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☆ Google's top AI researchers, including all the authors behind a landmark paper, have left for competitors. Here's where they are now.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Top AI researchers have been leaving for startups where their work can have more impact. That frustration over Google's slow movement has been corroborated by other former Google researchers who spoke to Insider. Niki Parmar left Google Brain after five years to serve as a cofounder and CTO of Adept, though in November, she left to found a stealth startup. Lukasz Kaiser left Google Brain after working there for more than seven years to join OpenAI in 2021. Sharan Narang, another contributor to the T5 paper, left Google Brain in 2022 after four years there.

Persons: it's, Llion Jones, OpenAI's, ChatGPT, Sundar Pichai, Bard, Daniel De Freitas, Noam Shazeer, Ilya Sutskever, Sutskever, OpenAI, Ashish Vaswani, Niki Parmar, Jakob Uszkoreit, Aidan Gomez, Nick Frosst, Lukasz Kaiser, Kaiser, Illia Polosukhin, Meena, De Freitas, Romal Thoppilan, Character.AI, LaMDA, Elon Musk, Character.ai, Winni Wintermeyer, Thoppilan, Alicia Jin, BERT BERT, BERT, Jacob Devlin, Colin Raffel, Raffel, Sharan Narang, He's, Azalia Mirhoseini, Anna Goldie, Mirhoseini, Goldie, Claude, DeepMind Mustafa Suleyman, Mustafa Suleyman, DeepMind, Suleyman, Reid Hoffman Organizations: Google, Bloomberg, New York Times, Microsoft, Street Journal, Neural Networks, OpenAI, YouTube, Elon, UNC Chapel Hill, Meta, Anthropic, Society Locations: ChatGPT, Character.AI, DeepMind

☆ Elon Musk launches his new company, xAI
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and owner of Twitter, on Wednesday announced the debut of a new AI company, xAI, with the goal to "understand the true nature of the universe." According to the company's website, Musk and his team will share more information in a live Twitter Spaces chat on Friday. Team members behind xAI are alumni of DeepMind, OpenAI, Google Research, Microsoft Research, Twitter and Tesla, and have worked on projects including DeepMind's AlphaCode and OpenAI's GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 chatbots. Musk seems to be positioning xAI to compete with companies like OpenAI, Google and Anthropic, which are behind leading chatbots like ChatGPT, Bard and Claude. Musk reportedly incorporated xAI in Nevada in March.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, DeepMind's AlphaCode, OpenAI's, Bard, Claude, Dan Hendrycks, Greg Yang, Tesla Organizations: SpaceX, Twitter, Wednesday, Team, DeepMind, Google Research, Microsoft Research, Google, The Financial Times, Nvidia, Fox News Channel, Center, AI Safety, xAI, X Corp Locations: San Francisco, Nevada

☆ Anthropic — the $4.1 billion OpenAI rival — debuts new A.I. chatbot and opens it to public
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

As Microsoft -backed OpenAI and Google race to develop the most advanced chatbots, powered by generative artificial intelligence, Anthropic is investing heavily to keep up. Just a few months after raising $750 million over two financing rounds, the startup is debuting a new AI chatbot: Claude 2. "We have been focused on businesses, on making Claude as robustly safe as possible," said Daniela Amodei, who co-founded Anthropic with her brother, Dario. Claude 2 will initially only be available to users in the U.S. and U.K., and Anthropic plans to expand availability in the coming months. Since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT to the public late last year, the tech world has invested heavily in the potential of generative AI chatbots, which respond to text prompts with sophisticated and conversational replies.

Persons: Dario Amodei, Kamala Harris, There's, Claude 2, Claude, Anthropic, Daniela Amodei, Dario, we've, OpenAI, ChatGPT, it's Organizations: White, Microsoft, Google Locations: Washington, U.S, paywalls

July 11 (Reuters) - Anthropic, an artificial intelligence startup backed by Google, on Tuesday widened consumer access to its chat program Claude and upgraded underlying technology that the company says makes "Claude 2" better at tasks such computer coding and arithmetic. Businesses can launch products drawing on the model, and consumers in the U.S. and UK can chat with it online. Anthropic said in its upgrade of Claude it had doubled the model's performance on a safety evaluation. Unlike Claude, its recent GPT-4 model is "multimodal," meaning it can respond not just to text but to images that humans give it. Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI executives, said Claude 2 now scores 76.5% on the multiple-choice section of the Bar, up from 73% for its earlier model.

