Microsoft has taken Bing's GPT-4 powered chatbot out of "preview" and removed the waitlist so anyone with a Microsoft account using the Edge browser can bombard it questions until they get bored and move on with their life. They've also added new features to Bing Chat, like not having to leave the site to accomplish certain tasks (e.g: restaurant bookings), including images and videos in search results and adding a chat history with the ability to export. The big feature however are third party plug-ins, essentially creating a developer platform for Bing Chat. More details on that will come at Microsoft's Build conference in a few weeks.
Over at Google, someone leaked a "very recent" internal document to SemiAnalysis, in which "a researcher" argues that they, along with OpenAI, do not have a "moat" against a growing number of open-source AI projects that are "lapping us" and "doing things with $100 and 13B params that we struggle with at $10M and 540B" in "weeks, not months", with the leaking of Facebook's LLaMA being the catalyst for all of it. The researcher is essentially arguing that Google (and OpenAI, who are not so open these days) should open source everything they're doing and let the wider public experiment and do stuff that Google will never do because it's either too big or too afraid of the ramifications. Hard to argue with the results.
The USA's FTC has found that Meta has once again "misled parents about their ability to control with whom their children communicated through its Messenger Kids app, and misrepresented the access it provided some app developers to private user data", violating orders from 2017 and 2020 saying they will stop doing that. The FTC now wants additional orders placed on Meta - "a blanket prohibition against monetizing data of children and teens under 18", "a pause on the launch of new products, services" and "limits on future uses of facial recognition technology". I would like to see "jail time for Meta management" added to that list, but that's just me.
The Verge has a story on the long, sordid history of the UK's Online Safety Bill. This piece of shit law has been pushed uphill for years, claiming to protect children and make the UK the safest place in the world to use the internet. In reality, it is yet more unnecessary mass surveillance designed to satisfy curtain twitchers, introduce a regulatory moat startups can't compete with and line the pockets of various companies that'll flog products so other companies can comply with the onerous law. By the way, Australia passed 90% of this law a few years ago and has the eSafety Commissioner (poorly) enforcing it, while begging for more powers that exceed even what the UK is planning.
Here's five interesting discussions over on The Sizzle's paid subscriber forum for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get onboard.
A pole with multiple surveillance cameras ominously overlooking the car park at Bacchus Marsh railway station. I saw it while walking from my car to the station and thought it looks creepy.
📻 Wasted / Fix Me - Silverchair
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