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Emilia David reports via The Verge: OpenAI has publicly responded to a copyright lawsuit by The New York Times, calling the case "without merit" and saying it still hoped for a partnership with the media outlet. In a blog post, OpenAI said the Times "is not telling the full story." It took particular issue with claims that its ChatGPT AI tool reproduced Times stories verbatim, arguing that the Times had manipulated prompts to include regurgitated excerpts of articles. "Even when using such prompts, our models don't typically behave the way The New York Times insinuates, which suggests they either instructed the model to regurgitate or cherry-picked their examples from many attempts," OpenAI said. OpenAI claims it's attempted to reduce regurgitation from its large language models and that the Times refused to share examples of this reproduction before filing the lawsuit. It said the verbatim examples "appear to be from year-old articles that have proliferated on multiple third-party websites." The company did admit that it took down a ChatGPT feature, called Browse, that unintentionally reproduced content. However, the company maintained its long-standing position that in order for AI models to learn and solve new problems, they need access to "the enormous aggregate of human knowledge." It reiterated that while it respects the legal right to own copyrighted works -- and has offered opt-outs to training data inclusion -- it believes training AI models with data from the internet falls under fair use rules that allow for repurposing copyrighted works. The company announced website owners could start blocking its web crawlers from accessing their data on August 2023, nearly a year after it launched ChatGPT. OpenAI stills hopes to form a "constructive partnership with The New York Times and respect its long history," the company said. Last month, OpenAI struck an unprecedented deal with Politico parent company Axel Springer, allowing ChatGPT to summarize news stories from Politico and Business Insider.

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In just a few weeks, Waymo will begin testing its driverless passenger vehicles on the highways in Phoenix, Arizona. The company will start by shuttling employees, and if all goes well, it will expand its operations to include regular customers. TechCrunch reports: Bringing its autonomous cars to the highway is just the latest in a series of big steps for Waymo, especially in the Phoenix area. In December, the company started offering curbside drop-off and pickup at the Phoenix airport. Just a few months before that, Waymo made its autonomous vehicles available in the Uber app.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In April, Microsoft announced that it would stop selling Microsoft-branded computer peripherals. Today, Onward Brands announced that it's giving those discarded Microsoft-stamped gadgets a second life under new branding. Products like the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard will become Incase products with "Designed by Microsoft" branding. Beyond the computer accessories saying "Designed by Microsoft," they should be the same keyboards, mice, webcams, headsets, and speakers, Onward, Incase's parent company, said, per The Verge. Onward said its Incase brand will bring back 23 Microsoft-designed products in 2024 and hopes for availability to start in Q2. Incase also plans to launch an ergonomic keyboard that Microsoft designed but never released. Onward CEO Charlie Tebele told The Verge that there's "potential" for Incase to release even more designs Microsoft never let us see. The return of Microsoft peripheral designs resurrects (albeit in a new form) a line of computer gear started in 1983 when Microsoft released its first mouse, the Microsoft Mouse. Neither Onward nor Microsoft shared the full terms of their licensing agreement, but Onward claims that Incase will leverage the same supply chain and manufacturing components that Microsoft did, The Verge noted. "Microsoft will still retain ownership of its designs, so it could potentially bring back classic mice or keyboards itself in the future or continue to renew its license to Incase," The Verge reported, pointing out that Onward isn't licensing every single one of Microsoft's computer peripherals. Some classics, like the Intellimouse or its modern iterations, for example, don't make the Incase reboot list. For its part, Microsoft is still "convicted on going under one single" Surface brand, Nancie Gaskill, general manager of Surface, told The Verge. Further reading: Microsoft Adding New Key To PC Keyboards For First Time Since 1994

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In an SEC filing on Monday, Unity Software said it will lay off approximately 25% of its workforce, or 1,800 jobs, by the end of March. It marks the San Francisco-based company's largest layoff ever. Reuters reports: While Unity is not widely recognized outside the gaming industry, over 1.1 million game creators rely on its software toolkit each month, including the maker of the popular "Pokemon Go," "Beat Saber" and "Hearthstone" games. Monday's deep job cut will affect all teams, regions and areas of the business, the company told Reuters. The layoffs come shortly after interim CEO Jim Whitehurst announced a "company reset" in November. "We are ... reducing the number of things we are doing in order to focus on our core business and drive our long-term success and profitability," Whitehurst wrote in the memo to all Unity employees on Monday. While Whitehurst provided no specifics on structural changes to come, a company spokesperson confirmed there will be additional changes coming. This is the fourth round of layoffs the company has conducted within the last year.

