Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

Amazon launched a new AI-powered feature on Tuesday that allows users to ask questions about products and receive conversational audio responses generated in real time. The responses are delivered by what the company calls “AI-powered shopping experts,” which present information in a natural, discussion-style format. The new “Join the chat” feature aims to save customers time by providing key product details without requiring them to scroll through lengthy descriptions or reviews. The AI pulls together insights about product features, customer feedback, and other relevant information. For example, shoppers can ask questions like whether a coffee maker is suited for beginners…

Google has granted the U.S. Department of Defense access to its AI for classified networks, essentially allowing all lawful uses, according to multiple news reports. This deal follows Anthropic’s public stand against the Trump administration after the model maker refused to grant the DoD the same terms. The Pentagon wanted unrestricted use of AI, whereas Anthropic wanted guardrails to prevent its AI from being used for domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. Because Anthropic refused those use cases, the DoD branded the model maker a “supply-chain risk” — a designation normally reserved for foreign adversaries. Anthropic and the DoD are…

An Army Special Forces sergeant pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to felony charges of using classified military secrets about the capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to win more than $400,000 on Polymarket. Loading audio narration… Gannon Van Dyke , 38, appeared in federal court in Manhattan, answering with a brisk “Yes, your honor” when asked if he had read his indictment and discussed it with his legal team.He stood to enter his not guilty plea, again answering crisply.Van Dyke was then released on $250,000 bond. His travel is restricted to California, where he lives, New York, where he…

A Google DeepMind employee said that he was “incredibly ashamed” to be a researcher at the company after it signed a deal with the Pentagon for classified operations. Loading audio narration… “I’m speechless at Google signing a deal to use our AI models for classified tasks. Frankly, it is shameful,” Andreas Kirsch, a research scientist at Google DeepMind working on AI, wrote in a Tuesday post on X.Kirsch cited a Monday report from The Information that Google had signed a deal allowing the Department of Defense to use its AI technology in classified settings. More than 600 Google employees had…

Apple’s recent crackdown on vibe-coding apps hasn’t held up Lovable’s launch of its no-code AI app builder, which is now available as a mobile app on Apple and Google’s app stores. The vibe coding startup’s new mobile app is being pitched to would-be app builders as a way to code on the go via voice or text AI prompts that let you capture your ideas as they pop into your head. That means you can kick off Lovable to work on your random app idea from anywhere, letting its agent run autonomously after receiving your input. The new app will…

Sam Altman is facing off against Elon Musk in court this week. Loading audio narration… Back at OpenAI headquarters, Altman may have a more surprising foe: his chief financial officer.The Wall Street Journal reports that OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar is worried that OpenAI may not have enough money to cover its enormous computing costs ahead of a planned IPO. She’s also worried about the IPO timing, the WSJ reports: “In recent months, Friar has also expressed reservations about OpenAI’s plans to go public by the end of this year, according to people familiar with the matter.”That may sound familiar: Earlier…

Fed up with the state’s repeated failures to fix an education system that a court found in 2018 was failing most of New Mexico’s students, plaintiffs in the landmark Yazzie/Martinez case are asking a judge to allow them to rewrite the Public Education Department’s reform plan. In a joint motion last week, plaintiffs outlined their vision for a potentially eight-month process for the revision. The request comes after they and several tribes earlier this year asked the court to reject PED’s plan, itself court-ordered. “As it stands, we do not have an actual plan to transform education in New Mexico,”…

Users often search for recipes and travel plans on YouTube to find videos related to their queries. Now, the video platform will offer a new tool to cater to those users’ needs with its introduction of an AI-powered interactive search feature that presents step-by-step results along with a mix of both text and video. Through this new “Ask YouTube” feature, users can ask questions like “plan a 3-day road trip from San Francisco to Santa Barbara” and get step-by-step results, which would be a mix of text, short videos, and longer videos instead of just video results. The company says…

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Brown University is accused in lawsuits from three students who were injured in the Dec. 13 campus shooting that the Ivy League school ignored prior warnings about the shooter and did not provide adequate security that could have prevented the tragedy.The lawsuits, which were filed last week in Rhode Island Superior Court, allege that the unnamed plaintiffs have suffered because Brown failed to maintain “reasonable and appropriate security measures.”“As direct and proximate result of Brown’s aforementioned acts of negligence, Plaintiff suffered and became afflicted with grave and severe personal injuries, causing Plaintiff to suffer great pain…

BCI (brain-computer interface) technology — in which neural signals are routed from a person’s head to a computer — was once the stuff of science fiction, but these days the technology represents a competitive corner of the tech industry. One of the companies racing to commercialize BCI is Neurable, which this week announced that it’s looking to license its “mind-reading” technology to consumer wearables. Neurable specializes in “non-invasive” BCI, which distinguishes itself from firms like Neuralink — the Elon Musk-founded startup known for inserting computer chips directly into people’s skulls — in that its product doesn’t require users to undergo…