There was a time in recent history when co-operative play seemed out of favour with developers. Online multiplayer is an ever-present facet of the games industry but couch co-op a mode so prevalent in video gamings early years is experiencing a bit of a renaissance. Most of the games on this list feature both local and online multiplayer, and whilst not all are designed specifically with co-operative play in mind, all are worthy of picking up the controller and enjoying with your mates.Split FictionFrom the team which created A Way Out and It Takes Two, co-op specialists Hazelight Studios are set to deliver another boundary smashing co-op-only experience with Split Fiction, a shared odyssey through colliding sci-fi and fantasy worlds as authored by our two protagonists Mio and Zoe. Exploring chaotic, imaginative scenery together, the two novelists discover the value of companionship, forging unique skills and abilities to escape a wide variety of fantastical situations.

Theres no denying Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars Outlaws have underperformed commercially. Whether these titles underwhelm you or not, the developers open world games have unfortunately become poster children for cookie-cut experiences; a paint by numbers trawl through worlds, lusciously designed, but hampered by middling stories and box-checking grind. In many ways, the latest entry in the series Assassins Creed Shadows is make or break for the developer given the spate of redundancies affecting the industry since the pandemic. This feature isnt about the developers current state, of course, but its worth beginning with this context because arguably the developers downturn started with 2015s Assassins Creed Syndicate and then things started to go worse after Assassins Creed Origins and Odyssey.Arriving just twelve months after the much-maligned (although later redeemed) Assassins Creed Unity, Syndicate whisked players back to Victorian era London, a setting which holds up as one of the series most visceral but with gameplay which didnt reinvent the wheel over its predecessor. Still, Syndicate possessed enough distinction to sell well, but much like Frontiers of Pandora and Outlaws its commercial performance was lacking. The developer put this down to series fatigue too many AC games in too-short a time but even players who werent burned out swerved this one given Unitys insipidness.Looking back a decade, Assassins Creed Syndicate can be re-framed as an overlooked entry in the series. A game downgraded by reputation rather than reality. The aforesaid portrayal of London was sublime, but the experiences stealth was stellar, its main characters decent enough at getting you to care for them, its switch-up to period-correct weaponry excellent. In short: it was a blast to play. Because of its shortcomings, of which there are numerous, Assassins Creed Syndicate kickstarted the developers desire to reboot the series but blaming Syndicate for the series break, however, is unjust.Lets take a deeper look at 1868 London, a mix of heavy industry, smog-filled skylines, and muddy areas underpinning globally recognized landmarks. The Tower of London, Palace of Westminster, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, St Pauls Cathedral, these architectural jewels in the British Empires crown are wonderfully recreated here. This place feels like London, but these landmarks get the city closer to an exact replica than any other historical setting video games have visited before. And bustling are these streets too, although notably they arent as packed with pedestrians as Unitys Paris which, likely, was a decision made by developer to the minimize performance issues which plagued Syndicates predecessor. And a good decision it turned out to be for gameplay purposes too. The citys wide streets provide breathing room for the games freshest traversal gimmick the very Batman-esque grappling hook.See, whilst London is indeed an excellent setting for Assassins Creed, the design of its chimney-heavy rooftops doesnt exactly foster freewheeling parkour. The grappling hook, with associated zipline, proved essential in zapping between buildings, scooting above the chasm of wide London streets, maintaining free running so integral to the series in the finest way possible.The city plays playground to Syndicates brother-sister duo, twins Jacob and Evie Frye, the former being a brute force pragmatist hellbent on reclaiming Londons boroughs from Templar oppression whilst the latter is more nuanced, a true assassin of the shadows more calculated in her approach to tracking down the enemy. Both characters contrast very well in their approaches even though the game doesnt go far enough to distinguish each in terms of skills and attributes. Jacobs combat-centric combos and Evies stealth orientated invisibility cloak really the only