Bits: Do You Prefer Free Speech, or a Perfectly Clean Internet?

Catch up on everything you missed from the world of tech this week. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, April 18, 2019 [For the latest updates, go to nytimes.com/bits »]( Do You Prefer Free Speech, or a Perfectly Clean Internet? [Firefighters doused flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame cathedral on Monday.] Firefighters doused flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame cathedral on Monday. Thomas Samson/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Each week, we review [the week’s news]( offering analysis about the most important developments in the tech industry. Hi, I’m Jamie Condliffe. Greetings from London. Here’s a look at the week’s tech news: In the quest to clean up the web, the gray area between good and bad will be hard to handle. As the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris burned this week, a YouTube effort to fight misinformation failed. The platform’s automated fact-checking feature — a box that shows facts to help viewers contextualize footage — incorrectly [displayed information about the Sept. 11 attacks]( alongside live streams of the fire. “These panels are triggered algorithmically, and our systems sometimes make the wrong call,” YouTube said in a statement. The company said it had no further details about what went wrong. The failure raises a question: If a platform can’t provide facts reliably, how can we trust it to take down bad content correctly? Facebook, YouTube and other Big Tech companies say malign content will have to be policed automatically, because it’s too big a job for humans. But algorithms will struggle against our subjectivity. This is a hard problem. In a profile by my colleague Daisuke Wakabayashi, YouTube’s chief executive, Susan Wojcicki, said that borderline content — material that is potentially harmful but does not break rules — is [particularly hard to police](. Rasmus Nielsen, a professor of political communication at Oxford University who studies misinformation, said, “The problem will never be solved, if solving it means getting rid of all the bad stuff, because we can’t agree on what the bad stuff is.” Accept that, and a hard question follows. “Knowing that things won’t be perfect, what do we feel is most desirable?” Mr. Nielsen asks. “A system that errs on the side of caution, or one that errs on the side of being permissive?” Decisions on that look set to be shaped by regulation, such as draft legislation approved by the European Union this week that would require platforms to [take down terrorist content]( within one hour of notification from authorities, or last week’s proposals from the United Kingdom to fine tech companies if they [don’t remove “harmful” content]( quickly. This quickly descends into the thorny issue of potentially infringing rights of free speech to ensure that platforms remain clean. Lawmakers will have to wrestle with what kinds of algorithms they want deployed to enforce their regulation, and there is no easy solution. Apple’s big 5G backdown For years, Apple and Qualcomm have been locked in bitter patent battles across three continents. The iPhone maker sought $27 billion in damages; its former chip supplier wanted $15 billion. My colleagues Don Clark and Daisuke Wakabayashi [reported on Wednesday]( that the companies agreed to dismiss their litigation. The settlement includes a multiyear agreement for Qualcomm to supply chips to Apple, and an undisclosed one-time payment to Qualcomm from Apple. Why the change? Playing a big role were two small characters: 5G. Both companies care deeply about it. As [The Wall Street Journal notes]( Qualcomm “trained its focus on the future promises of 5G” for more than two years, concentrating its efforts on developing standards and new chips that enable smartphones to access the networks. The new 5G technology will provide far faster data speeds, and is expected to be widely adopted in the coming years. . Apple has worried about its source for those chips. While locked in battle with Qualcomm, the chip maker’s components — which are already fit for inclusion in phones — were not an option. That left some unpalatable options: ■Go with Intel, its 4G supplier. But rumors of delays at Intel suggested that could have pushed back the release of a 5G iPhone by a year. ■Team up with Huawei, which said this week that it was “[open]( to selling 5G chips to Apple. But that could look bad for the iPhone maker, given Washington’s concerns about national security risks posed by Huawei. ■Build its own. But Apple’s chip design team is relatively new, so that could have taken a long time. Against that backdrop, the desire for $27 billion in damages faltered. Apple will probably still want to work with another modem supplier, but for now the situation appears to be mutually beneficial for the two companies. Less so for Intel, perhaps: Just hours after the settlement was announced, the company said it would no longer work on 5G smartphone chips, citing “[no clear path to profitability]( The gamer with 45,000 years of experience Last weekend, OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research organization, gave one of its algorithms a tough challenge: It had to play the strategy video game Dota 2 against a team of the world’s most proficient human players. Dota 2 is difficult. Two teams of five players battle each other, but have incomplete information (they can’t see the whole game arena), lots of complexity (each player can make dozens of actions across a large playing area) and must think in advance (games last around 45 minutes). OpenAI’s algorithm uses five so-called artificial neural networks, each controlling a player, that learn by playing games against themselves. The ones that played last weekend boasted the equivalent of 45,000 years of total game play experience. “It’s almost an evolutionary