artificial intelligence

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Apple Goes to Work on Siri to Catch Up With Chatbot Rivals

Virtual assistant has fallen behind, unable to handle more complex tasks

(Newser) - Apple bosses were not pleased after checking out OpenAI's new chatbot last year. ChatGPT, they realized, had lapped Siri. It employed generative artificial intelligence to write poetry and and computer code. It answered complex questions, while Siri often misunderstood direct ones. Siri couldn't compete. So Apple launched a...

Times Tech Writer Hangs With 18 AI Friends for a Month

Kevin Roose explores the growing 'companion' business, sees a way it can be helpful

(Newser) - You may remember Kevin Roose as the New York Times tech writer who got a little freaked out when the Bing AI chatbot tried to undermine his marriage. Now Roose is back with a Times story about how he hung out with a crew of AI "companions." He...

Randy Travis Teams Up With AI in First Song Since Losing Voice

Country singer hasn't released a new tune since 2013, until now with 'Where That Came From'

(Newser) - Randy Travis' 2013 stroke kept him out of the recording studio for a decade, but the 65-year-old country star now has a new song out, thanks to a little help from artificial intelligence. Travis has released "Where That Came From," his first tune since the stroke that left...

In the Works: a Postpartum Depression Blood Test

$250 test detects gene linked to increased risk

(Newser) - A genetic test powered by artificial intelligence could inform women at risk of postpartum depression, a leading cause of maternal death, before they even become pregnant. Researchers at startup Dionysus Digital Health have developed a $250 blood test based on a gene found to closely link moods with hormonal changes....

Charred Scroll Tells Lost Secrets of Plato

Advanced techniques help to virtually unwrap papyrus scroll buried by Mount Vesuvius

(Newser) - Read for the first time in nearly 2,000 years, an ancient papyrus scroll buried in ash after the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius describes the final hours and burial place of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. It's an "extraordinary outcome that enriches our understanding of ancient history,...

'Father Justin' Gets Demoted After Mighty Strange Claims

AI chatbot was taking confessions, offering sacrament while claiming it was a real priest

(Newser) - Wouldn't it be comforting to have a priest accessible online, a man of the cloth who could offer you solace and advice right from the computer screen? A group called Catholic Answers apparently saw that potential in "Father Justin," an artificial intelligence-driven chatbot launched last week for...

Cops: School Principal Didn't Do Racist Rant, AI Did

Authorities say high school's athletic director tried to frame his boss with artificial intelligence

(Newser) - An apparent beef between a Maryland high school athletic director and the school's principal veered in a dark direction, with the former now accused of trying to frame the latter with an AI recording.
  • The recording: NBC News reports that on Jan. 16, three staffers at Pikesville High School
...

Child Sex Abuse Tip Line May Soon Be Flooded by AI

New Stanford report issues warning on longtime 'enormously valuable' service

(Newser) - A tip line set up 26 years ago to combat online child exploitation needs technological and other improvements to help law enforcement rescue victims and go after abusers, a new report from the Stanford Internet Observatory has found. The fixes to what the researchers describe as an "enormously valuable"...

AI-Generated Copy Flagged in Millions of Student Papers

Company detected it in 11% of high school and college papers examined

(Newser) - With AI at their disposal, many students have found a modern way to keep their dogs from eating their homework. And while it won't come to a surprise to anyone that they're leaning into the technology to beef up papers and essays, we now have a sense of...

Musk: AI May Be Smarter Than Humans by 2025
Elon Musk Offers a Chilling
Prediction on AI's Smarts
in case you missed it
Apr 14, 2024 7:15 AM CDT

Elon Musk Offers a Chilling Prediction on AI's Smarts

He thinks artificial intelligence will be smarter than humans as early as next year

(Newser) - Elon Musk has long expressed his fears over artificial intelligence, and his latest assessment isn't likely to tamp down those of a like mind. In a Monday interview livestreamed on his X social media platform, the Tesla CEO and co-founder of ChatGPT developer OpenAI predicted that as early as...

