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December 28, 2024
 

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CHATBOTS

For language learners under 40 in Japan, AI tools such as ChatGPT are now preferred over in-person classes or radio language programs.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2024
AI services growing in popularity among younger language learners in Japan
The number of people using AI language tools grew by more than 80% in 2024, a recent survey showed.
"Agent" technology goes further than chatbots, not just performing parlor tricks and spitting out plausible responses to queries but actually doing the kinds of repetitive tasks that today are handled by millions of humans.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 14, 2024
Big Tech's new AI obsession: 'Agents' that do your work for you
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman calls agents "the next giant breakthrough," while Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says the shift "is really the rise of digital labor.”
Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI employee, in San Francisco on Oct. 3. Balaji helped gather and organize the enormous amounts of internet data used to train the startup’s ChatGPT chatbot.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 24, 2024
Former OpenAI researcher says the company broke copyright law
Suchi Balaji is among the first employees to leave a major AI company and speak out against the way these companies use copyrighted data to create their technologies.
Sarvam AI, often described as India’s OpenAI, introduced software for businesses that can interact with customers using spoken voice rather than just text.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 26, 2024
Cheap AI voice bots are suddenly everywhere in India
Startups may turn India into a proving ground for what could be the next frontier of generative artificial intelligence products.
Beijing's push to integrate core socialist values into its chatbots highlights a significant challenge in China's bid to compete with the U.S. in AI development.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2024
What's wrong about ‘Chat XiPT’ is bigger than China
The difficulty of creating AI models infused with specific values will likely hurt China’s efforts to create chatbots as sophisticated as those in the U.S.
Is artificial intelligence the future of faith? Advanced algorithms might shape future religious beliefs much like technologies shaped our ancestors' spiritual practices and understandings.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2024
Can AI foster a global consciousness?
Is artificial intelligence the future of faith? Advanced algorithms might shape religious beliefs as technologies shaped our ancestors' spirituality.
The massive Gemini fiasco unveils critical questions about artificial intelligence's role and accountability in decision-making.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2024
Google’s bad Gemini rollout did the world a favor
Part of the difficulty in grappling with AI’s full implications is the huge effort that has gone into devising models that express themselves like humans.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attends a session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 9, 2024
OpenAI’s Sam Altman returns to board after probe clears him
Altman was cleared of any wrongdoing that would have mandated being fired, according to a report based on a monthslong investigation.
OpenAI has announced that it will add a memory feature to its AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2024
The perils of giving ChatGPT more memory
ChatGPT developer OpenAI is rolling out a memory feature that, it says, will improve the bot. But not if it ends up replicating the biases of social media.
Wang Xiuting chats with her virtual boyfriend on Wantalk — an AI chatbot created by Chinese tech company Baidu, on her phone in Beijing.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 13, 2024
'Better than real men': Young Chinese women turn to AI boyfriends
Users say they are driven by a desire for companionship because China's fast pace of life and urban isolation make loneliness an issue for many.
People walk past a billboard promoting Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia's defense minister and a presidential candidate, and his running mate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is the eldest son of Indonesian President Joko Widodo and current Surakarta's mayor, in Jakarta on Jan. 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 8, 2024
Generative AI faces major test as Indonesia holds election
Front-runner Prabowo Subianto is using AI tools to create campaign art, track social media sentiment, build interactive chatbots and target voters.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son speaks at the SoftBank World 2023 corporate conference in Tokyo on Oct. 4.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 31, 2023
Will generative AI speed up Japan's digital transformation?
An initially cautious attitude has given way to wider acceptance in the public and private sectors, providing a boost to digitalization efforts.
Few could have predicted what artificial-intelligence proponents are dreaming up these days.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 7, 2023
Wall Street quants see mixed results from chatbots amid AI boom
As AI tools get more sophisticated, companies are updating their presentations to incorporate a positive vocal tone and upbeat sentences, research shows.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen arrives at the U.K. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Britain, on Nov. 2.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 6, 2023
EU set to hold talks to finalize agreement on world's first AI law
Brussels wants a legal armory to protect EU citizens' rights, while some member states worry that too much regulation will stifle innovation.
The Amazon.com logo on a laptop. The online retailer has announced the launch of its own AI chatbot, Q.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 29, 2023
Pursuing rivals, Amazon announces corporate AI chatbot
Last year's Amazon Web Services trade show was overshadowed by the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which quickly wowed users.
By Monday, OpenAI's board were overseeing a company in name only, with virtually the whole staff committed to a pledge of seeing them go or quitting the firm for fired former CEO Sam Altman's project at Microsoft.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Nov 21, 2023
AI doomsayers blamed in OpenAI's undoing
Harsh critics see a deeply troubled startup that fell victim to the pearl-clutching of an incompetent board that was divorced from reality.
Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, arrives for a bipartisan Artificial Intelligence Insight Forum for all U.S. senators hosted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at the U.S. Capitol in Washington in September.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Nov 18, 2023
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's ouster followed debate with board
The CEO's firing came after disagreements with his board — in particular Ilya Sutskever, an OpenAI co-founder and the company’s chief scientist.
Sam Altman, the then-chief executive officer of OpenAI, speaks at Keio University in Tokyo in June.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 18, 2023
In shock move, ChatGPT maker OpenAI ousts CEO Sam Altman
The shock firing followed a review the company's board, which concluded that "he was not consistently candid in his communications."
The AI initiative is part of Morgan Stanley's strategy to drive its wealth division, where net revenue surged 16% to a record in the second quarter and new client assets grew $90 billion.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 8, 2023
Morgan Stanley to launch AI chatbot to woo wealthy
The bank will roll out a generative artificial intelligence bot this month, developed with the makers of ChatGPT, OpenAI
Susan Barber, an AP English teacher at Atlanta's Midtown High School, in class Tuesday. Barber said using AI chatbots could make students' college essays too generic.
WORLD / Society
Sep 2, 2023
Ban or embrace? Colleges wrestle with AI-generated admissions essays.
A.I. chatbots could facilitate plagiarism on college applications or democratize student access to writing help. Or maybe both.
Ex-PM Miyazawa aired doubts about China's democratization to Clinton in '93
Then-Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa (left) and then-U.S. President Bill Clinton meet for talks at the White House on April 16, 1993.
Images show new Chinese military aircraft designs, experts say
A Chinese military aircraft flies in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, in this screengrab of a video posted on Chinese social media on Thursday.
Flu cases surge above ‘warning’ levels in much of Japan
Authorities are calling for utmost vigilance as Japan heads into the New Year holiday season, when many people plan getaways.
Human error caused JAL jet collision at Haneda Airport: safety board
The wreckage of a Japan Airlines plane after a collision with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft, at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Jan. 5, three days after the crash.
Flu cases surge above ‘warning’ levels in much of Japan
Authorities are calling for utmost vigilance as Japan heads into the New Year holiday season, when many people plan getaways.
Human error caused JAL jet collision at Haneda Airport: safety board
The wreckage of a Japan Airlines plane after a collision with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft, at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Jan. 5, three days after the crash.
Japan and China to continue delicate diplomatic dance in 2025
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shakes hands with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Nov. 15 during their meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima.
Increasing number of Japanese bears find human dwellings ‘just right’
A bear trap in Hokkaido Prefecture. Bears have recently been found inside homes and shops.
High levels of PFAS found in water from 44 private suppliers across Japan
The Self-Defense Forces facilities are believed to have become sources of PFAS contamination because they used firefighting foam containing the toxic chemicals in the past.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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Longform

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