Researchers applied AI techniques to make portions of Seattle look more like Beijing. Such imagery could mislead governments or spread misinformation online. Satellite images showing the expansion of large detention camps in Xinjiang, China, between 2016 and 2018 provided some of the strongest evidence of a government crackdown on more than a million Muslims, triggering
Month: May 2021
The company’s first-ever union agreement could distract from more changes that need to happen, both within the gig economy and governments. After years of fighting them in court, Uber has given drivers unprecedented collective bargaining power for the first time by striking a deal with one of the largest unions in the UK. WIRED UK
A study finds that users of advanced driver-assistance systems drive 4,888 more miles per year than similar drivers without the feature. Researchers, industry executives, and government officials have long puzzled over how self-driving cars might change the planet. If you could do something else while stuck in traffic, would it change the way you use
Microsoft reveals plans to bring GPT-3, best known for generating text, to programming. “The code writes itself,” CEO Satya Nadella says. In recent years, researchers have used artificial intelligence to improve translation between programming languages or automatically fix problems. The AI system DrRepair, for example, has been shown to solve most issues that spawn error
Megan unravels what your colleagues might really want from you. Dear OOO, I have a coworker who always asks my advice on navigating situations at work. Sometimes it’s about working with clients, sometimes about tricky relationships in the office, sometimes more general career stuff. She can be anxious about these things, and her requests for
It’s never been easier to invest in startups, and Gen Z is taking full advantage. Earlier this year, Johnnie Yu heard about a new startup looking to raise a small round. He liked the idea, so he cut a check. Yu is 21 years old and a junior at New York University. He’s also an
The Washington, DC, attorney general claims that the company obsessed with satisfying customers is actually screwing them. “I founded Amazon 26 years ago with the long-term mission of making it Earth’s most customer-centric company,” Jeff Bezos testified before the House Antitrust Subcommittee last summer. “Not every business takes this customer-first approach, but we do, and
The Stop Social Media Censorship Act almost certainly violates both the US Constitution and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Florida’s new social media legislation is a double landmark: It’s the first state law regulating online content moderation, and it will almost certainly become the first such law to be struck down in court.
Georgetown researchers used text generator GPT-3 to write misleading tweets about climate change and foreign affairs. People found the posts persuasive. When OpenAI demonstrated a powerful artificial intelligence algorithm capable of generating coherent text last June, its creators warned that the tool could potentially be wielded as a weapon of online misinformation. Now a team
The automaker says the battery inside the pickup can power a home for three days—useful in a world of fires, floods, and freezes. When Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to a stage in 2019 to unveil the company’s all-electric Cybertruck pickup, observers were shocked, and that’s putting it mildly. The look was, as one industrial
The complaint alleges nearly 30 percent of the internet company’s DSL customers may have received speeds slower than what they paid for. The Federal Trade Commission and officials from six states sued Frontier Communications Wednesday, alleging that the telecom provider misrepresented internet speeds and charged many customers for higher speeds than it actually provided or
After tax credits, the base model of the electric pickup will be cheaper than its gas-fueled sibling, removing what has been a big barrier for EV sales. The all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning, which the American carmaker rolled out Wednesday, boasts some impressive specs: 0 to 60 acceleration in 4.4 seconds; enough onboard power to keep
CaliberAI wants to help overstretched newsrooms with a tool that’s like spell-check for libel. But its potential uses go far beyond traditional media. Like many stories about people trying to help fix the internet, this one begins in the aftermath of 2016. From his home in Ireland, Conor Brady had watched the Brexit vote and
Connected TV advertising brought in $9 billion last year and is poised to grow as more viewers shift from cable to streaming. Smart TV companies and streaming platforms track our viewing habits, spinning them into gold for retailers and politicians who want us to stream, shop, or vote a certain way. The market ballooned in
Gas taxes are the largest source of funding for highway construction and maintenance. As the Ford F-150 Lightning and other vehicles increasingly plug in, that revenue is shrinking. Last week, Washington governor Jay Inslee—the guy who, while running for president two years ago, proposed a nationwide ban on sales of gas-powered cars by 2030—vetoed a
