Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA
Microsoft is rethinking how it charges for software — and it’s all about bots.CEO Satya Nadella said in an episode of the “Dwarkesh Podcast,” published on Thursday, that Microsoft is reimagining how it prices software as AI becomes part of everyday work.Instead of charging “per user,” Nadella said the company is thinking about “per agent” — a reference to AI systems that can perform tasks and make decisions autonomously.Rather than building software solely for a human worker, Microsoft is shifting its focus toward provisioning software for an AI coworker.”Our business, which today is an end-user tools business, will become essentially…
For over a century, mathematicians and physicists have wrestled with the chaotic nature of fluid movement — how air whirls around airplane wings or water churns in a pipe. Google’s DeepMind lab recently made a significant breakthrough in this field, utilizing artificial intelligence.While investors and others question whether AI will be worth the astronomical cost, it’s reassuring to see DeepMind working on important stuff like this. This is an example of AI producing something of real value.As a reminder, DeepMind is a pioneering AI research lab that was acquired by Google more than a decade ago. It’s led by Demis…
The civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson has been hospitalized, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition announced Wednesday evening.Jackson, 84, has been admitted to the hospital and is under observation for progressive supranuclear palsy, a neurodegenerative condition, which he has been managing for a decade, the organization said in a statement.”The family appreciates all prayers at this time,” the group said.Scott Olson/Getty Images – PHOTO: Former President Joe Biden Speaks At National Bar Association Awards GalaJackson was originally diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, however his PSP condition was confirmed in April, the organization said.PSP is a rare neurological disorder which affects body movements,…
When former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo spoke at TechCrunch Disrupt, someone from the audience asked him if HBO’s hit satire “Silicon Valley” would be revived. Costolo, who was a writer for the show, essentially answered no (at timestamp 38:17). While the writers talk about that regularly, he said, they don’t pursue it because today’s actual Silicon Valley is so bizarre, it can’t be parodied. The latest case in point is a new company called Clad Labs that launched out of Y Combinator this week. Clad’s product is so outside-the-box that people thought it was an April Fools’ joke in November. …
U.S. Catholic bishops voted Wednesday to make official a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender patients at Catholic hospitals. The step formalizes a yearslong process for the U.S. church to address transgender health care.From a Baltimore hotel ballroom, the bishops overwhelmingly approved revisions to their ethical and religious directives that guide the nation’s thousands of Catholic health care institutions and providers.More than one in seven patients in the U.S. are treated each day at Catholic hospitals, according to the Catholic Health Association. Catholic hospitals are the only medical center in some communities.Major medical groups and health organizations support gender-affirming care…
Mercor, a startup that helps some of the biggest tech companies train their AI models, told thousands of its contract workers this week that they would no longer be working on a large project for Meta.On Tuesday, people working on the project, codenamed Musen, were told it was ending due to “project scope changes,” according to an email seen by Business Insider. Soon after, contractors were offered work on a similar new project named Nova, which would pay $16 an hour — $5 less than the hourly rate for Musen.Mercor, which was founded by three Thiel fellows and recently valued…
By Michael ErmanNEW YORK (Reuters) -The U.S. Food and Drug Administration can approve new personalized treatments for rare and deadly genetic diseases based on data from a handful of patients, two of the agency’s top officials said on Wednesday.FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and Chief Medical and Scientific Officer Vinay Prasad said in an essay published in the New England Journal of Medicine that for certain conditions, companies could rely on appropriately designed studies with small sample sizes rather than randomized trials. They will rely on biological plausibility and clinical improvements in those early patients.”Current regulations are onerous and unnecessarily demanding,”…
NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers on Wednesday reported two promising new approaches to counteract malaria’s growing resistance to medication — one involving a new class of drugs.Switzerland-based Novartis released results of what it called a next-generation treatment. A study of its experimental drug in 12 African countries found it works well against the mosquito-borne parasite that causes malaria and seems to block spread.The drug, called GanLum, is not yet licensed and more than a year away from being available.It’s needed, said Dr. David Sullivan, a malaria expert at Johns Hopkins University.The parasite that causes the disease is developing resistance to…
By Jonathan StempelNEW YORK (Reuters) -Amazon.com was sued on Wednesday in a proposed class action saying the retailer subjects thousands of warehouse employees with disabilities to a “punitive” policy governing workplace absences.Amazon, the largest private-sector U.S. employer behind Walmart, was accused of docking unpaid time off when it orders New York employees seeking accommodations for disabilities to stay home, and then threatening to fire them for missing too much work.”Amazon’s practices chill employees’ exercise of their legal rights, because employees justifiably fear they too will be disciplined and fired if they request reasonable accommodation,” according to the complaint filed in…
As flu season gets underway, global health experts are increasingly worried about a new strain of the virus that popped up in June — four months after the makeup of this year’s flu shots had been decided.The new strain, a version of H3N2, is causing outbreaks in Canada and the U.K., where health officials are warning about the early wave that’s sending people to the hospital.“Since it emerged, it’s rapidly spreading and predominating in some countries so far in the Northern Hemisphere,” Dr. Wenqing Zhang, head of the World Health Organization’s Global Respiratory Threats Unit, said Wednesday during a media…