Today's edition of The Download is the weekday newsletter that gives you a daily dose from the world of technology.
Google has just launched Bard as its answer to ChatGPT – and it wants you to make it even better
Google's Bard is the search giant's answer for OpenAI's ChatGPT or Microsoft's Bing Chat. Bard is not able to look up search results like Bing Chat. Instead, it generates all the information. It is still intended to assist users in brainstorming and answering queries. Google hopes Bard will become an integral part the Google Search experience.
The chatbot is now free for early users who sign up on a waitlist. This is to help them test and improve what they call an experimental technology.
Experts worry that Bard's pitch as an experiment may be a PR trick used by larger companies to reach millions of customers and remove them from any responsibility if something goes wrong. The full story is available here.
–Will Douglas Heaven
The mediocre and bearable behavior of Baidu's ChatGPT rival
Ernie Bot, Baidu's first Chinese competitor to ChatGPT, was revealed last week. It was met with a huge disappointment. Chinese publications that had testing access mocked the chatbot's performance. Social media users made fun of it with memes and Baidu stock fell 6.4%.
Ernie Bot's reputation has risen since last week's launch. Ernie Bot has been accessible to more Chinese journalists, which suggests that it is likely good enough to serve the Chinese market. The full story is available here.
–Zeyi Yang
China Report is MIT Technology Review's weekly newsletter that examines power and technology in China. Zeyi's story comes from China Report. Get it delivered to your inbox every Tuesday by signing up
The must-read
I've combed the internet to find you today's most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 TikTok will be testifying before the US Congress
Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok, warned politicians that the US could be hurt by banning it. (Vox)
+ He is determined to allay concerns that TikTok may share data with China's government. (WP $)
+ The geopolitical tug-of-war is centered on its recommendation algorithm. (FT $)
2 Google's Bard has a very cautious
It's willing to make things up. (NYT $)
+ Its senses of humor could use some improvement. (WP $)
+ Bard fails to beat GPT-4 and Claude. (TechCrunch)
3 Scientists are prevented from accessing information on the origins of covid
They have been barred from a critical database. (The Atlantic $).
4 How do we count abortions now in America
It is difficult to track the number of abortions post Roe. (Undark Magazine)
+ The cognitive dissonance that comes with watching Roe's end unfold online. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Bitcoin is still booming
It has bounced back with aplomb from the collapse of FTX. (WSJ $)
+ The search for a new FTX is on the rise in crypto exchanges. (Bloomberg $)
+ The industry is on edge due to a New York ruling. (Wired $)
+ You can opt out of the crypto revolution. (MIT Technology Review)
6 Ticket scalpers always one step ahead
No matter how much artists try to outwit them. (Motherboard)
7 How does a post-search Internet look?
Chatbots can be used as aggregators to make the web less social. (New Yorker $).
8 The most mysterious chipmaker in Taiwan
TSMC is the largest semiconductor company in the world, but it's also notoriously secretive. (Wired $)
+ What's next in the chip industry. (MIT Technology Review)
9 Tinder swindlers are getting more brazen
Romance fraud is on a rise and young confident men are prime targets. (The Verge)
10 3D printers are used to produce food.
Cheesecake is on the menu. (The Guardian)
Quote for the Day
"Bankrupt, Silicon Valley Bank now. People lost their pensions."
Bloomberg reports on what a Yoda chatbot had a to say about the current banking crisis that is affecting the tech industry.
The big story
What happened to DNA computing?
October 2021
Engineers have been shrinking silicon-based transistors for more than 50 years, creating smaller, more efficient, and faster computers over the course of this process. The long technological winning streak and the miniaturization that enabled it can't last forever.
What is the potential successor technology? Over the past 50 years, there have been many alternative computing methods. These are five of the most memorable. Here are five of the most memorable.
–Lakshmi Chandrasekaran
You can still enjoy nice things
This is a place to find comfort, joy and distraction during these crazy times. (Have any suggestions? Drop me a note or send me a tweet. )
+ I can only say that cows love jazz.
+ Rick Rubin, a man who knows a lot about creativity, believes we all can tap into our inherent brilliance. Are you ready to tap into your innate brilliance?
+ Please inform me that this is a fabricated statement.
+ This super remote home is the subject of intense debate.
+ It would be a great idea to learn how to lose better.
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By: Rhiannon Williams
Title: The Download: Google’s Bard experiment, and Ernie Bot’s rehabilitation
Sourced From: www.technologyreview.com/2023/03/22/1070157/download-google-bard-experiment-ernie-bot-rehabilitation/
Published Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2023 12:55:54 +0000
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