Technology News

Meta is working hard to add new features to all of its apps and services, including WhatsApp. The social media giant recently announced some new features for WhatsApp group chats. Both group administrators and group participants benefit from the new functions.

New controls for WhatsApp group admins include more privacy, meaning admins can now decide who can join a group. When group admins share a group invite link, they can control who can and can’t join the group. Meta recently doubled the group size from 512 to 1,024.

Another new feature announced by Meta for WhatsApp is the ability to search for a contact name to see the groups you’re both in. This is useful when you and the contact are both in the same community. You can search the community to find out what groups you share with someone. In WhatsApp Community you can have up to 50 groups and add up to 5,000 members.

Image: Meta

In an official blog post, Meta announced that the above new features will be rolled out globally over the next few weeks. Since these are big changes, Meta will make them available via app updates. Additionally, all these changes will be available on WhatsApp across all platforms including Android, iOS, desktop and web.

Meta also promised to continue “developing new tools to make Groups the best experience for admins and members.” In other words, the social media giant has hinted that more features for WhatsApp group admins and members will be added in the future.

The project, announced on Tuesday, details of which were first revealed to The Canadian Press, aims primarily to equip the organization’s volunteers to be better able to recognize and address malnutrition that seniors can suffer from to react.

The three factsheets developed will also be distributed online to “multiply the eyes” that can spot the problem, explained Professor Nancy Presse, an expert from the University of Sherbrooke who is taking part in the initiative.

“Senior citizens who live alone are behind closed doors, behind apartment or house doors,” said Ms. Presse. We asked ourselves how to identify those who have problems such as B. Grocery shopping difficulties, financial difficulties… how do we find them? And we came up with the idea of ​​calling community organizations (…) that have volunteers in contact with seniors.”

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A survey conducted last fall of around 300 seniors accompanied by Les Petits Frères found that 25% of them were not eating three meals a day and were struggling to get groceries at an affordable price. All survey participants were 75 years and older and lived on the island of Montreal or Longueuil.

In another survey conducted online between June and December 2022 of 68 seniors accompanied by the Little Brothers volunteers, 41% of participants said they had lost weight involuntarily. “Unintentional, unintentional weight loss is always a red flag,” Nancy told Presse. Always.”

A quarter of the seniors surveyed said they had difficulty eating. Mobility problems, health problems and a grocery store far from home are cited as the main explanations.

Almost half of the participants stated that they find it difficult or sometimes difficult to prepare meals, mainly because they lack the motivation to do so. Almost eight out of ten seniors reported having difficulty eating because of physical problems such as pain or loss of strength. 44 percent named problems with chewing, swallowing and choking.

“We get updates on (elderly malnutrition) quite a lot, but personally I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said Joanne Parmenter, area director of Les Petits Frères du Grand Montréal.

No more eating alone

A little under half of the 1,000 seniors the organization supports in the area can no longer eat properly, she continues, often because they are now alone and don’t want to eat alone.

Additionally, during the online survey, 31% of respondents said that “eating in good company” would help them increase their appetite. 37 percent of seniors reported eating alone every day.

“These people still have a pride,” Ms. Parmenter said. They raise their hands less and less to get help, they no longer have the energy to fight to actually get their needs met. What’s the use, they say to themselves, because they really are being left alone.

An empty fridge, a fridge full of expired groceries, seemingly innocuous phrases or baggy clothing are among the signs that could draw the attention of those who work with seniors, whether volunteers or neighbors.

One of the files is therefore dedicated exclusively to these alarm signals. Another attempts to publicize senior malnutrition, and a final offers some ways to deal with the problem.

“We wanted it to speak to Mr. and Mrs. Everyone,” Ms. Parmenter said. What do you need to know to keep elders from falling into the malnutrition spiral?”

The goal is not to turn volunteers into health workers, Ms. Presse said. On the other hand, we want to empower them to start a dialogue with the senior, make them understand that they have a problem and see how we can accompany them in finding community organizations that can help them.

Not all seniors have access to the internet or are comfortable using it, she added. It can then be difficult for them to find the available resources, further increasing their isolation.

“It will make sure that we don’t find (the older person) in six months at 87 pounds very thin and then very fragile to get all sorts of infections or fall because he lost his muscle mass,” the researcher illustrated.

In addition to the Sherbrooke University Research Center and the Les Petits Frères organization, the City of Montreal and the Regional Health Department are also involved in this project.

Samsung has just introduced the new mid-range smartphones Galaxy A34 5G and Galaxy A54 5G and may soon announce the entry-level Galaxy A24. All the technical data sheets and some pictures have just been published on the web and here are all the details.

