TNB Tech Minute: U.N. Chief Calls for Ban on Lethal Autonomous Weapons

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
This episode is sponsored by Anthropic, the makers of Claude. Scott Wu spent his childhood winning math and programming competitions. Now, he solves similar problems as CEO of Cognition, a successful AI startup. Find out more at the break.

**Imani Moise** (0:17)
Here's your afternoon TNB Tech Minute for Monday, July 6th. I'm Imani Moise for The Wall Street Journal. The United Nations Chief is calling for autonomous weapons to be banned by international law. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called drones that can select and attack targets on their own killer robots and said they were, quote, morally repugnant. Guterres' comments speak to a growing debate over when military forces should use AI, when humans should intercede, and who should decide where to draw the lines. The conversations about AI weapons comes as there's growing popular backlash in the US and other countries about the potential negative effects of the AI revolution, including mass job replacement, and electricity price increases.
Microsoft is cutting more than 3,000 jobs from its Xbox video game division. The company also announced plans to sell or spin off four video game development studios, and is exploring strategic options for a fifth.
The video game industry has been pummeled by layoffs after companies expanded aggressively in response to a surge in business during the pandemic that petered off when the world reopened. Xbox revenue fell 5% in the quarter ending in March from a year earlier. Its profit margin in the fiscal year that ended in June was 3%, a decline from the prior year.
And SpaceX will officially join the NASDAQ 100 index tomorrow, following NASDAQ's decision to fast track newly public mega cap companies. That means index tracking funds are gearing up for a buying spree. Mutual funds and ETFs with a collective $800 billion in assets track the NASDAQ 100 and are expected to purchase shares of the rocket company after today's close. Analysts say that could lead to a short-term boost in SpaceX's stock price, though gains are not guaranteed in the long run. And that's it for your TNB Tech Minutes. We'll have another Quick Tech Update for you in the morning.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:12)
Anthropic's Claude is AI for problem solvers. Here's Cognition's Scott Wu on how the model made his vision possible.

**Scott Wu** (2:19)
What we do at Cognition is we build Devin, the first AI software engineer and a suite of tools around that. Our whole mission is to help build software around the world 10 times faster.
From the beginning, I always loved that you could take any idea that you had and turn it into reality. Everyone will be able to turn those ideas into reality. By getting to work with Anthropic, we're able to go and deliver customers the exact capabilities that they're looking for. We've been able to help bring folks to a new era of software engineering. This is a world where building software is just as easy as telling your computer what to do.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:53)
What problems will you solve with Claude? Learn more at claude.com/problemsolvers.