Drew Carey made a radio show with AI. Fans weren't pleased.

Drew Carey isn't afraid of AI. Instead, The Price is Right host and longtime improv comedian is embracing the technology. During a recent episode of his SiriusXM radio show, "Friday Night Freakout," Carey used an artificially generated version of his voice to handle most of his DJ work, reading a script written by ChatGPT. His AI voice kicked off the show, introduced upcoming songs and recapped what listeners were hearing. As an experiment to see just how far AI could go on the radio, the episode was mostly a success. But Carey's fans weren't happy about it.

"I violated a rule from Radio 101," Carey told me. His Twitter fans complained that the voice sounded soulless, and that they missed the "real Drew." "The reason FM stations and treasured radio stations still make money is because people like the personality of the DJs," he said. "You don't have to be like a big boss radio guy and be phony. You can just talk... that's what listeners like."

While his fans were ultimately forgiving of the experiment, Carey says he got the message: "Don't do it again."

For many entertainers, AI could be viewed as yet another threat in an increasingly precarious industry. Soon after ElevenLabs introduced a beta version of its AI voice tool — the same software Carey used for his radio show — online trolls used it to impersonate Emma Watson, Joe Rogan and other celebrities. Watsons' simulated voice read portions of the Mein Kampf aloud, while other deepfaked voices made openly racist and transphobic statements, according to Vice.

Carey's AI voice wasn't perfect: It sounded a tad robotic, it didn't have the inflections his fans have grown to love over the years, and the ChatGPT-written script was noticeably simplistic. But if you were driving down the highway late at night, and you just wanted a bit of company alongside some classic rock, it's possible you wouldn't notice the DJ wasn't human. In fact, ElevenLabs recently partnered with Super HI-Fi to create "fully customized and personalized" AI driven radio stations.

"I was just playing with it, and I wanted to show what it was capable of," he said. "Plus, I thought, oh, I don't want to show everybody how to make an exact copy of my voice right now. I thought it might screw me over somehow. So I had that little fear in the back of my head."

It took a weekend for Carey and a friend, who already had experience training ChatGPT and other AI tools, to create his AI voice. ChatGPT wrote 99 percent of his radio show's script, though Carey made a few tweaks of his own. Funny enough, when he asked the chatbot to write a joke about how easy it was to use, it wrote the line "even Drew Carey can use it." (Perhaps ChatGPT is just trying to snag a spot on the inevitable Whose Line Is It Anyway? revival.)

Carey envisions AI being used in the future for the grunt work of radio and other production. Perhaps it could read a script late at night, or churn out some ad copy. When I asked if that's a potential problem for newcomers, he noted, "There are no blacksmiths anymore... If you're a mechanic that works on internal combustion engine cars, if you don't make the switch to electric soon, you're out of a job."

According to a recent Goldman Sachs report, up to 300 million jobs around the world could be automated thanks to recent advancements in AI. But the bank's economists also point out that major innovations that replace some jobs typically lead to the creation of new roles. And for those who are only partially impacted by AI, they'll likely be able to complement their work with generative intelligence.

For celebrities like Carey, AI could also be a way for them to continue working indefinitely, long after they've retired or passed on. James Earl Jones's voice has already been reconstructed for the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, and he's approved future work to "keep Vader alive." Eventually, actors (and their estates) could sign off on AI clones that entertain us for generations to come.

Carey isn't afraid of such an outcome. "You know what, if the price is right, anything can happen," he said when I asked if he'd ever sell his digital likeness. "I'm not worried about CGI Drew Carey taking over, because people want to see me, they want some kind of host. They want that interaction."

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Google Bard is switching to a more 'capable' language model, CEO confirms

People haven't exactly been impressed in the short time since Google released its "experimental conversational AI service" Bard. Coming up against OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's Bing Chat (also powered by OpenAI's GPT-4) users have found its responses to not be as knowledgeable or detailed as its rivals. That could be set to change, however, after Google CEO Sundar Pichai confirmed on The New York Times podcast "Hard Fork" that Bard will soon be moving from its current LaMDA-based model to larger-scale PaLM datasets in the coming days.

When asked how he felt about responses to Bard's release, Pichai commented: "We clearly have more capable models. Pretty soon, maybe as this goes live, we will be upgrading Bard to some of our more capable PaLM models, so which will bring more capabilities, be it in reasoning, coding."

To frame the difference, Google said it had trained LaMDA with 137 billion parameters when it shared details about the language-based models last year. PaLM, on the other hand, was said to have been trained with around 540 billion parameters. Both models may have evolved and grown since early 2022, but the contrast likely shows why Google is now slowly transitioning Bard over to PaLM, with its larger dataset and more diverse answers.

Pichai claims not to be worried about how fast Google's AI develops compared to its competitors. When Bard first debuted in February, he acknowledged its reliance on LaMDA gave it a smaller scale, but framed having less computing power as a benefit, giving more users the change to test it out and provide feedback. Pichai also ensured that Google would be doing its own analysis of Bard's safety and quality once provided with real-world information. 

