This is the ODPA's monthly round-up of data-related developments from around the world.
On 1 April, OpenAI announced it had raised $40bn (£31bn) through fundraising led by the Japanese group SoftBank, in a deal that values the ChatGPT developer at $300bn. The fundraising came as Open AI chief executive Sam Altman said ChatGPT had added a million users in just one hour as its new image generation feature takes off with consumers – accompanied by a viral obsession with recreating Studio Ghibli-style art:
OpenAI raises $40bn in deal with SoftBank that values it at $300bn | OpenAI | The Guardian
On 1 April, news agency Associated Press reported on ethical concerns about artificial intelligence tools trained on copyrighted creative works and what that means for the future livelihoods of human artists:
ChatGPT's viral Studio Ghibli-style images highlight AI copyright concerns | AP News
On 1 April, Forbes reported that a data leak at X revealed details of 2.8 billion profiles:
200 Million X User Records Released — 2.8 Billion Twitter IDs Leaked
On 1 April, several UK media organisations including the Financial Times reported that an independent investigation into the leadership, culture and structure of the Office for National Statistics had been launched by ministers to examine flaws in official UK economic data:
Investigation launched into UK's Office for National Statistics - BBC News
On 2 April, the BBC published a story about how a ‘fake news’ report written for April Fools’ Day took on a life of its own when AI got involved and reported it as fact:
Google AI tricked by Cwmbran roundabouts Aprils fools’ prank - BBC News
On 21 April, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was linked to a second group chat about sensitive military operations, which he reportedly shared with his wife, brother and personal lawyer:
Trump told to sack Pete Hegseth over reports of second war plans group chat | US News | Sky News
Cyber attacks and supermarkets
Towards the end of the month, the supply lines of two of Britain’s largest supermarkets were both disrupted in cyber events.
On 29 April, Reuters reported that Marks & Spencer had stopped taking online orders in the UK and Ireland on Friday following a cyber attack which it reported earlier in the week, an announcement which sent its shares down by 5%:
Britain's M&S stops taking online orders after cyber attack
On 30 April, the BBC reported that the Co-op had shut down parts of its IT systems to hackers attempting to gain access to them, and added that the Metropolitan Police was looking into the M&S cyber attack:
Co-op fends off hackers as police probe M&S cyber attack - BBC News
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