Recently, the South Korean brand launched its mid-range Galaxy A34 5G and Galaxy A54 5G smartphones. And these take up the design of more high-end series like the Galaxy S23. They indeed have an extremely slim back with photo sensors seemingly only placed on the back. A newcomer with a higher level of entry level could quickly be added the Galaxy A24. If you believe the pictures published by a Turkish website, this could also be there an extremely clean design with photo blocks in their simplest device in the top left corner. On the front it would have a teardrop shaped notch to house the selfie sensor and that The edges of the screen seem quite thick, especially the ones at the bottom. The smartphone is expected to be available in color silver, black, bordeaux or lime.

What technical characteristics can we expect?

According to the latest rumours, the Samsung Galaxy A24 should be equipped with one 6.5 inch screen with Super AMOLED panel and a 90Hz refresh rate. Its maximum brightness would be 1000 cd/m². The cell phone could be powered by a chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 paired with 4GB RAM and 128 GB storage space, expandable via a micro SD card. The smartphone would have one 50 megapixel optically stabilized main photo sensor to limit camera shake when recording. This would be one of the main advantages of this device. There would be one too 5 megapixel sensor for photos in ultra wide angle mode And a third sensor, 2 megapixels, this one for macro shots. To take a selfie, the cellphone would offer a 13 megapixel sensor that is also used for video calls. A fingerprint reader is installed on the side near the standby button. The device would weigh 195 grams on the scale for dimensions of 162.1 x 77.6 mm and a 8.3mm thick. It remains to wait a little to confirm the next availability of a new model and the price at which it will be offered or not.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said in a recent interview that he’s concerned about the rise of ChatGPT competitors who may not feel pressured to implement strong and reliable safeguards for their AI models. Sam Altman said that due to the economic and social impact of AI, many companies and governments are likely to prioritize power and profit over safety and ethics, as has already happened. His words echo those of Google, which has long hesitated to release the ChatGPT-type AI models it started working on long before OpenAI.

What worries me is that we won’t be the only ones developing this technology. There will be other players who will not enforce some of the security limits we set. I think society has limited time to figure out how to respond to this. How to regulate it, how to manage it. I am particularly concerned that these models are being used for large scale disinformation. Now that they know better how to write computer code, they could be used for offensive cyberattacks, Sam Altman said in an ABC News interview last week.

AI chatbots are becoming more and more a part of our digital lives and many of us are using this technology to communicate with friends and family online. However, as with any new technology, there are inevitably teething problems and issues to be resolved. One of the main problems with AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Bard is their tendency to confidently present false information as hard facts. Systems often “hallucinate”—that is, make up information—because they are essentially AI autocomplete software.

Rather than querying a database of hard facts to answer questions, they train on vast corpora of text, analyzing patterns to determine which word follows the next in a given sentence. In other words, they are probabilistic and non-deterministic, which has led some AI specialists to call them “bullshit generators”. Although the internet is already full of false and misleading information, using AI chatbots as search engines could make the problem even worse. In this case, according to experts, the responses from chatbots take on the authority of a machine that claims to be omniscient.

AI chatbots also face issues such as the spread of fake news and privacy, as well as ethical issues. In the latter case, developers face important ethical questions about the design of AI chatbots. In particular, they must decide which topics the AI ​​chatbots are allowed to joke about and which are forbidden. According to analysts, the task is not easy as AI chatbots are often designed for an international audience and therefore have to take into account the sensitivities of people from different cultures, realities and religions.

There have already been some scandals surrounding AI chatbots. For example, in India, some users were offended that ChatGPT could joke about Krishna but not Mohammed or Jesus. This underscores the challenges developers face when attempting to create AI chatbots that respect all religions and cultures. In the United States, conservatives have accused ChatGPT of being “woke,” biased, and defending left-wing values. Elon Musk, co-founder of OpenAI, claimed ChatGPT is an example of dangerous AI and the AI ​​chatbot is trained to be woken up.

OpenAI shared a document last week that describes how its testers intentionally tried to trick GPT-4 into giving them dangerous information – such as how a dangerous chemical was made from basic ingredients and kitchen utensils – and how the company is solving the problems fixed before the tool was launched. In another example of AI abuse, phone scammers are now using AI voice cloning tools to pose as parents in dire need of financial assistance, and are successfully extorting money from victims.

Because Altman runs a company that sells artificial intelligence tools, he’s been particularly open about the dangers of AI. As he continues OpenAI’s work on AI, Altman believes companies and regulators need to work together to establish regulation for AI development. We need enough time for our institutions to know what to do. “It’s critical to have time to understand what’s going on, how people want to use these tools, and how society can move forward with them,” Altman said.

Analysts agree with Altman to a certain extent. In this AI hamster wheel, many corporations and superpowers are likely to prioritize power and profit over safety and ethics. It’s also true that despite the many billions that have been invested in software, AI technology is rapidly overtaking government regulation. In any case, this is a dangerous combination. However, they say, it would be easier to take Altman’s words seriously if the AI ​​weren’t so fickle, even with the best of intentions and safeguards.

