2023 will go down as a year of much pleasure and much pain, as great games mixed with great upheaval in the industry, both foreseeable byproducts of gaming's explosive success during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, industry leaders tell Axios.
Why it matters: It's been a dramatic year and one that has experts thinking about the downside of a boom.
Hackers stole personal data belonging to 6.9 million people who used services from the genetic testing company 23andMe in October, a company spokesperson confirmed to Axios on Monday.
Why it matters: The personal data, including ancestry reports, some DNA data, birthdates, self-reported location and profile pictures, went up for sale on a popular hacking forum following the breach, according to TechCrunch, which first reported the number of users affected.
It was only a matter of time before venture capitalists got their own generative AI chatbot, to help them save money on outside lawyers and accountants.
Driving the news: The free new tool is called Decile Base and was developed by VC Lab, a sort of "YC for VCs" that has accelerated nearly 400 venture firms since 2021.
AI startup Runway has reached a deal with Getty Images that will allow the company to offer a more "commercially safe" version of its text-to-video engine, executives from both companies tell Axios.
Why it matters: There's a growing push by AI c0mpanies to offer options for businesses with greater legal protections against copyright claims.
Spotify on Monday said it is cutting 17% of its staff, or roughly 1,500 people globally, in its latest round of layoffs this year.
Why it matters: The steep cuts come as a surprise, given Spotify's most recent quarterly earnings report, which marked the first time the company turned a quarterly profit since 2021.
Forget the low-flying crop-dusting planes of yesteryear — some farmers are now turning to drones to apply pesticides, drop seeds and more.
Why it matters: Crop-dusting is both dangerous and increasingly a lost art, as professional pilots seek safer and better-paying jobs at the airlines and elsewhere.
Running AI is much more energy-intensive than other forms of computing, but as leaders gather for the COP28 global climate summit in Dubai, we know relatively little about AI's net impact on climate change.
Why it matters: Increasing adoption of AI may make it one of the biggest uses of energy globally — putting pressure on AI providers to measure and publish data on energy use and energy sources.
