Daily AI Briefing

"Tracker of attitudes towards artificial intelligence also finds almost half of the public would prefer to avoid it One in three university students think AI will wipe out jobs so rapidly it will trigger civil unrest, according to a survey by King’s College London (KCL). Students are among the heaviest users of AI, the poll found, with 77% using it at least a few times a month – compared with 46% of workers – and 27% using it daily or almost daily. Continue reading..."

"OpenAI CEO and president found not liable for breaking contracts made with Musk when founding the startup A jury ruled in favor of Sam Altman in the culmination of a long and bitter legal battle that pitted the richest person in the world against a leader of the AI boom. The federal jury in Oakland, California, found Altman, OpenAI and its president, Greg Brockman, not liable for Elon Musk’s claims that they unjustly enriched themselves and broke a founding contract made with Musk when founding "

"Volvo's compact, quirky EX30 had a lot of problems when it was first released. Tariffs essentially erased its affordability, making it more expensive to own, and a battery recall made it dangerous to park indoors. But its discontinuation didn't spell the end of Volvo's efforts to sell more affordable electric models. In fact, the Swedish automaker is already at work on a new offering for the US market. The news of an affordable Volvo EV for the US came during a media roundtable this week relate"

"Sony reportedly won't release its major single-player PlayStation games on PC anymore. According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Hermen Hulst, who heads up PlayStation's studios business, informed employees in a town hall on Monday about the change in strategy. Schreier had previously reported on the shift in March, saying that Sony scrapped plans to launch PC versions of last year's Ghost of Yōtei and "other internally developed games." Online games will still come to multiple platforms followin"

"The pope’s encyclical will address ‘the protection of the human person in the age of AI’, the Vatican says In the first major text of his papacy, Pope Leo will address the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. The Chicago-born pontiff will present the document, known as an encyclical, at the Vatican next week during an event attended by Christopher Olah, the co-founder of Anthropic – a US-based AI firm that has clashed with Donald Trump’s administration. Continue reading..."

"The tech trial of the year, Musk v. Altman, was ultimately a fight for control. Elon Musk argued that Sam Altman, with whom he helped found the now-massive company OpenAI, shouldn't direct the future of AI. Altman's lawyers, in turn, poked at Musk's own credibility. A jury came to a verdict on Monday after just two hours of deliberation, dismissing Musk's claims due to the statute of limitations. In a strictly legal sense, three weeks of testimony added up to nothing. But the trial offered a mor"

"Walmart's Onn brand just launched a whole line of budget-friendly Android tablets that, all together, cost less in total than a single iPad Pro. As spotted by 9to5Google, the six new tablets ship with Android 16 and all but one cost less than $200. The little Onn Core 7 is the most affordable of the bunch at just $97, which gets you a 7-inch 1040 x 600 IPS LCD display, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage that's expandable with a microSD card, and, according to Walmart, up to 10 hours of battery life. "

"If Dyson’s PencilVac Fluffycones made you wish the company had built something similarly slim for scrubbing the hard floors in your home, enter the recently released Dyson PencilWash. The cordless cleaner is designed to tackle spills and stains on tile and other surfaces, and right now, it’s available for a new low price of $249.99 ($100 off) from Amazon, Target, and Dyson in the run-up to Memorial Day. Dyson PencilWash Where to Buy: $349.99 $249.99 at Amazon $349.99 $249.99 at Target $349."

"Ofcom to update codes of practice amid rise in ‘revenge porn’ and AI-generated deepfakes targeting women and girls Social media, messaging platforms and online forums that publish intimate image abuse – often intended to humiliate women and girls – are being instructed to follow new guidelines to stop it spreading. Ofcom said it would change its codes of practice to force service providers to detect and quash intimate image abuse – sometimes called “revenge porn” – and crack down on AI-generated"

"Sam Altman and Elon Musk are facing off in a high-stakes trial that could alter the future of OpenAI and its most well-known product, ChatGPT. In 2024, Musk filed a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its founding mission of developing AI to benefit humanity and shifting focus to boosting profits instead. After nearly a month of the hearing that featured testimony from Musk, Altman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman, former OpenAI board member and mother of several o"

"After around two hours of deliberation, the jury has reached a unanimous verdict in Musk v. Altman, the tech trial of the year. The group found that two claims were barred by the statute of limitations, and a third failed thanks to the dismissal of one of these. The jury here is an advisory jury, meaning the group is installed solely to offer another opinion to the judge, and its verdict is technically not legally binding. Ultimately, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is the ultimate lega"

