WEBVTT - Tech News: AI Blunders and a Liquid-Metal Robot 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:14.920 He there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.079 Jonathan Strickland, Diamond executive producer with I Heart Radio, and 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:20.720 how the tech are you. It's time for the tech 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:26.400 news for Thursday, January twenty three, and we've got another 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:30.600 couple of interesting bits of chat GPT, slash open AI, 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:34.960 slash chat bought news. First up, The Verge reports that 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:40.480 academic publishing company Springer Nature has updated its policies such 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:44.559 that a I writing tools like chat GPT cannot be 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:48.959 credited as an author of a scientific paper. And considering 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:53.520 the reports of how tools like chat GBT can and 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:57.240 do get stuff wrong on occasion, not to mention some 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:01.360 plagiarism issues, we will talk about in justice. Second, all 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:04.320 of this makes sense. Springer Nature does say that these 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:07.560 tools can be used in the process of creating ideas 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:11.119 for research or even assisting in writing, as long as 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:15.200 the paper is transparent about this, which potentially could even 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:19.560 mean specifying which bits of the paper were AI generated. 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:25.200 But ultimately these things cannot be credited as an author, 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:28.160 and that really does make sense. These tools tend to 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:32.119 have a lack of transparency and you don't know how 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:35.040 they get to the point of generating the text they create. 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:39.600 You also don't get things like citations for references and 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:41.840 that kind of thing. And so without knowing where the 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:46.080 author is drawing information from, one you can't be certain 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:49.480 that the information being presented as reliable, and too, you 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:54.600 can't be sure that the author's conclusions are valid because 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:57.960 you don't know where the conclusions were drawn from. It 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:01.360 sounds like Springer Nature is opti mystic regarding how AI 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:05.000 can play a part in scientific research and writing, but 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:06.840 that it's going to take a lot of work to 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:10.400 foster the positive use of AI, as well as a 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:13.840 lot of work to prevent the negative use cases. A 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.720 couple of weeks ago, I talked about how the website 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:21.280 Futurism had uncovered c nets use of AI to write 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:24.160 articles in the c net Money channel, and you only 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:26.800 knew about if you clicked on the little dropped down 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:30.880 that would appear if you highlighted the s net money 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:35.560 staff byline. Well, futurism keeps coming up with great reporting 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:38.440 with more updates on that. They have pointed out how 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:43.120 several of the articles written by this AI included factual 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:48.840 errors and just as concerning also included examples of plagiarism. Now, 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:52.959 in some cases, the AI appears to have largely lifted language, 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:58.680 almost entirely untouched from other sources, including from c net itself. 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:02.440 As Future is a reporter John Christian puts it, quote, 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:06.799 a new futurism investigation found extensive evidence that the c 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:11.960 net ais work has demonstrated deep structural and phrasing similarities 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:16.560 to articles previously published elsewhere without giving credit. In other words, 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:19.320 it looks like the butt directly plagiarized the work of 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:23.440 red Ventures competitors, red Ventures being the owner of Set, 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:27.240 as well as human writers at bank Rate and even 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:31.960 Senet itself end quote. And as I mentioned a moment ago, 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:36.080 these chat bots fail to credit their sources, and so 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:39.280 it all comes across as the AI is passing work 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:42.600 off as its own when it's not. And that sort 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:45.920 of stuff can get you fired or banned from publications. 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:49.240 So this really is a big problem, particularly when you 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:52.520 consider that AI in this context is being relied upon 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:55.840 to generate articles in place of a human being doing 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.560 the writing. So if it turns out your robot is 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:02.080 copying humans, not only are you denying a person a 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.600 chance to write the article. So you're denying a person 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:09.880 a job. Your robot is also stealing work from other humans. 