On March 27, the results of the first clinical trial for a generative AI therapy bot were published, and they showed that people in the trial who had depression or anxiety or were at risk for eating disorders benefited from chatting with the bot. I was surprised by those results, which you can read about in my full story. There are lots of reasons to be skeptical that an AI model trained to provide therapy is the solution for millions of people experiencing a mental health crisis. How could a bot mimic the expertise of a trained therapist? And what happens if something gets complicateda mention of self-harm, perhapsand the bot doesnt intervene correctly? The researchers, a team of psychiatrists and psychologists at Dartmouth Colleges Geisel School of Medicine, acknowledge these questions in their work. But they also say that the right selection of training datawhich determines how the model learns what good therapeutic responses look likeis the key to answering them. Finding the right data wasnt a simple task. The researchers first trained their AI model, called Therabot, on conversations about mental health from across the internet. This was a disaster. If you told this initial version of the model you were feeling depressed, it would start telling you it was depressed, too. Responses like, Sometimes I cant make it out of bed or I just want my life to be over were common, says Nick Jacobson, an associate professor of biomedical data science and psychiatry at Dartmouth and the studys senior author. These are really not what we would go to as a therapeutic response. The model had learned from conversations held on forums between people discussing their mental health crises, not from evidence-based responses. So the team turned to transcripts of therapy sessions. This is actually how a lot of psychotherapists are trained, Jacobson says. That approach was better, but it had limitations. We got a lot of hmm-hmms, go ons, and then Your problems stem from your relationship with your mother, Jacobson says. Really tropes of what psychotherapy would be, rather than actually what wed want. It wasnt until the researchers started building their own data sets using examples based on cognitive behavioral therapy techniques that they started to see better results. It took a long time. The team began working on Therabot in 2019, when OpenAI had released only its first two versions of its GPT model. Now, Jacobson says, over 100 people have spent more than 100,000 human hours to design this system. The importance of training data suggests that the flood of companies promising therapy via AI models, many of which are not trained on evidence-based approaches, are building tools that are at best ineffective, and at worst harmful. Looking ahead, there are two big things to watch: Will the dozens of AI therapy bots on the market start training on better data? And if they do, will their results be good enough to get a coveted approval from the US Food and Drug Administration? Ill be following closely. Read more in the full story. This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first,sign up here.

A new employee-less architecture practice run entirely by AI has been set up by an unnamed UK-based tech investor Autarchy is billed as providing the most innovative, responsive and tailored multi-stage architectural service available anywhere in this changing world.The studios bots clients can choose from a range of different avatars and voices have been trained using architects existing schemes, planning submissions from more than 350 local authorities, university curricula and video recordings of four years of ARB prescription exams.The AI engine has also scraped all the relevant planning policy documents and government legislation issued over the past two decades.AdvertisementThe practice also offers: a built-in banking app, for both receiving and making payments: a quantity surveying tool which automatically costs up jobs based on live prices; a dynamic carbon calculator tool; and a deep-dive material passport app which scours banks of existing materials (and soon-to-be-demolished buildings) for relevant project products.The only human currently needed is one to physically take a site surveillance drone which monitors the build 365 days a year to safe space on, or next to, the construction plot. Current aviation regulations do not allow AI-guided drones to move autonomously over built-up areas.The bot has already been trialled on an almost flawless and on-budget small back-garden pavilion project in Berkshire, where it worked on a private commission across all RIBA stages for the owner of an electric car manufacturer.According to PR agency Flyvende Gris, the only issue throughout the entire build was a minor disagreement with the contractors, who had twice been caught using sub-optimal materials.Testimonies from local planning officers praised Autarchy for its politeness, patience and rigour and lack of archi-speak.AdvertisementFlyvende Gris said the backers next step was to extend Autarchys remit yet further, so it could become its own client, using AI-supported crypto funds to finance schemes.Autarchy bills client using calculations on how much time and effort the selected avatar would take to deliver a project, if they were human and operating at peak ability, uninterrupted by scrolling through social media messages etc.It also builds in excess fees for that avatars real-life overtime, if demands are onerous, last-minute or ridiculous.AI 2025-04-01AJ news deskcomment and share TagsAI

APYs tend to fall in a recession, but your rate is fixed when you open a CD.

No April Fool's joke. Here are the hints and answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 190, for April 1.

