1960s chatbot ELIZA beat OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 in a recent Turing test study (arstechnica.com)
AI chatbot deception paper suggests that some bots (and people) aren't very persuasive.
Where are all the robot trucks? (www.theverge.com)
The promised wave of autonomous big rigs never materialized. But 2024 could prove to be a pivotal year for the technology.
Japan debuts six-story experimental fusion reactor (gizmodo.com)
The reactor, a forerunner for the vast ITER experiment in France, has the potential to hasten the race for cleaner energy.
Apple loses on Appeal, CMA can restart investigation into browsers - Open Web Advocacy (open-web-advocacy.org)
[Work In Progress]: Vosh - a third-party screen-reader for the Macintosh | AppleVis (www.applevis.com)
After getting fed up with the general neglect of MacOS accessibility from Apple, and having wanted to work on something meaningful for quite some time, I decided to attempt something that for some reason nobody seems to have tried to do before: write a completely new screen-reader for that platform. This isn't an easy task, not...
The Cybertruck Must Be Huge—or It Will Dig Tesla’s Grave (www.wired.com)
If Musk fulfils just 15 percent of Cybertruck preorders, it would equal the annual unit sales of Toyota. If the polarizing EV flops, Tesla could be in big trouble.
Reddit updates look after rough 6 months and ahead of reported IPO (arstechnica.com)
"Edit: Obligatory 'F--- Spez' for karma."
Inside the 'arms race' between YouTube and ad blockers (www.engadget.com)
YouTube's dramatic content gatekeeping decisions of late have a long history behind them, and there's an equally long history of these defenses being bypassed.
Telegram’s Bans on Extremist Channels Aren't Really Bans (www.wired.com)
A WIRED analysis of more than 100 restricted channels shows these communities remain active, and content shared within them often spreads to channels accessible to the public.
The Rise of AI-Powered Stars: Big Money and Risks (www.hollywoodreporter.com)
Meta and YouTube are looking to Demi Lovato, Tom Brady and other A-listers to mainstream the technology — flawed guardrails and all.
Meta sues FTC, hoping to block ban on monetizing kids’ Facebook data (arstechnica.com)
Accused of violating kids' privacy, Facebook owner challenges FTC authority.
Interview: Sam Altman on being fired and rehired by OpenAI (www.theverge.com)
Altman explains why he decided to return to OpenAI and what comes next for the company.
Gigayachts: Ultimate 2024 Guide to the World's Largest Superyachts — Ultra Unlimited (www.ultra-unlimited.com)
Substack Has a Nazi Problem (www.theatlantic.com)
The newsletter platform’s lax content moderation creates an opening for white nationalists eager to get their message out.
OpenAI’s Custom Chatbots Are Leaking Their Secrets (www.wired.com)
Released earlier this month, OpenAI’s GPTs let anyone create custom chatbots. But some of the data they’re built on is easily exposed.
Amazon joins AI image creation fray with new model (www.theverge.com)
The Titan Image Generator includes automatic invisible watermarking.
Google DeepMind’s new AI tool helped create more than 700 new materials (www.technologyreview.com)
Newly discovered materials can be used to make better solar cells, batteries, computer chips, and more.
U.S. federal judge rules against Meta in privacy fight with FTC (www.reuters.com)
Meta's Facebook lost the latest round of a court battle over privacy with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Monday after a federal judge ruled the regulator can seek to reduce the amount of money the social media company makes from users under 18.
How Google Really Works (slate.com)
Somehow it took an antitrust trial to find out.
Researcher flags OpenCart security issue, founder rages (www.theregister.com)
Web storefront maker fixed the flaw, but not before blasting infoseccer
GameMaker throws shade at Unity, makes its 2D engine free or $100 for most (arstechnica.com)
For most games, a license is either free or the cost of a medium-nice dinner.
Air-Conditioning Discovery Eliminates Harmful Gases (www.scientificamerican.com)
Heat pumps are ubiquitous in the form of air conditioners. Scientists just invented one that avoids harmful refrigerant gases
Cryptographers Devise an Approach for Total Search Privacy (www.quantamagazine.org)
Three researchers have found a long-sought way to pull information from large databases secretly, moving us closer to fully private internet searches.
The end of anonymity on Chinese social media (restofworld.org)
Forced to use real names on platforms like Weibo, Chinese influencers quit social media instead.
A new Pentagon program aims to speed up decisions on what AI tech is trustworthy enough to deploy (apnews.com)
Artificial intelligence employed by the Pentagon has piloted pint-sized surveillance drones, helped Ukraine fight Russia, predicts when Air Force jets need maintenance and tracks rivals’ satellites in space.
