Happy Friday, Insiders! All week, I've been exploring the AI revolution, from how it could benefit you to how it could threaten you. And I've loved reading your replies — I'll share them in tomorrow's edition.
Up today: What AI means for web search. Right now, we type in keywords and get back a list of links, some of them ads. It's not always the best. But it's starting to look like AI might soon provide full conversational answers to our queries – instead of links. If that does happen, it'll be tricky for Google, which depends so much on you occasionally clicking on those ads instead of "organic" results.
Fox News hosts and executives privately mocked pro-Trump election conspiracy theories after he lost, internal texts show. More here.
President Biden's broad student-loan forgiveness may be paused, but we just got a fresh sign that another relief plan is working. What to know.
Passengers took a 16-hour flight to nowhere after their plane to New York U-turned because of an electrical fire at JFK Airport. Here's what happened.
THE BIG STORY
Subscription woes
Tyler Le/Insider
It's far harder to cancel a subscription than it is to sign up for one.
You can't escape subscriptions. They encompass everything from our binge-watching to our meal kits to books and makeup. It's when you want to cancel that things get tricky.
The struggle frustrates even the most dedicated consumer advocates. Do you need to click through a maze of prompts? Show up somewhere in person? Call a hotline? That is, if you even can find the number, which can take a "National Treasure"-level of sleuthing skills.
The 14 best cities to buy a home right now. From Portland to San Francisco, here are the cities with the biggest home-price declines — and how much a typical home costs in them. See the full list here.
Relax, those objects in the sky are probably just part of the commercial space industry. The US shot down four unidentified flying objects lately. It's not impossible that they were aliens, but it's more likely they're connected to one of the 90 countries and 10,000 companies that make up the space economy. What to know.
Amazon's pledge to become "Earth's best employer" hasn't taken off, according to staffers. Employees say it's just a "marketing gimmick" that's had little impact on company culture. Read our full report.
Bruce Willis has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. His family called it a "cruel disease" that can "strike anyone," adding that it's the most common form of dementia for people under 60. Here's what to know.
The US colleges that produce the most multi-millionaires. Eight universities, including Harvard and MIT, produced 35% of the country's centi-millionaires, a new wealth report shows. Check out the full list.
TAKE A LOOK
Tiny home alert
Courtesy of MyCabin and Prefab Pads
A new collection of minimalist tiny homes, available from $37,500. Latvia-based MyCabin started building prefab homes for European customers in 2020 — and their minimalist, Scandinavian-inspired designs are now available in the US for the first time. See them here.
WATCH THIS
Food Tours
Finding the best fish and chips in London. Food Wars hosts Harry Kersh and Joe Avella scoured the city. Watch their journey here.
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PlayStation's next-gen VR headset is here. It's high-spec and, boy, high priced. Engadget's Devindra Hardawar says it's a massive step forward from the original PSVR, thanks to its high-resolution screens and innovative features like headset haptics.
Back in 2016, when the original launched, VR was making another push into the mainstream, which kicked off with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The tech has evolved at an incredible pace, so seven years later, this sequel headset feels more comfortable and comes with far more advanced controllers. (The first PSVR used Move controller wands originally launched for the PS3 back in 2010!) The new Sense controllers are actually purpose-built for virtual reality, with a large tracking ring, analog sticks, two face buttons, triggers and haptic feedback.
Hardawar adds that Horizon VR, one of few marquee launch titles, taps into the headset's eye-tracking sensors for foveated rendering, concentrating the PS5's power on what you're looking at. However, that $550 price and a potentially limited library could limit its impact – the same old story of what's wrong with VR.
– Mat Smith
The Morning After isn't just a newsletter – it's also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.
It can get confused during long chat sessions or when used for 'entertainment.'
Microsoft launched its Bing AI chat for the Edge browser last week, and it's been in the news ever since – but not always for the right reasons. Our initial impressions were strong, as it offered workout routines, travel itineraries and more without a hitch. However, users started noticing Bing's bot gave incorrect information, berated users for wasting its time and even exhibited "unhinged" behavior, calling users "unreasonable and stubborn" (among other things) when they tried to tell Bing it was wrong. Those "long, extended chat sessions of 15 or more questions" can send things off the rails," Microsoft explained.
"Bing can become repetitive or be prompted/provoked to give responses that are not necessarily helpful or in line with our designed tone," the company said. That apparently occurs because question after question can cause the bot to "forget" what it was trying to answer in the first place.
The chatbot 'learns best by example,' a company exec said.
In a video ad for Google's AI chatbot, Bard, the AI confidently spouted misinformation about the James Webb Space Telescope. Now, the tech giant is looking to improve Bard's accuracy, and according to CNBC, it's asking employees for help.
Google's VP for search, Prabhakar Raghavan, reportedly emailed staff members, asking them to rewrite Bard responses on topics they know well. The chatbot "learns best by example," Raghavan said, and training it with factual answers will help improve its accuracy. This memo came after Google CEO Sundar Pichai emailed employees, asking them to spend a few hours each week testing the AI chatbot. Google employees have reportedly criticized Pichai for a "rushed" and "botched" Bard rollout.
The story behind how Tetris became a global phenomenon is the basis of an upcoming Apple TV+ movie. Instead of shoehorning the blockbusting antics of the game into a movie – we see you, Pixels – the fast-paced trailer (soundtracked by "The Final Countdown") highlights some of the inherent tension between Soviet Russia, US capitalist forces and everyone stuck between the two. Henk Rogers, played by Taron Egerton, encounters resistance from a British media mogul who wants the game, KGB agents and even Mikhail Gorbachev.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced on Thursday that Tesla is recalling nearly 363,000 of its vehicles because the Full Self-Driving software may cause a crash. Specifically, the NHTSA cites a risk to "exceed speed limits or travel through intersections in an unlawful or unpredictable manner increases the risk of a crash." Tesla will release an OTA update, free of charge, to its customers to rectify the issue, Reuters reports. The recall impacts over 362,000 vehicles.
As a Canadian, I've been drinking Kicking Horse Coffee for years. They're practically a local roaster in my area. But after being acquired by Italian brand Lavazza in 2017, Kicking Horse is now a multimillion-dollar company with global reach.
I couldn't help but wonder how the acquisition and growth impacted coffee quality. So Home Grounds decided to do a full review -- buying, brewing, and drinking pounds of Kicking Horse Coffee.
We were happy to find that Kicking Horse continues to shine in their area of expertise, well-crafted medium and dark roast coffee blends. It's that's your cup of tea (so to speak), then you'll be thrilled to see they've stayed true to their roots. Plus, all their coffee remains Organic and Fair Trade certified.
On the other hand, if light roasts and single origins are more your thing, you may need to look elsewhere.