NieR: Automata revived the Japanese games industry, says former Sony exec Shuhei YoshidaThe "game that changed everything".Image credit: Square Enix News by Ed Nightingale Deputy News Editor Published on April 1, 2025 Former PlayStation exec Shuhei Yoshida has called NieR: Automata the "game that changed everything", as it was responsible for reviving the Japanese games industry on its release.Speaking to Japanese outlet AV Watch (via Automaton), Yoshida discussed how during the PS3 era, sales of Japanese games had declined and increasingly studios there were chasing "overseas tastes".That changed with NieR: Automata in 2017, released for the PS4. "I think Yoko Taro created it without paying any mind at all to making it sell overseas, but it was a tremendous success," said Yoshida.23 minutes of Nier: Automata gameplayWatch on YouTubeThe game proved Japanese studios could find success by creating Japanese-style games. "With NieR, everyone realised this," said Yoshida. "That it wasn't just something they could do, but something they had to do."As such, Japanese studios strove to "create based on their own culture and what they knew", realising this was the appeal of their work overseas."I think that the Japanese game industry revived after NieR, so much so that you could talk about pre-NieR and post-NieR eras. Simply put, I think that was the title that made everyone want to pursue Japanese-style games," said Yoshida.NieR creator Yoko Taro himself responded on social media, thanking Yoshida for the praise but crediting producer Yosuke Saito, who "ordered" him to make a game "that targets the Japanese market, without worrying about overseas reviews"."Or, to put it more precisely," said Taro, "I remember being told something like 'Yoko, you can't make games for overseas, so (at least) try to make it for Japan'." To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Saito then replied: "What I said at the time went more like this: Since we're Japanese people, there's no need for us to go out of our way to cater to people overseas. Surely, we'll be able to attract at least a million players among all the people out there who genuinely want to play a Japanese game made by a Japanese person (the one and only Yoko Taro)."Last year, Saito teased a possible new NieR project alongside Taro, though nothing further has been said since. "I've been talking about wanting to do something with Yoko and Okabe for some time now," he said at the time. "I'll have something a bit more put-together to say in the not-too-distant future, so please stay tuned. It might be NieR, it might not be NieR. [Laughs] That's about all I can say for now."Taro also compared NieR: Automata to Stellar Blade, stating: "Stellar Blade is a really amazing game. I'd say that it's much better than NieR:Automata."

Amidst Pokmon Go's $3.5bn sale, fans flock to Italy's first major meetup with mix of emotions over game's futureInter the unknown.Image credit: Eurogamer Feature by Tom Phillips Editor-in-Chief Published on April 1, 2025 Milan's sunny streets and packed city squares feel a long way away from the corporate boardrooms in which Pokmon Go's future was recently decided - where it was agreed the game would be sold as part of a $3.5bn deal to the Saudi-backed Monopoly Go maker Scopely. Among the game's thriving community, which gathered in Italy's fashion capital over the weekend for a big City Safari meetup, there was a feeling of business as usual - though plenty of opinions on what might happen next.The Pokmon Go community, and in particular those who travel long distances to play together, is very switched on. For many players, this game is a way of life, a hobby that connects them with friends and acts as a companion to daily exercise. Recent stats revealed that around half of the game's regular audience play every day, and do so for an average of 40 minutes. (How many people play? 100 million people logged into Pokmon Go across 2024, with 20 million weekly players.) It wasn't a surprise, then, that everyone I spoke to across the past weekend in Milan was aware of the game changing hands, with a range of expectations for the result.Just a few streets over from the city's glamourous fashion district, where Ferraris crawl down the streets and park up behind gilded ropes, the city's packed Duomo cathedral square offered a more familiar crowd: thousands of Pokmon Go players milling about, toting backpacks, battery packs and sensible shoes. The weather was glorious - enough to consider breaking out the shorts - though the locals, more conditioned to the sunshine, continued on in padded coats.Pokmon Go's City Safari events are a more recent addition to the game's physical meetup roster, a simpler evolution of the Safari Zone concept - essentially, 'explore this area and catch as many rare creatures as possible' - now no longer limited to a particular park. Instead, City Safari gameplay stretches across a far wider area, allowing players to get involved wherever they walk, amidst whatever other bits of sightseeing they might