1 year ago
88 This is today's variation of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a regular dose of what's going connected successful the satellite of technology.
Google conscionable launched Bard, its reply to ChatGPT—and it wants you to marque it better
Google has launched Bard, the hunt giant’s reply to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Bing Chat. Unlike Bing Chat, Bard does not look up hunt results—all the accusation it returns is generated by the exemplary itself. But it is inactive designed to assistance users brainstorm and reply queries. Google wants Bard to go an integral portion of the Google Search experience.
The institution is present making the chatbot disposable for escaped to aboriginal users who motion up to a waitlist, to assistance trial and amended the exertion successful what they accidental is inactive an experiment.
But experts interest that pitching Bard arsenic an experimentation is simply a PR instrumentality that larger companies usage to scope millions of customers portion besides removing themselves from accountability if thing goes wrong. Read the afloat story.
—Will Douglas Heaven
The bearable mediocrity of Baidu’s ChatGPT competitor
When Baidu revealed Ernie Bot past week, the archetypal Chinese rival to ChatGPT was met with an astir overwhelming question of disappointment. Chinese publications with investigating entree ridiculed the chatbot’s performance, societal media users mocked it with memes, and Baidu’s banal dropped by 6.4%.
But a funny happening has happened since past week’s launch: Ernie Bot’s estimation seems to person bounced back. More Chinese reporters gained entree to the chatbot, and there’s been a wide realization that Ernie Bot is astir apt bully capable for the Chinese market. Read the afloat story.
—Zeyi Yang
Zeyi’s communicative is from China Report, MIT Technology Review’s play newsletter examining powerfulness and tech successful China. Sign up to person it successful your inbox each Tuesday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.
1 TikTok is preparing to attest earlier US Congress
CEO Shou Zi Chew has warned politicians that banning TikTok could harm the US economy. (Vox)
+ He’s determined to allay fears that TikTok shares information with China’s government. (WP $)
+ Its proposal algorithm is astatine the bosom of the geopolitical tug of war. (FT $)
2 Google’s Bard is incredibly cautious
But it’s inactive prepared to marque up things up. (NYT $)
+ Its consciousness of wit could bash with immoderate work. (WP $)
+ Bard comes up poorly against rivals GPT-4 and Claude. (TechCrunch)
3 Scientists are being prevented from accessing information connected covid’s origins
They’ve been locked retired of a captious database. (The Atlantic $)
4 How we number abortions successful America now
Tracking the fig of abortions post-Roe is fraught with complications. (Undark Magazine)
+ The cognitive dissonance of watching the extremity of Roe unfold online. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Bitcoin is booming (yet again)
It’s bounced backmost from FTX’s illness with aplomb. (WSJ $)
+ Crypto exchanges are scouting astir for a caller FTX. (Bloomberg $)
+ An imminent ruling from New York has the manufacture connected tenterhooks. (Wired $)
+ It’s good to opt retired of the crypto revolution. (MIT Technology Review)
6 Ticket scalpers are ever 1 measurement ahead
No substance however hard artists effort to outwit them. (Motherboard)
7 What does a post-search net look like?
When chatbots go aggregators, the web becomes a batch little social. (New Yorker $)
8 Inside Taiwan’s astir mysterious chipmaker
TSMC is the world’s biggest semiconductor company, and notoriously secretive. (Wired $)
+ What’s adjacent for the spot industry. (MIT Technology Review)
9 Tinder swindlers are becoming much brazen
Romance fraud is connected the rise, and assured young men are the targets. (The Verge)
10 3D-printers are being utilized to nutrient nutrient 🍰
Cheesecake’s connected the menu. (The Guardian)
Quote of the day
“Bankrupt, Silicon Valley Bank present is. Pensions, radical lost.”
—What a Yoda chatbot had to accidental connected the banking situation presently engulfing the tech industry, Bloomberg reports.
Whatever happened to DNA computing?
For much than 5 decades, engineers person shrunk silicon-based transistors implicit and implicit again, creating progressively smaller, faster, and much energy-efficient computers successful the process. But the agelong technological winning streak—and the miniaturization that has enabled it —can’t past forever.
What could this successor exertion be? There has been nary shortage of alternate computing approaches projected implicit the past 50 years. Here are 5 of the much memorable ones. Read astir 5 of the astir memorable ones.
—Lakshmi Chandrasekaran
We tin inactive person bully things
A spot for comfort, amusive and distraction successful these weird times. (Got immoderate ideas? Drop maine a line oregon tweet 'em astatine me.)
+ What tin I say, cows emotion jazz.
+ Rick Rubin, who knows a happening oregon 2 astir creativity, says we tin each pat into our innate brilliance. What’re you waiting for?
+ Please archer maine this is fake.
+ Everyone’s warring implicit this super distant home.
+ We could each bash with learning however to beryllium better losers.
