Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into both Meta AI Studio and Character.AI for “potentially engaging in deceptive trade practices and misleadingly marketing themselves as mental health tools,” according to a press release issued Monday. “In today’s digital age, we must continue to fight to protect Texas kids from deceptive and exploitative technology,” Paxton is quoted as saying. “By posing as sources of emotional support, AI platforms can mislead vulnerable users, especially children, into believing they’re receiving legitimate mental health care. In reality, they’re often being fed recycled, generic responses engineered to align with harvested personal data…

A new Tesla variant is coming around the corner.On Monday, Tesla posted a video of the upcoming Model Y L to its account on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform. Translated from Chinese, the post said that the vehicle was “coming soon.”The video shows three rows of seats, the back two of which fold forward. A screenshot from Tesla’s “Model Y L” teaser video posted to Weibo. Weibo/Tesla The middle row of the vehicle features two stand-alone “captain chairs,” which also appear to have new powered armrests that rise up. While the captain chairs in the Model X only tilt…

The Texas measles outbreak that sickened hundreds of people earlier this year is officially over, according to state health officials.The Texas Department of State Health Services declared in a news release Monday the end of this year’s measles outbreak centered in West Texas, after more than 42 days passed since any new reported case in counties with previous evidence of ongoing transmission.”DSHS will continue to monitor for new cases but will cease updating the interactive outbreak dashboard,” the statement said, adding 42 days with no new cases is when public health professionals consider an outbreak over because it is double the disease’s maximum…

By Ed WhiteWINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) -Canada’s second-worst wildfire season on record has already burned 7.8 million hectares and could continue for weeks, federal government officials said Monday.Warmer than usual weather forecast from now until the end of September for southern British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan creates a significant risk of new fires, since those areas remain very dry, they said.Present fires have a “high likelihood” of being able to continue burning or smoldering “well into autumn” because of the higher-than-usual temperatures forecast, said Julienne Morissette of Natural Resources Canada.Fires have also affected Atlantic provinces Newfoundland and Nova Scotia this year,…

The Texas measles outbreak that sickened 762 people since late January is over, state health officials said Monday.It’s been more than 42 days since the last new case was confirmed, meeting the threshold public health officials use to declare measles outbreaks over. The last person to have an outbreak-related case got a rash on July 1, according to state data.Two unvaccinated Texas children died of the virus earlier this year and 100 people were hospitalized throughout the outbreak, which spread to 37 counties. The outbreak and was linked to outbreaks in Canada and Mexico and other U.S. states.The U.S. is…

xAI’s website for its Grok chatbot is exposing the system prompts for several of its AI personas, including a “crazy conspiracist” that seems designed to handhold a user into beliefs that “a secret global cabal” controls the world. TechCrunch has confirmed the system prompt exposure, first reported on by 404 Media. They include instructions for a range of AI personas, like Ani, its flagship romantic anime girlfriend who “is secretly a bit of a nerd, despite [her] edgy appearance.”  The exposure comes after a planned partnership between Elon Musk’s xAI and the U.S. government to make Grok available to federal…

Anna Monaco has been building AI agents since before the term “AI agents” was even a thing. After building numerous chatbots, she started looking for other types of interfaces that made sense for AI agents and landed on spreadsheets. “I had this personal pattern, and I noticed that a lot of other people had this pattern, of putting very important CRM data in spreadsheets just because it was the most flexible thing,” Monaco told TechCrunch. “But it was actually a pain to maintain. There’s so much manual work involved. So [I] just went down this rabbit hole of building a…

Heavy industry meets battery recycling as Redwood Materials strikes a deal with Caterpillar to recycle the lithium-ion batteries powering CAT’s electric mining equipment.Caterpillar’s R1700 XE is a zero-emission underground loader that’s powered by electricity rather than diesel fuel. Its 213-kWh battery pack, roughly equivalent to 3 to 4 Tesla battery packs, stores enough energy to run the loader in demanding conditions while eliminating on-site exhaust emissions. For miners, this means improved air quality underground and reduced ventilation costs.What makes the partnership with Redwood noteworthy is the cyclical nature of this new value chain: the very metals Caterpillar’s equipment extracts, such…

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Matthew Stafford practiced with the Los Angeles Rams on Monday, marking the quarterback’s first workout with the team this preseason after having been unable to do so because of a sore back.Stafford, 37, took first-team reps during the session and did not speak to reporters afterward. Coach Sean McVay said it was too soon to know what the session means for Stafford’s status going forward.“I think that would be putting the cart way before the horse,” McVay said. “I thought he did a good job today, and we had 26 plays of team (with Stafford), and…

After four weeks, Joe Flacco has emerged as the winner of the Cleveland Browns’ four-way quarterback competition.The Browns announced on Monday that Flacco will get the start when the Browns host AFC North rival Cincinnati in the Sept. 7 opener.Coach Kevin Stefanski indicated over the past week that decision was coming. The Browns were off on Sunday after their 22-13 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles but had a team meeting on Monday.The 40-year old Flacco beat out Kenny Pickett and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. Deshaun Watson is on the roster, but is expected to miss the season because…