• Fox Business reports that Amazon plans to invest $120 million in the construction of a satellite processing facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which "will be used to receive satellite shipments, conduct final preparations ahead of launches, connect satellites to custom dispensers from beyond gravity and integrate the loaded dispensers with launch vehicles."
The investment is part of Amazon's Project Kuiper, described as "Amazon’s low Earth orbit satellite network that offers broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world."
"We have an ambitious plan to begin Project Kuiper’s full-scale production launches and early customer pilots next year, and this new facility will play a critical role in helping us deliver on that timeline," said Steve Metayer, vice president of Kuiper Production Operations.
• The Financial Times reports that "online grocer and robotics company Ocado and its Norwegian rival AutoStore have settled a three-year intellectual property dispute, both companies said on Saturday."
AutoStore had charged that Ocado was guilty of patent infringement and should not be allowed to export its technology outside its home country. Ocado, the story notes, "is best known for its online retail business in the UK. But the company has staked its future on selling its robotic warehouses to traditional supermarkets. The UK retailer started selling its ecommerce technology to other retailers in 2013 and now counts Kroger in the US and Groupe Casino in France among its clients."
The resolution will have AutoStore paying Ocado a total of $257 million (US) in 24 monthly installments of about $10.7 million. It also gives each company access to the other's patents.
• From the Wall Street Journal:
"The Biden administration says it has reached a deal with big tech companies to put more guardrails around artificial intelligence, including the development of a watermarking system to help users identify AI-generated content, as part of its efforts to rein in misinformation and other risks of the rapidly growing technology.
"The White House said seven major AI companies - Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and OpenAI - are making voluntary commitments that also include testing their AI systems’ security and capabilities before their public release, investing in research on the technology’s risks to society, and facilitating external audits of vulnerabilities in their systems.
"On Friday, most of the companies issued statements saying they would work with the White House, while also emphasizing that the guardrails were voluntary."
