May 17, 2024


Good morning, Quartz readers!


Here’s what you need to know

Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish is stepping down. He is being replaced by an “office of the CEO” made up of three division heads at the company.

ChatGPT’s “hallucinations” have OpenAI under scrutiny in Europe. A privacy rights nonprofit filed a complaint against the AI giant after its chatbot generated false information about people. Meanwhile, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had some encouraging words about human workers.

The yen rebounded after hitting its lowest level in decades. There’s speculation that the Japanese government might have intervened to support its currency.

Elon Musk lost a bid to challenge the Securities and Exchange Commission. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Tesla CEO’s clapback to what he has called a “government-imposed muzzle” on his tweeting privileges.

Philips settled a breathing machine recall case — and it sent the stock soaring. The Dutch medical device maker agreed to pay $1.1 billion over personal injury claims related to its sleep apnea machines.


The AI girlfriend bots have descended on Meta

OpenAI may have been one of the first tech giants to deal with AI girlfriend chatbots flooding its new GPT store back in January, but now it’s Meta’s turn.

The advertisement library of the parent company of Facebook and Instagram has at least 29,000 ads for explicit AI girlfriend bots published across its social media platforms, according to Wired. The generative artificial intelligence chatbots engage with users and generate images and suggestive texts. They also collect a lot of user data.

Meta told Wired that it’s reviewing the ads and removing ones that violate its policy. But the influx of AI girlfriend ads comes just as Meta is reportedly planning to lay off members of its Oversight Board that reviews controversial content, according to The Washington Post.


One big number: 10,000

Units of the SU7 — a tech-heavy electric sedan — that Tesla’s Chinese electric car rival Xiaomi made after just 32 days of production.

Getting into the car-making business, especially when it comes to electric vehicles, is no simple task — just ask Apple. But Xiaomi, a Chinese technology giant known primarily for its smartphones, is notching milestone after milestone.


More from Quartz

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💼 WeWork’s new restructuring deal could help it fund its Chapter 11 bankruptcy exit

🛒 Discount grocer Aldi is winning the inflation era

🗓️ Some social security recipients are about to get 2 checks in 1 month

🍟 California fast food joints were raising prices even before the minimum wage hike

🚂 Norfolk Southern’s CEO should go, influential proxy advisor says

🔍 Ford’s Blue Cruise system is under investigation after fatal Mustang crashes


Surprising discoveries

California now has one electric vehicle charging station for every five gas stations. The state plans to phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.  

Bird flu killed a dolphin. It happened back in 2022, but scientists recently wrote about the first-of-its-kind finding in a study.

There’s an ideal timespan for movies. People think they should run 92 minutes, but that doesn’t match with what has performed best at the box office.

Devices in the U.K. can no longer have crappy default passwords. “12345” definitely won’t cut it.

Grocery prices in the U.S. have grown considerably, but shoppers are making 8% more trips to stores than last year. Searching for deals can be time consuming.


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Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, 92-minute movie recommendations, and mapped-out grocery deal stops talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner.



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