When human solvers battle artificial intelligence, who is able to think more cryptically, faster? And are some devious clues just too tough for software? The Times hosts an annual crossword-solving competition and it remains, until such time as the Guardian has its own version, the gold standard. This year’s competitors included a dog. Rather, an AI represented as a jolly coffee-drinking dog named Ross (a name hidden in “crossword”), and who is embedded on the Crossword Genius smartphone app. 1ac MP ousted by Liberal, absolutely without authority (9) 13d Radical overhaul of motorsport’s image (9) Continue reading...

System built by Google DeepMind team takes individual views and generates a set of group statements Artificial intelligence could help reduce some of the most contentious culture war divisions through a mediation process, researchers claim. Experts say a system that can create group statements that reflect majority and minority views is able to help people find common ground. Continue reading...

The assistant, which has sparked privacy concerns, can also be accessed on £299 Ray-Ban Meta sunglasses Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has launched its artificial intelligence assistant in the UK, alongside AI-boosted sunglasses modelled by Mark Zuckerberg. Meta’s AI assistant, which can generate text and images, is now available on its social media platforms in the UK and Brazil, having already been launched in the US and Australia. Continue reading...

Google DeepMind chief believes in benefits of AI but says risks must be taken as seriously as the climate crisis Most 17-year-olds spend their days playing video games, but Britain’s latest Nobel prize winner spent his teenage years developing them. Sir Demis Hassabis, who was jointly awarded the chemistry prize on Wednesday, got his big break in the tech world as co-designer of 1994’s hit game Theme Park, where players create and operate amusement parks. Continue reading...

The startup behind ChatGP, which is reportedly planning to become a for-profit business, is now valued on par with Uber OpenAI has raised $6.6bn (£5bn) in a funding round that values the artificial intelligence business at $157bn, with chipmaker Nvidia and Japanese group SoftBank among its investors. The San Francisco-based startup, responsible for the ChatGPT chatbot, did not give details of a reported restructuring that will transform it into a for-profit business. The funding round was led by Thrive Capital, a US venture capital fund, and other backers include MGX, an Abu Dhabi-backed investment firm. Continue reading...

William Saunders, a former research engineer at the startup, concerned about who will make safety decisions OpenAI’s plan to become a for-profit company could encourage the artificial intelligence startup to cut corners on safety, a whistleblower has warned. William Saunders, a former research engineer at OpenAI, told the Guardian he was concerned by reports that the ChatGPT developer is preparing to change its corporate structure and will no longer be controlled by its non-profit board. Continue reading...

Though the message has been shared by many users, including celebrities, it offers no copyright or privacy protection The “Goodbye Meta AI” message, which purports to protect the user from having the likes of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp use their accounts as an AI training camp, has become an increasingly common feature on timelines. It has been shared by actors and sports stars – including James McAvoy, Ashley Tisdale and Tom Brady – as well as hundreds of thousands of others. But why – and what effect, if any, will it have? Continue reading...

Roasting can be really brutal, but at least if we inflict it on ourselves, we can get ahead of the joke A friend recently shared a comment someone had made about her online. Sophie was a middle-aged, never-was influencer, in this stranger’s estimation, who exploited her children and alienated everyone she met. As I debated whether “liking” the post would read as support or broad agreement, I noticed a strange watermark. The vicious words had been generated not by a bitter stranger, but an AI roast app. My demented friend had asked for this. Who would volunteer to be insulted? A wave of apps such as Roastai.app, Roastedby.ai, Roastik.com and er, Monica.im suggest the answer is loads of us. Every day, people upload selfies to the Reddit page r/RoastMe, begging to be taken down a peg or two hundred. “You look like a series of circles stacked on top of one another,” the users exult. “Why does your forehead start at the back of your head?” There is a cruel craft to it. One sedentary rapper recently got called “The Notorious BMI”, while someone else, who I don’t even think had strabismus, was accused of having “mortgage eyes – one fixed, one variable.” Continue reading...

Forget Hollywood depictions of gun-toting robots running wild in the streets – the reality of artificial intelligence is far more dangerous, warns the historian and author in an exclusive extract from his new book Throughout history many traditions have believed that some fatal flaw in human nature tempts us to pursue powers we don’t know how to handle. The Greek myth of Phaethon told of a boy who discovers that he is the son of Helios, the sun god. Wishing to prove his divine origin, Phaethon demands the privilege of driving the chariot of the sun. Helios warns Phaethon that no human can control the celestial horses that pull the solar chariot. But Phaethon insists, until the sun god relents. After rising proudly in the sky, Phaethon indeed loses control of the chariot. The sun veers off course, scorching all vegetation, killing numerous beings and threatening to burn the Earth itself. Zeus intervenes and strikes Phaethon with a thunderbolt. The conceited human drops from the sky like a falling star, himself on fire. The gods reassert control of the sky and save the world. Two thousand years later, when the Industrial Revolution was making its first steps and machines began replacing humans in numerous tasks, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published a similar cautionary tale titled The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Goethe’s poem (later popularised as a Walt Disney animation starring Mickey Mouse) tells of an old sorcerer who leaves a young apprentice in charge of his workshop and gives him some chores to tend to while he is gone, such as fetching water from the river. The apprentice decides to make things easier for himself and, using one of the sorcerer’s spells, enchants a broom to fetch the water for him. But the apprentice doesn’t know how to stop the broom, which relentlessly fetches more and more water, threatening to flood the workshop. In panic, the apprentice cuts the enchanted broom in two with an axe, only to see each half become another broom. Now two enchanted brooms are inundating the workshop with water. When the old sorcerer returns, the apprentice pleads for help: “The spirits that I summoned, I now cannot rid myself of again.” The sorcerer immediately breaks the spell and stops the flood. The lesson to the apprentice – and to humanity – is clear: never summon powers you cannot control. Continue reading...

Robert Skidelsky is concerned about the surveillance potential or AI, while Brian Reffin Smith is worried about its capacity to hijack culture, and Michael Heaton warns that it relieves us of the need to think In his interesting opinion article (Robots sacked, screenings shut down: a new movement of luddites is rising up against AI, 27 July), Ed Newton-Rex misses one of the most serious concerns about artificial intelligence: its surveillance potential. Governments have always spied on their subjects/citizens: technology multiplies their powers of spying. In his novel 1984, George Orwell had the authorities install a two-way telescreen system in every party member’s home, and in all workplaces and public spaces. This allowed Big Brother to monitor individuals’ actions and conversations, while he himself remained invisible. Continue reading...