak in the hopes of pressuring X Corp. to limit constitutionally-protected content on its platform that the State apparently finds objectionable or undesirable,” it added.

Responding to the lawsuit, California Assembly member Jesse Gabriel, and author of the AB 587 bill, said that it is “a pure transparency measure that simply requires companies to be upfront about if and how they are moderating content. It in no way requires any specific content moderation policies.”

The AB 587 bill was signed into law a year ago.

ALSO READ-Musk’s Taiwan Gaffe Spurs Foreign Minister’s Firm Rebuttal

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Tech Lite Technology

US Lawmakers Grill Big Tech Leaders on AI Regulation

Musk-Zuckerberg

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were also present in the meeting…reports Asian Lite News

In a rare appearance, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Meta Founder and CEO were seen sitting at little distance from each other during a meeting on the Capitol Hill on Wednesday as the duo, along with other Big Tech leaders, faced questioning from the US lawmakers on their plans to build responsible AI.

US Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic majority leader of Senate, called the closed-door meeting as the US prepares for a legislation to control technology in the ChatGPT era.

Musk told reporters that it is important to have a referee or a regulator to ensure that “companies take actions that are safe and in the general interest of the public”.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were also present in the meeting.

“We begin an enormous and complex and vital undertaking: Building a foundation for bipartisan AI policy that Congress can pass,” Schumer said at the meeting.

“With AI, we can’t be like ostriches sticking our heads in the sand,” the Senator said.

ALSO READ-Indian-American Candidate Ramaswamy Eyes Elon Musk as Advisor

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-Top News USA

Indian-American Candidate Ramaswamy Eyes Elon Musk as Advisor

Ramaswamy has previously complimented Musk’s management of X, previously Twitter, saying he would run the government the way that Musk runs the social media company…reports Asian Lite News

Fresh out of the first Republican primary debate, Indian-American candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has suggested that he would want to have Elon Musk on as an advisor if he wins the 2024 presidential election.

Ramaswamy said he wants to bring in people with “a blank fresh impression”, after a voter at a town hall in Iowa asked the 38-year-old entrepreneur last week where he would seek guidance if elected, The Hill reported, citing NBC News.

“I’ve enjoyed getting to know better, Elon Musk recently, I expect him to be an interesting adviser of mine because he laid off 75 per cent of the employees at Twitter,” Ramaswamy said.

Ramaswamy has previously complimented Musk’s management of X, previously Twitter, saying he would run the government the way that Musk runs the social media company.

“What he did at Twitter is a good example of what I want to do to the administrative state,” Ramaswamy had said in an interview on Fox News last week.

“Take out the 75 per cent of the dead weight cost, improve the actual experience of what it’s supposed to do. He put an X through Twitter, I’ll put a big X through the administrative state,” he said, adding: “So, that’s where I’m at on common tactics with Elon.”

Musk, who had previously pledged support for Florida Governor. Ron DeSantis’ White House bid, called Ramaswamy “increasingly compelling”, as the Indian-American faced his first political debate in Wisconsin to select the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nominee.

The tech billionaire had also called the youngest presidential aspirant a “very promising candidate”, referring to Ramaswamy’s interview with talk show host Tucker Carlson.

Ramaswamy believes it’s time for an “outsider” in the White House in 2024, and is almost tying up with DeSantis at number two in polls, beating fellow Indian-American Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence.

A Yahoo News/YouGov poll released last week showed DeSantis in second place in the Republican race with 12 per cent support — just four points ahead of Ramaswamy.

With a worth of more than $950 million, Ramaswamy raised more than $450,000, with an average donation of $38, in the first hour after the Republican debate.

In addition, he was the most Google-searched Republican candidate, followed by Haley, according to Fox News.

ALSO READ-Indian-Origin CEOs impress Musk

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-Top News USA

SpaceX Hit With Lawsuit Over Alleged Discrimination in Hiring

The investigation also found that SpaceX recruiters and high-level officials took actions that actively discouraged asylees and refugees from seeking work opportunities at the company…reports Asian Lite News

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has sued Elon Musk-run SpaceX for discriminating against asylees and refugees in hiring.

The lawsuit alleged that, from at least September 2018 to May 2022, SpaceX routinely discouraged asylees and refugees from applying and refused to hire or consider them, because of their citizenship status, in violation of the US Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

In job postings and public statements over several years, SpaceX wrongly claimed that under federal regulations known as “export control laws,” SpaceX could hire only US citizens and lawful permanent residents, sometimes referred to as “green card holders”, the DoJ lawsuit alleged. 

“Our investigation found that SpaceX failed to fairly consider or hire asylees and refugees because of their citizenship status and imposed what amounted to a ban on their hire regardless of their qualification, in violation of federal law,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke. 

The investigation also found that SpaceX recruiters and high-level officials took actions that actively discouraged asylees and refugees from seeking work opportunities at the company. 

“Asylees and refugees have overcome many obstacles in their lives, and unlawful employment discrimination based on their citizenship status should not be one of them,” Clarke added.

