AI’s ability to (usually) produce grammatically correct syntax sure is impressive, but there is no actual intelligence behind the text, meaning that the way you and I would suss out the validity of some statements, or come up with original thoughts in response to some detail or event, isn’t present in AI-generated…
Source: Kotaku – World Of Warcraft Fans Trick AI, Hilarity Ensues
The BPF virtual machine in the kernel has been steadily gaining new
features for years, many of which add capabilities that C programmers do
not ordinarily have. So, from one point of view, it was only a matter of
time before BPF gained support for exceptions. As it turns out, though,
this “exceptions” feature is aimed at a specific use case, and its use in
most programs will be truly exceptional.
Source: LWN.net – [$] Exceptions in BPF
Department of Justice prosecutors believe disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaked the diary of his sometimes girlfriend and business partner Caroline Ellison in an effort to “discredit a witness.” The contents of the 27-year-old Alameda research CEO’s private Google Docs were recently published in a New York…
Source: Gizmodo – DOJ Accuses SBF of Leaking Caroline Ellison’s Diary in Order to ‘Discredit a Witness’
CompTIA are some of the most in-demand certifications in the field, and the Complete 2023 CompTIA super course bundle is on sale for $49.97 right now (reg. $195). The course covers 12 different CompTIA certifications and are taught by “iducate” (formerly iCollege), who has taught over 700,000 students IT students for…
Source: LifeHacker – This CompTIA Certification Training Is Right Now
Some redditors seem very excited about a new World of Warcraft feature called Glorbo, which some believe will “make a huge impact on the game.” Their palpable enthusiasm for Glorbo caught the attention of a blog named The Portal, which publishes “gaming content powered by Z League,” an app that aims to bring gamers together.
Just one problem: Glorbo isn’t real. The Portal appears to be using AI to scrape Reddit posts and turn them into content.
Redditor u/kaefer_kriegerin noticed that The Portal was seemingly turning discussions from some gaming subreddits into blog posts. They decided to try and trick the content farm into covering a fake WoW feature. The ruse was a success. Other redditors played along, as did some Blizzard developers, as WoW Head notes.
Feels soooooo good to be able to talk about Glorbo finally, I remember my first day at Blizzard we were just starting to work on implementation, and that was almost 15 years ago!
Excellent reporting to track this down👍 pic.twitter.com/Wh1hm0gikM
— Zorbrix 💙 (@Zorbrix) July 20, 2023
The Portal‘s now-deleted blog post even quoted u/kaefer_kriegerin as stating, “Honestly, this new feature makes me so happy! I just really want some major bot operated news websites to publish an article about this.” You almost couldn’t make this up. An archived version of the post is still available.
There appears to be at least some level of human input on The Portal. The site added “(Satire)” to the headline of the post before eventually deleting it entirely. It also published an article based on another Reddit troll post about WoW taking away players’ keys (which is not a thing that’s happening). That blog post is also gone from The Portal.
Engadget has contacted Blizzard to find out whether it will address the hype for Glorbo and actually bring the feature to WoW. As it happens, Blizzard is reportedly using AI to help create character outfits and concept art. We’ve also asked Z League for comment, and we’ll let you know if it sends us a (presumably AI-generated) statement.
Given the rise of generative AI in recent months, we’re likely to see a tidal wave of AI-generated guff appearing on websites, even including mainstream publications. Earlier this year, CNET had to correct dozens of AI-generated finance posts after errors were found. The site’s staff has pushed back against CNET‘s plans to keep using AI amid efforts to unionize. Gizmodo publisher G/O Media is also forging ahead with AI-generated blog posts, despite one that was widely mocked for getting a chronological list of Star Wars movies and TV shows very wrong. That and other AI-generated articles that appeared across the G/O network this month infuriated the company’s human writers and editors.
Mistakes happen. Human writers can’t get everything right all of the time. But any journalist worth their salt will strive to make sure their work is as accurate and fair as possible. Generative AI isn’t exactly there yet. There have been many instances of AI chatbots surfacing misinformation. However, some believe AI can help to actually combat misinformation by, for instance, assisting newsrooms with fact checking.