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:14.080 It's kind of like a double dipping of bad AI practices. Now, 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:17.600 to be fair to see Net and to rend Ventures, UH, 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:20.400 they've stopped using AI to generate articles, at least for 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:23.240 the time being. I highly recommend you read the full 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:26.640 article that's on futurism. It has the title c nets 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:31.839 AI journalist appears to have committed extensive plagiarism and another 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:35.880 AI fail news item. You might remember I mentioned a 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.560 couple of weeks ago that Do Not Pay, the company 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.960 that helps normal everyday folks try to do stuff like 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:45.279 cancel their streaming subscriptions all the way up to getting 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:48.000 out of parking tickets, that that it was going to 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:51.960 participate in a court case next month, namely, a person 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:55.520 who was charged with a traffic citation in California was 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:58.000 going to wear some glasses equipped with cameras and a 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:01.839 microphone and wear an earp and then do Not Pay 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:05.240 as AI assistant would attempt to help the accused defend 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:08.880 themselves in traffic court. Those plans are now off the 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:13.159 table because Do Not Pays CEO Joshua Browder says the 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:16.440 company has scrapped the idea after receiving threats from quote 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:20.760 multiple state bar associations end quote, and that he and 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:24.400 the company could stand accused of the unauthorized practice of law, 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:26.800 which at least in some states can land you in 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:29.880 the pokey for up to six months. For those not 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:35.120 familiar with the phrase the pokey, that's that's jail. So 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:38.920 AI will not be pulling a matlock this February. I'm 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:42.400 I'm dropping a lot of old people references in this episode. 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:45.680 Give me a shout if you're if you're picking them up. Meanwhile, 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:49.040 state bar associations across the United States are evaluating how 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:51.880 to handle situations like this, which just a year ago 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:55.240 would have seemed like a silly fantasy. Also, Do not 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:58.640 Pay was in the news because it offered up a 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:01.440 million bucks to any all your schedule to argue before 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:04.120 the Supreme Court, saying all you have to do is 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:07.000 use an earpiece and it will connect to our AI 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:10.160 tool and the AI will tell you what to argue 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:12.160 in front of the court and you'll get a million dollars. 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:15.760 Most folks seem to portray Browder as the kind of 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:17.800 executive who likes to get a lot of publicity through 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:21.440 really splashy stunts, And in this case, it's kind of 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:25.640 hard for me to dispute that particular portrayal. On Tuesday, 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:28.800 the New York Stock Exchange had a rough morning. Stock 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:31.920 prices for normally stable companies began to swing as much 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:36.480 as twenty in a short amount of time. According to Bloomberg, 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:40.760 more than two hundred fifty companies were affected. So why 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:44.000 is this in tech stuff? What was causing these extreme 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:48.680 stock fluctuations? Was it economic instability? Was it news that 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:52.400 the doomsday clock is now sitting at ninety seconds? Was 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:54.560 it fears about how Russia is going to react to 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:58.159 Germany and the United States sending tanks to Ukraine. No, 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:02.120 the while morning was due to an n y s 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:06.760 E employee forgetting to turn off a backup system properly. 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:10.080 All right, So, clearly, for something as important to the 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:13.280 global economy as the New York Stock Exchange, that is, 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:17.440 the n y s E, then a backup is necessary, right. 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:20.800 There needs to be a way to switch on a 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:23.280 backup quickly in the event of a failure of the 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:26.760 primary system or else trading ends up being affected and 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:29.320 in a worst case scenario, it could prompt a real 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:33.200 financial crisis. So of course, the n y s E 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:36.960 has backups, and employees are supposed to check up on 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:41.040 these backup systems regularly, and typically this involves turning the 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:45.320 backup on after normal trading hours when the stock exchange 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.880 is closed, then verifying that the system is working the 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:52.000 way it's supposed to, and then shutting the system down again. 