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Business

Meta’s new AI chatbot can’t stop bashing Facebook | Goal

If you’re worried that artificial intelligence is getting too smart, talking to Meta’s AI chatbot might make you feel better.

Launched on Friday, BlenderBot is a prototype of Meta’s conversational AI, which, according to Facebook’s parent company, can converse on nearly any topic. On the demo website, members of the public are invited to chat with the tool and share feedback with developers. The results thus far, writers at buzzfeed and Vice have pointed out, have been rather interesting.

Asked about Mark Zuckerberg, the bot told BuzzFeed’s Max Woolf that “he is a good businessman, but his business practices are not always ethical. It is funny that he has all this money and still wears the same clothes!”

The bot has also made clear that it’s not a Facebook user, telling Vice’s Janus Rose that it had deleted its account after learning about the company’s privacy scandals. “Since deleting Facebook my life has been much better,” she said.

The bot repeats material it finds on the internet, and it’s very transparent about this: you can click on its responses to learn where it picked up whatever claims it is making (though it is not always specific).

This means that along with uncomfortable truths about its parent company, BlenderBot has been spouting predictable falsehoods. In conversation with Jeff Horwitz of the Wall Street Journal, it insisted Donald Trump was still president and would continue to be “even after his second term ends in 2024”. (It added another dig at Meta, saying Facebook “has a lot of fake news on it these days”.) Users have also recorded it making antisemitic claims.

BlenderBot’s remarks were foreseeable based on the behavior of older chatbots such as Microsoft’s Tay, which Twitter users quickly taught to be a racist conspiracy theorist, forcing the company to apologize for its “wildly inappropriate and reprehensible words and images”. GPT-3, another AI system, has also delivered racist, misogynistic and homophobic remarks. A South Korean startup’s chatbot, designed to resemble a 20-year-old college student, had to be suspended after it rattled off racial slurs and anti-LGBTQ+ remarks.

Given the cesspool that is the internet, Meta appears to have expected similar things from its own service. Before logging on, users must acknowledge that BlenderBot is “likely to make untrue or offensive statements”. As Vice notes, Meta researchers have described the AI ​​tech behind the bot as having “a high propensity to generate toxic language and reinforce harmful stereotypes, even when provided with a relatively innocuous prompt”.

“Everyone who uses Blender Bot is required to acknowledge they understand it’s for research and entertainment purposes only, that it can make untrue or offensive statements, and that they agree to not intentionally trigger the bot to make offensive statements,” said a Meta spokesperson in to statement.

My own conversation with BlenderBot did not veer into that territory, but it did highlight another flaw in the service: its utter inanity.

The bot began by asking me what subject I liked in school. The bot is open about which “person” it is using in the conversation; our discussion involved a person it described as “I like to read. I went to college.” When I asked it tough questions, such as which colleges accepted AI bot students, it offered nonsensical replies (“in some ways, aren’t we all chatbots?” No) and offered further reading by saying, “Here’s the link”, without providing a link. It also kept steering the conversation back to chatbots.

It did, however, maintain its firm stance against its own creators. When I said I wasn’t a fan of Facebook’s ethics, it wholeheartedly agreed: “Me too! That is why I stopped using it and just stick with reading books instead.”

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Technology

GTA The Trilogy records subdued sales, yet mobile versions have no release date yet

According to a recent report from Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar Games, GTA: The Trilogy The Definitive Edition is recording sales figures in the first half of the series, at least against what the standard level has been. The iOS and Android versions also have no precise release date, but they were originally planned on the first half of 2022.

According to shared data, these copies sold in the last quarter are less than one million copies of the collection which includes the remasters of GTA 3 and Vice City. If there were such a number numbers in Q4 of fiscal year 2022, and in Q3, when the Trilogy was released on PC and console, they were ten million copies.

Eventually, after a much better launch, GTA: The Trilogy The Definitive Edition was very weak in sales in the second half of 2013. Most likely the negative impressions of the international press and the community have kept their sales behind.