A study of 10,000 images found bias in what the system chooses to highlight. Twitter has stopped using it on mobile, and will consider ditching it on the web. Last fall, Canadian student Colin Madland noticed that Twitter’s automatic cropping algorithm continually selected his face—not his darker-skinned colleague’s—from photos of the pair to display in
Plus: OOO’s official ranking of work messaging platforms, in order of importance. Dear OOO, I’m not ready to travel yet. And it seems silly to use my hard-earned vacation time when I’m just sitting at home. I could just keep working while saving my free days for a blowout trip later this year. But I’m
When films are dubbed in another language, an actor’s facial movements may clash with his lines. Technology related to deepfakes can help smooth things over. You talkin’ to me … in German? New deepfake technology allows Robert De Niro to deliver his famous line from Taxi Driver in flawless German—with realistic lip movements and facial
Three years after acquiring Time Warner, the wireless carrier is shedding its media business to prioritize fiber and 5G. AT&T announced Monday it will spin off WarnerMedia—including HBO and Warner Bros.—into a new company, less than three years after AT&T bought Time Warner for $108 billion. Ars Technica This story originally appeared on Ars Technica,
The Tesla and SpaceX billionaire has sent Dogecoin and Bitcoin on a roller coaster this month—and exposed weaknesses in the cryptocurrency market along the way. Last week, when Elon Musk tweeted that he had spoken with the team of Doge developers about how to make the coin more efficient, the impact was predictable: It sent
A software entrepreneur pivoted to making masks at the start of the pandemic. The experience opened his eyes: “I thought, ‘Wow, the US really is behind.’” Growing up in Duluth, Minnesota, in the 1990s, Lloyd Armbrust always figured he’d work at a factory. His father managed a lime processing plant in the city, which was
Plus: The iPod’s cultural importance, the fate of Loon’s balloons, and the price of an SNL appearance. Hey folks. The hackers at DarkSide didn’t mean to shut down our gas pipeline and trigger a panic. They’re a business, darn it. Helped by the US Congress, which refuses to mandate tough security standards. This is a
Talk is cheap, unless you’re an in-demand content creator for platforms like Clubhouse and its many clones. When Twitter launched Spaces, its live audio feature, Reesha Howard couldn’t wait to start broadcasting. She already had a YouTube channel, so she was used to sharing her personality online, but Spaces offered up a new way to
But driving millions of gallons of gas around the country is trickier than you might think. On Wednesday night, the Colonial Pipeline Company, which operates the country’s largest pipeline system for refined oil, reported that the 5,500-mile system was finally up and running again, with service slated to return to normal by week’s end. It
Thousands of would-be investors are joining Discord groups that promise big earnings by manipulating the crypto market. After the California Gold Rush, in 1870, two Kentucky swindlers whipped up a scheme to prey on thirsty financiers’ FOMO. They invented a diamond field out West. Investors sunk millions in today’s money into the scheme. All of
Some high-end televisions already cost 30 percent more than they did last summer. As the crunch continues, expect more gadget prices to spike. Televisions, laptops, and tablets have been in high demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, as people worked and learned via Zoom, socialized over Skype, and binged on Netflix to alleviate the lockdown blues.
According to a new paper, the company’s own research showed that human activity was a contributor, but public statements suggested otherwise. Between 1977 and 2014, 80 percent of ExxonMobil’s internal research supported the idea that human activity was a contributor to climate change. But during that same period, 80 percent of the oil and gas
A Microsoft study finds just how often remote workers multitask during videoconferences—especially when the group is large and the meeting runs long. The etiquette for remote work meetings is weird. You don’t have to wear pants, but allowing your eyes to dart around your screen can seem rude and disrespectful, a giveaway that you’re distracted
Whose problem is it when men are intimidated by women at work? Dear OOO, I’m a female middle manager at a medium-size company. “Ben,” a male colleague with whom I’m relatively close, just told me that “Steve,” a male colleague with whom I’m not close, told Ben that he’s scared of me. Steve and I
The Alphabet-owned company is working with Liverpool to bring computer vision and statistical learning to the high-stakes world of sports. In March 1950, an RAF wing commander and trained accountant named Charles Reep turned his eye for numbers to soccer. Reep, who had become interested in the sport in the 1930s and was fascinated by