OpenAI releases tool to detect machine-written text, Paypal lays off 2000 workers, Canadian team discovers power draining flaw in laptops and phones batteries.
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That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending. It’s Wednesday, February 1st and I am your host, Ashee Pamma.
OpenAI, the force behind popular AI chatbot, ChatGPT, released a free web-based tool, designed to detect machine-written text. The technology emerged after several educational institutions banned the use of the chatbot following risks of AI plagiarism and impact on students’ learning. The AI system offers a five-point scale of results: Very unlikely to have been AI-generated, unlikely, unclear, possible or likely. It works best on text samples greater than 1,000 words and in English, with performance significantly worse in other languages. However, OpenAI told news site Axios that the tool is imperfect and performance varies based on how similar the text being analyzed is to the types of writing OpenAI’s tool was trained on.
Source: Axios
PayPal announced plans to lay off 2,000 employees, or around 7 per cent of its workforce. President and CEO Dan Schulman wrote in the release that PayPal is working to address the “challenging macroeconomic environment.” He added that the company has made progress focusing resources on core priorities and rightsizing its cost structure, but that there is more work to be done. Following the announcement, Paypal’s stock bumped up more than 2 per cent. The company’s layoffs announcement marks the latest round of job cuts in the tech industry, after Google, Microsoft and Salesforce also announced layoff plans last month
Source: CNBC News
Researchers in Dalhousie University, Halifax discovered the widespread manufacturing flaw that causes the power from phone, tablet or laptop devices to slowly drain. The problem lies in the tiny pieces of tape that hold the battery components together, made, according to the researchers, from the wrong type of plastic. When cables are connected to each end of the battery, electrons flow through the cables to provide power to devices. The problem occurs when the electrons do not follow the cables, causing the battery to deplete internally without sending out electrical current and your device loses charge even when off. To find the perfect battery, the researchers tested out different types of batteries. One had a substance, with a similar structure as plastic that shuttles electrons within the battery, rather than having them flow outside through cables and generate electricity. Shuttling electrons internally depletes the battery’s charge, even if it isn’t connected to a circuit or electrical device. Realizing that the tape, made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was not inert was massive for the researchers as many companies use PET plastic.
Source: CBC News
Instagram’s co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger are back with a new venture to explore ideas for next-generation social apps. Their first product is Artifact, a personalized news feed that uses machine learning to understand your interests and will soon let you discuss those articles with friends. The app opens to a feed of popular articles chosen from a curated list of publishers ranging from bigger publishers like the New York Times to small-scale blogs about niche topics. When you tap on articles that interest you, Artifact serves you similar posts and stories in the future, like watching videos on TikTok. Tap on articles that interest you and Artifact will serve you similar posts and stories in the future, just as watching videos on TikTok. The app opened its waiting list to the public yesterday.
Source: The Verge
The Internet Archive announced The Calculator Drawer, a collection of 14 emulated old-school calculators. Most are from Texas Instruments, while there are some options from HP as well. The oldest calculator is 1989’s VTech Electronic Number Muncher toy. The calculators support keyboard input, and let you click on-screen buttons for input, which makes for an even more realistic experience when using the emulation on a touchscreen. Some of the calculators even have power buttons and sound effects. Math nerds can relive some memorable gadgets with the Calculator Drawer and use highly capable calculators, which can cost around $100 or more.
Source: Ars Technica
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash briefings or your Google Home daily briefing. Make sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire newsletter to get all the news that matters directly in your inbox every day. Also, catch the next episode of Hashtag Tendances, our weekly Hashtag Trending episode in French, which drops every Thursday morning. If you have a suggestion or a tip, drop us a line in the comments or via email. Thank you for listening, I’m Ashee Pamma.