3. TikTok’s last chance
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will hear arguments challenging a law that could lead to a ban of ByteDance’s social media app TikTok. The Supreme Court scheduled oral arguments in the case for Jan. 10, nine days before the law is set to take effect. The law would require ByteDance to sell the app or force Google, Apple and other platforms to stop supporting the app in the United States. The app has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years and is used by an estimated 170 million Americans.
4. 1-800-CHATGPT
OpenAI on Wednesday released a new way consumers can talk to its viral chatbot, 1-800-CHATGPT. At first, the company said users will get 15 minutes free per month and can access the features by dialing the U.S. number (1-800-242-8478) or messaging it via WhatsApp. The news follows a slew of updates from OpenAI as part of a 12-day release event, including the official announcement of Sora, OpenAI’s buzzy AI video-generation tool. The announcements are part of an aggressive growth plan for OpenAI as it battles a growing number of competitors in a market that is predicted to top $1 trillion in revenue within a decade.
5. Shutdown on the horizon
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday opposed a Republican-backed government funding bill, raising the odds of a government shutdown. A source familiar with the president-elect’s thinking confirmed that Trump told a Fox News host he is “totally against” the continuing resolution. Trump’s opposition comes after Elon Musk tried to tank the 1,547-page bill throughout the day, which he says is laden with wasteful pork-barrel spending. If no legislation is passed by the House and Senate and signed by President Joe Biden after Friday night, the federal government would enact a partial shutdown that could include employee furloughs.
— CNBC’s Kristian Burt wrote this newsletter. Pia Singh, Jeff Cox, Dan Mangan, Hayden Field and Kevin Breuninger contributed.
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