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:56.640 But on Tuesday, someone failed to do that last step 0:07:57.000 --> 0:08:00.000 of shutting it down again, and when the primary system 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:03.040 came online, it performed as if it had been going 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:05.760 for a while, like instead of being the beginning of 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.560 the trading day, it was acting as if it had 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:11.520 gone down and came back up while the backup was 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:15.440 in operation. And this through everything into a tizzy because 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:17.520 there were all these auctions that were supposed to go 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:19.280 off first thing in the morning, and it kind of 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:22.800 bypassed all this, and that's why prices started to fluctuate 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:25.000 like crazy because things were not going the way they 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:28.160 were supposed to. So then the New York Stock Exchange 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.560 had to spring into action and address this problem. And 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:33.160 now the n y s E is in the process 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:38.760 of reversing the trades that happened during the whole confusing process, 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:42.000 and that's gonna be a pretty expensive fix. So this 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.240 is a case where have you tried turning it off 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:47.440 and on again? Is the wrong approach. It's just have 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:51.200 you tried turning it off. Reuter's reports that according to 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:56.640 Standard Media Index, advertising spend on Twitter was down seventy 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:02.360 in December two. This was bad news, particularly after the 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:06.600 rough November, which reportedly saw a fifty five decline in 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:10.200 ad spending. And if you're ready for another percentage, Twitter 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:14.880 relies on advertising to make up of its revenue. So 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:18.360 this is really bad news for Twitter, and there have 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:21.320 been a lot of factors that could have contributed to 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.200 add money drying up. First up, there's this general global 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:28.880 economic situation we're all in where companies across the board 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:33.120 are cutting costs all over the place, which includes ad spend. 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.440 Marketing typically is one of the first areas hit when 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:40.120 companies want to buckle down and tighten their belts. Then 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:43.800 there's the concern that Twitter is turning into a more chaotic, toxic, 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:48.720 and frankly dangerous platform, especially for brands. With Elon Musk's 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:53.800 rather mercurial leadership style. Leading the way. Musk himself has 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:56.680 laid a lot of the blame on activist groups lobbying 0:09:56.760 --> 0:10:00.520 companies to pull ad money off Twitter. But keep in mind, 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:04.040 one of the reasons Musk gave when he was still 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:07.280 trying to back away from buying Twitter months and months 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:11.480 and months ago, back in mid two was that he 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.800 saw an economic downturn coming, and that could mean that 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:18.520 he was already worried about drops in revenue for Twitter. Also, 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.480 Musk recently announced that Twitter would offer a subscription tier 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:24.439 that would cost a little bit more than the normal subscription, 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:27.840 but would come with an ad free experience, and that 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.559 he said Twitter already has too many ads on it. 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:34.520 It's weird that he's saying this while he's also simultaneously 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:38.240 trying to bring advertisers back on board with Twitter, using 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:41.839 various incentives to bring them back into the fold. It's 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:43.400 getting to the point where you really don't know what 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:47.520 to believe as a user or as an advertiser. Okay, 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:50.800 while we sort all that out, let's take a quick break. 0:10:50.840 --> 0:11:03.240 We'll be back after these messages. We're back. Next up, 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:06.040 we've got some stories about censorship and how tech companies 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:09.800 are reportedly bowing to it, and Apple customers in Hong 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:13.840 Kong reported that Safari blocked at least for a while 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:18.440 access to certain sites like get lab last year, and 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:22.960 apparently this was because Apple has worked with Tencent in China, 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:26.880 and Tencent has a blacklist of sites that Chinese users 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:30.320 are not supposed to be able to access, which you know, 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:33.720 usually these directives come from the government, they're sent to 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.640 these these big companies, and Apple partners with ten Cent 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:42.200 in order to operate within China, so that's where this 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:45.840 was apparently coming from. But Hong Kong citizens have enjoyed 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:50.120 less authoritative oversight in the past, and it appears as 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:54.359 though ten cents blacklist was now extending to Hong Kong users, 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:57.960 something that Apple appears to have confirmed at some point 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:00.800 late last year. And the reason we have to be 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:03.600 vague about this is that it's not that Apple came 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:08.480 out and released a statement about this. Rather, Apple at 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:13.320 some point late in updated it's Safari privacy notice in 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:15.960 Hong Kong, and it took a while for folks to 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:18.200 notice that had happened, which is why we're only just 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:22.520 now hearing about this in the West. Apple has essentially 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:25.320 refused to comment on this. They Apple has said, you 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:27.000 know what, you need to go talk to ten Cent. 