In fact, the collection was widely criticized at launch because of the large number of bugs and performance problems present in the remasters, and completely absent in the original titles, and several controversies. Rockstar Games released numerous corrective patches to fix the issues which, as demonstrated in Digital Foundry, managed to repay the damage.

In addition to the latest Take-Two data, we find out that the versions of GTA The Trilogy for iOS and Android have no precise date for its release. The collection was officially scheduled for the first half of 2022, while the recent financial report confirmed the suggested postponement to May, with the delivery scheduled for the end of fiscal year 2023 or until the 31st of March.

Categories
Entertainment

My Kitchen Rules star Nigella Lawson’s real age has left viewers stunned

My Kitchen Rules fans have been left stunned by Nigella Lawson — and not just the star power, charisma and expertise she brings to the show.

The British chef has left viewers gobsmacked over her age.

It seems Lawson, who published her first cookbook in 1998 before breaking into TV with Nigella Bites in 1999, has a timeless beauty.

Because believe it or not, she is 62.

Lawson puts her youthful look down to staying out of the sun and eating “lots of fats.”

Nigella Lawson has a youthful look.
Camera IconNigella Lawson has a youthful look. Credit: Jeremy Greive/TheWest

“I think what ages a face most is disappointment and a lack of enjoyment,” she said.

“So I try to do what I love.”

Lawson’s timeless look has left fans of Channel 7’s reality TV cooking show speechless.

“Look at her neck, not a single wrinkle — I’m telling you, forget what ppl tell you, endulge in butter and cream and sweets, and chocolate and lush velvety rich sauces — and live and look like #QueenNigella#MKR,” one wrote.

Another said: “Can someone explain to me how Nigella Lawson can look so stunning ALL THE TIME?

“She 62yo and looks 42. What kind of witchcraft is she performing!”

Yet another said: “If I don’t age like Nigella Lawson, I don’t want to get old at all.”

Since her first appearance on MKR on Sunday night, viewers have flocked to social media to dub her the “vital ingredient”.

After the exit of long-term judge Pete Evans, whose reputation took a tumble after his peddling of anti-vaxer conspiracy theories on social media, Manu Feildel has been paired with the British domestic goddess.

Their first episode saw them head to Victoria to taste the dishes of father-daughter duo Peter and Alice, and Lawson was clearly the star of the show, with the contestants even joking about giving her used cutlery to their family as gifts.

But when things fell apart in the kitchen, viewers really warmed to Lawson when she offered encouraging words.

“Nigella is the vital ingredient this show has been missing,” Twitter user Archie Banez wrote.

MKR 2022 - Manu Feildel and Nigella Lawson
Camera IconManu Feildel and Nigella Lawson on MKR. Credit: Supplied/TheWest

“Not only is she a bona fide food-lover & relatable to all us home cooks but it’s her personable nature, positive energy, insightfulness & unique way with words that makes her so endearing.”

Viewers also remarked on Lawson’s warm demeanour, while others said her presence encouraged them to tune in after not watching the show for years.

And she even won over the critics.

TV Writer Colin Vickery described Lawson as a “hoot” and “funnier and cheekier than on MasterChef”.

During the episode, Lawson showed her down-to-earth nature, ditching the cutlery to chomp at a lamb cutlet.

And while Peter and Alice’s home restaurant faced plenty of hurdles—and even a watery dessert fail—Lawson still tried to keep spirits high.

On Tuesday, Lawson took to Twitter to reply to some of the comments, saying that she was gutted for Peter and Alice.

“I was heartbroken for them. And hated the idea they would feel ashamed in any way,” she posted.

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Categories
Sports

Bulldogs sound out former Giants coach

Leon Cameron is being sounded out by his former club the Western Bulldogs.

SEN’s Sam Edmund has reported that the Bulldogs are considering bringing Cameron back to the Whitten Oval to link up with head coach Luke Beveridge and head of football Chris Grant.

It is understood that the Dogs have started “informal” talks with the former GWS Giants coach as clubs begin to prepare for an increase in the soft cap.

Cameron has a long history with the Bulldogs, having played 172 games over 10 seasons in the red, white and blue, and served as an assistant coach from 2004 to 2010.

