Plus, Crypto.com sues the SEC after the agency warns the exchange could face a lawsuit. And artificial intelligence pioneers, including one of the “godfathers of AI,” win the Nobel Prize in physics. Zoe Thomas hosts.
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[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Here's your TNB Tech Minute for Tuesday, October 8th. I'm Zoe Thomas for The Wall Street Journal.
[00:00:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Short-Seller Hindenburg Research alleges that the video game platform Roblox has inflated its user metrics to investors since it went public in 2021.
[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_01]: In a report released today, Hindenburg also claims Roblox, which is popular with kids under 13, gave priority to growth over measures that would better protect children from pedophiles and mature content.
[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_01]: The firm said its research is based in part on interviews with multiple former Roblox employees and first-hand experience on the platform.
[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_01]: A spokeswoman for Roblox said the company rejects the claims, saying that Roblox is a, quote,
[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_01]: safe and secure platform and that the authors of the Hindenburg report, quote, have an agenda.
[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Crypto.com says it sued the Securities and Exchange Commission after it received a so-called Wells notice,
[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_01]: indicating it could face a lawsuit from the regulator.
[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_01]: An SEC spokesperson declined to comment.
[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_01]: The SEC uses Wells notices to inform firms or individuals of possible enforcement actions,
[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_01]: though notices aren't a final indication that any action will take place.
[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_01]: In past complaints against other crypto exchanges, the SEC has alleged most tokens traded on crypto platforms are securities,
[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_01]: which the agency regulates.
[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Platforms that sell unregistered securities could face penalties.
[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_01]: And the Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to two scientists whose work underpins many of today's most powerful artificial intelligence models.
[00:01:54] [SPEAKER_01]: John J. Hopfield of Princeton University and Jeffrey E. Hinton of the University of Toronto helped train artificial neural networks that can recognize patterns in large data sets using tools from physics.
[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_01]: This makes machine learning tasks like facial recognition and language translation possible.
[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Hinton, known as one of the godfathers of AI, worked for Google for over a decade, but quit last year to speak more freely about the risks of AI development.
[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_01]: On a call with the Nobel Committee, he said he worried about systems that are more intelligent than humans and that eventually take control.
[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Hopfield later echoed those concerns in a video call with Princeton University faculty and guests.
[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_01]: For a deeper dive into what's happening in tech, check out Wednesday's Tech News Briefing podcast.