Tag: META

Threads is testing real-time search results
Technology

Threads is testing real-time search results

Meta’s Threads app is often described as the company’s competitor to X. But Threads users, especially those once active on Twitter, are often quick to point out that Meta’s app is not yet a great source for real-time information. The app’s “for you” algorithm often surfaces days-old posts alongside fresh ones, and its recently introduced feature only shows five topics at a time. But for those holding out hope that the app may eventually become more useful for real-time information, Meta’s latest test may be good news.The app is testing a new search feature that will allow users to filter results by recency, according to shared by Threads user Daniel Rodriguez. Threads’ top exec, Adam Mosseri, confirmed the change. “We’re starting to test this with a small number of people so it’s easier...
Meta is stuffing its AI chatbot into your Instagram DMs
Technology

Meta is stuffing its AI chatbot into your Instagram DMs

On Friday, people around the web noticed a new addition to their Instagram: Meta AI, the company’s general-purpose, AI-powered chatbot that can answer questions, write poetry and generate images with a simple text prompt. The move isn’t surprising. Meta revealed Meta AI in September 2023 and has spent the last few months adding the chatbot to products like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, so adding it to Instagram seems like a no-brainer.“Our generative AI-powered experiences are under development in various phases, and we’re testing a range of them publicly in a limited capacity,” a Meta spokesperson told Engadget, which suggests that not everyone has the feature available yet. TechCrunch, which first noted the news, said that Meta AI was showing up in Instagram’s search bar. But for som...
Welcome to the Age of Technofeudalism
Technology

Welcome to the Age of Technofeudalism

The tech giants have overthrown capitalism. That’s the argument of former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who became famous trying to defend debt-laden Greece from its German creditors. Varoufakis has never quite regained the notoriety of 2015. But he has remained a prominent left-wing voice. After a failed campaign for a seat in the European Parliament in 2019, he plans to run again this June. This time, his adversary isn’t Berlin or the banks. It’s the tech companies he accuses of warping the economy while turning people against one other.Courtesy of Penguin Random HouseVaroufakis is also a prolific author; his 17th book, written as a letter to his techno-curious father, chronicles the evolution of capitalism from the 1960s advertising boom, through Wall Street in the 1980s, to...
Big Tech Braces for Wave of Antitrust Rulings in 2024 
Technology

Big Tech Braces for Wave of Antitrust Rulings in 2024 

U.S. antitrust cases against tech giants Google and Meta Platforms are expected to come to a head in 2024, likely producing long-awaited rulings that could shape the legacies of top Biden administration regulators.Silicon Valley and its critics have seen their patience tested on some of these cases. A U.S. antitrust case brought against Alphabet’s Google unit in 2020 went to trial in 2023 and now heads to closing arguments in May.Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Generative AI Learned Nothing From Web 2.0
Technology

Generative AI Learned Nothing From Web 2.0

If 2022 was the year the generative AI boom started, 2023 was the year of the generative AI panic. Just over 12 months since OpenAI released ChatGPT and set a record for the fastest-growing consumer product, it appears to have also helped set a record for fastest government intervention in a new technology. The US Federal Elections Commission is looking into deceptive campaign ads, Congress is calling for oversight into how AI companies develop and label training data for their algorithms, and the European Union passed its new AI Act with last-minute tweaks to respond to generative AI.But for all the novelty and speed, generative AI’s problems are also painfully familiar. OpenAI and its rivals racing to launch new AI models are facing problems that have dogged social platforms, that earli...
What Did Wall Street Get Right About Markets This Year? Not Much
Money

What Did Wall Street Get Right About Markets This Year? Not Much

Updated Dec. 29, 2023 12:07 am ETAlmost no one thought 2023 would be a blockbuster year for stocks. They could hardly have been more wrong. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates at the fastest clip since the 1980s, a regional banking crisis felled Silicon Valley Bank, and war broke out in the Middle East. Yet stocks kept climbing. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
We Aren’t Posting on Social Media as Much Anymore. Will We Ever?
Technology

We Aren’t Posting on Social Media as Much Anymore. Will We Ever?

Lots of people log in to social media every day. Fewer and fewer are actually posting.Isaiah Hug spends roughly two hours a day scrolling through Instagram, but his last post to his main feed was over a year ago. He occasionally posts stories, which vanish after 24 hours.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
We Aren’t Posting on Social Media as Much Anymore. Will We Ever?
World

We Aren’t Posting on Social Media as Much Anymore. Will We Ever?

Lots of people log in to social media every day. Fewer and fewer are actually posting.Isaiah Hug spends roughly two hours a day scrolling through Instagram, but his last post to his main feed was over a year ago. He occasionally posts stories, which vanish after 24 hours.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
How Not to Be Stupid About AI, With Yann LeCun
Technology

How Not to Be Stupid About AI, With Yann LeCun

Once we get computers to match human-level intelligence, they won’t stop there. With deep knowledge, machine-level mathematical abilities, and better algorithms, they’ll create superintelligence, right?Yeah, there's no question that machines will eventually be smarter than humans. We don't know how long it's going to take—it could be years, it could be centuries.At that point, do we have to batten down the hatches?No, no. We’ll all have AI assistants, and it will be like working with a staff of super smart people. They just won't be people. Humans feel threatened by this, but I think we should feel excited. The thing that excites me the most is working with people who are smarter than me, because it amplifies your own abilities.But if computers get superintelligent, why would they need us...