Ars Live: Our first encounter with manipulative AI

Ars Live: Our first encounter with manipulative AI

In the short-term, the most dangerous thing about AI language models may be their ability to emotionally manipulate humans if not carefully conditioned. The world saw its first taste of that danger in February 2023 with the launch of Bing Chat, now called Microsoft Copilot. During its early testing period, the temperamental chatbot gave the…

Anthropic hires its first “AI welfare” researcher

Anthropic hires its first “AI welfare” researcher

A few months ago, Anthropic quietly hired its first dedicated “AI welfare” researcher, Kyle Fish, to explore whether future AI models might deserve moral consideration and protection, reports AI newsletter Transformer. While sentience in AI models is an extremely controversial and contentious topic, the hire could signal a shift toward AI companies examining ethical questions…

Claude AI to process secret government data through new Palantir deal

Claude AI to process secret government data through new Palantir deal

Anthropic has announced a partnership with Palantir and Amazon Web Services to bring its Claude AI models to unspecified US intelligence and defense agencies. Claude, a family of AI language models similar to those that power ChatGPT, will work within Palantir’s platform using AWS hosting to process and analyze data. But some critics have called…

New SMB-friendly subscription tier may be too late to stop VMware migrations

New SMB-friendly subscription tier may be too late to stop VMware migrations

Broadcom has a new subscription tier for VMware virtualization software that may appease some disgruntled VMware customers, especially small to medium-sized businesses. The new VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus subscription tier creates a more digestible bundle that’s more appropriate for smaller customers. But it may be too late to convince some SMBs not to abandon VMware….

Matter 1.4 has some solid ideas for the future home—now let’s see the support

Matter 1.4 has some solid ideas for the future home—now let’s see the support

Matter, the smart home standard that promises an interoperable future for home automation, even if it’s scattered and a bit buggy right now, is out with a new version, 1.4. It promises more device types, improvements for working across ecosystems, and tools for managing battery backups, solar panels, and heat pumps. “Enhanced Multi-Admin” is the…

Law enforcement operation takes down 22,000 malicious IP addresses worldwide

Law enforcement operation takes down 22,000 malicious IP addresses worldwide

An international coalition of police agencies has taken a major whack at criminals accused of running a host of online scams, including phishing, the stealing of account credentials and other sensitive data, and the spreading of ransomware, Interpol said recently. The operation, which ran from the beginning of April through the end of August, resulted…

ChatGPT has a new vanity domain name, and it may have cost $15 million

ChatGPT has a new vanity domain name, and it may have cost $15 million

On Wednesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman merely tweeted “chat.com,” announcing that the company had acquired the short domain name, which now points to the company’s ChatGPT AI assistant when visited in a web browser. As of Thursday morning, “chatgpt.com” still hosts the chatbot, with the new domain serving as a redirect. The new domain name…

Trump plans to dismantle Biden AI safeguards after victory

Trump plans to dismantle Biden AI safeguards after victory

Early Wednesday morning, Donald Trump became the presumptive winner of the 2024 US presidential election, setting the stage for dramatic changes to federal AI policy when he takes office early next year. Among them, Trump has stated he plans to dismantle President Biden’s AI Executive Order from October 2023 immediately upon taking office. Biden’s order…

Corning faces antitrust actions for its Gorilla Glass dominance

Corning faces antitrust actions for its Gorilla Glass dominance

The European Commission (EC) has opened an antitrust investigation into US-based glass-maker Corning, claiming that its Gorilla Glass has dominated the mobile phone screen market due to restrictive deals and licensing. Corning’s shatter-resistant alkali-aluminosilicate glass keeps its place atop the market, according to the EC’s announcement, because it both demands, and rewards with rebates, device…

Anthropic’s Haiku 3.5 surprises experts with an “intelligence” price increase

Anthropic’s Haiku 3.5 surprises experts with an “intelligence” price increase

On Monday, Anthropic launched the latest version of its smallest AI model, Claude 3.5 Haiku, in a way that marks a departure from typical AI model pricing trends—the new model costs four times more to run than its predecessor. The reason for the price increase is causing some pushback in the AI community: more smarts,…