Good Morning! Java 23 just dropped, bringing a whopping 12 JDK Enhancement Proposals to the table, including some sweet syntax improvements and performance boosts. In a move towards stronger AI safety, OpenAI's giving their Safety Committee some real teeth, promoting them to an independent oversight board with the power to delay model releases. And in a bit of eyebrow-raising news, Oracle's making a bold move into AI-powered surveillance, with CEO Larry Ellison envisioning a future of constant video monitoring for both police and citizens.

— Forrest Knight & Meghanadh Vasireddy

Java 23 Drops

Java's been evolving at a steady clip with its six-month release cadence, and version 23 continues that trend. This release brings 12 JDK Enhancement Proposals (JEPs) to the table, including 8 preview features and 1 incubator feature.

• Language Upgrades: Project Amber's cooking up some sweet syntax improvements. You'll see primitive types in patterns, instanceof, and switch (JEP 455), module import declarations (JEP 476), and flexible constructor bodies (JEP 482). These changes aim to make your code more expressive and less boilerplate-heavy.

• Library Enhancements: The Vector API (JEP 469) is back for its 8th incubation, promising better performance for vector computations. Stream Gatherers (JEP 473) are getting a second preview, offering more flexibility in stream operations.

Performance Boost: ZGC's generational mode is now the default (JEP 474), which should mean better garbage collection performance for most workloads. Plus, the Graal JIT compiler is now included in Oracle JDK, giving you more options for performance tuning.

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OpenAI Levels Up: Safety Committee Gets a Promotion

The SSC spent 90 days evaluating OpenAI's processes and safeguards. Now, they're not just advisors - they're an independent oversight committee on the board.

What's New:

1. The SSC, led by Carnegie Mellon's Zico Kolter, now has the authority to delay model releases if safety concerns aren't addressed. That's some serious quality control!

2. OpenAI's doubling down on cybersecurity with expanded internal info segmentation and beefed-up security ops teams.

3. They're aiming for more transparency, continuing to publish those detailed system cards for models like GPT-4o and o1-preview.

4. Collaboration is the name of the game. OpenAI's partnering with external orgs for independent testing and even working with government agencies like Los Alamos National Labs.

5. They're unifying their safety frameworks for model development and monitoring. Think of it as creating a single, robust playbook for AI safety.

The Tech Angle: For devs, this means we can expect more rigorous safety checks on OpenAI's models. It's like they're adding extra unit tests and code reviews, but for AI safety. Plus, with more external collaboration, we might see new industry-wide standards emerging.

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Oracle's AI Surveillance Play

Oracle, known for its database prowess, is pivoting hard into the AI space. They're leveraging their "unique networking architecture" to position themselves as the go-to infrastructure for AI models.

What's New: Ellison envisions a future where AI-powered cameras constantly monitor both police and citizens. He claims this will keep everyone "on their best behavior." Think always-on body cams for cops and ubiquitous public surveillance for the rest of us.

Tech Specs:

• AI will analyze real-time video feeds

• Data stored in Oracle's cloud infrastructure

• Footage requires a subpoena for access (allegedly)

The Catch: While Ellison frames this as a tool for accountability, the privacy implications are huge. We're talking about a system that could potentially track and analyze every public movement.

So, what do you think? Is this the future of public safety or a dystopian nightmare? Either way, it looks like Oracle's betting big on becoming the backbone of our surveillance state.

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🔥 More Notes

• Instagram debuts Teen Accounts as criticism of impact on teen mental health grows

• Don’t trust that Google sign-in — how hackers are swiping passwords in Chrome

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