AI Chatbots Can Sway Voters Better Than Political Ads
An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: New research reveals that AI chatbots can shift voters’ opinions in a single conversation – and they’re surprisingly good at it. A multi-university team of researchers has found that chatting with a politically biased AI model was more effective than political advertisements at nudging both Democrats … ⌘ Read more

How AI could power Three Lions to World Cup glory
BBC Sport hears from inside the England setup about how artificial intelligence is powering plans for next summer’s World Cup. ⌘ Read more

Republicans Drop Trump-Ordered Block On State AI Laws From Defense Bill
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A Donald Trump-backed push has failed to wedge a federal measure that would block states from passing AI laws for a decade into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told reporters Tuesday that a sect of Republicans is now … ⌘ Read more

Linux 6.19 GPU Driver Features: Color Pipeline API, Intel Xe3P, AMDGPU For GCN 1.0/1.1
The big set of kernel graphics driver features were merged today for the Linux 6.19 kernel. As usual there is a lot of new feature work on the AMD Radeon, Intel, and NVIDIA graphics drivers plus the smaller Arm/embedded graphics like now having initial Qualcomm Gen8 GPU support. Plus the growing number of accelerator “accel” drivers for NPUs / AI accelerators… ⌘ Read more

EU Hits Meta With Antitrust Probe Over Plans To Block AI Rivals From WhatsApp
The EU has opened an antitrust investigation into Meta over a new WhatsApp policy that could block rival AI assistants from accessing the platform. Complaints from smaller AI developers triggered the probe, which could lead to fines of up to 10% of Meta’s global revenue if the company is found to have abused its dominance. … ⌘ Read more

AI can influence voters’ minds. What does that mean for democracy?
Voters change their opinions after interacting with an AI chatbot – but, encouragingly, it seems that AIs rely on facts to influence people ⌘ Read more

Why is AI making computers and games consoles more expensive?
The AI industry consumes vast amounts of energy, fresh water and investor cash. Now it also needs memory chips - the same ones used in laptops, smartphones and games consoles ⌘ Read more

30% of Doctors In UK Use AI Tools In Patient Consultations, Study Finds
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: Almost three in 10 GPs in the UK are using AI tools such as ChatGPT in consultations with patients, even though it could lead to them making mistakes and being sued, a study reveals. The rapid adoption of AI to ease workloads is happening alongside a “wild west” lack of regulat … ⌘ Read more

Meta Poaches Apple Design Exec Alan Dye
Apple’s longtime human-interface chief Alan Dye is leaving to lead a new creative studio at Meta’s Reality Labs, where he’ll shape AI-driven design for devices like smart glasses and VR headsets. Dye will be replaced by Steve Lemay, who has had “a key role in the design of every major Apple interface since 1999,” according to a statement Apple CEO Tim Cook gave Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. TechCrunch … ⌘ Read more

@aelaraji@aelaraji.com I like the sounds of this technique a lot redirecting these AI crawling assholes to multi gigabyte files! The only concern I have is how do you do it in such a way that you don’t end up destroying your own ISP speed test servers?

**Team GB athletes given AI-based online abuse help **
Team GB Olympic and Paralympic athletes are to be offered a new form of artificial intelligence-based protection from online abuse. ⌘ Read more

After AI Push, Trump Administration Is Now Looking To Robots
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Politico: Five months after releasing a plan to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence, the Trump administration is turning to robots. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been meeting with robotics industry CEOs and is “all in” on accelerating the industry’s development, according to three peop … ⌘ Read more

#ptpol #debate #presidenciais

Seguro contra LMM, estamos há 24 minutos a ouvir os candidatos a tentar mostrar as suas diferenças (quem tem mais ideias sou eu, quem tem mais vontade sou eu!) e acabando a mostrar quão iguais são.

Curiosamente estão tão eriçados que o moderador não consegue ter mão.

Onde podem ter diferenças é no pacote laboral, mas nenhum se assume, até aí são iguais.

Considerações pessoais: meh. A única coisa boa de qualquer um destes é que não são o fascista.

