Technology Archives

DeepSeek’s new AI chatbot and ChatGPT answer sensitive questions about China differently

HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese tech startup DeepSeek’s new artificial intelligence chatbot has sparked discussions about the competition between China and the U.S. in AI development, with many users flocking to test the rival of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Observers are eager to see whether the Chinese company has matched America’s leading AI companies at a fraction of the cost. The chatbot’s ultimate impact on the AI industry is still unclear, but it appears to censor answers to sensitive topics, a practice commonly seen on China’s internet. For example, when it was asked on Tuesday about Beijing’s bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square in 1989, it said the event was beyond its scope and suggested talking about something else.… Continue Reading

Farming and wildfire tech is on display at CES as companies showcase their green innovations and initiatives

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sustainability is a key theme this year at the annual CES tech trade show in Las Vegas. Agriculture tech is on full display on the show floor while companies big and small also showcase their green innovations and initiatives. That includes Volvo CEO Martin Lundstedt’s vow to reach net-zero emissions by 2040 and Wisconsin-based OshKosh Corporation’s electric fire engines and garbage trucks. John Deere also unveiled a fleet of fully autonomous equipment like tractors that are already in use on some farms and orchards. Some experts say AI is key to the industry’s future as climate change makes farming more unpredictable.… Continue Reading

Google forges ahead with its next generation of AI technology while fending off a breakup threat

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google on Wednesday unleashed another wave of artificial intelligence designed to tackle more of the work and thinking done by humans as it tries to stay on technology’s cutting edge while also trying to fend off regulatory threats to it internet empire. The next generation of Google’s AI is being packaged under the Gemini umbrella unveiled a year ago. Google is framing its release of Gemini 2.0 as a springboard for AI agent built to interpret images shown through a smartphone, perform a variety of tedious chores, remember the conversations they have with people, help video game players plot strategy and even tackle the task of doing online searches.… Continue Reading

Stock market today: Losses for Big Tech pull US indexes lower

Losses for big technology stocks pulled major indexes lower on Wall Street. The S&P 500 fell 0.4% Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3% from its record high a day earlier, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.6%. Losses for Nvidia, Microsoft and Broadcom were the biggest weights on the market. Dell sank 12.2% after reporting revenue that fell shy of forecasts, and HP dropped 11.4% after giving a weaker-than-expected outlook. Treasury yields fell in the bond market. U.S. financial markets will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving, and will reopen for a half day on Friday.… Continue Reading

Researchers say an AI-powered transcription tool used in hospitals invents things no one ever said

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Whisper is a popular transcription tool powered by artificial intelligence, but it has a major flaw. It makes things up that were never said. Whisper was created by OpenAI. It’s being used in many industries worldwide to translate and transcribe interviews, generate text in popular consumer technologies and create subtitles for videos. OpenAI has promoted Whisper as having near “human level robustness and accuracy.” But more than a dozen computer scientists and software developers tell The Associated Press that isn’t always the case and that it’s prone to making up chunks of text and even entire sentences. An OpenAI spokesperson says the company studies how to reduce that and updates its models incorporating feedback received.… Continue Reading

In an engineering feat, mechanical SpaceX arms catch Starship rocket booster back at the launch pad

SpaceX has launched its enormous Starship rocket on its boldest test flight yet, catching it with mechanical arms back at the pad. This fifth try involved grabbing the returning booster at the Texas pad. Towering almost 400 feet, the empty Starship blasted off Sunday from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border. It arced over the Gulf of Mexico like the four Starships before it that ended up being destroyed. This latest test flight aimed to bring the first-stage booster back to land seven minutes after liftoff. The launch tower sports monstrous metal arms, dubbed chopsticks, that caught the descending 232-foot booster.… Continue Reading

Mark Zuckerberg faces deposition in AI copyright lawsuit from Sarah Silverman and other authors

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be deposed as part of a lawsuit brought by authors including comedian Sarah Silverman accusing the company of copyright infringement to train its artificial intelligence technology. U.S. District Judge Thomas Hixson rejected Meta’s bid to bar the deposition of Zuckerberg, pointing to evidence that he is the “principal decision maker” of the company’s AI platforms. Meta had argued that Zuckerberg doesn’t have unique knowledge of the company’s AI operations and that the same information could be obtained from depositions with other employees.… Continue Reading

Meta unveils cheaper VR headset, AI updates and shows off prototype for holographic AR glasses

MENLO PARK, California (AP) — Meta has unveiled updates to the company’s virtual reality headset and Ray Ban smart glasses along as it tries to demonstrate its artificial intelligence prowess and the next generation of computing platforms beyond smartphones and computers. CEO Mark Zuckerberg also showed off Orion, a prototype for holographic augmented reality glasses he called the most advanced glasses the world has ever seen.… Continue Reading

Which candidate is better for tech innovation? Venture capitalists divided on Harris or Trump

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Being a venture capitalist carries a lot of prestige in Silicon Valley. So when some of the industry’s biggest names endorsed former President Donald Trump and the onetime VC he picked for a running mate, JD Vance, people took notice. Hundreds of other VCs threw their weight behind Vice President Kamala Harris, drawing battle lines over which presidential candidate will be better for tech innovation and the conditions startups need to thrive. For years, many of Silicon Valley’s political discussions took place behind closed doors. Now, those casual debates have gone public — on podcasts, social media and online manifestos.… Continue Reading