(This article is part of Today’s Cache, The Hindu’s newsletter on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, innovation and policy. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here.)
Microsoft’s $28.9B audit challenge
Microsoft said on Wednesday the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in September notified the company that it is seeking an additional tax payment of $28.9 billion, plus penalties and interest for tax years from 2004 to 2013. Microsoft said the IRS notices relate to an ongoing dispute between the company and the U.S. tax authority, which is auditing how Microsoft allocated its profit among different countries and jurisdictions.
The Redmond, Washington-based company said it has since changed its practices so that “issues raised by the IRS are relevant to the past but not to our current practices,” according to a Microsoft blog.
Microsoft said it believes that any taxes owed after the audit would be reduced by up to $10 billion based on tax laws passed by former President Donald Trump.
OpenAI’s developer-friendly updates
OpenAI plans to introduce major updates for developers next month to make it cheaper and faster to build software applications based on its artificial intelligence models, as the ChatGPT maker tries to court more companies to use its technology, sources briefed on the plans told Reuters. The updates include the addition of memory storage to its developer tools for using AI models. This could theoretically slash costs for application makers by as much as 20 times, addressing a major concern for partners whose cost of using OpenAI’s powerful models could pile up quickly, as they try to build sustainable businesses by developing and selling AI software.
NASA’s asteroid samples debut
NASA on Wednesday showed off its first asteroid samples delivered last month by a spacecraft — a jumble of black dust and rubble that’s the most ever returned to Earth. Scientists anticipated getting a cupful but are still unsure how much was grabbed from the carbon-rich asteroid named Bennu, almost 60 million miles (97 million kilometers) away. That’s because the main sample chamber has yet to be opened, officials said during an event at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft collected the samples three years ago from the surface of Bennu and then dropped them off sealed in a capsule during a flyby of Earth last month. The expected cupful was far more than the teaspoon or so that Japan brought back from a pair of missions.
