All posts tagged: Talk

Imagine a Chatbot That Actually Knew How to Talk to You

Imagine a Chatbot That Actually Knew How to Talk to You

Published by Daniella Wilson

Earlier this year, when I walked into a renovated loft in downtown San Francisco, the couches and tables were littered with flyers advertising an “emotionally intelligent real-time AI coach.” They were for Amotions AI—one of several start-ups that had gathered that day to pitch investors, entrepreneurs, and tech workers. Pianpian Xu Guthrie, Amotion AI’s founder, was eager to tell me more. The AI model observes video calls on your computer, she said, and gives you real-time tips based on the other person’s tone and facial expression. Maybe you’re a salesperson, and the bot flags that your potential customer is “confused” and suggests what to say. Emotions are the AI industry’s new fixation. Not only are growing numbers of start-ups such as Amotions AI promising tools that interpret feelings; the major AI companies are developing chatbots that apparently aren’t just smarter—they get you. When OpenAI launched a new version of ChatGPT late last year, it described the bot as “warmer by default and more conversational.” Anthropic has stated that its model, Claude, “may have some functional …

What We Miss When We Talk About Giacometti

What We Miss When We Talk About Giacometti

Published by José Betancourt

What We Miss When We Talk About Giacometti “Everyone knows what a head is!”  Thus André Breton—the imperious leader of the French Surrealist group with which Alberto Giacometti had made common cause in the late 1920s—chided the artist for his return to sculpting human likenesses after 1935. The Swiss-born, Paris-based Giacometti had distinguished his tenure as a Surrealist with a range of enigmatic objects: inscrutable gameboards wrought from sleek marble slabs; stylized, fragmented bodies indebted to non-Western “primitive” cultures; barbed wooden implements stripped of evident purpose whose titles gleefully announced their “disagreeability.” The Surrealists found these sculptures to be a striking distillation of the movement’s obsessions: with menacing fetishes, repressed desires, and willful dysfunction. “Not I,” Giacometti replied tersely to Breton’s high-handed declaration about knowing what a head is. The riposte sealed his break with Surrealist affiliation.  Related Articles It would nevertheless take another decade or so to hone the works with which he remains most widely and abidingly associated. Whether still or striding, tiny or outsized, Giacometti’s elongated, upright figures persist as some of …

New Scientist recommends Jamie Bartlett’s insightful How to Talk to AI

New Scientist recommends Jamie Bartlett’s insightful How to Talk to AI

Published by skeptic

I don’t use AI chatbots, so you might wonder what use I could make of Jamie Bartlett’s book, How to Talk to AI. Well, this plain-speaking guide makes the compelling case that, despite their popularity, we don’t know how to speak to chatbots properly. Few of us have had adequate training on getting the most out of AI – or on how to protect ourselves from it. That’s where it can all go very wrong, sending us down misinformation rabbit holes or fostering emotional dependence. Mastering the art of prompting a chatbot is about more than AI, says Bartlett. It’s about self-awareness: how much do you know about how it works? How might your questions (and the biases they reveal) affect the output you receive? I’m still wary, but after reading the book I feel much better equipped should temptation strike me. What it makes clear is that scepticism is your friend in this AI-powered world, whether you talk to chatbots daily or avoid them at all costs. Bethan Ackerley,Subeditor, London Topics: Source link

Warnock on Vance’s warning to pope: ‘This is how fascists talk’

Warnock on Vance’s warning to pope: ‘This is how fascists talk’

Published by Sam Flores

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) on Tuesday slammed Vice President Vance’s warning to Pope Leo XIV for criticizing the U.S.-Israeli conflict in Iran, branding it “how fascists talk.” Vance addressed the pope’s feud with President Trump during an event with Turning Point USA (TPUSA) in Athens, Ga. The vice president said the pontiff needs to be “careful” in… Source link

‘Fake Screen Time’ Is Trending: How Parents Can Talk To Teens About It

‘Fake Screen Time’ Is Trending: How Parents Can Talk To Teens About It

Published by Sam Flores

Stay updated! Get notifications from HuffPost UK on Google Chrome by clicking the icon to the left of our URL and select ‘Allow’ notifications. Copy and paste this link into Chrome to get started: chrome://settings/content/siteDetails?site=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.co.uk. As conversations around children’s screen time and social media use continue to swirl, it’s perhaps no wonder experts are noticing a trend for “faking” screen time data. UK search interest for ‘fake screen time’ has reached a five-year high, according to Google Keyword Planner data analysed by Bupa UK. In the last year alone, searches rose by 500%. Parents can manage and monitor their children’s screen time to prevent excessive usage. But kids are clearly intent on finding workarounds – from using screen time faker apps, to more elaborate methods that leave even the most tech-savvy parents perplexed. “Can someone help me make a screen time faker?” asked one young person on Reddit, noting their “parents are getting stricter” and they needed to “fake” their usage stats. Some teens are spending up to 14 hours per day on social media …

