List of All Articles with Tag 'tech'

Facebook parent company Meta is reportedly planning to internally release an artificial intelligence chatbot called “Gen AI Personas” aimed at younger users. The chatbot, similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, is set to be launched during Meta’s Connect Event on Wednesday. The tech giant is testing the chatbot, which comes in multiple “personas” aimed to engage young users, including a “sassy robot” persona inspired by Bender from Futurama,according to The Wall Street Journal. Meta is reportedly developing “dozens” of these chatbots, including some to help with “coding and other tasks” and improve productivity as well as a tool to help celebrities make their own chatbots for their fans. The development of some of these chatbots – including one with the personality of former US president Abraham Lincoln – are part of Meta’s attempts to boost engagement on its social media platforms, reports previously suggested. The development of these new chatbots are signs of Meta’s growing interest in the market for large language models (LLM) similar to ChatGPT. It launched a new version of its open-source model in July called Llama 2 for commercial use, becoming the first major tech firm to release its AI chatbot. Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg said at the time of Llama 2’s release that it would “drive progress across the industry” while the firm’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun said it will “change the landscape of the LLM market”. The tech firm’s development of “personas” also comes as tech industry leaders called for a balanced approach towards regulating AI at a historic gathering convened by US senate majority leader Chuck Schumer. At the meeting held earlier this month, Mr Zuckerberg said the two defining issues for AI are “safety and access.” He urged the US Congress should “engage with AI to support innovation and safeguards”. “New technology often brings new challenges, and it’s on companies to make sure we build and deploy products responsibly,” the Meta chief said. “This is an emerging technology, there are important equities to balance here, and the government is ultimately responsible for that,” he added. Read More Meta’s new end-to-end encryption ‘means thousands of criminals could go undetected’ Elon Musk warns of ‘civilisational risk’ posed by AI at historic gathering of tech giant chiefs WhatsApp update brings ‘channels’, allowing people to follow updates from celebrities and companies Facebook changes logo to ‘make F stand apart’ – but can you tell the difference? Elon Musk warns of ‘civilisational risk’ posed by AI at historic gathering Nasa just delivered a piece of a distant asteroid to Earth

TAIPEI The CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI said on Monday that it was possible to get regulation wrong

By Sam Nussey TOKYO Japanese video game company Capcom enjoyed a 6% jump in its stock price on

A mysterious spinning ‘UFO’ has been spotted in the night sky by a stunned local. The brightly illuminated object is seen spinning in the air, but it appears to hover above a mountain. The shocked onlooker zooms in on the mysterious aircraft while saying in wonder: “It’s moving.” The hovering UFO was filmed in the village of Honorato Vásquez, Ecuador, on Tuesday (9 Sept) evening. The local authorities have yet to respond to claims that the object was from outer space. One local said: “I believe it.” Manuel wrote: “Those crazy aliens.” Yet Eddy joked: “In that drone there, you wouldn’t even be able to fit two-quarters of a Martian!” It followed an alleged aerial battle between military personnel and several alien spaceships in Argentina this month. Scared locals claimed that the military base was attacked by four black triangular-shaped UFOs. Scores of residents gathered outside the Commander Espora Air Naval Base near Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, as thunderous noises sounded from within the perimeter walls. The Commission for the Study of UFO Phenomena of the Argentine Republic, an organisation dedicated to investigating alleged alien sightings, claimed to have information that there were four UFOs seen attacking the military base. The group said the alien spacecrafts were black and triangular in shape and that Argentine troops fired at them with anti-aircraft weapons. Group spokesperson Andrea Pérez Simondini said witnesses saw “four lights entering the territory from across the ocean before taking a strategic position over one of the buildings where ammunition is stored”. However, the military authorities have denied that the base was under attack and claimed that the videos were faked by unscrupulous locals. Navy spokesperson Captain Germán Luis Zarralanga said their Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King helicopter was taking part in a training exercise that night, but was not involved in any kind of altercation with other aircraft. When discussing the social media footage, the spokesperson said: “It’s an edit. I don’t know what their intentions were. “Airport security and airport workers did not report seeing anything, and everyone at the base was sleeping except for the person piloting the helicopter. There was no type of special activity, no tactical manoeuvres, just a normal helicopter training flight, nothing related to ammunition.” One local commented: “Incredible! How many UFOs? I can't believe it! Amazing. An interplanetary war has begun.” Another said: “Are you telling me that it was one of the first-ever confrontations between humans and UFOs and we shot them down?” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Archaeologists are terrified to open the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor who has been buried for 2,200 years. The tomb of Qin Shu Huang, who ruled from 221 BC to 210 BC, is guarded by a terracotta army of soldiers and horses. The discovery was found by farmers back in 1974 in the Shaanxi province of China. While archaeologists explored the area, they have never opened the tomb itself – and within good reason. According to IFL Science, not only do archaeologists believe it will cause damage, but there are rumours of deathly booby traps that could kill curious intruders. Writings by Chinese historian Sima Qian 100 years after Qin Shu Huang's death claim "Palaces and scenic towers for a hundred officials were constructed and the tomb was filled with rare artifacts and wonderful treasure." He continued: "Craftsmen were ordered to make crossbows and arrows primed to shoot at anyone who enters the tomb. Mercury was used to simulate the hundred rivers, the Yangtze and Yellow River, and the great sea, and set to flow mechanically." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Even if those alleged crossbows failed thousands of years later, there are still fears of liquid mercury seeping through the cracks. "Highly volatile mercury may be escaping through cracks, which developed in the structure over time, and our investigation supports ancient chronicle records on the tomb, which is believed never to have been opened/looted," one 2020 paper suggests, as per the publication. Scientists have reportedly toyed with the idea of using non-invasive techniques to open the tomb, however, they have not yet come to fruition. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul says Congress needs to tighten restrictions on US firms’ investment in

