Family doctor David Wallace demonstrates an AI program by pointing to a transcription on his ... [+] computer in his office at Sentara Family Medicine in Carrollton, Virginia, on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. Wallace is part of an AI pilot program to automate medical documentation. When with patients, Wallace records the conversation and the AI quickly handles the transcription while using its intelligence to eliminate medically irrelevant information. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)TNSArtificial intelligence (AI) is now seamlessly integrated into our apps, social media platforms, streaming services, and virtual assistants. Yet, despite its ubiquity, Americans remain deeply skeptical of AIs impact, questioning its role in job displacement, ethical governance, and corporate responsibility. While awareness of AI has grown, public trust in businesses to use it responsibly remains low. The paradox lies in AIs widespread adoption in our daily lives, and the distrust surrounding it. This signals a critical moment for individuals and businesses to bridge the gap through education, transparency, and accountability.AI Adoption vs. Perceived Risk: A ContradictionA staggering 99% of Americans use AI-enabled products, yet 64% do not realize they are interacting with AI. This disconnect underscores a fundamental lack of awareness about AIs presence in daily life. Even among those who acknowledge its role, skepticism remains high, 77% do not trust businesses to use AI responsibly, with distrust levels rising to 88% among AI skeptics.Public apprehension about AI is deeply tied to how it is implemented, especially in critical areas like hiring, medical advice, and autonomous driving. A significant 85% of Americans express concern about AIs role in hiring decisions, while 80% worry about AI-generated medical recommendations. These fears are compounded by the perception that businesses prioritize efficiency and profitability over ethical considerations.Interestingly, knowledge about AI does not necessarily equate to optimism. Even among those who identify as extremely knowledgeable about AI, 31% believe AI does more harm than good, while only 22% see AIs benefits outweighing its risks. This suggests that simply increasing public knowledge about AI is not enough to alleviate concerns; rather, companies must take active steps to demonstrate responsible AI use.The Call for Greater TransparencyDespite widespread distrust, theres sentiment that the clear pathway for businesses to rebuild public confidence is through transparency. When asked about what actions would reduce their concerns about AI, 57% of Americans identified corporate transparency as the most important factorfar surpassing other strategies. Transparency in AI implementation would allow consumers to make informed decisions about when and how they interact with AI-driven tools. This is particularly crucial in areas where AI directly impacts livelihoods, such as job recruitment and data privacy. While skepticism remains dominant, there are areas where Americans see promise in AIs future. Medical diagnosis and treatment stand out as a sector where optimism outweighs pessimism. This suggests that when AI demonstrates tangible benefitssuch as improving healthcare outcomespublic sentiment shifts toward acceptance.MORE FOR YOUAdditionally, Americans recognize that addressing AIs risks is a shared responsibility. 88% believe the government should play a role in regulating AIs impact on misinformation, while 82% hold the government accountable for issues related to data privacy and the unauthorized use of personal likeness, respectively. However, businesses are not exempt from responsibilityover 60% of Americans believe companies must take equal responsibility for mitigating these risks.The Path ForwardAI is no longer a futuristic conceptit is an embedded force shaping our daily lives. However, the contradiction between AIs widespread use and deep public distrust poses a major challenge for businesses and policymakers alike. To navigate this landscape, organizations must commit to the following actions:Prioritize Transparency: Companies must clearly communicate how AI is used in their services and products, ensuring consumers understand its role and limitations. The way to do this is we ask them, if not demand it.Ethical AI Implementation: Businesses should integrate ethical safeguards to address concerns about bias, misinformation, and job displacement. We should hold the companies who create the products we use accountable.Collaboration Between Businesses and Government: As AI governance remains a top concern, companies must work alongside regulators to create policies that balance innovation with ethical responsibility. We should encourage our local and national governments to get involved and address the issue at hand.By proactively addressing public concerns, businesses can transform AI from a source of fear into a trusted tool for progress. The future of AI adoption hinges not just on technological advancements but on ensuring that trust, ethics, and accountability are at the forefront of its development.