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As IEEE study shows super lab's neural nets can emit 'plagiaristic output'

OpenAI has said it would be "impossible" to build top-tier neural networks that meet today's needs without using people's copyrighted work. The Microsoft-backed lab, which believes it is lawfully harvesting said content for training its models, said using out-of-copyright public domain material would result in sub-par AI software.…

Starting in the second quarter of 2024, Volkswagen drivers will be able to install OpenAI's ChatGPT in their vehicles. The Verge reports: The chatbot will be available across VW's lineup, including in Tiguan, Passat, and Golf as well as the automaker's ID family of electric vehicles. The feature will come to Europe first and is being considered for customers in the US, though plans have yet to be finalized. VW is using ChatGPT to augment its IDA in-car voice assistant to enable more naturalistic communication between car and driver. Vehicle owners can use the new super-powered voice assistant to control basic functions, like heating and air conditioning, or to answer "general knowledge questions." If you're scratching your head, wondering why you would possibly need ChatGPT in your car, VW says future functions may help prove its worth. "Enriching conversations, clearing up questions, interacting in intuitive language, receiving vehicle-specific information, and much more -- purely hands-free," the company says. VW promises it won't force you to create a new account or install any apps. The chatbot can be activated by using the wake words "Hello IDA" or pressing a button on the steering wheel. And OpenAI isn't getting access to your driving stats, either. VW says questions and answers are "deleted immediately to ensure the highest possible level of data protection." VW says it is able to integrate OpenAI's chatbot into its cars thanks to Cerence, a third-party software company that makes "automative grade" ChatGPT integrations. The company's Cerence Chat Pro software will enhance VW's voice assistant so it can "provide relevant responses to nearly every query imaginable."

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According to an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the U.S. added a mere 700 IT jobs compared to 267,000 the year prior. The Register reports: Yet while layoffs have generally kept IT job growth flat for the past year (2023's net 700 comes despite more than 21,000 IT jobs being created in Q4), there's still a surplus of vacant roles, with [tech consultancy Janco Associates] finding some 88,000 remain open. "Based on our analysis, the IT job market and opportunities for IT professionals are poor at best," said Janco CEO M Victor Janulaitis. "Currently, there are almost 100K unfilled jobs with over 101K unemployed IT Pros -- a skills mismatch." In other words, while we're definitely dealing with correction from pandemic overhiring, we're also wading into a new paradigm where a lot of tech talent is going to have to retrain because AI is being crammed wherever C-level employees can stick it. Much of the layoff debt to hit IT jobs have come to entry-level positions, especially those in the customer service telecommunications and hosting automation areas. In turn, some of the responsibilities of those jobs are being reassigned to the latest and greatest AIs, says Janco. According to the tech consultancy, entry-level IT demand is shrinking, though demand for those with AI, security, development, and blockchain skills remain desired. "Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning IT Professionals remain in high demand," said Janulaitis. Still, plans to further replace humans with AI workers at the entry level are hardly far-fetched, with multiple reports finding much the same. [...] Those caught up by this year's tech layoffs seem to have a simple solution on their hands, as far as Janco's data suggests: Retrain for AI. Problem solved ... until the next big thing comes along.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden will release a final rule as soon as this week that will make it more difficult for companies to treat workers as independent contractors rather than employees that typically cost a company more, an administration official said. The U.S. Department of Labor rule, which was first proposed in 2022 and is likely to face legal challenges, will require that workers be considered employees entitled to more benefits and legal protections than contractors when they are "economically dependent" on a company. A range of industries will likely be affected by the rule, which will take effect later this year, but its potential impact on app-based services that rely heavily on contract workers has garnered the most attention. Shares of Uber, Lyft and DoorDash all tumbled at least 10% when the draft rule was proposed in October 2022. The rule is among regulations with the most far-reaching impacts issued by the Labor Department office that enforces U.S. wage laws, according to Marc Freedman, vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest U.S. business lobby. But he said the draft version of the rule provides little guidance to companies on where to draw the line between employees and contractors. "Economic dependence is an elusive concept that in some cases may end up being defined by the eyes of the beholder," Freedman said. The Labor Department in the proposed rule said it would consider factors such as a worker's "opportunity for profit or loss, investment, permanency, the degree of control by the employer over the worker, (and) whether the work is an integral part of the employer's business." The rule replaces a Trump administration regulation that said workers who own their own businesses or have the ability to work for competing companies, such as a driver who works for Uber and Lyft, can be treated as contractors. [...] The Biden administration has said the Trump-era rule violated U.S. wage laws and was out of step with decades of federal court decisions, and worker advocates have said a more strict standard was necessary to combat the rampant misclassification of workers in some industries.

