Author: AI News First

If the US is headed for a recession, or even if Americans think it might be, the amount of income they want to spend on monthly streaming subscriptions might see a dip, analysts tell WIRED.Last week, President Donald Trump rolled out a policy that places a blanket 10 percent tariff on goods coming from most of the US’s trading partners, plus additional hefty import duties on countries in key regions like Europe and Asia. Mostly, these costs will affect consumer products like cars and sneakers, but they may also make it harder for people to justify subscriptions they use only…

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the new administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), spent much of his first all-staff meeting on Monday promoting the use of artificial intelligence at the agency and praising Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again Initiative,” sources tell WIRED.During the meeting, Oz discussed possibly prioritizing AI avatars over frontline health care workers.Oz claimed that if a patient went to a doctor for a diabetes diagnosis, it would be $100 per hour, while an appointment with an AI avatar would cost considerably less, at just $2 an hour. Oz also claimed that patients…

The advantages, though, were clear in my two days of testing in Arizona (I planned to ski a third day at Mount Hood in Oregon, where conditions are worse than in the Southwest, but a big spring storm had the roads under winter advisory, and I was not interested in strapping tire chains onto a rented Nissan Rogue).Most skiers agree that a softer ski is better on bumpy terrain or bad snow, while a stiffer ski is more comfortable at higher speeds. Swapping between the two is essentially the promise of Renoun’s design. I skied groomed runs from the slightly…

The Halo Pro is much quieter, and the motor does not overheat; I don’t get the sense that the motor is straining to knead the dough. There’s also—sorry, I don’t know how else to describe this—no violent thwapping of dough as it’s being kneaded. Unlike a KitchenAid, you can leave it unattended. This is so easy that I ruined not one but two batches of shokupan with over-kneading before I realized what was happening.Photograph: Adrienne SoBeing able to more precisely calibrate the speed of the mixing with a dial instead of the KitchenAid’s five settings helped. You can knead it…

Following the release of ChatGPT’s new image-generation tool, user activity has surged; millions of people have been drawn to a trend whereby uploaded images are inspired by the unique visual style of Studio Ghibli. The spike in interest contributed to record use levels for the chatbot and strained OpenAI’s infrastructure temporarily. Social media platforms were soon flooded with AI-generated images styled after work by the renowned Japanese animation studio, known for titles like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro. According to Similarweb, weekly active ChatGPT users passed 150 million for the first time this year. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said…

At the Internal Revenue Service, which ordered its workers back to the office four weeks ago, the $1 limit caused significant problems for those back in the office. “They have no soap, toilet paper, or paper towels anywhere in the building. Their water machine is broken. Many cannot get on LAN, and the Wi-Fi keeps going down,” one IRS employee tells WIRED. Another SSA employee says that they were told to “ration paper.”“Supplies are limited because no one has purchasing authority,” the Treasury employee tells WIRED. “It’s a running joke that we bring our own pens and paper. We have…

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Nintendo Switch 2 Camera lets you chat while playing games! HomeComing SoonNintendo Switch 2 Camera lets you chat while playing games!Product SpecificationsIn-Game Image Display YesMode Options TV, Tabletop, Handheld Gadget Flow EditorsDive into gaming fun with the Nintendo Switch 2 Camera, a sleek accessory that plugs into the USB-C port. It delivers video chat and in-game visuals with flair. –Versatile Setup: Plug the tool into the USB-C port atop your console for video thrills. Use it handheld, in tabletop mode, or docked to your TV.–Portable Design: Shift its compact body anywhere your gaming setup lands without any hassle.–Wide-Angle Magic: Adjust the…

Studying the dire wolf’s genome also allowed the Colossal team to figure out which features distinguished the ancient wolf from its modern relatives. They settled on traits involving size, musculature, hair color, hair texture, hair length, and coat patterning. They then used gene editing to alter the genome of cells from the dire wolf’s closest living relative, the gray wolf. In total the company made 20 unique edits to 14 genes in the gray wolf genome. Of those, 15 were meant to reproduce extinct dire wolf gene variants. Colossal claims it’s a record number of unique genetic edits done to…

Retaining top AI talent is tough amid cutthroat competition between Google, OpenAI, and other heavyweights. Google’s AI division, DeepMind, has resorted to using “aggressive” noncompete agreements for some AI staff in the U.K. that bar them from working for competitors for up to a year, Business Insider reports. Some are paid during this time, in what amounts to a lengthy stretch of PTO. But the practice can make researchers feel left out of the quick pace of AI progress, reported BI. In the U.S., the FTC banned most noncompetes last year, but that doesn’t apply to DeepMind’s London headquarters. Last…