Author: Admin

The question of whether to be polite to artificial intelligence may seem a moot point — it is artificial, after all.But Sam Altman, the chief executive of the artificial intelligence company OpenAI, recently shed light on the cost of adding an extra “Please!” or “Thank you!” to chatbot prompts.Someone posted on X last week: “I wonder how much money OpenAI has lost in electricity costs from people saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to their models.”The next day, Mr. Altman responded: “Tens of millions of dollars well spent — you never know.”First things first: Every single ask of a chatbot costs…

SAN FRANCISCO — Reeling from drug overdose deaths and scenes of people smoking fentanyl on sidewalks, San Francisco moved closer Thursday to adopting a “recovery first” drug policy that sets abstinence from illicit drugs as its primary goal, a proposal that has prompted heated debate in the city that pioneered harm reduction.Opponents of Supervisor Matt Dorsey’s proposal say its emphasis on stopping drug use alienates those who are not ready to quit, while proponents say the city has been far too permissive and making drug use safer does not help break the cycle of addiction.Dorsey, himself recovering from alcohol and…

As Elon Musk sought to reassure Wall Street analysts on Tuesday that he would soon scale back his work with the federal government, the strain of his situation was audible in his voice.The world’s richest man said that he would continue arguing that the Trump administration should lower tariffs it has imposed on countries across the world. But he acknowledged in a subdued voice that whether President Trump “will listen to my advice is up to him.”He was not quite chastened, but it was a different Mr. Musk than a couple months ago, when the billionaire, at the peak of…

President Trump and Elon Musk promised taxpayers big savings, maybe even a “DOGE dividend” check in their mailboxes, when the Department of Government Efficiency was let loose on the federal government. Now, as he prepares to step back from his presidential assignment to cut bureaucratic fat, Mr. Musk has said without providing details that DOGE is likely to save taxpayers only $150 billion.That is about 15 percent of the $1 trillion he pledged to save, less than 8 percent of the $2 trillion in savings he had originally promised and a fraction of the nearly $7 trillion the federal government…

On a warm, still evening this month, Corey Trammel, a counselor at the Oakdale Federal Correctional Institution in central Louisiana, was at his 11-year-old son’s baseball game when the calls and emails started pouring in from dozens of his colleagues, worried about the latest threat to their union.Mr. Trammel is the president of Local 3957 of the American Federation of Government Employees, the country’s largest union of federal workers. Until recently, Local 3957 had nearly 200 dues-paying members, all at Oakdale, including officers, teachers, case managers and food service workers.Many, if not most, supported President Trump in the 2024 election,…

Steve McMichael, a Hall of Fame defensive tackle for the Chicago Bears with a theatrical personality and a ferocious intensity who helped anchor what might have been the most predatory defense in the history of the N.F.L. during the team’s 1985 Super Bowl-winning season, died on Wednesday in Joliet, Ill. He was 67.The Bears confirmed his death, in hospice care. The team said he had struggled for years with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the degenerative disease of the nervous system more commonly known as A.L.S. or Lou Gehrig’s disease.McMichael played 15 years in the N.F.L., 13 of them with Chicago and…

The Trump administration conceded on Thursday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents did not have a warrant when they detained Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil in March, acknowledging it was a “warrantless arrest.”Khalil’s attorneys are asking an immigration judge in Louisiana, where their client has been detained by ICE for weeks, to terminate his deportation case based on the fact that he was arrested without a warrant.The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, admitted in a court filing that immigration agents typically need warrants before arresting individuals. But it argued that Khalil was arrested without a warrant due to…

Ziff Davis, the digital publisher behind tech sites like Mashable, PCMag and Lifehacker, sued OpenAI on Thursday, joining a wave of media companies accusing the artificial intelligence giant of stealing its content.Ziff Davis is one of the largest publishers in the United States, with more than 45 sites globally that together attract an average of 292 million visitors per month, and is among the biggest media companies pressing a claim against OpenAI.(The New York Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, claiming copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems. The two companies have denied the suit’s claims.)In…

For years, the U.S. government has warned travelers they will soon need a Real ID to board domestic flights, only to keep postponing the deadline. But “soon” appears to be real this time.As of May 7, a standard driver’s license or state ID will no longer pass muster at airport security checkpoints, the Department of Homeland Security says. Passengers will instead need to present a security-enhanced, star-emblazoned Real ID or another approved form of identification like a passport.The change, nearly 20 years in the making, is meant to enhance security by setting a more consistent standard for state-issued documentation, according…

The Agriculture Department will not require poultry companies to limit salmonella bacteria in their products, halting a Biden Administration effort to prevent food poisoning from contaminated meat. The department on Thursday said it was withdrawing a rule proposed in August after three years of development. Officials with the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service cited feedback from more than 7,000 public comments and said they would “evaluate whether it should update” current salmonella regulations. The rule would have required poultry companies to keep levels of salmonella bacteria under a certain threshold and test for the presence of six strains most…