These algorithms are unpredictable, and it is impossible to know how AI systems and their protections will behave when their products are released to the public. There’s also the fact that despite its white knight stance, OpenAI doesn’t want to reveal to anyone all the details of how its AI models and their safeguards actually work. In fact, OpenAI was founded as a non-profit company and is committed to sharing its insights and source code with the AI ​​developer community. But the company has made a 180-degree turn since 2019 and is now completely shut down.

In the technical document published by OpenAI on the verge of the launch of GPT-4, the company intends to continue on this path. Due to the competitive landscape and security implications of large language models such as GPT-4, this report does not provide further details on architecture (including model size), hardware, computer “training”, construction of the data set, training method, or the like”. , denotes the technical document. This statement The company’s approach radically moves it away from its original vision and from Altman’s endorsement as it undermines any collaboration with the community.

In fact, at the same time, OpenAI argues that it can’t reveal proprietary information, including about its security measures, because it could cost money and because it would reveal the inner workings of its technology as a whole. Although Altman has advocated and continues to advocate for regulation, he and OpenAI still operate without regulation. For now, it’s OpenAI to define what ethics and safety should mean and be. And by keeping his models closed, the public may have a hard time trusting him.

In the end, it’s one thing to say you’re doing everything right. It’s another to show it, and while OpenAI continues to position itself as the right one in the coming storm, it’s important to remember that the tight-lipped company is making a lot more disclosures. According to critics, emerging technologies often have unpredictable or fairly predictable but unavoidable adverse effects, even with the best intentions or the best safeguards. They believe Altman’s warning has merit, but perhaps it should be taken with a grain of salt.

Source: Interview with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

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See also

OpenAI’s CEO says its technology will likely destroy capitalism, but the AI ​​startup has been pushing for a partnership with software giant Microsoft

Meet OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who learned to code at the age of 8 and is also preparing for the apocalypse with a stash of gold, guns and gas masks

A search using Google’s Bard and Microsoft’s ChatGPT will likely cost ten times more than a keyword search, which could yield billions in rewards

Conservatives claim ChatGPT has “woken up” and worry about OpenAI chatbot bias. They also accuse the chatbot of representing “left values”.

From computers to electric bicycles, sometimes there is only one wheel rotation. For example, computer manufacturer Acer has just introduced the Acer ebii, an electrically assisted bicycle covered in sensors and animated by AI.

Acer is known as a hardware manufacturer, but much less as an e-bike designer. The brand has just unveiled its Acer ebii, a lightweight e-bike that’s pretty unique in terms of features. With its 16 kilos, the bicycle bike remains light considering the technologies it contains. Below that is not only to note the GPS position of the bike and the number of kilometers traveled, but also anti-collision systems, which we are more used to from cars equipped with options. It’s fairly new, but most importantly, Acer is introducing an IAIA that would help handlebar hold and pedaling optimization, respectively. Through machine learning, this AI could learn more about the cyclist’s pedaling style to improve support and predictively adjust the gearing automatically and precisely. The bike also has other little extras that work hand-in-hand with an app on a smartphone. This allows the ebii to be unlocked automatically when you are nearby with your phone in your pocket.

Very high end

Always with safety in mind, the integrated GPS allows you to locate and find it easily. Light, but maybe not quite, which might be an issue for some fairly standard but rather high-end components. Because in this point the manufacturer has not skimped on quality. There’s a belt drive instead of a chain, 160mm hydraulic disc brakes, and wide-angle LED lighting. No risk of punctures for the tires because they are “full”, i.e. without air. The battery has an output of 460 Wh. With its USB-CUSB-C sockets, it can be used as a backup battery, for example to power mobile devices and a laptop. According to Acer, the 250 W motor placed in the rear wheel hub could run 110 kilometers with the support. During all those kilometers you have to pedal as there is no hand throttle like on certain models.

The maximum speed is limited to 25 km/h according to European regulations. Small originality to argue about: to make the bike lighter and maybe reduce its cost, the fork has only one stand. It remains to be seen how this fork will perform under heavy braking or after several years of use. At the moment it is just a presentation and some details are still missing. It is not known if the bike will have an integrated screen, for example, or if the smartphone will be the main interface for the user. Also, we don’t know the release date, nor the price, which should be quite high considering the level of features and innovations on board.