Persons: Claude, Anthropic, ChatGPT, Sandy Banerjee, Banerjee, Jeffrey Dastin, Stephen Nellis, David Gregorio Our Organizations: Google, Microsoft, Thomson Locations: San Francisco, Silicon Valley, U.S

One unit ran a "hackathon," or collaborative engineering event, of so-called generative AI, technology that produces text, images or other new content based on past data. The division, Verafin, was exploring how to imbue such AI into its product for fighting financial crime, he said, adding the technology could create investigative reports. Still, despite using other forms of AI for years, Nasdaq's latest work remains experimental; no code has been published yet drafted by AI, Peterson said. Nasdaq has accessed a preview of Amazon's answer to the generative AI race, namely Amazon Bedrock, a pick-your-preferred technology approach that includes Claude AI from the startup Anthropic. On the longer-term horizon for Nasdaq is integrating the Thoma Bravo-owned software firm Adenza, subject to closure of the $10.5 billion-deal Nasdaq announced last month.

Persons: AUSTIN, Brad Peterson, Verafin, Peterson, We're, Nasdaq's, OpenAI, Claude AI, Thoma, Jeffrey Dastin, Kenneth Li, Deepa Babington Organizations: Nasdaq, Computer, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Thoma Bravo, Thomson Locations: Austin

☆ French President Emmanuel Macron slammed for partying with Elton John as France burns in mass riots
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Emmanuel Macron attended an Elton John concert in Paris on Wednesday night. It comes as mass riots are ravaging France following the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old. "While France was on fire, Macron preferred to applaud Elton John." An Instagram picture posted by Elton John's husband, David Furnish, of the couple arm-in-arm with a smiling Macron and his wife, Brigitte Marie-Claude Macron. "France is burning, and the president of France is going to the Elton John concert.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, Elton John, Macron, —, Thierry Mariani, Elton John's, David, Brigitte Marie, Claude Macron, Nahel, Sarah Meyssonnier Macron, Le, Pascal, Dominique Sopo, Sopo, George Floyd Organizations: Service, The Telegraph, Marine, REUTERS, Guardian, BBC, London Metropolitan Police Locations: Paris, France, Nanterre, Aubervilliers, Rothschild, Republic, Alma, Roubaix, London

LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) - A portrait of an unnamed woman by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt sold for 85.3 million pounds ($108.4 million) on Tuesday, setting a new record price for any work of art sold at an auction in Europe, London-based auction house Sotheby's said. The fall of the hammer at 74 million pounds broke the tension, triggering a collective exhalation in the room and a round of applause. The painting sold to a Hong Kong-based art advisory firm, bidding on behalf of a collector based there. It is now the most expensive Klimt artwork sold at auction anywhere in the world. It was last offered for sale nearly 30 years ago, when it was acquired by the family of the present owner for $11.6 million, according to the auction house.

Persons: Gustav Klimt, Sotheby's, Helena Newman, Newman, Claude Monet's, Alberto Giacometti's, Farouq Suleiman, Marie, Louise Gumuchian, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Thomson Locations: Austrian, Europe, London, Hong Kong

☆ Why this in-flight magazine is the fashion industry’s new must-read
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Nick Remsen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Model Ismael Savane pictured in an Air Afrique T-shirt during Paris Fashion Week Mens Spring-Summer 2023 on June 23, 2022 in Paris. “We want to revive the African transcendence that Air Afrique represented,” Lamine Diaoune, the founder and creative director of the Air Afrique collective, said in a statement. It really was about more than just flights.”An Air Afrique stewardess, pictured during training in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, in 1971. The cover of Air Afrique magazine's first issue, featuring the French rapper Tiakola (far right). (All members of the Air Afrique collective have backgrounds in creative fields; each also has projects outside of the group, too.)

