Speaker 1: Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host
Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: And how the tech are you. It's time for the
Speaker 1: tech news for Tuesday, June two thousand twenty two. Our
Speaker 1: first news item is about Google's conversation model AI that's
Speaker 1: called Lambda L A M D A. Now I covered
Speaker 1: this in yesterday's tech Stuff episode, but in case you
Speaker 1: missed it, here is the short version. An engineer at
Speaker 1: Google working in the Responsible AI division was suspended from
Speaker 1: his job after saying the AI might be sentient. The engineer,
Speaker 1: Blake Lemouan, shared a transcript of a few conversations that
Speaker 1: he and a colleague of his had with the conversation engine,
Speaker 1: during which the engine argued that it was conscious and
Speaker 1: that it experienced emotions. Google suspended the engineer for violating
Speaker 1: a confidentiality policy, which undoubtedly helped fuel speculation about the
Speaker 1: model's alleged sentience. Now, several AI experts have weighed in
Speaker 1: on this, and the general consensus is that Lambda is
Speaker 1: nowhere close to being sentient or conscious. It's just good
Speaker 1: at what it's supposed to do, which is to generate
Speaker 1: conversational dialogue. But as Gary Marcus, who is the founder
Speaker 1: of geometric intelligence, put it, what that really does is
Speaker 1: it just means Lambda is a very advanced version of
Speaker 1: auto complete. Lambda uses statistics to determine what to say next.
Speaker 1: So imagine you had a truly enormous database that contains
Speaker 1: practically all the conversations that have ever been recorded, and
Speaker 1: you could see which responses were more prevalent to particular
Speaker 1: lines of conversation, weigh them against each other, and create
Speaker 1: an engine that could select the appropriate one at the
Speaker 1: appropriate time. So you use a very complicated version of
Speaker 1: this general approach and you get something like lambda. It's
Speaker 1: a process that can construct sentences that seem natural because
Speaker 1: they are drawn from natural conversations, not you know, verbatim,
Speaker 1: but that's what is being used to model it. It's
Speaker 1: a very cool technology, but it's not sentient AI. As
Speaker 1: I mentioned yesterday, we humans have a tendency to ascribe
Speaker 1: human like traits to non human things, whether that be animals,
Speaker 1: your car, or a chatbot. We imagine there's a mind
Speaker 1: at work, when in many cases no such mind exists.
Speaker 1: I still think this raises questions about what it will
Speaker 1: take for us to conclude that an AI has gained
Speaker 1: some form of consciousness, And I don't know what the
Speaker 1: answer is to that, But then I'm not an AI expert,
Speaker 1: and I imagine the folks who are really deep in
Speaker 1: this research have a much better grasp of what it
Speaker 1: would take for us to consider any evidence to be
Speaker 1: close to conclusive. Google has agreed to a one eighteen
Speaker 1: million dollar settlement in a class action lawsuit brought against
Speaker 1: it by employees, namely women who worked for Google since
Speaker 1: two thousand thirteen. And these are women who say they
Speaker 1: were paid significantly less than their male counterparts who were
Speaker 1: working in the same kind of jobs. Specifically, on average,
Speaker 1: women were paid sixteen thousand, seven hundred ninety four dollars
Speaker 1: less than men in similar positions. On average. That includes
Speaker 1: not just base compensation, but also stuff like bonuses and
Speaker 1: stock options. In addition, the lawsuit accused Google of placing
Speaker 1: women in lower level positions than men with similar experience,
Speaker 1: and that when employees were leaving the company, Google failed
Speaker 1: to pay out the full amount that was owed to
Speaker 1: those employees. This was a pretty big lawsuit. There were
Speaker 1: more than fifteen thousand women who had worked for Google
Speaker 1: since twenty that were part of it. Four of the
Speaker 1: women will receive significant payouts. Kelly List will receive seventy dollars,
Speaker 1: three others will get fifty tho each, and the rest
Speaker 1: of those fifteen thousand plus women will get on average
Speaker 1: around five thousand dollars. The rest of the cash goes to,
Speaker 1: of course, you know, lawyers, legal fees, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: So does this mean that we're going to see some
Speaker 1: massive changes at Google. Well, this was a settlement, not
Speaker 1: a legal judgment, and Google has not admitted to any
Speaker 1: kind of wrongdoing. Rather, Google reps say that the company
Speaker 1: frequently reviews compensation and whenever it finds inequities, it makes
Speaker 1: quote unquote upward adjustments to remove those inequities. I certainly
Speaker 1: hope that Google Walks that walk, Google Talk a k
Speaker 1: A g Chat is finally right off to that there,
Speaker 1: sunset alright, settle in. This gets confusing because, let's face it,
Speaker 1: Google is not great at introducing and then continuing to
Speaker 1: support its various products. The company as an incredibly long
Speaker 1: list of services that have long since gone away. And
Speaker 1: let's just pause and think for a moment about some
Speaker 1: of those services like Google Wave, Google Buzz, and Google Plus.
