Today’s Tech Sightings:
FILE – A child plays the Minecraft video game at the Minecon convention in London, Britain, July 4, 2015. (Reuters)
Minecraft Is Testing Ground for Human-AI Collaboration
Minecraft, the computer game of blocks, has been used to build all sorts of things for fun and educational applications. Now, Microsoft researchers have released an experimental version intended as an artificial intelligence (AI) training ground. Nicknamed Project Malmo, the open source effort allows a learning algorithm, which can control Minecraft characters, to cooperate with humans controlling other characters through a chat client.
Silicon Valley’s Yahoo Diaspora Mourns Company’s Decline
After a decade of decline, Yahoo is in the process of selling its core business. But loyalists who remember Yahoo’s 1990s glory days as Silicon Valley’s biggest startup are sad to see the company sold and possibly dismembered. For those who don’t remember, two Stanford students launched Yahoo in 1994 as a key portal to the World Wide Web. Over the years, a wealthy Yahoo made a lot of acquisitions, some more successful than others.
‘Candid,’ the Anonymous Chat App, Enforces Civility With AI
Whatever the justification, hate speech, bullying, bigotry, threats and slander are unacceptable behavior online and elsewhere. In some cases, the victims fight back. In order to find a better way to deal with this kind of rhetoric, two former Google employees created Candid, an anonymous chat app that uses artificial intelligence to process natural language and flag inflammatory words.
More:
- Hackers Are Targeting Rio Olympics, So Watch Out for These Cyberthreats
- Warning: Cybersecurity History Set to Repeat Itself
- US Navy Accused of Pirating $600M Worth of Software
- Petition Urges Apple Not to Release Technology for Jamming Phone Cameras
- Japan Warns on Pokemon GO Safety as Impatient Gamers Await Launch
- Vine Is a Sinking Ship but One Worth Saving
- Popular Torrent Site KickassTorrents Is Offline, (Alleged) Founder Arrested
- Chromebooks Can Run Windows Software With CrossOver for Android
- Five Outdated Social Media Tactics That Are No Longer Effective
