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State Department revokes visa of Brazil's ambassador to the U.S.
Armed man arrested at Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles County: Authorities
MI6 is top European foreign intelligence service, peer review finds
UK’s Secret Intelligence Service praised for playing long game and having ‘a taste for dirty tricks’
MI6 has been ranked as the most powerful foreign intelligence service in Europe ahead of France and the Netherlands, according to a peer review.
The British intelligence agency scored 251 points in the research and was commended for its expertise in recruiting high-level informants and penetrating the ruling elites in Russia, China, Iran and Turkey, according to the review by 60 professionals from 25 countries.
Continue reading...Tearful Jack Draper loses on comeback from injury at Canadian Open
Briton withdrew from Wimbledon with bruised bone
Draper in tears during 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 loss to Térence Atmane
Jack Draper was in tears during a first-round comeback defeat by Térence Atmane at the Canadian Open.
The Briton was competing for the first time since pulling out of Wimbledon with a recurrence of a bruised bone in his left arm, and was beaten 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 in Montreal.
Continue reading...We Want to Love Human Storytelling, But AI Is Simply More Engaging, Study Shows
Not only are people unable to tell the difference between stories written by humans or artificial intelligence, they actually prefer it when the stories are created by AI. And that’s especially true when they are told that the stories had human authors, according to a new study from Villanova University.
The study consisted of multiple experiments, all of which indicated a preference for AI. In the first, 1,682 participants were told to rate both the quality of six short stories they were given and how “engaging” they were. They were told, either correctly or incorrectly, who or what had authored each one.
Read More: Is AI Making Our Brains Weaker?
Not only were AI-generated stories found to be higher-quality (by 6%) and more engaging (by 8%), they were rated “even more highly,” researchers concluded, when participants believed that they were written by humans (by an additional 3%).
Deena Weisberg, the senior author of the study and an associate professor from Villanova’s Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, said in a press release that the finding “reveals a bias towards narratives written by real people.”
That may be because “we assume creative writing requires uniquely human qualities, such as emotional understanding and lived experience,” she said, explaining that it shows how “public assumptions about AI's capabilities are increasingly out of date.”
Furthermore, people were only able to identify AI-generated content roughly 40% and 52% of the time in two subsequent experiments, each with over 400 participants. People who said they were AI-literate had more success than people who claimed to have a background in literature.
“Familiarity with AI systems appeared to help people recognize the patterns typical of AI-generated writing, such as em dashes and sentence structures such as ‘it’s not just X, it’s Y,’” Weisberg said. “That suggests that improving AI literacy would be one way to help people to navigate the new AI-enabled world that we’re living in.”
Cameron Jones, assistant professor of psychology at Stony Brook University tells TIME that the study’s findings are not necessarily surprising, considering the history of research going back years that shows people’s diminishing ability to tell between artificial intelligence and humans.
He also points to the trajectory of his own studies, which look at whether people can differentiate between them in conversation. In those scenarios, he says, “The person actually gets to quiz the model and ask follow-up questions.”
Even then, they had trouble distinguishing between human and generative content partners.
Jones says that this is because the large language models driving the content responses are trained to appeal to users.
“We basically get the model to generate little bits of text, and then we get people to read them, and they give a thumbs up if they like what the model's saying and they give a thumbs down if they don't like what the model's saying,” he says.
It’s no surprise that people prefer the results, he explains, when “we're optimizing these models' outputs against our preferences.”
It can oversimplify output, but it leads to writing with higher overall appeal—whereas humans might write something truly exceptional that only caters to select tastes.
“Real humans are weird and idiosyncratic, and they're very different from one another,” Jones says. “But models can kind of learn to be this kind of milquetoast everyman who appeals to everybody.”
While the findings align with rising exposure to artificial intelligence, along with algorithmic reward systems for broadly approachable content on platforms like TikTok, Weisberg does not think that the current digital landscape is to blame for the results. She says, “Technologies amplify existing tendencies, rather than creating them.”
Plus, she adds, the human-authored content might have simply challenged readers more.
“AI writing tends to be clearer, more direct and easier to process,” she said. And it’s reasonable for participants to find themselves more deeply engaged with content that offers greater predictability and less friction.
In other words, Weisberg says, “Difficult or subtle material requires more brainpower.”
Man carrying ammunition arrested near Trump National Golf Club before president's visit
Judge Pained as He Grants Dismissal of Jan. 6 Charges Against Oath Keepers
Paid early access to Trump's posts raises insider trading questions
Man charged with arson as Washington wildfires devastate Spokane area
MI6 is top European foreign intelligence service, peer review finds
UK’s Secret Intelligence Service praised for playing long game and having ‘a taste for dirty tricks’
MI6 has been ranked as the most powerful foreign intelligence service in Europe ahead of France and the Netherlands, according to a peer review.
The British intelligence agency scored 251 points in the research and was commended for its expertise in recruiting high-level informants and penetrating the ruling elites in Russia, China, Iran and Turkey, according to the review by 60 professionals from 25 countries.
Continue reading...News Wrap: Blanche nomination clears Senate Judiciary Committee
U.S. Revokes Brazilian Ambassador’s Visa Amid Diplomatic Standoff
Trump White House Readies AI Framework to Review Security Risks
How satellites and AI cameras are detecting wildfires before they get out of control
Breaking down the day's biggest primary races, including Stevens vs. El-Sayed in Michigan
Reflecting Pool case highlights disconnect between Trump's claims and court record
Le Clos' home destroyed by fire after he sets Commonwealths record
Olympic canoeist charged by Jeanine Pirro seeks to permanently sink Reflecting Pool case
It’s Primary Night in Michigan and Four Other States
What to know about cyclosporiasis' lethality after Michigan reports 2 deaths
Rep. Max Miller says he won't resign amid abuse allegations
House Ethics Committee will investigate Ohio Republican Max Miller
The committee said it was reviewing allegations that Miller "may have engaged in domestic violence." Miller has denied the allegations, which have swirled around his bid for a third term in Congress.
