Existential Star Wars

The long-awaited arrival of Ethereum-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that can directly hold Ethereum (ETH) is just around the corner in the United States. According to a report by crypto analytics firm K33 Research, these ETFs could attract an impressive $4 billion in inflows within the first five months of their launch.

Bitcoin (BTC) is nearing a potentially pivotal moment as its average price across three different time frames has converged within a narrow range, hinting at a possible breakout. Jamie Coutts — Real Vision’s chief crypto analyst — noted in a June 4 X post that Bitcoin’s simple moving average (SMA) across the five-day, 30-day, and 50-day periods had all fallen between $65,000 and $68,239.

A coalition of current and former employees at OpenAI, the parent company behind ChatGPT, has issued a warning about the existential threats posed by advanced artificial intelligence, including the potential for human extinction. In a detailed letter released yesterday (June 4), the group, consisting of 13 former and current employees from firms such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google’s DeepMind, outlined a series of threats associated with AI, despite its potential benefits. The letter states, “We are current and former employees at frontier AI companies, and we believe in the potential of AI technology to deliver unprecedented benefits to humanity.” However, it also highlights concerns: “These risks range from the further entrenchment of existing inequalities, to manipulation and misinformation, to the loss of control of autonomous AI systems potentially resulting in human extinction.” Neel Nanda, the Mechanistic Interpretability lead at DeepMind and formerly of AnthropicAI, was among the signatories.

Meta is bringing updates and new features to its Quest 3 headset at a fair old rate and as good as these features are, we aren’t even seeing the really big stuff it has planned that could bring its UI more in line with Apple’s Vision Pro. The Quest 3 is a really good VR headset, you can read whether we think it is worth buying one right here.

Netflix has announced that it will no longer support older Apple TV models, specifically those that are a decade old from July 31, 2024. This decision was communicated to customers via email, with the intent to “maintain the best possible Netflix experience,” as reported by Apple Insider. The exact reasons for discontinuing support are not specified, but it is suggested that the age of the devices and potentially outdated codec support could be contributing factors. Nice.

Airbus has showcased a full-scale model of its AI-powered Wingman drone at the International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA) in Berlin this week. In military aviation, a “Wingman” refers to a pilot in a separate aircraft who supports and defends the lead pilot, improving tactical capabilities and mission success. Airbus has reimagined this role with its concept, where the Wingman is not an actual pilot or a manned fighter jet. Airbus will be presenting its new Wingman concept at the International Aerospace Exhibition #ILA24 in Berlin.