defining features for a pair which function largely the same.Still, their opposing worldviews makes for an interesting narrative, a structure in which you spend more of your time chasing Jacobs goals of unifying his city, amassing a gang to take down small time Templars whore operating with impunity at street level. To be clear, the game is better for aligning more closely to Jacob. At times it feels as though Evie was an afterthought shoehorned in during mid-development. Clawing back fragments of the city as per Jacobs ideal whilst a tried-and-tested formula for video game activity seldom feels tedious or like busywork due to both protagonists, their sibling rivalry, and the meaningfulness behind reclaiming Londons streets.The developer opted to forgo swordplay in favor of street brawling combat in Syndicate but, alas, whilst they addressed Unitys numerous pitfalls combat unfortunately felt like a step down. There is still fun to be had, what with the aforementioned period-correct weaponry: brass knuckles, compact revolvers, cane-swords, and Nepalese-imported Kukri blades providing a unique spin to melee combat.There was also more variety in combat animations but the act of 13-combo-ing gangsters became a repetitive, button mashing affair; morphing enemies into hard-wearing punch bags wasnt the most fulfilling way to boost the challenge of Assassins Creeds combat a facet which had at times endured criticism for being too easy. Fact is, Assassins Creed Syndicates hand-to-hand-focused combat would have been better presented were there more weight behind every right hook. Still, eschewing blocking and parrying for dodging, the ability to line multiple opponents up to mix in multi-kill combos and execution animations was an enjoyable process providing your twin assassins were suitably levelled up.Plus, Syndicate excelled in stealth. Bread and butter for a series of action stealth games, for sure, but Jacob and Evies traipses through Victorian Londons criminal underworld was made all the more enjoyable by arguably the best stealth mechanics that had appeared in an Assassins Creed game to that point perhaps not including Black Flag though.What made stealth a blast here was the range of viable options for remaining undetected: crouching in cover before utilizing distracting whistles or tossing knives at unsuspecting guards faces or killing from cover altogether. Incapacitating voltaic bombs invented by NPC Alexander Graham Bell, no less were a useful tool for stunning enemies. A neat mechanic was the ability to kidnap opponents, to effectively use them as a cloaking device by moving around a populated area with your victim in tow, their immediate proximity to you rendering you invisible to other enemies thatre loitering the same area.Furthermore, bringing all these stealth skills to Syndicates excellent black box missions was a constant blast. Returning from Unity, these linear-in-nature missions whereby our protagonists are tasked with taking down a high value Templar target were expanded to greater effect than in Unity via multiple points of infiltration, ally and enemy locations, plus unique takedowns for each assassination target. Their design ensured them as some of the most rewarding missions in any Assassins Creed game, and whilst Jacobs brute force approach was seldom unenjoyable, playing these missions as the more calculating Evie if possible was the way to go.All in all, Assassins Creed Syndicate does suffer a negative reputation based upon what came immediately before it but re-assessing on its own merit a decade later reveals an entry in the stealth action series thats well worth revisiting due to an excellently realized setting, likeable protagonists, and some of the best stealth mechanics seen in any Assassins Creed game. Will the return of dual protagonists in the upcoming Assassins Creed Shadows herald a changing of the seasons for the the developers beleaguered reputation? Time will tell, but if Shadows adopts a bespoke, of the time approach to its weaponry and combat, plus harbors an intriguing relationship between its player-characters akin to Syndicate then the developer stands a good chance making Shadows successful.Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn MoreA team of researchers has introduced Light-R1-32B, a new open-source AI model optimized for solving advanced math problems, making it available on Hugging Face under a permissive Apache 2.0 license free for enterprises and researchers to take, deploy, fine-tune or modify as they wish, even for commercial purposes. The 32-billion parameter (number of model settings) model surpasses the performance of similarly sized (and even larger) open source models such as DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-70B and DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B on third-party benchmark the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME), which contains 15 math problems designed for extremely advanced students and has an allotted time limit of 3 hours for human users.Developed by Liang Wen, Fenrui Xiao, Xin He, Yunke Cai, Qi An, Zhenyu Duan, Yimin Du, Junchen Liu, Lifu Tang, Xiaowei Lv, Haosheng Zou, Yongchao Deng, Shousheng Jia, and Xiangzheng Zhang, the model surpasses previous open-source alternatives on competitive math benchmarks.Incredibly, the researchers completed the models training in fewer than six hours on 12 Nvidia H800 GPUs at an estimated total cost of $1,000. This makes Light-R1-32B one of the most accessible and practical approaches for developing high-performing math-specialized AI models. However, its important to remember the model was trained on a variant of Alibabas open source Qwen 2.5-32B-Instruct, which itself is presumed to have had much higher upfront training costs.Alongside the model, the team has released its training datasets, training scripts, and evaluation tools, providing a transparent and accessible framework for building math-focused AI models.The arrival of Light-R1-32B follows other similar efforts from rivals such as Microsoft with its Orca-Math series.A new math king emergesLight-R1-32B is designed to tackle complex mathematical reasoning, particularly on the AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Examination) benchmarks. It was trained from Qwen2.5-32B-Instruct, starting from a model without long-chain-of-thought (COT) reasoning. The team applied curriculum-based supervised fine-tuning (SFT) and Direct Preference Optimization (DPO) to refine its problem-solving capabilities.When evaluated, Light-R1-32B achieved 76.6 on AIME24 and 64.6 on AIME25, surpassing DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B, which scored 72.6 and 54.9, respectively. This improvement suggests that the curriculum-based training approach effectively enhances mathematical reasoning, even when training from models that initially lack long COT.Fair benchmarkingTo ensure fair benchmarking, the team decontaminated training data against common reasoning benchmarks, including AIME24/25, MATH-500, and GPQA Diamond, preventing data leakage. They also implemented difficulty-based response filtering using DeepScaleR-1.5B-Preview, ultimately forming a 76,000-example dataset for the first stage of supervised fine-tuning. A second, more challenging dataset of 3,000 examples further improved performance.After training, the team merged multiple trained versions of Light-R1-32B, leading to additional gains. Notably, the model maintains strong generalization abilities on scientific reasoning tasks (GPQA), despite being math-specialized.How enterprises can benefitLight-R1-32B is released under the Apache License 2.0, a permissive open-source license that allows free use, modification, and commercial deployment without requiring derivative works to be open-sourced. This makes it an attractive option for enterprises, AI developers, and software engineers looking to integrate or customize the model for proprietary applications. The license also includes a royalty-free, worldwide patent grant, reducing legal risks for businesses while discouraging patent disputes. Companies can freely deploy Light-R1-32B in commercial products, maintaining full control over their innovations while benefiting from an open and transparent AI ecosystem.For CEOs, CTOs, and IT leaders, Apache 2.0 ensures cost efficiency and vendor independence, eliminating licensing fees and restrictive dependencies on proprietary AI solutions. AI developers and engineers gain the flexibility to fine-tune, integrate, and extend the model without limitations, making it ideal for specialized math reasoning, research, and enterprise AI applications. However, as the license provides no warranty or liability coverage, organizations should conduct their own security, compliance, and performance assessments before deploying Light-R1-32B in critical environments.Transparency in low-cost training and optimization for math problem solvingThe researchers emphasize that Light-R1-32B provides a validated, cost-effective way to train strong long-chain-of-thought models in specialized domains.By sharing their methodology, training data, and code, they aim to lower the cost barriers for high-performance AI development.Future work includes exploring reinforcement learning (RL) to enhance the models reasoning capabilities further.Daily insights on business use cases with VB DailyIf you want to impress your boss, VB Daily has you covered. We give you the inside scoop on what companies are doing with generative AI, from regulatory shifts to practical deployments, so you can share insights for maximum ROI.Read our Privacy PolicyThanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters here.An error occured.

