Archive for August 2023

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Accessories (10)

AI (24)

  • US Copyright Office opens public comments on AI and content ownership

    The US Copyright Office (USCO) wants your thoughts on generative AI and who can theoretically be declared to own its outputs. The technology has increasingly commanded the legal system's attention, and as such office began seeking public comments on Wednesday about some of AI's thorniest issues (via Ars Technica). These include questions about companies training AI models on copyrighted works, the copyright eligibility of AI-generated content (along with liability for infringing on it) and how to handle machine-made outputs mimicking human artists' work.

    By Will Shanklin Read More
  • Baidu opens up its ERNIE generative AI to the public

    Baidu has made ERNIE Bot, its generative AI product and large language model, generally available to the public through various app stores and its website. The company also plans to release a string of AI apps it says will allow folks "to fully experience the four core abilities of generative AI: understanding, generation, reasoning, and memory."

    By Kris Holt Read More
  • Americans growing anxious as AI adoption expands, Pew Research finds

    Americans have grown more worried about AI in the last nine months. A new survey from the Pew Research Center indicates 52 percent of respondents are more concerned than excited about rising artificial intelligence use, up 14 points since December. Meanwhile, only 10 percent say they're more excited than worried, while another 36 percent described their views as equally balanced. "Concern about AI outweighs excitement across all major demographic groups," the Pew Research Center wrote in a blog post today.

    By Will Shanklin Read More
  • OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise service encrypts corporate conversations

    OpenAI launched ChatGPT Enterprise today, the business-focused subscription it teased in April. The company says it won't train its AI models on any business data or conversations. "Our models don't learn from your usage," the company wrote in an announcement blog post about the enterprise features. In addition, the new plan encrypts business chats (in transit and at rest) and is SOC 2 compliant. OpenAI says companies including Block, Canva, Carlyle, The Estée Lauder Companies, PwC and Zapier have already tested ChatGPT Enterprise.

    By Will Shanklin Read More
  • New AP guidelines lay the groundwork for AI-assisted newsrooms

    The Associated Press published standards today for generative AI use in its newsroom. The organization, which has a licensing agreement with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, listed a fairly restrictive and common-sense list of measures around the burgeoning tech while cautioning its staff not to use AI to make publishable content. Although nothing in the new guidelines is particularly controversial, less scrupulous outlets could view the AP's blessing as a license to use generative AI more excessively or underhandedly.

    By Will Shanklin Read More
  • Opera’s AI browser assistant is now available in its iOS app

    Opera announced today that its Aria AI assistant has made its way to iOS. The feature launched on desktop in June and stems from a partnership with ChatGPT creator OpenAI. Opera says Aria, now available on all major desktop and mobile platforms, has tallied over a million users on desktop and Android.

    By Will Shanklin Read More
  • An Iowa school district is using AI to ban books

    Mason City Iowa's school district is scrambling to ensure its library collection is ideologically pure enough for the state's new content restrictions ahead of the new school year and has turned to AI for help.

    By Andrew Tarantola Read More
  • California deploys AI to detect wildfires before they start spreading

    AI and climate change represent two ways humans may ravage life as we know it on Earth, but the former can also help with the consequences of the latter. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) revealed a new program today that uses AI to detect wildfires. Created in partnership with the University of California San Diego, the Alert California AI program takes feeds from 1,032 360-degree rotating cameras and uses AI to "identify abnormalities within the camera feeds." It then notifies emergency services and other authorities to check if a potential blaze warrants a response.

    By Will Shanklin Read More
  • Zoom now says it won’t use any customer content for AI training

    Zoom has reversed course (again) and updated its terms of service after a backlash earlier this week. Following consumer blowback about an update to its terms which appeared to grant the platform the unlimited ability to use customer data to train AI models, it now says it will not use any consumer data to train AI models from Zoom or third parties. The previous wording said it wouldn't do so "without customer consent," which raised eyebrows since "consent" was (at best) a gray area for people joining a call (and acknowledging a pop-up) in which the meeting organizer enabled the feature and already agreed to the terms.

    By Will Shanklin Read More
  • Zoom reverses policy that allowed it to train AI on customer data

    Zoom has made changes to its terms of service after online blowback over recent updates to the company's fine print allowing AI training on customer data. A report from StackDiary over the weekend highlighted how the changes, which rolled out in March without fanfare, appeared to grant the company sweeping control over customer data for AI training purposes. In response, Zoom published a blog post today claiming it wouldn't do what its terms said it could do; the company then updated its terms. It now says it doesn't train AI models on consumer video, audio or chats "without customer consent."

    By Will Shanklin Read More
  • Will AI revolutionize professional soccer recruitment?

