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Category Archives: AI

We tested Amazon’s new shopping chatbot. It’s not good.

Washington Post via MSN: “Amazon is experimenting with an artificial intelligence chatbot to help you figure out what to buy. Instead of sorting through thousands of options for vacuum cleaners, you can ask the chatbot to recommend the best models for hardwood floors or for sucking up pet hair. The chatbot called Rufus, which Amazon announced last month, is still under development. In my testing over the past several days, the chatbot wasn’t a disaster. But I also found it mostly useless. I’ll get to the details shortly. In general, I thought the shopping bot was at best a slight upgrade on searching Amazon, Google or news articles for product recommendations. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.) A test version of Amazon’s shopping bot is available only for a select few. That’s good because it needs a lot of work. I am prepared to change my mind if the chatbot significantly improves. An Amazon spokesperson said feedback from people who tested the chatbot “has been positive.” The company said it would continue to refine the AI to make the chatbot better. The experience encapsulated my exasperation with new types of AI sprouting in seemingly every technology you use. If these chatbots are supposed to be magical, why are so many of them dumb as rocks?…”

AI in Banking and Finance, March 17, 2024

Via LLRX – This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government documents, NGO/IGO papers, industry white papers, academic papers and speeches on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. The chronological links provided are to the primary sources, and as available, indicate links to alternate free versions.… Continue Reading

Online Investigative Tools You Can Try Right Now

“The 2024 NICAR data journalism summit — hosted in Baltimore by Investigative Reporters and Editors — surfaced scores of innovative reporting resources and tools, primarily for US data reporters GIJN curated these tips and databases for ones that are transferable to investigative and data reporters around the world, and we will share these globally relevant… Continue Reading

State of Journalism 2024

Executive summary – read the full report Funding and Trust: About one-third of journalists express concerns about lack of funding and trust in journalism, consistent with last year’s findings. Employment Trends: More than one-third report layoffs or buyouts, with 30% turning to LinkedIn for job opportunities. Over half prefer a hybrid work arrangement, yet many… Continue Reading

Illinois Task Force Explores How AI Could Speed Up Litigation

Bloomberg: “Generative artificial intelligence could boost the Illinois judiciary by helping judges produce opinions faster and assist individuals in better preparing their own cases, members of a new Illinois AI task force said. The Illinois Judicial Conference task force, created in January, is meeting monthly to discuss how generative AI could help the court system… Continue Reading

Perplexity brings Yelp data to its chatbot

The Verge: “Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas tells The Verge that many people are using chatbots like regular search engines. It makes sense to offer information on things they look for, like restaurants, directly from the source. So it’s integrating Yelp’s maps, reviews, and other details in responses when people ask for restaurant recommendations. “Our underlying… Continue Reading

How to Use Midjourney to Create AI Art

MakeUseOf: “Key Takeaways Get started with Midjourney by downloading Discord and creating an account. Sign up for Midjourney through Discord, choose a subscription plan, and create prompts. Use variations, parameters, and remixes to get different results, before downloading your AI-generated images for creative use. Midjourney is a rare AI image generator that requires a different… Continue Reading

Subjects: AI

What impact does exposure to workplace technologies have on workers’ quality of life?

“This briefing outlines new work that has been done for the Pissarides Review to improve our understanding of the effect that exposure to new workplace technologies is having on workers’ quality of life. Based on a survey of nearly 5000 UK workers, it has, for the first time, been done with reference to the most… Continue Reading

Harvey Eyes ‘All Sorts’ of Lawyers in AI Legal Hiring Spree

Bloomberg: Harvey, a generative artificial intelligence startup that quadrupled in value last year, has spent the first quarter of 2024 embarking on an expansion spree that shows no signs of slowing. “The privately held company, which has 82 employees, wants to double that number by year’s end, said its 29-year-old co-founder and CEO Winston Weinberg… Continue Reading

AI news that’s fit to print

“I just gave this talk at SXSW. It was my first public presentation since starting my new job at The New York Times…this time the topic was AI for journalism. What follows are my slides, script, and references from the talk. Hi, I’m Zach Seward, the editorial director of AI initiatives at The New York… Continue Reading