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:30.400 It's like ask your mom, Apple saying go talk to 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:32.960 tensent and tense. It is refusing to comment it on 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:36.720 it too. So that's where we are with that now. 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.839 On a related note, and in another Twitter story, the 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:44.240 Intercept reports that Twitter has bowed to political pressure in 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:49.160 India and is actively blocking links to a BBC documentary 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:54.719 that accuses India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi of taking a 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:59.040 prominent role in carrying out Gina side in Gujarat in 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:03.760 two thousand two. The Indian government has denounced this documentary, 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:07.520 calling it propaganda and demanding that companies like Twitter and 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:11.559 YouTube block links to it within India, and several people, 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:15.440 including actor John Cusack, have reported that their tweets that 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:19.800 included links to this documentary have been banned and blocked 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:22.480 in India, and Cusack has actually gone on to say 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:26.080 that his whole Twitter account is banned in India full stop. 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:30.959 The Intercept is pretty darn critical of Twitter and of Musk. 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:34.359 In the article I read this morning, uh, the Intercept 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:38.360 rather cheekily points out that Musk has been framed as 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:42.880 a free speech absolutist, and yet here's an example of 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:46.480 his company cow towing to authoritarian pressure. It's very much 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:50.040 not a free speech thing, like it's the opposite. It's 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:53.760 it's it's government censorship. Musk, for his part, says he 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:56.800 was not even aware of the issue and that all 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:00.360 his attention has been divided between Twitter, Tesla, and Space Sex, 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:03.400 which is a pretty dangerous thing for him to even tweet, 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.680 because there are a ton of Tesla investors who have 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:10.400 been angry about him for that specific reason that his 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:13.520 attention has been divided, and they've seen Twitter as this 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:20.720 big diversion that has in in turn caused Tesla to suffer. 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.240 And like if you look at the stock price for Tesla, 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:27.400 it's been in a rough place for the last year. Anyway, 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:29.880 it is concerning to see a government be able to 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:33.600 ban any news that it doesn't like, whether Musk himself 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:35.640 was aware of the issue or not. And again I 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:39.120 should also add Google agreed several times in the past 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:41.760 two demands from India's government to since there certain links 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:44.600 and videos, So it's not like Twitter is alone here. 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:50.720 It's one prominent example of a tech company appearing to 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:56.440 comply with an authoritarian government's demands to sensor materials so 0:14:56.520 --> 0:14:59.680 that citizens aren't able to access it, but it is 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:03.200 by no means the only one doing it. Last year, 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:06.920 I mentioned how Bloomberg reported on the Army's experience with 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:12.240 the Integrated Visual Augmentation System or IVAS, and this is 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:16.560 essentially it's a militarized and ruggedized version of the Microsoft 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:22.240 Hollowlens mixed reality headset. It's it's one that specifically developed 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.280 and tuned for the Army, and the Army's goal was 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:27.720 to work with Microsoft and develop a system that helps 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:30.920 soldiers be more effective in the field, including support for 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:35.640 stuff like target acquisition and better marksmanship. But as it 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:39.600 turns out, soldiers didn't much care for the technology. Reports 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:43.120 said that soldiers experienced health issues ranging from next train 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:46.600 to motion sickness, and that they were more accurate and 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:50.080 efficient when they were relying on their older equipment. So 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:52.960 a lot of soldiers just opted to not use the 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:56.200 headset at all. While some of this could be chalked 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:59.640 up to the adjustment period anyone encounters when they have 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:03.640 to in corporate new equipment into their their daily tasks, 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.960 the messages seemed to be that ives was performing well 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:12.000 under expectations. Task and Purpose dot Com published a piece 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:16.880 earlier this week saying Microsoft still allegedly had plans to 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:20.440 develop the platform and improve it further and release updates 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:22.960 to the IVAS platform, and that the Army still intends 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:27.680 to deploy this very very expensive headset because it had 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:31.840 already purchased thousands of the things, and each headset, by 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:37.880 the way, cost the Army forty dollars a piece grand 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:39.920 for one of these headsets. And I thought the upcoming 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:42.120 Apple headset was going to be expensive at three K. 