To that end, Pichai expressed that Google doesn't want to release a "more capable model before we can fully make sure we can handle it well. We are all in very, very early stages. We will have even more capable models to plug in over time. But I don’t want it to be just who’s there first, but getting it right is very important to us." 

That thought is on the minds of over 1,800 people (including tech leaders and AI researchers) who have signed an open letter calling for a minimum six month pause on the development of AI technology "more powerful than GPT-4."

Pichai doesn't think this can be effectively done without involving the government, but agrees with the need for guidance: "AI is too important an area not to regulate. It’s also too important an area not to regulate well. So I’m glad these conversations are underway." 

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Engadget Podcast: 'Tetris' creator chats about the 'Tetris' movie

With the Tetris movie hitting Apple TV+ this week, we chat with the game’s creator, Alexey Pajitnov, and Henk Rogers, the man who helped bring it out of the Soviet Union. We discuss just how realistic the film is (it definitely takes plenty of liberties), the impact of Tetris on gaming and where it could be headed in the future. Also, Cherlynn and Devindra dive into the recent letter from the Future of Life Institute, which was signed by Elon Musk and other tech leaders, and called for a pause on AI development beyond GPT4. It turns out that wasn’t entirely altruistic.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!

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Topics

• Interview with Tetris designer Alexey Pajitnov and Tetris publisher Henk Rogers – 1:17

• The open letter asking for a 6-month pause of AI development is more suspicious than you think – 16:57

• Do the proposed U.S. DATA and RESTRICT acts reach too far in trying to ban TikTok? – 26:48

• Pres. Biden bans the use of commercial spyware – 36:20

• Microsoft is focused on security, AI and a light processor friendly version in Windows 12 – 39:11

• Google unveils AI planning tool to help beat extreme heat due to climate change – 43:21

• Apple’s WWDC dates announced: June 5 to 9 – 45:12

• Working on – 57:39

• Pop culture picks – 1:02:16

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Credits
Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar
Guests (Audio): Alexey Pajitnov and Henk Rogers
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos
Graphic artists: Luke Brooks

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The Morning After: Midjourney shutters free trials of its AI image generator due to 'extraordinary' abuse

It’s a day of reality catching up with the chatbot boom. In the last 24 hours alone, we’ve had hoaxes, FTC complaints and… ads. Hooray. We’ll get into how Microsoft is bringing ads to its Bing chatbot – bound to happen – while OpenAI may have to halt ChatGPT releases in the face of FTC complaints.

The nonprofit research organization, Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP), says OpenAI’s models are "biased, deceptive" and threaten privacy and public safety. The CAIDP says OpenAI also fails to meet Commission guidelines calling for AI to be transparent, fair and easy to explain. There's no guarantee the FTC will act on the complaint. If it does set requirements, though, the move would affect development across the AI industry.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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Microsoft explains how ads will happen in Bing's AI chatbot

Ah, the end of the fun.

Over the past few days, users have reported seeing ads inside Microsoft’s Bing chatbot experience. Based on the limited examples we've seen, the GPT-4-powered chatbot embeds relevant ad links in response to users' actual questions. Ads don't seem to appear for most people (including us) yet, but they'll most likely pop up more frequently and in more places soon. In a post on the Bing blog, Microsoft Corporate VP for Search and Devices Yusuf Mehd, explained that ads would come in the form of a linked citation, along with additional links in a "Learn More" section below Bing's response to their query. In the future, Microsoft could add functionality where hovering over a link from an advertiser would display more links from its website to drive more traffic to it.

Continue reading.

Midjourney ends free trials of its AI image generator due to 'extraordinary' abuse

The tool had been used to fake images of Trump and the Pope, among others.

Midjourney CEO, David Holz, announced on Discord that the company is ending free trials due to "extraordinary demand and trial abuse." New safeguards haven't been "sufficient," and you'll have to pay at least $10 per month to use the image generator going forward. As The Washington Post reported, Midjourney has picked up 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.

Continue reading.

Polestar 3 first look

Possibly the best-looking EV of the year.

The Polestar 3 was recently showcased in New York for its North American debut, so we had to check it out. It might just be the best-looking new SUV in 2023. The Polestar 3 is built on the same platform as the Volvo EX90, but the company has made some significant changes that ensure there won’t be confusion between the two. Instead of three rows of seats, the Polestar 3 maxes out at two, with slightly less rear storage in favor of a more spacious cabin.

Continue reading.

A new Twitter clone is trying to seduce original blue checkmark owners

T2 is led by former Twitter employees who want to recreate Twitter’s “public square.”

With “legacy” Twitter checkmarks about to disappear (tomorrow!), one Twitter alternative hopes to lure some of those OG verified users to its platform. T2, an invite-only service led by two former Twitter employees, says it will allow accounts to carry over their “legacy” Twitter verification to its site. T2 is part of a growing crop of Twitter alternatives that have sprung up after Musk’s takeover. Founder Gabor Cselle has been clear that he intends to create “a pretty straightforward copy of Twitter with some simplifications”.