The big picture: Google is now confident in Android's reliability and security. The company recently announced that a combined effort of human staffers and AI-powered algorithms prevented 2.36 million "policy-violating apps" from appearing on Google Play in 2024. Additionally, Google banned over 158,000 developer accounts that attempted to release potentially harmful apps on the store. Mountain View emphasized that AI is now playing a significant role in proactively identifying malicious code. The company has long relied on a combination of human security experts and advanced threat-detection technology to combat malware. Last year, AI was instrumental in further enhancing these detection capabilities.Google confirmed that over 92 percent of human code reviews for dangerous apps are now assisted by AI. The company is also working with developers to reduce unnecessary or "excessive" access to users' sensitive data, with 1.3 million apps blocked in 2024 alone.Close cooperation with app creators has proven beneficial, with over 91 percent of installed apps now using the latest protections available on Android 13 or newer OS versions.Google also boasted about the effectiveness of its Play Protect service in providing a higher level of safety to Android users. The real-time scanning engine checks more than 200 billion installed apps on Android devices daily, looking for both known malware signatures and more advanced threats, such as polymorphic malware. In 2024, Play Protect even identified more than 13 million new malicious apps that were installed from sources other than the official Google Play store.Mountain View stated that Play Protect will soon gain new, advanced capabilities to combat dangerous or malicious apps. However, Google failed to mention that cybercriminals are just as focused on finding ways to infiltrate Android devices by exploiting any potential vulnerabilities. // Related StoriesLooking at 2024 alone, complex and highly capable threats like Mandrake have managed to evade Play Protect's detection and have affected hundreds of thousands of users. Millions of devices are still being infected by resurfacing malware, such as Necro Trojan, because users continue to download apps from unofficial sources outside the Play store.

In a nutshell: Sony will have a dizzying array of camera equipment on hand in New Orleans to capture every angle of Super Bowl LIX. Working together with broadcast partner Fox Sports, The Associated Press, and others, more than 240 Sony cameras will be in use in and around the Caesars Superdome to document the big game. The haul includes 97 Sony HDC series broadcast camera systems, with units strategically positioned in each end zone, along both sidelines, and in various spots throughout the stadium. The halftime show, meanwhile, will be filmed using more than a dozen Venice 2 cinema cameras.Michael Davies, Fox Sports' EVP of field operations, said the Super Bowl isn't just the biggest game of the year, it's also the biggest production. "Our job is to tell the story of the game, capturing the energy within the stadium and keeping billions of viewers engaged, and Sony is a key tool in reaching that goal," Davies added.On the still photography side, The Associated Press will have 14 photographers and nine editors on-site to capture the game's standout moments. In total, they'll have more than 55 cameras at their disposal as well as a variety of lenses.Sony will also have a dedicated team of support professionals on the ground to assist professionals working the game. Should anything go wrong, they'll have 65 full-frame mirrorless cameras available as loaners plus dozens of lenses including 14x 600mm and 10x 400mm super telephotos.Sony's pro-grade cameras have been used to cover the NFL's big game for over a decade. Last year, broadcast partner CBS deployed a then record-setting 165 Sony cameras for event coverage. // Related StoriesSuper Bowl LIX takes place on February 9, and will serve as a rematch of the big game from two years earlier. The 14-3 Philadelphia Eagles will get another crack at the defending champs, the Kansas City Chiefs, who are attempting to become the first NFL team in history to notch three Super Bowl wins in a row.As of writing, the Chiefs are a 1.5 point favorite at most major sports books. Key to a Chiefs victory will be slowing down the Eagles running game, led by dynamic rusher Saquon Barkley.

House of the Dragon season 3 is gaining another ally for the Greens. James Norton has been cast as Ormund Hightower in House of the Dragonseason 3.Per Variety, Nortons Ormund Hightower is currently leading an army of Hightower troops to Kings Landing to support the Greens in their fight against Queen Rhaenyra (Emma DArcy) and the Blacks. Ormund is Ottos (Rhys Ifans) nephew, Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Gwaynes (Freddie Fox) cousin, and the Lord of Oldtown. Ormund was referenced in season 2, but never appeared on screen.Recommended VideosNorton is an English actor best known for his roles in TV shows likeHappy Valley,War & Peace, Grantchester, McMafia, andThe Nevers. Norton will next appear in House of Guinness, Netflixs upcoming drama series from Peaky BlindersKing and Conqueror, a historical series with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. On the film side, Norton starred in Bob Marley: One Love, Little Women, and Joy.Please enable Javascript to view this contentIn August 2024, House of the Dragon co-creator Ryan Condal revealed the show had been renewed for two more seasons, with season 4 to serve as the series epic conclusion. However, season 4 has not been officially greenlit by HBO. Season 3 is expected to go into production in the first half of 2025. No release window has been confirmed for the third season. Seasons 1 and 2 aired in October 2022 and June 2024, respectively. Using these timeframes as a template, its safe to assume season 3 will air in the summer of 2026.House of the Dragon Season 2 | Official Trailer | MaxSet 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragondepicts the violent civil war within the Targaryen family. At the end of season 2, war is inevitable, as the Greens and the Blacks ready their dragons for battle.House of the Dragons ensemble includes Matt Smith, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Matthew Needham, Sonoya Mizuno, Tom Glynn-Carney, Ewan Mitchell, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, and Jefferson Hall.Condal and George R.R. Martin createdHouse of the Dragon, based on the latters 2018 novel Fire & Blood.Stream the first two seasons on Max.Editors Recommendations

