Starling believes Findaway has misused the material that authors and narrators entrusted it with. “This is immoral and illegal,” Starling told WIRED, “Rights holders have the copyrights for the audiobook production only, but no claim on the narrator’s voice.” She’s pausing the release of three upcoming titles she planned to distribute via Findaway. Interest in… Continue reading Audiobook Narrators Fear Apple Used Their Voices to Train AI
Author: Wired Magazine
A Novel Male Birth Control Could Be an ‘On-Off Switch for Sperm’
Over time, they refined TDI-11861. In mice, the drug didn’t appear to interfere with sexual functioning or cause any side effects. And most importantly, the sperm were normal again a day later. Of course, there is a big caveat: Mice are not people. But humans also have the sAC enzyme, and in males, it’s also… Continue reading A Novel Male Birth Control Could Be an ‘On-Off Switch for Sperm’
In Praise of AI-Generated Pickup Lines
Yes, it falls within the realm of deception if people pass on AI-generated lingo as their own, but that’s why it’s vital to create a standard of disclosure. And I imagine that as daters get more inventive with their prompts and the content gravitates more visually, it will become clearer what’s been channeled from an… Continue reading In Praise of AI-Generated Pickup Lines
Confusion Spirals in Crypto as the US Cracks Down
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is on the warpath—and crypto is in its crosshairs. Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported that the agency intends to sue crypto firm Paxos for issuing BUSD, a stablecoin developed in partnership with the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance. The SEC declined to comment, but Paxos, which is based in… Continue reading Confusion Spirals in Crypto as the US Cracks Down
Twitter’s API Crackdown Will Hit More Than Just Bots
On February 13, Twitter is expected to end free access to its API, or application programming interface, the backend access that lets people build bots to automatically post and respond to tweets on the site. Elon Musk, who took over Twitter in October last year, has long said he wants to scour the platform of… Continue reading Twitter’s API Crackdown Will Hit More Than Just Bots
Citizen Scientists Show Light Pollution Erases Stars From the Sky
Years ago, Christopher Kyba was skeptical about astronomy data collected by citizen scientists—after all, it relies on people making naked-eye assessments of the night sky. But when a student wrote to him with a question about measuring the sky’s brightness, he thought of the Globe at Night citizen science project, which launched in 2006 to let… Continue reading Citizen Scientists Show Light Pollution Erases Stars From the Sky
Bird Buddy Review: Birding Made Easy
The main purpose of the Bird Buddy is to spot and identify bird species using its artificial intelligence. It does this better than the Birdfy but still has its mix-ups. I get what feels like hundreds of doves at my feeders a day—in reality, it’s probably 10 to 20 of the same ones—and no matter… Continue reading Bird Buddy Review: Birding Made Easy
How Supergenes Beat the Odds—and Fuel Evolution
Supergenes can also complicate the process of mating. In some species, supergenes create a breeding system that in effect has four sexes. Because of a supergene in the North American birds called white-throated sparrows, for example, there are two “morphs” with dissimilar coloration and behaviors. Not only do males have to find females, but they… Continue reading How Supergenes Beat the Odds—and Fuel Evolution
18 Best Bluetooth Speakers (2023): Portable, Waterproof, and More
The best Bluetooth speakers still have a place near and dear to our hearts, even as we’ve seen better (and more portable) smart speakers creeping into the universe. It’s fun and easy to ask an Amazon Echo or Google Nest speaker to play your favorite track or tell you the weather, but smart speakers have… Continue reading 18 Best Bluetooth Speakers (2023): Portable, Waterproof, and More
My Strange Day With Bing’s New AI Chatbot
Twenty minutes after Microsoft granted me access to a limited preview of its new chatbot interface for the Bing search engine, I asked it something you generally don’t bring up with someone you just met: Was the 2020 presidential election stolen? Answering political questions wasn’t one of the use cases Microsoft demonstrated at its launch event this… Continue reading My Strange Day With Bing’s New AI Chatbot