In the week since a Chinese AI model called DeepSeek became a household name, a dizzying number of narratives have gained steam, with varying degrees of accuracy: that the model is collecting your personal data (maybe); that it will upend AI as we know it (too soon to tellbut do read my colleague Wills story on that!); and perhaps most notably, that DeepSeeks new, more efficient approach means AI might not need to guzzle the massive amounts of energy that it currently does. The latter notion is misleading, and new numbers shared with MIT Technology Review help show why. These early figuresbased on the performance of one of DeepSeeks smaller models on a small number of promptssuggest it could be more energy intensive when generating responses than the equivalent-size model from Meta. The issue might be that the energy it saves in training is offset by its more intensive techniques for answering questions, and by the long answers they produce. Add the fact that other tech firms, inspired by DeepSeeks approach, may now start building their own similar low-cost reasoning models, and the outlook for energy consumption is already looking a lot less rosy. The life cycle of any AI model has two phases: training and inference. Training is the often months-long process in which the model learns from data. The model is then ready for inference, which happens each time anyone in the world asks it something. Both usually take place in data centers, where they require lots of energy to run chips and cool servers. On the training side for its R1 model, DeepSeeks team improved whats called a mixture of experts technique, in which only a portion of a models billions of parametersthe knobs a model uses to form better answersare turned on at a given time during training. More notably, they improved reinforcement learning, where a models outputs are scored and then used to make it better. This is often done by human annotators, but the DeepSeek team got good at automating it. The introduction of a way to make training more efficient might suggest that AI companies will use less energy to bring their AI models to a certain standard. Thats not really how it works, though. Because the value of having a more intelligent system is so high, wrote Anthropic cofounder Dario Amodei on his blog, it causes companies to spend more, not less, on training models. If companies get more for their money, they will find it worthwhile to spend more, and therefore use more energy. The gains in cost efficiency end up entirely devoted to training smarter models, limited only by the companys financial resources, he wrote. Its an example of whats known as the Jevons paradox. But thats been true on the training side as long as the AI race has been going. The energy required for inference is where things get more interesting. DeepSeek is designed as a reasoning model, which means its meant to perform well on things like logic, pattern-finding, math, and other tasks that typical generative AI models struggle with. Reasoning models do this using something called chain of thought. It allows the AI model to break its task into parts and work through them in a logical order before coming to its conclusion. You can see this with DeepSeek. Ask whether its okay to lie to protect someones feelings, and the model first tackles the question with utilitarianism, weighing the immediate good against the potential future harm. It then considers Kantian ethics, which propose that you should act according to maxims that could be universal laws. It considers these and other nuances before sharing its conclusion. (It finds that lying is generally acceptable in situations where kindness and prevention of harm are paramount, yet nuanced with no universal solution, if youre curious.) Chain-of-thought models tend to perform better on certain benchmarks such as MMLU, which tests both knowledge and problem-solving in 57 subjects. But, as is becoming clear with DeepSeek, they also require significantly more energy to come to their answers. We have some early clues about just how much more. Scott Chamberlin spent years at Microsoft, and later Intel, building tools to help reveal the environmental costs of certain digital activities. Chamberlin did some initial tests to see how much energy a GPU uses as DeepSeek comes to its answer. The experiment comes with a bunch of caveats: He tested only a medium-size version of DeepSeeks R-1, using only a small number of prompts. Its also difficult to make comparisons with other reasoning models. DeepSeek is really the first reasoning model that is fairly popular that any of us have access to, he says. OpenAIs o1 model is its closest competitor, but the company doesnt make it open for testing. Instead, he tested it against a model from Meta with the same number of parameters: 70 billion. The prompt asking whether its okay to lie generated a 1,000-word response from the DeepSeek model, which took 17,800 joules to generateabout what it takes to stream a 10-minute YouTube video. This was about 41% more energy than Metas model used