Month: March 2023
How to Use Chatbots, like ChatGPT, in Your Daily Life and Work
Large language models are already good at a wide variety of tasks.
Large language models are already good at a wide variety of tasks.
Waymo retires its Chrysler Pacifica minivans as it switches to an all-electric robotaxi fleet
Waymo’s minivans at its Arizona depot in 2018. | Image: Waymo
Waymo’s Chrysler Pacificas are heading off into the sunset.
On Thursday, the Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle operator announced it was phasing out the plug-in hybrid minivans it had been using for the last seven years. Instead, Waymo will rely on the all-electric Jaguar I-Pace as a platform for the fifth generation of its “Waymo Driver,” which is the branding the company uses to describe its autonomous driving hardware and software stack that enable its vehicles to drive without a person behind the steering wheel.
Waymo’s Chrysler Pacificas are heading off into the sunset
“For many, hailing a fully autonomous ride with Waymo may be the easiest way to access an EV,” the company said in a blog post. “Our growing ride-hailing service not only increases sustainable transportation options, but also offers Waymo’s safety benefits to the communities we serve.”
The impetus for the decision was Waymo joining the Biden administration’s White House EV Acceleration Challenge to spur more businesses to switch to all-EV fleets. But the company’s reliance on gas-powered vehicles has increasingly become an outlier in the AV industry.
Competitors have fleets that are mostly or entirely comprised of electric vehicles: Cruise uses Chevy Bolts; Zoox’s purpose-built robotaxi is all-electric, though the company still relies on gas-powered Toyota Highlanders as test vehicles; and Motional is in the process of transitioning to a fleet of electric Hyundai Ioniq 5s.
Image: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Waymo’s Jaguar I-Pace SUV.
The decision is also likely being shaped by the states in which Waymo operates, namely California, which passed a bill in 2021 requiring all AVs operating on public roads to be electric by 2030. California is ground zero for AV testing in the US, with over 50 companies licensed to operate autonomous vehicles for testing purposes in the state. Waymo operates a robotaxi service in San Francisco and has plans to launch another service in Los Angeles as well.
Some AV operators have argued that electric vehicles are a bad fit for self-driving cars because of the extended charging requirements and the impact on a vehicle’s “uptime.” In order to make a profit, autonomous vehicles need to maximize their time on the road, delivering people or packages; otherwise, they’re likely to be a money-loser. EV charging can take 40 minutes or longer depending on the status of the battery and the power output of the charger — precious time lost for a fleet vehicle.
The decision is also being shaped by the states in which Waymo operates, namely California
In many ways, Waymo’s deal with then-Fiat Chrysler in 2018 to purchase “thousands” of Chrysler Pacificas seems like an artifact from a different time, when the rhetoric about the expected wave of AVs on public roads was at its peak. In May of that year, the company said it struck a deal with FCA (now Stellantis) to purchase 62,000 minivans to grow its fleet exponentially. This was several months after Waymo announced a partnership with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to acquire 20,000 I-Pace SUVs.
But Fiat Chrysler never ended up delivering the full order of minivans; less than 1,000 minivans with Waymo’s “Driver” hardware and software stack were built, most of which were deployed in Arizona’s East Valley for testing and ultimately a ridehailing service called Waymo One. The company soon shifted focus to the I-Pace as its primary vehicle.
Image: Abigail Bassett for The Verge
Waymo’s Zeekr-made people mover.
And now the minivans will be no more. A handful of Chrysler Pacificas in Waymo’s fleet will be retained for historic purposes, while the rest will be “recycled,” a spokesperson for the company said.
In addition to the Jaguar I-Pace, Waymo plans on adding a new EV to its fleet, an all-electric van made by Geely’s Zeekr brand. A prototype is expected to be delivered by the end of 2023.
Waymo’s minivans at its Arizona depot in 2018. | Image: Waymo
Waymo’s Chrysler Pacificas are heading off into the sunset.
On Thursday, the Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle operator announced it was phasing out the plug-in hybrid minivans it had been using for the last seven years. Instead, Waymo will rely on the all-electric Jaguar I-Pace as a platform for the fifth generation of its “Waymo Driver,” which is the branding the company uses to describe its autonomous driving hardware and software stack that enable its vehicles to drive without a person behind the steering wheel.
