Shaun and I discuss "Why US Gov is suing Google". Plus: ChatGPT's success was a surprise. Un-extincting the Dodo, movies, World Stats and some tech news.

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🎙️ Episode #18: Google antitrust, ChatGPT, Avatar, and a new dodo

🎙️

In this episode…

00:00 Preamble

It was Shaun’s birthday this week, celebrated with a trip to the cinema. With home TV and streaming set-ups being so good these days, is it worth forking out the big bucks on a cinema trip? Plus, do you prefer overdubbed films or reading subtitles?

04:22 Tempting Tech

Rick’s tech of the week is the remarkable ascent of ChatGPT to the lofty heights of 100 million monthly users.
Shaun landed on the Worldometer website. You get real-time figures for all sorts of interesting things.

06:55 Tech News

JD Sports suffered a cyber-attack on its online orders, leaving 10 million customers' data potentially compromised.
Amazon announced the closure of its charity donation scheme, AmazonSmile, due to it not having the impact it had hoped for.
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is trialling a subscription service in the US. For $20 (£16) a month, subscribers will get access to the platform even at busy peak times.
A jury has found Tesla CEO Elon Musk “not liable” for losses incurred by investors who accused him of fraud after he sent tweets in 2018.

08:01 Tech regulation

For the main story this episode, Rick and Shaun discuss the potential challenges facing Alphabet/Google as it faces an antitrust lawsuit brought by the US Department of Justice.

The US Department of Justice alleges Google has used acquisitions and exclusionary strategies to maintain monopoly power and harm competition, and is asking for parts of Google's ad business to be broken up.

The suit could potentially expand the scope of antitrust law for digital monopoly cases in the future, but it may be difficult for the DOJ to prove their case. If the DOJ wins, it could be an even bigger case than the historic Microsoft case and could lead to increased regulation in the digital ad market.

32:41 Rick and Shaun re-enact Jurrasic Park

Colossal Biosciences is attempting to bring extinct species back to life, including the dodo bird, woolly mammoth and Tasmanian tiger. Rick and Shaun wonder whether the dodo will know what it’s supposed to be!
ChatGPT and the 3D printer. Apparently, ChatGPT can be prompted to write (it has robot hands, too.)