TeCHnology

OpenAI shuts down a tool meant to detect AI-written text due to low accuracy.

OpenAI shuttered a tool that was supposed to tell human writing from AI due to a low accuracy rate. In an (updated) blog, OpenAI said it decided to end its AI classifier as of July 20th. “We are working to incorporate feedback and are currently researching more effective provenance techniques for text,” the company said.

As it shuts down the tool to catch AI-generated writing, OpenAI said it plans to “develop and deploy mechanisms that enable users to understand if audio or visual content is AI-generated.” There’s no word yet on what those mechanisms might be, though.

OpenAI fully admitted the classifier was never very good at catching AI-generated text and warned that it could spit out false positives, aka human-written text tagged as AI-generated. OpenAI, before it added its update shutting down the tool, said the classifier could get better with more data.

Astronomers have detected water vapor in the inner region of a protoplanetary disk – where rocky planets may be forming – for the first time, thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope.

Located 370 light years away, PDS 70, a K-type star, is surrounded by a giant hot swirling jumble of gas. This protoplanetary disk is separated into two parts by a gap five billion miles (eight billion kilometers) wide – a telltale sign that material is coalescing to create new worlds. Scientists believe two gas giants are forming in that gap. They also say they have spotted water vapor in the disk's inner area before the gap, where rocky terrestrial planets may be being born. Protoplantary disk rendering

Epic: Artist's impression of the PDS 70 star; its inner protoplanetary disk where rocky worlds may be forming; a large gap in which two or more gas planets may be coming together; and the outer protoplanetary disk ... Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Olmsted (STScI)

"We've seen water in other disks, but not so close in and in a system where planets are currently assembling. We couldn't make this type of measurement before Webb," said Giulia Perotti, a postdoc fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany and lead author of research into PDS 70 and its planet-forming disk, published in Nature on Monday.

It's the first time scientists have managed to detect water vapor in the terrestrial zone of a protoplanetary disk. The findings suggest that if rocky planets are forming around PDS 70, they could have direct access to water, giving astronomers a glimpse into how Earth may have formed.

Adoption of wireless charging has been fairly slow, but it could pick up if it worked over longer distances. Now, engineers at Aalto University have developed a new system that can allow more efficient wireless power transmission over longer distances.

Currently, wireless charging requires that a device be left on a pad or dock, which isn’t much better than wired charging. The ultimate end goal for wireless charging would be where we no longer even have to think about charging our devices – they’d just top up wirelessly while we’re in our homes. It’s the same way we don’t have to plug our phones in to receive data, since Wi-Fi takes care of it without us thinking about it.

The problem is, wireless charging efficiency drops off very quickly as the distance between sender and receiver increases, and radiation from the sending and receiving coils interferes with the transmission. So for the new study, the Aalto team developed a new dynamic theory of wireless charging that allows them to increase efficiency over longer distances.

The team tested the idea using two loop antennas, each 7.2 cm (2.8 in) wide. By tweaking the currents in the antennas, they were able to suppress the radiation resistance in the loops and increase the efficiency. Even when placed 18 cm (7 in) apart, the power transfer efficiency remained high at over 80%.

The Lazarus threat group has stepped up its attacks on vulnerable Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) instances, using them not only as access points for target organizations but also to spread malware.

Microsoft IIS web servers are a popular attack vector for hackers and the what is believed to be the North Korean state-sponsored Lazarus advanced persistent threat (APT) group which has previously been observed targeting the Microsoft resource.

In a blog post published on Monday, AhnLab Security Emergency response Center (ASEC) researchers said they had recently observed attacks by Lazarus on South Korean websites where IIS servers were used as malware distribution points.

US-based IT software company Ivanti has patched an actively exploited zero-day authentication bypass vulnerability impacting its Endpoint Manager Mobile (EPMM) mobile device management software (formerly MobileIron Core).

Ivanti released security patches for the remote unauthenticated API access vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-35078 on Sunday.

The patches can be installed by upgrading to EPMM 11.8.1.1, 11.9.1.1, and 11.10.0.2. They also target unsupported and end-of-life software versions lower than 11.8.1.0 (e.g., 11.7.0.0, 11.5.0.0)

original link: https://www.v2ex.com/t/959041 I can't make original link to url feild, so put it into content. The original link requires proficiency in Chinese language to comprehend. If an application conceals a webview behind a login or other interface, and the webview opens appleid.apple.com, upon tapping the login button, the application can execute JavaScript to simulate clicking the login button of appleid.apple.com. If one fails to discern the disparity between "Sign in Apple ID" and "Sign in with Apple," the application can execute JavaScript to pilfer cookies associated with appleid.apple.com.