scale,” Greg Brockman, the chief technology officer of OpenAI, said. “It’s perfectly honed for its environment.” How did the algorithms do? They won, taking the first two games in a best-of-three competition. “It’s a significant milestone,” Shimon Whiteson, a professor of computer science at Oxford University, said. And it “shows that we still haven’t reached the limits of what we can achieve when using existing algorithms,” he added. OpenAI faces another test this weekend, when it takes on teams worldwide over the internet. Mr. Brockman says there is a “50-50 shot that we’ll win every game.” But the news highlights a problem facing A.I.: Its astonishing demand for computer power to master a single task. The 45,000 years of experience took 10 months to acquire on thousands of powerful computer processors, and the algorithms would need other training to master a new skill. Overcoming that is one of the biggest challenges in A.I. And some stories you shouldn’t miss ■China is using A.I. to profile a minority group. Hundreds of thousands of face scans and new algorithms have enabled the government to [track members of a largely Muslim group](. ■Google’s huge data cache is being used as a dragnet. Its user tracking is being employed by investigators to [find suspects and witnesses near crimes]( but it could snare the innocent. ■Insurance doesn’t necessarily cover cyberattacks. Big companies thought they were covered for losses resulting from the 2017 NotPetya attack. [They were wrong](. ■Samsung’s $2,000 foldable-screen smartphone is already breaking. Some gadget reviewers found that its screen fails [after several days of use](. ■Silicon Valley is giving second chances to #MeToo culprits. Executives fired for misconduct are finding it [relatively easy to get new jobs]( reports BuzzFeed News. ■Apple’s gaming service has a big budget. The FT reports that it’s [spending $500 million]( on titles for its launch. ■Want to relive Facebook’s troubled 15 months? [Wired’s 12,000-word essay]( will help. ■Google quietly disbanded another ethics board. A panel overseeing the ethics of its health care A.I. [split up over tensions]( about information access and independence. ■Alibaba’s co-founder celebrated a 72-hour workweek. Jack Ma said that working from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m., six days a week, was a “[huge blessing]( HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [bits_newsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:bits_newsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Bits%20Newsletter%20Feedback%20223). ADVERTISEMENT LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. In Case You Missed It [The Most Measured Person in Tech Is Running the Most Chaotic Place on the Internet]( By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI YouTube’s C.E.O. spends her days contemplating condoms and bestiality, talking advertisers off the ledge and managing a property the size of Netflix. [I.P.O. Day for Pinterest and Zoom Ends With Shares Sharply Higher]( By ERIN GRIFFITH Coming into these I.P.O.s, there were many questions about whether investors were willing to swallow the risk of the latest crop of tech companies. [Samsung’s Review Phones Fail, Delivering a P.R. Nightmare]( By CHRISTINE HAUSER AND BRIAN X. CHEN The company said some of the problems described in reviews of its nearly $2,000 Galaxy Fold phone might be due to the removal of a protective film from the display. Tech Fix [Uber vs. Lyft: Which Ride-Hailing App Is Better?]( By BRIAN X. CHEN Here’s a comprehensive comparison of the two services to help you choose your go-to app for hitching rides. [The Man Who Made Your iPhone Wants to Run Taiwan. A Sea Goddess Backs Him, He Says.]( By CHRIS HORTON The entrance into the presidential race by the billionaire Terry Gou shakes up Taiwan’s political playing field and draws into sharp focus its strained relations with China. [Apple and Qualcomm Settle All Disputes Worldwide]( By DON CLARK AND DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI Apple and Qualcomm said they had agreed to dismiss all litigation between them worldwide. [As Netflix Contends With More Rivals, Hulu Stands Out]( By EDMUND LEE With 148 million subscribers and a value of $157 billion, Netflix is the leader in streaming. But Hulu, now controlled by Disney, has something Netflix doesn’t: ads. And they are worth a lot. Wheels [High-Tech Collision Warnings, No Matter How Smart Your Car Is]( By CHRISTOPHER JENSEN “This can be a great way to get the safety benefit of crash-avoidance technology at a reduced cost compared to a new car,” said the author of a safety study. Global Health [In African Villages, These Phones Become Ultrasound Scanners]( By DONALD G. MCNEIL JR. AND ESTHER RUTH MBABAZI A hand-held device brings medical imaging to remote communities, often for the first time. Talk [Melinda Gates on Tech Innovation, Global Health and Her Own Privilege]( Interview by DAVID MARCHESE “‘Let’s create the next thing that tracks my dog’ — that’s fun and nice, but come on, there are people dying.” [Big Companies Thought Insurance Covered a Cyberattack. They May Be Wrong.]( By ADAM SATARIANO AND NICOLE PERLROTH Citing a rarely used ‘war exemption,’ insurers say they aren’t responsible for the 2017 NotPetya attack. [One Month, 500,000 Face Scans: How China Is Using A.I. to Profile a Minority]( By PAUL MOZUR In a major ethical leap for the tech world, Chinese start-ups have built algorithms that the government uses to track members of a largely Muslim minority group. NEED HELP? Review our [newsletter help page]( or [contact us]( for assistance. ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW BITS [Twitter] [@nytimesbits]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »]( | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Bits newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2019 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018