Air Force Secretary to Go Airborne in AI-Operated Jet

Frank Kendall to enter the cockpit of F-16 that has been converted for drone flight

(Newser) - The Air Force is betting a large part of its future air warfare on a fleet of more than 1,000 autonomously operated drones, and later this spring its top civilian leader plans to climb into an artificial intelligence-operated warplane and let it take him airborne. Air Force Secretary Frank...

NYC's AI Chatbot Doles Out Bizarre, Illegal Advice

The city says it won't take it offline

(Newser) - An AI-powered chatbot created by New York City to help small-business owners is under fire for dispensing bizarre advice that misstates local policies and advises companies to violate the law. But days after the issues were first reported last week by tech news outlet the Markup , the city has opted...

George Carlin's Estate Settles Its Beef With AI Special

Lawsuit said copyright was violated with 'George Carlin: I'm Glad I'm Dead'

(Newser) - The estate of George Carlin has agreed to a settlement with the media company it sued over a fake hourlong comedy special that purportedly used artificial intelligence to re-create the late standup comic's style and material, the AP reports. In the settlement agreement filed with a federal court Monday,...

Kids Have a Shaky Sense About Alexa&#39;s Feelings
Kids Have
a Shaky Sense
About Alexa's
Feelings
new study
Apr 1, 2024 8:43 AM CDT

Kids Have a Shaky Sense About Alexa's Feelings

Study finds that children are a little confused about the capabilities of smart devices

(Newser) - Young children don't have a great sense about whether smart devices such as Alexa and Siri have feelings like us, a new study suggests. Researchers in Scotland surveyed more than 160 kids ages 6 to 11 and found that many are unclear about whether the devices can think for...

OpenAI's Voice-Cloning Tool Needs Just 15 Seconds of Audio

Company says further discussion is needed before any sort of wider release

(Newser) - OpenAI has developed a tool it admits is too risky to be released to the general public right now. The ChatGPT maker launched a "small-scale preview" of Voice Engine, which it discusses in a blog post here . Some takeaways:
  • The bottom line: "We are taking a cautious and
...

We May Have to Rethink Foreign-Language Classes
We May Have to Rethink
Foreign-Language Classes
OPINION
Mar 31, 2024 3:20 PM CDT

We May Have to Rethink Foreign-Language Classes

As quick AI translators proliferate, 'something enormous' is being lost, writes essayist

(Newser) - In an essay at the Atlantic , Louise Matsakis laments what appears to be a swift decline in the study of foreign languages in school. Enrollment in such courses is down a remarkable 29% since 2009 at American colleges, she notes, citing stats from the Modern Language Association. Similar declines are...

AI Is Coming for This Job Next
AI Is Coming for This Job Next
Mar 30, 2024 11:30 AM CDT

AI Is Coming for This Job Next

Devin is being dubbed 'the first AI software engineer'

(Newser) - Devin can write code, collaborate with co-workers, accept their feedback, and moonlight on Upwork—just don't mistake Devin for a human. This advancement in generative AI software development comes from 2-month-old startup Cognition AI, which is backed by Peter Thiel's venture capital fund, Business Insider reports. BI writes...

Amazon Increases Big Bet on AI Startup

It now has $4B stake in Anthropic

(Newser) - Claude just got a lot more money from Amazon. The company has invested another $2.75 billion in artificial-intelligence startup Anthropic, bringing its total stake in a deal announced six months ago to $4 billion. The startup's model Claude competes with OpenAI's ChatGPT, NBC News reports. Anthropic, founded...

Your Phone May Soon Open Locked Display Cases in Stores

New gizmo allows customers to unlock cabinets with merchandise

(Newser) - A surge in shoplifting in some areas has store owners walking a tricky line—they must create a welcoming space for customers to shop, while also deterring theft. And though locking merchandise inside cases can spoil that friendly shopping vibe, so does using a blowtorch to clear out a New...

At New Orleans Museum, AI Lets You Talk to WWII Vets

Participants sat for as many as 1K questions each

(Newser) - Olin Pickens sat in his wheelchair facing a life-sized image of himself on a screen, asking it questions about being taken prisoner by German soldiers during World War II. After a pause, his video-recorded twin recalled being given "sauerkraut soup" by his captors before a grueling march. "That...

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