The Obtain: the way to discuss to youngsters about AI, and China’s emotional chatbots

That is right this moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a day by day dose of what’s happening on the planet of expertise.

It’s essential discuss to your child about AI. Listed here are 6 issues you need to say.

Prior to now yr, youngsters, academics, and oldsters have had a crash course in synthetic intelligence, because of the wildly standard AI chatbot ChatGPT.

In a knee-jerk response, some faculties banned the expertise—solely to cancel the ban months later. Now that many adults have caught up with what ChatGPT is, faculties have began exploring methods to make use of AI methods to show youngsters essential classes on important considering. 

Initially of the brand new college yr, listed here are MIT Expertise Assessment’s six important ideas for the way to get began on giving your child an AI training. Learn the total story.

—Rhiannon Williams & Melissa Heikkilä

My colleague Will Douglas Heaven wrote about how AI can be utilized in faculties for our latest Training problem. You may learn that piece right here.

Chinese language AI chatbots wish to be your emotional assist

Final week, Baidu grew to become the primary Chinese language firm to roll out its massive language mannequin—referred to as Ernie Bot—to most people, following regulatory approval from the Chinese language authorities.

Since then, 4 extra Chinese language corporations have additionally made their LLM chatbot merchandise broadly accessible, whereas extra skilled gamers, like Alibaba and iFlytek, are nonetheless ready for the clearance.

One factor that Zeyi Yang, our China reporter, seen was how the Chinese language AI bots are used to supply emotional assist in comparison with their Western counterparts. On condition that chatbots are a novelty proper now, it raises questions on how the businesses are hoping to maintain customers engaged as soon as that preliminary pleasure has worn off. Learn the total story.

This story initially appeared in China Report, Zeyi’s weekly e-newsletter supplying you with the within monitor on all issues occurring in tech in China. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Tuesday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to seek out you right this moment’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.

1 China’s chips are much more superior than we realized
Huawei’s newest telephone has US officers questioning how efficient their sanctions have actually been. (Bloomberg $)
+ It suggests China’s home chip tech is approaching in leaps and bounds. (Guardian)
+ Japan was as soon as a chipmaking big. What occurred? (FT $) 
+ The US-China chip warfare remains to be escalating. (MIT Expertise Assessment)

2 Meta’s AI groups are in turmoil 
Inner teams are scrapping over the corporate’s computing assets. (The Data $)
+ Meta’s newest AI mannequin is free for all. (MIT Expertise Assessment)

three Conspiracy theorists have rounded on digital money 
If authorities can’t counter these claims, digital currencies are lifeless within the water. (FT $)
+ Is the digital greenback lifeless? (MIT Expertise Assessment)
+ What’s subsequent for China’s digital yuan? (MIT Expertise Assessment)

four Legal professionals are the actual winners of the crypto crash
Somebody has to signify all these bankrupt corporations. (NYT $)
+ Sam Bankman-Fried is adjusting to life behind bars (NY Magazine $)

5 Renting an EV is a minefield
Amassing a rent automobile that’s solely half charged is way from very best. (WSJ $)
+ BYD, China’s greatest EV firm, is eyeing an abroad growth. (Remainder of World)
+ How new batteries might assist your EV cost sooner. (MIT Expertise Assessment)

6 US immigration used pretend social media profiles to spy on targets
Although aliases are towards many platforms’ phrases of service. (Guardian)

7 The web has normalized laughing at loss of life 
The creepy teams are a digital image of human cruelty. (The Atlantic $)

eight New York is purging 1000’s of Airbnbs  
A brand new regulation has made it primarily unattainable for the corporate to function within the metropolis. (Wired $)+ And hosts are removed from pleased about it. (NY Magazine $)

9 Males are already score AI-generated girls’s hotness
In one other bleak demonstration of how AI fashions can perpetuate dangerous stereotypes. (Motherboard)
+ Adverts for AI intercourse employees are rife throughout social media. (NBC Information)

10 Meet the younger activists preventing for teenagers’ rights on-line
They’re demanding a say within the guidelines that have an effect on their lives. (WP $)

Quote of the day

“It wasn’t completely loopy. It was solely reasonably loopy.”

—Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI, displays on the corporate’s early want to chase the theoretical aim of synthetic normal intelligence, in accordance with Wired.

The massive story

Marseille’s battle towards the surveillance state

June 2022

The world over, video cameras have change into an accepted characteristic of city life. Many cities in China now have dense networks of them, and London and New Delhi aren’t far behind. Now France is enjoying catch-up.

Issues have been raised all through the nation. However the surveillance rollout has met particular resistance in Marseille, France’s second-biggest metropolis.

It’s unsurprising, maybe, that activists are preventing again towards the cameras, highlighting the surveillance system’s overreach and underperformance. However are they succeeding? Learn the total story.

—Fleur Macdonald

We are able to nonetheless have good issues

A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre occasions. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ How’d ya like dem apples? Rather a lot, really.
+ Why holding cocktails chilly with out ice isn’t as loopy because it sounds.
+ There’s no single rationalization for why we get creeped out.
+ This fearless skater couldn’t be cuter.
+ Right here’s the way to get your steak completely tender.

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