Continue reading.

Netflix is testing TV games that use phones as controllers

Hidden code references games on TV in the Netflix app.

Netflix might have started (or is at least looking to start) testing games for TV, based on code within its app that developer Steve Moser shared with Bloomberg. Moser reportedly found hidden references to games played on television, as well as additional code that indicates the possibility of using phones as controllers to play them. One line from within the app apparently reads: "A game on your TV needs a controller to play. Do you want to use this phone as a game controller?" The streaming giant launched several games on Android, iPhones and iPads in 2021, but on the Netflix app for TV, these games were notably absent.

Continue reading.

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Amazon's World Backup Day sale takes up to 67 percent off SSDs, memory and more

Today is World Backup Day (March 31st), meant to remind everyone to protect their precious data. Amazon is having a large storage sale to commemorate the occasion with discounts of up to 67 percent on hard disks, memory cards, SSDs and more. Some standout deals include the WD Black 2TB NVMe SSD for PS5 consoles for $170 (43 percent off), the SanDisk 2TB Extreme Pro Portable SSD for $175 (24 percent off) and SanDisk's 1TB Extreme microSDXC memory card for $100, a full two-thirds off the regular price. 

Shop storage products on Amazon

WD's Black Gen4 PCIe NVMe 2TB SSD can hold up to 50 games on your PS5 and delivers read/write speeds of 7,000MB/s and 5,300MB/s respectively, allowing for seamless gameplay. It'll work equally well for your PC, particularly for content creation. The 2TB model is an incredible deal at $170, considering the regular price is $300. But if you want to spend a bit less and don't need as much storage, the 1TB model is also on sale for $125 for a savings of 31 percent. 

If it's backup storage you're after, Amazon has you covered here as well. The SanDisk 2TB Extreme Pro portable SSD, with speeds up to 2,000MB/s (USB 3.2 Gen 2x2) is $175, for a savings of $24 percent. You can also pick up the 1TB version for $130 (58 percent off), and the 4TB model is $400, a whopping $500 off the regular price — though you'll actually spend less by getting two 2TB models.

The final product of note is SanDisk's 1TB microSDXC card, on sale for just $100, or 67 percent ($200) off the regular price. You'll also see a stellar deal on the 512GB version, which can be found for $48 or 56 percent off (again, it's cheaper to get two of these than a single 1TB card, though the latter may be more convenient). 

You'll find plenty of other deals, like WD's 20TB Elements external HDD for $280 (45 percent off), Lexar's 2TB NM800 Pro NVMe Gen 4.0 SSD for $112 (57 percent off) and Lexar's CFexpress Type A Gold Series memory cards for Sony cameras at $272 (32 percent off). And bear in mind that a number of Samsung SSDs and memory cards are still on sale from last week with savings of up to 54 percent. The deals are just on for today, so if you're in the market, act soon. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

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Netflix hopes making fewer original movies will make them better

Netflix released at least one movie a week over the past two years, but for 2023, the company is changing course. According to Bloomberg, the streaming giant is restructuring its movie division and releasing fewer movies overall. Netflix will combine the team working on small projects with a budget $30 million or less and the unit that produces mid-budget films that cost $30 million to $80 million to make. The restructuring will result in a "handful" of layoffs — the company didn't specify a number — and the departure of two notable executives. Lisa Nishimura, who oversees documentaries like Tiger King and small budget films, as well as VP for film Ian Bricke are both leaving the company after over a decade. 

As Bloomberg notes, Netflix ramped up its film development efforts after studios started building their own streaming services instead of licensing their movies to the company. In addition to the units working on small and mid-budget films, Netflix has one more division developing big-budget projects. It's unclear if the last group is also affected by the restructuring.

Despite the sheer number of titles Netflix previously released, only a few had won accolades, had reached millions of hours of streaming, or had the kind of cultural impact some of the biggest blockbusters had achieved. (According to the company's Top 10 page, its most watched movies for 2021 and 2022 include Red Notice, Don't Look Up and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.) Netflix Film chief Scott Stuber reportedly decided to cut down on the titles the service is releasing this year so he could ensure that the division is producing more high-quality projects. 

Stuber didn't say how many people are losing their jobs from the shakeup, but the numbers are supposed to be smaller than the layoffs that happened at the company last year. Netflix implemented job cuts before many of its rivals in the film, TV and entertainment space did. HBO and HBO Max had to let some production staff members go as part of a larger Warner Bros. Discovery restructuring back in August, while Disney recently announced that it's laying off 7,000 workers, including those involved with media and distribution.