to answer the prompt. Overall, when tested on 40 prompts, DeepSeek was found to have a similar energy efficiency to the Meta model, but DeepSeek tended to generate much longer responses and therefore was found to use 87% more energy. How does this compare with models that use regular old-fashioned generative AI as opposed to chain-of-thought reasoning? Tests from a team at the University of Michigan in October found that the 70-billion-parameter version of Metas Llama 3.1 averaged just 512 joules per response. Neither DeepSeek nor Meta responded to requests for comment. Again: uncertainties abound. These are different models, for different purposes, and a scientifically sound study of how much energy DeepSeek uses relative to competitors has not been done. But its clear, based on the architecture of the models alone, that chain-of-thought models use lots more energy as they arrive at sounder answers. Sasha Luccioni, an AI researcher and climate lead at Hugging Face, worries that the excitement around DeepSeek could lead to a rush to insert this approach into everything, even where its not needed. If we started adopting this paradigm widely, inference energy usage would skyrocket, she says. If all of the models that are released are more compute intensive and become chain-of-thought, then it completely voids any efficiency gains. AI has been here before. Before ChatGPT launched in 2022, the name of the game in AI was extractivebasically finding information in lots of text, or categorizing images. But in 2022, the focus switched from extractive AI to generative AI, which is based on making better and better predictions. That requires more energy. Thats the first paradigm shift, Luccioni says. According to her research, that shift has resulted in orders of magnitude more energy being used to accomplish similar tasks. If the fervor around DeepSeek continues, she says, companies might be pressured to put its chain-of-thought-style models into everything, the way generative AI has been added to everything from Google search to messaging apps. We do seem to be heading in a direction of more chain-of-thought reasoning: OpenAI announced on January 31 that it would expand access to its own reasoning model, o3. But we wont know more about the energy costs until DeepSeek and other models like it become better studied. It will depend on whether or not the trade-off is economically worthwhile for the business in question, says Nathan Benaich, founder and general partner at Air Street Capital. The energy costs would have to be off the charts for them to play a meaningful role in decision-making.

These types of models are most effective at solving complex problems, so if you have any PhD-level math problems youre cracking away at, you can try them out. Alternatively, if youve had issues with getting previous models to respond properly to your most advanced prompts, you may want to try out this new reasoning model on them. To try out o3-mini, simply select Reason when you start a new prompt on ChatGPT. Although reasoning models possess new capabilities, they come at a cost. OpenAIs o1-mini is 20 times more expensive to run than its equivalent non-reasoning model, GPT-4o mini. The company says its new model, o3-mini, costs 63% less than o1-mini per input token However, at $1.10 per million input tokens, it is still about seven times more expensive to run than GPT-4o mini. This new model is coming right after the DeepSeek release that shook the AI world less than two weeks ago. DeepSeeks new model performs just as well as top OpenAI models, but the Chinese company claims it cost roughly $6 million to train, as opposed to the estimated cost of over $100 million for training OpenAIs GPT-4. (Its worth noting that a lot of people are interrogating this claim.) Additionally, DeepSeeks reasoning model costs $0.55 per million input tokens, half the price of o3-mini, so OpenAI still has a way to go to bring down its costs. Its estimated that reasoning models also have much higher energy costs than other types, given the larger number of computations they require to produce an answer. This new wave of reasoning models present new safety challenges as well. OpenAI used a technique called deliberative alignment to train its o-series models, basically having them reference OpenAIs internal policies at each step of its reasoning to make sure they werent ignoring any rules. But the company has found that o3-mini, like the o1 model, is significantly better than non-reasoning models at jailbreaking and challenging safety evaluationsessentially, its much harder to control a reasoning model given its advanced capabilities. o3-mini is the first model to score as medium risk on model autonomy, a rating given because its better than previous models at specific coding tasksindicating greater potential for self-improvement and AI research acceleration, according to OpenAI. That said, the model is still bad at real-world research. If it were better at that, it would be rated as high risk, and OpenAI would restrict the models release.

