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President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general fielded questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 15. A 22-member committee grilled William Barr for over seven hours, asking for his thoughts on a number of issues facing the government. His comments about marijuana during his confirmation hearing caused the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF ( MJ ) to fall over 3%. Prominent marijuana producers like Cronos Group Inc. ( CRON ) and Canopy Growth Corp. ( CGC ) ended the day lower. Relief for Marijuana States If Barr is confirmed as the successor to Matthew Whitaker, the former Attorney General to George H.W. Bush said his Justice Department will “not go after” marijuana companies that operate in states where the drug has been legalized. The nominee said he disagreed with former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to rescind the Cole Memorandum in January 2018. Instead, Barr vowed to uphold the directive issued under the Obama administration that … [Read more...] about What Does Trump Attorney General Nominee William Barr Think of Marijuana?

(Image Courtesy: Microsoft) Microsoft has added OpenAI tech to Teams as part of its premium subscription plan. Powered by OpenAI's GPT-3.5, the same language model that powers ChatGPT, the new features aim to cut down routine administrative work during meetings. Intelligent Recap will automatically generate notes throughout the meeting, give you a list of recommended tasks based on the meeting, and even show you personalised highlights for each individual team member. If you happen to miss the meeting, you can still browse through the notes and highlights. Intelligent Recap will also make AI-generated chapters so that you don't have to scrub through the entire meeting again to find what you want. It will also integrate into PowerPoint Live meeting recordings. Also Read | Satya Nadella on how Microsoft Teams Premium is making meetings ‘more intelligent’ Your meeting transcripts will also include AI-generated chapters as well. Read More With Personalised … [Read more...] about Microsoft fires up Teams with OpenAI features

(Image Courtesy: Microsoft) Microsoft has completely redesigned the interface of its communications client Skype, giving it a visual overhaul and introducing some new features. There are now colourful headers, and a ton of themes to choose from that support both light and dark modes. The set-up process has also received a do-over with new illustrations and animations. Microsoft is also introducing more accessibility options with updated colour themes for low-vision users. The calling experience on the mobile app has been bought in line with the updates rolled out on desktop. Mobile users will now be able to see custom backgrounds and light themes during a call. The Redmond-based technology giant says it has also streamlined the experience by making technical improvements for mobile. Read More Microsoft will update the video call experience more in the future, allowing video to scale seamlessly despite the number of people on a call. There is now a … [Read more...] about Microsoft updates Skype with new look, real-time translation and more

ChatGPT is better used for playacting than playing at finding facts. (Photo: Pixabay/Pexels) By Jonathan May, University of Southern California It doesn’t take much to get ChatGPT to make a factual mistake. My son is doing a report on U.S. Presidents, so I figured I’d help him out by looking up a few biographies. I tried asking for a list of books about Abraham Lincoln and it did a pretty good job: When I asked ChatGPT if it was sure I was not lying, it claimed that it’s just an “AI language model” and doesn’t have the ability to verify accuracy. However it modified that claim by saying, “I can only provide information based on the training data I have been provided, and it appears that the book ‘William Henry Harrison: His Life and Times’ was written by Paul C. Nagel and published in 1977.” Read More This is not true. Words, not facts It may seem from this interaction that ChatGPT was given a library of facts, including incorrect claims about … [Read more...] about ChatGPT is great – you’re just using it wrong

(Image Courtesy: Microsoft) The European Union (EU) has issued a formal antitrust warning to Microsoft over the $69 billion Activision Blizzard deal. The EU sent Microsoft a "statement of objections" on why the deal could threaten competition in the video games market, US-based Politico has reported. In response, Microsoft said that it was "listening carefully to the European Commission's concerns" and were confident that it could "address them". The Redmond-based technology giant said that it was committed to, "finding a path forward" so that it can close the deal. This is just the latest roadblock in what has been a rocky road for Microsoft to push the deal through. Also Read | Maybe Apple’s weakness isn’t just supply chain woes Read More In December 2022, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against Microsoft to stop the merger. The FTC brought up many of the same objections that the EU was concerned with. The bone of … [Read more...] about EU issues antitrust warning against Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal

