OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has slammed a media report about the imminent release of Orion, which is effectively ChatGPT-5, with a terse tweet on X.com. He described the report as “fake news out of control”, quashing rumors of a new version of ChatGPT before December.

fake news out of controlOctober 25, 2024

The report by The Verge quotes ‘sources’ as claiming Microsoft is planning to host Orion, the successor to ChatGPT-4 on its servers in November, pointing towards a release for the new LLM in time for ChatGPT’s 2nd birthday next month.

ChatGPT’s 2nd birthday

Altman, who has a history of posting cryptic messages on X.com that hint at upcoming product releases in a coded way, posted on 21 October “Whoa ChatGPT's 2nd birthday is next month!”, followed up by a tweet saying, “What should we give it for a birthday present…”

whoa ChatGPT's 2nd birthday is next month!October 21, 2024

Many users took this to mean a new product launch was imminent around the time of ChatGPT’s 2nd birthday (ChatGPT was released on 30 November 2022). Altman’s latest X.com post however would seem to remove any ambiguity around the event.

In a previous cryptic post on 14 September, Altman wrote “I love being home in the midwest. the night sky is so beautiful. excited for the winter constellations to rise soon; they are so great.”

i love being home in the midwest.the night sky is so beautiful.excited for the winter constellations to rise soon; they are so great.September 14, 2024

Since the Winter constellation Orion is most visible in the night sky from November to February, this was taken as another hint about a possible release date for Orion.

Most popular by far

ChatGPT is the most widely used chatbot in the US with a whopping 24.9 million searches for the term each month, according to Superside, which puts it a long way ahead of the next most searched-for AI chatbot, Google's Gemini on 1.5 million searches. You can use ChatGPT for several useful tasks like planning a trip, researching subjects for a school project, or simply coming up with a plan to get your next business idea off the ground.

ChatGPT will be integrated into an upcoming version of Apple Intelligence, running on compatible Apple devices, and become accessible through the Siri virtual assistant. ChatGPT is also accessible via a stand-alone mobile app that features an Advanced Voice mode on mobile, which enables you to chat with the AI just as you would chat with a human being.

We contacted OpenAI for comment on this story but they simply referred us to Altman’s tweet, saying “The best response is Sam’s tweet, which sums it up!”

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The 2024 election has a new main character.

Donald Trump, Elon Musk and CNN have cited election predictions from Polymarket, a betting site where crypto enthusiasts have wagered more than $100 million on who will win the presidency.

Character.AI has rolled out new safety features and policies for building and interacting with the AI-powered virtual personalities it hosts. The new measures aim to make the platform safer for all users, but particularly younger people. The update includes more control over how minors engage with the AI chatbot, more content moderation, and better detection of the AI discussing topics like self-harm.

Though not cited in the blog post about the update, Character AI linked to the announcement in a post on X expressing condolences to the family of a 14-year-old who spent months interacting with one of Character.AI's chatbots before taking his own life. His family has now filed a lawsuit against Character.AI for wrongful death, citing a lack of safeguards for the AI chatbots as a contributor to his suicide​.

We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of one of our users and want to express our deepest condolences to the family. As a company, we take the safety of our users very seriously and we are continuing to add new safety features that you can read about here:…October 23, 2024

AI chat guardrails

Character AI's post laid out several new safety features for the platform. For instance, if the model detects keywords related to suicide or self-harm, it will display a pop-up urging the user to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and related resources. The AI will also be better at spotting and removing inappropriate content in a conversation, with a particular sensitivity to when users are under 18.

Presumably, minors would already have restricted content in conversations, but Character.AI may have upped that sensitivity further. In cases where that might not be enough, entire chatbots have been removed.

"We conduct proactive detection and moderation of user-created Characters, including using industry-standard and custom blocklists that are regularly updated. We proactively, and in response to user reports, remove Characters that violate our Terms of Service," Character.AI explained in its post. "Users may notice that we’ve recently removed a group of Characters that have been flagged as violative, and these will be added to our custom blocklists moving forward."

Other new features are more about helping ground users. So, you'll see a notification when you have spent an hour on the platform asking if you want to keep going as a way of helping make sure you don't lose track of time. You'll also see more prominent disclaimers emphasizing that the AI is not a real person. There are already such disclaimers in the conversations, but Character.AI wants to make it impossible to ignore.

These safety features are the flipside of how Character.AI has made engaging with chatbots feel more like talking to a real person, including voices and the two-way voice conversations available with the Character Calls feature. Still, the company is likely keen to ensure its services are as safe as possible, and its moves could inform how others in the space shape their own AI chatbot characters.