Speaker 1: So Google Talk g Chat was an instant messaging service
Speaker 1: nested within Gmail. You could pop into your Gmail account
Speaker 1: and send messages to your various contacts through Talk rather
Speaker 1: than type out a full email. Well, Google would later
Speaker 1: introduce a similar service called Hangouts, and in Google pushed
Speaker 1: Gmail users from Talk to Hangouts. However, Talk itself technically
Speaker 1: still stuck around, not really as its own thing. People
Speaker 1: weren't going to that independently that much. Instead, it was
Speaker 1: a platform that other apps depended upon, like Pigeon was
Speaker 1: one of those apps, p I, d G I N.
Speaker 1: But on the Google is finally pulling the plug on Talk.
Speaker 1: As for Hangouts, well, Hangout technically became Google Chat in
Speaker 1: so what will it be tomorrow? I don't even think
Speaker 1: Google knows the answer to that. Speaking of legacy services
Speaker 1: getting the plug pulled on them, let's talk about Internet Explorer,
Speaker 1: once the king of all web browsers, Microsoft will finally
Speaker 1: end all support for Internet Explorer tomorrow, which is June two,
Speaker 1: twenty two if you're listening to this news episode in
Speaker 1: the future. For some reason, I E first debuted in
Speaker 1: and it was a major part of Microsoft strategy as
Speaker 1: Windows was dominating the PC space. It was also a
Speaker 1: part of what would bring Microsoft under fire for anti
Speaker 1: competitive practices, as other organizations like Mozilla would argue that
Speaker 1: Microsoft was discouraging people from using any browser other than
Speaker 1: i E and that customers were being forced to buy
Speaker 1: two products even if they just wanted one, they had
Speaker 1: to get both Windows and Internet Explorer because they were
Speaker 1: bundled together, they were inseparable. So these were some arguments
Speaker 1: being made, and ultimately the initial court demanded that Microsoft
Speaker 1: not just stop all this, but that the company be
Speaker 1: broken up by the government because it was representing an
Speaker 1: anti competitive force of monopoly, but that decision would later
Speaker 1: be overturned on appeal. Anyway, i E was a dominant
Speaker 1: browser for a few years, although Chrome would eventually overtake
Speaker 1: and pass Internet Explorer around two thousand twelve, and from
Speaker 1: then on I E had a long slow decline. In
Speaker 1: twenty fift Microsoft introduced the Edge Browser, which was meant
Speaker 1: to be the successor to Internet Explorer, and Microsoft has
Speaker 1: been pulling support for i E through various platforms for
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, so this isn't like a
Speaker 1: massive surprise or anything, and tomorrow all support ends. I
Speaker 1: E is officially discontinued. I suspect some of you all
Speaker 1: listening have probably never even used Internet Explorer, And to you,
Speaker 1: I say, you aren't missing much. I mean, I do
Speaker 1: remember a time when a certain web based interface that
Speaker 1: I had to use was only compatible with Internet Explorer,
Speaker 1: and how frustrating that was. It was the only reason
Speaker 1: I would keep Internet Explorer on my computer. There was
Speaker 1: a CMS content management system that I had to work
Speaker 1: on about a decade ago, and it would only properly
Speaker 1: work with i E. That was frustrating. So yeah, there's
Speaker 1: some legacy systems that may still require i E because
Speaker 1: they never got updated to be more compatible with other browsers.
Speaker 1: But for the most part, you can say Internet Explorer
Speaker 1: is finally going to be dead as of tomorrow. Microsoft
Speaker 1: has entered into a labor neutrality agreement with the Communications
Speaker 1: Workers of America, That, in turn is the union that
Speaker 1: has been assisting Activision Blizzard employees in their various efforts
Speaker 1: to unionize. All right, so quick refresher. Activision Blizz is
Speaker 1: a massive video game company, and it has had a
Speaker 1: tumultuous couple of years for lots of reasons. I mean,
Speaker 1: there have been a largely negative reception to some of
Speaker 1: the high profile games the company has released recently, there
Speaker 1: have been serious and disturbing allegations regarding a toxic corporate
Speaker 1: culture that facilitates harassment and sexual discrimination, and the company
Speaker 1: has allegedly discouraged employees from organizing, essentially using union busting tactics.
Speaker 1: And of course, Microsoft is on track to acquire Activision Blizzard,
Speaker 1: which would seriously boost Microsoft's already impressive presence in gaming.
