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Microsoft is retiring Teams’ Together Mode

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Microsoft launched Teams' Together Mode during the pandemic to give the illusion of a bunch of people sitting in a conference room together, even if they were really sitting at home without pants on. But times have changed, and it's now being retired in favor of a more simplified Teams experience. The feature used AI to cut your head and shoulds out, and place you in a virtual space with others in the meeting. It could definitely feel gimmicky - especially when you'd tap co-workers on the shoulder, or give virtual high fives - but it did limit visual distractions. The changes are being rolled out gradually, but as they are, the Together Mo … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/73MfJ1C
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Revamped Siri will reportedly offer auto-deleting chats

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Apple is hoping that its record on privacy can be the differentiator on the AI front, and maybe even buy it a little slack as it continues to lag behind the competition. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the more chatbot-like Siri set to debut in iOS 27 will include the option to autodelete chat histories. Users will be able to save conversations for 30 days, one year, or forever. That's in stark contrast to the other major players in the space that generally only offer temporary incognito chats, if that. It appears Apple is betting that people are willing to give up some convenience in the name of greater privacy, as anxiety around AI … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/YNzFsHL
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ElliQ is a surprisingly helpful companion robot for older adults

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A week before the ElliQ robot arrived, a neurologist told me we need to rebalance my mom's life. Her Parkinson's disease medication had steadily become less effective over the previous month, and with it, she had slowly stopped doing many of the things crucial to managing the disease - exercising, socializing, and engaging in hobbies. The result was a rapid, noticeable decline. As my mom's primary caregiver, I was open to any help I could get. And surprisingly, ElliQ did help in a way I never expected. Before increasing her medication dosage again - something that can come with serious side effects - her doctor wanted us to see whether life … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/QEqG58a
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Chatbots at the drive-thru are just the beginning

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This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more news about how AI is seeping into our daily lives, follow Emma Roth . The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started In 2021, McDonald's became one of the first major fast-food chains to greet customers with an AI chatbot at the drive-thru. It started small, deploying the voice-ordering technology at 10 of its locations in Chicago. McDonald's developed its drive-thru tech after acquiring Apprente , a startup focused on voice-based, conversational technology in 2019, and later wor … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/j1h6Nye
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Snap, YouTube, and TikTok settle suit over harm to students

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Schools say social media is hurting grades and creating a mental health crisis. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Snap, YouTube, and TikTok have settled the first lawsuit of its kind, alleging that social media addiction has cost public schools massive amounts of money, according to Bloomberg . The suit, filed by the Breathitt County School District in Kentucky, claims that social media has disrupted learning and created a mental health crisis, straining budgets. The terms of the settlement have not been revealed yet, and Meta is still facing a trial in the same suit, which is viewed as a bellwether for over 1,000 similar lawsuits across the country This follows an earlier case, settled by Snap and TikTok , in which a 19-year-old plaintiff claimed signif … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/L9NCAI4
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ArXiv will ban researchers who upload papers full of AI slop

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ArXiv, a popular platform for preprint academic research, is taking a new step to attempt to reduce the volume of papers that include AI slop. If a paper has "incontrovertible evidence that the authors did not check the results of LLM generation," such as hallucinated references or "meta-comments" left by an LLM, authors will be banned from ArXiv for a year, according to Thomas Dietterich, ArXiv's section chair of its computer science section. Future ArXiv submissions will also have to be accepted at "a reputable peer-reviewed venue." Here's what he said on X : Attention @arxiv authors: Our Code of Conduct states that by signing your name … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/wBj6hZS
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OpenAI keeps shuffling its executives in bid to win AI agent battle

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OpenAI announced yet another reorganization Friday, consolidating certain areas and making company president Greg Brockman the official lead of all things product. In a memo viewed by The Verge , Brockman wrote that since OpenAI's product strategy for this year is to go all-in on AI agents, the company is combining its products to "invest in a single agentic platform and to merge ChatGPT and Codex into one unified agentic experience for all." To do this, the company is making a suite of org chart changes, although it's still operating under some of the same ones from last month . That's when AGI boss Fidji Simo went on medical leave and Open … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/bLJyAa1
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