Standard Life has confirmed plans to create a commercial pensions dashboard, to help its four million customers have greater awareness around their retirement savings. It has partnered with financial technology company Moneyhub to deliver the dashboard, which will eventually be embedded into Standard Life’s existing customer app. The pensions dashboard will also be available to customers through Standard Life’s online desktop. We are excited to extend our collaboration with Moneyhub to develop and launch one of the UK’s first fully functional commercial pensions dashboards Gail Izat, Standard Life Standard Life said the initiative would help customers to find and view their state, workplace and personal pensions. Work has been under way within the pensions industry for several years to develop pensions dashboards, where people will be able to see their pension savings online, in one place. In June, pensions minister Laura Trott said the Government remained “as committed as ever” to making pensions dashboards a reality. The Government previously said more time was needed for the complex build of pensions dashboards to be set up. Standard Life said it was putting “the building blocks in place” so that it could be ready to hit the ground running with its dashboard, adding that the timeline for its delivery was dependent on the Government programme. The Government’s pensions dashboards programme has been urging providers to continue with their plans and Standard Life has seized the initiative Samantha Seaton, Moneyhub The pension provider added that it had been preparing to finalise plans so that it would be ready for launch when the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) regulatory approval process was in place. As well as finding and viewing pension data, Standard Life said its pension scheme members would be able to go further by connecting to and seeing their bank accounts, credit cards, savings, property valuations, Isas, loans, mortgages, and other financial products, in one place. Standard Life’s parent company, Phoenix Group, anticipates extending dashboard access to all of its 12 million UK customers “in due course”. Gail Izat, managing director of workplace at Standard Life, said: “It may seem obvious but simply knowing how much all your pensions are worth will allow you to plan for the future and understand what you can do today to have enough money to allow you to live your desired lifestyle later in life. Pensions dashboards will transform the way people plan for retirement. We remain committed to their delivery Department for Work and Pensions “We are excited to extend our collaboration with Moneyhub to develop and launch one of the UK’s first fully functional commercial pensions dashboards, while leading the way in shaping the future of retirement saving by giving customers greater certainty and a truly holistic view of their finances.” Samantha Seaton, chief executive of Moneyhub, said: “The Government’s pensions dashboards programme has been urging providers to continue with their plans and Standard Life has seized the initiative.” A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) spokesperson said: “Pensions dashboards will transform the way people plan for retirement. “We remain committed to their delivery and to working closely with the pensions industry to ensure the record number of people saving for retirement have the support they need to make informed choices about their financial futures.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live BBC reviews Russell Brand’s time at corporation as YouTube demonetises content BBC removes some Russell Brand content as monetisation suspended on YouTube How does Russell Brand make money online?

John Giannandrea, a former top Google executive who decamped to Apple Inc. to head its artificial intelligence business,

Companies are struggling to deal with the rapid rise of generative AI, with some rushing to embrace the technology while others shun it -- at least for now.

By Zeba Siddiqui and Raphael Satter SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON About a year ago, the U.S. security firm Palo Alto

Tinder has rolled out an ultra-premium subscription tier to its dating app users, charging $499 per month to

Apple's iPhone 15 lineup hit stores Friday as people waited in long lines across China, Europe and the US to be among the first to get their hands on one of the company's next-generation smartphones.