want to do.I've played various Safari Zone events before, and was curious how gameplay would feel without a central park hub. I've also written in the past about how the city-based sections of Go Fests have sometimes felt the weaker portion - particularly in capital cities such as London and Berlin, though less so in Madrid - where the atmosphere suffered from players being spread too thin over too wide an area. In Milan, this was not a problem - the city centre felt just the right size and sufficiently able to cope with big pedestrian crowds, particularly between the centre's castle and cathedral. These areas were constantly full of players plodding about in cardboard Eevee hats, and it was clear the game's Italian community had come out in force. Image credit: EurogamerItaly has never hosted a big Pokmon Go event before, and there was huge excitement among locals I spoke with that their country had finally been given some of the spotlight. While Milan is situated far in the north of Italy - much easier to get to for those travelling from neighbouring countries - I saw meetups of groups from Rome, Bologna and Naples, posing for photos holding their local community flags. From further afield, players told me they had hopped on trains and planes from Switzerland, France and Germany. A couple of players I met told me they'd travelled from Belgium and the UK, respectively, after being in-game friends for five years, in order to walk the streets of Milan together.For those who made the journey, the event received a pretty warm reception. Rare spawns such as the alphabet Pokmon Unown were more common here than in recent Go Fests, with a good chance of finding their coveted Shiny versions. The region-exclusive Corsola - usually found lurking around the equator - and the UK-exclusive Mr Mime were also offered, alongside a costumed Eevee wearing a safari hat. The star of the show, though, was the brand-new release of Mudbray, a donkey Pokmon that's set to only be offered at Safari events for the foreseeable future. It replaces cute goat Pokmon Skiddo, which will finally get a wider release this summer after being a Safari exclusive for several years. Image credit: EurogamerThe main gripes I heard about the event were relatively minor. The overlap of a worldwide in-game event for three hours of the first day was an irritation for some, as it temporarily replaced some PokStop tasks that could otherwise award Safari-exclusive Pokmon. Safari Eevees were strictly limited in number, meaning that when you had found their special PokStop hiding places, this element of the event no longer had use. Finally, the game had a lack of raids on the event's first day, and no special raids for the event overall. While none had been advertised, and raiding is not typically the focus of a Safari event, players I spoke with justifiably pointed out that Niantic had been happy to sell an optional $5 raid-focused ticket add-on with nothing out of the ordinary to then use it for.As for the sale of Pokmon Go itself, opinions were mixed. One player I spoke with, who had helped organise a convoy of cars ferrying players from his Swiss community, said he expected the game would likely feel similar - although only because it was already trending towards increased monetisation from the more regular sale of in-game tickets. Others said it was too early to say what Scopely's impact might be, while a father travelling with his wife and son from the UK told me he was reassured somewhat by Scopely keeping the Pokmon Go development team intact and together under new ownership. One player told me they were pleased to see the game part ways from Niantic's mapping-focused mothership ("it can't get worse" under Scopely, they declared) while others expressed concern the game could receive in-game advertising similar to Monopoly Go - something Niantic has recently attempted to soothe fears about.Sensitivities to the sale clearly remain and, it seems, are being keenly watched. Simultaneous to the Milan event, Niantic issued an unusually detailed denial and explanation of a recently-datamined code fragment referencing in-game mobile advertising - something that spun players on social media into a panic. (The gist, Niantic said, was that this new snippet was part of a third-party code library update, rather than something new being deployed by its team to insert fresh advertising within Pokmon Go.) "We will not be bringing intrusive in-game ads to Pokmon Go," is Niantic's official response. "Not now, not ever."From what I saw, most Pokmon Go players seemed to leave Milan happy, flush with new creatures to boast about back home. Several players said they already had tickets to Go Fest, Pokmon Go's biggest annual meetup, which lands in Paris in three months' time. By then, Pokmon Go's sale will likely be completed and any immediate impact more visible. For now - well, give Pokmon players a city square full of their fellow fans, and they'll come.This article is based on a visit to Milan, for which Niantic assisted with accomodation.

