Baidu to Implement ChatGPT-like Ernie Bot Chatbot From March

Baidu Inc., one of China’s biggest search and artificial intelligence firms, said Thursday it plans to implement its artificial intelligence chatbot Ernie into its search services from March.

JAPANESE STARTUP UNVEILS BALLOON FLIGHT SPACE VIEWING TOURS

A Japanese startup announced plans to launch commercial space viewing balloon flights that it hopes will bring an otherwise astronomically expensive experience down to Earth.

MICROSOFT MAKES CASE FOR ACTIVISION MERGER AMID EU SCRUTINY

Microsoft’s Xbox video game division announced new partnerships with Nintendo and chipmaker Nvidia as it tries to persuade European regulators to approve its planned $68.7 billion takeover of game publishing giant Activision Blizzard.

REESE WITHERSPOON, ASHTON KUTCHER SHINE IN A ROM-COM'

If you decide to settle in and watch “Your Place or Mine” to see the sparks fly between Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher, you’ll be initially disappointed. They’re not in the same room until the last 12 minutes.

JAPAN ABORTS LAUNCH OF NEW ROCKET CARRYING MISSILE SENSOR

Japan’s space agency aborted the inaugural launch of its next-generation H3 rocket after the auxiliary booster engines failed to ignite, officials said.

STELLANTIS EARNINGS RISE AS EV PUSH DRIVES HIGHER SALES

Automaker Stellantis reported its earnings grew in 2022 from a year earlier and said its push into electric vehicles led to a jump in sales even as it faces growing competition from an industrywide shift to more climate-friendly offerings.

HONDA CR-V HYBRID VS KIA SPORTAGE HYBRID

The 2023 Honda CR-V and 2023 Kia Sportage are two highly rated small SUVs. Notably, they also come in hybrid versions that offer some compelling advantages.

MICROSOFT BRINGS BING CHATBOT TO PHONES AFTER CURBING QUIRKS

Microsoft is ready to take its new Bing chatbot mainstream — less than a week after making major fixes to stop the artificially intelligent search engine from going off the rails.

PAY-PER-CHEW: MORE RESTAURANTS TRYING SUBSCRIPTION PROGRAMS

Consumers are willing to pay monthly subscription fees for streaming services, pet food and even toilet paper. And now some restaurants are betting they’ll do the same for their favorite meals.

AMAZON ASKS CORPORATE STAFF TO BE IN OFFICES 3 DAYS A WEEK

Amazon will require its corporate employees to return to the office at least three days a week.

Al Summit - Apple is entering the artificial intelligence race

With the AI war heating up and companies like Microsoft and Google battling it out to offer more advanced technologies to their customers, Apple looks set to enter the ring next.

FDA'S OWN REPUTATION COULD BE RESTRAINING ITS MISINFO FIGHT

The government agency responsible for tracking down contaminated peanut butter and defective pacemakers is taking on a new health hazard: online misinformation.

WHAT IS SECTION 230, THE RULE THAT MADE THE MODERN INTERNET?

Twenty-six words tucked into a 1996 law overhauling telecommunications have allowed companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google to grow into the giants they are today.

ΜΕΤΑ TESTING NEW SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE FOR VERIFIED ACCOUNTS

Meta is testing a new subscription service that would let Facebook and Instagram users pay for a verified account.

HOW TO KEEP YOUR TWITTER ACCOUNT SECURE WITHOUT PAYING

Twitter users were greeted last weekend with an ultimatum from the social media app: Subscribe to the platform’s new premium service or lose a popular account security feature.

Amazon Unit Zoox Tests Robotaxi on California City's Streets

Zoox’s recent achievement of successfully transporting passengers on public roads marks a significant step forward for the development of autonomous driving technology.

STUDY SHOWS 'STRIKING' NUMBER WHO BELIEVE NEWS MISINFORMS

Half of Americans in a recent survey indicated they believe national news organizations intend to mislead, misinform or persuade the public to adopt a particular point of view through their reporting.

GOOGLE TO EXPAND MISINFORMATION 'PREBUNKING' IN EUROPE

After seeing promising results in Eastern Europe, Google will initiate a new campaign in Germany that aims to make people more resilient to the corrosive effects of online misinformation.

A MARVEL VILLAIN COMES INTO FOCUS IN 'ANT-MAN 3'

Peyton Reed’s “Ant-Man” films have generally served as a kind of palate cleanser to the world-ending stakes of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe.

EX-APPLE DESIGNER BEHIND CHARLES III'S CORONATION EMBLEM

The official emblem of King Charles III’s coronation, created by former Apple chief designer Jony Ive and his associates, honors the monarch’s love of nature by joining the flora that symbolize the four nations of the United Kingdom in a single image.

TIKTOK 'DE-INFLUENCERS' WANT GEN Z TO BUY LESS, AND MORE

At a time when consumers are inundated with so-called social media influencers peddling the latest products online, a slew of TikTok users are leveraging their platforms to tell people what not to buy instead.

ELON MUSK HOPES TO HAVE TWITTER CEO TOWARD THE END OF YEAR

Billionaire Elon Musk said that he anticipates finding a CEO for Twitter “probably toward the end of this year.”

SEVERAL UNIVERSITIES TO EXPERIMENT WITH MICRO NUCLEAR POWER

If your image of nuclear power is giant, cylindrical concrete cooling towers pouring out steam on a site that takes up hundreds of acres of land, soon there will be an alternative: tiny nuclear reactors that produce only onehundredth the electricity and can even be delivered on a truck.

DUBAI AGAIN PLANS FOR FLYING TAXI TAKEOFF, THIS TIME BY 2026

Dubai again is planning for the takeoff of flying taxis in this futuristic city-state on the Arabian Peninsula, offering its firmest details yet for a pledged launch by 2026.

NEW AI VOICE-CLONING TOOLS 'ADD FUEL' TO MISINFORMATION FIRE

In a video from a Jan. 25 news report, President Joe Biden talks about tanks. But a doctored version of the video has amassed hundred of thousands of views this week on social media, making it appear he gave a speech that attacks transgender people.

BUFFETT'S FIRM BUYS APPLE, SLASHES CHIPMAKER AND BANK STAKES

Billionaire Warren Buffett’s company added to its already substantial Apple investment at the end of last year while slashing a new investment in computer chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor and two longtime bank holdings.

New Bing Al warfare: The battlefield of the decade is now placed

Welcome to the AI battles, where companies compete to be the top provider of artificial intelligence technology.

WHITE HOUSE: TESLA TO MAKE SOME EV CHARGERS AVAILABLE TO ALL

Electric car giant Tesla will, for the first time, make some of its charging stations available to all U.S. electric vehicles by the end of next year, under a new plan announced by the White House.

US BLACKLISTS 6 CHINESE ENTITIES OVER BALLOON PROGRAM

The United States has blacklisted six Chinese entities it said were linked to Beijing’s aerospace programs as part of its retaliation over an alleged Chinese spy balloon that traversed U.S. airspace.

Activision Blizzard Settles SEC Charges for $35 Million

Government regulators announced that videogame maker Activision Blizzard has agreed to pay $35 million to settle charges that it failed to maintain controls to collect and assess workplace complaints with regard to disclosure requirements and violated a federal whistleblower protection rule.