ICT news

• Did OpenAI, Google and Meta 'Cut Corners' to Harvest AI Training Data?

  11-05-2024 18:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  What happened when OpenAI ran out of English-language training data in 2021?
  They just created a speech recognition tool that could transcribe the audio from YouTube videos, reports The New York Times, as part of an investigation arguing that tech companies "including OpenAI, Google and Meta have cut corners, ignored corporate policies and debated bending the law" in their search for AI training data. [Alternate URL here.]Some OpenAI employees discussed how such a move might go against YouTube's
  
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• Amazon Plans To Give Alexa an AI Overhaul, Monthly Subscription Price

  23-05-2024 04:02 via slashdot.org
  
  According to CNBC, Amazon plans to enhance its Alexa voice assistant with generative AI and introduce it to customers through a monthly subscription service. While the price point has yet to be determined, sources say it will not be included in the company's $139-per-year Prime offering. From the report: The team is now tasked with turning Alexa into a relevant device that holds up amid the new AI competition, and one that justifies the resources and headcount Amazon has dedicated to it. It has
  
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• US Lawmakers Advance Bill To Make It Easier To Curb Exports of AI Models

  23-05-2024 03:25 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to advance a bill that would make it easier for the Biden administration to restrict the export of AI systems, citing concerns China could exploit them to bolster its military capabilities. From a report: The bill, sponsored by House Republicans Michael McCaul and John Molenaar and Democrats Raja Krishnamoorthi and Susan Wild, also would give the Commerce Department express authority to bar Americans from working with foreigne
  
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• FCC Chair Proposes Disclosure Rules For AI-Generated Content In Political Ads

  23-05-2024 02:45 via politics.slashdot.org
  
  FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has proposed (PDF) disclosure rules for AI-generated content used in political ads. "If adopted, the proposal would look into whether the FCC should require political ads on radio and TV to disclose when there is AI-generated content," reports Quartz. From the report: The FCC is seeking comment on whether on-air and written disclosure should be required in broadcasters' political files when AI-generated content is used in political ads; proposing that the rules
  
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• Why Your Wi-Fi Router Doubles As an Apple AirTag

  23-05-2024 02:10 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Krebs On Security: Apple and the satellite-based broadband service Starlink each recently took steps to address new research into the potential security and privacy implications of how their services geo-locate devices. Researchers from the University of Maryland say they relied on publicly available data from Apple to track the location of billions of devices globally -- including non-Apple devices like Starlink systems -- and found they could use this d
  
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• Microsoft Edge Will Begin Blocking Screenshots On the Job

  23-05-2024 01:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft is adding screenshot prevention controls in Edge to block you from taking screenshots at work. "It's all designed to prevent you from sharing screenshots with competitors, relatives, and journalists using Microsoft Edge for Business," reports PCWorld. From the report: Specifically, IT managers at corporations will be able to tag web pages as protected, as defined in various Microsoft policy engines in Microsoft 365, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Microsoft Intune Mobile Application
  
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• The First Crew Launch of Boeing's Starliner Capsule Is On Hold Indefinitely

  23-05-2024 00:40 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Longtime Slashdot reader schwit1 shares a report from Ars Technica: The first crewed test flight of Boeing's long-delayed Starliner spacecraft won't take off as planned Saturday and could face a longer postponement as engineers evaluate a stubborn leak of helium from the capsule's propulsion system. NASA announced the latest delay of the Starliner test flight late Tuesday. Officials will take more time to consider their options for how to proceed with the mission after discovering the small heli
  
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• People With Commonly Autocorrected Names Call For Tech Firms To Fix Problem

  23-05-2024 00:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: People whose names get mangled by autocorrect have urged technology companies to fix the problem faster, with one person whose name gets switched to "Satan" saying: "I am tired of it." People with Irish, Indian and Welsh names are among those calling for improvements to the systems that operate on phones and computers as part of the "I am not a typo" campaign. "It is important that technology becomes more inclusive," said Savan-Chandni Gande
  
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• Nvidia Reports a 262% Jump In Sales, 10-1 Stock Split

  22-05-2024 23:25 via slashdot.org
  
  Nvidia reported fiscal first-quarter earnings surpassing expectations with strong forecasts, indicating sustained demand for its AI chips. Following the news, the company's stock rose over 6% in extended trading. Nvidia also said it was splitting its stock 10 to 1. CNBC reports: Nvidia said it expected sales of $28 billion in the current quarter. Wall Street was expecting earnings per share of $5.95 on sales of $26.61 billion, according to LSEG. Nvidia reported net income for the quarter of $14.
  