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Faraday Future finally starts FF 91 production after repeated delays

When Faraday Future released its earnings report for 2022 earlier this month, it said it's on track to begin the production of its first vehicle. The company had a lot of false starts since it was founded in 2014 and had to push back the model's production and shipment dates again and again. This time, the company was finally able to stick to its timeline: Faraday Future has announced that it has started production for the FF 91 Futurist electric vehicle at its factory in Hanford, California. 

Faraday Future unveiled the FF 91 Futurist in February 2022, with the intention of kicking off the manufacturing process in the third quarter of the year. It obviously didn't happen, and the company told investors that it was because it needed more cash for its commercial launch. Indeed, the automaker grappled with a string of financial woes over the years and even almost ran out of cash in 2017 before Season Smart, later acquired by Chinese company Evergrande Health, agreed to fund it with $2 billion. 

Faraday burned through Season Smart's initial $800 million cash injection too quickly, however, and ended up feuding with the investor. The company furloughed (and ultimately let go) hundreds of employees while the dispute was ongoing. It also had to abandon its plans to build a $1 billion Las Vegas production facility and sell the site for $40 million.

The FF 91 Futurist promises 1,050 horsepower, a range of 381 miles as certified by the EPA and the ability to go from zero to 60 mph in 2.27 seconds. It will be sold both stateside and in China — in the US, customers in Los Angeles will get their units first, followed by those in San Francisco and then buyers in New York. According to Reuters, deliveries in the US are scheduled to begin in April 2023. The company itself didn't mention a specific date for when deliveries will start, but it did announce a final launch event for the FF 91 Futurist on April 26th.

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Nintendo extends deadline to redeem 3DS and Wii U eShop codes until April 3rd

Nintendo was supposed to shut down its Wii U and 3DS eShops for good on March 27th at 5PM PST, but it looks like you'll have a little more time. The company has announced that it has extended the ability to redeem download codes until April 3, 2023 at 9:30PM. The reason? "The feature to redeem download codes was disabled earlier than scheduled," Nintendo wrote in a customer support FAQ seen by Game Developer. 

The company announced the eShop closures back in February 2022, and barred users from adding funds to their accounts on August 29th. The final shutdown was set for March 27th, so it's been extended nearly a week. After that time, you'll no longer be able to purchase new titles, but you can continuie to redownload 3DS and Wii U titles for now. Any remaining funds in your Nintendo Network ID wallet will be transferred over to your Nintendo Account wallet used in the Nintendo Switch until March 2024.

As we wrote in an explainer earlier this week, the Wii U and 3DS eShop closures mean that a vast library of games has essentially vanished. It was home to a large number of exclusives like Pushmo, Attack of the Friday Monsters, Dr. Luigi and more, that we may never see again. In a now deleted FAQ, Nintendo said that "we currently have no plans to offer classic content in other ways," meaning access may soon be limited to preservationists and, unfortunately, pirates. 

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EA is cutting around 800 jobs in company restructuring

Electronic Arts is reducing its workforce by six percent, company CEO Andrew Wilson has announced in a blog post. As The Wall Street Journal notes, while layoffs are sweeping the tech industry, this makes EA the first major video game publisher to announce job cuts that would affect a significant number of people. While Wilson didn't specify how many workers will be impacted by the layoffs, a 2022 filing by the company said it had a workforce that was almost 13,000 strong.

Wilson said EA already started telling some of the roughly 800 affected workers that they were going to lose their jobs earlier this year. The layoffs will continue over the coming months until early next fiscal year. He explained that the job cuts are a result of the company deciding to move away from projects that no longer align with its goals, to review its real estate footprint and to restructure some of its teams. In certain cases, EA will offer the affected worker the opportunity to transition to other roles within the company. But those who don't get the offer (or choose not to take a new role within EA) will be getting severance pay, company-paid health insurance and career transition services. 

The video game industry as a whole has been struggling with a slump in player spending since 2022 after a couple of years of growth fueled by increased gaming hours during pandemic lockdowns. EA has implemented several cost-cutting measures over the past months as a result, including shutting downApex Legends Mobile and Battlefield Mobile. It also reportedly cancelled an unannounced single-player game set in the Titanfall and Apex Legends universe. In May 2022, Puck News reported that EA was actively looking for a buyer or a company willing to undergo a merger. The company approached Disney and Comcast, Puck said, but discussions ultimately broke down. 

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Reddit says it's banning more people than ever in big transparency push

Reddit's transparency reports go beyond what most social media companies offer, providing copious data on content moderation and global legal requests. Now, the company has introduced a transparency center serving as a hub for safety, security and policy information. It also announced plans to release transparency reports biannually rather than just once per year and said that in 2022, it removed significantly more offensive content, including child abuse and revenge porn, than in 2021.

Last year, Reddit saw a big jump in moderation and legal requests, according to its 2022 transparency report. Government and law enforcement removal account information requests were up by 51 percent and 61 percent respectively, while copyright notices jumped 43 percent. 

The story was similar on the moderation front. Last summer, the BBC reported that Reddit was still leaving up "thousands" of non-consensual intimate (NCII) images (aka revenge porn), despite making changes to its policy earlier in this year. 

