Inside Tech

For May 31, 2024

Here’s a look at today's tech briefing:

Proxy adviser recommends against Tesla CEO Musk's pay package.
Apple to upgrade Siri with advanced AI.
Temu faces stricter digital rules in the EU.
Twitch dismisses all members of Safety Advisory Council.
STMicroelectronics to build Italy plant.
Wordle owner NYT sues creator of spinoff 'Worldle.'

A top proxy adviser has urged Tesla shareholders to reject CEO Elon Musk's multibillion-dollar pay package, calling it "outsized from the start." Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) is the second shareholder advisory firm after Glass Lewis to recommend against the package.

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At Tesla's June 13 annual meeting, directors will seek shareholder reapproval of the package after it was invalidated by a Delaware judge in January
ISS claims the package is excessive and has failed to meet some of the board's objectives.
Musk does not receive a salary from Tesla. His pay package involves milestones centered on Tesla's financial growth.
Shareholders approved Musk's last compensation package in 2018, the largest for a corporate CEO in the U.S.
The pay plan was valued at $55B in January and is now worth around $45B.

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The California Public Employees' Retirement System also plans to vote against the proposal. The largest public pension fund in the U.S. is among Tesla's 30 largest investors.
Musk criticized the fund's stance on the package, saying that "all the contractual milestones were met."
According to Board Chairperson Robyn Denholm, Musk has not received payment for his work at Tesla for six years, which many stockholders consider "fundamentally unfair."

Apple plans to improve Siri with advanced AI, allowing users to control app functions through voice commands, Bloomberg reports. The new Siri, planned for 2025, will analyze users' activity on devices to automatically activate features of the voice assistant.

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Apple engineers have revamped Siri's software with large language models.
Siri will be able to perform tasks like relocating notes, deleting emails, opening documents, summarizing articles, and emailing links.
At launch, the new Siri will control "hundreds" of commands within Apple's own apps. The assistant will only be able to perform one command at a time.
Apple eventually wants Siri to execute multiple commands, such as taking and sending a photo.

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The new Siri will include code to determine if tasks should be handled on-device or on Apple's servers.
The on-device AI features may require an iPhone 15 Pro or newer.
Apple plans to announce the new Siri features at next month's WWDC.

Chinese shopping app Temu now falls under the EU's strictest online safety rules. With over 45 million monthly EU users, Temu passed a threshold forcing it to do more to tackle illegal and harmful content and counterfeit products.

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Under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), companies with 45M+ users are designated as very large online platforms (VLOPs) and subject to stricter rules.
Temu entered the EU market last year and now claims around 75 million average monthly users in the region.
The company has to submit its first systemic risk assessment report to the EU within four months.

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Temu is now the 24th company to fall under the more stringent rules, joining Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, and others.
China-founded fast fashion brand Shein received the same designation last month.
The DSA restricts targeted ads at children, bans manipulative "dark patterns," and requires platforms to clarify algorithms, among other measures.
Violations can incur fines of up to 6% of a company's global annual revenue.

Twitch has ended the contracts of all of its Safety Advisory Council members, with plans to replace them with streamers known as "Twitch Ambassadors." Formed in 2020, Twitch's Safety Council has comprised nine industry experts, streamers, and moderators who help develop safety policies and advocate for community concerns.

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The council consisted of advisers like Sameer Hinduja, Emma Llansó, and Dr. T.L. Taylor, who are leaders in cyberbullying, free expression, and gaming diversity.
All council members were told that their contracts would end today without pay for the second half of the year.
Twitch said it plans to continue the council by expanding membership primarily to its ~180 Twitch ambassadors.

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The ambassadors are users chosen for their "positive impact" on the streaming platform.
A spokesperson said the ambassadors can "offer fresh, diverse perspectives."
Twitch did not confirm if the new council members would be paid. Previous members earned $10,000 to $20,000 annually.

Swiss semiconductor giant STMicroelectronics plans to build a €5B ($5.4B) chip factory in Italy, backed by €2B ($2.2B) in state subsidies under the EU's Chips Act. The plant will manufacture silicon carbide microchips for EVs and other power devices.

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The plant in Catania, on Sicily, will begin production in 2026 and reach full capacity by 2033.
The plant, the world's first fully integrated silicon carbide facility, will focus on manufacturing, testing, and packaging.
STMicroelectronics is the global leader in producing silicon carbide microchips, which can improve EV range and reliability with their lightweight efficient properties.

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The EU, alongside the U.S., Japan, and other nations, is investing billions in domestic chip manufacturing to compete globally and decrease dependence on China.
The €43B EU Chips Act seeks to boost the bloc's semiconductor production from around 10% to 20% of the global market by 2030.

Wordle owner The New York Times has sued the creator of Worldle, a geography-based spinoff game. The Times claims Worldle creates "confusion" with its "nearly identical" features.

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Seattle-based developer Kory McDonald created Worldle, where users guess geographical places instead of words.
In its lawsuit, the Times claims Worldle is "nearly identical in appearance, sound, meaning, and imparts the same commercial impression" as Wordle.
McDonald argues that there is a whole industry of games fashioned after Wordle.
"Wordle is about words, Worldle is about the world, Flaggle is about flags," he said.

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The Times bought the daily word puzzle in 2022 for a price "in the low seven figures."
Earlier this year, the paper began sending takedown requests to developers who created online games inspired by Wordle.

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Google says it made technical improvements to its AI-generated answers in Search following user reports of misinformation.
Spain's data protection agency blocked Meta's election tools on Facebook and Instagram, citing concerns about user data privacy.
OpenAI said it thwarted five foreign influence operations that used its AI models to generate fake and deceptive content.
Tesla is recalling over 125,000 vehicles in the U.S. due to a seat belt alert malfunction. The company will release an over-the-air software update in June.
Meta says its TweetDeck-like feature for Threads is now available to all users globally.
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Beth Duckett

AI and technology writer

Beth is a contributing editor and writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters. She has written for publications including USA Today, the Arizona Business Gazette, and The Arizona Republic, where she received recognition with a Pulitzer Prize nomination and a First Amendment Award for collaborative reporting on state pension cost increases. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com.