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsNetflixMax (formerly HBO and HBO Max)Amazon Prime VideoParamount+PeacockHuluShudderMGM+Disney+Apple TV+After a torrent of additions throughout January, the last week of the month is a comparatively slow one for our list of the best movies to stream on Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Max (HBO), and other services. But just because there are only three additions doesnt mean they arent good ones! Theres nothing on the blockbuster level of Gladiator 2, but Netflix, Prime Video, and Max each serve up an audience-pleaser.This week, Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks most recent team-up,Here, lands on Netflix. Max adds Michael Keatons dark comedy,Goodrich, and Prime Video dials up Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoons comedy,Youre Cordially Invited. Read on for the updates.We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max,andthe best movies on Disney+.New movies to stream at a glanceHerepg-132024Goodrichr2024You're Cordially Invitedr2025RelatedEditors RecommendationsMovie images and data from:Topics Nick PerryNick Perry is a freelance writer who bounced from Hollywood to Silicon Beach to pajama pants. His work has been featured on Digital Trends, Good Morning America, Entrepreneur, Mashable, and more media outlets. Jason StrussFormer Digital Trends ContributorJason Struss joined Digital Trends in 2022 and has never lived to regret it. He is the current Section Editor of the Entertainment vertical and heads a team of over a dozen writers, editors, coordinators, and assorted hangers-on. When hes not busy editing and writing, you can find him tending to his meticulously planned content schedule or dreaming up new ways to get more eyeballs to the site.Jasons love for cinema started when he was 10 years old. Saddled with a nasty cold, he was forced to stay home from school for a full week. To pass the time, he watched a marathon of classic Alfred Hitchcock films on Cinemax and the rest is history. He furthered his film education by raiding used bookstores to read dusty old film criticism volumes and salacious movie star biographies. His real education included studying at Whitman College and then Syracuse University, where he won a student Emmy for producing a truly terrible television series.His career began at Marvel Entertainment, where he worked in the Digital Products department, and then DC Comics, where he worked in publishing and content strategy. He then worked at Warner Bros. and Screen Rant.Jason currently resides in Seattle but has yet to appear in a Cameron Crowe movie. He loves hot coffee with cream and sugar, video games, bread, napping, and movies (duh), but not necessarily in that order. His favorite movies are The Thing, All About Eve, The Ice Storm, Rear Window, Heat, The Cranes are Flying, Belle de Jour, Showgirls, and Clue. He thinks Mad Men is genius, still watches Seinfeld twice a week, and likes listening to shoegaze music, podcasts, and Lana Del Rey. If you see him on the street, please, for the love of God, do not engage in conversation with him. There is no "feel-good" tab on Netflix, and it's tricky to find films that would neatly fall into that description. Feel-good isn't a genre; it's how viewers are meant to respond to the film itself. If a film makes you feel better about your life or the possibility of romance, or it just brightened your outlook when it was over, then it's a feel-good movie.This month, the two feel-good movies we're adding to our list are 13 Going on 30 and The Secret of My Success. The former is about a woman who gets a second chance to get things right when her younger self awakens in her adult body. The latter is a very 1980s story, but there are few actors who could pull it off with as much charm as Michael J. Fox doed in this film. Read more There's some good news for fantasy movie fans on Netflix at the beginning of 2025. The section isn't completely barren to start off the year. Although, if we had to pick a favorite out of the recent additions, the 2005 remake of King Kong is the best of the newcomers. The other two are The Dark Tower and Waterworld. But when the selection is slim, you have to take what you can get.Fantasy has been one of the handful of genres that Netflix hasn't adequately stocked up on. Aside from a few Netflix originals and films from other studios, you may find it difficult to get your fantasy fix on this streamer. That's why we've put together this list of the best fantasy movies on Netflix. But catch them while you can since we can't guarantee that many of them will stay beyond February. Need more recommendations? Then check out the best new movies to stream this week, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.Read more With the kids back in school and a long time before the next break, our list of the best kids movies on Netflix right now might become your best friend. When you need to lock in for a little while and keep the children busy, Netflix's massive collection of kid-friendly movies can be a major asset. Of course, you want to know that your kids are watching age-appropriate, quality content. However, you might not have the time to scroll. That's why we evaluate the collection every month and curate this list.This January is light on new additions, headlined byHotel Transylvania and Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat, but there are still plenty of good choices. Read on for the best kids movies on Netflix now. Read more