“For many, hailing a fully autonomous ride with Waymo may be the easiest way to access an EV,” the company said in a blog post. “Our growing ride-hailing service not only increases sustainable transportation options, but also offers Waymo’s safety benefits to the communities we serve.”
The impetus for the decision was Waymo joining the Biden administration’s White House EV Acceleration Challenge to spur more businesses to switch to all-EV fleets. But the company’s reliance on gas-powered vehicles has increasingly become an outlier in the AV industry.
Competitors have fleets that are mostly or entirely comprised of electric vehicles: Cruise uses Chevy Bolts; Zoox’s purpose-built robotaxi is all-electric, though the company still relies on gas-powered Toyota Highlanders as test vehicles; and Motional is in the process of transitioning to a fleet of electric Hyundai Ioniq 5s.
Image: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Waymo’s Jaguar I-Pace SUV.
The decision is also likely being shaped by the states in which Waymo operates, namely California, which passed a bill in 2021 requiring all AVs operating on public roads to be electric by 2030. California is ground zero for AV testing in the US, with over 50 companies licensed to operate autonomous vehicles for testing purposes in the state. Waymo operates a robotaxi service in San Francisco and has plans to launch another service in Los Angeles as well.
Some AV operators have argued that electric vehicles are a bad fit for self-driving cars because of the extended charging requirements and the impact on a vehicle’s “uptime.” In order to make a profit, autonomous vehicles need to maximize their time on the road, delivering people or packages; otherwise, they’re likely to be a money-loser. EV charging can take 40 minutes or longer depending on the status of the battery and the power output of the charger — precious time lost for a fleet vehicle.
In many ways, Waymo’s deal with then-Fiat Chrysler in 2018 to purchase “thousands” of Chrysler Pacificas seems like an artifact from a different time, when the rhetoric about the expected wave of AVs on public roads was at its peak. In May of that year, the company said it struck a deal with FCA (now Stellantis) to purchase 62,000 minivans to grow its fleet exponentially. This was several months after Waymo announced a partnership with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to acquire 20,000 I-Pace SUVs.
But Fiat Chrysler never ended up delivering the full order of minivans; less than 1,000 minivans with Waymo’s “Driver” hardware and software stack were built, most of which were deployed in Arizona’s East Valley for testing and ultimately a ridehailing service called Waymo One. The company soon shifted focus to the I-Pace as its primary vehicle.
Image: Abigail Bassett for The Verge
Waymo’s Zeekr-made people mover.
And now the minivans will be no more. A handful of Chrysler Pacificas in Waymo’s fleet will be retained for historic purposes, while the rest will be “recycled,” a spokesperson for the company said.
In addition to the Jaguar I-Pace, Waymo plans on adding a new EV to its fleet, an all-electric van made by Geely’s Zeekr brand. A prototype is expected to be delivered by the end of 2023.
Midjourney ends free trials of its AI image generator due to ‘extraordinary’ abuse
Midjourney is putting an end to free use of its AI image generator after people created high-profile deepfakes using the tool. CEO David Holz says on Discord that the company is ending free trials due to “extraordinary demand and trial abuse.” New safeguards haven’t been “sufficient” to prevent misuse during trial periods, Holz says. For now, you’ll have to pay at least $10 per month to use the technology.
As The Washington Postexplains, Midjourney has found itself at the heart of unwanted attention in recent weeks. Users relied on the company’s AI to build deepfakes of Donald Trump being arrested, and Pope Francis wearing a trendy coat. While the pictures were quickly identified as bogus, there’s a concern bad actors might use Midjourney, OpenAI’s DALL-E and similar generators to spread misinformation.
Midjourney has acknowledged trouble establishing policies on content. In 2022, Holz justified a ban on images of Chinese leader Xi Jinping by telling Discord users that his team only wanted to “minimize drama,” and that having any access in China was more important than allowing satirical content. On a Wednesday chat with users, Holz said he was having difficulty setting content policies as the AI enabled ever more realistic imagery. Midjourney is hoping to improve AI moderation that screens for abuse, the founder added.