As a result, Reddit joined StopNCII.org, a database that aims to reduce the spread of revenge porn, operated by the nonprofit charity SWGfL's Revenge Porn Hotline. "We have already seen promising results from this tool and believe it will help us remove this content more quickly," a spokesperson told Ars Technica. To wit, it removed 244 percent more user accounts violating revenge porn policies than it did in 2021, and banned 473 percent more subreddits. The total number of NCII posts removed was 187,258 compared to around 88,000 the year before. 

The site also removed 874 percent more child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) than it did in 2021. It achieved that by hiring more moderation staff and investing in proactive detection tools. By comparison, Twitter has reportedly been cutting its global moderation workforce and disbanded its Trust and Safety Council.

The aim with the transparency center, Reddit said, was to make it easier for user and "other interested parties like policymakers and the media" to find information about content moderation, legal requests and general platform safety. As such, there are sections for Reddit's terms & policies, guidelines for law enforcement, platform security updates, its bug bounty program and past transparency reports.

The company also said it would publish full transparency reports twice a year, rather than annually as it does now. Last year, it did publish its first mid-year transparency report, but it only focused on global legal requests. Going forward, however, the mid-year reports will cover both legal requests and content moderation data, exactly like the current year-end wrap-ups.

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Netflix is testing TV games that can use phones as controllers

Netflix might have started (or is at least looking to start) testing games for TV, based on code within its app that developer Steve Moser has shared with Bloomberg. Moser reportedly found hidden code referencing games played on television, as well as additional code that indicates the possibility of being able to use phones as controllers to play them. One line from within the app apparently reads: "A game on your TV needs a controller to play. Do you want to use this phone as a game controller?" Moser also previously found hints that the service's then-upcoming ad-supported plan might not come with offline viewing. He turned out to be spot on. 

The streaming giant launched its gaming experience on Android, iPhones and iPads in 2021. It requires mobile users to download games from the App Store or from Google Play due to rules set by Apple and Google. But since the point of these games is to increase engagement and retain users, they can be launched from within the Netflix app and an active subscription is necessary to be able to access them. On the Netflix app for TV, these games are notably absent. 

It remains to be seen how the company intends to implement gaming on TVs and whether it will also require users to download the games before being able to play them. Netflix VP of game development Mike Verdu said last year, though, that the company was "seriously exploring a cloud gaming offering" and that it's looking to launch more than just casual games for television. 

For now, users will have to make do with what's available on mobile. At the moment, Netflix's catalogue has around 55 titles available, though it's rolling out 40 more games throughout 2023. 

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Microsoft reveals how it's putting ads in Bing's AI chatbot

Over the past few days, users have reported seeing ads within the Bing chatbot experience. Based on the limited examples we've seen, the GPT-4-powered chatbot embeds relevant ad links in responses to users' actual questions. Ads don't seem to show up for most people (including us) yet, but they'll most likely pop up more frequently and in more places soon. In a new post on the Bing blog, Microsoft Corporate VP for Search and Devices Yusuf Mehdi has admitted that the company is currently exploring putting ads in Bing's chat experience, indicating that the samples we've seen so far are part of its experimentation. He also revealed how the company intends to embed more ads in the new Bing experience. 

Bing ads are happening @luke_lafr@linusgsebastianpic.twitter.com/TzVJoObNb9

— Punit (@pewnit) March 25, 2023

So far, the ads that show up for users come in the form of a linked citation, along with additional links in a "Learn More" section below Bing's response to their query. In the future, Microsoft could launch an experience wherein hovering over a link from an advertiser will display more links from its website in hopes of driving more traffic to it. The company is also exploring the idea of adding rich captions from its Start personalized news feed publishers right beside the AI chatbot's responses.

The fact that Microsoft is monetizing its Bing chatbot is an expected development. From the start, the question was never "Will the company do it?" but "How will the company do it?" And now we have an idea of the tech giant's initial plans. As Mehdi said in his post, Bing has amassed more than 100 million daily active users after the chatbot came out. Since one third of those users are new to Bing, they present a new opportunity for advertisers, and Microsoft clearly intends to strike while the iron is hot.

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Tech leaders and AI experts demand a six-month pause on 'out-of-control' AI experiments

An open letter signed by tech leaders and prominent AI researchers has called for AI labs and companies to "immediately pause" their work. Signatories like Steve Wozniak and Elon Musk agree risks warrant a minimum six month break from producing technology beyond GPT-4 to enjoy existing AI systems, allow people to adjust and ensure they are benefiting everyone. The letter adds that care and forethought are necessary to ensure the safety of AI systems — but are being ignored.

