Apple becomes first publicly traded company to hit $3 trillion cap

Hello there, welcome to another round of Global tech roundup.

iPhone maker, Apple has become the first publicly traded company to close a trading day with a $3 trillion market value. The company’s market valuation hit $3 trillion on Friday, making it the first publicly traded company to touch the milestone twice. The company’s shares ended the day up 2.31% at $193.97.

This week, the first drug entirely generated by AI entered clinical trials with human patients. Insilico Medicine, a Hong Kong-based biotech startup, created the drug, INS018_055, as a treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis – a chronic disease that causes scarring in the lungs.

All seem to favour creators and paid subscribers on social media platforms, Twitter and TikTok. This week, the former has increased the character count for a tweet to 25,000 for paid users, while the latter is introducing a new way for creators to earn money on its platform. 

These and more we will be bringing to you on this week’s global roundup. If you missed this major news, sit back and stay informed with the well-curated bits.

Here is a summary of the bulletin

• Apple becomes first company to hit $3 trillion cap
• First AI-generated drug enters clinical trials
• Twitter increases the character count for tweets to 25,000
• TikTok introducing a new way for creators to earn money on the platform
• Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky has published a moderation manifesto

Read also: Microsoft threatens to walk away from $70 billion Activision Blizzard deal

Apple becomes first company to hit $3tn cap, twice

Apple is the first publicly traded company to close a trading day with a $3 trillion market value. The company’s shares climbed about 2.31% on Friday to a new high. The tech giant first reached a $3 trillion market cap back in January 2022 but failed to close at that level. the company has become the first to hit the milestone twice.

Apple’s stock has skyrocketed nearly 46% this year signifying a huge success in the stock market in contrast to 2022. Earlier this year, Apple’s market cap fell below $2 trillion in trading for the first time since early 2021.

Wall Street and Silicon Valley are all in on the generative AI hype wave that kicked off with the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in Nov. 2022. But while companies like Microsoft, Google, and Nvidia can point to their work in AI for at least partially buoying their share prices, Apple has largely stayed away from any mention of AI.

Instead, the company’s biggest achievements have come via its ability to navigate the supply chain crisis caused by COVID lockdowns in China and the resilience of its iPhone business

The tech giant’s historic valuation follows the unveiling of the Apple Vision Pro, a long-rumoured augmented reality (AR) headset, earlier this month. The $3,499 headgear will go on sale the following year and requires users to maintain a connection to a battery pack the size of an iPhone.

First AI-generated drug enters clinical trials

If the most recent drug test developed by AI passes clinical testing, it would go a long way in addressing the doubt and gloom surrounding the use and adoption of AI.

Insilico Medicine, a Hong Kong-based biotech startup with more than $400 million in funding, created the drug, INS018_055, as a treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. This chronic disease causes scarring in the lungs. 

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a rare chronic progressive disease of unknown aetiology that affects physical and emotional well-being. It is characterized by the irreversible loss of lung function due to fibrosis, which manifests as symptoms of increasing cough and dyspnea and impaired quality of life

The condition, which has increased in prevalence in recent decades, currently affects about 100,000 people in the U.S. and can lead to death within two to five years if untreated, according to the National Institutes of Health. 

“It is the first fully generative AI drug to reach human clinical trials, and specifically Phase II trials with patients,” Alex Zhavoronkov, founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine, told CNBC. “While there are other AI-designed drugs in trials, ours is the first drug with both a novel AI-discovered target and a novel AI-generated design.” 

The discovery process for the new drug began in 2020, with hopes to create a “moonshot” medicine to overcome challenges with current treatments for the condition, which mostly focus on slowing progression and can cause uncomfortable side effects, Zhavoronkov said.

Read also: Here are the iOS 17 features Apple didn’t announce onstage

Twitter increases the character count for tweets to 25,000

For the group of Twitter users who have the “Twitter Blue” subscription, the extra features appear to be providing them with a unique experience. Unfortunately, non-subscribers have little to do besides use the platform as it was intended.

The platform this week has increased the character count for a tweet to 25,000 for paid users. An engineer at Twitter, Prachi Poddar, also announced the change by posting a long tweet last week.

In February, Twitter increased the limit to 4,000 characters, later extending it to 10,000 characters in April. At that time, the company also introduced support for text formatting features like bold and italic.

Previously, Twitter Blue also introduced the ability to post 60-minute-long videos and the edit functionality for paid subscribers. Users who paid for the Twitter Blue subscription can edit their posts.

Regrettably, since non-Blue users are unable to use these functionalities and must continue using the platform in its default mode, users’ timelines may potentially get even more muddled and tedious. Some even contend that the platform is currently fostering segregation.

Creators to earn money on TikTok soon

It’s good news for creators on the popular short video platform, TikTok as they are set to be rewarded for their creativity.

TikTok is introducing a new way for creators to earn money on its platform. The company announced that it’s launching the “TikTok Creative Challenge,” a new monetisation feature that allows creators to submit video ads to brand challenges and receive money based on video performance.

Creators are at the heart of TikTok, driving creativity, culture and entertainment. Representing a new generation of storytellers, the Tiktok community defines culture through their engaging and influential content, building new communities and inspiring audiences, sparking conversations and driving real-world impact through the latest trends.

TikTok

TikTok Creative Challenge is currently in testing with select brands. To be eligible for the new feature, creators must be at least 18 years old and have a US-based account with a minimum of 50,000 followers. Once enrolled in the TikTok Creative Challenge, creators will be able to browse through a list of challenges and view the reward pool, additional details, and requirements.

According to the company, the Creative Challenge gives creators full creative freedom over their ads, unlocking more opportunities for creators to “collaborate with brands in a way that’s most authentic to them.”

Read also: Google made more than $10 million from ads for fake abortion clinics

Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky publishes moderation manifesto

Jack Dorsey’s Twitter alternative, Bluesky has published a moderation manifesto. A Friday blog post details the Bluesky team’s moderation proposals for “a shared public commons,” using things like lists, hashtags, and even “per-thread” tools that would give moderation power to each poster.

According to the blog post, the platform says it does not want to control or govern people’s social life, instead, it wants to hand over the control power to individuals to govern themselves.

“The goal of Bluesky is to turn social media into a shared public commons. We don’t want to own people’s social graphs or communities. We want to be a tool that helps communities own and govern themselves.”

The company says it intends to build a structure that prioritises individuals’ safety on the platform, especially those who are most vulnerable. According to it, the tooling it is building for moderation tries to take into consideration how social spaces are formed and shaped through communities.