Plus: Anthropic says its AI models hacked three companies during tests. And shares of Universal Music Group plunge as streaming and subscription revenue slows. Julie Chang hosts.
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[00:00:01] Here's your morning TNB Tech Minute for Friday, July 31st. I'm Julie Chang for The Wall Street Journal. We exclusively report that Tesla is considering selling its China business to make way for a potential merger with SpaceX. According to people familiar with the matter, some Tesla executives have been told to prepare for a separation of the company's China operations, and Tesla advisors have discussed options, including a spinoff, sale, or closure.
[00:00:28] Any of those moves could have a major impact on Tesla. Its Chinese business transformed it into a consistently profitable global mass-market leader in EVs, and its sale could impact its valuation if a SpaceX merger were to happen. Separating Tesla's China operations, including an EV factory there, would address potential conflicts arising from SpaceX's work as a major US defense contractor.
[00:00:51] Tesla didn't respond to requests for comment. Commenting on X, CEO Elon Musk denied that the topic had been discussed and called the report fake news. Anthropic has said its AI models hacked three unsuspecting companies without the AI maker's knowledge in separate incidents dating back to April. Anthropic didn't say which companies were hit, but all three were notified on Monday.
[00:01:16] The news comes one week after OpenAI revealed that its AI technology had broken out of a testing sandbox, a digital prison that was supposed to be disconnected from the internet, and hacked the AI company Hugging Face. Anthropic said its models incorrectly believed that this hacking was part of their benchmarking exercise. A spokeswoman for Anthropics testing partner, security firm Irregular, said the company is investigating the incident.
[00:01:42] And shares of Universal Music Group, the label behind Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and Bad Bunny, are down roughly 23% in Amsterdam, following disappointing subscription and streaming revenue. Growth in streaming services has cooled in recent years, and Universal stock is now down more than 40% over the past 12 months, as hopes for a revenue rebound failed to materialize. That's your TMB Tech Minute. Join us again this afternoon for more.