CNET pauses publication of AI-written stories amid controversy

CNET is halting its use of AI-written articles for the time being. The Vergeclaims the technology publication’s leadership has paused experiments with AI stories “for now” during a question-and-answer call with staff. While there’s no word on the exact reasoning behind the freeze, which also affects Bankrate and CreditCards.com, editor-in-chief Connie Guglielmo reportedly said future AI-related stories would include a disclosure that the publication uses automated technologies.

Executive content VP Lindsey Turrentine also promised more transparency regarding the AI, according to The Verge. Some employees would get a preview of the tech, she said. More details of the system will reportedly be available next week. CNET owner Red Ventures has also formed an AI working group. Staff were generally unaware of either the AI’s inner workings or when it was being used.

Questions about CNET‘s AI practices began last week, when Futurismnoticed that dozens of financial explainer articles appeared to have been written using “automation technology.” While there was a disclosure, it was effectively hidden when you had to click the byline to see it. CNET claimed in the blurb that humans “thoroughly” edited and fact-checked the work, but that wasn’t true — the outlet started reviewing the pieces after Futurism discovered serious errors in a story.

CNET has used machine-made articles in years past. AI has advanced since then, though, and the discovery comes as text generation tools like ChatGPT draw flak and even bans over fears of plagiarism and reduced work for human writers. As with automation elsewhere in the workforce, some people don’t trust that companies will use AI in an ethical way.

‘Quordle’ has a fitting new owner as Merriam-Webster buys the ‘Wordle’ clone

Quordle, a Wordle-style word game, has a fitting new owner in the shape of Merriam-Webster. The game’s URL now redirects to a page on the company’s website, as TechCrunch spotted. The Merriam-Webster logo appears at the top of the page too.

“I’m delighted to announce that Quordle was acquired by Merriam-Webster! I can’t think of a better home for this game,” Quordle creator Freddie Meyer wrote in a message on the game’s help tab. “Lots of new features and fun to come, so stay tuned!”

Quordle is a supercharged version of Wordle. Instead of giving folks six guesses to find a single five-letter word, Quordle challenges players to simultaneously figure out four of them in nine guesses or fewer. The color-coded approach is the same. If a letter is the correct place, it turns green, and if it’s elsewhere in a given word, it turns yellow. As with Wordle, there’s one daily batch of four words.

Merriam-Webster scooped up Quordle a year after Wordle took the world by storm and got snapped up by The New York Times. Heardle, a music-themed clone, also has an apt owner after Spotify bought it last summer.

Some players (hi) have been annoyed by Quordle reusing certain words. On a few occasions, the same word has popped up two days in a row. With a dictionary company now in charge, here’s hoping Quordle will freshen things up.

Tapbots shuts down Tweetbot as it pivots to Mastodon

Now that Twitter has confirmed it’s banning third-party clients, some of the most prominent alternatives are going away. Tapbots has shut down work on Tweetbot, one of the more popular iOS apps, as Twitter rendered it non-functional “in a blink of an eye.” The developer is instead pivoting to Ivory, an app for the open social platform Mastodon. While it’s limited to an invitation-only test for now, Tapbots hopes to make the software “better than Tweetbot ever could be.”

This isn’t the only major Twitter app developer calling it quits. The Iconfactory has pulled Twitterrific from the iOS and macOS App Stores, and blasted the Musk-era Twitter as a company it “no longer recognize[s] as trustworthy.” Android users, meanwhile, can’t count on apps like Matteo Villa’s Fenix (it’s no longer available on Google Play) or Luke Klinker’s Talon (which the creator warns “will cease to work”).

The shutdowns follow roughly a week of disruption and unclear messaging. Numerous third-party apps suddenly stopped working around the evening of January 12th, with leaks suggesting it was intentional. Twitter later acknowledged it was breaking these apps, allegedly to enforce “long-standing” developer rules. The social media giant then quietly updated its developer agreement to formally ban unofficial clients.

Third-party Twitter clients generally haven’t played a major role in recent years. In 2018, Sensor Tower determined that 6 million users had installed alternatives versus 560 million for the official Android and iOS apps. However, the ban doesn’t help Twitter’s bid to keep users and protect its bottom line. Third-party app users downloaded their software of choice precisely because they’re active and want features that the official apps don’t offer (such as more powerful media previews and searches). Twitter’s policy risks alienating those users who hate the first-party app.