"It's not just you - the Google Workspace apps are getting a new look. The redesigned app icons, leaked last month, are now rolling out widely, as we started noticing this morning. Users with the redesigned icons will notice they now have a gradient look that fades from lighter to darker shades, rather than being the same flat tone throughout, similar to the redesigned Google logo that launched a year ago. Some of the icons switched from a rainbow design to a single color, like Google Chat, Meet"

"Sony is hiking the starting price of one-month and three-month PlayStation Plus subscriptions in "select regions," blaming "ongoing market conditions." Beginning May 20th, 1-month subscriptions will start at $10.99 USD / €9.99 EUR / £7.99 GBP, while 3-month subscriptions will start at $27.99 USD / €27.99 EUR / £21.99 GBP. In the US, the changes result in a $1 price increase for a one-month Essential tier subscription and a $3 increase for a three-month Essential tier subscription. It's unclear i"

"Alexa Plus, Amazon's upgraded AI assistant, can now generate podcasts on "virtually any topic," according to an announcement on Monday. With the update, Amazon says you can give Alexa Plus a topic, and the AI assistant will offer an overview of what its AI hosts plan to talk about, allowing you to steer the conversation and adjust its length before it starts generating the episode. Some "Alexa Podcast" examples shared by Amazon have two AI-generated hosts talking about the history of the Roman E"

"Registration form informs patients that if they do not wish AI to be used, they will need their referring doctor to refer them to a different service provider Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A Melbourne psychiatrist has refused new patients unless they agree to allow her to use an AI scribe to transcribe the conversations in their sessions. AI-driven note-taking tools are becoming popular within the medical industry – with two in five general practitioners now using"

"Startup has declined to release Claude Mythos AI model publicly amid fears it could be used by hackers Business live – latest updates Anthropic is to brief the global finance watchdog on the implications of its Claude Mythos AI model, whose potential threat to cyber defences has alarmed experts. The US startup will discuss Mythos with the Financial Stability Board (FSB), which is chaired by the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey. Continue reading..."

"Pew research shows Americans are more worried than excited about AI as graduates voice fears over jobs A former Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, was met with students’ boos at a university commencement address in Arizona on Sunday when he raised the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and its effects. Schmidt – who led the tech giant for more than a decade, acquiring a multibillion-dollar fortune in the process – was speaking to as many as 10,000 graduating University of Arizona students when he addr"

"Use of AI is a valuable tool for weather prediction but only when it’s trained with ample data, experts say As the US prepares for hurricane season and a summer of record-breaking heat, experts fear the Trump administration’s cuts to climate and weather data programming could make the federal government’s weather forecasts less reliable when they are needed most. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) late last year launched a suite of artificial intelligence-powered global w"

"Now that real life has caught up with science fiction, the imminent danger isn’t malfunctioning cowboys, it’s the robots convincing us that we’re great and everything is totally fine All the best science fiction movies eventually get overtaken by reality. Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report predicted personalised advertising and biometric identification. Spike Jonze’s Her correctly guessed that AI would probably arrive as emotionally responsive digital companions that sound like Scarlett Johansso"

"OpenAI and Dell partner to bring Codex to hybrid and on-premise environments, helping enterprises deploy AI coding agents securely across data and workflows."

"Requests for gas connections by operators amount to more than 15 terawatt hours per year, endangering climate targets More than 100 new datacentres in the UK plan to burn gas to generate electricity, some potentially doing so permanently. British officials say this is an inevitable consequence of a years-long wait to connect to the National Grid, and raises an “interesting question” about the UK’s climate targets. Continue reading..."

"In this article, we create a real-time audio transcription application on of the RealtimeSTT library. The post Creating an Audio Transcription Application with RealtimeSTT appeared first on DebuggerCafe."

"Microsoft launched Teams' Together Mode during the pandemic to give the illusion of a bunch of people sitting in a conference room together, even if they were really sitting at home without pants on. But times have changed, and it's now being retired in favor of a more simplified Teams experience. The feature used AI to cut your head and shoulds out, and place you in a virtual space with others in the meeting. It could definitely feel gimmicky - especially when you'd tap co-workers on the should"

"Privacy will be a major theme when Apple unveils a new version of Siri."

"A big theme in the trial’s final days was whether OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is trustworthy."

"Apple is hoping that its record on privacy can be the differentiator on the AI front, and maybe even buy it a little slack as it continues to lag behind the competition. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the more chatbot-like Siri set to debut in iOS 27 will include the option to autodelete chat histories. Users will be able to save conversations for 30 days, one year, or forever. That's in stark contrast to the other major players in the space that generally only offer temporary incognito c"

"Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt delivered the commencement address at the University of Arizona on Friday. And, as his speech veered into talk of AI, he was repeatedly drowned out by boos. AI is already a contentious topic, and it's not surprising that those about to enter a ravaged job market feel particularly negative about it. Schmidt acknowledged the anxiety, according to Business Insider, saying fears "that the machines are coming, that the jobs are evaporating, that the climate is breaking,"

"Jess Phillips’s frustration about online safety highlights the alarming reluctance to confront big tech The £950,000 fine imposed by Ofcom on a US-based suicide forum that is implicated in over 160 UK deaths marks an intensification of the regulator’s efforts to make the internet safer. Campaigners against online harms, including relatives of people who have taken their own lives, are justifiably angry that it has taken so long to get to this point. Even now, Ofcom is giving the website’s operat"

"It's tough to get graduating students excited about a future shaped by artificial intelligence."

"Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation."

"Journalist Simone Stolzoff in a new book explores why modern life makes not knowing harder – and how to learn to live with it Simone Stolzoff describes himself as “naturally an uncertain person” inclined to rumination and self-doubt. This tendency benefits him in his work as a journalist, but can otherwise be a double-edged sword. While working for a magazine in New York, Stolzoff was approached about a job at a design firm in San Francisco. Now, he laughs at how tortured he felt “having to deci"

"Kudos to the designer of that horrifying golem. | Image: Shudder Hokum recently hit theaters, and it's already outperforming box office expectations. If this Kubrick-referencing haunted hotel flick starring Adam Scott was your introduction to director Damian McCarthy, do yourself a favor and go watch his previous film, Oddity. If you prefer to go in blind - the ideal way to watch any movie - Oddity is available to stream on Hoopla, Kanopy, Hulu, and Shudder. Warning: Spoilers ahead. Like Hoku"

"A week before the ElliQ robot arrived, a neurologist told me we need to rebalance my mom's life. Her Parkinson's disease medication had steadily become less effective over the previous month, and with it, she had slowly stopped doing many of the things crucial to managing the disease - exercising, socializing, and engaging in hobbies. The result was a rapid, noticeable decline. As my mom's primary caregiver, I was open to any help I could get. And surprisingly, ElliQ did help in a way I never ex"

"Fujifilm’s X Half digital camera wasn’t designed to replace your main camera, though you’d be forgiven for assuming it was with its ludicrous $850 price. However, the company recently reduced the MSRP to $649.99, and is now knocking an additional $100 off through June 28th. That means you can grab the X Half in its base configuration for around $549 at Amazon, B&H Photo, and Best Buy. Adorama is also discounting it to the same price and throwing in a free accessory pack, which includes a 64GB Sa"

"This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more news about how AI is seeping into our daily lives, follow Emma Roth. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started In 2021, McDonald's became one of the first major fast-food chains to greet customers with an AI chatbot at the drive-thru. It started small, deploying the voice-ordering technology at 10 of its locations in Chicago. Mc"

"Known for his ‘Manitowoc Minute’ skits and midwestern humor, the journalist turned comedian is speaking out against the AI datacenter boom in Wisconsin Last summer, journalist turned comedian Charlie Berens started getting social media messages from concerned Wisconsin residents about plans for a massive datacenter campus in their state. The developer, Vantage Data Centers, claimed the $8bn project would largely run on zero-emission energy resources like solar, wind and battery storage. The comp"

"‘He’s having a great time with his new 47% equity,’ one entrepreneur jokes, warning that some startups may leave Australia behind Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Tech entrepreneurs have mocked the government’s capital gains tax changes by posting AI-generated photos of Anthony Albanese as their “new founder” and warning that increased taxes could push people away from working for new businesses or send startups overseas. Startups and entrepreneurs may yet receive a "

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"What we are collectively training AI systems to be Continue reading on Towards AI »"

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"The vibes around the current AI boom aren't great, even in the tech industry."

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"ArXiv is doing more to crack down on the careless use of large language models in scientific papers."

"Schools say social media is hurting grades and creating a mental health crisis. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Snap, YouTube, and TikTok have settled the first lawsuit of its kind, alleging that social media addiction has cost public schools massive amounts of money, according to Bloomberg. The suit, filed by the Breathitt County School District in Kentucky, claims that social media has disrupted learning and created a mental health crisis, straining budgets. The terms of the settlement ha"

"A 30-day audit: 31 installed, 8 retained, 23 cut. One command installs all of them. Continue reading on Towards AI »"

"Most VAEs Can’t Do Either Continue reading on Towards AI »"

"Cannes film festival: Succession of pointless AI-generated snippets does nothing for film about the artist’s final interview, which took place on the day of his murder Coming just after his superb feature The Christophers, Steven Soderbergh has now made a surprisingly moderate documentary, dominated and frankly marred by uninteresting and pointless AI. It is about the inadvertently poignant final interview given by John Lennon and Yoko Ono on 8 December 1980 in New York’s Dakota apartment buildi"

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