Following the aforementioned steps, the application will present an alert resembling "Sign in to iTunes Store." As you are aware, an app-generated "Sign in to iTunes Store" alert bears no distinction from a system-generated one. The sole means to verify whether the alert originates from the system is attempting to return to the home screen. If this goes unnoticed, the application will acquire your Apple ID password. This constitutes the primary concern, because logging into appleid.apple.com on a trusted device doesn't require 2FA, it only requires Face ID or Touch ID, whether you're logging in using Safari or WebView. The application can exploit JavaScript to modify your phone number used for two-factor authentication, thereby get the control of your Apple ID, enabling the attacker to use it for credit card theft.

It is still in preview, but i lets you use Visual Studio Code in the Web Browser.

Chrome has begun to roll out the various Privacy Sandbox APIs. Starting this week users will begin to see prompts about this new feature on browser startup, after upgrading to Chrome v115.

Chrome Privacy Sandbox Prompt This prompt is a Opt-Out style prompt, selecting ‘Got It‘ will automatically enable the various APIs bundled in this update. To be clear, these APIs are alternative ways to track you, albeit slightly less intrusive than the 3rd party cookies they are seeking to replace.

It should be noted that several of these APIs have failed to achieve W3C Standard status, and have documented disapproval by other browser developers. Both the Webkit (Apple) and Mozilla (Firefox) teams have stated they have no intention of adding support for the Topics API for example. Google faces an uphill battle when it comes to achieving buy in.

Approximately 48.6 billion cubic meters of water are lost around the world every day. According to the International Water Association (IWA), the main culprits for this loss are underground leaks on water mains and service pipes.

To monitor leaks in water pipeline networks, researchers at the Polytechnic University of Milan have experimented with a novel method using fibre optics — the inexpensive and commonly- used technology that allows us to have fast internet at home.

The scientists developed a distributed fibre optic sensing (DFOS) cable based on the so-called Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS) technology, which enables the processing and storage of optical information. They worked on High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) pipes, the mainstream water-conveying system for civil, agricultural, and industrial purposes.

Mozilla's latest version of Thunderbird email has a brand-new interface that finally brings the aging application closer to modern aesthetic standards.

Now, it's not like it's going to absolutely wow you. The new look isn't a dramatic departure from the aging UI. Instead, it's a subtle tweak that gives Thunderbird a more in-touch feel that is not just more pleasing to look at but easier to use. It's more efficient and it offers a cleaner default font that renders text so much better (especially on the Linux desktop).

The good news is that the new-look Thunderbird isn't such a dramatic departure from the old that you'll have to scramble to get up to speed

High-profile A.I. chatbot ChatGPT performed worse on certain tasks in June than its March version, a Stanford University study found.

The study compared the performance of the chatbot, created by OpenAI, over several months at four “diverse” tasks: solving math problems, answering sensitive questions, generating software code, and visual reasoning.

Researchers found wild fluctuations—called drift—in the technology’s ability to perform certain tasks. The study looked at two versions of OpenAI’s technology over the time period: a version called GPT-3.5 and another known as GPT-4. The most notable results came from research into GPT-4’s ability to solve math problems. Over the course of the study researchers found that in March GPT-4 was able to correctly identify that the number 17077 is a prime number 97.6% of the times it was asked. But just three months later, its accuracy plummeted a lowly 2.4%. Meanwhile, the GPT-3.5 model had virtually the opposite trajectory. The March version got the answer to the same question right just 7.4% of the time—while the June version was consistently right, answering correctly 86.8% of the time.

Martin Butson has helped invent a small sticker that indicates when water has been purified through UV exposure

The stickers can be placed on a reusable plastic bottle and change colour when the water is safe to drink

The stickers have been used in a pilot program in Cambodia that has already helped thousands of people

The SAFE sticker is a UV purification label that works by simply sticking it on a bottle of contaminated water, putting the container in the sun and waiting for the UV light to kill harmful bacteria, viruses and microorganisms.

Tensions are rising once more at Reddit with fresh protests against the company’s management, and the company expelling rebel moderators.