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Astrobotic's Peregrine packed with NASA science gear and other payloads now looks like a bust

The first private Moon lander – built by startup Astrobotic to carry NASA instruments and private payloads to the lunar surface – is in trouble: spacecraft's propulsion system malfunctioned shortly after launch on Monday.…

At CES, LG on Monday unveiled the OLED T, or as the firm describes it, "the first wireless transparent OLED TV," with 4K resolution and LG's wireless transmission tech for audio and video. Engadget: The unit also features a contrast screen that rolls down into a box at its base that you can raise or lower with the press of a bottom. The OLED T is powered by LG's new Alpha 11 AI processor with four times the performance of the previous-gen chip. The extra power offers 70 percent greater graphics performance and 30 percent faster processing speeds, according to the company. The OLED T model works with the company's Zero Connect Box that debuted on last year's M3 OLED that sends video and audio wirelessly to the TV. You connect all of your streaming devices and game consoles to that box rather than the television. The OLED T's base houses down-firing speakers, which sound surprisingly good, as well as some other components. There are backlights as well, but you can turn those on for a fully-transparent look. LG says the TV will come in standalone, against-the-wall and wall-mounted options. No word on when the TV will go on sale, or how much it would cost.

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Kit sucked out of Alaska Airlines 1282 found on the side of the road

Apple has become the first smartphone manufacturer to pass the three-mile drop test after one of its iPhones was found on the side of a road by volunteers helping to recover debris from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 over the weekend.…

Deloitte is rolling out a generative AI chatbot to 75,000 employees across Europe and the Middle East to create power point presentations and write emails and code in an attempt to boost productivity. From a report: The Big Four accounting and consulting firm first launched the internal tool, called "PairD", in the UK in October, in the latest sign of professional services firms rushing to adopt AI. However, in a sign that the fledgling technology remains a work in progress, staff were cautioned that the new tool may produce inaccurate information about people, places and facts. Users have been told to perform their own due diligence and quality assurance to validate the "accuracy and completeness" of the chatbot's output before using it for work, said a person familiar with the matter. Unlike rival firms, which have teamed up with major market players such as ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Harvey, Deloitte's AI chatbot was developed internally by the firm's AI institute. The roll out highlights how the professional services industry is increasingly adopting generative AI to automate tasks.

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Once again, export restrictions are having the opposite to intended effects

Nvidia is caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to China, banned from shipping its most capable products but discovering that the Chinese may not want to buy those it is allowed to sell.…

Nvidia on Monday announced its new GeForce RTX 40 SUPER series GPUs, promising significant performance gains for gaming, creative workflows and artificial intelligence capabilities over previous models. The new lineup includes the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, RTX 4070 Ti SUPER and RTX 4070 SUPER GPUs. Nvidia said the chips deliver up to 52 shader teraflops, 121 ray tracing teraflops and 836 AI teraflops. The top-of-the-line RTX 4080 SUPER model will go on sale starting Jan. 31 priced from $999, while the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER and RTX 4070 SUPER will hit shelves on Jan. 24 and Jan. 17 respectively, priced at $799 and $599. The company said the new GPUs can accelerate ray tracing visuals in games by up to 4 times with Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology. DLSS uses AI to boost frame rates in games while maintaining image quality. Compared to its predecessor, the RTX 4080 SUPER is 1.4 times faster at 4K gaming than Nvidia's previous top gaming GPU, the RTX 3080 Ti, without DLSS enabled, Nvidia said. With DLSS Frame Generation switched on, the performance gap widens to 2 times as fast. The new GPU lineup also promises significant gains in AI workloads often used by creative professionals, such as video generation and image upscaling, Nvidia said.

