A Microsoft executive is facing backlash after suggesting that recently laid-off employees use artificial intelligence to cope with unemployment. The company cut approximately 9,000 jobs last week, many in its gaming division, as it continues to shift focus and invest tens of billions of dollars into artificial intelligence. Matt Turnbull, an executive producer at Xbox Game Studios Publishing, posted AI-generated prompts to LinkedIn offering laid-off workers help with career planning, résumé writing, and even emotional support. The post, which has since been deleted, sparked swift criticism across social media where users called him'out of touch' and'tone-deaf.' 'These are really challenging times,' Turnbull wrote, encouraging displaced employees to use chatbots to help manage feelings of impostor syndrome and reframe their layoff experiences in a more positive light. His message included suggestions for using AI to develop 30-day job search plans and tailor résumés for different industries.

Despite a major usage and monetization gap, Meta, like many AI companies, is going all in on AI chatbots -- even giving them the ability to strike up a conversation with you, unprompted. According to a report from Business Insider published last week, leaked documents indicate the company is now building AI chatbots that proactively initiate conversations with users. The new feature is intended to boost user engagement and retention at a time when many leading tech developers are seeking new ways to commercialize conversational AI chatbots, on which vast sums of R&D dollars are being spent. OpenAI's ChatGPT, for example, will often end its responses to user queries with suggestions for follow-up questions aimed at keeping the user engaged. BI reported that the proactive chatbot effort is being coordinated in partnership with Alignerr, a company that employs contractors with expertise across various fields to help label the training data AI models ingest.

I am not a morning person, yet my alarm goes off at 5:30 am every day. This is because the editorial team I work with is on the East Coast, and I'm in Oregon. I do a quick check of email and Slack to make sure nothing is on fire, then settle down to a relaxed first cup of coffee. Unfortunately, one day in early June, my website was, at least figuratively, on fire. My hosting provider sent me a notice telling me that one of the plugins that kept the site secure had security vulnerabilities and needed to be deactivated.

It's been more than a year since Ikea's smart hub got a Matter update, but up until now, the Dirigea hub could only act as a bridge between Ikea devices and existing Matter networks. That's about to change thanks to a just-released firmware update. Dirigea firmware update 2.805.6 gives the Dirigea hub Matter controller capabilities, meaning it can now discover and take charge of Matter devices, including those from third-party manufacturers. The firmware update was confirmed by an Ikea rep on Reddit. Previously, the Dirigera hub could only expose Ikea devices to other Matter controllers, such as the Apple HomePod mini, the Amazon Echo, and the Google Nest Hub.

Sony's anime-focused streaming service Crunchyroll has come under fire after users pointed out substandard AI-generated subtitles in several of its series. For example, viewers reportedly saw the phrase "ChatGPT said" in the German subtitles for Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show. Both the English and German captions have been criticized for being sloppy and difficult to understand. Engadget reports that Crunchyroll confirmed a third-party provider violated its agreement by using AI, and the company is now investigating the incident. The company's CEO, Rahul Purini, previously said in an interview with The Verge that Crunchyroll has been testing AI subtitles to release episodes more quickly.

I am not a morning person, yet my alarm goes off at 5:30 am every day. This is because the editorial team I work with is on the East Coast, and I'm in Oregon. I do a quick check of email and Slack to make sure nothing is on fire, then settle down to a relaxed first cup of coffee. Unfortunately, one day in early June, my website was, at least figuratively, on fire. My hosting provider sent me a notice telling me that one of the plugins that kept the site secure had security vulnerabilities and needed to be deactivated.

Trey had struggled with alcoholism for 15 years, eventually drinking heavily each night before quitting in December. But staying sober was a struggle for the 36-year-old first responder from Atlanta, who did not wish to use his real name due to professional concerns. Then he discovered Alterd, an AI-powered journaling app that invites users to "explore new dimensions" geared towards psychedelics and cannabis consumers, meditators, and alcohol drinkers. In April, using the app as a tripsitter--a term for someone who soberly watches over another while they trip on psychedelics to provide reassurance and support--he took a huge dose of 700 micrograms of LSD. "I went from craving compulsions to feeling true freedom and not needing or wanting alcohol," he says.

Is an artificial intelligence revolution about to transform mathematics? Some prominent mathematicians think so, thanks to automated tools that can help write proofs suddenly showing impressive leaps in capability, with the potential to change the way maths research is done. Around 100 of the world's top mathematicians gathered at the University of Cambridge in June for a conference whose theme was based on whether computers might help mathematicians resolve some long-standing problems over how to check that their proofs were correct. This process, known as formalisation, doesn't necessarily have to involve artificial intelligence, and indeed a similar meeting held at Cambridge in 2017 made no mention of AI. But eight years later, AI has come on by leaps and bounds, most notably with the success of large language models powering tools like ChatGPT.

Financial services firms are making early gains from artificial intelligence (AI), which is not surprising given that finance is historically an industry that embraces new technologies aggressively. One surprising outcome is that AI might end up making the most critical functions of banking, insurance, and trading, or the creative functions that require human insights, even more valuable. "What happens is there's going to be a premium on creativity and judgment that goes into the process," said John Kain, who is head of market development efforts in financial services for AWS, in an interview with ZDNET via Zoom. By process, he meant those areas that are most advanced, and presumably hardest to automate, such as a bank's risk calculations. "So much of what's undifferentiated will be automated," said Kaine.

Does artificial intelligence (AI) make working life easier or complicated? Experts suggest the answer depends on the context. In a recent IDC-hosted interview, SIAC CEO Toni Townes-Whitley described AI as the ultimate weapon against system complexity, noting that her company is employing AI to reduce tech complexity in some of the most complex technology environments on the planet -- within the US Department of Defense. Also: Amazon's Andy Jassy says AI will take some jobs but make others more'interesting' Her team has been able to reduce mission planning and other operational functions at the department from "hours to minutes," she said. AI can have the same impact in commercial businesses, "reducing time and toil for business development, proposal development, searching, and creating new documents and content."