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Apple is sending App Store boss Phil Schiller to the board of OpenAI. According to Bloomberg, Schiller will be given an observer role without voting rights. As an observer, he will not become a full member of the board, but will have insight into the company's decision-making processes. This puts Apple on an equal footing with Microsoft, OpenAI's largest financial backer and technology partner. The agreement follows Apple's announcement in June that it would also integrate ChatGPT into its devices with Apple Intelligence. At present, the partnership is not of a financial nature. Instead, OpenAI gains access to hundreds of millions of potential users, while Apple gains access to the technology. Apple is also in talks with Google, Anthropic, Baidu and Alibaba about further AI offerings.

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YouTube now allows users to request the removal of AI-generated content that simulates their face or voice. The change allows affected individuals to request the removal of this kind of AI-generated content as a privacy violation under YouTube's privacy request process. When deciding whether to remove AI-generated content, YouTube considers whether the content is labeled as synthetic or AI-generated, whether it uniquely identifies a person, and whether the content could be considered parody, satire, or something else of value and public interest. YouTube warns its users that removal means the video is completely taken down from the site and that simply labeling it as AI content does not necessarily protect it from removal. YouTube gives the uploader 48 hours to respond to the complaint.

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Microsoft founder Bill Gates is not worried about the rising electricity consumption caused by AI applications. Speaking at an event in London, Gates said that AI will ultimately help reduce energy consumption and accelerate the transition to sustainable energy sources. According to Gates, data centers would only cause an additional 6 percent of electricity consumption in the worst case, but more likely just 2 to 2.5 percent. "The question is, will AI accelerate a more than 6 percent reduction? And the answer is: certainly," he said. Gates also believes that the increasing demand for electricity will lead to new investments in green energy, as technology companies are willing to pay more for green electricity "to say that they're using green energy." However, studies by Goldman Sachs and the Electric Power Research Institute predict that data centers could account for up to 9 percent of U.S. electricity consumption by 2030. Critics worry that the AI boom could increase the use of fossil fuels.

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The EU Commission is looking into a possible antitrust probe into the partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI after dropping a merger review. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said on Friday: "The key question was whether Microsoft had acquired control on a lasting basis over OpenAI. After a thorough review we concluded that such was not the case. So we are closing this chapter, but the story is not over." The European Commission investigated whether Microsoft's multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI falls under the EU merger control regulation. According to Vestager, the EU is now investigating whether "certain exclusivity clauses" in the contract between Microsoft and OpenAI "could have a negative effect on competitors." The US and UK are also investigating the Microsoft-OpenAI alliance. The Commission has also announced that it will investigate Google's agreement with Samsung to pre-install Gemini on the company's smartphones.

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