“The Western Bulldogs have had informal discussions with Leon Cameron about a role at The Kennel next year,” Edmund said on SEN’s Whateley.

“I’m sure Leon has been contacted by many clubs and this was a sounding out from the Dogs, nothing more. ‘What are you up to next year? What do you want to do?’

“Obviously Leon is close to Chris Grant, the current head of football. He played a lot of football with Chris and also Luke Beveridge, who he’s worked with before at Hawthorn.

“All clubs are reviewing what they’re doing with the soft cap increasing even though it’s minimal. There’s an extra half a million dollars in the cap, so some decisions to be made there.

“Do we bring new staff in or do we bring existing back up to what they financially? So it’s all a bit delicate in that space at the moment.”

Cameron parted ways with the Giants in May after nine years at the helm.

He has most recently been working part-time in the media with SEN and AFL Nation.





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Australia

COVIDSafe app branded a failure and deleted

The COVIDSafe app, introduced by the Morrison government in 2020, has been decommissioned after a senate select committee branded it an expensive failure and the health minister said state governments haven’t used it for months.

The app was updated on Wednesday night to remove all of its functionality, and users opening the app are now greeted with the message “Please uninstall COVIDSafe”. On Thursday, Health Minister Mark Butler said the app did little but burn through money.

Health Minister Mark Butler said contact tracers working on the ground were far more effective than the COVIDSafe app.

Health Minister Mark Butler said contact tracers working on the ground were far more effective than the COVIDSafe app.Credit:alex ellinghausen

“It is clear this app failed as a public health measure, and that’s why we’ve acted to delete it,” he said. “This failed app was a colossal waste of more than $21 million of taxpayers’ money.”

Butler said while the app had 7.9 million registrations, fewer than 800 users consented to having their data added to the national store. Since its launch in April 2020, the app had only identified two positive cases that were not found by manual contact tracing, he said.

Designed to aid contact tracers by determining the people that an infected individual had been physically near, COVIDSafe was originally described by Morrison as like a sunscreen you need to apply when you go outside. But it was an immediate source of controversy.

Technical limitations meant that people using iPhones needed to keep the app on their screens, and their phones unlocked at all times, prompting concerns for their security as well as their phone batteries. After several updates, experts continued to question the efficacy of the Bluetooth-based tracking method — which was shown to work less than half of the time — as well as the government’s decision to decline help from Apple and Google.

Former PM Scott Morrison described COVIDSafe as a way to protect the community against infection.

Former PM Scott Morrison described COVIDSafe as a way to protect the community against infection.Credit:alex ellinghausen

After two months and 6 million downloads the app had failed to detect any close contacts that hadn’t already been identified by traditional contact tracers. A government report published in July of last year disclosed that the app only led to 17 unique close contacts as at May 2021. An evaluation published in the Lancet Public Health journal concluded this caused substantial additional work for contact tracers, without making a meaningful to COVID response.

As state governments opened up in 2021 and moved to QR codes and check-in apps for contact-tracing, the expectation was that they’d somehow integrate with COVIDSafe, but this ended up not happening.

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US

Another Republican who backed Trump’s impeachment concedes defeat

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Washington Republican who voted to impeach Donald Trump over his role in the Jan. 6 riot, granted Tuesday to a challenger backed by the former president.

NBC News has not yet projected the second candidate who will advance the general election in the state’s 3rd Congressional District. As it stands, the top two vote-getters, who under the state’s election rules would advance to the general election, are Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and the Trump-endorsed Republican Joe Kent.

Beutler conceded her race Tuesday night in a statement that did not mention Kent by name.

“Though my campaign came up short this time, I’m proud of all we’ve accomplished together for the place where I was raised and still call home,” she said. “Serving you in the United States Congress these past twelve years has been the honor of my lifetime.”

Beutler’s concession means two of the three House Republicans on the ballot last week who backed Trump’s impeachment lost to candidates he endorsed: Rep. Peter Meijer fell to John Gibbs in Michigan by less than 4 percentage points, while Rep. Dan Newhouse fended off Trump- backed challenger Loren Culp in Washington by more than 4 points.