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(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

If Batman: Arkham Shadow is tempting you to finally pick up a Meta Quest 3 or Meta Quest 3S, or you already own one of Meta’s best VR headsets, then this might sweeten the deal. Meta has revealed the dates of the 52 free NBA and WNBA matches it’s hosting in Horizon Worlds for the 2024-2025 season.

To catch you up to speed, Meta allows its headset owners (in supported regions) to jump into the NBA Arena in Horizon Worlds to virtually sit courtside during live matches. If you miss the game, you can also tune into immersive highlights for 24 hours after the game has ended. Additionally, you can play mini-games and hang out with friends like you would in other Horizon Worlds.

If you subscribe to NBA League Pass, you can use Xtadium to watch every live 2D game in mixed reality – it’s not quite as immersive, but it's still a lot of fun for sports fans, especially if you’re already paying for the content.

Every free immersive NBA and WNBA game

Here’s the full list of free matches you can watch:

• October 25 – Chicago Bulls vs. Milwaukee Bucks – 5pm PT
• October 26 – Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Chicago Bulls – 5pm PT
• October 28 – Indiana Pacers vs. Orlando Magic – 4pm PT
• November 2 – Golden State Warriors vs. Houston Rockets – 5pm PT
• November 4 – Los Angeles Lakers vs. Detroit Pistons – 4:30pm PT
• November 7 – Portland Trail Blazers vs. San Antonio Spurs – 7pm PT
• November 12 – Phoenix Suns vs. Utah Jazz – 6pm PT
• November 15 – Miami Heat vs. Indiana Pacers – 4pm PT
• November 19 – Denver Nuggets vs. Memphis Grizzlies – 5pm PT
• November 22 – Boston Celtics vs. Washington Wizards – 4pm PT
• November 24 – LA Clippers vs. Philadelphia 76ers – 3pm PT
• November 26 – Houston Rockets vs. Minnesota Timberwolves – 5pm PT
• November 29 – Orlando Magic vs. Brooklyn Nets – 4:30pm PT
• December 1 – Boston Celtics vs. Cleveland Cavaliers – 3pm PT
• December 3 – Philadelphia 76ers vs. Charlotte Hornets – 4pm PT
• December 5 – Phoenix Suns vs. New Orleans Pelicans – 5pm PT
• December 8 – Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Golden State Warriors – 3:30pm PT
• December 20 – Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Miami Heat – 5pm PT
• December 26 – Miami Heat vs. Orlando Magic – 4pm PT
• December 27 – Dallas Mavericks vs. Phoenix Suns – 6pm PT
• December 28 – Milwaukee Bucks vs. Chicago Bulls – 6pm PT
• December 29 – Indiana Pacers vs. Boston Celtics – 3pm PT
• January 3, 2025 – San Antonio Spurs vs. Denver Nuggets – 6pm PT
• January 4, 2025 – New York Knicks vs. Chicago Bulls – 5pm PT
• January 6, 2025 – Dallas Mavericks vs. Memphis Grizzlies – 5pm PT
• January 10, 2025 – Golden State Warriors vs. Indiana Pacers – 4pm PT
• January 18, 2025 – Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Minnesota Timberwolves – 6pm PT
• January 19, 2025 – Philadelphia 76ers vs. Milwaukee Bucks – 4pm PT
• January 24, 2025 – Portland Trail Blazers vs. Charlotte Hornets – 4pm PT
• January 27, 2025 – Orlando Magic vs. Miami Heat – 4:30pm PT
• February 2, 2025 – LA Clippers vs. Toronto Raptors – 12:30pm PT
• February 3, 2025 – Milwaukee Bucks vs. Oklahoma City Thunder – 5pm PT
• February 8, 2025 – Indiana Pacers vs. Los Angeles Lakers – 5pm PT
• February 10, 2025 – Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Cleveland Cavaliers – 4pm PT
• February 22, 2025 – Phoenix Suns vs. Chicago Bulls – 4:30pm PT
• February 24, 2025 – Denver Nuggets vs. Indiana Pacers – 4pm PT
• March 3, 2025 – Houston Rockets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder – 5pm PT
• March 10, 2025 – Dallas Mavericks vs. San Antonio Spurs – 5:30pm PT
• March 14, 2025 – LA Clippers vs. Atlanta Hawks – 4:30pm PT
• March 16, 2025 – Orlando Magic vs. Cleveland Cavaliers – 3pm PT
• March 20, 2025 – New York Knicks vs. Charlotte Hornets – 4pm PT
• March 22, 2025 – Golden State Warriors vs. Atlanta Hawks – 4pm PT
• March 23, 2025 – Denver Nuggets vs. Houston Rockets – 3pm PT
• March 24, 2025 – Dallas Mavericks vs. Brooklyn Nets – 4:30pm PT
• March 27, 2025 – Los Angeles Lakers vs. Chicago Bulls – 4pm PT
• March 28, 2025 – New York Knicks vs. Milwaukee Bucks – 5pm PT
• March 29, 2025 – Miami Heat vs. Philadelphia 76ers – 4:30pm PT
• March 31, 2025 – LA Clippers vs. Orlando Magic – 4pm PT
• April 5, 2025 – New York Knicks vs. Atlanta Hawks – 12pm PT
• April 6, 2025 – Indiana Pacers vs. Denver Nuggets – 5pm PT
• April 11, 2025 – LA Clippers vs. Sacramento Kings – 7pm PT
• April 13, 2025 – LA Lakers vs. Portland Trail Blazers – 12:30pm PT

