Alibaba VP Jia Yangqing responds to the "escape from Shanghai" incident; Zhongguancun graphics card prices plummet; Chang'e 5 lunar regolith results announced; more major news today here.

Daily News from Aofei Temple
Quantum Bit | Public Account QbitAI

Hello everyone, today is April 14th, "Mad Thursday" .

So what’s the big news in the tech world?

I will present it to you now.

Today's Big News

Jia Yangqing denies leaving Alibaba: This trip between China and the US was a normal business trip

Regarding the online rumors that Alibaba Vice President Jia Yangqing had "fled Shanghai," Jia Yangqing issued a clarification. The full text is as follows:

AI face-changing video scams have appeared in many places, with the lowest cost being 2 yuan

According to Xinhua Daily Telegraph, "face-changing" scams are occurring frequently in many locations.

For example, in a recent case in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, Mr. Chen claimed that he was defrauded of nearly 50,000 yuan by a "friend".

After police investigation, they discovered that the scammer had used AI face-swapping technology to impersonate Mr. Chen's friend.

Specifically, the scammers used the videos of Mr. Chen’s friends on social platforms, captured the facial video footage and performed a "face-changing" operation.

Coincidentally, in April last year, the police in Hefei City, Anhui Province cracked a "face-changing" fraud gang.

This gang used AI technology to forge dynamic videos of other people's faces and provided technical support such as registering mobile phone cards for the black and gray industry chain.

The cost of "making" such a video is only 2 to 10 yuan. The suspect said:

"Customers" often buy in the hundreds or thousands, leaving huge room for profit.

Nowadays, with the continuous advancement of science and technology, not only pictures and texts, but also videos and voices can be forged.

Perhaps in the background of the App, payment interface, etc. that you are not aware of, criminals are very likely to steal your face.

Therefore, while we enjoy the convenience brought by technology, we also need to pay attention to data security and privacy security.

Global pure electric vehicle sales surpass hybrid electric vehicle sales for the first time

According to Nikkei Chinese, global sales of pure electric vehicles have surpassed those of hybrid vehicles:

In 2021, global sales of new pure electric vehicles (EVs) reached approximately 4.6 million units, an increase of 2.2 times that of 2020, surpassing hybrid vehicles (HVs) for the first time .

The data source for its survey and calculation is MarkLines.

As for hybrid vehicles, global sales in 2021 were approximately 3.3 million, an increase of only 33%.

Nikkei Chinese believes that the significant increase in sales of pure electric vehicles is due to subsidies from various countries.

In addition, the Chinese market has become a key factor driving sales growth:

In 2021, China's new sales of pure electric vehicles increased 2.6 times from the previous year to 2.91 million units.

Graphics card prices are collapsing, with an average price drop of 30% in Zhongguancun.

Recently, Sina Technology visited the Science and Technology Electronics Center in Zhongguancun, Beijing, and conducted an on-site investigation into the "graphics card price avalanche".

According to the actual investigation results, many merchants' stores still display popular graphics card boxes, but what bothers the store owners now is not the shortage of stock, but how to sell them at a reasonable price.

In fact, the downward trend in graphics card prices has been gaining momentum since November last year.

A Colorful graphics card agent told Sina Technology that the price of graphics cards like the GTX1660s fell by 400 yuan in the three months starting from November last year.

Since February this year, there has been another wave of sharp price drops, "the fastest drop was 100 yuan a day."

And this is not an isolated phenomenon. In addition to mid- and low-end graphics cards, high-end graphics cards are also experiencing a sharp drop in price.

According to data from the US e-commerce platform NewEgg, the prices of Nvidia and AMD have been falling since the beginning of the year.

For example, at the end of March this year, the price of Nvidia RTX 3080 dropped from 2,299 Australian dollars (about 10,000 yuan) to 1,499 Australian dollars (about 7,000 yuan) in just one night , a drop of 35% .

Except for the 3080, the prices of the entire NVIDIA series of 3050, 3060, 3070 and even the upcoming RTX 3090 have generally dropped, with an average drop of 10%.

And AMD is also quite exaggerated.

For example, the price of RX 6600 dropped by 22%, and the price of RX 6700 XT dropped by 16%... Most graphics cards are dropping in price, with an average drop of 13%.

During the on-site investigation in Zhongguancun, an agent said:

The graphics card market is equivalent to the national market. As long as there is no dumping at low prices, the market conditions across the country will be the same.

Graphics card prices have dropped by an average of about 30% since March and are now generally within this range.

After the New York subway shooting, ride-hailing giants were accused of price gouging.

Just yesterday, a shooting incident occurred in the New York subway was exposed.

The shooting took place at the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn, New York, injuring at least 29 people.

According to foreign media reports, after this incident, online car-hailing giants Uber and Lyft were exposed by netizens for "raising prices arbitrarily."

Because of the panic caused by this incident, many citizens are afraid to take the subway, so the demand for online car-hailing services has surged and prices have also soared.

Perhaps under pressure from public opinion, Uber and Lyft have both made corresponding adjustments to this "dynamic pricing."

For example, Uber spokesman Josh Gold said:

Following the incident, Uber disabled its surge pricing feature in the neighborhood and implemented a price cap citywide.

If anyone on our platform experiences unexpected charges during this emergency, we will work hard to get them a refund.

Lyft tweeted:

We have currently suspended peak pricing in the region and are working to adjust payments for some customers who paid peak prices immediately following the incident.

Chang'e-5 lunar soil latest research results announced

According to CCTV News, a research team including the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences obtained information on the space weathering of key substances on the surface of lunar soil particles after detecting and analyzing individual Chang'e-5 lunar soil particles.

It is reported that this research result has been published in Geophysical Research Letters.

Specifically, the research team used a series of analytical methods to obtain information on the space weathering of silicates, oxides, phosphates and sulfides on the surface of individual Chang'e-5 lunar soil particles.

It is mainly affected by the combined effects of factors such as micrometeorite impacts, solar wind and cosmic ray radiation, and the surface structures of different minerals are affected differently.

It is understood that this achievement can provide more understanding for the space weathering effect in the mid-latitudes of the moon, and can also provide important support for the study of the evolution of lunar surface materials and the changing process of the space environment.