Nvidia today announced GTC 2025, the worlds premier AI conference, will return March 17 to March 21 to San Jose, California, with an estimated 25,000 in-person attendees and 300,000 virtually. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huangs keynote is expected to be so popular that it will once again have to be held in a concert venue, SAP Center. It takes placeRead More

TechTarget and Informa Techs Digital Business Combine.TechTarget and InformaTechTarget and Informa Techs Digital Business Combine.Together, we power an unparalleled network of 220+ online properties covering 10,000+ granular topics, serving an audience of 50+ million professionals with original, objective content from trusted sources. We help you gain critical insights and make more informed decisions across your business priorities.Report: Ballistic Moon 'effectively closed now' after Until Dawn remake's launchReport: Ballistic Moon 'effectively closed now' after Until Dawn remake's launchThe developer already cut staff last fall, and now it's claimed only the founders and a 'handful' of employees remain.Justin Carter, Contributing EditorMarch 5, 20251 Min ReadImage via Ballistic Moon/Supermassive Games/PlayStation.At a GlanceSeveral sources are claiming Until Dawn remake developer Ballistic Moon is "effectively closed."Ballistic Moon, the studio behind the recent remake for Until Dawn, has reportedly closed its doors.Several sources speaking to Insider Gaming allege the UK developer has "effectively closed." These insiders say the studio laid off 20 more employees since its last layoff round in September 2024, where the company let go of around 40 people.Those same sources stated the remaining staff include founders Duncan Kershaw, Neil McEwan and Chris Lamb and "possibly" a handful of employees. One source revealed there is "no one working on patch support for the game anymore."The Until Dawn remake released for PlayStation 5 and PC in October 2024. Since its launch, Sony has been quiet on its performance (and existence), and it appeared to have a weak opening in the UK.Kershaw, McEwan, and Lamb previously worked at Until Dawn's original creator, Supermassive Games, before starting Ballistic Moon in 2020. The remake is the developer's first and only released game.Insider Gaming noted the company is still active in "technical terms," but the founders have reportedly failed to secure funding or a new publisher, and "there is no work being done." More work from Sony was apparently discussed, such as funding for more updates to the remake, but those funds never manifested.Game Developer has contacted Sony and Ballistic Moon, and will update when a response is provided.Read more about:LayoffsAbout the AuthorJustin CarterContributing Editor, GameDeveloper.comA Kansas City, MO native, Justin Carter has written for numerous sites including IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to Game Developer, his writing can be found at io9 over on Gizmodo. Don't ask him about how much gum he's had, because the answer will be more than he's willing to admit.See more from Justin CarterDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

TechTarget and Informa Techs Digital Business Combine.TechTarget and InformaTechTarget and Informa Techs Digital Business Combine.Together, we power an unparalleled network of 220+ online properties covering 10,000+ granular topics, serving an audience of 50+ million professionals with original, objective content from trusted sources. We help you gain critical insights and make more informed decisions across your business priorities.Translation studio Transperfect acquires support dev Technicolor GamesTranslation studio Transperfect acquires support dev Technicolor GamesAs part of Transperfect's game division, Technicolor will 'reinforce its reputation as a premier provider of art, animation, and VFX services to the global video game industry.'Justin Carter, Contributing EditorMarch 5, 20251 Min ReadImage via BioWare/EA.At a GlanceTransperfect has purchased support studio Technicolor Games after the financial collapse of Technicolor.Transperfect, a company that specializes in language services across the film and game industries, recently purchased Technicolor Games for an undisclosed fee. The new subsidiary will operate as part of Transperfect Gaming.The company's game division provides services such as art production, QA, and audio services. Its past clients have included localization for Blizzard Entertainment and Inxile and customer support and marketing for Candivore.In the announcement, Technicolor CEO Andy Emery said the acquisition "ensures [Technicolor's] legacy continues, reinforcing its reputation as a premier provider of art, animation, and VFX services to the global video game industry."Based in North America, Asia, and the UK, Technicolor Games. has done animation and VFX work for Kingdom Come Deliverance II, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and EA Sports FC 25. As part of the deal, Emery and global business VP Eric Williams will remain and join Transparent Gaming's senior leadership team.Technicolor's India-based employees will also be moved back to its Bangalore facility to "ensure continuity of business for all clients."This appears to be Transperfect's first video game-related acquisition since its purchase of localization company MoGi Group in 2019.Read more about:M&ATop StoriesLayoffsAbout the AuthorJustin CarterContributing Editor, GameDeveloper.comA Kansas City, MO native, Justin Carter has written for numerous sites including IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to Game Developer, his writing can be found at io9 over on Gizmodo. Don't ask him about how much gum he's had, because the answer will be more than he's willing to admit.See more from Justin CarterDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

