Amazon kills two privacy features on Alexa smart speakers
Amazon has disabled two key privacy features in its Alexa smart speakers, in a push to introduce artificial intelligence-powered “agentic capabilities” and turn a profit from the popular devices.
Starting today (March 28), Alexa devices...
The overconfident AI problem
Generative AI systems like large language models and text-to-image generators can pass rigorous exams that are required of anyone seeking to become a doctor or a lawyer.
They can perform better than most people in Mathematical Olympiads. They can write halfway...
New AI software can predict rugby injuries
Picture this: a rugby player sprints down the pitch with no opponent in sight, only to collapse mid-run.
It’s a non-contact injury, a frustrating and often preventable setback that can sideline players for weeks or months.
[The Conversation]
Apple appoints veteran to whip struggling AI strategy into shape
Apple executive Kim Vorrath, a company veteran known for fixing troubled products and bringing major projects to market, has a new job: whipping artificial intelligence and Siri into shape.
Vorrath, a vice president in charge of...
South African schools need official AI policies — Education experts
Education experts have called on the government to urgently develop policies to govern the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in schools, Netwerk24 reports.
Independent education consultant Marius Botha told the...
Microsoft splurging $80 billion on data centres this year
Microsoft plans to spend $80 billion (R1.5 trillion) this fiscal year building out data centres, underscoring the intense capital requirements of artificial intelligence.
More than half of this projected spending through June 2025 will...
ChatGPT Search now available to all users
OpenAI is rolling out a search product to all users of its chatbot ChatGPT beginning on Monday, escalating its rivalry with Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
The product, called ChatGPT Search, will be available to any user who is logged in with an account for...
Understanding the AI behind ChatGPT
The arrival of AI systems called large language models (LLMs), like OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot, has been heralded as the start of a new technological era and they may indeed have significant impacts on how we live and work in future.
But they haven’t appeared...
Using AI to detect fake news
In the ambitious pursuit to tackle the harms from false content on social media and news websites, data scientists are getting creative.
While still in their training wheels, the large language models (LLMs) used to create chatbots like ChatGPT are being recruited...
How AI could revolutionise CGI
While many people in the creative industries are worrying that AI is about to steal their jobs, Oscar-winning film director James Cameron is embracing the technology.
Cameron is famous for making the Avatar and Terminator movies, as well as Titanic. Now he has...
OpenAI launches new funding round revealing R2.7-trillion valuation
OpenAI is in talks to raise $6.5 billion from investors at a valuation of $150 billion (R2.68 trillion), according to people familiar with the situation.
The new valuation, a figure that doesn’t include the money being raised...
Nvidia sheds fifth of value in two weeks
Nvidia Corp. wiped out about $406 billion (R7.25 trillion) in value this week, weighing on key equity benchmarks as jitters spread over the health of the US economy and an AI trade that may have gotten ahead of itself.
The world’s largest artificial...
Cost-effective AI system can help combat one of SA's biggest killers
Air quality has become one of the most important public health issues in Africa. Poor air quality kills more people globally every year than HIV, TB and malaria combined.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Air pollution...
AI tools the new frontier of cybercrime
The Internet, a vast and indispensable resource for modern society, has a darker side where malicious activities thrive.
From identity theft to sophisticated malware attacks, cyber criminals keep coming up with new scam methods.
X lets users prevent Grok from training on their posts
Elon Musk’s X has given users a way to prevent their posts and interactions from helping train his artificial intelligence chatbot Grok.
Settings for X users default to allow their data to be provided to the chatbot.
[Bloomberg]
Unisa hits back at AI cheating "scandal" report
The University of South Africa (Unisa) has slammed reports of an "AI scandal" surrounding its latest examinations.
This came after reports that hundreds of examination papers had been marked as "disciplinary cases" after it was discovered that...
Big questions over Apple's AI software
Apple, a company known for its longstanding commitment to user privacy, has received flak since unveiling its artificial intelligence (AI) strategy at its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10.
This relates to the centrepiece of Apple Intelligence...
Nvidia's run as world's most valuable company ends after 2 days
Nvidia Corp.’s run as the world’s most valuable company didn’t last long.
Shares of the semiconductor giant have fallen 6.7% in the last two days, erasing over $220 billion (R3.95 trillion) in market capitalisation and dragging...
South Africa's plan to regulate AI and misinformation
In its annual performance plan for 2024/25, South Africa's Film and Publication Board (FPB) revealed that it is conducting "deep research" into generative AI to prevent the technology from spreading misinformation.
Citing the World Economic...