Bit by Bit 5th Feb || Musk defeats Tesla shareholder suit over 2018 'funding secured' tweets || 12-million-year-old Whale skull found & more

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MARKET UPDATE

Markets were closed on 04/02/2023

Economy

IMF raises global growth forecasts for 2023

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made a slight increase to its global growth outlook for 2023, due to "surprisingly resilient" demand in the United States and Europe, easing energy costs and the reopening of China's economy after Beijing abandoned its strict COVID-19 restrictions.

It still sees the pace of global growth falling this year compared with 2022, but by a smaller margin than it predicted in October. The IMF is now forecasting 2.9% growth for 2023 – up from a 2.7% forecast in October – versus 3.4% growth last year.

The IMF now expects US GDP growth of 1.4% this year, up from a 1.0% prediction in October and following 2.0% growth in 2022. This is down to stronger-than-expected consumption and investment in the third quarter of 2022, a robust labour market and strong consumer balance sheets.

Automotive

Musk defeats Tesla shareholder suit over 2018 'funding secured' tweets

The Story :

A jury cleared Elon Musk of claims by Tesla Inc. investors that he defrauded them when he tweeted 4 1/2 years ago that he was considering taking the company private and had “funding secured” to make the deal happen.

The verdict in San Francisco federal court rejects allegations that the electric-car maker’s CEO violated securities laws and should pay billions of dollars in damages. The finding is a major vindication for Musk, whose August 2018 tweets got him and Tesla sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and once again proves that the billionaire is difficult to beat in court.

The outcome, after a three-week trial, is a bitter loss for the shareholders who sought to recoup trading losses from fluctuations in Tesla shares after Musk posted the messages. Musk abandoned the take-private plan about two weeks after his initial tweets.

Musk’s victory on Friday, after about two hours of jury deliberations, will be cause for celebration for his fans on Twitter who support his vows to champion free speech on the social media platform he acquired in October for $44 billion.

“The jury got it right,” Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Musk, said after the verdict, declining further comment.

TECH

How the search engine giant will combat ChatGPT in the Google vs. Open AI battle

Google has apparently taken notice of OpenAI's ChatGPT, leading them to declare a 'code red' and invest nearly $400 million in Anthropic, a rival to OpenAI's chatbot. This comes after Microsoft's massive commitment of $10 billion to OpenAI, along with the additional $1 billion they invested in the startup in 2019.

In 2015, Google acquired the artificial intelligence company Moodstocks, which specializes in image recognition. Later, in 2017, Google bought the startup Kaggle, which hosts machine learning competitions. Google has also invested in AI-focused companies such as Vicarious, DNNresearch, and Vicarious Systems. In 2019, Google announced its acquisition of the startup Anthropic, which develops AI technologies for powering online services. The acquisition is expected to bolster Google’s efforts in the AI space.

Google believes that the successful implementation of AI-based innovations requires a collective effort between the company and a variety of external stakeholders, including researchers, developers, users, governments, regulators, and citizens. This is important in order to earn public trust and maximize the potential of AI to benefit individuals and society. Therefore, Google embraces the opportunity to collaborate and get AI right.

Anything Interesting

12-million-year-old Whale skull found

The Story

Cody Goddard was walking along Matoaka Beach in the Chesapeake Bay, hoping to uncover fossils, maybe old shark teeth. Instead, the Pennsylvania resident discovered a 12-million-year-old whale skull. Goddard and his family were visiting Maryland in October 2022 when they decided to go beachcombing, according to Chesapeake Bay Magazine. Goddard observed a big chunk of dirt on the shore with a fragment of fossil sticking out as they strolled down Matoaka Beach.

Stephen Godfrey, Curator of Paleontology at the Calvert Marine Museum, was informed and raced to the scene. Godfrey verified that Goddard had uncovered a whale skull from the Miocene epoch, which was eventually determined to be 12 million years old after analysing the chunk of silt. "It was like we'd won the Paleontology World Cup," Godfrey remarked. The pleasure of the finding was tempered by the difficulty of retrieving the whale skull and the 650-pound block of dirt that enclosed it. It took two months for a team of paleontologists to collect the whale skull, and Goddard even returned to Maryland to assist.