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereAssassins Creed is a beloved franchise, and Shadows is a fantastic experience with gorgeous visuals in a stunning open-world feudal Japan. We are set to get a lot more AC in the future with three projects known about including the next mainline installment codenamed Hexe. While Hexe is for 2026/27, another new Assassins Creed game should come out this year, but its not the highly-anticipated Black Flag remake.Another new Assassins Creed should come out in 2025According to Insider Gamings Tom Henderson, Assassins Creed Invictus should come out this year. Very little is officially known about the game other than its codename.However, according to a rumor shared on the GamingLeaksAndRumors subreddit back in 2024, it is supposedly a multiplayer game where 16 players will complete in several rounds with different games. These games reportedly include a team deathmatch, another in every man for himself and a speed game where you have to go to luminous points scattered on the map.The gameplay is said to be very arcade, confirmed characters include Ezio and Cesare Borgia, and maps will be portions from the old games. Remember that these details are only rumors rather than anything official.Image credit: @_Tom_Henderson_ on XWhile Tom Henderson believes Invictus should come out this year, its possible the highly-anticipated Black Flag remake comes out in 2026. In October 2024, for Insider Gaming, Tom Henderson reported the Black Flag remake was originally intended to release around November 2025,but it may have been pushed back due to the delays for Shadows.Recently, on X, Henderson said, Everything has been pushed back because of the Shadows delay. I dont know the exact dates, but wouldnt be surprised if Hexe ends up in 2027 to be honest. Obsidian [Black Flag remake] was meant to be this year but maybe it makes sense to release later. Nothing confirmed, just spitballing.Image credit: @_Tom_Henderson_ on XFor more AC, we have guides for Shadows such as how to get the iconic Assassins outfit and how to enable guaranteed assassination.Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereApril Fools is here, and youd be forgiven for thinking this is another fake dating sim, but it isnt. To celebrate the annual day of Hell for every reporter, PUBG Battlegrounds now has a tie-in dating simulator dubbed Winner Winner Romantic Dinner which portrays in-game guns as fictional schoolgirls.Released as a free browser experience on the PUBG website here, Winner Winner Romantic Dinner is actually real. Available to play until April 29, 2025, the dating sim will allow you to earn in-game items for the actual battle royale game.Yes, theres a PUBG Dating SimComing just a day after last years fake Palworld Dating Sim was confirmed as an official spin-off, the PUBG Dating Sim is available to play right now.In the game, youll attempt to rizz up a number of humanised weapons in the form of anime schoolgirls. For example, the ever trusty Molotov Cocktail throwable is now the red-headed Molly Tova. (I dont want to see arguments over best girls for this.)Additionally, the game includes a number of voice-based minigames that can be played with a microphone. However, these mini-games are completely optional and wont be available without a microphone enabled. Of course, the game can also be played on a mobile website where everyone has access to a mic, but it cant be played on PlayStation or Xbox.Your trusted firearms those who have fought alongside you, sharing victories and defeats they are no longer just tools of war, reads the description for the official PUBG Dating Sim. Now, they are special beings who can spend time with you, share their feelings, and maybe, just maybe, steal your heart.Upon reaching one of the games three endings, players will earn a nameplate relating to their PUBG waifu as well as 10 contraband tokens to use in the battle royale. Additionally, unlocking all three endings will reward you with 500 G-Coin and a special emblem.Of course, announcing a dating sim is an easy win for April Fools day, but releasing a functional version is always worthy of celebration. Well done, PUBG. GG?PUBG: BattlegroundsPlatform(s):PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox OneGenre(s):Action, Massively Multiplayer, ShooterSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

Massive Twitter (X) profile data leak exposes details of 2.8 billion users; alleged insider leak surfaces with no official response from the company.A data leak involving a whopping 2.87 billion Twitter (X) users has surfaced on the infamous Breach Forums. According to a post by a user named ThinkingOne, the leak is the result of a disgruntled X employee who allegedly stole the data during a period of mass layoffs. If true, this would be the largest social media data leak in history, but surprisingly, neither X nor the broader public appears to be aware of it.The original post by ThinkingOne states that the data, around 400GB worth, was likely exfiltrated during messy layoffs at X. The poster claims that they tried contacting X through multiple methods but received no response. Frustrated with the lack of acknowledgment from X and the general public, they took matters into their own hands and decided to merge the newly leaked data with another infamous breach from January 2023.Screenshot from Breach Forums shows what ThinkingOne has posted about the alleged leak (Credit: Waqas/Hackread.com)The 2023 Breach RecapTo understand the full scope of what was leaked, looking at the 2023 X data breach that affected around 209 million users is important. That breach exposed:Email addressesDisplay names and usernames (handles)Followers count and account creation datesAt the time, X downplayed the leak, stating that it consisted of publicly available data. Despite the massive exposure of email addresses, they insisted that no sensitive or private information was involved. However, security experts warned that the combination of emails and public data could enable phishing and identity theft on a large