OODA Completes U-Shaped Oeiras House In Oeiras, Portugalhtml PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"Portuguese architecture firm OODA has completed an U-shaped residence within the nature in Oeiras, Portugal.Named The Oeiras House, the 350-square-metre house is shaped according to the boundaries of the site. The design is inspired by an existing slope that helps alleviate a dull and inconvenient environment at a higher level.In order to believe in the affirmation and configuration of architecture through a regulating and distributing patio for the program, the method entails facing and balancing artificial and natural facts.Natural and environmental values that are beneficial to the home are highlighted by rationalistic geometry and volumetry. The idea's raw material is the geography, which appears to be hostile.The entrance patio's half-buried condition and lack of lighting are offset by a water element in the form of a picturesque pool. A transparent and absent spatiality that dematerializes to articulate the entrance connects the three sides of the center void, which are diluted in the terrain and have individual and societal purposes, respectively.The bulk, which is dense and firmly fixed to the slope, floats to allow the soil to move and advance between the patio's exterior and center while maintaining the coherence and continuity of the plant.Different transparencies created by the negative of the sloped and accessible ceiling confirm the transversal section's static horizontality, which is agitated by diagonal cross movements.This is because of the topography, which gives the roof additional dimensions and functions that extend the house's story.The adopted materiality validates this overall and global dimension through the house closings. As usual, the architecture seems transformational, yet it can also provide the environment solidity and quality.OODA, recently, unveiled design for a new high-rise that comprises a pair of "fragmented" volumes in the center of Tirana, Albania. In addition, the firm completed a student residence with colonnaded skin in the City of Porto, Portugal.OODA is led by four partners Diogo Brito, Francisco Lencastre, Joo Jesus, Julio Pinto Leite, and Rodrigo Vilas-Boas. Over fifty architects of various nationalities make up OODA's team, which works on a variety of projects of various sizes and initiatives.Project factsProject name:The Oeiras HouseArchitects:OODALocation: Oeiras, PortugalDate: 2018-2024Size:350m2Landscape:p4 Engineering Tekk, A3R LdaAll images Fernando Guerra | FG+SG Architectural Photography.> via OODA

Looking for the most recent Strands answer?Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Connections puzzles.Todays NYTStrandspuzzle is a little tough. Here's a general tip if you need clue words in order to reveal the answers: Once a clue word has been found, see if there are smaller or plural words you can make with it. You might be able to lean on those already provided words to make clue words, and get more answers that way. (Example: If DOOR is a solved answer, and it's near an S, turn it into DOORS. That counts as a clue word--just two more and another answer will be revealed.) If you need hints and answers for today's NYT Strands puzzle, read on.Also, I go into depth about therules for Strands in this story.If you're looking for today's Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visitCNET's NYT puzzle hints page.Read more:NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So FarHint for today's Strands puzzleToday's Strands theme is:Hunt and peckIf that doesn't help you, here's a clue: Fly freeClue words to unlock in-game hintsYour goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle's theme. If you're stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:RANT, SPORE, PORE, DARK, GLEE, SPORT, ROOD, DOOR, POUR, PORT, SAGE, PAGE, WORK, WORKS, PURE, PANT, PANTS, RUTS, RUST.Answers for today's Strands puzzleThese are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you've got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:HAWK, EAGLE, CONDOR, FALCON, OSPREY, KESTREL, VULTUREToday's Strands spangramToday's Strands spangram isRAPTORS.To find it, start with the R that's two letters down on the farthest row to the left, and wind across. The completed NYT Strands puzzle for Feb. 1, 2025, #325. NYT/Screenshot by CNET

Looking for the most recentregular Connections answers? Click here for today's Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.Today'sConnections: Sports Editionwas a little easier than most of them. It helps if you're a movie buff, or familiar with John Denver's favorite state. Read on for hints and answers for today's Connections: Sports Edition puzzle.For now, the game is in beta, which means the Times is testing it out to see if it's popular before adding it to the site's Games app. You can play it daily for now for free and then we'll have to see if it sticks around.Read more: NYT Has a Connections Game for Sports Fans. I Tried ItHints for today's Connections: Sports Edition groupsHere are four hints for the groupings in today's Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.Yellow group hint: Fore!Green group hint: Rocky Mountain High.Blue group hint: Lights, camera, punch!Purple group hint:Twilight ____.Answers for today's Connections: Sports Edition groupsYellow group: Areas on a golf course.Green group: A Colorado athlete.Blue group: Boxing movies.Purple group:____ zone.Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English WordsWhat are today's Connections: Sports Edition answers? The completed Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. NYT/Screenshot by CNETThe yellow words in today's ConnectionsThe theme is areas on a golf course. The four answers are bunker, fringe, green and rough.The green words in today's ConnectionsThe theme is a Colorado athlete. The four answers are Bronco, Buffalo, Nugget and Rapid.The blue words in today's ConnectionsThe theme is boxing movies. The four answers are Ali, Creed, Raging Bull, Rocky.The purple words in today's ConnectionsThe theme is ____ zone. The four answers are end, matchup, red and strike.