People tend to underestimate how much they’ll enjoy small talk, new study finds

People tend to underestimate how much they’ll enjoy small talk, new study finds

Published by Sam Flores

If you’re avoiding small talk or casual chats because you think they’ll be boring, you may be missing out on meaningful connections, new research finds. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. People consistently underestimate how interesting and enjoyable these conversations will be, said Elizabeth Trinh, the study’s lead author and a doctoral student in management and organization at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. “Even boring topics can lead to surprisingly meaningful interactions,” Trinh said. Americans are stuck in an epidemic of loneliness and ordinary conversations can help us cope, Trinh said. “If people avoid talking to a co-worker at the coffee machine or a stranger at an event or a neighbor in the elevator because we assume it will be boring and unenjoyable, we may be depriving ourselves of small moments of connection that could improve our mood, our sense of belonging and decrease loneliness,” she said. For the study, published Monday in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Trinh and colleagues …

This Startup Wants You to Pay Up to Talk With AI Versions of Human Experts

This Startup Wants You to Pay Up to Talk With AI Versions of Human Experts

Published by skeptic

The company isn’t exactly breaking new ground. The idea of a chatbot standing in for a human is fairly common. As is the idea of cashing in on it. For instance, Manhattan psychologist Becky Kennedy has built a parenting advice business that features a chatbot named Gigi trained on her acumen and knowledge. Kennedy’s company pulled in $34 million last year. So if you are an expert, Onix might sound pretty good—imagine a bot with your persona making money for you by interacting with thousands of clients with no effort on your part. As an Onix white paper puts it, “The expert’s knowledge base becomes a capital asset that generates revenue independent of their time.” Onix hopes to eventually have many thousands of experts offering versions of themselves. But for now, it’s starting with a highly vetted group of 17, with a concentration on health and wellness. Though most of these experts have impressive professional resumes, they are notable as marketers and influencers as well. Some have books or podcasts to promote, or supplements or …

Texas talk of swallowing eastern New Mexico is an old impulse

Texas talk of swallowing eastern New Mexico is an old impulse

Published by Sam Flores

When the speaker of the Texas House recently outlined his priorities for the next legislative session, he mentioned tax relief, the development of data centers and a notion that sent many eyebrows skyward. Dustin Burrows, a Republican from Lubbock, directed the chamber’s governmental oversight committee to study the legal and economic implications of Texas absorbing one or more counties in eastern New Mexico. The “conversation,” Burrows told the Dallas Morning News, “is ultimately about culture, opportunity and the right to choose a path that reflects the shared values of the Permian and Delaware basins,” a vast desert expanse awash in oil and natural gas. Apparently, Texas lawmakers have time and money to burn. The notion of the swaggering state swallowing a chunk of its resistant neighbor is completely far-fetched. Just four states have been carved from the territory of others: Kentucky, Maine, Vermont and West Virginia. And it’s been quite a spell since the last time that happened. West Virginia split off from Confederate Virginia in 1863. Realistically, there is no end of hurdles — …

Are we really neighbors? Are we allowed to talk to each other? – OpentheWord.org

Are we really neighbors? Are we allowed to talk to each other? – OpentheWord.org

Published by Sam Flores

In his painting of the Crucifixion of Christ by Mihaly Munkacsy (1844-1900) portrays the crucifixion taking place on Tau crosses that looked like a capital ‘T’ with Christ’s cross including a sign on top. Hi neighbor! I met an old neighbor this morning. He was going for his morning coffee break and I had a chore that I needed to take care of. We talked for a few minutes, and he gave me some advice about some problems that I am having at work. It was a friendly meeting between neighbors and friends. What I left out was some of the choices that my neighbor made, in his younger life. I believe he had made some moral choices that I had not made. We live on opposite sides of some moral and lifestyle choices, and somehow we are still able to communicate, in public places. I am writing this as a Christian, and you should not be surprised that I went to a Bible study at someone’s home, a few days ago. If any of …

What is a biological age test? Experts talk benefits, risks of at-home testing

What is a biological age test? Experts talk benefits, risks of at-home testing

Published by Sam Flores

You may think you know how old you are, but your body doesn’t follow a calendar. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. That is, your chronological age, which measures how many years have passed since you were born, may not match your biological age, which reflects wear and tear on your body at a cellular level. Based on factors including genetics, lifestyle habits and medical history, you may be biologically older or younger than your chronological age. That’s because these two measures don’t always progress at the same pace, according to Dr. Douglas Vaughan, director of the Potocsnak Longevity Institute at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “Every time you have a birthday, you add another year to your life,” Vaughan said. “We all experience that at the same rate, and it’s relentless, it’s unforgiving, it’s cosmically indifferent.” On the other hand, biological age, also called epigenetic age, “reflects more of the changes inside you that occur over time,” he said. Scientists have developed a number …