While those other two races were called last week, Beutler’s race lingered. She led Kent for much of the ballot count before she fell behind on Monday.

In Washington state, the top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, move on to the general election in November, a setup that gave both Newhouse and Beutler a better chance of advancing than their fellow impeachment supporters in more traditional party primaries. Still, only Newhouse survived.

The contests in Washington and Michigan were the latest gauges of Trump’s influence over the party. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming is the last remaining impeachment supporter who has yet to face voters in a primary this election cycle. Cheney, the vice chair of the House committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 riot and Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, has encountered particularly stiff headwinds back home. Her primary de ella is scheduled for Aug. 16.

“Knock out Impeachment Slime Jaime Herrera Beutler, Dan Newhouse, Peter Meijer, TODAY,” Trump posted to his Truth Social platform last week ahead of their primaries. “The rest, including the now disgraced RINO, Liz Cheney, are either gone, or soon will be.”

On Tuesday night, Trump congratulated Kent.

“Joe Kent just won an incredible race against all odds in Washington State,” Trump said in a statement. “Importantly, I have knocked out yet another impeacher, Jaime Herrera Beutler, who so stupidly played right into the hands of the Democrats.”

Many of Beutler’s and Cheney’s impeachment colleagues on the right will not be returning to Congress next year. In June, Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina succumbed to a Trump-backed challenger, while Reps. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, John Katko of New York, Fred Upton of Michigan and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois all opted to retire at the end of the term rather than seek re-election.

Newhouse, meanwhile, joins GOP Rep. David Valadao of California as the only other impeachment supporter to survive a primary challenge. Like Washington, California uses a similar primary system, and Trump did not endorse a challenger to Valadao.

Like other impeachment supporters, Meijer, Beutler and Newhouse had out-raised their rivals. Federal campaign finance records show Meijer out-raised Gibbs in the 3rd Congressional District for more than $2 million. Meijer raised $2.77 million through mid-July, while Gibbs’ haul totaled $484,000.

In Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, Beutler out-raised Kent by roughly $1.3 million, with Beutler bringing in $3.5 million and Kent raising $2.2 million as of mid-July.

And in the state’s 4th Congressional District, Newhouse raised about $1.6 million, compared to Culp’s $310,000 through the middle of last month.

Ahead of the Aug. 2 primary, Caleb Heimlich, the chairman of the Washington State Republican Party, told NBC News he had heard from people on the ground and within the campaigns that the races were “very, very competitive in both districts.”

He noted that in Beutler’s district, about $2.5 million in outside, independent spending came in for the race’s final two-week sprint, much of it aimed at either tearing down Kent or boosting Heidi St. John, a Republican who was also campaigning on a pro Trump message.

“With not having a closed party primary, you just have a different electorate,” he said. “And so there are some different factors that play into that campaign. And you have to compete with all the voters in the district.”

The GOP incumbents who supported impeachment all have varying tenures in their districts. Meijer was first elected to Congress in 2020, defeating Democrat Hillary Scholten by 6 points. Beutler, first elected in 2010, defeated her Democratic rival in 2020 by 13 points. And Newhouse, first elected in 2014, won his previous general election by nearly 33 points.

Gibbs, Kent and Culp, meanwhile, all promoted Trump’s lies about a stolen 2020 election and falsely claimed President Joe Biden’s victory was illegitimate.

They have closely tied themselves to the former president, touting support from him and his allies. Meijer, Beutler and Newhouse instead sought to shift the discussion from their impeachment votes to local issues and national themes like inflation.

Democrats, meanwhile, tried boosting Meijer’s opponent, prompting backlash from some Democratic House members. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee placed a TV ad last month that amplified Gibbs’ ties to Trump. Meijer’s campaign said the 30-second spot was “clear evidence” Democrats would much rather face Gibbs than Meijer in November.

Only Meijer’s district is viewed as competitive in the fall. The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan elections analyzer, lists Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District as a toss-up, while both Beutler’s and Newhouse’s districts are rated as solid Republican.