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• Mozilla Says It's Concerned About Windows Recall

  22-05-2024 22:41 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft's Windows Recall feature is attracting controversy before even venturing out of preview. From a report: The principle is simple. Windows takes a snapshot of a user's active screen every few seconds and dumps it to disk. The user can then scroll through the snapshots and, when something is selected, the user is given options to interact with the content.
  Mozilla's Chief Product Officer, Steve Teixeira, told The Register: "Mozilla is concerned about Windows Recall. From a browser perspec
  
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• Spyware Found on US Hotel Check-in Computers

  22-05-2024 22:01 via it.slashdot.org
  
  A consumer-grade spyware app has been found running on the check-in systems of at least three Wyndham hotels across the United States, TechCrunch reported Wednesday. From the report: The app, called pcTattletale, stealthily and continually captured screenshots of the hotel booking systems, which contained guest details and customer information. Thanks to a security flaw in the spyware, these screenshots are available to anyone on the internet, not just the spyware's intended users.
  This is the m
  
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• CFPB Says Buy Now, Pay Later Firms Must Comply With US Credit Card Laws

  22-05-2024 21:21 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau declared on Wednesday that customers of the burgeoning buy now, pay later industry have the same federal protections as users of credit cards. From a report: The agency unveiled what it called an "interpretive rule" that deemed BNPL lenders essentially the same as traditional credit card providers under the decades-old Truth in Lending Act. That means the industry -- currently dominated by fintech firms like Affirm, Klarna and PayPal -- must make refunds
  
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• Undisclosed WhatsApp Vulnerability Lets Governments See Who You Message

  22-05-2024 20:41 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  WhatsApp's security team warned that despite the app's encryption, users are vulnerable to government surveillance through traffic analysis, according to an internal threat assessment obtained by The Intercept. The document suggests that governments can monitor when and where encrypted communications occur, potentially allowing powerful inferences about who is conversing with whom. The report adds: Even though the contents of WhatsApp communications are unreadable, the assessment shows how gover
  
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• 'Never-Ending' UK Rain Made 10 Times More Likely By Climate Crisis, Study Says

  22-05-2024 20:05 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The seemingly "never-ending" rain last autumn and winter in the UK and Ireland was made 10 times more likely and 20% wetter by human-caused global heating, a study has found. From a report: More than a dozen storms battered the region in quick succession between October and March, which was the second-wettest such period in nearly two centuries of records. The downpour led to severe floods, at least 20 deaths, severe damage to homes and infrastructure, power blackouts, travel cancellations, and
  
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• Windows XP Can Run On an Intel CPU From 1989 Thanks To Dedicated Modder

  22-05-2024 19:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: For those of us who came of age in the early days of personal computing, the names "Intel 486" and "Windows XP" evoke a nostalgic whirlwind of memories. The 486 was the hot new CPU of the early 90s, while Windows XP became a household name and Microsoft's most popular OS over a decade later. But did you ever imagine these two icons of different eras could be merged into an unholy union? Well, start brushing off those vintage 486 rigs, because a modder has act
  
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• Russia Likely Launched Counter Space Weapon Into Low Earth Orbit Last Week, Pentagon Says

  22-05-2024 18:42 via science.slashdot.org
  
  The United States has assessed that Russia launched what is likely a counter space weapon last week that's now in the same orbit as a U.S. government satellite, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder confirmed Tuesday. From a report: "What I'm tracking here is on May 16, as you highlighted, Russia launched a satellite into low Earth orbit that we that we assess is likely a counter space weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit," Ryder said when questioned by ABC
  
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• Amazon Plans To Give Alexa an AI Overhaul - and a Monthly Subscription Price

  22-05-2024 18:06 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Amazon is upgrading its decade-old Alexa voice assistant with generative AI and plans to charge a monthly subscription fee to offset the cost of the technology, CNBC reported Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of Amazon's plans. From the report: The Seattle-based tech and retail giant will launch a more conversational version of Alexa later this year, potentially positioning it to better compete with new generative AI-powered chatbots from companies including Google and OpenAI, according to
  
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• US Securities Regulator Urges Against Crypto Bill Adoption

  22-05-2024 17:29 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The U.S. securities regulator on Wednesday urged U.S. lawmakers not to adopt a bill that aims to create a new legal framework for digital currencies, saying it would undermine existing legal precedent and put capital markets at "immeasurable risk." From a report: The U.S. House of Representatives is expected later on Wednesday to take up the Republican-sponsored Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, which would in part determine which agencies have jurisdiction over which
  
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• Wearable AI Startup Humane Explores Potential Sale

  22-05-2024 16:44 via slashdot.org
  
  AI startup Humane has been seeking a buyer for its business, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter, just weeks after the company's closely watched wearable AI device had a rocky public launch. From the report: The company is working with a financial adviser to assist it, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Humane is seeking a price of between $750 million and $1 billion in a sale [non-paywalled link], one person said. The proce
  
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• Meta AI Chief Says Large Language Models Will Not Reach Human Intelligence

  22-05-2024 16:03 via slashdot.org
  
  Meta's AI chief said the large language models that power generative AI products such as ChatGPT would never achieve the ability to reason and plan like humans, as he focused instead on a radical alternative approach to create "superintelligence" in machines. From a report: Yann LeCun, chief AI scientist at the social media giant that owns Facebook and Instagram, said LLMs had "very limited understanding of logicâ... do not understand the physical world, do not have persistent memory, cann
  