Some developers have resorted to strict rules to prevent incidents. OpenAI, for instance, bars any images of ongoing political events, conspiracy theories and politicians. It also forbids hate, sexuality and violence. However, others have relatively loose guidelines. Stability AI won’t let Stable Diffusion users copy styles or make not-safe-for-work pictures, but it generally doesn’t dictate what people can make.
Misleading content isn’t the only problem for AI image production. There are longstanding concerns that the pictures are stolen, as they frequently use existing images as reference points. While some companies are embracing AI art in their products, there’s also plenty of hesitation from firms worried they’ll get unwanted attention.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/midjourney-ends-free-trials-of-its-ai-image-generator-due-to-extraordinary-abuse-153853905.html?src=rss
Midjourney is putting an end to free use of its AI image generator after people created high-profile deepfakes using the tool. CEO David Holz says on Discord that the company is ending free trials due to “extraordinary demand and trial abuse.” New safeguards haven’t been “sufficient” to prevent misuse during trial periods, Holz says. For now, you’ll have to pay at least $10 per month to use the technology.
As The Washington Postexplains, Midjourney has found itself at the heart of unwanted attention in recent weeks. Users relied on the company’s AI to build deepfakes of Donald Trump being arrested, and Pope Francis wearing a trendy coat. While the pictures were quickly identified as bogus, there’s a concern bad actors might use Midjourney, OpenAI’s DALL-E and similar generators to spread misinformation.
Midjourney has acknowledged trouble establishing policies on content. In 2022, Holz justified a ban on images of Chinese leader Xi Jinping by telling Discord users that his team only wanted to “minimize drama,” and that having any access in China was more important than allowing satirical content. On a Wednesday chat with users, Holz said he was having difficulty setting content policies as the AI enabled ever more realistic imagery. Midjourney is hoping to improve AI moderation that screens for abuse, the founder added.
Some developers have resorted to strict rules to prevent incidents. OpenAI, for instance, bars any images of ongoing political events, conspiracy theories and politicians. It also forbids hate, sexuality and violence. However, others have relatively loose guidelines. Stability AI won’t let Stable Diffusion users copy styles or make not-safe-for-work pictures, but it generally doesn’t dictate what people can make.
Misleading content isn’t the only problem for AI image production. There are longstanding concerns that the pictures are stolen, as they frequently use existing images as reference points. While some companies are embracing AI art in their products, there’s also plenty of hesitation from firms worried they’ll get unwanted attention.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/midjourney-ends-free-trials-of-its-ai-image-generator-due-to-extraordinary-abuse-153853905.html?src=rss
Netflix’s Scott Pilgrim TV show reunites the film’s cast – and I couldn’t be happier
Netflix’s TV anime adaptation of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World will star a number of familiar faces.
Get your Sex Bob-omb shirts out of storage, Scott Pilgrim fans, because the fan-favorite graphic novels are being turned into a Netflix anime series.
Bryan Lee O’Malley’s beloved comic book series, which was turned into a cult classic live-action movie in 2010, is set to be adapted once more.
Well, we already knew that Scott Pilgrim was getting the anime treatment. In its latest announcement, though, Netflix has confirmed it’s turned the graphic novels into an anime TV show alongside Universal Content Productions (UCP), a division of Universal Studios Group, who also co-produced Netflix’s live-action take on The Umbrella Academy. O’Malley and BenDavid Grabinski (Are You Afraid of the Dark?) are also on board as co-showrunners and co-writers.
In even more crowd-pleasing news, the cast of the Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World film are all returning to voice their characters in the Netflix series. That includes – deep breath – Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Marvel star Chris Evans and Brie Larson, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Schwartzman, Anna Kendrick, Ellen Wong, Brandon Routh, and Alison Pill among many others.