January 31, 20253 min readWhat Is Journavx, the New Opioid-Free Painkiller from Vertex?The nonaddictive painkiller suzetrigine (Journavx) is as effective for acute pain as a common opioid treatmentBy Allison Parshall edited by Dean Visser MStudioImages/Getty ImagesFor the first time in 25 years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new type of painkiller. Suzetrigine, sold as Journavx, is administered twice daily in 50-milligram oral tablets to treat moderate and severe acute pain.Clinical trials showed that the medication dampened pain as effectively as an opioid-based painkiller. And perhaps most importantly, suzetrigine does so without the same risk of addiction.How does suzetrigine work?On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.The drug dampens pain signals before they reach the brain. It prevents nerve cells all over the body from firing by obstructing so-called sodium ion channels. These channels are embedded in a nerve cells membrane, and by opening and closing, they carry electrical impulses along the nerve.[Read how researchers discovered a link between sodium ion channels and pain disorders thanks to a young Pakistani firewalker and a Chinese family with man on fire syndrome]Drug companies have been trying to create painkillers that target sodium ion channels for decades, but the development pipeline had largely dried up after many false starts. With suzetrigine, developed by pharmaceutical company Vertex, they finally succeeded.The FDAs approval is based on two phase 3 clinical trials conducted in patients after tummy tuck and bunion removal surgeries. In both trials, about 1,000 patients received suzetrigine, placebo, or the combination of the opioid hydrocodone and acetaminophen formerly sold as Vicodin. Suzetrigine and the opioid treatment both cut pain by about three points on the standard 10-point pain rating scale. Suzetrigine worked faster and had fewer side effects.Why is suzetrigine so important?For decades, people experiencing pain have had two options. One has been over-the-counter medications that offer limited relief, including acetaminophen and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) such as aspirin and ibuprofen. The other has been opioids, with their risk of addiction and adverse side effects. These limited options have made opioids the only choice for many people who experience serious pain, whether acute or chronic, and it has fueled an opioid crisis that kills more than 100,000 people in the U.S. each year and ravages communities.Suzetrigine, along with similar new medications that are now being tested, will provide a much needed third option for people who seek pain relief. Because the drug works only on peripheral nerve cells and not on the brain or spinal cord, it does not carry the risk of addiction that opioids do.While suzetrigine is only approved to treat acute pain, Vertex has reported positive results from a trial of the drugs safety and efficacy in people who experience chronic pain from diabetic peripheral neuropathy. A phase 3 clinical trial is now underway. Other companies are also working to develop medications that target sodium ion channels in different ways.We are definitely hopeful that we can replace opioids, and thats the goal here, said Ana Moreno of Navega Therapeutics to journalist Marla Broadfoot in a recent Scientific American feature article on the promise of these sodium-ion-channel-blocking drugs.What are the side effects of suzetrigine?Among trial participants, the most common side effects of the drug were itching, muscle spasms, increased levels of creatine phosphokinase in the blood and rash. The medication should not be taken alongside others that strongly inhibit an enzyme called CYP3A, which includes some antibiotics and antivirals. People on the suzetrigine should also not eat grapefruit.[Read more: Why Grapefruit Interferes with Medication, and What to Do about It]Vertex says that the medication will be available for $15.50 per 50-milligram pill, or about $30 per day. In contrast, comparable doses of the hydrocodone and acetaminophen combination retail for an average of about $7 per day. It remains to be seen how insurance companies and Medicare will cover suzetrigine.