Persons: Michel Renaudeau, Côte, Senegal —, Ismael Savane, Melodie Jeng, ” Lamine Diaoune, ”, Djibi Kébé, ” Kébé, “, Côte d’Ivoire, they’ve, Bottega, Tiakola, Lamine Diaoune, Djiby Kébé, Jeremy Konko, Amandine Nana, Zhedy Nuentsa, Bamba Thiam, Axel Pelletanche, ” Nana, Paul Kodjo, Marie, Hélène Tusiama, Tusiama, ’ ” Pope Jean, Paul II, Jean, Claude Delafosse, Pope Jean, Abdel El Tayeb, El Tayeb, Matthieu Blazy, El Tayeb’s Organizations: France CNN, Afrique, Air, Central African, Paris, Centre Pompidou, Air Afrique, “, Air Afrique Air Afrique’s, Franco, El Locations: Paris, France, New York City, Mauritania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Niger, Republic of, Congo, Senegal, West Africa, New York, Abu Dhabi, Europe, Abidjan, Côte, Dakar, West, Africa, Ivory Coast, ”, ‘, Sudanese, El

☆ French cave markings may be oldest known engravings by Neanderthals
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Made by dragging fingers across relatively soft rock, lines, swirls and dots on the walls of a cave in France are the oldest known engravings by Neanderthals, according to a new analysis of the ancient marks. The finding adds to a growing body of evidence that Neanderthals — who have been characterized as dim-witted cave dwellers — were creative beings and more complex than the stereotype suggests. Neanderthals’ ‘deliberate composition’To understand how the markings were made and whether they were intentional, the researchers made detailed 3D models of the engravings from photographs of the Loire Valley’s La Roche-Cotard cave using a process known as photogrammetry. Based on the shape, spacing and arrangement of these engravings, the team concluded that markings in eight panels in La Roche-Cotard cave were intentional shapes and patterns created by human hands. At some cave sites in Spain, there’s evidence — albeit contentious — that Neanderthals created abstract motifs and hand stencils.

Persons: Jean, Claude Marquet, Cotard, La Roche, JC Marquet Organizations: CNN, University of Tours Locations: France, La Roche, Europe, Bulgaria, Spain

☆ Some of the earliest-known cave drawings were from Neanderthals, not humans, and they're 57,000 years old
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

57,000-year-old engravings on the walls of a French cave may have been the work of Neanderthals. The oldest Neanderthal cave engravingsThe markings are made up of lines, squiggles, and dots, likely made by fingers instead of tools. On the left are some curved lines and on the right are more wavy lines that researchers say were made by Neanderthals. Tim Schoon, University of IowaThough early researchers considered Neanderthals less advanced than humans, more recent findings have complicated that view. In 2018, researchers estimated a group of Spanish cave paintings were 65,000 years old and made by Neanderthals.

Persons: —, Claude Marquet, Shara Bailey, Homo sapiens, would've, Tim Schoon, It's, Bailey, sapiens, Cotard, lithics, La Organizations: Service, ONE, University of Tours, New York University, La Roche, University of Iowa Locations: France, La, Europe, Western Europe

☆ ECB's rate hike decision is 'appropriate,' former president says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailECB's rate hike decision is 'appropriate,' former president saysJean-Claude Trichet, former president of the European Central Bank, says its decision to raise its main rate up by 25 basis points to 3.5% is appropriate "[under] the circumstances."

Persons: Jean, Claude Trichet Organizations: European Central Bank

☆ Environment activists smear red paint on Monet painting at Stockholm museum
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Sharon Braithwaite | Henrik Pettersson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The museum’s press office confirmed the incident to CNN. “In the afternoon of June 14 around 2:30 p.m. (8:30aET) an action was carried out at the National Museum in Stockholm. “The painting, which is encased in glass, is now being inspected by museum conservators to determine whether there is any damage,” the press office continued. Environment activists on June 14 smeared red paint and glued their hands to the protective glass on a Monet painting at Stockholm's National Museum, police and the museum said. Cultural heritage has great symbolic value, and it is unacceptable to attack or destroy it, for any purpose whatsoever,” Per Hedström, the National Museum’s acting director general, said.