In Toulouse in the Haute-Garonne, Dr. Matthieu Minty, dentist and university lecturer, with a team of Inserm researchers on the innovation of a connected tooth that could make it possible to detect certain diseases in saliva. For researchers, saliva is of great biological interest.
“All neurodegenerative bacteriologies (…), even many oral and facial cancers, originate in saliva before they are detected in the blood.” analyze. After identifying the salivary biomarkers of several diseases, the researchers began developing a tooth equipped with a sensor implanted in the patient and connected to an analysis platform that allows the doctor to monitor the development of the disease pursue. Initially focused on glycemic monitoring, this innovation could improve the daily lives of people with diabetes, who are now estimated at more than five million in France.
Pending funding, the researchers believe they can create a prototype in the next six months, with commercialization expected in 2024.

The small black fragments from the asteroid Ryugu, recovered 300 million kilometers from Earth, appear insignificant, but they still hide one of the building blocks necessary for life to arise. Japanese scientists have indeed detected uracil, one of the components of RNA, in a 10 milligram sample of these fragments, according to their study published in Nature on Tuesday.

The discovery lends credence to the theory, dubbed panspermia, that life on Earth was “seeded” from space when asteroids impacted the planet. However, this theory does not rule out the appearance of life on Earth from the primordial oceans or even their atmosphere.

The study, published in Nature, is the latest to examine the 5.4 grams of fragments and dust recovered by the Japanese probe Hayabusa-2 on the asteroid Ryugu.

Hayabusa-2 was launched from Earth in 2014 and returned to Earth orbit in 2020 to release a capsule containing the sample. The latter, divided among several international research teams, has already yielded discoveries such as the presence of amino acids, building blocks necessary for the emergence of life.

The study, published on Tuesday, looked at another of these building blocks: the bases of RNA. When the DNA, with its double helix, carries the genetic information, the single-stranded RNA is a messenger that enables the instructions contained in the DNA to be carried out.

A component “delivered” to earth
RNA consists of four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine and uracil. Scientists had found them in meteorites, fragments of asteroids, but could not be sure that this presence was not the result of terrestrial contamination.

“Because the meteorites landed on the Earth’s surface, where microorganisms are ubiquitous, it is all the more complicated to interpret the origin of molecules of such biological importance in the meteorites,” one of the study’s authors told AFP. Yasuhiro Oba, Associate Professor at the University of Hokkaido. Examination of the Ryugu samples took place in several stages, after they were immersed in hot water, like “for brewing tea or coffee,” Oba said. An acid solution was then used to extract the molecules, which were analyzed with highly sensitive instruments to identify uracil. The discovery provides “strong evidence that one of the components of RNA was brought to Earth before life arose” via a Ryugu-like asteroid thought to have crashed onto our planet, according to Oba. Who “assumes” that such a deposit “played a role in prebiotic evolution and possibly the origin of life” on Earth.

The other RNA components were not identified in the Ryugu samples, although the researcher does not rule out their presence, but in too small amounts to be detectable. Professor Oba hopes to be able to analyze more asteroid samples in the future, such as the one the Osiris-REx probe must bring back from asteroid Bennu, which is expected to return to Earth this year.

Another crucial mission will be the deployment of the MMX (Martian Moons eXploration) mission from Japan in 2024, which will attempt to collect samples from Phobos, one of Mars’ moons, with a return planned for 2029.

The small black fragments from the asteroid Ryugu, recovered 300 million kilometers from Earth, appear insignificant, but they still hide one of the building blocks necessary for life to arise. In fact, Japanese scientists discovered uracil, one of the components of RNA, in a 10 milligram sample of these fragments.

Microsoft has announced Copilot, a GPT-4-based virtual assistant that integrates directly with the Microsoft 365 office suite and other enterprise applications. The AI ​​helps with writing documents, summarizes meetings and offers a chatbot that centralizes all internal company information.

Earlier this year, information was leaked that MicrosoftMicrosoft was planning to integrate artificial intelligence into office software. Now it’s done, and just like Bing, the company used GPT-4, the new version of the Large Language Model (LLM) behind ChatGPTChatGPT.

Dubbed Copilot, this AI is designed to aid in productivity, so it differs significantly from ChatGPT. Copilot will be accessible across all Microsoft 365 apps from Microsoft 365, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as Teams and Outlook. It is possible to ask him to create a first draft of a document or presentation, taking an example from an existing file. AI can also update documents or create a natural language summary if needed.

Business Chat, a conversational agent for the company

Copilot connects to Microsoft Graph, the platform that manages all enterprise data across Microsoft 365, Windows and Azure. Each request to Copilot is first enriched with user data from Microsoft Graph and then passed to the LLM. The response is then processed by Microsoft Graph to verify security and privacy before it is transmitted to the user. This access to data is also the basis of a new function. At the same time, Microsoft announced Business Chat, a chatbot customized for each company that is able to answer questions from employees. For example, when you’re away, it can provide a summary of all changes, taking into account the team’s meetings, discussions, and emails.

The AI ​​will be available in Microsoft 365 applications in the coming months, and the company will announce the price of the licenses later.