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:45.960 But the Army could be waiting a really long time 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:50.000 before getting that new and improved Iva's headset. Because one 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:54.920 area within Microsoft that was hit very, very hard by 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:59.400 recent layoffs and cutbacks is the mixed reality divisions within 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:03.520 the company. I said one area. I guess areas would 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:06.240 be more appropriate, because it's separate departments that we're all 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:10.160 working within this general field. Gizmoto has an article that's 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:14.200 titled Microsoft cuts VR staff and leaves questions about its 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:18.280 metaverse ambitions, written by Kyle Barr, and a lot of 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:20.600 other outlets have also reported on this as well. It's 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:23.879 just I relied on Gizmoto as my prime source for 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:27.919 this particular news item. Essentially, it sounds like the mixed 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:33.440 reality division inside Microsoft was positively gutted, in some cases 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:37.320 to the point for all intents and purposes of being eliminated. 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:41.639 All Space VR, which Microsoft acquired in seventeen, announced it 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:44.760 will be shutting down in March. The few folks from 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:47.960 the Alt Space VR team who still are at Microsoft 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:51.119 are going to be shifted to work for Microsoft Mesh. 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:54.920 This is Microsoft project to bring VR into its Teams product. 0:17:55.520 --> 0:18:00.560 Other mixed reality departments were either severely downsized or outright jettison. 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:04.640 It's possible that the Hollow Lens has actually seen its 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:08.240 final days, and lots of news outlets are suggesting that 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:12.320 Microsoft maybe pulling back or even abandoning plans to develop 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:15.080 the Metaverse. And it was going to be a really 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:19.359 important partner with meta for that particular project. And y'all 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.960 you know, I've been super critical about the hype around Metaverse. 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:30.840 I still question the usefulness and and uh importance of 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:33.520 the Metaverse, but I definitely did not want to see 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:36.080 it all come crashing down like this, especially at the 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:38.639 expense of people's jobs. I would have much rather have 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:44.639 seen people get repurposed into other projects that could potentially 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:48.400 have greater benefit. I really questioned the benefit of the metaverse. 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:51.560 But yeah, I hate seeing folks getting laid off like this. 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:54.959 Our next story takes us to New York City and 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:59.879 Madison Square Gardens, So Masson Square Gardens or MSG, is 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.920 one of the famous venues here in the United States. 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:05.119 I think of Mass and Square Gardens the same way 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:07.880 I think of things like the Hollywood Bowl. A lot 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:11.320 of sporting events and concerts and stuff take place there. 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:14.320 And whenever I think of Mass and Square Gardens, honestly, 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:18.280 I just imagined professional rassling, maybe with a couple of 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:21.439 immortals ready to have a big hold sword fight with 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:24.400 one another. Give me a shout out if you actually 0:19:24.920 --> 0:19:28.840 understand that reference. But recently, MSG has been in the 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:34.440 news for a controversial practice, namely using facial recognition technology 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:38.159 at security checkpoints in order to identify and then deny 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:43.520 entry to certain folks, namely people who have been identified 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:46.439 as working for law firms that are currently or have 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:52.840 previously been involved in lawsuits against MSG Entertainment, even if 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:56.040 that person had was not an active part of that 0:19:56.119 --> 0:20:00.239 particular lawsuit. In other words, imagine that you show up 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:04.320 to go see a concert and you get to security 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:06.840 and you find out at the security checkpoint that you're 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:11.280 not allowed inside because the owner of the building doesn't 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:14.920 like the company you work for. That's the only reason. Oh, 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:17.680 you work for X, Y or Z, you can't come in. 