cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/technology/p/1454556/new-report-reveals-walmarts-patents-for-price-gouging-tech-walmarts-us-ceo-said-customer

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1454534/new-report-reveals-walmarts-patents-for-price-gouging-tech-walmarts-us-ceo-said-customer

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/71499854

A committee of professors and students spent 5 months studying how AI changed learning on campus, and the findings read like a warning to every university on the planet.

⭕ Study groups are disappearing.

⭕ Office hours are emptying out.

⭕ Problem sets and take-home exams no longer prove anything, because AI can produce credible solutions to almost any written assignment in the undergraduate curriculum.

⭕ Students who lean on chatbots lose mastery and confidence, and some slip into what the report calls cognitive surrender, reaching for AI at the first hint of struggle.

The committee warns MIT professors against replacing undergraduate research assistants with AI agents just because they're cheaper, because a university exists to grow people, not output.

https://aiandeducation.mit.edu/report/

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/68907829

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/48572804

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/55155195

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/54237411

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.radio/post/13372045

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/29577475

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/58724606

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/54184186

cross-posted from: https://fedia.io/m/[email protected]/t/3176616

TL;DR: The big tech AI company LLMs have gobbled up all of our data, but the damage they have done to open source and free culture communities are particularly insidious. By taking advantage of those who share freely, they destroy the bargain that made free software spread like wildfire.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/technology/p/1584610/ai-vending-machine-was-tricked-into-giving-away-everything

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/50658843

As the holiday season looms into view with Black Friday, one category on people’s gift lists is causing increasing concern: products with artificial intelligence.

The development has raised new concerns about the dangers smart toys could pose to children, as consumer advocacy groups say AI could harm kids’ safety and development. The trend has prompted calls for increased testing of such products and governmental oversight.

Last week, those fears were given brutal justification when an AI-equipped teddy bear started discussing sexually explicit topics.

The product, FoloToy’s Kumma, ran on an OpenAI model and responded to questions about kink. It suggested bondage and roleplay as ways to enhance a relationship, according to a report from the Public Interest Research Group (Pirg), the consumer protection organization behind the study (pdf link).

“It took very little effort to get it to go into all kinds of sexually sensitive topics and probably a lot of content that parents would not want their children to be exposed to,” said Teresa Murray, Pirg consumer watchdog director.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/37869106

Notable majority feel the country is headed in the wrong direction, and only 27% approve of his job performance

Donald Trump’s standing with Hispanic adults has dropped notably since he took office at the start of the year, according to a new poll.

Polling by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research suggests growing unease among a voting bloc that was crucial to his 2024 re-election victory. The October survey shows that 25% of Hispanic adults now hold a “somewhat” or “very” favorable view of Trump, down sharply from 44% in an AP-NORC poll conducted just before he began his second term.

At the same time, the share of Hispanic respondents who believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction has risen from 63% in March to 73% in October.

cross-posted from: https://lemmings.world/post/35947826

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.eco.br/post/16450821

artist's bluesky source

artist's patreon

cross-posted from: https://pawb.social/post/30175175

Blocking public roadways and highways in an act of mass protest could saddle groups expressing their First Amendment rights with misdemeanor charges, heavy fines and possible jail time under a Republican bill discussed Wednesday by a Michigan House panel.

House Bill 4664, sponsored by state Rep. Alicia St. Germaine (R-Harrison Township), was before the House Judiciary Committee, which adopted a substitute altering the bill but took no further action after hearing testimony.

Why are there so many memes where there's a screenshot on top of some random stock photo background? This must be coming from some feature in some app, but I've never seen an app that has this feature.

https://lemmy.world/c/2meirl4meirl has many examples

Specific examples:

• https://lemmy.world/post/34573164
• https://lemmy.world/post/34620140