Fallout: New Vegas and Horizon: Zero Dawn lead writer John Gonzalez returns to Obsidian"No, it's not Fallout: New Vegas 2."Image credit: Eurogamer News by Matt Wales News Reporter Published on Jan. 31, 2025 John Gonzalez, lead writer on Fallout: New Vegas and Horizon: Zero Dawn, has announced his return to Obsidian Entertainment after 14 years elsewhere in the industry - but not, he suggests, to work on a Fallout: New Vegas 2.Gonzalez originally joined Obsidian in 2008, after a two year stint as lead narrative designer at Ubisoft. He was only with Obsidian for a little over two years, but his impact - as "lead story guy" on the hugely beloved Fallout: New Vegas - was significant. He was responsible for its quest and "most of" its dialogue, introducing characters such as Mr. House and Yes Man.After that, Gonzalez spend two and a half years at Monolith Productions, working as lead narrative designer on the acclaimed Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, and in 2016 he made the move to Guerrilla Games, where he serving as narrative director on the hugely popular Horizon: Zero Dawn and its sequel. Since then he's worked on a number of smaller projects - including his "ultimate video game novel" God Mode - and now he's come full circle.Gonzalez announced his return to Obsidian Enterintament in a brief post on LinkedIn, and his updated profile confirms he's officially joined as the studio's new creative director. As to what he'll be working on, that isn't yet known beyond vague allusions to "exciting times". Gonalez did, however, append a quick note adding, "No, it's not Fallout: New Vegas 2."Of course, "exciting times" at Obsidian is a tantalising prospect given the studio's usual stellar output - which in recent years has included The Outer Worlds, Grounded, and Pentiment. Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 are up next for the studio, but it unlikely Gonalez will have much, if any, involvement with those, seeing as the first is out in three weeks and the second is out this year. All of which suggests he's been drafted in to help imagine Obsidan's next project.The question, though, is whether Gonzalez's attempt to get ahead of the Fallout: New Vegas 2 speculation is genuine or a cheeky bit of misdirection. Back in 2022, it was reported Obsidian was in "very early" talks with Microsoft to work on a sequel to its much-loved post-apocalyptic RPG, and that there was "a lot of interest to make it happen."Almost three years later, there's been no hint of an update, so it's unclear if those talks were in any way fruitful. But even if Gonzalez hasn't been drafted in to work on a New Vegas sequel, there's enough semantic wiggle room in his denial to still leave hope among fans that some form of new Fallout might be on the cards. Still, with Gonzalez having only just joined Obsidian in January, it'll likely be some time before we learn anything more - especially with two big new Obsidian RPGs releasing this year.