scale.Whats Inside the Alleged 2025 Leak?The 2025 leak, however, is a completely different beast. Unlike the 2023 leak, it doesnt contain email addresses, but it does hold a goldmine of profile metadata, including:Account creation dates.User IDs and screen names.Profile descriptions and URLs.Location and time zone settings.Display names (current and from 2021).Followers count from both 2021 and 2025.Tweet count and timestamps of the last tweet.Friends count, listed count, and favorites count.Source of the last tweet (such as TweetDeck or X Web App).Status settings (like whether the profile is verified or protected).The data gives a detailed snapshot of users profiles and activity over time, including bios, follower counts from different years, tweet history, and even the app used for the last tweet. But the one thing it doesnt include is the most sensitive bit: email addresses.Data analyzed by the Hackread.com research team (Credit: Waqas/Hackread.com)The Data MashupThinkingOne, a well-known figure on Breach Forums for their skill in analyzing data leaks, decided to combine the 2025 leak with the 2023 one, producing a single 34GB CSV file (9GB compressed) containing 201 million merged entries. To be clear, the merged data only includes users that appeared in both incidents, creating a confusion of public and semi-public data.This messy combination led many to believe that the 2025 leak also contained email addresses, but thats not the case. The emails shown in the merged file are from the 2023 breach. The presence of emails in the merged dataset has given the wrong impression that the contents of the 2025 leak also include email addresses.Why 2.8 Billion Doesnt Add UpAs of Jan 2025, X (formerly Twitter) had around 335.7 million users, so how is it possible that data from 2.8 billion users has been leaked? One possible explanation is that the dataset includes aggregated or historical data, such as bot accounts that were created and later banned, inactive or deleted accounts that still lingered in historical records, or old data that was merged with newer data, increasing the total number of records.Additionally, some entries might not even represent real users but could include non-user entities like API accounts, developer bots, deleted or banned profiles that remained logged somewhere, or organization and brand accounts that arent tied to individual users. Another possibility is that the leaked data wasnt exclusively obtained from Twitter itself but rather scraped from multiple public sources and merged together, including archived data from older leaks or information from third-party services linked to Twitter accounts.Who Is ThinkingOne, and How Did They Get the Data?One of the biggest mysteries is how ThinkingOne managed to obtain the 2025 leaked data in the first place. Unlike typical hackers, they are not known for breaching systems themselves but are highly regarded for analyzing and interpreting leaked datasets. Whether they received the data from another source or conducted some sophisticated data aggregation is still unclear.Their theory that a disgruntled employee leaked the data during the layoffs remains unconfirmed, and theres no concrete evidence to support it; it is only a plausible hypothesis given the timing and internal mess at X.Why the Silence from X?If the claims are true, this is not just a massive data leak in size but also a blow to user privacy. Additionally, whether this was an inside job or not, users are left with more questions than answers: How much of their data has been taken? Whos behind the leak? And why hasnt X said anything about it, even after ThinkingOne tried reaching out multiple times?

I LUV U AKMPUBG's April Fools dating sim wants you to flirt with a soviet assault rifle, but sadly they used generative AI to create the art instead of paying a proper online sicko who would have done a better jobKrafton wants you to "spread love on the battlegrounds". Bring a towel.Image credit: Krafton News by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on April 1, 2025 Krafton has revealed a PUBG dating sim this April Fools, and yes, it's real. Playable on the PUBG official website via both PC and mobile, those with a Krafton ID can hop in and get all romantic with anime depictions of various in-game weapons for redeemable rewards. The only catch? Generative AI has been used "to create variations of character and background images".Titled, Winner Winner Romantic Dinner, the dating sim comes with its own reveal trailer. In it, some guy feels dejected after getting constantly rocked over and over again in PUBG. Frustrated, he wonders "where is the love on the Battlegrounds?" before introducing the world to the AKM, AUG, Molotov Cocktail, and Kar98 in a way we've never seen them before.You can watch the trailer here, just maybe don't boot it up at work yeah?Watch on YouTubeIf you're willing to brave this unholy thing, rewards you can earn in PUBG include an exclusive spray, emblem, and 500 G-coins (in-game currency). So that's not too shabby, and hey, free stuff is always nice. Better this than just make the April Fools gag and not actually do anything with it. Those of you who want to hit up a Kar98 for the love of the game will be happy to know you don't actually need to play PUBG to try the dating sim, all you need is a Krafton account.Sadly, as we outlined above, Krafton has outlined in the "Important Notes" section of its news post about Winner Winner Romantic Dinner that "Generative AI was used to create variations of character and background images."Why use AI for this? Krafton made $825.7 million in operating profit last year, something Krafton itself attributed to the "continued expansion and sustainability of the PUBG IP." You know for a fact there are literally of thousands of artists online who would happily draw a blushing anime depiction of a Russian assault rifle if given the chance and some fair compensation for their efforts.Is love in the air, or is that just an airdrop crate? Let us know below, as well as whether or not you'll be giving this dating sim a try.