Author: KnowledgeHippo

You may not know exactly what “stealing” means in relation to artificial intelligence. But on some level you probably do.Slop, at least in the rapidly evolving world of online message boards, is a broad term that has developed some traction in relation to malicious or spammy AI content in social media, art, books and, increasingly, search results .Google suggests adding non-toxic glue to stick cheese on a pizza? This is dumb. So is a low-priced digital book that looks like what you were looking for, but not quite. And those posts on your Facebook feed that seemingly came out of…

As the beige car bounced up to the former Soviet barracks, the rattle of its half-century-old engine drowned out the noise of people setting up for the day’s festivities at a temporary fairground.A man dressed in the dark green uniform of a 1950s policeman, complete with an old-fashioned leather cap, blew his whistle and waved the car—a well-preserved 1980 Wartburg, a classic despite the engine knock—into the parking lot.The driver of the small sedan, once considered the Mercedes of Eastern Europe, slipped the clutch, jerking the car forward. The error earned a reprimand from a uniformed parking attendant.”Go into the…

For nearly 15 years, Paula Span has devoted much of her journalistic career to covering one topic: aging and the challenges that come with it.Ms. Spahn writes The New Old Age, a twice-monthly column for the Health section of The New York Times on issues affecting older Americans. Among the topics he has recently explored are the cost of adulthood, the rise of robotic pets as companions, and the dangers of misinformation on social media.Ms. Spahn took over the column in 2009, when it was just a blog. Before the Times, she wrote for the Washington Post’s bureau and Style…

Attention, bibliophiles: Put Strasbourg, the largest city in eastern France, on your radar. Once home to the godfather of publishing – 15th-century printing press pioneer Johannes Gutenberg – the city is UNESCO’s World Book Capital for 2024. Until next April, more than 200 events and activities will take place in and around Strasbourg, a multilingual city on the German border, whose half-timbered gingerbread houses, gabled roofs, picturesque canals and church spiers seem to have sprung from a storybook of their own.Among the events are exhibitions dedicated to Gustave Doré—a native of Strasbourg and perhaps the most famous illustrator of literary…

Still fighting Israel’s external enemies on multiple fronts, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu woke up Monday to a new political battleground at home.The departure this weekend of Benny Gantz and his centrist National Unity party from Israel’s wartime emergency government is unlikely to immediately end Mr Netanyahu’s power. The prime minister’s ruling coalition still holds a slim majority of 64 seats in the 120-seat parliament.But Mr Gantz’s move means Mr Netanyahu is now fully dependent on his far-right and ultra-Orthodox coalition partners as he pursues the Gaza war in the face of growing international abuse, leaving him increasingly isolated and exposed…

The new president of Yale University will be Maurie D. McInnis, currently president of Stony Brook University, a New York state university where she is known for raising the profile, donations and prestige of the school. When he takes over for outgoing Yale president Peter Salovey in July, Dr. McInnis, who earned master’s and Ph.D from Yale in the 1990s, will become the university’s first permanent female president.Her selection followed a search that began last fall. The delay in announcing the successor of Dr. Salovey, who steps down at the end of June, prompted speculation that the university’s selection committee…

Nearly two years after OpenAI sparked a race to add genetic artificial intelligence to products, Apple entered the fray Monday as it unveiled plans to bring the technology to more than a billion iPhone users worldwide.During a two-hour presentation from its futuristic Silicon Valley campus, Apple said it would use genetic artificial intelligence to power what it calls Apple Intelligence. The system will prioritize messages and notifications and offer writing tools capable of correcting and suggesting what users have written in emails, notes or text. It will also lead to a major upgrade for Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant.In unveiling its…

Every year, Apple and Google announce major software updates that bring new features to our smartphones, like cosmetic fixes to the home screen, stronger privacy protections, and fun messaging tools. This year, the changes will be more radical as companies focus on reinventing our phones with artificial intelligence.At its annual software developer conference on Monday, Apple unveiled a slew of improvements coming this fall to iOS 18, its operating system that powers iPhones. The new tools include a revamped version of its voice assistant, Siri, which is easier to talk to, and an AI system that will generate images, create…

The United Automobile Workers union on Monday announced a temporary contract at an Ohio factory that makes batteries for electric vehicles, a step it called a milestone in strengthening wages and safety in the EV supply chain.The deal covers 1,600 workers at a Lordstown plant operated by Ultium Cells, a joint venture between General Motors and a South Korean partner, LG Energy Solution. Produces batteries for GM electric vehicles.The workers were not unionized when the plant opened in 2022, but were brought into the UAW under the terms of the national contract the union negotiated with GM last fall. This…

A coalition of law enforcement agents will begin cracking down on the unruly market for illegal e-cigarettes, under pressure from anti-smoking groups, lawmakers and the tobacco industry to urge federal authorities to stem the flood of vaping devices favored by teenagers.The Justice Department and the Food and Drug Administration announced the new effort, which is expected to target fruit and candy-flavored vapes that contain high levels of addictive nicotine.The new coalition will include the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. the US Marshals Service; the Federal Trade Commission and the US Postal Service, taking advantage of federal laws that…