AI & RoboticsNews

DuckDuckGo installs are up 30% as users reject being ‘force-fed’ Google’s AI Search

Last week, after Google announced its huge overhaul to Search, I overheard a woman on the phone saying she was switching to DuckDuckGo because you can “opt out of using AI.” “Google just isn’t Google anymore,” she said. It seems that others had the same idea. At I/O, Google’s annual developer conference, the company said its traditional list of blue links is being replaced by an AI…
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AI & RoboticsNews

Elon Musk has given up on solar power (on Earth)

Has Elon Musk given up on Tesla’s Master Plans, on the electrified economy, on solar power as we know it? From the SpaceX IPO filing released this week, it sure seems like it. A recap for those not enmeshed in the Musk-verse: Tesla has released four Master Plans over the years, and while details have varied, the through line has been electrification of the economy. Musk put it best in his first…
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AI & RoboticsNews

The pope’s AI encyclical isn’t really about AI

Pope Leo XIV published his first encyclical on Monday. Titled Magnifica Humanitas, it addresses “safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence.” And while AI is the hook, the problems Leo focuses on are older and more pervasive: inequality, war…
AI & RoboticsNews

Google goes for the glitter with disco-ball icons: ‘Are y’all sure you still want this?’

So bad, it’s good? Google on Friday joined in the disco ball icon fun taking place on home screens everywhere. After Spotify’s temporary new disco ball app icon, released to celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary, drew extensive online backlash (and a bit of praise for those who like a little kitsch!), Google decided to get in on the joke and rolled out a custom set of Android app icons…
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AI & RoboticsNews

The Path, founded by Tony Robbins and Calm alums, hopes to offer safer AI therapy

When the founders of a mental health app for men called Mental saw that one feature – AI interactive audio – was resonating wildly with their users, they knew they were on to something. And so the idea for a new, and hopefully safer, kind of AI therapy app was born, which they called The Path, co-founder and CEO Anson Whitmer tells TechCrunch. Then famed author and motivational speaker Tony…
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