    The Major League Soccer announced it will start using AI-powered tools in its talent recruitment process. The professional sports industry has been primed for the potential impact of artificial intelligence. But is it too soon to say that AI has entered the mainstream in soccer?

    By Malak Saleh Read More
  • Kickstarter projects will soon have to disclose any AI use

    With artificial intelligence becoming increasingly prominent, Kickstarter wants you to know if and how it's being used in any projects on the platform. The company will soon require creators to disclose any use of AI in their projects. The policy will apply to new projects that are submitted on or after August 29th.

    By Kris Holt Read More

Amazon (7)

  • Amazon hardware VP Dave Limp set to retire after almost 14 years

    Dave Limp, Amazon's Senior Vice President of Hardware and Services, has announced his pending retirement from the company. Limp has been with the company for nearly 14 years and, as his title suggests, has oversaw Amazon's transition into dedicated hardware devices like newer Kindle e-readers, Alexa-enabled Echo speakers and the various Fire-branded products, among many others.

    By Lawrence Bonk Read More
  • Amazon begins rolling out AI-generated review summaries

    Amazon announced a new generative AI feature today that summarizes product reviews. Available initially to "a subset of mobile shoppers in the U.S. across a broad selection of products," the artificial intelligence tool creates a recap paragraph highlighting common themes from customer feedback. The company first confirmed in June it was testing an AI-powered summarization tool, but it now begins its official rollout. CEO Andy Jassy said earlier this month that AI is "at the heart of what we do."

    By Will Shanklin Read More
  • Amazon is reportedly cutting most of its in-house clothing brands

    As a potential FTC antitrust lawsuit looms in the background, Amazon plans to reduce its in-house brands. According to The Wall Street Journal, the retailer will eliminate 27 of its 30 clothing brands and all of its private-label furniture lines. It isn't clear how many other areas the cuts could affect, but the Amazon Basics brand appears to remain largely, if not wholly, intact. The retailer told the WSJ that it looks to eliminate products that "aren't resonating with customers."

    By Will Shanklin Read More
  • Amazon will reportedly meet with the FTC ahead of potential antitrust lawsuit

    Amazon will reportedly meet with the FTC next week before the filing of a possible antitrust lawsuit against the online retailer. The New York Times reports that FTC chair Lina Khan and commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya will sit down with Amazon representatives as the government agency nears a decision on whether to sue the company for antimonopoly laws. The scheduled conversation is viewed as a "last rites" meeting: Amazon's final chance to persuade the FTC to back off before filing a suit.

    By Will Shanklin Read More

Apple (9)

Apps (10)

Big Tech (12)

Business (1)

  • The future of decentralized social media

    While it is unclear whether Meta's new Twitter clone, Threads, will provide a viable alternative to X, it undoubtedly has the potential to make significant waves in the realm of social media. While massive changes aren't slated to come immediately to the app, Threads is likely to join the ever-growing list of apps on the Fediverse. This will allow Threads users to interact with others outside of the Threads platform, so long as the platform they are using is also part of the Fediverse.    Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/c/Engadget   Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/engadget  Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/engadget  Follow us on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/engadget  Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@engadget    The Engadget Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-engadget-podcast/id1142790530?mt=2  More about Engadget Audio: https://www.engadget.com/podcasts/   Read more: http://www.engadget.com

    By Engadget Staff Read More

Buying Guides (47)

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Gaming (59)

Google (31)

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Meta (11)

Microsoft (8)

Mobile (1)

News (23)

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PC Gaming (14)

PlayStation (14)

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Robotics (3)

  • German Bionic’s latest exoskeleton helps healthcare workers lift elderly patients

    German Bionic, the robot exoskeleton startup behind the lightweight Apogee exosuit, just revealed the Apogee+, a hardware refresh intended to service health care workers. The powered exoskeleton allows nurses and other health care professionals to have greater access to patients, particularly the elderly and the infirm. The company hopes to decrease the "immense levels of stress endured" by these medical professionals.

    By Lawrence Bonk Read More
  • Apptronik’s Apollo is the latest humanoid robot to beat Tesla to market

    Apptronik unveiled a new workforce robot today. Named Apollo, the machine is designed to "work in environments designed for, and directly alongside, humans." The android is initially intended to move and carry cases and totes in logistics and manufacturing settings. But the Austin-based Apptronik sees Apollo expanding into "construction, oil and gas, electronics production, retail, home delivery, elder care" and more. Apollo follows Xiaomi's reveal of the CyberOne robot last year, which looked remarkably similar to the still-unreleased Tesla Bot.

    By Will Shanklin Read More

Samsung (8)

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Xbox (6)