The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday announced new rules and safeguards for $39B in taxpayer funding that will open up to manufacturers through the U.S. CHIPS Act. Semiconductor manufacturers that receive subsidies will be required to share some of their excess profits with the U.S. government. Recipients will also be required to provide affordable child care for employees, according to the rules. More: - The new rules apply to companies that receive $150M or more in direct funding from a $39B federal fund dedicated to plant construction, expansion, and modernization.
- The subsidies were established through last year's CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to support and expand U.S. semiconductor manufacturing to better compete against China.
- Funding recipients will be now required to share a "portion of any cash flows or returns" that exceed initial projections for profits from their manufacturing.
- Other rules will require recipients to provide child care for workers, as well as limit stock buybacks and dividends.
- Additionally, chipmakers have to agree not to expand their manufacturing capacity in China for 10 years if they want to get funding.
Zoom Out: - Today, Commerce Department announced the award application process for the $39B in funding, which runs through the spring and summer.
- Another $13.2B earmarked through the CHIPS program will go toward R&D and workforce advancement.
REUTERS 
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Microsoft is releasing an update to Windows 11 that includes access to its Bing chatbot for certain users. The operating system update also adds iOS support to the Phone Link app, allowing iPhone users to send and receive calls and messages on Windows 11 devices. More: - Through the update, Microsoft users who have pre-existing access to the Bing chatbot will be able to use it directly in a Windows 11 search bar.
- The Bing app will be available in the search bar within the user's taskbar, letting them converse with the bot without needing to use the Edge web browser.
- In addition, the update will enable iPhone users to link their devices to Windows 11 via Bluetooth radio.
- The new "Phone Link for iOS" allows public Apple users to send and receive text messages, including iMessages, as well as calls and notifications inside Windows 11.
Zoom out: - The Windows 11 update also includes improvements to the widgets system, built-in Teams experience, and Notepad, which is getting tabs for the first time.
- Some of the features are available today. They are expected to roll out fully in the March 2023 monthly security update scheduled for March 14.
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Tesla Inc. plans to build a major manufacturing plant in Monterrey, Mexico, the country's president confirmed on Tuesday. Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Tesla has accepted proposals to address the issue of water shortages in Monterrey, located about 300 miles southwest of San Antonio. More details are expected on Wednesday during Tesla's Investor Day event. More: - "This will represent a considerable investment and many, many jobs," López Obrador said on Tuesday.
- López Obrador and Tesla CEO Elon Musk reached an agreement after they held several phone calls in recent days.
- They discussed concerns that the investment could be blocked due to water scarcity in the fast-growing arid region. The proposal involves using recycled water during the EV manufacturing process.
- “They are going to help,” López Obrador said of Tesla.
Zoom Out: - In July, Musk confirmed that Tesla was considering sites in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico for a future North American plant.
- The EV maker has vehicle assembly plants in Austin, Texas, and Fremont, California, as well as in Shanghai in China, and Berlin, Germany.
BLOOMBERG
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A new Platformer report suggests that The Boring Company CEO Steve Davis could become the new CEO of Twitter, replacing Elon Musk. Shortly after acquiring Twitter last year for $44B, Musk told a court that he expected to reduce his time at the helm and would find someone else to run the company. More: - Some Tesla employees now believe Davis could take over after he helped oversee recent job cuts at Twitter.
- According to Platformer, Davis asked Twitter managers to identify "exceptional" workers ahead of the layoffs, which occurred on Saturday.
- Davis has also become more involved in Twitter and was tasked with cutting roughly $500M in operating costs at the company, though reports said he ended up cutting close to $1B.
- Davis, who has been CEO of Musk's Boring Co. since 2019, slept at Twitter's San Francisco HQ in a makeshift bedroom in his office for several weeks, along with his partner and newborn child.
Zoom out: - Musk fired former CEO Parag Agrawal as soon as he took over Twitter in late October.
- In December, Musk confirmed that he would eventually resign as CEO as soon as he finds "someone foolish enough" to take on the role.
- Recently, Musk said he would likely appoint a new Twitter CEO toward the end of this year, as he still needs to "stabilize the organization and just make sure it’s in a financially healthy place and that the product road map is clearly laid out."
PLATFORMER
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The U.S. Justice Department has started investigating a cybersecurity breach that targeted a system belonging to the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS). The attack breached a standalone system of the USMS, a federal law enforcement agency within the DOJ that provides security for federal courts and transports prisoners. More: - The ransomware attack on Feb. 17 compromised some personally identifiable information of USMS employees, investigations, and third parties.
- While the attack did not expose any data related to the federal witness protection program, hackers did gain information about certain fugitives sought by U.S. officials.
- Other compromised data included administrative info and some legal documents.
- After discovering the attack, the USMC disconnected the system from its network.
- Officials have now labeled the breach as a "major incident" as they conduct the investigation.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
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 Snap is rolling out an OpenAI-powered AI chatbot to users of its Snapchat subscription service. The experimental "My AI" feature is described as a more restricted version of ChatGPT located within Snapchat. More: - Snap said the GPT-powered chatbot is customized to generate text specifically for Snapchat, with a "unique tone and personality" geared toward the platform's values on "friendship, learning, and fun."
- The AI service can "recommend birthday gift ideas for your BFF, plan a hiking trip for a long weekend, suggest a recipe for dinner, or even write a haiku about cheese for your cheddar-obsessed pal," it said.
- The feature was trained to avoid biases or harmful responses. However, Snap warned that the bot still has "many deficiencies," including a proneness toward AI "hallucinations" and the ability to be "tricked into saying just about anything."
- My AI is rolling out this week to subscribers of the $3.99-per-month Snapchat Plus service.
- Snapchat says it could eventually launch the bot to all of its 750 million monthly users.
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 |  | Beth is a writer and editor at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily technology news. She has written the Inside AI newsletter since 2019. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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