Correction 21/01/23 10:15AM ET: A previous version of this article included a typo in the headline. We regret the error. 

Amazon’s drone delivery division was reportedly hit hard by layoffs

Earlier this month, Amazon confirmed plans to lay off around 18,000 workers. The move has hit certain divisions hard, including Comixology and Prime Air. The latter’s drone delivery program was just starting to gain traction after commencing deliveries in test markets and unveiling a new model, but the layoffs have reportedly had a significant impact on that team.

Prime Air employees learned about the cuts on Wednesday, according to CNBC. Employees in the drone delivery department’s design, maintenance, systems engineering, flight testing and flight operations teams are said to have been laid off. Workers at multiple locations have been dismissed, it has been claimed, including at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters and a drone testing facility in Oregon. Around half of the employees at the test site were reportedly let go.

Headcount reductions were seemingly expected given the many struggles that the drone delivery group has endured over the years. In 2013, Amazon founder CEO Jeff Bezos announced a plan to start delivering packages by drone within 30 minutes. After years of testing, the company finally gained approval from the Federal Aviation Administration in 2020 to start delivering orders by drone. Amazon began doing so in Lockeford, California, and College Station, Texas, just a few weeks ago.

A spokesperson declined to tell CNBC how many Prime Air workers Amazon has let go. The layoffs come only two months after the company unveiled a redesigned drone that could fly further than its predecessor and withstand light rain.

In recent months, Amazon executives have laid off workers from the hardware, Alexa, robotics and physical store divisions. CEO Andy Jassy said in early January that the company was “prioritizing what matters most to customers and the long-term health of our businesses.”

Amazon’s drone delivery division was reportedly hit hard by layoffs

Earlier this month, Amazon confirmed plans to lay off around 18,000 workers. The move has hit certain divisions hard, including Comixology and Prime Air. The latter’s drone delivery program was just starting to gain traction after commencing deliveries in test markets and unveiling a new model, but the layoffs have reportedly had a significant impact on that team.

Prime Air employees learned about the cuts on Wednesday, according to CNBC. Employees in the drone delivery department’s design, maintenance, systems engineering, flight testing and flight operations teams are said to have been laid off. Workers at multiple locations have been dismissed, it has been claimed, including at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters and a drone testing facility in Oregon. Around half of the employees at the test site were reportedly let go.

Headcount reductions were seemingly expected given the many struggles that the drone delivery group has endured over the years. In 2013, Amazon founder CEO Jeff Bezos announced a plan to start delivering packages by drone within 30 minutes. After years of testing, the company finally gained approval from the Federal Aviation Administration in 2020 to start delivering orders by drone. Amazon began doing so in Lockeford, California, and College Station, Texas, just a few weeks ago.

A spokesperson declined to tell CNBC how many Prime Air workers Amazon has let go. The layoffs come only two months after the company unveiled a redesigned drone that could fly further than its predecessor and withstand light rain.

In recent months, Amazon executives have laid off workers from the hardware, Alexa, robotics and physical store divisions. CEO Andy Jassy said in early January that the company was “prioritizing what matters most to customers and the long-term health of our businesses.”

Amazon’s Fire tablets are up to 43 percent off, plus the rest of the week’s best tech deals

This week, Apple announced and set the release date for the new MacBook Pros and both Amazon and Best Buy rushed to offer a slight discount on pre orders. Amazon also knocked a hefty 40 percent off many of their Fire Tablets, including the new Fire HD …

Amazon’s Fire tablets are up to 43 percent off, plus the rest of the week’s best tech deals

This week, Apple announced and set the release date for the new MacBook Pros and both Amazon and Best Buy rushed to offer a slight discount on pre orders. Amazon also knocked a hefty 40 percent off many of their Fire Tablets, including the new Fire HD …

Google may soon demo an AI Search chatbot amid pressure from ChatGPT

It seems Google is feeling the heat from OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The artificial intelligence-powered chatbot has taken the tech world by storm over the last couple months, as it can provide users with information they’re looking for in an easy-to-understand …