After Nearly 30 Years, Crucial Will Stop Selling RAM To Consumers
Micron is shutting down its Crucial consumer RAM business in 2026 after nearly three decades, citing heavy demand from AI data centers. “The AI-driven growth in the data center has led to a surge in demand for memory and storage,” Sumit Sadana, EVP and chief business officer at Micron Technology, said in a statement. “Micron has made the dif … ⌘ Read more

Meta’s AI wrongly bans Australian businesses
Instagram owner’s support systems have been labelled useless as the telecommunications ombudsman says complaints about social media and digital platforms are soaring. ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Lowers AI Software Sales Quota As Customers Resist New Products
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Multiple divisions at Microsoft have lowered sales growth targets for certain artificial intelligence products after many sales staff missed goals in the fiscal year that ended in June, The Information reported on Wednesday. It is rare for Microsoft to lower quotas for specific p … ⌘ Read more

Zig Quits GitHub, Says Microsoft’s AI Obsession Has Ruined the Service
The Zig Software Foundation has quit GitHub after years of unresolved GitHub Actions bugs – including a “safe_sleep” script that could spin forever and cripple CI runners. Zig leadership puts the blame on Microsoft’s growing AI-first priorities and declining engineering quality. Other open-source developers are voicing similar frustrations. … ⌘ Read more

OpenAI Declares ‘Code Red’ As Google Catches Up In AI Race
OpenAI has reportedly issued a “code red” on Monday, pausing projects like ads, shopping agents, health tools, and its Pulse assistant to focus entirely on improving ChatGPT. “This includes core features like greater speed and reliability, better personalization, and the ability to answer more questions,” reports The Verge, citing a memo reported by the Wall S … ⌘ Read more

Amazon To Use Nvidia Tech In AI Chips, Roll Out New Servers
AWS is deepening its partnership with Nvidia by adopting “NVLink Fusion” in its upcoming Trainium4 AI chips. “The NVLink technology creates speedy connections between different kinds of chips and is one of Nvidia’s crown jewels,” notes Reuters. From the report: Nvidia has been pushing to sign up other chip firms to adopt its NVLink technology, with Intel, Qualco … ⌘ Read more

Google’s Vibe Coding Platform Deletes Entire Drive
A Google Antigravity user says the AI-driven “vibe coding” tool accidentally wiped his entire D: drive while trying to clear a project cache. Google says it’s investigating, but the episode adds to a growing list of AI tools behaving in ways that “would get a junior developer fired,” suggests The Register. From the report: We reached out to the user, a photographer and g … ⌘ Read more

When my AI-powered IDE starts running delete commands in production ⌘ Read more

An Independent Effort Says AI Is the Secret To Topple 2-Party Power In Congress
Tony Isaac quotes a report from NPR: The rise of AI assistants is rewriting the rhythms of everyday life: People are feeding their blood test results into chatbots, turning to ChatGPT for advice on their love lives and leaning on AI for everything from planning trips to finishing homework assignments. Now, one or … ⌘ Read more

Apple AI Chief Retiring After Siri Failure
Apple’s longtime AI chief John Giannandrea is retiring, with former Microsoft and Google AI leader Amar Subramanya stepping in to take over. MacRumors notes the retirement comes after the company’s repeated delays in delivering its revamped Siri and internal turmoil that led to an AI team exodus. From the report: Giannandrea will serve as an advisor between now and 2026, with former Micro … ⌘ Read more

Flock Uses Overseas Gig Workers To Build Its Surveillance AI
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Flock, the automatic license plate reader and AI-powered camera company, uses overseas workers from Upwork to train its machine learning algorithms, with training material telling workers how to review and categorize footage including images people and vehicles in the United States, according to material … ⌘ Read more

New York Now Requires Retailers To Tell You When AI Sets Your Price
New York has become the first state in the nation to enact a law requiring retailers to disclose when AI and personal data are being used to set individualized prices [non-paywalled source] – a measure that lawyers say will make algorithmic pricing “the next big battleground in A.I. regulation.”

The law, enacted through the state budget, … ⌘ Read more

Colleges Are Preparing To Self-Lobotomize
The skills that future graduates will most need in an age of automation – creative thinking, critical analysis, the capacity to learn new things – are precisely those that a growing body of research suggests may be eroded by inserting AI into the educational process, yet universities across the United States are now racing to embed the technology into every dimension of their curricula.

