The game touted its use of the GPT-3 text generator. Then the algorithm started to generate disturbing stories, including sex scenes involving children. IN DECEMBER 2019, Utah startup Latitude launched a pioneering online game called AI Dungeon that demonstrated a new form of human-machine collaboration. The company used text-generation technology from artificial intelligence company OpenAI to create a choose-your-own adventure game inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. When a player typed out the action or dialog they wanted their character to perform, algorithms would craft the next phase of their personalized,…
Read MoreAuthor: FutureTech
The Statistical Secrets of Covid-19 Vaccines
They’re really very good, and they’re the only way out of the pandemic. But a tour through the numbers could bring the vaccine-hesitant into the tent. THE CREATION AND distribution of vaccines against Covid-19 has been as close as science gets to a miracle—the culmination of centuries of infectious disease research, a mastery of viral genomics, the creation of a whole new kind of vaccinology, and speed in the face of crisis. So it’s weird that even as the global pandemic worsens (infection and death rates have gone vertical in…
Read MoreJay-Z Joins Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s Board of Directors for Company ‘Square’
A celebrity has just joined the board of directors of one of the up and coming companies started by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. While Jay-Z has been active in the business world and is still a well known rapper, the recent seat still comes as a surprise. Jay-Z Joins Jack Dorsey’s Square According to the story by CNet, Square, a certain mobile-payments company that is reportedly owned by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, has just added Jay-Z to the company’s official board of directors. The board of directors are critical to…
Read MoreCognizant Attrition High Time, Impacting Revenue
Even as Cognizant has made offers to 28,000 campus hires for onboarding this year, the company’s attrition rate continues to stay very high, compared to those of its Indian peers. Some of the latter are seeing these rates decline, but Cognizant’s has risen in the past two quarters and has hovered in the range of 18%-24% for the past nine quarters. In the latest quarter, the company’s attrition rose to 21%, translating to about 15,600 employees leaving the firm. It was 19% in the preceding quarter and was 24% in…
Read MoreWindows 10X: Microsoft reportedly shelves its ambitious lightweight operating system
Windows 10X is apparently dead. Microsoft’s long-awaited Windows 10X operating system, its Chrome OS competitor, has been cancelled. According to Petri, Microsoft won’t ship the operating system anytime soon. The Windows 10X, which many thought would be a fresh take on Windows 10, was supposed to come first on single-screen devices designed for education and business use. While Microsoft may have stopped the development of Windows 10X, the company is still expected to bring some elements of the operating system to Windows 10 later this year. It is said that…
Read MoreMIT Researchers have Built a Powerful Nanoscale Flashlight on a Chip
For many decades, scientists have used light to identify a material by observing how that light interacts with the material. They do so by essentially shining a beam of light on the material, then analyzing that light after it passes through the material. Because all materials interact with light differently, an analysis of the light that passes through the material provides a kind of “fingerprint” for that material. Imagine doing this for several colors — i.e., several wavelengths of light — and capturing the interaction of light with the material…
Read MoreCryptocurrency Investors Should be Prepared to Lose All Their Money: BoE Governor
LONDON — Cryptocurrencies “have no intrinsic value” and people who invest in them should be prepared to lose all their money, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said. Digital currencies like bitcoin, ether and even dogecoin have been on a tear this year, reminding some investors of the 2017 crypto bubble in which bitcoin blasted toward $20,000, only to sink as low as $3,122 a year later. Asked at a press conference Thursday about the rising value of cryptocurrencies, Bailey said: “They have no intrinsic value. That doesn’t mean to…
Read MoreFacebook Allows Drug Ads to Target Teens, Activists Say
TEENAGERS ON FACEBOOK can be targeted by ads endorsing alcohol, drugs, gambling, smoking, and eating disorders, according to a report by a watchdog group. The Tech Transparency Project created six test ads and submitted them to Facebook, saying it wanted to reach users ages 13 to 17. Facebook approved all the ads within hours, including one promoting pill parties in 43 minutes. “This is an easy fix, and Facebook should have had the foresight to make it a long time ago,” said Tech Transparency Project director Katie Paul. “Whether this…
Read MoreZomato may Invest $100 million in Grofers as e-Grocer Shelves US IPO Plan
Food delivery app Zomato is in talks to invest around $100 million in e-grocer Grofers, two people in the know told ET, after discussions of a possible merger between the two fell through last year at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Zomato’s investment is likely part of a larger financing round and may value the Gurugram-based online grocery firm at around $1 billion, sources said. This time the talks have centred around a capital infusion, unlike last year when Zomato would have likely acquired Grofers in an all-stock deal….
Read MoreIndia’s Smartphone Industry Grew by 23% in Q1; Xiaomi leads, Samsung second
India’s smartphone shipments grew by a robust 23 per cent in the first quarter of calendar year 2021 at over 38 million units, the latest research report by Counterpoint’s Market Monitor has said. This was the highest ever first quarter shipment in the country which was boosted by new product launches, promotions and financial schemes, as well as pent-up demand from last year. Xiaomi led the market in Q1 2021 with a 26% shipment share accounting for five out of the top 10 smartphone models. Samsung was second, logging the…
Read More