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• ASML and TSMC Can Disable Chip Machines If China Invades Taiwan

  22-05-2024 15:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: ASML Holding NV and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. have ways to disable the world's most sophisticated chipmaking machines in the event that China invades Taiwan, according to people familiar with the matter. Officials from the US government have privately expressed concerns to both their Dutch and Taiwanese counterparts about what happens if Chinese aggression escalates into an attack on the island responsible for producing the vast ma
  
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• Google Brings Back Group Speaker Controls After Sonos Lawsuit Win

  22-05-2024 12:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Android Authority's Mishaal Rahman reports that the group speaker volume controls feature is back in Android 15 Beta 2. "Google intentionally disabled this functionality on Pixel phones back in late 2021 due to a legal dispute with Sonos," reports Rahman. "In late 2023, Google announced it would bring back several features they had to remove, following a judge's overturning of a jury verdict that was in favor of Sonos." From the report: When you create a speaker group consisting of one or more A
  
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• EVs More Likely To Hit Pedestrians Than Petrol Vehicles, Study Finds

  22-05-2024 09:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Hybrid and electric cars are more likely to hit pedestrians than petrol or diesel vehicles, due to their quieter engines that make them harder for pedestrians to hear. Other contributing factors include the tendency for drivers of electric cars to be younger and less experienced, and the vehicles' heavier weight and swift acceleration, increasing stopping distances. The Guardian reports: Data from 32 billion miles of battery-powered car travel and 3 trillion miles of petrol and diesel car trips
  
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• California Exceeds 100% of Energy Demand With Renewables Over a Record 45 Days

  22-05-2024 05:30 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Electrek: In a major clean energy benchmark, wind, solar, and hydro exceeded 100% of demand on California's main grid for 69 of the past 75 days. Stanford University professor of civil and environmental engineering Mark Z. Jacobson continues to track California's renewables performance – and it's still exciting. In an update today on Twitter (X), Jacobson reports that California has now exceeded 100% of energy demand with renewables over a record 45
  
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• DOJ Makes Its First Known Arrest For AI-Generated CSAM

  22-05-2024 04:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  In what's believed to be the first case of its kind, the U.S. Department of Justice arrested a Wisconsin man last week for generating and distributing AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Even if no children were used to create the material, the DOJ "looks to establish a judicial precedent that exploitative materials are still illegal," reports Engadget. From the report: The DOJ says 42-year-old software engineer Steven Anderegg of Holmen, WI, used a fork of the open-source AI image
  
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• EU Sets Benchmark For Rest of the World With Landmark AI Laws

  22-05-2024 03:25 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Europe's landmark rules on artificial intelligence will enter into force next month after EU countries endorsed on Tuesday a political deal reached in December, setting a potential global benchmark for a technology used in business and everyday life. The European Union's AI Act is more comprehensive than the United States' light-touch voluntary compliance approach while China's approach aims to maintain social stability and state control. The vot
  
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• Windows Now Has AI-Powered Copy and Paste

  22-05-2024 02:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Umar Shakir reports via The Verge: Microsoft is adding a new Advanced Paste feature to PowerToys for Windows 11 that can convert your clipboard content on the fly with the power of AI. The new feature can help people speed up their workflows by doing things like copying code in one language and pasting it in another, although its best tricks require OpenAI API credits.Advanced Paste is included in PowerToys version 0.81 and, once enabled, can be activated with a special key command: Windows Key
  
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• 'Pay Researchers To Spot Errors in Published Papers'

  22-05-2024 02:02 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Borrowing the idea of "bug bounties" from the technology industry could provide a systematic way to detect and correct the errors that litter the scientific literature. Malte Elson, writing at Nature: Just as many industries devote hefty funding to incentivizing people to find and report bugs and glitches, so the science community should reward the detection and correction of errors in the scientific literature. In our industry, too, the costs of undetected errors are staggering. That's why I ha
  
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• Linux 6.10 Honors One Last Request By Hans Reiser

  22-05-2024 01:20 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  Longtime Slashdot reader DVega shares a report from Phoronix: ReiserFS lead developer and convicted murderer Hans Reiser a few months back wrote letters to be made public apologizing for his social mistakes and other commentary. In his written communications he also made a last request for ReiserFS in the Linux kernel: "Assuming that the decision is to remove [ReiserFS] V3 from the kernel, I have just one request: that for one last release the README be edited to add Mikhail Gilula, Konstantin S
  
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• Microsoft Is Making File Explorer More Powerful With Version Control and 7z Compression

  22-05-2024 01:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Sean Hollister reports via The Verge: At Build, Microsoft now says it's adding native version control to File Explorer by integrating systems like Git, letting you see new changes and comments directly from the app. Here's a cropped and zoomed version of the provided screenshot so you can get a better look. [...] Microsoft says it's also letting File Explorer natively compress files to 7-zip and TAR; currently, the right-click context menu has a "Compress to ZIP file" option, but ZIP is thought
  
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