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Prostock-studio) Don't dismiss Horizon Worlds

Horizon Worlds is one of those apps that I’ll be the first to admit is easy to dismiss. A disappointing launch and sporadic rollout meant it never quite hit its stride in many people’s eyes.

That’s definitely starting to change. The Worlds it offers are steadily becoming a lot more impressive, and with these free sports games and free immersive concerts being hosted regularly, it’s become one of those VR apps which, if you aren’t using regularly, you’re missing out on a big chunk of what your Meta Quest headset has to offer.

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Want to star in an animated film as an anthropomorphic animal version of yourself? Runway's AI video creation platform has a new AI tool to do just that. The new Act-One feature may make motion-capture suits and manual computer animation unnecessary to match live action.

Act-One streamlines what is usually a long process for facial animation. All you need is a video camera facing an actor and able to capture their face as they perform.

The AI fueling Act-One reworks the facial movements and expressions from the inputted video to fit an animated character. Runway claims even the most nuanced emotions are visible through micro-expressions, eyeliners, and other facets of the performance. Act-One can even produce multi-character dialogue scenes, which Runway suggests are difficult for most generative AI video models.

To produce one, a single actor performs multiple roles, and the AI animates the different performances mapped onto different characters in one scene as though they are talking to each other.

That's a far cry from the laborious traditional animation requirements and makes animation far more accessible to creators with limited budgets or technical experience. Not that it's always going to match the skills of talented teams of animators with big movie budgets, but the relatively low barrier of entry might let amateurs and those with limited resources have the chance to play with character designs that are still realistic in portraying emotions, all without breaking the bank or missing deadlines. You can see some demonstrations below.

Animated Runway

Act-One is, in some ways, an enhancement for Runway's video-to-video feature within its Gen-3 Alpha model. But while that tool uses a video and a text prompt to adjust the setting, performers, or other elements, Act-One skips straight to mapping human expressions onto animated characters. It also fits with how Runway has been pushing out more features and options for its platform, such as the Gen-3 Alpha Turbo version of its model, which sacrifices some functionality for speed.

Like its other AI video tools, Runway has some restrictions on Act-One to prevent people from misusing it or breaking its terms and conditions. You can't make content with public figures, for instance, and it employs techniques to ensure anyone whose voice is used in the final video has given their permission. The model is continuously monitored to spot any attempts to break those or other rules.

"We're excited to see what forms of creative storytelling Act-One brings to animation and character performance. Act-One is another step forward in our goal to bringing previously sophisticated techniques to a broader range of creators and artists," Runway wrote in its announcement. "We look forward to seeing how artists and storytellers will use Act-One to bring their visions to life in new and exciting ways."

Act-One may be somewhat unique among AI video generators, though Adobe Firefly and Meta’s MovieGen have some similar efforts in their portfolio. Runway’s Act-One seems to be much easier to use than Firefly's equivalent and more available than the restricted MovieGen model.

Still, there's s ever more AI video competition as OpenAI's Sora model starts to spread, and Stability AI, Pika, Luma Labs' Dream Machine, and others push out a steady stream of features for AI video production. If you want to try Act-One, Runway's paid plans start at $12 a month.

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A national security memorandum detailed how agencies should streamline operations with artificial intelligence safely.

Intel was for decades Silicon Valley’s dominant chip company. But missed opportunities and poor execution left it on the sidelines in tech’s latest gold rush.

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Microsoft is adding Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to Windows' Photos app, enabling users to scan and copy text directly from images. This feature will be available on Windows 11 and Windows 10 when it is officially released.

On 22 October 2024, Microsoft announced upcoming updates to its Photos app, some of which are already available for preview to Windows Insiders via Windows 11’s Insider Channel. This allows Insiders to test and provide feedback on the new features before a full rollout.

For Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs, Microsoft also plans to introduce 'super resolution' to enhance its Photos app. These updates aim to improve the overall user experience by using AI to enhance and enlarge images by up to 8x their original size through the super resolution feature.

How does OCR work?