O … ⌘ Read more

AI Is Being Used To Help Modernize The Ubuntu Error Tracker
While some Linux distributions have begun establishing AI policies, we haven’t seen any communicated from the Ubuntu camp yet but will apparently be permitted at least for project infrastructure. AI is being used currently in an effort to help modernize the Ubuntu Error Tracker… ⌘ Read more

Top Consultancies Freeze Starting Salaries as AI Threatens ‘Pyramid’ Model
Major consulting firms including McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group and Bain have frozen starting salaries for the third consecutive year as AI reshapes how these companies think about their traditional reliance on large cohorts of junior analysts. Job offers for 2026 show undergraduate packages holding steady at $135,000-$140,00 … ⌘ Read more

Intel Gaudi 3 Driver Support Already Rejected For Linux 6.19
Last night Intel finally posted their Gaudi 3 accelerator open-source driver support for the mainline Linux kernel with hopes of getting that long-delayed AI accelerator support into the in-development Linux 6.19 kernel. But as I pointed out, the pull request was coming unusually late for being such a large set of patches and would face an uphill battle to make it for the Linux 6.19 merge window. Sure enough, the pull request was already rejected an … ⌘ Read more

Two Former US Congressmen Announce Fundraising for Candidates Supporting AI Regulation
Two former U.S. congressmen announced this week that they’re launching two tax-exempt fundraising groups “to back candidates who support AI safeguards,”
reports The Hill, “as a counterweight to industry-backed groups.”

Former Representatives Chris Stewart (Republican-Utah) and Brad Carson (Democrat-Okl … ⌘ Read more

Raspberry Pi Announces Price Hikes Due To RAM Demand, 1GB Raspberry Pi 5 Launched
Due to the ongoing RAM shortages in the industry amid ongoing massive demand for AI servers,Raspberry Pi announced today they are having to raise prices on the Raspberry Pi 4 and Raspberry Pi 5 single board computers. They have also launched a 1GB Raspberry Pi 5 version too for those not needing much memory and wanting to keep pricing to a minimum… ⌘ Read more

How OpenAI Reacted When Some ChatGPT Users Lost Touch with Reality
Some AI experts were reportedly shocked ChatGPT wasn’t fully tested for sycophancy by last spring. “OpenAI did not see the scale at which disturbing conversations were happening,” writes the New York Times — sharing what they learned after interviewing more than 40 current and former OpenAI employees, including safety engineers, executives, and re … ⌘ Read more

Can AI Transform Space Propulsion?
An anonymous reader shared this report from The Conversation:

To make interplanetary travel faster, safer, and more efficient, scientists need breakthroughs in propulsion technology. Artificial intelligence is one type of technology that has begun to provide some of these necessary breakthroughs. We’re a team of engineers and graduate students who are studying how AI in general, and a subset of AI call … ⌘ Read more

Tech companies advised to label AI-generated content
With AI deepfakes causing confusion and harm online, the federal government tells tech developers that AI content should be clearly labelled, ahead of a National AI Plan due to be released. ⌘ Read more

Amazon Tells Its Engineers: Use Our AI Coding Tool ‘Kiro’
“Amazon suggested its engineers eschew AI code generation tools from third-party companies in favor of its own ,” reports Reuters, “a move to bolster its proprietary Kiro service, which it released in July, according to an internal memo viewed by Reuters.”

In the memo, posted to Amazon’s internal news site, the company said, “While we continue to support ex … ⌘ Read more

AI Can Already Do the Work of 12% of America’s Workforce, Researchers Find
An anonymous reader shared this report from CBS News:

Artificial intelligence can do the work currently performed by nearly 12% of America’s workforce, according to a recentstudy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The researchers, relying on a metric called the “Iceberg Index” that measures a job’s potential to be aut … ⌘ Read more

Browser Extension ‘Slop Evader’ Lets You Surf the Web Like It’s 2022
“The internet is being increasingly polluted by AI generated text, images and video,” argues the site for a new browser extension called Slop Evader. It promises to use Google’s search API “to only return content published before Nov 30th, 2022” — the day ChatGPT launched — “so you can be sure that it was written or produced by the human han … ⌘ Read more

AI Helps Drive Record $11.8B in Black Friday Online Spending
Earlier this month MasterCard noted that even Walmart now allows its customers to make purchases through ChatGPT. And after polling more than 4,000 consumers in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and UAE, they found “more than four in 10 consumers already use AI tools to help them shop, including 61% of Gen Z and 57% of millennials.”