Meanwhile, Google appears to be working on an AI tool that can whip up news articles and automate certain tasks to help out journalists. Some critics who have seen the tool in action have suggested that it takes the work of producing accurate and digestible news stories for granted.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/redditors-troll-an-ai-content-farm-into-covering-a-fake-wow-feature-145006066.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Redditors troll an AI content farm into covering a fake ‘WoW’ feature
Reddit followed through on its threat to take over subreddits if they did not reopen to the public with its takeover of r/malefashionadvice on Thursday. Prior to closing down in protest of Reddit’s API price changes. The subreddit was one of the biggest on the platform that was still engaged in the protest, boasting…
Source: Gizmodo – Reddit Takes Over Popular Subreddit Amid Moderator Protest
Nintendo has been bullish on its Switch console in light of rumors that there could finally be a more powerful Switch 2 or Switch Pro on the horizon. Rather than talk about next-gen plans, Nintendo’s recently stated goal is to “not only put one system in every home, but several in every home, or even one for every person.” Point being, don’t
Source: Hot Hardware – This Zelda-Themed Switch OLED Game Console For Off Is An Awesome Deal
As the beginning of the SAG-AFTRA strike this past week has intensified a wave of labor movements in Hollywood, movie studios are already starting to scramble as their marketing plans, now unable to leverage their movies’ stars, go right out the window. It’s more than just scrapped comic-con panels though: a new…
Source: Gizmodo – Warner Bros. Could Push Back Dune and Aquaman Sequels As Hollywood Strikes Continue
Reddit is now in charge of r/malefashionadvice, which for a time was the biggest subreddit still closed in protest of the platform’s API pricing changes. From a report: The subreddit is now open, meaning Reddit users can browse content in the community once again, though in a restricted mode, meaning only certain users can make new posts. As we reported last week, the moderators of r/malefashionadvice, a subreddit with than 5 million subscribers, had taken the community private and were pushing its users toward Discord and Substack instead. At the time, the moderators expected to be removed after receiving a message from a Reddit admin (employee), ModCodeofConduct, telling them they would be replaced if they didn’t reopen.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Reddit Takes Over One of the Biggest Protesting Subreddits
This week’s Out-of-Touch guide covers a kidnapping that might not have happened, singing heads coming out of toilets, and people eating borax for their health. So make yourself a girl dinner and get comfortable.
Source: LifeHacker – The Out-of-Touch Adults’ Guide to Kid Culture: What Is Skibidi Toilet?
The Epic Games Store is running a summer sale with some solid discounts on big games ranging from Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding to the just-released Dead Island 2, making the next few weeks a hot time to flesh out your PC backlog.
Source: Kotaku – Epic Games Sale Doesn’t Just Have Solid Deals, It Also Has Good Rewards
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI is going through a bit of a shakeup. The company is adding more features that will help the chatbot remember instructions, though developers will also be spending a lot more time making sure the current version of the company’s precious language model is working as intended. But it’s one step…
Source: Gizmodo – OpenAI’s Trust and Safety Head Steps Down as Devs Pledge to Spend More Time Fixing ChatGPT
So, you didn’t win the $1 billion Powerball jackpot this week. That’s OK—you won’t win the next one either (or the one after that), no matter how dedicated you are to the chase. Even if you did win, we’ve seen time and time again that lottery prizes are more often a curse than a blessing. But now that the craze has…
Source: LifeHacker – Sorry, but You’ll Never Win the Powerball
Understanding how to execute multiple commands at once in Linux can significantly improve your efficiency and productivity. This article will guide you through various ways you can run multiple Linux commands in a single line and even how to automate repetitive tasks.
Source: LXer – Running Multiple Linux Commands Simultaneously
In this guide, you will learn how to hot clone a Linux server with the Rsync file synchronization tool.
The post How to Clone or Duplicate a Linux Server With Rsync appeared first on Linux Today.
Source: Linux Today – How to Clone or Duplicate a Linux Server With Rsync
The new Saw movie sets the stage for the return of John Kramer. Get a creepy glimpse of David Gordon Green’s Exorcist: Believer. Amazon’s The Boys spinoff sets a release date. Plus, American Horror Story: Delicate drops a suitably absurd teaser. Spoilers, away!
Source: Gizmodo – Transformers’ Producers Still Really Want a G.I. Joe Movie Crossover to Happen
op AI companies including OpenAI, Alphabet and Meta Platforms have made voluntary commitments to the White House to implement measures such as watermarking AI-generated content to help make the technology safer, the Biden administration said on Friday. From a report: The companies — which also include Anthropic, Inflection, Amazon.com and OpenAI partner Microsoft — pledged to thoroughly test systems before releasing them and share information about how to reduce risks and invest in cybersecurity.
The move is seen as a win for the Biden administration’s effort to regulate the technology which has experienced a boom in investment and consumer popularity. Since generative AI, which uses data to create new content like ChatGPT’s human-sounding prose, became wildly popular this year, lawmakers around the world began considering how to mitigate the dangers of the emerging technology to national security and the economy.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Meta and Amazon Pledge To Watermark AI Content For Safety, White House Says
Summer weekends mean fresh air, sunny beaches, barbeque—oh, who am I kidding? This is “I’m locked inside all day bathed in air conditioning and glued to a video game” weather, and this weekend we’ve got some more games for you to consider adhering to. Our guide this week features some more retro delights, a neat way…
Source: Kotaku – Kotaku’s Weekend Guide: 6 Games With Feel-Good Vibes
This week the Linux Foundation has announced that the group will be overseeing the formation of a new Ethernet consortium, with a focus on adapting and refining the technology for high performance computing workloads. Backed by founding members AMD, Arista, Broadcom, Cisco, Eviden, HPE, Intel, Meta and Microsoft, the new Ultra Ethernet Consortium will be working to improve Ethernet to meet the low latency and scalability requirements that HPC and AI systems need – and which the group says current Ethernet technology isn’t quite up to the task for.