Speaker 1: So Microsoft agreeing to remain a neutral party is an
Speaker 1: important step for Activision Blizzard employees. Microsoft traditionally itself hasn't
Speaker 1: been super keen on unions, like a lot of other
Speaker 1: tech companies and companies in general really, but more recently,
Speaker 1: Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft, said that the company
Speaker 1: would be supportive of potential unions, and this will mean
Speaker 1: that once Microsoft completes its acquisition employees that Activision Blizzards
Speaker 1: should theoretically encounter no resistance or discouragement if they should
Speaker 1: wish to pursue organizing into a union. That's pretty encouraging
Speaker 1: news for those employees, although that acquisition still has to
Speaker 1: go through several more stages before it is official. Well,
Speaker 1: we've got some more news items to cover, but before
Speaker 1: we get to that, let's take a quick break. We're back.
Speaker 1: MAC rumors reports that LG is working on the second
Speaker 1: generation mixed reality headset for Apple, which is probably news
Speaker 1: to a lot of folks because Apple has yet to
Speaker 1: officially announced the first generation. Had said it's been a
Speaker 1: poorly kept secret for a few years now that Apple
Speaker 1: has been working on some sort of mixed reality hardware. However,
Speaker 1: we have never seen Apple acknowledged this publicly in any
Speaker 1: of its marketing events or conferences that it has held
Speaker 1: since those rumors started to circulate. Now that, in itself
Speaker 1: isn't unusual. Apple has a reputation for secrecy, and longtime
Speaker 1: Apple fans know that the company has sat on plans
Speaker 1: for years before finally being ready to move on them.
Speaker 1: That doesn't stop leaks from occasionally happening, sometimes from within
Speaker 1: Apple itself, sometimes it's through one of Apple's manufacturing partners,
Speaker 1: but anyway, the rumor is that l G is going
Speaker 1: to provide micro O l E D displays for the
Speaker 1: second generation headset, and that l G also contributed components
Speaker 1: to the first generation system. MAC Rumors says that, according
Speaker 1: to analyst Ming Chi Kuo, this second generation device will
Speaker 1: not hit the market until the second half of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four. I'm sure several people were disappointed that Apple
Speaker 1: had made no mention of mixed reality during w w
Speaker 1: d C twenty twenty two, that's their Worldwide Developer Conference.
Speaker 1: But maybe we will finally get a glimpse of the
Speaker 1: mixed reality headset this fall, which is when Apple typically
Speaker 1: holds its iPhone event. Most rumors say that the mixed
Speaker 1: reality headset was going to be ready for sale by
Speaker 1: the end of this year, you know, for the holiday season.
Speaker 1: So if we don't see it by September, it sounds
Speaker 1: to me like it's not going to be a thing
Speaker 1: at all. So we'll have to wait and see. Telegram
Speaker 1: founder Pavel Durov is throwing hands at Apple, saying that
Speaker 1: the company purposefully restricts web app features. So here's what
Speaker 1: telegrams issue actually is. The messaging and chat service has
Speaker 1: an iOS app, but that app sometimes has issues because
Speaker 1: Telegram has kind of a hands off approach to moderation,
Speaker 1: it does not restrict content in public channels. That is
Speaker 1: bad form in the eyes of Apple. Apple wants content moderation.
Speaker 1: They want they want to ensure that the material being
Speaker 1: looked at on their phones meets Apple's high standards, even
Speaker 1: if it's not coming from Apple itself, So the Telegram
Speaker 1: app isn't the fully featured Telegram. However, Telegram also has
Speaker 1: a web based version that users could go to instead.
Speaker 1: They could just navigate there via Safari, but then Apple
Speaker 1: restricts all iOS developers to use the Apple WebKit, which
Speaker 1: means the web based version of Telegram is lacking certain
Speaker 1: features like push notifications, although the latest version of iOS
Speaker 1: will enable those. So in the UK, Apple faces more
Speaker 1: antitrust reviews, with various agencies and companies accusing Apple of
Speaker 1: purposefully restricting competitors from being able to provide alternatives to
Speaker 1: Apple's own services on iOS devices. That has been a
Speaker 1: major ongoing story for Apple, this battle with regulators, especially
Speaker 1: in the European Union. Meanwhile, the EU is also moving
Speaker 1: to hold big tech companies more accountable for creating and
Speaker 1: enforcing policies quote regarding impermissible manipulative behaviors and practices on
Speaker 1: their services based on the latest evidence on the conducts
Speaker 1: and tactics, techniques and procedures t tps employed by malicious
Speaker 1: actors end quote. So that includes stuff like misinformation campaigns
Speaker 1: that are pushed by legions of fake accounts, but it
Speaker 1: also includes more recent tactics things like deep fake images
Speaker 1: and deep fake videos. Should companies fail to adhere to
Speaker 1: this code, they could be liable for fines up to
Speaker 1: six percent of global turnover. And in this context you
Speaker 1: can think of turnover as more or less being global revenue.