Earlier protests have seen many of the site’s communities—or subreddits—turned private for extended periods by volunteer moderators, effectively taking those communities offline. Others have amended rules to mock the site’s management. For example, r/pics is only allowing users to post pictures involving the comedian John Oliver.

Now the sites users are continuing to display their anger on Place, an interactive artwork in which each user of the site gets to place one pixel on a huge graphic. Last year’s Place turned into huge collaborative artwork that was sometimes disrupted by organized factions trying to overwrite each other’s artworks.

This year—rather predictably—users are working together to deface Place with artwork and messages that attack the site’s owners. Earlier today, Place was showing a graphic of guillotine, under which an avatar of the site’s CEO was placed.

Lawsuit by cryptocurrency exchange, which collapsed in November, is attempt to recoup assets sought by creditors.

The bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX is suing its founder Sam Bankman-Fried and three other former executives for $1bn.

FTX collapsed in November and Bankman-Fried was arrested the following month in the Bahamas over allegations he stole customer funds and extradited to the US, where he has pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud and conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws and bribe Chinese authorities.

An executive team led by his successor as FTX chief executive, the restructuring expert John Ray, has instigated the new lawsuit, which takes aim at a litany of share awards, property purchases, cash transfers and other transactions that the company says should be reversed under US bankruptcy law.

The EU wants to regulate artificial intelligence, Switzerland is waiting. The HSG wants to show the consequences for companies.

A transport robot that learns how to overcome obstacles: Artificial intelligence AI makes it possible. Such and other AI-based applications were put to the test in recent days at the University of St. Gallen HSG.

Would the new EU regulation on AI affect the applications? What adjustments would companies need to make? Teams of experts from all over Europe took a close look at AI systems in a competition.

The event was organized by Thomas Burri, professor of international law and European law at the HSG, together with his team. The aim, he said, was to generate knowledge and show in practice what impact the EU's AI regulation would have on companies.

Microsoft will expand access to important security log data after being criticized for locking detailed audit logs behind a Microsoft 365 enterprise plan that costs $57 per user per month. The logging updates will start rolling out "in September 2023 to all government and commercial customers," the company said.

The U.K.’s competition authority has said that it plans to greenlight Broadcom’s $69 billion bid for virtualization software giant VMware.

The news comes exactly a week after the European Commission (EC) approved the deal, which pretty much leaves the U.S. as the last remaining hurdle for Broadcom, with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) currently investigating the deal.

The two companies had originally agreed to complete the transaction by July 18, but regulatory pushback from the U.S. and the U.K. delayed the takeover.

If Microsoft had not extended the deal deadline, the company could have been on the hook for a $3 billion breakup fee to Activision Blizzard. By extending the period for the companies to close on their transaction, Microsoft and Activision are giving themselves more time to satisfy regulators’ concerns and to get it over the line.

A new agreement between Microsoft and Activision, struck on July 18, included a provision to bump up the termination fee by increments at certain periods, if the merger is not agreed by the new deadline.

By Aug. 29, the breakup fee will be increased to $3.5 billion if the transaction is terminated by the parties, while by Sept. 15, the potential breakup fee will rise to $4.5 billion.

The messaging app, used by over 800 million users each month, raised the capital by issuing bonds worth $270 million. “Because interest rates have gone up significantly since 2021, the bonds have a different issue price,” John Hyman, Telegram Chief Investment Adviser, told TechCrunch.

Telegram is still not profitable and the new financing is aimed at taking it closer to the “break-even” point, said Durov, claiming that his app was “closer to profitability in absolute numbers” than competitors including Twitter and Snap.

Telegram has grown fast in recent years even as new social offerings continue to mushroom. The app has added over 300 million users in the past two and a half years and is attracting 2.5 million new signups each day.

Intel announced it has agreed to a term sheet with ASUS, a global technology solution provider, for an agreement to manufacture, sell and support the Next Unit of Compute (NUC) 10th to 13th generations systems product line, and to develop future NUC systems designs.

Microsoft announced the event on the previous Tuesday and attributed the behavior that took place during the previous month to a newly found espionage organization that it called Storm-0558. The company thinks that this group has a significant connection to China. The United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said that the breaches started in the middle of May and involved a limited number of government accounts, which were claimed to be in the single digits. Additionally, the agency stated that the hackers stole some unclassified email data