In a TV commercial, Sister Monica Clare, a nun in northern New Jersey, walks through a church that’s bathed in sunlight and sits in a pew, crossing herself. Her message: TikTok is a force for good. “Because of TikTok, I’ve created a community where people can feel safe asking questions about spirituality,” she says in … Read more
The internet, as anyone who works deep in its trenches will tell you, is not a smooth, well-oiled machine. It’s a messy patchwork that has been assembled over decades, and is held together with the digital equivalent of Scotch tape and bubble gum. Much of it relies on open-source software that is thanklessly maintained by … Read more
On the east side of San Jose, Calif., there is an abuela who seems to have more grandchildren than she can count. “A lot of people see me and they hug me,” Mardonia Galeana, 89, said in Spanish. “I don’t even know them, but sometimes they ask me for a blessing on the street and … Read more
When I temporarily switched from an iPhone to an Android phone last week, I was bracing for a world of hurt. I’ve owned only Apple phones ever since buying the first-generation iPhone in 2007. And, like many, I’ve bought other Apple products that pair nicely, including AirPods, an Apple Watch and an iPad. That type … Read more
Stick Nation was born last summer, during a hiking trip to Arches National Park in Utah. Boone Hogg, Logan Jugler and some friends were cracking jokes as they trekked toward Delicate Arch. From their free-associative silliness came the notion of reviewing a stick as you might a sculpture or valuable antique. Later, Mr. Hogg, 30, … Read more
For nearly 30 years, Oren Etzioni was among the most optimistic of artificial intelligence researchers. But in 2019 Dr. Etzioni, a University of Washington professor and founding chief executive of the Allen Institute for A.I., became one of the first researchers to warn that a new breed of A.I. would accelerate the spread of disinformation … Read more
The estate of the comedian George Carlin reached a settlement on Monday with the makers of a podcast who had said they had used artificial intelligence to impersonate Mr. Carlin for a comedy special. As part of the agreement, the two podcast creators, Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen, agreed to permanently remove the comedy special … Read more
Tesla, which has been accustomed to brisk growth, reported a drop in car sales during the first three months of the year as models from other automakers appeared to gain ground. The company led by Elon Musk said it delivered 387,000 cars worldwide in the first quarter, down 8.5 percent from 423,000 vehicles in the … Read more
In recent months, Google has raced to settle a backlog of lawsuits ahead of major antitrust showdowns with the Justice Department later this year. On Tuesday, the company resolved its fourth case in four months, agreeing to delete billions of data records it compiled about millions of Chrome browser users, according to a legal filing. … Read more
David Autor seems an unlikely A.I. optimist. The labor economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is best known for his in-depth studies showing how much technology and trade have eroded the incomes of millions of American workers over the years. But Mr. Autor is now making the case that the new wave of technology … Read more