Month: April 2023
Planning on traveling or cooking? ChatGPT-powered Bing AI just got more useful for you
Microsoft keeps pushing hard to advance Bing in specific areas – is it now leaving Google’s Bard AI far behind?
Microsoft just let us know how it has been making the popular Bing chatbot more helpful in some areas, and most recently there have been improvements to how the AI handles queries about traveling and recipes for cooking.
In a blog post summarizing improvements made over the past week, Microsoft noted that steps have been taken to give its ChatGPT-powered AI better answers on those two topics.
In both cases, the software giant further observes that it has “improved the accuracy of citations” and that with recipes, improved ‘grounding data’ from recipe content providers has been used, with citations directing you to the provider’s site rather than Bing.com (avoiding poaching traffic).
Expect more tweaking in these areas based on user feedback, Microsoft tells us.
Elsewhere, the amount of ‘end-of-conversation triggers’ have been reduced, meaning instances where the Bing AI just clams up and ends a chat session prematurely (telling you something like: “I’m sorry but I prefer not to continue this conversation”).
Analysis: Bing bolstered, but what about Bard?
It’s good to see conversation-ending errors getting reduced, and this is something Microsoft has been regularly engaging in over time, so slowly but surely, the number of times you witness the Bing chatbot falling over and just closing a session should be fewer and fewer.
It’s also interesting to see Microsoft gradually honing the Bing AI in specific categories – recipes and traveling in this case as mentioned, but before now, we’ve seen further work on making the chatbot smarter with queries pertaining to your local area (like ‘where’s the nearest grocery store?’ for example). Not to mention improvements on the maths front, and with queries relating to the current (and breaking) news.
There’s a lot going on to push the Bing AI forward, it seems, and we’re not hearing nearly as much chatter about the progress of Google’s rival AI, Bard. That said, Bard is now starting to get meaningful updates – and full documentation of them – starting with various performance improvements and beefing up the variety of the chatbot’s responses. In short, this is important tinkering albeit at a basic level, and hopefully Google can build on that considerably from here.
There’s certainly no shortage of effort to drive forward with Bard from what we’ve heard via the rumor mill, with Google redeploying staff to focus on the AI (at the expense of Google Assistant, apparently).
Via MS Power User
Brazilian court lifts nationwide Telegram ban put in place over data demand
A federal appeals court in Brazil on Saturday lifted the country-wide ban that had been put in place against Telegram earlier this week. Per Reuters, judge Flávio Lucas ruled a complete suspension of the messaging app was “not reasonable” given that thousands of people in Brazil who rely on the platform for their communication needs. At the same time, he upheld the daily $200,000 fine on Telegram for failing to provide local authorities with the data they requested.
The original ban came on Wednesday after a federal court instructed Apple and Google to temporarily remove the service from their domestic app stores. Brazilian authorities sought the suspension after Telegram failed to hand over a full set of data on a pair of neo-Nazi groups on the app accused of inciting violence against schools.
According to The New York Times, a teenager accused of committing two school shootings in November, which left three dead and 13 people injured, was involved with the two groups. Authorities say they saw Nazi content, violent videos and bomb-making instructions shared in those group chats. When it didn’t comply with the initial court order, Telegram reportedly said the two groups had been deleted and that it couldn’t recover the requested information. Telegram did not immediately respond to Engadget’s comment request.
This isn’t the first time Telegram has been briefly banned in Brazil. In 2022, the country’s highest court suspended the app for failing to freeze accounts accused of spreading disinformation ahead of the country’s recent presidential election. Similarly, that ban was lifted just days later.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/brazilian-court-lifts-nationwide-telegram-ban-put-in-place-over-data-demand-183423449.html?src=rss
A federal appeals court in Brazil on Saturday lifted the country-wide ban that had been put in place against Telegram earlier this week. Per Reuters, judge Flávio Lucas ruled a complete suspension of the messaging app was “not reasonable” given that thousands of people in Brazil who rely on the platform for their communication needs. At the same time, he upheld the daily $200,000 fine on Telegram for failing to provide local authorities with the data they requested.
The original ban came on Wednesday after a federal court instructed Apple and Google to temporarily remove the service from their domestic app stores. Brazilian authorities sought the suspension after Telegram failed to hand over a full set of data on a pair of neo-Nazi groups on the app accused of inciting violence against schools.
According to The New York Times, a teenager accused of committing two school shootings in November, which left three dead and 13 people injured, was involved with the two groups. Authorities say they saw Nazi content, violent videos and bomb-making instructions shared in those group chats. When it didn’t comply with the initial court order, Telegram reportedly said the two groups had been deleted and that it couldn’t recover the requested information. Telegram did not immediately respond to Engadget’s comment request.
This isn’t the first time Telegram has been briefly banned in Brazil. In 2022, the country’s highest court suspended the app for failing to freeze accounts accused of spreading disinformation ahead of the country’s recent presidential election. Similarly, that ban was lifted just days later.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/brazilian-court-lifts-nationwide-telegram-ban-put-in-place-over-data-demand-183423449.html?src=rss
Ben & Jerry’s Cofounder Launches Nonprofit Cannabis Line
The “Ben” in Ben & Jerry’s “has gone from ice cream to cannabis with a social mission,” reports the Chicago Tribune:
Ben Cohen has started Ben’s Best Blnz, a nonprofit cannabis line with a stated mission of helping to right the wrongs of the war on drugs. The company says on its website that 80% of its profits will go to grants for Black cannabis entrepreneurs while the rest will be equally divided between the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance and the national Last Prisoner Project, which is working to free people incarcerated for cannabis offenses…
Ben’s Best Blnz, or B3, says it licenses its formulas, packaging, trademarks, and marketing materials to for-profit businesses that pay a royalty. After expenses are deducted, the royalties are donated to the cause.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The “Ben” in Ben & Jerry’s “has gone from ice cream to cannabis with a social mission,” reports the Chicago Tribune:
Ben Cohen has started Ben’s Best Blnz, a nonprofit cannabis line with a stated mission of helping to right the wrongs of the war on drugs. The company says on its website that 80% of its profits will go to grants for Black cannabis entrepreneurs while the rest will be equally divided between the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance and the national Last Prisoner Project, which is working to free people incarcerated for cannabis offenses…
Ben’s Best Blnz, or B3, says it licenses its formulas, packaging, trademarks, and marketing materials to for-profit businesses that pay a royalty. After expenses are deducted, the royalties are donated to the cause.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.