The reference to GPT-4, a model by OpenAI that can respond with text to written or visual messages, comes as companies race to build complex chat systems that utilize the technology. Microsoft, for example, recently confirmed that its revamped Bing search engine has been powered by the GPT-4 model for over seven weeks, while Google recently debuted Bard, its own generative AI system powered by LaMDA. Uneasiness around AI has long circulated, but the apparent race to deploy the most advanced AI technology first has drawn more urgent concerns.

"Unfortunately, this level of planning and management is not happening, even though recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict, or reliably control," the letter states. 

The concerned letter was published by the Future of Life Institute (FLI), an organization dedicated to minimizing the risks and misuse of new technology. Musk previously donated $10 million to FLI for use in studies about AI safety. In addition to him and Wozniak, signatories include a slew of global AI leaders, such as Center for AI and Digital Policy president Marc Rotenberg, MIT physicist and Future of Life Institute president Max Tegmark, and author Yuval Noah Harari. Harari also co-wrote an op-ed in the New York Times last week warning about AI risks, along with founders of the Center for Humane Technology and fellow signatories, Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin. 

This call out feels like the next step of sorts from a 2022 survey of over 700 machine learning researchers, in which nearly half of participants stated there's a 10 percent chance of an "extremely bad outcome" from AI, including human extinction. When asked about safety in AI research, 68 percent of researchers said more or much more should be done. 

Anyone who shares concerns about the speed and safety of AI production is welcome to add their name to the letter. However, new names are not necessarily verified so any notable additions after the initial publication are potentially fake. 

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Google unveils AI-powered planning tools to help beat climate change's extreme heat

With extreme weather events regularly flooding our coastal cities and burning out our rural communities, Google in its magnanimity has developed a new set of online tools that civil servants and community organizers alike can use in their efforts to stave off climate change-induced catastrophe.

Google already pushes extreme weather alerts to users in affected locations, providing helpful, easy-to-understand information about the event through the Search page — whether its a winter storm warning, flood advisories, tornado warnings, or what have you. The company has now added extreme heat alerts to that list. Googling details on the event will return everything from the predicted start and end dates of the heatwave to medical issues to be aware of during it and how to mitigate their impacts. The company is partnering with the Global Heat Health Information Network (GHHIN) to ensure that the information provided is both accurate and applicable. 

Google

It's a lot easier to keep the citizenry comfortable in hot weather if the cities themselves aren't sweltering, but our love affair with urban concrete has not been amenable to that goal. That's why Google has developed Tree Canopy, a feature within the company's Environmental Insights Explorer app, which "combines AI and aerial imagery so cities can understand their current tree coverage and better plan urban forestry initiatives," per Wednesday's release.

Tree Canopy is already in use in more than a dozen cities but, with Wednesday's announcement, the program will be drastically expanding, out to nearly 350 cities around the world including Atlanta, Sydney, Lisbon and Paris. Google also offers a similarly-designed AI to help plan the installation of "cool roofs" which reflect heat from the sun rather than absorb it like today's tar paper roofs do.

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Shark's self-emptying robot vacuum is 50 percent off

Lenovo has shut down its Legion gaming phone business

Lenovo carved out a niche with its Legion line of gaming smartphones featuring impressive specs and gimmicks like SSD RAID storage and pop-out cameras. Now, the company is exiting the gaming phone business completely, it told Android Authority. 

"Lenovo is discontinuing its Android-based Legion mobile gaming phones as part of a wider business transformation and gaming portfolio consolidation. As a leader in gaming devices and solutions, Lenovo is committed to advancing the gaming category across form factors, as well as focusing on where it can bring the most value to the global gaming community," a spokesperson said.

Lenovo's gaming smartphone woes likely sprung from the fact that it failed to establish the Legion brand outside of China. It poached a number of employees from the ASUS ROG team at the beginning, so it was clearly committed to mobile gaming early on. Its last Legion-branded phone was the slightly lower-end Y70 announced last August, but the final flagship Y90 was released over a year ago in February 2022.

With Lenovo out, that leaves just ASUS with its ROG gaming smartphone lineup, along with the Nubia Red Magic and Xiaomi's Black Shark — though the latter recently laid off a large chunk of its workforce. Lenovo will likely now focus on its Moto line along with special models like the ThinkPhone.  

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Google found to have violated order to save chat evidence in Epic antitrust case

A federal judge has ruled that Google violated a court order requiring it to preserve employee chat messages relevant to Epic's antitrust case, according to Bloomberg and CNBC. San Francisco US District Judge James Donato said the tech giant "adopted a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy for keeping messages, at the expense of its preservation duties," and must be sanctioned for its actions. Donato has yet to decide on what sanctions and penalties Google should face, but he ordered the company to cover Epic's attorney's fees related to this particular issue.

Donato said in his decision that Google gave almost 360 employees the complete freedom to decide whether or not to preserve chat histories. In a separate filing by the Department of Justice over the same complaint, the agency explained that the tech giant's internal chatroom, which is used to discuss "substantive and sensitive business," is set to delete chat messages within 24 hours by default. The agency expected Google to change its chat history setting in 2019 when it "reasonably anticipated [the] litigation," but it still allegedly left the decision to individual employees. 