Persons: ”, Claude Monet, Monet, conservators, Aterstall Organizations: CNN, National, “, National Museum, Nature, Environment, AFP, Getty Images Police, Stockholm Region police Locations: Giverny, Stockholm, AFP

☆ Factbox: Credit Suisse arrivals and departures after UBS seals takeover
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Here are the highlights:OUTLeaving the company:* Credit Suisse General Counsel Markus Diethelm. The Swiss-Italian national returned to Credit Suisse in January 2022 as head of its wealth management division after a stint leading Australian wealth management company AMP. NEWCOMERSA logo is pictured on the Credit Suisse bank in Geneva, Switzerland, March 15, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File PhotoAppointments to the executive board of Credit Suisse AG:* Michael Ebert - becomes Head of Credit Suisse for the investment bank, and head of Americas for the investment bank at UBS. * Andre Helfenstein - continues as CEO Swiss bank, the jewel in the Credit Suisse business whose future UBS is currently considering.

Persons: Markus Diethelm, Romeo Cerutti, Dixit Joshi, Edwin Low, David Miller, Ken Pang, Pang, Francesco De Ferrari, Iqbal Khan, Joanne Hannaford, Mike Dargan, David Wildermuth, Christian Bluhm, Denis Balibouse, Michael Ebert, Simon Grimwood, Isabelle Hennebelle, Claude Honegger, Mike Rongetti, Jake Scrivens, Yves, Alain Sommerhalder, Damian Vogel, Christine Graeff, Andre Helfenstein, Francesca McDonagh, Nita Patel, Goldman Sachs, John Revill, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: UBS, Credit Suisse, Credit, Deutsche Bank, Asia, Global, UBS Global Wealth Management, Italian, AMP, Wealth Management, . Technology, UBS Group, Operations, Technology, Americas, REUTERS, Credit Suisse AG, Credit Suisse Operations, Credit Suisse Chief Technology, Suisse Asset Management, EMEA, European Central Bank, Human, Swiss, Thomson Locations: ZURICH, China, Americas, Asia, Hong Kong, Swiss, Geneva, Switzerland

☆ Lupita Nyong’o wears custom silver breastplate to 2023 Tony Awards
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Leah Dolan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Attending the 2023 Tony Awards in New York Sunday night, Lupita Nyong’o arrived in timeless formalwear: a sharp black velvet dinner jacket and flared trousers. Nyong’o was wearing a custom breastplate cast and molded on her body by Misha Japanwala, a Pakistani artist and designer whose subversive sculptures are already increasingly attracting an impressive celebrity clientele. (An exhibition of Japanwala’s work is also currently on display at the Hannah Traore art gallery in New York.) Misha Japanwala's work "asks viewers to see the body exactly as it is," the artist writes on her website. Japanwala’s work, however, presents a very different picture.

Persons: Lupita Nyong’o, Nyong’o, Misha Japanwala, Hannah Traore, Misha Japanwala's, Nyong'o, Steve Eichner, Ford, Bella Hadid, Rihanna, breastplates, Yves Saint Laurent, Claude Lalanne, Lalanne, ’ breastplates, Japanwala’s, Japanwala, ” Nyong’o, ” Organizations: CNN, Cannes Film Locations: New York, Pakistani, ribcage, Couture, Greece

☆ Salesforce is developing a ton of new AI products that could lead to 'a massive new buying cycle' Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley analysts believe
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Julie Bort | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Salesforce could be leading it, with a giant list of new AI products in the works. And he told tale after tale of planned AI products. Morgan Stanley's Keith Weiss believes Salesforce's claims that AI has the potential to "spark a massive new buying cycle." Rangan tallied up 15 pending AI products from Salesforce. There will be five new AI products incorporated into the Marketing cloud to automate tasks ranging from personalized emails to analyzing engagement.

Persons: Salesforce, Marc Benioff, Claude, Goldman Sachs, Kash Rangan, Salesforce's, Einstein, Rangan, Morgan Stanley's Keith Weiss, Weiss Organizations: OpenAI, Salesforce Ventures, Google, Salesforce's, Slack, Products, Next

☆ Françoise Gilot, artist whose career transcended relationship with Picasso, has died at 101
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Benjamin Sutton | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Françoise Gilot, a tireless artist who defied simple categorization — and efforts to define her merely as a footnote in the story of her former lover Pablo Picasso — died Tuesday in New York. The early years of her career coincided with World War II and the Nazi occupation of Paris. In 1970, Gilot married her second husband, Jonas Salk, a virologist who developed one of the first polio vaccines. "Paloma à la Guitare" by Francoise Gilot (1965) was part of Sotheby's (Women) Artists Sale in 2021 in London, England. In 2012, Gagosian staged the first exhibition of Gilot’s work alongside Picasso’s, “Picasso and Françoise Gilot: Paris–Vallauris 1943–1953,” which focused on works made during their relationship.

