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Video shows severely damaged building in Ukraine from Russian attack

Al Jazeera

Could Ukraine hold a presidential election right now? Will Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund war? How can Ukraine rebuild China ties? 'Ukraine is running out of men, money and time' A Russian drone strike hit a residential building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, injuring seven people and causing significant damage, according to local officials. Residents said the blast shattered windows and sparked a fire in the apartment block.


AI Mode in Google search can now pull context from your other apps

Engadget

Bungie's Marathon arrives on March 5 How to claim Verizon's $20 outage credit Google is rolling out Personal Intelligence for AI Mode in Search. After adding Personal Intelligence to Gemini as an opt-in experience, Google has announced that it's also integrating the feature into AI Mode in Search. What Personal Intelligence does is pull information from your Google apps to tailor its responses based on your history and interests. For Search, in particular, you can allow Personal Intelligence to look for information in your Gmail accounts and Google Photos libraries. If you use AI Mode to shop for clothes with the new feature enabled, for instance, Google could recommend items or models from a brand you previously purchased from.


This robot hand can detach from its arm and crawl around

Popular Science

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Engineers in Switzerland recently created a detachable, spider-like robot hand capable of grabbing multiple objects and using its fingers to crawl. The unsettling device, reminiscent of a threatening video game creature, can separate itself from a mounted robot arm, tip-toe (or really, tip-) its way toward small objects, pick them up, and carry them on its back. The symmetrical design and flexible fingers mean that the robot can transport objects on either side of its body. For humans, that would look like holding a ball in your palm while simultaneously grasping a piece of fruit on the back of your hand.


Grok AI generated about 3m sexualised images in 11 days, study finds

The Guardian

'What Elon [Musk] was ginning up was controversy, eyeballs, engagement and users,' CCDH's chief executive said. 'What Elon [Musk] was ginning up was controversy, eyeballs, engagement and users,' CCDH's chief executive said. Estimate made by Center for Countering Digital Hate after Elon Musk's AI image generation tool sparked outrage Grok AI generated about 3m sexualised images in less than two weeks, including 23,000 that appear to depict children, according to researchers who said it "became an industrial-scale machine for the production of sexual abuse material". The estimate has been made by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) after Elon Musk's AI image generation tool sparked international outrage when it allowed users to upload photographs of strangers and celebrities, digitally strip them to their underwear or into bikinis, put them in provocative poses and post the images on X. The trend went viral over the new year, peaking on 2 January with 199,612 individual requests, according to analysis conducted by Peryton Intelligence, a digital intelligence company specialising in online hate.


From Hamnet to One Battle After Another - the nominees list in full

BBC News

Hollywood has revealed the nominations for this year's Oscars, which will honour the film industry's finest stars and movies from the past 12 months. Sinners leads the way with a record 16 nominations, breaking the record for the most Oscar nominations, which was previously held by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997) and La La Land (2016). One Battle After Another is next with 13 nominations, while Marty Supreme, Frankenstein and Sentimental Value are next with nine, and Hamnet has eight. The awards will take place on 15 March, hosted by US comedian Conan O'Brien. Rose Byrne - If I Had Legs I'd Kick You Read more about this year's nominated films: Could Oscar glory be next for Jessie Buckley and Hamnet?


Scarlett Johansson and Cate Blanchett back campaign accusing AI firms of theft

The Guardian

Johansson was dragged into the AI debate after OpenAI's voice assistant used her vocal likeness, prompting the actor to say she was'angered' by the move. Johansson was dragged into the AI debate after OpenAI's voice assistant used her vocal likeness, prompting the actor to say she was'angered' by the move. Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchett, REM and Jodi Picoult are among hundreds of Hollywood stars, musicians and authors backing a new campaign accusing AI companies of "theft" of their work. The "Stealing Isn't Innovation" drive launched on Thursday with the support of approximately 800 creative professionals and bands. It adds: "Artists, writers, and creators of all kinds are banding together with a simple message: Stealing our work is not innovation.


Snow isn't actually white

Popular Science

Winter wonderlands are only possible thanks to a sparkly light trick. Few languages have as many distinct words for snow as Japanese, which has words like miyuki or beautiful snow. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. When someone says " as white as snow," it's easy to envision what they're talking about. We often think of snow as a dazzling white, the same way we immediately conjure up a color when someone says "blood red" or "ocean blue."


I love AI. But the more I use it, the more I hate it

PCWorld

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Excitement has turned into disdain. The more I use it, the more I hate it. Artificial intelligence, like Mondays, is becoming universally disliked--so much so that I feel redundant writing about how much I've grown to hate it lately. And yet, I find myself using it more and more.


A-List creatives sign up to fight AI, say it enables 'theft at a grand scale'

Engadget

Bungie's Marathon arrives on March 5 How to claim Verizon's $20 outage credit A-List creatives sign up to fight AI, say it enables'theft at a grand scale' Scarlett Johansson, R.E.M., Vince Gilligan and hundreds of others proclaim that'stealing isn't innovation.' Actors, musicians and writers team up to fight AI'theft at a grand scale' (Stealing isn't innovation) Scarlett Johannsson, R.E.M., Vince Gilligan and over 700 other artists are demanding that tech companies stop "stealing" their work in order to train AI models. A new campaign called " Stealing isn't Innovation " demands that AI companies take "the responsible, ethical route" through licensing and partnerships, according to the website. "America's creative community is the envy of the world and creates jobs, economic growth and exports," a statement on the website reads. The group adds that the "illegal intellectual property grab" has resulted in an information ecosystem dominated by "misinformation, deepfakes and a vapid artificial avalanche of low-quality materials ['AI slop'] threatening America's AI superiority and international competitiveness." However, actors, musicians and authors take issue with that idea, particularly when they see their likenesses or work repurposed as slop or worse by large language models (LLMs).