On Tuesday, OpenAI announced plans to develop an automated age-prediction system that will determine whether ChatGPT users are over or under 18, automatically directing younger users to a restricted version of the AI chatbot. The company also confirmed that parental controls will launch by the end of September.

In a companion blog post, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the company is explicitly "prioritizing safety ahead of privacy and freedom for teens," even though it means that adults may eventually need to verify their age to use a more unrestricted version of the service.

"In some cases or countries we may also ask for an ID," Altman wrote. "We know this is a privacy compromise for adults but believe it is a worthy tradeoff." Altman admitted that "not everyone will agree with how we are resolving that conflict" between user privacy and teen safety.

Read full article

Comments

Verizon agreed to offer $20-per-month broadband service to people with low incomes in California in exchange for a merger approval.

In a bid to complete its $9.6 billion purchase of Frontier Communications, Verizon committed to offering $20 fiber-to-the-home service with symmetrical speeds of 300Mbps. Verizon also committed to offering a $20 fixed wireless service with download speeds of 100Mbps and upload speeds of 20Mbps.

Verizon would be required to offer the plans for at least 10 years, according to a joint motion to approve the settlement agreement. After three years, Verizon would need to "make commercially reasonable efforts" to increase the speeds "while retaining the $20 price point." The joint motion filed by Verizon and the California Public Advocates Office seeks approval from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Read full article

Comments

Google has so many products that it can be near-impossible to keep track. And yet, the company has rarely created desktop apps to go with those services. There are a handful, like Drive and Quick Share, but the company's flagship product is only now coming to the desktop. The new Google app for Windows is available now, allowing you to search the web, Google Drive, and even your local files.

The company stresses that the new app is experimental —it's limited to personal Google accounts, and you may encounter some bugs. The core functionality appears to be solid because it's not trying to do too much. After installation, you can press Alt+Space (or a shortcut of your choice) at any time to bring up a floating Google search bar. Just type your query, and the results page appears in a small window directly below the bar. It can also pull in select Knowledge Graph content, so you may not even have to type the whole query to get the information you need.

Microsoft's built-in Windows search functionality is notoriously crummy, and even in this experimental form, Google's Chrome OS-style search experience is better. It's fast, pulling up local files, Drive documents, and installed apps in a single interface. Both local files and Drive are optional, so you can use them only for search if you prefer. The app also includes Google Lens, which allows you to select anything on your PC's screen for image search or translation.

Read full article

Comments

As Jonathan Roll neared completion of a master's degree in science and technology policy at Arizona State University three years ago, he did some research into recent developments by China's ascendant space program. He came away impressed by the country's growing ambitions.

Now a full-time research analyst at the university, Roll was recently asked to take a deeper dive into Chinese space plans.

"I thought I had a pretty good read on this when I was finishing grad school," Roll told Ars. "That almost everything needed to be updated, or had changed three years later, was pretty scary. On all these fronts, they've made pretty significant progress. They are taking all of the cues from our Western system about what's really galvanized innovation, and they are off to the races with it."

Read full article

Comments

I recently learned of a rather interesting pilot study undertaken by Nissan together with the Contra Costa Transportation Authority and UC Berkeley that leverages the automaker's partially automated driving system, ProPilot Assist, to ease traffic congestion. The idea is called "Cooperative Congestion Management," which works by letting a car in traffic inform vehicles behind it.

Researchers from Nissan's advanced technology center in Silicon Valley have trialed CCM on I-680 in the Bay Area, logging about 600 miles. Starting with Nissan vehicles equipped with ProPilot Assist, which combines adaptive cruise control and lane keeping, they added the ability for those cars to communicate with each other, informing other cars about their speed and any hazards. On the road, they were able to show that the system reduced hard-braking events by 85 percent and cut time stationary in traffic by 70 percent.

But we're not talking about platooning—the idea of having road trains of autonomously driven semi trucks networked together and driving in convoy was all the rage a decade ago , but mostly fell from favor once people realized the human truck drivers were needed for more than just the steering, accelerating, and braking bits of the job.

Read full article

Comments

Jaguar Land Rover’s dealers and suppliers fear the British carmaker’s operations will take another few months to normalize after a cyber attack that experts estimate could wipe more than £3.5 billion off its revenue.

JLR, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors, had been forced to shut down its systems and halt production across its UK factories since August 31, wreaking havoc across the country’s vast supply chain involving roughly 200,000 workers.

JLR on Tuesday said it would extend its production halt until at least next Wednesday as it continued its investigation. In a statement, the company also cautioned that “the controlled restart of our global operations… will take time.”

Read full article

Comments

On Sunday, The New York Times reported that tens of millions of people are confessing secrets to AI chatbots trained on religious texts, with apps like Bible Chat reaching over 30 million downloads and Catholic app Hallow briefly topping Netflix, Instagram, and TikTok in Apple's App Store. In China, people are using DeepSeek to try to decode their fortunes. In her report, Lauren Jackson examined "faith tech" apps that cost users up to $70 annually, with some platforms claiming to channel divine communication directly.

Some of the apps address what creators describe as an accessibility problem. "You don't want to disturb your pastor at three in the morning," Krista Rogers, a 61-year-old Ohio resident, told the Times about using the YouVersion Bible app and ChatGPT for spiritual questions.

The report also examines platforms that go beyond simple scriptural guidance. While a service like ChatwithGod operates as a "spiritual advisor," its conversational nature is convincing enough that users often question whether they are speaking directly with a divine being. As its chief executive told the Times, the most frequent question from users is, "Is this actually God I am talking to?"

Read full article

Comments

What happens when you use a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to launch Northrop Grumman's Cygnus supply ship? A record-setting resupply mission to the International Space Station.

The first flight of Northrop's upgraded Cygnus spacecraft, called Cygnus XL, is on its way to the international research lab after launching Sunday evening from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. This mission, known as NG-23, is set to arrive at the ISS early Wednesday with 10,827 pounds (4,911 kilograms) of cargo to sustain the lab and its seven-person crew.

By a sizable margin, this is the heaviest cargo load transported to the ISS by a commercial resupply mission. NASA astronaut Jonny Kim will use the space station's Canadian-built robotic arm to capture the cargo ship on Wednesday, then place it on an attachment port for crew members to open hatches and start unpacking the goodies inside.

Read full article

Comments

Health secretary and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has appointed five more people to the federal advisory committee that sets national vaccination recommendations. Like the existing members, the new appointees have questionable qualifications for being on the panel, and many have expressed anti-vaccine views.

In June, Kennedy purged all 17 highly qualified and thoroughly vetted members of the committee, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on setting vaccine policy. Kennedy quickly repopulated ACIP with seven hand-picked allies, most of whom also have questionable qualifications and have expressed anti-vaccine or contrarian public health views. Two members, including the new chair, have also been paid to testify against the vaccine makers in cases claiming they caused harms, a clear conflict of interest.

Here are the new members:

Read full article

Comments