Epic Games, to support its case, recently submitted exhibits to show how Google employees tend to switch off chat history. In one example from 2021, Google CEO Sundar Pichai allegedly wrote: "...also can we change the setting of this group to history off." He attempted to delete that message a few seconds later, according to the filing. Google employees also reportedly switch off chat histories when discussing topics, such as revenue sharing and mobile app distribution agreements, as well as a project that involves changing commission rates for Google Play. 

In a statement, a Google spokesperson said the company has worked with Epic and investigators over the years and has handed over millions of documents: "Our teams have conscientiously worked, for years, to respond to Epic and the state AGs’ discovery requests and we have produced over three million documents, including thousands of chats. We'll continue to show the court how choice, security, and openness are built into Android and Google Play," they said. 

The judge will hold further proceedings to finalize the sanctions Google must face. Donato said he'd like to see the evidence available "at the end of fact discovery," so that Epic would be better positioned to "tell the Court what might have been lost in the Chat communications."

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The best iPhone cases for 2023

Google's new Classroom tools include a 'reader mode' for people with dyslexia

Google is making it easier for people with reading challenges, such as dyslexia, to be able to make out articles and text posts online. The tech giant has launched "reader mode" for Chrome, which takes a site's primary content and puts it into the sidebar to reduce clutter and distractions. Users will also be able to change the text's typeface, font size and spacing, as well as its color and background color, to find the combination that works best for them. 

Reader mode is but one of the new features and updates Google has rolled out for education users. Another new feature for Google Classroom gives educators the ability to add interactive questions to YouTube videos. That will allow students to answer them and get immediate feedback, giving teachers an insight on how well they understand the subject matter. 

Google is also giving teachers a way to share practice sets with other verified educators in their domain, so that they can expand the availability of materials their students have access to. For particularly difficult mathematical and scientific concepts, for instance, more examples mean more opportunity to better understand them. The company has released a new web player for Screencast on Chrome OS, as well, allowing users to watch casts in any browser on any platform. Plus, it has expanded language options for Screencast closed captions and for practice sets. 

Classes using Meet for online lectures will also find a new and useful feature: Hand raise gesture detection powered by AI. Apparently, when a student raises a hand in real life, the video conferencing app can now automatically activate its Hand Raise icon. In addition, two teachers can now also manage slides concurrently on Meet and co-present lectures together. Google has been growing and improving its education-related tools for years, though it has perhaps kicked things up a notch after schools shut down during the pandemic. It released a slew of updates to make virtual classrooms more usable since then, and it looks like it hasn't forgotten online-based education even though schools have mostly gone back to in-person learning. 

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Disney reportedly shuts down its metaverse division

Disney has shut down its metaverse division and laid off all of the team's 50 or so members as part of a broader restructuring process, according to The Wall Street Journal. It was just over a year ago when former Disney CEO Bob Chapek tapped company veteran Mike White to lead the team in its task of finding interactive ways to tell Disney's stories using new technologies. While the rest of team has lost their jobs, White will remain at the company, though it's unclear what role he's taking on going forward. 

The executive's plan to launch an Amazon Prime-like subscription service for Disney has reportedly also been scrapped. It would've created a single user experience for Disney+, the company's retail operations and its apps that people use to purchase food and merchandise at Disney theme parks. 

Chapek was hopeful and optimistic about Disney's future when it came to the metaverse and previously said that the company should excel at "blending... the physical and digital experiences." He called the metaverse "the next great storytelling frontier." The division's closure doesn't necessarily mean that Disney is abandoning its metaverse ambitions for good, though. As The Journal notes, Bob Iger, who returned as CEO to replace Chapek in November 2022, showed that he also sees a future in the metaverse when he joined the board of an animated avatar startup. 

While Iger may have another strategy in mind, it may take some before we hear about it. Disney has been under pressure from investors to implement serious cost-cutting measures, and it previously announced that it was going to lay off 7,000 employees. According to TechCrunch, it will have three rounds of layoffs, with the first one taking place this week. The metaverse team might simply be one of the first teams impacted by Disney's significant restructuring efforts. In the note TechCrunch obtained, Iger said the company will send a larger round of layoff notifications in April and will notify the last affected employees before the beginning of summer. 

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Apple Music Classical is now available globally

Apple Music Classical is now available for download globally with more than 5 million tracks. Offered as part of an Apple Music subscription, it's designed to make it easier to find things unique to classical music, including orchestras, conductors, musicians and more. 

The app sprung from Primephonic, the streaming service Apple acquired in 2021. It was originally slated to be released at the end of 2022, but earlier this month, Apple revealed a firm release date of March 28th. 

The app is available on iPhones running iOS 15.4 or later, with an Android version "coming soon." As you'd hope, it offers 192KHz/24-bit high-resolution lossless audio quality, with "thousands" of recordings offered in spatial audio as well. It also lets classical enthusiasts browse composer biographies, descriptions of key works, "deep-dive" guides and more. The search feature has been rewritten for classical music queries and lets you choose from over 700 curated playlists. 