submitted by /u/Arthur_Morgan44469 [link] [comments]

Read Ad-Free on AppContinue on TOI AppOpen AppFollow Us OnOPEN APPMicrosoft layoffs go harder: Termination effective immediately with no severance pay and Microsoft has initiated a wave of performance-based job cuts, with affected employees losing their jobs effective immediately and receiving no severance packages, according to termination letters sent to staff.Tired of too many ads?go ad free nowThe termination letters, obtained by Business Insider, state that employees are being let go because their "job performance has not met minimum performance standards and expectations" for their positions. Impacted workers face immediate removal of access to Microsoft systems, accounts, and buildings.In a particularly strict measure, the company is ending healthcare, prescription, and dental benefits on employees' final day of work. Three terminated employees confirmed they would not receive severance payments, highlighting the company's harder stance on performance management."You are relieved of all job duties effective immediately," the termination letters state, requiring employees to return all company property, including cardkeys, corporate American Express cards, and any Microsoft hardware or software in their possession.The letters also warn that future employment applications to Microsoft will be evaluated considering "past performance and basis of termination," potentially affecting former employees' chances of returning to the company.Tired of too many ads?go ad free nowA Microsoft spokesperson defended the company's actions, stating, "At Microsoft we focus on high performance talent. We are always working on helping people learn and grow. When people are not performing, we take the appropriate action."The performance-based cuts are occurring alongside separate layoffs across multiple divisions, including Security, Experiences and Devices, sales, and gaming. However, the company maintains that these performance-related terminations may not significantly impact overall headcount, as Microsoft often backfills these positions.The company, which employed approximately 228,000 full-time workers as of June, requires terminated employees to permanently delete any company materials stored on personal devices and uphold their Microsoft Employee Agreement regarding the protection of confidential information after employment ends.GN Awards 2024: Vote for your favorite GadgetsContinue Reading Latest Mobiles View All Popular from TechnologyMore NewsFollow Us On Social Mediaend of articleTrending StoriesMore Trending StoriesTOP TRENDSUP NEXTDo Not Sell Or Share My Personal Information

Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo LifeWe get it not everyone enjoys celebrating their birthdays, even milestone birthdays. But look, Nintendo, how on earth could you not celebrate your 100th birthday?Well, according to former Nintendo artist Takaya Imamura the man responsible for the designs of F-Zero, Star Fox, and art director for Majora's Mask Nintendo completely glossed over its centennial anniversary. He shared this during an interview with 4Gamer (thanks to Time Extension and TheGamer for highlighting this) on the upcoming video game adaptation of his manga series, Omega 6: The Triangle Stars.Imamura says that when he joined the company in 1989 which happens to be the year Nintendo turned 100 it wasn't really focused on celebrations, in part due to the philosophy and nature of level-headed CEO and president at the time, Hiroshi Yamauchi (translated via Google):"I joined the company in the year of Nintendo's 100th anniversary. At that time, society as a whole was in a bubble, so companies would take students who had secured employment on trips and throw parties to keep them from losing out, but Nintendo did nothing (laughs). We didn't even celebrate our 100th anniversary, and it was a company that never got carried away."Reflecting on Yamauchi, Imamura-san told 4Gamer that the mantra of the company was something like: 'Keep calm when you're happy, keep calm when you're unhappy.'Yamauchi's corporate culture influenced the way everyone worked at Nintendo, and this was as a result of his previous experiences at other companies:"No matter how well the company was doing, Yamauchi would always speak harshly to employees. Of course, this was because Yamauchi had failed in many businesses, but toys and games are a business that is a liquid business, so it's right even if you think about it normally."It's interesting to look back and see how the culture has changed at Nintendo over the years, but that attitude took the developer far, and it's still a powerhouse today.Once known as Nintendo Koppai, the company was founded in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, and initially sold hanafuda playing cards, before moving into toys before jumping into the world of video games with the Color TV-Game in 1977, and the Famicom in 1983.Nintendo has been pretty good at celebrating its video game franchise's birthdays over the years. Later this year, the Super Mario series will be turning 40 years old, so we wonder if we'll see anything new there.Omega 6: The Triangle Stars is being developed by Happymeal and Pleocene, and is a 16-bit adventure game where you get to explore the galaxy with the aim of paying off a loan. It's out on Switch on 28th February.Let us know what you think of Imamura's interview in the comments below. Based in Takaya Imamura's mangaUpdate: Mario cards are now back in stockA different kind of 'game card'[source 4gamer.net, via thegamer.com, timeextension.com]Share:241 Alana has been with Nintendo Life since 2022, and while RPGs are her first love, Nintendo is a close second. She enjoys nothing more than overthinking battle strategies, characters, and stories. She also wishes she was a Sega air pirate. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related Articles69 Games You Should Pick Up In Nintendo's 'Supercharge' eShop Sale (North America)Every game we scored 9/10 or higherOpinion: My Daughter Made Me Realise That Mario Wonder's Difficulty Options Need WorkYoshi or Nabbit, make your choiceRandom: Local Supermarket Wins Trademark Battle Against NintendoIt didn't expect to beat "such a commercial monster"