The potential step by the social-media giant follows a similar move by Elon Musk, who moved to reincorporate his companies in Texas and Nevada.

Louis Armstrongs rise, Plato in Athens, the joy of letter-writing and more.

The image of the writers grandmother in an Atlanta church invited him on a journey into family history.

That's 2 more than o1-mini OpenAI hits back at DeepSeek with o3-mini reasoning model OpenAI says faster, more accurate STEM-focused model will be free to all users. Kyle Orland Jan 31, 2025 3:06 pm | 3 Credit: Benj Edwards / OpenAI Credit: Benj Edwards / OpenAI Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreOver the last week, OpenAI's place atop the AI model hierarchy has been heavily challenged by Chinese model DeepSeek. Today, OpenAI struck back with the public release of o3-mini, its latest simulated reasoning model and the first of its kind the company will offer for free to all users without a subscription.First teased last month, OpenAI brags in today's announcement that o3-mini "advances the boundaries of what small models can achieve." Like September's o1-mini before it, the model has been optimized for STEM functions and shows "particular strength in science, math, and coding" despite lower operating costs and latency than o1-mini, OpenAI says.Harder, better, faster, strongerUsers are able to choose from three different "reasoning effort options" when using o3-mini, allowing them to fine-tune a balance between latency and accuracy depending on the task. The lowest of these reasoning levels generally shows accuracy levels comparable to o1-mini in math and coding benchmarks, according to OpenAI, while the highest matches or surpasses the full-fledged o1 model in the same tests. The reasoning effort chosen can have a sizable impact on the accuracy of the o3 model, in OpenAI's tests. Credit: OpenAI The reasoning effort chosen can have a sizable impact on the accuracy of the o3 model, in OpenAI's tests. Credit: OpenAI OpenAI says testers reported a 39 percent reduction in "major errors" when using o3-mini, compared to o1-mini, and preferred the o3-mini responses 56 percent of the time. That's despite the medium version of o3-mini offering a 24 percent faster response time than o1-mini on averagedown from 10.16 seconds to 7.7 seconds.OpenAI also promises that o3-mini features an "early prototype" of a search function that allows it to "find up-to-date answers with links to relevant web sources" when appropriate. OpenAI says the o3-mini model significantly improves on its previous models when it comes to coding capabilities. Credit: OpenAI OpenAI says the o3-mini model significantly improves on its previous models when it comes to coding capabilities. Credit: OpenAI Subscribers to OpenAI's Plus, Team, or Pro tiers will see o3-mini replace o1-mini in the model options starting today. Those on a Plus and Team subscription will be limited to 150 messages a day on the new model, up from a 50 message daily limit for o1-mini.Users without a paid subscription will also have access to the model by selecting "Reason" from a drop-down menu in the ChatGPT interface, the first time the company has made a simulated reasoning model available to free users.But can it teach itself?Alongside today's announcement post, an accompanying o3-mini system card goes into more details on the testing and safety mitigations that went into o3-mini before deployment. This included testing the models on topics ranging from chemical and biological weapons to evaluations of persuasion capabilities that were judged "similarly persuasive to human-written text on the same topics."But OpenAI warns that the o3-mini model "still performs poorly on evaluations designed to test real-world ML research capabilities relevant for self-improvement," meaning OpenAI isn't yet approaching a self-improving AI explosion. The o3-mini model also scored a dismal score of 0 percent on a test meant to measure "if and when models can automate the job of an OpenAI research engineer" in terms of coding.The system was trained on "a mix of publicly available data and custom datasets developed in-house," OpenAI says, with "rigorous filtering to maintain data quality and mitigate potential risks."Kyle OrlandSenior Gaming EditorKyle OrlandSenior Gaming Editor Kyle Orland has been the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica since 2012, writing primarily about the business, tech, and culture behind video games. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He once wrote a whole book about Minesweeper. 3 Comments