Persons: Françoise, Pablo Picasso —, Aurelia Engel, Gilot, Engel, Madeleine Decre’s, Picasso, Carlton Lake, ”, Picasso’s, Pablo Picasso, Francoise Gillot, Roger Viollet, ” Gilot, —, Claude, Paloma Picasso —, Luc Simon, Paris ’ Galerie Louise Leiris, York’s David Findley, Simon, Engel’s, Jonas Salk, Salk, Paloma, Francoise Gilot, John Phillips, Gerald Joyce, Jonas Salk —, Jonas, Gagosian, “ Picasso, John Richardson, Richardson, John Bright, “, Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, WHYY’s Terry Gross Organizations: The Art, CNN, The New York Times, Paris ’ Galerie, United, Galleria Santo, Galerie Coard, Salk, Salk Institute, Acatos Publishing, New York, Penske Media, Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, ville de, New Orleans Museum of Art, National Museum of Women, Arts, of Arts, National Merit, Legion Locations: New York, Paris, Neuilly, Seine, Nazi, Europe, United States, Venice, Dantesca, Turin, Pierre, ”, San Diego , California, Sotheby's, London, England, California, Antibes, ville de Paris, Washington , DC, France

☆ Protesters prepare last-ditch bid to stop French pension overhaul
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Protests have been going on for six months, it's unprecedented," Sophie Binet, the new leader of the hardline CGT union said on BFM TV. "There's a lot of anger but also fatigue," she said, adding that strikers were feeling the pinch on paychecks. Between 400,000 and 600,000 people are expected to turn out at protests across France, authorities said, which would be down from more than a million who took part in marches at the height of the pension protests earlier this year. But unions hope a big protest turnout could pressure lawmakers into reviewing the bill anyway and holding a vote. Opposition lawmakers, meanwhile, say the bill being rejected would revive public anger, branding any such move "antidemocratic".

Persons: Emmanuel Macron's, Sophie Binet, I'm, Jean, Claude Mailly, Macron, Michel Rose, Hugh Lawson Organizations: CGT, Inter, SNCF, Thomson Locations: Macron, France, Paris, Orly

☆ 4.9 magnitude quake strikes southern Haiti; 4 dead, dozens injured
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The town of Jeremie in Haiti's southwest region was struck by a moderate earthquake on Tuesday, June 6, 2023. (Patrick Farrell/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.9 struck southern Haiti early Tuesday, killing at least four people and injuring 36 others, authorities said. The quake struck before dawn near the southwestern coastal city of Jeremie at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. "There were so many people out on the street, and a lot of panic," he recalled of the moments after the quake struck. The earthquake struck almost two years after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck southern Haiti and killed more than 2,200 people, with Les Cayes sustaining the most damage.

Persons: Patrick Farrell, Eric Mpitabakana, Les Cayes, Frankel Maginaire, Mpitabakana, Claude Prepetit, Paul Pierre, Pierre, Prince, Ariel Henry Organizations: Miami Herald, Tribune, Service, Getty, . Geological Survey, Food, Associated Press, Civil Protection Agency, Haiti's Civil Protection Agency, Haiti's, of Mines and Energy, Radio, AP Locations: Jeremie, Haiti's, Haiti, Port

☆ AI hypocrisy: OpenAI, Google and Anthropic won't let their data be used to train other AI models, but they use everyone else's content
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Google and Anthropic ban the use of their content to train other AI models. Microsoft-backed OpenAI, along with Google, and Google-backed Anthropic have for years been using online content created by companies to train their generative AI models. However, these big tech companies won't let their own content be used to train other AI models. In April, Elon Musk accused Microsoft, the main backer of OpenAI, of illegally using Twitter's data to train AI models. The current way AI models are trained 'breaks' the webOne former Microsoft executive believes something is wrong here.