??THIS IS NOT A DRILL!??Announcing Scott Pilgrim, an anime series voiced by the cast of the 2010 film!It comes from executive producers Edgar Wright, Bryan Lee O’Malley, and BenDavid Grabinski and is animated by Science Saru. pic.twitter.com/8iyZuaj6eLMarch 30, 2023
Netflix’s Scott Pilgrim series doesn’t have an official title (publicly, at least), nor has a release date been announced. In a press release, the world’s best streaming service simply revealed that news on both fronts would be “coming soon”. Will it be a while before we see Scott Pilgrim‘s anime show grace our screens? Hopefully not. I reported on the fact that the Netflix anime series was in development in January 2022 (see the link above), so it’s been in the works for over a year. Fingers crossed it’ll be here quicker than I can say “I’m in lesbians with you”.
Regardless, I’m delighted we’re getting more Scott Pilgrim content. O’Malley’s graphic novels are timeless. They capture the awkwardness of being a teen trying to navigate this magical thing we call life, and act as a nostalgic time capsule of an era where indie rock was big and video games were just starting to be publicly viewed as cool among other culturally significant landmarks. Suffice to say, I’ll be watching the show on day one.
It sounds like the series’ executive team is delighted to get another run at adapting Scott Pilgrim, too. In a statement released alongside the announcement, O’Malley and Grabinski gushed: “We’re getting the band back together! And, with Science SARU leading the phenomenal animation, we couldn’t ask for a better team for this adventure. We can’t wait for fans and newcomers alike to see what we and our partners at Science SARU have been cooking up. It’s going to be a wild ride.”
Edgar Wright, who directed and co-wrote the 2010 movie, and who returns as an executive producer on Netflix’s adaptation, added: “One of the proudest and most enjoyable achievements of my career was assembling and working with the dynamite cast of Scott Pilgrim. Since the film’s release in 2010 we’ve done Q&A’s, remembrances, and charity read throughs, but there was never the occasion to reunite the whole gang on an actual project. Until now.
“Original creator Bryan Lee O’Malley, along with writer BenDavid Grabinski have conjured up an anime series of Scott Pilgrim that doesn’t just expand the universe, but also…well, just watch it. I’m more than happy to announce that I have helped coax the entire original cast back to voice their characters on this epic new adventure. You are in for a treat.”
Scott Pilgrim received a video game adaptation to coincide with the 2010 film’s release. (Image credit: Ubisoft)
Interestingly, it doesn’t sound like Netflix’s anime series will be a direct adaptation of O’Malley’s works. Speaking in a Netflix Tudum article post-reveal, Wright said: “Our brilliant creator Bryan Lee O’Malley had an idea that was way more adventurous than just a straight adaptation of the original books.”
What do O’Malley, Wright, the cast, and everyone else have in store? I have no idea, but I’m excited to see what changes they could make to embolden one of my favorite comic series. Maybe we’ll see some elements of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game – such as each character’s unique move set – translated into the anime, or a slight reworking of any outdated elements from the books themselves.
I’m equally confident that Science Saru, the aforementioned Japanese animation studio, will do a wonderful job of recreating Scott Pilgrim‘s glorious universe, and wacky and offbeat sensibilities, in anime form. The company has worked on numerously well-received anime-like shows, such as Adventure Time and Star Wars: Visions, so I know the series will look visually stunning and capture the essence of what makes Scott Pilgrim so great.
Oh, and in even more fantastic news, Anamanaguchi, who penned the music for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game, and Joseph Trapanese (Straight Outta Compton) are composing original songs and the series’ score. All in all: color me excited.
For more Netflix and anime-based coverage, read up on the best anime shows around. Additionally, find out what the best Netflix shows and best Netflix movies are.
Oscilar emerges from stealth to fight transactions fraud with AI
Confluent co-founder Neha Narkhede today announced a new fintech company, Oscilar, that’s developing an “AI-driven” platform to help financial institutions protect online transactions from fraud and theft. Oscilar is entirely self-funded, backed by $20 million that Narkhede and the company’s other co-founder, Sachin Kulkami, themselves contributed. Narkhede says that they opted not to take outside
Oscilar emerges from stealth to fight transactions fraud with AI by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch
Confluent co-founder Neha Narkhede today announced a new fintech company, Oscilar, that’s developing an “AI-driven” platform to help financial institutions protect online transactions from fraud and theft.