OCR will essentially allow users to effortlessly extract text from images. Whether you’re dealing with notes, pictures, documents, or screenshots, the app can automatically detect and copy text straight to your clipboard. This will streamline your workflow by letting you paste the extracted text into other apps, reducing the need for manual data entry.

Using the OCR feature is pretty simple: just tap the icon below an image to extract text. Microsoft designed the tool to make tasks like managing information in images easier and improve productivity. It’s particularly valuable for accessibility, as users with visual impairments or similar disabilities can have text read aloud or converted to formats compatible with screen readers.

The OCR feature can also benefit professionals, students, and researchers by enabling them to copy and paste text from images into emails or documents thus streamlining their work. Additionally, it supports over 160 languages.

Despite Windows 10 reaching its End-of-Life support on 14 October 2025, Microsoft will roll out these features to both Windows 11 and Windows 10 PCs. Microsoft is obligated to provide Windows 10 updates until support officially ends, and the operating system still has a significant user base due to hardware limitations, business needs, and personal preferences. As users eventually transition to Windows 11, they will already be familiar with many of the new features.

More improvements incoming for Windows users

There are additional updates coming too, like bug fixes for the Restyle image features on Copilot+ and Image Creator designed to improve overall image quality. If users want these new features, they’ll need to update their Photos app to version 2024.11100.17007 or higher via the Microsoft Store.

These features aren’t fully available yet, but Insiders are encouraged to send feedback to Microsoft. Their feedback can help resolve any issues and refine the features before they’re fully rolled out. For example, it was due to user feedback that Microsoft announced it is also introducing single-click support in the Photos app gallery, allowing for more efficient navigation.

While it’s great that Microsoft has introduced OCR to its Photos app, it is long overdue. Accessibility should be at the forefront of any modern app, especially given that leading tech companies like Apple integrated similar features, such as Live Text in iOS 15, quite some time ago. Features like this, along with other accessibility tools, should be standard across all platforms, not only to improve general productivity but more importantly to support users with disabilities.

Hopefully, this is a sign that Microsoft will make a greater effort to prioritize accessibility in the future, with more tools and updates designed with inclusivity in mind.

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An unseen, non-human hand moving the cursor across your computer screen and typing without using the keyboard in fiction is usually a sign of malicious AI hijacking something (or a friendly ghost helping you solve mysteries like the TV show Ghost Writer). Thanks to Anthropic's new computer use feature for its AI assistant Claude, there's a much more benevolent explanation now.

Fueled by an upgraded version of the Claude 3.5 Sonnet model, this AI – dubbed 'computer use' – lets you interact with your computer much like you would. It takes the AI assistant concept a step beyond text and a voice, with virtual hands typing, clicking, and otherwise manipulating your computer.

Anthropic bills computer use as a way for Claude to handle tedious tasks. It can help you fill out a form, search and organize information on your hard drive, and move information around. While OpenAI, Microsoft, and other developers have demonstrated similar ideas, Anthropic is the first to have a public feature, though it's still in beta.

"With computer use, we're trying something fundamentally new," Anthropic explained in a blog post. Instead of making specific tools to help Claude complete individual tasks, we're teaching it general computer skills—allowing it to use a wide range of standard tools and software programs designed for people."

The computer use feature is due to Claude 3.5 Sonnet's improved performance, particularly with digital tools and coding software. Though somewhat overshadowed by the spectacle of the computer use feature, Anthropic also debuted a new model called Claude 3.5 Haiku, a more advanced version of the lower-cost Anthropic model, though once capable of matching Anthropic's previous highest performing model, Claude 3 Opus, while still being much cheaper.

Invisible AI assistance

You can't just give an order and walk away, either. Claude's control of your computer has some technical troubles as well as deliberate constraints. On the technical side, Anthropic admitted Claude struggles with scrolling and zooming around a screen. That's because the AI interprets what's on your screen as a collection of screenshots, and then it tries to piece them together like a movie reel. Anything that happens too quickly or that changes perspective on the screen can flummox it. Still, Claude can do quite a lot by manipulating your computer, as seen above.

Unrestrained automation has obvious perils even when working perfectly, as so many sci-fi movies and books have explored. Claude isn't Skynet, but Anthropic has placed restraints on the AI for more prosaic reasons. For instance, there are guardrails stopping Claude from interacting with social media or any government websites. Registering domain names or posting content is not allowed without human control.

"Because computer use may provide a new vector for more familiar threats such as spam, misinformation, or fraud, we're taking a proactive approach to promote its safe deployment. We've developed new classifiers that can identify when computer use is being used and whether harm is occurring," Anthropic wrote. "Learning from the initial deployments of this technology, which is still in its earliest stages, will help us better understand both the potential and the implications of increasingly capable AI systems."

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