The top priority of the new group will be to define and develop what they are calling the Ultra Ethernet Transport (UET) protocol, a new transport-layer protocol for Ethernet that will better address needs of AI and then HPC workloads.
Ethernet is certainly one of the most ubiquitous technologies around, but demands of AI and HPC clusters are growing so fast that the technology will run out of steam in the future. The size of large AI models is increasing rapidly. GPT-3 was trained with 175 billion of parameters back in 2020. Today GPT-4 is said to be accommodating already a trillion of parameters. Models with the larger number of parameters require larger clusters and then these clusters send larger messages over the network. As a result, the higher bandwidth and the shorter latency these network feature, the more efficient the cluster can operate.
“Many HPC and AI users are finding it difficult to obtain the full performance from their systems due to weaknesses in the system interconnect capabilities,” said Dr. Earl Joseph, CEO of Hyperion Research.
At a high level, the new Ultra Ethernet Consortium is looking to refine Ethernet in a surgical manner, improving and altering only those bits and pieces necessary to achieve their goals. At its onset, the consortium is looking at improving both the software and physical layers of Ethernet technology — but without altering its basic structure to ensure cost efficiency and interoperability.
Technical goals of the consortium include developing specifications, APIs, and source code to define protocols, interfaces, and data structures for Ultra Ethernet communications. In addition, the consortium aims to update existing link and transport protocols and create new telemetry, signaling, security, and congestion mechanisms to better address needs of large AI and HPC clusters. Meanwhile, since AI and HPC workloads have a number of differences, UET will have separate profiles for appropriate deployments.
“Generative AI workloads will require us to architect our networks for supercomputing scale and performance,” said Justin Hotard, executive vice president and general manager, HPC & AI, at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. “The importance of the Ultra Ethernet Consortium is to develop an open, scalable, and cost-effective ethernet-based communication stack that can support these high-performance workloads to run efficiently. The ubiquity and interoperability of ethernet will provide customers with choice, and the performance to handle a variety of data intensive workloads, including simulations, and the training and tuning of AI models.”
The Ultra Ethernet Consortium is hosted by the Linux Foundation, though the real work will be undertaken by its members. Between AMD, Cisco, Intel, and other founders, these companies all either design high-performance CPUs, compute GPUs, and network infrastructure for AI and HPC workloads or build supercomputers or clusters for AI and HPC applications, thus have plenty of experience with appropriate technologies. The work of UEC is set to be conducted by four working groups that will work on Physical Layer, Link Layer, Transport Layer, and Software Layer.
And while the group is not explicitly talking about Ultra Ethernet in relation to any competing technologies, the members of the founding board – or rather, who’s not a founding member – is telling. The performance goals and HPC focus of Ultra Ethernet would have it coming into direct competition with InfiniBand, which has for over a decade been the networking technology of choice for low-latency, HPC-style networks. While developed by its own trade association, NVIDIA is said to have an outsized influence on the group vis-a-vie their Mellanox acquisition a few years ago, and they are noticeably the odd man out of the new group. The company makes significant use of both Ethernet and InfiniBand internally, using both for their scalable DGX SuperPod systems.
As for the proposed Ultra Ethernet standards, UEC members are already plotting plans how to integrate the upcoming UET technology into their products.
“We are particularly encouraged by the improved transport layer of UEC and believe our portfolio is primed to take advantage of it,” said Mark Papermaster, CTO of AMD in a blog post. “UEC allows for packet-spraying delivery across multiple paths without causing congestion or head-of-line blocking, which will enable our processors to successfully share data across clusters with minimal incast issues or the need for centralized load-balancing. Lastly, UEC accommodates built-in security for AI and HPC workloads that in turn help AMD capitalize on our robust security and encryption capabilities.”
Meanwhile, for now UEC does not say when it expects to finalize the UET specification. It’s expected that the group will seek certification from the IEEE, who maintains the various Ethernet standards, so there is an additional set of hoops to jump through there.
Finally, the UEC has noted that it is looking for additional members to round out the group, and will begin accepting new member applications from Q4 2023. Along with NVIDIA, there are several other tech giants involved in AI or HPC work that are not part of the group, so that would be their next best chance to join the consortium.
Source: The Linux Foundation, The Register
Source: AnandTech – Ultra Ethernet Consortium Formed, Plans to Adapt Ethernet for AI and HPC Needs
Getting outside is probably one of the biggest perks of summertime, and as an extra perk, whether you’re camping at a park or in your own backyard, having good sex in the great outdoors is possible—if you come prepared. Sex outdoors involves more than being open-minded and spontaneous; you should also have some…
Source: LifeHacker – How to Have Great Sex Outside (Safely)