There are few things missing from the main Apple Music app, though. Apple Music Voice Plan subscribers can't use Classical, there's no native iPad app yet and you can't download music for offline listening. The navigation bar has just four buttons (Listen Now, Browse, Library and Search), as there's no Radio shortcut. Apart from that, it should appeal to classical music lovers seeking things specific to the genre, especially those hard-to-locate performances. 

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Virgin Orbit extends employee furlough as it continues to seek funding

In mid-March, Virgin Orbit went into an "operational pause" and put most of its 750 employees in an unpaid leave due to financial issues. Reports have come out that the satellite launch company was in talks with potential new investors since then, but it sounds like it has yet to clinch a deal that would fund its operations going forward. According to CNBC and Reuters, Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart has told employees via email that the company will extend unpaid furlough for majority of its workforce. 

"Our investment discussions have been very dynamic over the past few days, they are ongoing, and not yet at a stage where we can provide a fulsome update," he reportedly wrote. Sources told the news organizations that Virgin Orbit's late-stage discussions with Texas-based investor Matthew Brown broke down and was officially called off late last week. 

Brown was going to put in $200 million into the company, which would've given the investor a controlling stake. Talks with a different potential buyer, CNBC said, also came to a halt on Sunday night. CNBC's Investing in Space newsletter recently reported that Sir Richard Branson, which currently has the largest stake in the company at 75 percent, doesn't want to own the business anymore. Branson's Virgin Group has apparently been rushing to find funding for the company in an effort to avoid bankruptcy. 

A small team of Virgin Orbit employees already returned to work last week as part of its expected "incremental resumption of operations." While the company's future remains unclear, it has to start preparing for its next planned rocket launches. One of the missions it's aiming to accomplish this year is its second orbital launch attempt from UK soil. If you'll recall, what was supposed to be Virgin Orbit's first orbital UK launch took off from Spaceport Cornwall on January 9th, but it failed to reach orbit due to a dislodged fuel filter.

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Twitter will soon only recommend paid users in its For You feed

In a couple of weeks, all the tweets you see on the For You feed will come from Twitter Blue users. Twitter boss Elon Musk has announced that the website will only display tweets from verified accounts in For You's recommendations starting on April 15th going forward. 

Musk explained that the company is making the move to combat AI bots and that it's the "only realistic way" to prevent "advanced AI bot swarms" from taking over. He also said that Twitter is fighting a "hopeless losing battle" otherwise if it doesn't implement the change. In a follow-up tweet, Musk clarified that AI bots can pay for verification (and presumably be shown in the For You timeline), as long as they don't impersonate a human. 

Twitter's For You interface shows not just tweets from the accounts a user follows, but also content based on previous tweets they've liked or other people in their network have liked. The feature debuted on iOS back in January as an alternative to the Following tab before making its way to other platforms. Not everybody liked it, and Twitter released an update so that its web and mobile apps will default to the timeline tab users last had open after it came out. But displaying only verified users could potentially mean that those who choose to view it would see a lot more promotional tweets. 

After all, pretty soon the only verified accounts on the social media site will be Twitter Blue subscribers. Twitter previously announced that it's killing legacy checkmarks on April 1st, stripping public personalities, companies, government and non-government organizations and the like of their verified status unless they pay for it.

Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations.

The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle.

Voting in polls will require verification for same reason.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2023

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Nintendo will show 10 minutes of 'Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom' gameplay tomorrow

You don't have to settle for trailers if you're curious to know how The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will play. Nintendo and series producer Eiji Aonuma will showcase 10 minutes of Tears gameplay in a live premiere on the company's YouTube channel. It's not clear just what you'll see, but it's safe to presume the demo will feature new mechanics and steer clear of major plot spoilers.

The new title shares the open-world experience that made Breath of the Wild a hit when the Switch launched, but adds both a new environment (the floating islands above Hyrule) and an abundance of new ways to traverse the landscape. You can fly on a giant hoverboard, cross the ground in a motorized chariot and even grind rails. While Nintendo hasn't revealed everything there is to know about Tears of the Kingdom, we'd expect numerous other gameplay tweaks.

Join The Legend of #Zelda series producer, Eiji Aonuma, for roughly 10 minutes of gameplay from The Legend of Zelda: #TearsOfTheKingdom on 3/28 at 7:00 a.m. PT on our YouTube channel.

▶️ https://t.co/uMUCfVjFQLpic.twitter.com/y49N4jRUTz

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) March 27, 2023

The sequel will debut on May 12th, with pre-orders available now. There's a lot riding on Tears. Its predecessor was the Switch's stand-out launch title, and arguably helped Nintendo's system become one of the best-selling consoles of all time. This new game is arriving six years later with lofty expectations and a much larger potential fan base.

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