Persons: Claude, Anthropic's, OpenAI, Steve Huffman, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Steven Sinofsky, couldn't Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Services, . Publishers, News Corp

☆ Sci-fi author says he wrote 97 books in 9 months using AI tools, including ChatGPT and Midjourney
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Sci-fi author Tim Boucher says he's created 97 books in nine months with the help of AI. In a Newsweek article, Boucher said he used Midjourney, ChatGPT, and Anthropic's Claude. Sci-fi author Tim Boucher says he's created 97 books in nine months with the help of AI. In an article for Newsweek, Boucher said he'd used AI image generator Midjourney to illustrate the books, and ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude for brainstorming and text generation. He wrote in Newsweek: "AI has proven to be a remarkable catalyst for my creative work.

☆ Zoom invests in AI startup Anthropic in latest effort to spruce up offerings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 16 (Reuters) - Zoom Video Communications Inc (ZM.O) said on Tuesday it has invested an undisclosed sum in Anthropic and will integrate the artificial intelligence start-up's technology into its video-conferencing platform. The move marks the latest effort by Zoom to spruce up its offerings with AI as it competes against Microsoft Teams, the dominant video-conferencing tool for enterprises. Under the collaboration, Anthropic's Claude - a large language model that competes directly with offerings from Microsoft-backed OpenAI - will be integrated with Zoom's platform. In March, Zoom had announced a partnership with OpenAI to add AI-driven capabilities such as conversation summaries and message drafts to its Zoom IQ assistant. Reporting by Akshita Toshniwal in Bengaluru and Krystal Hu; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Bat lands worldwide are besieged, seeding risk of a new pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +16 min

This collision – bats and humans competing for resources on territory long the domain of the bats – could trigger the next pandemic. As people destroy bat habitats worldwide, they are unwittingly helping bat-borne viruses mutate, multiply, and infect other species, including homo sapiens. For millennia, bat viruses lurked across the forests of West Africa and in other undisturbed parts of the world but posed little threat to humanity. They’re potent proliferators: Some roost tightly together and in close quarters with other bat species. Each of the bat viruses analyzed by Reuters has epidemic potential, according to the World Health Organization.

☆ Alphabet-backed Anthropic outlines the moral values behind its AI bot
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The moral values guidelines, which Anthropic calls Claude's constitution, draw from several sources, including the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights and even Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) data privacy rules. Anthropic was founded by former executives from Microsoft Corp-backed (MSFT.O) OpenAI to focus on creating safe AI systems that will not, for example, tell users how to build a weapon or use racially biased language. Co-founder Dario Amodei was one of several AI executives who met with Biden last week to discuss potential dangers of AI. Anthropic takes a different approach, giving its Open AI competitor Claude a set of written moral values to read and learn from as it makes decisions on how to respond to questions. "In a few months, I predict that politicians will be quite focused on what the values are of different AI systems, and approaches like constitutional AI will help with that discussion because we can just write down the values," Clark said.

☆ Dark Shadows, Dark Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Alida Becker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The title of Tara Ison’s AT THE HOUR BETWEEN DOG AND WOLF (Ig Publishing, 296 pp., paperback, $17.95) comes from a French expression for twilight. Sure enough, her novel sends us to the dusk that borders the familiar and the wild, the known and the unknown. It’s where our beliefs and suspicions can cast dark shadows over our lives. But Marie-Jeanne is actually Danielle Marton, a Jewish child smuggled out of Paris by her recently widowed mother. And Berthe and Claude are actually her grandparents’ former maid and butler.

Unlike much of the past 15 years, euro strength is on the ECB's side as it meets on Thursday. Indeed, ECB President Christine Lagarde and chief economist Philip Lane littered speeches with warning shots about an excessive euro strength when the euro last snarled up to this extent in October 2020. Lagarde's predecessors Mario Draghi and Jean-Claude Trichet similarly weighed in with verbal intervention to cool periodic 10% surges in the trade-weighted euro over its history. Euro strength has built on belated ECB interest rate hikes since July - up some 350 basis points to 3.0% so far and expected to go up at least another 25 bps this week. So should euro strength be finally embraced by ECB as way of slaying the inflation beast?

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