Last fall, Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, asked his counterpart at Microsoft, Satya Nadella, if the tech giant would invest billions of dollars in the start-up. Microsoft had already pumped $13 billion into OpenAI, and Mr. Nadella was initially willing to keep the cash spigot flowing. But after OpenAI’s board …
Read More »Sperm Can’t Unlock an Egg Without This Ancient Molecular Key
They’re the original odd couple: One is massive, spherical and unmoving. The other is tiny, has a tail and never stops swimming. Yet the union of egg and sperm is critical for every sexually reproducing animal on Earth. Exactly how that union occurs has long been a mystery to scientists. …
Read More »Hungry for Energy, Amazon, Google and Microsoft Turn to Nuclear Power
Technology companies are increasingly looking to nuclear power plants to provide the emissions-free electricity needed to run artificial intelligence and other businesses. Microsoft, Google and Amazon have recently struck deals with operators and developers of nuclear power plants to fuel the boom in data centers, which provide computing services to …
Read More »Trump Signals Skepticism of Google Breakup, Citing Competition With China
Former President Donald J. Trump, whose administration sued Google over allegations it violated antitrust law, indicated that he might not break up the company if he regained the presidency, describing it as a bulwark against China’s technology ambitions. “China is afraid of Google,” Mr. Trump said while speaking on Tuesday …
Read More »Opinion | OpenAI Could Be a Force for Good if It Can Answer These Questions First
OpenAI is now worth as much as Goldman Sachs or AT&T. The artificial intelligence start-up behind ChatGPT has also said it intends to shed its status as a nonprofit to become a for-profit business within two years. Outside experts and OpenAI employees have expressed concern that as a result, the …
Read More »Opinion | Doctors, A.I. and Empathy for Patients
More from our inbox: Breast Cancer ScreeningWalz’s MisstepsMental Health Support for Schoolchildren To the Editor: Re “ChatGPT’s Bedside Manner Is Better Than Mine,” by Jonathan Reisman (Opinion guest essay, Oct. 9): Dr. Reisman notes that ChatGPT’s answers to patient questions have been rated as more empathetic than those written by …
Read More »A Shift in the World of Science
By Alan Burdick and Katrina Miller We are journalists on The Times’s Science desk. Technology observers have grown increasingly vocal in recent years about the threat that artificial intelligence poses to the human variety. A.I. models can write and talk like us, draw and paint like us, crush us at …
Read More »Nevada Asked A.I. Which Students Need Help. The Answer Caused an Outcry.
Nevada has long had the most lopsided school funding in the country. Low-income districts there have nearly 35 percent less money to spend per pupil than wealthier ones do — the largest gap of any state. A year ago, Nevada set out to improve on that dubious status with some …
Read More »A Flood of A.I. Slop + Searching for Satoshi + the Hot Mess Express Returns
Listen to and follow ‘Hard Fork’Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTube | iHeartRadio Hosted by Kevin Roose and Casey Newton Produced by Rachel Cohn and Whitney Jones Edited by Jen Poyant Engineered by Chris Wood Original music by Dan PowellRowan Niemisto and Pat McCusker This week, in the wake …
Read More »A Filmmaker Explores Climate and Democracy
The Athens Democracy Forum last week featured an array of speakers from countries worldwide: politicians, leaders of nonprofits, youths dedicated to promoting democracy. Michael P. Nash was the only filmmaker to speak. Mr. Nash, who resides in Nashville and Los Angeles, is behind more than a dozen documentaries and psychological …
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