Month: February 2024
AI-generated articles prompt Wikipedia to downgrade CNET’s reliability rating
Futurism report highlights the reputational cost of publishing AI-generated content.
Enlarge (credit: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto/Getty Images)
Wikipedia has downgraded tech website CNET’s reliability rating following extensive discussions among its editors regarding the impact of AI-generated content on the site’s trustworthiness, as noted in a detailed report from Futurism. The decision reflects concerns over the reliability of articles found on the tech news outlet after it began publishing AI-generated stories in 2022.
Around November 2022, CNET began publishing articles written by an AI model under the byline “CNET Money Staff.” In January 2023, Futurism brought widespread attention to the issue and discovered that the articles were full of plagiarism and mistakes. (Around that time, we covered plans to do similar automated publishing at BuzzFeed.) After the revelation, CNET management paused the experiment, but the reputational damage had already been done.
Wikipedia maintains a page called “Reliable sources/Perennial sources” that includes a chart featuring news publications and their reliability ratings as viewed from Wikipedia’s perspective. Shortly after the CNET news broke in January 2023, Wikipedia editors began a discussion thread on the Reliable Sources project page about the publication.
AI Tries Its Hand at Gaming — and Music Composition – CNET
Companies including Google and Adobe want you to see what generative AI can do next, even if you can’t access it.
Companies including Google and Adobe want you to see what generative AI can do next, even if you can’t access it.
Casper Axes Wave and Nova, in Favor of New Dream and Snow Mattresses – CNET
Online mattress giant Casper has refreshed its product range. Here’s what to expect from this new lineup of beds, and what to know if you already have a Casper mattress.
Online mattress giant Casper has refreshed its product range. Here’s what to expect from this new lineup of beds, and what to know if you already have a Casper mattress.
Google packs more searches into the Search Bar
If you’ve ever opened a new browser tab with no clue what to search for, today’s Chrome updates may help.
First off, the Google Search box on Chrome will now display suggested queries based on your previous searches before you’ve started typing. In Google’s example, a user who had previously searched for the Korean noodle dish japchae would see images of similar Korean dishes beside the search box under the heading “People also search for.” Some of the search suggestions will also include images.
It’s not an entirely new feature. As Search Engine Roundtable points out, Google started testing a “People also search for” suggestion bar in 2020.
The Verge tested the updated Chrome search suggestions feature. Typing in “pesto sandwich recipe” popped up a list of similar search queries by others, such as “What sandwich does pesto go well with?” as well as images of a piece of ciabatta bread, pesto, and provolone.
A screenshot of a search for “pesto sandwich recipe” on Google Chrome.
Another change will impact searches related to shopping on the Chrome app. On both the Android and iOS apps, the search box will display image thumbnails of “broader product and shopping categories” rather than just sticking to the specific item in a search query. In another Google example, a user who searches for “bohemian table” will also see related search suggestions and images pop up in the search box, such as “bohemian tablecloth,” “bohemian table runner,” and others.
Search suggestions will even pop up on Chrome when your phone has a poor Wi-Fi connection, due to “improved on-device capabilities” for both the Android and iOS versions of the search engine. Joshua Cruz, a spokesperson for Google, clarified that Chrome will download a “lightweight read-only model” in order to keep search suggestions working.
“With this feature, Chrome will download a lightweight read-only model which contains the most popular search suggestions for a locale from Google server and store the model at [the] user directory, so that Chrome can serve these top search suggestions to users when server suggestions cannot be returned from server in time (e.g. under poor network) or are not allowed (e.g. in Incognito mode),” wrote Cruz in an email to The Verge.
Yes, the read-only model allows search suggestions to work on Chrome’s Incognito Mode, using previously downloaded data.
If you’ve ever opened a new browser tab with no clue what to search for, today’s Chrome updates may help.
First off, the Google Search box on Chrome will now display suggested queries based on your previous searches before you’ve started typing. In Google’s example, a user who had previously searched for the Korean noodle dish japchae would see images of similar Korean dishes beside the search box under the heading “People also search for.” Some of the search suggestions will also include images.
It’s not an entirely new feature. As Search Engine Roundtable points out, Google started testing a “People also search for” suggestion bar in 2020.
The Verge tested the updated Chrome search suggestions feature. Typing in “pesto sandwich recipe” popped up a list of similar search queries by others, such as “What sandwich does pesto go well with?” as well as images of a piece of ciabatta bread, pesto, and provolone.
A screenshot of a search for “pesto sandwich recipe” on Google Chrome.
Another change will impact searches related to shopping on the Chrome app. On both the Android and iOS apps, the search box will display image thumbnails of “broader product and shopping categories” rather than just sticking to the specific item in a search query. In another Google example, a user who searches for “bohemian table” will also see related search suggestions and images pop up in the search box, such as “bohemian tablecloth,” “bohemian table runner,” and others.
Search suggestions will even pop up on Chrome when your phone has a poor Wi-Fi connection, due to “improved on-device capabilities” for both the Android and iOS versions of the search engine. Joshua Cruz, a spokesperson for Google, clarified that Chrome will download a “lightweight read-only model” in order to keep search suggestions working.
“With this feature, Chrome will download a lightweight read-only model which contains the most popular search suggestions for a locale from Google server and store the model at [the] user directory, so that Chrome can serve these top search suggestions to users when server suggestions cannot be returned from server in time (e.g. under poor network) or are not allowed (e.g. in Incognito mode),” wrote Cruz in an email to The Verge.
Yes, the read-only model allows search suggestions to work on Chrome’s Incognito Mode, using previously downloaded data.