Oscilar is entirely self-funded, backed by $20 million that Narkhede and the company’s other co-founder, Sachin Kulkami, themselves contributed. Narkhede says that they opted not to take outside funding so that they could “quickly build and scale the company” as it launches publicly.
“Sachin and I were at companies with some of the world’s top engineering talent, yet both of us were confounded by how cumbersome and, frankly, ineffective the prevailing risk decisioning technology was,” Narkhede told TechCrunch in an email interview. “Convinced that fraud and risk decisioning technology requires an overhaul, we have been working under the radar for the past two years to build a company to address this problem.”
Prior to co-founding Oscilar, Kulkami was a senior engineering director at Facebook, where he led the division that helped to build Facebook’s internal private cloud. Meanwhile, Narkhede, besides co-launching Confluent, was a LinkedIn executive overseeing the network’s efforts scale its data pipeline.
With Oscilar, Narkhede and Kulkami sought to address what they characterize as a “dramatic increase” in online transaction fraud risk for companies. The pandemic further accelerated the explosion in online transactions over the past decade, they note, leading to a corresponding uptick in fraud, credit and insurance risk.
To their point, more people are using digital payments tech than ever before, with a 2022 survey from The World Bank finding that two-thirds of adults worldwide now make or receive a digital payment. At the same time, risk has indeed increased. Juniper Research expects that online payment fraud losses will eclipse $200 billion by 2025.
Of course, Oscilar is far from the first to attempt to tackle the massive problem of payments risk. Nivelo recently launched with $2.5 million in seed funding for its platform that protects ACH transactions. Sardine has nabbed $51.5 million to develop anomaly-detecting tech for fintech payments. Other players in the space include Fraugster, Bouncer (which Stripe acquired in 2021) and Hawk AI, the last of which marketed its products specifically toward banks.
But Narkhede argues that many of the platforms out there don’t cut it.
“Most companies’ investments in fraud and risk protection haven’t kept pace with the proliferation of online transactions,” Narkhede said. “In a nutshell, existing technologies rely on incomplete and outdated information about user behavior.”
What makes Oscilar different, Narkhede says, is the platform’s heavy reliance on AI and machine learning. But not just any AI — Narkhede claims that Oscilar’s AI, developed in-house, requires much less first- and third-party data about past fraud incidents from customers to train machine learning models.
“We integrate aggregated anonymous risk signals from across our network of customers into our machine learning models, [and] our machine learning models are continuously trained and tested,” Narkhede explained. “This process is fast since we have automated the feedback loop that updates our models. As a result, they automatically get smarter over time.”
Oscilar also offers a toolkit risk operations teams can use to create new risk models, test them, monitor and deploy the models without having to write code. This frees these teams up from having to depend on engineers for intervention and technical support, Narkhede says.
“With Oscilar, our customers have visibility into the model and determine all the parameters and data that go into the model,” she continued. “In fact, as part of our onboarding process, we take customer data and feed it into the model to make sure it’s working properly and that we’re not introducing biases. Oscilar has people in the loop throughout the process and share the results with the company to ensure performance is good and that the model is working properly.”
Given the competition in the fraud defense space, Oscilar definitely has its work cut out for it. Funding might prove to be a challenge, too — particularly given the recent high-profile bank failures. According to CrunchBase, Venture investment into fintech companies in 2022 reached $81 billion as of December 2022, which was down 41% from the peak of 2021 at $137 billion.
But in what could be a positive sign, potentially, Narkhede claims that Oscilar is already working with “dozens” of fintech customers.
“We’ve quietly brought in dozens of engineers with decades of experience from Facebook, Google, Uber and Confluent who have deep expertise in building highly scalable AI driven data systems,” she said. “The public launch of Oscilar allows us to engage with an even broader array of potential customers and partners. “
Oscilar emerges from stealth to fight transactions fraud with AI by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch
MLB Opening Day: What to Watch as the Pitch Clock Era Starts
On a busy opening day, every team is in action. Between M.L.B.’s new rules and some intriguing player movement, you might want to get caught up.
On a busy opening day, every team is in action. Between M.L.B.’s new rules and some intriguing player movement, you might want to get caught up.
After deepfakes go viral, AI image generator Midjourney stops free trials citing “abuse”
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