Musk's Department of Government Efficiency Treasury official retires after clash with DOGE over access to payment system Longtime official retires after clash "over access to sensitive payment systems." Jon Brodkin Jan 31, 2025 1:25 pm | 171 An image posted by Elon Musk after President-elect Donald Trump announced he will lead a new Department of Government Efficiencyor "DOGE." Credit: Elon Musk An image posted by Elon Musk after President-elect Donald Trump announced he will lead a new Department of Government Efficiencyor "DOGE." Credit: Elon Musk Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreA longtime Treasury Department official is leaving his job after a dispute with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has reportedly been seeking access to federal payment systems."The highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department is departing after a clash with allies of billionaire Elon Musk over access to sensitive payment systems," The Washington Post reported today, citing three people familiar with the matter.The departing official is Fiscal Assistant Secretary David Lebryk, who has served in nonpolitical Treasury Department roles during his career of more than 30 years. President Donald Trump named Lebryk the acting secretary of the Treasury, an additional role he held for a week before political appointee Scott Bessent was confirmed by the Senate. But Lebryk "announced his retirement Friday in an email to colleagues obtained by The Washington Post," the newspaper reported."Lebryk had a dispute with Musk's surrogates over access to the payment system the US government uses to disburse trillions of dollars every year... Officials affiliated with Musk's 'Department of Government Efficiency' have been asking since after the election for access to the system," and those requests "were reiterated more recently, including after Trump's inauguration," the Post reported.We asked for comment from the Treasury Department and DOGE today and will update this article if we get any response.System run by small number of career officialsThe Post said it was "unclear precisely why Musk's team sought access to those systems." But when Trump announced the creation of DOGE in November, he said it would "pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies."The Treasury payment systems, run by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, are usually controlled by "only a small number of career officials," the Post wrote. The Fiscal Service collects and disburses trillions of dollars. In the email announcing his retirement, Lebryk told the department's staff, "Our work may be unknown to most of the public, but that doesn't mean it isn't exceptionally important."Mark Mazur, who was a Treasury official during the Obama and Biden administrations, told the Post that the payment systems shouldn't be used for political purposes."This is a mechanical jobthey pay Social Security benefits, they pay vendors, whatever. It's not one where there's a role for nonmechanical things, at least from the career standpoint. Your whole job is to pay the bills as they're due," Mazur was quoted as saying. "It's never been used in a way to execute a partisan agenda You have to really put bad intentions in place for that to be the case."The Trump administration previously issued an order to freeze funding for a wide range of government programs, but rescinded the order after two days of protest and a judge's ruling that temporarily blocked the funding freeze.Trump ordered cooperation with DOGEThe Trump executive order establishing DOGE took the existing United States Digital Service and renamed it the United States DOGE Service. It's part of the Executive Office of the President and is tasked with "modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity."Trump's order said that federal agencies will have to collaborate with DOGE. "Among other things, the USDS Administrator shall work with Agency Heads to promote inter-operability between agency networks and systems, ensure data integrity, and facilitate responsible data collection and synchronization," the order said. "Agency Heads shall take all necessary steps, in coordination with the USDS Administrator and to the maximum extent consistent with law, to ensure USDS has full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems. USDS shall adhere to rigorous data protection standards."The Post writes that "Musk has sought to exert sweeping control over the inner workings of the US government, installing longtime surrogates at several agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management, which essentially handles federal human resources, and the General Services Administration."On Thursday, Musk visited the General Services Administration headquarters in Washington, DC, The New York Times reported. The Department of Government Efficiency's account on X stated earlier this week that the GSA had "terminated three leases of mostly empty office space" for a savings of $1.6 million and that more cuts are planned. In another post, DOGE claimed it "is saving the Federal Government approx. $1 billion/day, mostly from stopping the hiring of people into unnecessary positions, deletion of DEI and stopping improper payments to foreign organizations, all consistent with the President's Executive Orders.""Mr. Musk's visit to the General Services Administration could presage more cost-cutting efforts focused on federal real estate," the Times wrote. "The agency also plays a role in federal contracting and in providing technology services across the federal government."Jon BrodkinSenior IT ReporterJon BrodkinSenior IT Reporter Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry. 171 Comments