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:20.880 We don't let you in here. Go home. That would 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:24.119 really stink, right, and it has New York's Attorney General 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:28.160 going after MSG Entertainment investigating if the company is violating 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:31.680 civil and human rights by relying on facial recognition tech 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:34.600 and denying entry in this way that it could be 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:38.280 retaliatory and against the law. Even if it turns out 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:41.960 it's not technically against the law, it sure does sound scummy, 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:45.120 doesn't it. By the way, Masson Square Gardens, in case 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:48.359 you were wondering, I look just like Ben Bolan of 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:51.160 stuff they don't want you to know. Okay, I've got 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:54.320 a couple more stories to finish up on that are 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:57.280 kind of cool and science, but we'll get to those 0:20:57.359 --> 0:21:10.560 after this quick break. Okay, let's get all science and 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:14.720 stuff for our final two news items for today's episode. 0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:19.600 First up is an article from side Tech Daily about 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:24.040 how research in the Physical Review Research Journal details how 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:31.040 artificial intelligence is helping the quantum computing discipline. It can 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:35.920 help maintain coherence within quantum systems. This is something that's 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:39.879 really tricky and incredibly important in quantum computing, but it 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:43.600 does require a bit of explanation. So quantum systems are 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:48.360 incredibly complicated and they are also very delicate. You've probably 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:54.680 heard about quantum experiments where you are able to get 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:58.280 really cool results until you observe the system and then 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:00.679 it all breaks down into one or the other. So 0:22:00.800 --> 0:22:05.080 the classic example is light behaving like a wave and 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:07.240 a particle at the same time, but when you observe 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:10.120 the system, it breaks down into one or the other. 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:12.840 It cannot be both at the same time. Well, you 0:22:12.880 --> 0:22:15.600 observe it because the system is broken down into a 0:22:15.640 --> 0:22:21.520 classical system. Well, Quantum computers can be used to tackle 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:26.520 problems where there are perhaps thousands of potential solutions and 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:28.960 the system is trying to determine what is the best 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:32.080 solution out of all those thousands, and it's essentially doing 0:22:32.119 --> 0:22:36.320 that simultaneously. It's it's essentially solving the problem with every 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:40.199 potential solution at the same time. However, if the quantum 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:43.639 system collapses, it can't do that anymore, and it becomes 0:22:43.640 --> 0:22:47.960 a classical system, and it becomes a very underpowered classical system. 0:22:48.080 --> 0:22:51.800 And the killer of it is these quantum systems are 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:56.080 so delicate. A couple of things can end up causing problems. 0:22:56.119 --> 0:23:00.359 There's this issue called damping, which is when essentially internal 0:23:00.400 --> 0:23:03.439 motion within the system starts to slow down and it 0:23:03.480 --> 0:23:07.679 can potentially come to a standstill. Another is collapse from 0:23:07.800 --> 0:23:12.959 environmental noise. Something external from the system causes the system 0:23:13.000 --> 0:23:18.600 to collapse. So maintaining the quantum system within a quantum 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:22.320 computer is of vital importance and it's very hard. But 0:23:22.840 --> 0:23:26.320 this research shows that AI can be used to help 0:23:27.000 --> 0:23:30.919 keep the system healthy and it does that through the 0:23:30.920 --> 0:23:36.199 the the judicious use of things like intense light and 0:23:36.400 --> 0:23:40.120 changes in voltage and applying different voltage to the system. 0:23:40.400 --> 0:23:43.240 And it has to be done precisely at just the 0:23:43.320 --> 0:23:46.000 right time and just the right intensity, which is why 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:49.520 AI is being used to do this. That AI is 0:23:49.680 --> 0:23:56.120 creating the system in which uh, these different effects can 0:23:56.119 --> 0:23:59.560 be applied to the quantum computer to keep it operational, 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:04.000 which is crazy science fiction kind of stuff to me. Uh, 0:24:04.000 --> 0:24:06.600 And I love that AI can help us make another 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:11.359 equally fascinating technology more effective through the use of zapping 0:24:11.720 --> 0:24:14.600 that technology at just the right time and just the 0:24:14.720 --> 0:24:18.400 right amount of power. And finally, researchers at the Chinese 0:24:18.440 --> 0:24:21.680 University of Hong Kong have developed a quote unquote robot 0:24:22.320 --> 0:24:28.280 out of a magneto active phase transitional matter or MPTM. 0:24:28.320 --> 0:24:30.520 And that sounds really complex, but when you start to 0:24:30.560 --> 0:24:33.399 break it down, it's actually not that hard to understand. 0:24:34.040 --> 0:24:36.800 It's hard to do, but you can at least understand 0:24:36.840 --> 0:24:39.840 what's going on. So magneto active tells us that this 0:24:39.920 --> 0:24:44.359 material reacts to magnets and magnetic fields. So you can 0:24:44.440 --> 0:24:48.119 conclude from that that this is how controllers can manipulate 0:24:48.160 --> 0:24:51.200 the robot. They can move it around and and move 0:24:51.320 --> 0:24:54.880 and manipulate in various ways using magnets and magnetic fields. 0:24:55.119 --> 0:24:56.840 All right, got it. So it's got some sort of 0:24:56.880 --> 0:25:00.640 magnetic material inside of it, but one of about phase 0:25:00.640 --> 0:25:03.600 transitional matter. What does that mean? Well, it means that 0:25:03.640 --> 0:25:07.120 the matter in question can move between different phases such 0:25:07.160 --> 0:25:10.000 as liquid and solid, and that, in fact is what 0:25:10.040 --> 0:25:13.240 we're talking about in this specific case. So this is 0:25:13.280 --> 0:25:17.320