Speaker 1: So for the really big, big tech companies out there,
Speaker 1: six percent would be in the billions of dollars neighborhood,
Speaker 1: which is serious stuff. So there are major companies that
Speaker 1: have already kind of agreed to these kind of of
Speaker 1: demands in the past, like Meta and Twitter. We'll have
Speaker 1: to see if that continues and what you know, what
Speaker 1: tactics the sites and services will employ to detect and
Speaker 1: remove this kind of content and the EU we've been
Speaker 1: seeing signs in the tech sector for a while now
Speaker 1: that companies are getting a bit concerned, from hiring freezes
Speaker 1: to layoffs two rescinded job offers. The trend appears to
Speaker 1: be a slow down in the tech industry as companies
Speaker 1: deal with a slowing economy. Since many analysts treat the
Speaker 1: tech sector is kind of a canary in a coal mine.
Speaker 1: This has led to predictions of a larger slowed down
Speaker 1: and downsizing in general across different industries, and startups might
Speaker 1: find it harder to get off the ground as investors
Speaker 1: have a more difficult time borrowing money that they can
Speaker 1: then pour into moonshot opportunities. So things are probably going
Speaker 1: to get worse before they get better. So I do
Speaker 1: have a couple of cool items to close out this episode.
Speaker 1: One is that researchers at M I T have developed
Speaker 1: a sensor that can tell the difference between bacterial and
Speaker 1: viral pneumonia. And you might think, well, what's the big
Speaker 1: deal there, Well, here's the problem. Pneumonia can be caused
Speaker 1: by either a bacterial infection or a viral infect action.
Speaker 1: There's not just one pathway to pneumonia. And you can
Speaker 1: treat a bacterial infection with antibiotics, but antibiotics do not
Speaker 1: have an effect on viruses, So doctors need a way
Speaker 1: to differentiate the type of infection that caused pneumonia in
Speaker 1: order to prescribe an effective treatment for it. Otherwise you
Speaker 1: can only treat the symptoms. Plus you know you don't
Speaker 1: want to overuse antibiotics, because through overuse, bacteria can develop
Speaker 1: immunity to those kinds of medications. That makes future treatments
Speaker 1: much more challenging. Anyway, the researchers created a nanoparticle sensor
Speaker 1: that looks for something really interesting rather than trying to
Speaker 1: seek out the pathogen itself, you know, that is, rather
Speaker 1: than looking for the root cause of the pneumonia, the
Speaker 1: sensors actually detect the body's response to the infection. The
Speaker 1: research team identified thirty nine different enzymes that react differently
Speaker 1: to different kinds of infections. So by detecting what the
Speaker 1: body is doing in response to the infection, the sensors
Speaker 1: can help scientists determine the nature of the infection itself.
Speaker 1: And I think that's a really cool way to tackle
Speaker 1: the problem. So far, the team has seen successful results
Speaker 1: while testing on mice. Of course, there's a pretty big
Speaker 1: leap between a mouse and a person, at least for
Speaker 1: most people, so a lot more work is going to
Speaker 1: have to be done to see if this method will
Speaker 1: translate to human patients. If it does, it could become
Speaker 1: a standard practice for treating pneumonia, as doctors determine if
Speaker 1: antibiotic or anti viral medication is best suited for the
Speaker 1: individual case. And finally, SpaceX is just a little bit
Speaker 1: closer to Mars. US regulators have sent SpaceX a message
Speaker 1: as long as the company can guarantee compliance with seventy
Speaker 1: five mitigating actions, the company's enormous starship rocket should receive
Speaker 1: clearance to blast off toward Mars from these regulators. So
Speaker 1: the mitigating actions range from stuff like ensuring local wildlife
Speaker 1: habitats remain protected, to cleaning up after launches, to even
Speaker 1: avoiding launches on weekends and holidays because as locals and
Speaker 1: Texas would like to be able to access the beach
Speaker 1: that's close to the launch site, and that beach would
Speaker 1: be shut down on any launch day, so just launched
Speaker 1: during the work week, you'll when people should be at work. Anyway,
Speaker 1: There's still more reviews to follow from other agencies, so
Speaker 1: this is not a signed deal. It's not carte blanche
Speaker 1: for SpaceX just yet. They're gonna have to pass safety
Speaker 1: tests and lots of other reviews before it can actually
Speaker 1: go forward with test launches of the spacecraft. But it
Speaker 1: is one more step towards the company getting permission to
Speaker 1: head off to the Red Planet, and that's it for
Speaker 1: the news for Tuesday, June fourteenth, two thousand twenty two.
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