Many (50% of Gen Z and 49% of millenn … ⌘ Read more

Defense Company Announces an AI-Powered Dome to Shield Cities and Infrastructure From Attacks
An anonymous reader shared this report from CNBC:

Italian defense company Leonardo on Thursday unveiled plans for an AI-powered shield for cities and critical infrastructure, adding to Europe’s push to ramp up sovereign defense capabilities amid rising geopolitical tensions.

The system, … ⌘ Read more

‘Thongs aren’t underwear’: The case for an Australian ChatGPT
Sovereign Australia AI wants to build a model that understands Australian culture and values. But does the country really need it? ⌘ Read more

Comment on Mozilla’s ‘Rewiring’ to AI – Saving the Web or Saving Itself? by Phim VLXX
Phim hay lắm mọi người nên ghé xem ⌘ Read more

More detail, even more questions for Google’s data hub on Christmas Island
Google’s plans for a data hub could drag this remote island from a digitally-starved past into an AI-powered future. But are the locals ready? ⌘ Read more

Singapore Takes Top Spot in Global Talent Index
Singapore has claimed the top spot in the 2025 Global Talent Competitiveness Index for the first time, displacing Switzerland from a position the European nation had held since the ranking’s inception in 2013. The index, produced by business school INSEAD and the Portulans Institute, measured 135 economies across 77 indicators spanning soft skills, AI talent concentration, and fo … ⌘ Read more

Robots and AI Are Already Remaking the Chinese Economy
China installed 295,000 industrial robots last year – nearly nine times as many as the United States and more than the rest of the world combined – as the country races to automate its manufacturing base amid rising labor costs at home and tariff threats from abroad.

The nation’s stock of operational robots surpassed 2 million in 2024, according to the Intern … ⌘ Read more

Why Google’s custom AI chips are shaking up the tech industry
Google is reportedly in talks to sell its tensor processing units – a type of computer chip specially designed for AI – to other tech companies, a move that could unsettle the dominant chip-maker Nvidia ⌘ Read more

Major AI Conference Flooded With Peer Reviews Written Fully By AI
An analysis of submissions to next year’s International Conference on Learning Representations has found that roughly one in five peer reviews were fully generated by AI, a discovery that came after researchers including Carnegie Mellon’s Graham Neubig grew suspicious of feedback on their manuscripts that seemed unusually verbose and requested n … ⌘ Read more

US Patent Office Issues New Guidelines For AI-Assisted Inventions
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued new guidelines outlining when inventions created with the help of AI can be patented. From a report: USPTO Director John Squires said on Wednesday in a notice set to be published Friday, that the office considers generative AI systems to be “analogous to laboratory equipment, computer software, res … ⌘ Read more

Epic’s Sweeney Says Platforms Should Stop Tagging Games Made With AI
The CEO of Epic Games, Tim Sweeney, has argued that platforms like Steam should not label games that are made using AI. From a report: Responding to a post on Twitter from a user who suggested that storefronts drop this tag, the industry exec said that it “makes no sense” to flag such content. Sweeney added that soon AI will be a part of … ⌘ Read more

Better Technology, Worse Motivation: GenAI’s Mediocrity Trap

While generative AI (GenAI) promises productive efficiency, it can paradoxically lead to lower-quality work. We conducted an experiment with professional illustrators and found that AI assistance flattens the quality curve—it accelerates initial gains but sharply diminishes the returns on sustained effort. Faced with this, a significant number of professionals made a strategic choice: they sacrificed the final quality to save time.

From http://www.jin-li.org/uploads/1/1/4/5/114595093/ai_and_motivation.pdf

I haven’t read this and can’t vouch for it; seems vaguely AI-boostery. Still, the conclusions are interesting. This seems to be the picture that is emerging about generative AI generally: most people don’t like it and find that degrades the quality of work. Coders seem to like it and think that it helps them, but in fact it makes the slower, less productive, and more bug prone.

By all measures it’s a bad technology. We should just be honest about it. There is no need to make excuses for multi-trillion-dollar corporations.

AI Can Technically Perform 12% of US Labor Market’s Wage Value, MIT Simulation Finds
Researchers at MIT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have built a simulation that models all 151 million American workers and their skills, then maps those skills against the capabilities of over 13,000 AI tools currently in production to see where the two overlap. The answer, according to their analysis: 11.7 … ⌘ Read more