Gibbs will now face off against Scholten in the western Michigan district, while Kent will go head to head with Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. Newhouse is expected to battle Democrat Doug White.

Categories
Business

McDonald’s customer’s weird discovery in nuggets order

A Macca’s customer has been left less than impressed after she ordered six chicken nuggets – only to open the box and find something very different inside.

The Canberra woman took to Facebook to share a photo of what was supposed to be a box of nuggets after going through a McDonald’s drive-through.

Instead, the container was filled with raw sliced ​​onion, Yahoo News Australia reported.

When contacted for comment, Macca’s said that if any customer ever had an issue, their meal could be replaced.

“At McDonald’s, we are committed to giving our customers a great experience every time they visit one of our restaurants,” a spokesperson told news.com.au.

“Of course, if a customer receives an incorrect order, we will happily replace this for them.

“We apologize for the inconvenience and encourage the customer to contact our Customer Service team so we can look into it in more detail.”

It comes after another Macca’s customer claims she found an unexpected item in her McChicken Sandwich.

The Irish woman was recorded by her boyfriend expressing her shock after she took a bite of her burger and pulled out what appeared to resemble a dandelion.

“There’s a flower in my McChicken Sandwich,” she said in the video, holding the mayo-covered piece of greenery.

“Is this actually for real?”

She then placed the green item on the top of the burger box, showing it was an entire stem complete with yellowing buds.

The video of the unimpressed woman – captioned, “Flowers in chicken legend meal looks lovely so it does” – has clocked up over two million views since it was shared on TikTok on Sunday.

But while many people sympathized with the woman’s plight – others were suspicious.

“I work at McDonald’s. No you didn’t,” one commenter wrote.

“Yeah nah Maccies worker here, that’s not possible,” another agreed.

While another said: “I work in McDonald’s and I can assure you that everything is checked, so I feel like this has been planted in.”

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Categories
Technology

WhatsApp extends time limit to delete a message to 60 hours

WhatsApp now allows you to delete a message for up to two days and 12 hours (60 hours in total), so you can remove an accidentally sent chat even after hours. Previously, this limit was 1 hour, 8 minutes and 16 seconds — yep, there were seconds involved.

The company’s tweet about this feature just mentioned “little over two days” but didn’t specify the 12-hour part.

WhatsApp first introduced the unsend feature back in 2017 with a time limit of just seven minutes but later increased it to one hour and eight minutes. Last year, WABetaInfo noted that the company might consider introducing a seven-day limit, but with this new update, it has chosen a rather odd time frame of two and a half days.

In comparison, rival chat app Telegram has no limit on deleting a message, so you can remove a chat years after sending it. Apple is moving in the other direction; after introducing the unsend feature for iOS 16 at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June, the company reduced the limit from 15 minutes to two minutes in the fourth version of the iOS 16 developer beta last month.

WhatsApp is also introducing new privacy features to its app including blocking screenshots for “view-once messages” and the ability to leave a group silently.

Categories
Entertainment

Olivia Newton-John’s friends and neighbors remember late Grease star in her ‘happy place’

Legends of the music industry and lifelong friends have shared their memories of Olivia Newton-John and the many years she lived in the New South Wales Northern Rivers.

The screen and music star first bought a property in the Ballina hinterland in 1980, two years after the film Grease was released.

Her friend Jillian McGrath, who was by her side for the purchase, said Newton-John referred to the Northern Rivers as her “happy place.”

“She said, ‘I just need to have something where I can put my foot on the ground and call it home,'” Ms McGrath said.

“[The real estate agent] had no idea who she was because she was incognito with a scarf and sunglasses.”

The childhood friends drove past a property adjacent to a nature reserve on Victoria Park Road, Dalwood and knew it was the one.

“She stood under the avocado tree and just said, ‘This is it, this is where it has to be,'” Ms McGrath said.

In 2005, Newton-John and three of her friends bought a rundown tourist property near Bangalow and renovated it to create the exclusive Gaia Retreat, which sold last year for $30 million.