The department’s lawsuit alleged that SpaceX discriminated against asylees and refugees based on citizenship status at multiple stages of the hiring process.

“SpaceX discouraged asylees and refugees from applying for open positions, through public announcements, job applications and other online recruiting communications that excluded asylees and refugees. SpaceX failed to fairly consider applications submitted by asylees and refugees,” the lawsuit read.

SpaceX also refused to hire qualified asylee and refugee applicants and repeatedly rejected asylee and refugee applicants because of their citizenship status.

SpaceX hired only US citizens and lawful permanent residents, from September 2018 to September 2020.

The US seeks fair consideration and back pay for asylees and refugees who were deterred or denied employment at SpaceX due to the alleged discrimination.

ALSO READ-Musk backs Vivek Ramaswamy as ‘Promising’

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-Top News Social Media USA

Musk backs Vivek Ramaswamy as ‘Promising’

Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends an opening ceremony for Tesla China-made Model Y program in Shanghai, east China, Jan. 7, 2020. (Xinhua/Ding Ting/IANS)

The tech entrepreneur has the support of 9 per cent of leaders within the Republican Party, while Trump has a staggering 47 per cent, followed by 19 per cent for Ron DeSantis…reports Asian Lite News

 Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Friday praised Indian-American Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, calling him a “promising candidate”.

Sharing a video of Ramaswamy’s interview with political commentator and talk show host Tucker Carlson on X (formerly Twitter), Musk said: “He is a very promising candidate.”

Ramaswamy, who is the youngest presidential candidate at 38, entered the now crowded Republican presidential nomination contest as an outsider in February.

He is now positioned at number three, just after former president Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

The tech entrepreneur has the support of 9 per cent of leaders within the Republican Party, while Trump has a staggering 47 per cent, followed by 19 per cent for Ron DeSantis.

Known to mince no words, Ramaswamy has said that China is the biggest threat that the US faces and that he would go for “complete decoupling” with Beijing if voted to power.

He has even vowed to “promptly” pardon Trump if elected to the White House next year, and has even earned praises from the former President for doing well in a Republican Primary poll.

Meanwhile, Ramaswamy and other Republican rivals are actively preparing for the Republican Party’s first 2024 presidential debate next week.

Media reports quoting a senior adviser said that Ramaswamy is doing no formal preparation for the debate as he pursues a whirlwind campaign schedule.

He will spend the day before the debate playing tennis and spending time with family.

Republicans will meet in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from July 15-18, 2024, for their national convention to formally select their party’s next presidential nominee.

ALSO READ-TikTok: China’s disinformation tool?

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-Top News USA

Zuckerberg says he’s ready for cage fight, Musk reacts

Musk-Zuckerberg

When a Threads user asked if the fight being streamed on X had been mutually agreed upon, Zuckerberberg replied, “More like ‘funding secured’.”…reports Asian Lite News

When Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday said that he was “ready today” to fight Elon Musk and was waiting for the confirmation of the cage match date, X-owner reacted and said “exact date is still in flux.”

On Threads, Zuckerberg posted a screenshot of Musk’s post about lifting weights to prepare for the fight, and said, “I’m ready today. I suggested Aug 26 when he first challenged, but he hasn’t confirmed. Not holding my breath.”

“I love this sport and will continue competing with people who train no matter what happens here.”

Posting another Musk’s statement that the fight will be live-streamed on X with all proceeds going to charity for veterans, Zuckerberg asked, “Shouldn’t we use a more reliable platform that can actually raise money for charity?”

When a Threads user asked if the fight being streamed on X had been mutually agreed upon, Zuckerberberg replied, “More like ‘funding secured’.”

Commenting on Zuckerberg’s statements, Musk said that the exact date of the cage fight “is still in flux”. When an X user posted, “NEWS: Zuck states he is ready to fight this month but has not heard back from @elonmusk.”

Musk replied: “Exact date is still in flux. I’m getting an MRI of my neck & upper back tomorrow.” “May require surgery before the fight can happen. Will know this week.” Responding to another post, he said, “If the fight is short, I probably win. If long, he may win on endurance.” “I am much bigger and there is a reason MMA has weight divisions.” Musk also said, “I weigh at least 300 lbs.”

“Aiming to get to 50 pound free weights this week. I build muscle fast. Physical endurance is my weak spot, so I’m aiming to make this quick,” he wrote on Sunday. The talk of the cage fight initially started when Musk in June replied to a post about the news that Meta was releasing a Twitter competitor.

“I’m sure Earth can’t wait to be exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options. At least it will be ‘sane’. Was worried there for a moment.” To this, a user replied, “Better be careful @elonmusk I heard he does the jiu-jitsu now”.

“I’m up for a cage match if he is lol,” Musk replied. Then, Zuckerberg posted a screenshot of the Tesla CEO’s statement with the caption, “send me location”. Later, both were seen training Jiu-Jitsu.

ALSO READ-ChatGPT fined for exposing personal info of 687 S. Koreans