Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with 28-year-old Jen Baik, a former Google employee who left the company to focus on AI safety. The following has been edited for length and clarity.My first two years at Google, working as a product operations manager for Google Meet, were magical in a way I could have never imagined. The job was challenging, and I got to collaborate with some of the best people I’ve ever encountered.It was perfect on paper, but something was missing. As time went on, being on the outskirts of the suffering I knew was happening in…
On TikTok last week, I watched a woman bury her dog in the snow on Mount Everest after he died during the punishing trek. Commenters berated the woman for animal cruelty, but this isn’t actually a sad story where the dog dies. The woman, the pup, and the mountain are all AI-generated, presumably by OpenAI’s video generator Sora 2 (although the watermark from the video had been removed, the account’s handle is Soralice). Likely from just a few lines prompting, the whole scene was born.Researchers have sounded alarms about realistic generative AI images and videos bolstering bad actors to create…
Corporate America has touted artificial intelligence as the start of a new era of productivity, but Goldman Sachs’ latest report suggests job cuts are already on the horizon.Goldman’s analysis is based on a survey of 105 Goldman bankers, who service clients across various industries. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at how major US companies are actually utilizing AI and what that means for their workforces.The survey found that companies are primarily turning to AI to boost productivity and revenue — not to slash costs — with nearly half of banking clients using the technology to drive growth. This compares with…
Sam Altman wants his money back. The OpenAI CEO made a post on X on Thursday, titled “A tale in three acts.” In his post, Altman shared a screenshot of an email from July 2018 confirming a $45,000 deposit for a second-generation Tesla Roadster.He also attached screenshots of a follow-up email he sent on Thursday, asking to cancel the order and requesting a $50,000 refund, only for the email to bounce.”I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait,” Altman said in a follow-up post on Thursday.Representatives…
In the southern Idlib countryside, once a frontline in Syrian civil war, residents are trickling back to their villages after years in exile. Repairing and reopening damaged and looted schools is key to the return of the displaced, but nearly a year after former President Bashar Assad was ousted in a rebel offensive, hundreds of schools are still destroyed. Millions of children in Syria remain out of school, while others are attending class in gutted buildings without basic supplies. A student reads a book while leaning against a wall of the Maar Shmarin Primary School, its surface scarred by bullet…
MAAR SHAMARIN, Syria (AP) — In the southern Idlib countryside, once a frontline in Syrian civil war, residents are trickling back to their villages after years in exile.Repairing and reopening damaged and looted schools is key to the return of the displaced, but nearly a year after former President Bashar Assad was ousted in a rebel offensive, hundreds of schools are still destroyed. Millions of children in Syria remain out of school, while others are attending class in gutted buildings without basic supplies. A schoolhouse with no windows or chairsSafiya al-Jurok and her family fled the town of Maar Sharamin…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Across the country, school crossing guards provide a vital service protecting children as they go to and from school. Many of them say the job is rewarding. But an investigation by AP and Cox Media Group Television Stations shows it can also be dangerous. Here are some key takeaways from the AP and Cox Media Group Investigation:—There is no systematic way to track how many crossing guards are injured or killed each year.A database compiled by the AP and Cox Media Group shows that at least 230 school crossing guards across 37 states and Washington, D.C., were…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government shutdown has been a source of anxiety for school leaders wondering how long grant money will last and who can help them interpret federal laws. For Education Secretary Linda McMahon, it offers a preview of what she hopes to make permanent.Much of the department’s work has gone completely cold. No new grants are being awarded, and civil rights investigations have been halted. Money is still flowing for key programs, but in many respects, schools and states are on their own.That’s the vision President Donald Trump has promoted since his presidential campaign — a world where…
Amazon slashed 14,000 jobs this week — not to cut costs or chase AI, but because they didn’t fit the culture.That’s according to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who shared his thoughts about the layoffs for the first time during the company’s quarterly earnings call on Thursday.”The announcement that we made a few days ago was not really financially driven, and it’s not even really AI-driven, not right now at least,” Jassy said, referring to the job cuts announced on Tuesday. “It really — it’s culture.”Jassy’s remark aligns with his broader mission to reshape Amazon’s culture this year, which Business Insider…
One of Maine’s largest abortion care providers is ending primary care services on Friday after a court ruled that the Trump administration is not required to restore Medicaid funding.Maine Family Planning — the largest network of sexual and reproductive health care clinics in the state — is ending primary care services at three clinics in Ellsworth, Fulton and Presque Isle, affecting about 800 patients.Under H.R.1 — the mega-bill that President Donald Trump signed into law over the summer — family planning and abortion providers are not allowed to collect Medicaid funding if they received at least $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in…