Two smiling women, one dark-haired and the other blonde.
Ms McGrath said Newton-John knew straight away that she had found her “happy place.”(Supplied: Jillian McGrath)

Always an Aussie

Australian entertainer Normie Rowe, who worked closely with Newton-John, said she was part of the “gumnut mafia” in the United States.

“There was always this wonderful connection she had with her home country and she was highly, incredibly representative of us — she never let us down,” he said.

“Physical was the biggest selling record in the world until Michael Jackson released Thriller.

“Like Peter Allen, she still called Australia home too.”

An old photo of two smiling young women.
Newton-John and Ms McGrath were firm friends since childhood.(Supplied: Jillian McGrath)

Byron Shire resident and former Mi-Sex keyboardist Murray Burns met Olivia Newton-John by chance in the area in the early 1990s.

He said a few months she called and asked him to record her album.

“It was a magical time for her as she had never been able to record songs — she always had been coerced into doing other people’s songs,” he said.

“She didn’t play an instrument, but she had perfect pitch — she could sing melodies beautifully.

“She taught me a lot about humility.

“She would cook food for us and when we stayed with her in Los Angeles she treated us like family.”

Two women in London during the 1960s, smiling near a Queen's guard.
Newton-John and Ms McGrath in London in the late 1960s, when the singer was 19 years old.(Supplied: Jillian McGrath)

Many Northern Rivers locals recall meeting Newton-John and being touched by her warmth, generosity and humility.

Rous resident Eoin Johnston said Newton-John in her daughter Chloe’s school community.

“She got involved with the school quite a bit, came to the school concert,” he said.

“She was just very down to earth and easy to get along with.”

Visit ABC iview for our Remembering Olivia Newton-John collection.

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Categories
Sports

Trans Am investigating GRM windscreen issue

The #45 Garry Rogers Motorsport entry. Picture: 44 Photography

Turtle Wax Trans Am Series Category Management is investigating the controversial droop in the rear windscreens of the Garry Rogers Motorsport cars.

A furore has broken out in the series over the droop in the rear windscreen and roof line which the three GRM cars, all Ford Mustangs, exhibit.

Notably, Mustang-bodied cars of different generations entered by rival competitors do not feature the droop.

It is thought that the deformity in the GRM cars leads to a greater volume of air flowing over the rear wing, and hence an increase in rear downforce, all other things being equal.

A statement from the category in response to the controversy reads, in full, “Category Management has been made aware of the issue and are investigating with our technical partners and Motorsport Australia on why this may be occurring and if any changes to the Technical Regulations are required.”

Two of the GRM vehicles in question are driven by Nathan Herne and Owen Kelly, who are positioned first and second in the series standings, respectively.

They locked out the front row for Race 1 of last weekend’s Queensland Raceway round, with Wall Racing’s Tim Brook a further six tenths of a second off the pace in third position, although photographs show the droop in at least Herne’s car at previous rounds of the current season.

It is particularly pronounced in the #45 GRM entry of Lochie Dalton, but absent from Car #03 of Ben Grice and Car #69 of Jon McCorkindale, for example.

Worth noting is that Grice’s car is of latest spec, being a late-2021 build, whereas McCorkindale’s is a 2018 build.

Those facts are pertinent given one theory that the GRM issue is in fact a broader one related to a particular generation of car/bodyshape.

While it should be stressed that there is no confirmation that GRM is in breach of National Trans Am Series regulations, NASCAR Cup Series teams have failed afoul of officialdom for failure to maintain rigid rear glass in recent years.

In 2018, Kevin Harvick’s win at Las Vegas was excluded from Playoff consideration, with he and the #4 Stewart-Haas Racing entry stripped of 20 series points, for what was deemed a Level 1 breach.

Crew chief Rodney Childers claimed that the bend in the roofline and rear windscreen which occurred at speed was inadvertent, and had been caused by a failure of a rear window brace.

That explanation squares with a theory from a Speedcafe.com source, who explained that the rear windscreen bend could be caused by a failure or looseness in the brackets behind it.

The sixth and final round of the 2022 National Trans Am Series takes place at Sandown on September 16-18, before the Trans Am 100 at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst International in November.

The #69 Jon McCorkindale entry. Picture: 44 Photography