Author: KnowledgeHippo
Harvard’s task forces on anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim bias each found a climate of discrimination and harassment on campus, writing in preliminary reports released Wednesday that the situation for pro-Israel students was “dire” and that pro-Palestinian students were being repressed.The anti-Semitism task force cited reports of teaching colleagues who discriminated against or harassed students because they were Israeli or pro-Israel. He added that there was an ideological “touchstone” for extracurricular activities that made it impossible for some students to participate.The task force called for a variety of measures, including anti-harassment training for all students, discussions on anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias, and…
What does artificial intelligence sound like? Hollywood has been imagining it for decades. Now AI programmers are pulling out of the movies, creating voices for real machines based on old cinematic imaginings of how machines should talk.Last month, OpenAI unveiled upgrades to its artificially intelligent chatbot. ChatGPT, the company said, was learning how to hear, see and chat with a naturalistic voice — a voice that closely resembled the disembodied operating system voiced by Scarlett Johansson in the 2013 Spike Jonze film “Her.”ChatGPT’s voice, named Sky, also had a husky timbre, a soothing feel, and a sexy edge. She was…
The Biden administration said this week it opposes gender-affirmation surgery for minors, the most outspoken statement yet on the issue from a president who has been an outspoken supporter of transgender rights.The White House announcement was sent to The New York Times on Wednesday in response to an article that said staff in the office of Adm. Rachel Levine, assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, had urged an international transgender health organization. remove minimum age limits for surgery from treatment guidelines for minors;The draft guidelines would lower the minimum age to 14 for hormone treatments, 15…
“Lantharote is a place of secrets and mysteries,” Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar once said of the place he used as the backdrop for his 2009 film Broken Embraces. “After setting foot on the island, the tensions I bring from Madrid disappear, as if this land had healing properties.”Mr. Almodóvar’s words, in a 2008 interview with the Spanish newspaper El Diario, ignited my own fascination with Lanzarote, the easternmost of the seven main Canary Islands.His description also made it sound like the ideal destination for those attending Pride events in nearby Gran Canaria, an island that is one of Europe’s most…
In the early 1870s, an immigrant painter watched from a railway footbridge as a locomotive left a station in suburban London. His name was Camille Pissarro and he was developing a style of painting that would soon be called “Impressionism”.Pissarro and a fellow villager, Claude Monet, stayed in London for only a few months. In April 1874 he was among the painters who organized the first Impressionist exhibition in Paris, the subject of a retrospective that will run through July 14 at the Musée d’Orsay and open September 8 at the National Gallery in Washington, DC.But London was one of…
Two of Ms. Ocasio’s daughters attended PS 46 this year: Junie, in first grade, and Olive, in kindergarten. The new students were their classmates, something June pointed out on their walk home one day when she recognized a girl with a family holding a sign asking for money for food. The shelter meals were terrible and made some of the children sick. Mrs. Ocasio bought the family a bucket of chicken. Then June said, “But Mom, you can’t buy all my friends buckets of chicken.” Ms. Ocasio was herself homeless and lived in a shelter when her daughters were young.…
In the stock market, not everything is as it seems.Slowing inflation has boosted investor confidence in the economy this year and, combined with strong enthusiasm for artificial intelligence, provided the backdrop for a rally that beat expectations.The S&P 500 is up 15 percent in the first half of 2024.Gains were remarkably consistent, with the index only once rising or falling more than 2 percent in a single day. (It rose.) A widely watched measure of bets for more volatility to come is nearing an all-time low.But a look beneath the surface reveals much greater turmoil. Nvidia, for example, whose share…
Listen and Follow “Hard Fork”Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTubeRecord labels – including Sony, Universal and Warner – are suing two leading AI music production companies, accusing them of copyright infringement. Mitch Glazier, chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, the industry group that represents record companies, talks to us about their argument. Next, we take a look at defense technology and discuss why Silicon Valley seems to be changing its pace when it comes to working with the military. Chris Kirchhoff, who ran a special Pentagon office in Silicon Valley, explains what he thinks is behind…
On the surface, abortion rights have had a good run at the Supreme Court this term. Two weeks ago, the justices unanimously let an abortion pill remain widely available. On Thursday, the court threw out a case over Idaho’s strict abortion ban that would have allowed emergency centers in the state to perform the procedure when the patient’s health is at risk.But the two decisions were too technical to be ephemeral. They seemed designed for avoidance and delay, to kick a volatile issue down the road — or at least after Election Day.Some abortion rights advocates called the rulings fiery…
Many travelers across the United States lost a critical tool for checking maps, making reservations, using transit apps and more because of a cellular data outage that began affecting AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon users on Wednesday.Affected travelers, mainly in Europe, took to social media to seek answers about what caused the outage and how long it will last. Some reported being unable to make phone calls, send messages or use online services without Wi-Fi for 24 hours. It is unclear what caused the outage, which appeared to stretch from Britain to Turkey.An AT&T spokeswoman said the carrier’s network was operating…