Representative Image The realm of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) has grown by leaps and bounds. As various industries remain curious about the applications of AI, it is only a matter of time before the workforce is augmented by it. According to an International Data Corporation (IDC) forecast, worldwide business spending on AI is expected to reach $500 billion by the end of 2023. Why is it important? We have to remember that the intelligence of an AI model is determined by what is taught by humans. The data sets used to teach AI models are inherently biased, and we must abide by guidelines to keep them in check. Read More The first step would be studying the effect of AI on human behaviour, whether positive or negative. Therefore, we must ensure that the system does not discriminate when providing information and that the information is free from bias and is accurate. Should big organisations care about AI principles too? … [Read more...] about MC Explains | What are Artificial Intelligence ethics?

(Image Courtesy: Activision Blizzard) In an interview with Bloomberg, the head of Microsoft's Xbox division, Phil Spencer, has said that Sony is more interested in talking with regulators than Microsoft over the Activision Blizzard deal. Microsoft announced that it would be buying Activision Blizzard in January of this year, for an unprecedented $68.7 billion dollars, making it one of the most expensive deals in gaming history. Since then, the Redmond giant has faced scrutiny from various watchdogs around the globe. The main point of contention seems to stem from the ownership of the Call of Duty franchise, one of the biggest brands in gaming. The latest release in the franchise, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 earned $1 billion in revenue, just 10 days from launch . The series has historically been multi-platform, appearing on both Sony and Microsoft systems. Sony fears that with the franchise in their control, Microsoft might make it exclusive to Xbox. While their … [Read more...] about Microsoft says Sony not open to dialogue on Activision Blizzard deal

Representative image After years of turning a blind eye, Netflix is starting to get serious about password sharing. In 2016 on the cusp of subscriber growth, Netflix described password sharing as a "positive thing". It reasoned that people you share the password with eventually sign up for accounts. Fast forward to 2023. Netflix reported that its subscriber base has shrunk for the first time in a decade and said that password sharing was part of the problem. It doesn't help that the competition has grown significantly since 2016. In this fight for subscribers, Netflix will do anything to maintain its bottom line. The company said that "widespread account sharing (100M+ households) undermines our long-term ability to invest in and improve Netflix, as well as build our business." Read More Also Read | Netflix slammed for using AI artwork in anime instead of paying an animator Is password sharing illegal? That depends on who you ask. The … [Read more...] about Everything you need to know about Netflix’s password sharing crackdown

Representative image The UK's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has said that users sharing passwords for streaming sites like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Disney+ are breaking the law. The UK IPO has collaborated with Meta for a counterfeit and piracy campaign, and one of the guidelines makes it clear that accessing streaming services without paying for subscription amounts to piracy. "Piracy is a major issue for the entertainment and creative industries," says the IPO in a post . "Accessing films, tv series or live sports," or using hacked devices to watch them, "without paying for a subscription is an infringement of copyright and you may be committing a crime." According to the IPO, this also extends to pasting images "without permission" on your social media accounts. The IPO draws comparisons to other lines of work saying, "When we go to work, we want to be paid - the creative industries are no different." Read More It takes the example of an … [Read more...] about Sharing passwords for streaming services like Netflix illegal: UK’s Intellectual Property Office

Organisational guru and star of Netflix's series 'Tidying Up', Marie Kondo. (Image credit: @MarieKondo/Twitter) The queen of decluttering from Japan, who introduced the world to how items "spark joy" through the Netflix series Tidying Up has revealed that she has given up on being tidy. Marie Kondo also admitted at a recent webinar that her home is messy but she is now focusing on family and not the physical household. The 38-year-old organisational guru gave birth to her third child in 2021. “Up until now, I was a professional tidier, so I did my best to keep my home tidy at all times,” she said in the recent webinar, Washington Post reported Thursday. “I have kind of given up on that in a good way for me... Now I realise what is important to me is enjoying time with my children at home.” Kondo, considered by millions as an authority on neatness while instructing eager cleaners to keep what “sparks joy” and trash the rest, also admitted that now, even she has trouble … [Read more...] about Decluttering queen Marie Kondo has ‘given up’ on being tidy: ‘My home is messy’