(Image credit: Andrew Harnik)
What's behind having to release some prisoners early?
'I was slut-shamed' - Indian women 'cockroach' protesters doxxed and abused
'I feel like I dug my own grave': The workers caught in the AI transition
How an avalanche killed a climbing legend and a generation of record-setting guides
Elon Musk repeatedly one-upped his execs on SpaceX’s first earnings call
'I was slut-shamed' - Indian women 'cockroach' protesters doxxed and abused
U.S. has used nearly all its stockpile of long-range missiles, sources say
Синдром Данилы-мастера: как выбраться из сложной задачи
Разработчик получает сложную задачу, погружается в детали и через несколько дней знает о ней гораздо больше, но законченного результата всё ещё нет. Он не ленится и не обязательно плохо планирует работу. Иногда задача превращается в проверку профессиональной состоятельности: несовершенный результат становится страшно показывать, просьба о помощи воспринимается как поражение, а давление сверху только усиливает застревание.
Я называю это «синдромом Данилы-мастера»: специалист уже не просто решает задачу, а пытается доказать с её помощью собственное мастерство. Разберём, как перфекционизм связывается с самооценкой, почему очевидные советы о декомпозиции могут не работать и как небольшой законченный шаг возвращает человеку способность двигаться дальше.
Читать далееSen. Ted Cruz on future of AI, Texas Senate race and more
Lucid’s turnaround plan hinges on $1.4B in cash savings, robotaxis
3-year-old girl dies after getting head stuck in kitchen playset: Police
Rep. Max Miller calls for House investigation into himself amid abuse allegations
'I feel like I dug my own grave': The workers caught in the AI transition
The avalanche that killed a climbing legend - and a generation of record-setting guides
US stock market hits record highs as AI profits pile and oil prices ease
S&P 500 shot up 1.8% and the main measure of Wall Street’s health topped its prior all-time high set a few months ago
The US stock market rallied to records on Tuesday as profits kept piling up for companies and as oil prices eased.
The S&P 500 shot up 1.8%, and the main measure of Wall Street’s health topped its prior all-time high set a couple months ago. The Dow Jones industrial average added 907 points, or 1.7%, to its own record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite jumped 2.6%.
Continue reading...How to get the best hotel deals for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
U.S. has used almost all of its long-range missiles, sources say
Democrats put redistricting amendment on Maryland’s midterm ballot
Как LLM вернули мне фичу, которую Google Maps отобрал (скилл для Claude прилагается)
В 2018 Google Maps стал показывать рядом с каждым рестораном «Your Match» - процент от 0 до 100% насколько вероятно, что мне тут понравится.
Так как они базировались на прошлых оценках мест, я стал старательно писать ревью на все кафе, где был, чтобы получить максимально точные рекомендации новых. Для меня это работало классно (особенно для матчей больше 90%), намного информативнее среднего рейтинга заведения. Но в 2023 Google фичу тихо убрал.
В недельных лимитах Claude осталось много токенов, которые скоро сгорали. Так что я попробовал вернуть себе фичу своими силами.
Читать далееThe White House Is Keeping Its AI Cybersecurity Framework Secret
SpaceX's revenue rises as its once-soaring stock price drifts back to Earth
On their first earnings call since SpaceX's June public offering, executives said the company is pouring funds into rocket development, Starlink satellites and AI.
(Image credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY)
Missouri Says Voters Cannot Decide on Redrawn Congressional Districts
Michigan’s high-stakes Democratic primary for US Senate seat too close to call – live updates
Michigan awaiting results for Democratic contest between Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens; in Washington state, Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez survives progressive challenge in US House race
Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez survives Washington’s crowded primary
Incumbent Wesley Bell wins Missouri primary as Cori Bush comeback bid fails
Missouri rejects citizens’ bid for vote on Trump-backed redistricting plan
Almost all of the polls have closed in Michigan. We’ll bring you the results as they come in, particularly in the most closely watched race of the night – the Democratic primary for US Senate.
There are four counties in Michigan that keep central time, which means that they will close their polls an hour later than the rest of the state.
Continue reading...‘Trabzon, are you ready?’: Mohamed Salah lands in Turkey to sign for Trabzonspor
Salah greeted by hundreds of fans before free transfer
Egypt star left Liverpool this summer after nine years
Mohamed Salah arrived smiling at an Istanbul airport on Wednesday wearing Trabzonspor’s burgundy and blue kit ahead of his expected move to the Turkish Super Lig side, as hundreds of fans jostled for a glimpse of the Egyptian forward.
Trabzonspor announced on Tuesday they were in negotiations with Salah and the club chairman, Ertugrul Dogan, said they expected to sign the 34-year-old on a free transfer at a ceremony in the Black Sea city on Thursday.
Continue reading...Jetstar to charge fees to put carry-on luggage in overhead lockers
Airline to remove 7kg weight limit for carry-on bags and introduce new fee from February 2027
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Jetstar will charge its passengers to put carry-on luggage in the overhead lockers, in a major change to the budget airline’s carry-on rules.
The airline on Wednesday announced it would remove the 7kg weight limit for carry-on bags, beginning in February 2027. There will still be size restrictions.
Continue reading...