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Issue has been patched so be sure to check your implementations

SonicWall says it has observed thousands of daily attempts to exploit an Apache OFBiz zero-day for nearly a fortnight.…

The Wi-Fi Alliance is now starting to certify devices that use the latest generation of wireless connectivity, and the goal is to make sure these devices work with each other seamlessly. Android Central: Basically, the certification allows router brands and device manufacturers to guarantee that their products will work with other Wi-Fi 7 devices. Qualcomm, for its part, is announcing that it has several designs that leverage Wi-Fi 7, and that it achieved the Wi-Fi Alliance certification -- dubbed Wi-Fi Certified 7 -- for the FastConnect 7800 module that's baked into the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and 8 Gen 2, and the Networking Pro portfolio. Wi-Fi Certified 7 is designed to enable interoperability, and ensure that devices from various brands work without any issues. In addition to Qualcomm, the likes of MediaTek, Intel, Broadcom, CommScope, and MaxLinear are also picking up certifications for their latest networking products. I chatted with Andy Davidson, Sr. Director of Technology Planning at Qualcomm, ahead of the announcement to understand a little more about how Wi-Fi 7 is different. Wi-Fi 7 uses the 6GHz band -- similar to Wi-Fi 6E -- but introduces 320Mhz channels that have the potential to deliver significantly greater bandwidth. Wi-Fi 7 also uses a clever new feature called Multi-Link Operation (MLO) that lets devices connect to two bands at the same time, leading to better signal strength and bandwidth. Further reading: Wi-Fi 7 Signals the Industry's New Priority: Stability.

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Pandemic overhiring + AI-generated cuts at the entry level = A bad year to be an IT pro says Janco

A mere 700 IT jobs were added in the US last year compared to 267,000 the year prior. It'd be easy to blame layoffs, but that's not all there is to it, says tech consultancy Janco Associates.…

Apple has announced it will start shipping its Vision Pro headset on February 2nd in the United States. Pre-orders begin January 19th at 8AM ET. From a report: In addition to announcing the availability of its $3,499 headset, Apple also revealed the pricing for the Zeiss prescription lenses that users can get with it. Readers will be available for an extra $99, while prescription lenses will cost $149.

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Generative AI - huh - what is it good for? Premium priced PC sales, apparently says Canalys

The AI-capable PC is coming to save a shrinking market, according to Canalys, although vendors need to be far clearer about any benefits to charge higher margins for the devices.…

Some researchers say we've seen a fall in disruptive new discoveries. But we may be entering a golden age of applied science. From a report: 2023 had barely begun when scientists got some jolting news. On Jan. 4, a paper appeared in Nature claiming that disruptive scientific findings have been waning since 1945. Scientists took this as an affront. The New York Times interpreted the study to mean that scientists aren't producing as many "real breakthroughs" or "intellectual leaps" or "pioneering discoveries." That seems paradoxical when each year brings a new crop of exciting findings. In the 12 months following that paper, scientists have listened to the close encounters between supermassive black holes, demonstrated the power of new weight loss drugs and brought to market life-changing gene therapies for sickle cell disease. What the authors of the January paper measured was a changing pattern in the way papers were cited. They created an index of disruptiveness that measured how much a finding marked a break with the past. A more disruptive paper would be cited by many future papers while previous papers in the same area would be cited less -- presumably because they were rendered obsolete. This pattern, they found, has been on a decades-long decline. One of the authors, Russell Funk of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, said they wanted to measure how new findings shifted attention away from old ways of doing things. "Science definitely benefits from a cumulative work and studies that come along and refine our existing ideas. But it also benefits from being shaken up every now and then," he said. We're seeing fewer shake-ups now. Funk said he thinks it's related to funding agents taking too few risks. But others say it may only reflect changes in the way scientists cite each other's work. Scientists I talked to said researchers cite papers for many reasons -- including as way to ingratiate themselves with colleagues, mentors or advisers. Papers on techniques get a disproportionate number of citations, as do review articles because they're easier to cite than going back to the original discoveries. Citations in papers are "noisy data" Funk admitted, but there's a lot of it -- millions of papers -- and such data can reveal interesting trends. He agreed, though, that people shouldn't conflate disruption with importance. He gave the example of the LIGO (the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory), which made a big splash in 2016 by detecting gravitational waves, long ago predicted by Einstein. By his definition it was not disruptive.

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