TheRegister
The Chinese Box and Turing Test: Is AI really intelligent?
Opinion Remember ELIZA? The 1966 chatbot from MIT's AI Lab convinced countless people it was intelligent using nothing but simple pattern matching and canned responses. Nearly 60 years later, ChatGPT has people making the same mistake. Chatbots don't think – they've just gotten exponentially better at pretending.…
The perfect AWS storm has blown over, but the climate is only getting worse
Opinion When your cabbie asks you what you do for a living, and you answer "tech journalist," you never get asked about cloud infrastructure in return. Bitcoin, mobile phones, AI, yes. Until last week: "What's this AWS thing, then?" You already knew a lot of people were having a very bad day in Bezosville, but if the news had reached an Edinburgh black cab driver, new adjectives were needed.…
Frustrated consultant 'went full Hulk' and started smashing hardware
Who, Me? Welcome to Monday morning and another installment of Who, Me? For the uninitiated, it's The Register's weekly reader-contributed column that tells tales of your greatest misses, and how you rebuilt a career afterward.…
Automattic accuses rival WordPress outfit WP Engine of ‘false advertising, and deceptive business practices’
The long battle between Automattic and WP Engine has flared again, this time with accusations the latter company issued “false advertising”, and employed “deceptive business practices.”…
UN Cybercrime Treaty wins dozens of signatories, to go with its many critics
The United Nations on Saturday staged a signing ceremony for the Convention against Cybercrime, the world’s first agreement to combat online crime. And while 72 nations picked up the pen, critics continue to point out the convention’s flaws.…
Australia sues Microsoft for misleading Microsoft 365 users about Copilot subscription options
Asia In Brief Australia’s Competition & Consumer Commission on Monday commenced legal proceedings against Microsoft for allegedly misleading users of its Microsoft 365 bundle.…
Shaq's new ride gets jaq'ed in haq attaq
Infosec In Brief Former basketball star Shaquille O'Neal is 7'1" (215 cm), and therefore uses car customization companies to modify vehicles to fit his frame. But it appears cybercriminals have targeted Shaq’s preferred motor-modder.…
MPs urge government to stop Britain's phone theft wave through tech
The UK's Home Secretary should use her powers to push the tech industry to deploy stronger technical measures against the surge in phone thefts, according to a House of Commons committee.…
Berkeley boffins build better load balancing algo with AI
Computer scientists at UC Berkeley say that AI models show promise as a way to discover and optimize algorithms.…
Everybody's warning about critical Windows Server WSUS bug exploits ... but Microsoft's mum
Governments and private security sleuths warned that attackers are already exploiting a critical bug in Microsoft Windows Server Update Services, shortly after Redmond pushed an emergency patch for the remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability.…