Shortly after introducing the new iPad and iPad Air, Apple has announced a slew of new Macs. The M4-powered MacBook Air starts at $999 in its 13-inch configuration, while the 15-inch variant starts at $1,199. You can also buy the new Mac Studio with an M4 Max chip starting at $1,999 or an M3 Ultra-powered model starting at $3,999.The new 13- and 15-inch MacBook Airs run on Apples M4 chip, which Apple claims is twice as fast as the M1 chip found in the 2020 model. Both laptops also now support up to two external displays, even with the lid still open, and boast the same 12-megapixel Center Stage webcam found in the latest MacBook Pros. Design-wise, theyre identical to their M3-powered predecessor, but Apples now added a sky blue color option.RelatedAs for the new M4 Max Mac Studio, Apple says the desktop machine is up to 3.5x faster than the original M1 Max model from 2022. Compared to its outgoing predecessor, the M2 Max Studio from 2023, it offers a maximum 128GB of RAM, up from 96GB. The Mac Studios four rear USB-C ports have been upgraded from Thunderbolt 4 to Thunderbolt 5.Apple claims the Mac Studio with an M3 Ultra chip is twice as fast as the M4 Max for GPU- and CPU-demanding workloads. Apple also says the system boasts 50 percent more performance cores than its M2 Ultra predecessors. It, too, can be configured with up to 512GB of RAM and 16TB of storage, up from its outgoing predecessors maximum of 192GB of RAM and 8TB of storage. The front USB-C ports on the M3 Ultra Mac Studio also support Thunderbolt 5, unlike the ones on the M4 Max version, and it can support up to eight displays, as opposed to the cheaper Studios five.Where to preorder the M4-powered MacBook AirThe new MacBook Air will be available in stores on March 12th in sky blue, black, silver, and a starlight cream shade. You can preorder the 13-inch base model with a 10-core CPU, eight-core GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage starting at $999 from Apple, Best Buy, and B&H Photo. You can also preorder the laptop with a 10-core CPU and GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage for $1,199. Meanwhile, the model with 24GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a 10-core CPU and GPU goes for $1,399.Apple also lets you upgrade storage and RAM. Upgrading to 512GB of storage will cost you an extra $200, 1TB an extra $400, and 2TB an extra $800. You can also preorder the laptop with 24GB of RAM for $200 more, while 32GB of RAM costs $400 extra. If you opt for 512GB of storage or more, you have the option to purchase a 35W Dual USBC Port Compact Power Adapter or 70W USBC Power Adapter for $20 extra.$999Powered by the new M4 chip, Apples 13-inch MacBook Air is faster than its predecessor and offers double the base RAM. It can also now connect to two external displays with the lid open and features an improved 12-megapixel Center Stage webcam.The 15-inch MacBook Air is identical to its 13-inch sibling, aside from size and the fact that it comes with a six-speaker system instead of four. You can preorder the base model with a 10-core CPU and GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage starting at $1,099 from Apple, Best Buy, and B&H Photo. If you fork out $1,399, you can preorder it with an expanded 512GB of storage, while paying $1,599 will get you 24GB of RAM in addition to 512GB of storage.If you want additional storage and RAM, you can upgrade to 512GB of storage for $200 more, 1TB for an extra $400, and 2TB for an extra $800. In terms of memory, you can choose between an extra 24GB of RAM for $200 more or 32GB of RAM for $400 more. Apple will also throw in either a 35W Dual USBC Port Compact Power Adapter or a 70W USBC Power Adapter for free.$1199Apples 15-inch MacBook Air with the M4 chip is nearly identical to its 13-inch sibling. However, it includes a six-speaker sound system, not four, and your choice of a free 35W Dual USBC Port Compact Power Adapter or 70W USBC Power Adapter.Where to preorder the Mac Studio with the M4 Max chip The new Mac Studio is sold with either the M4 Max chip or the beefier M3 Ultra chip. You can preorder the base Mac Studio with an M4 Max chip, a 14-core CPU, a 32-core GPU, 36GB of RAM, a 16-core neural engine, and 512GB of storage from Apple, Best Buy, and B&H Photo starting at $1,999. For $2,499, you can preorder the M4 Max Studio with 48GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, a 16core CPU, a 40core GPU, and a 16core Neural Engine. You can upgrade to 64GB of RAM for $200 more or 128GB for an extra $1,000. Apple also lets you upgrade storage on either configuration if you pay extra. You can upgrade to 1TB of storage for $200 more, while the 2TB model costs $600 extra. You can also buy the 4TB configuration for $1,200 more or the 8TB model for $2,400 extra. $1999The Mac Studio features Apples M4 Max chips, making it much more powerful than its predecessor. It also offers a maximum 128GB of RAM up from 96GB and introduces support for hardware-accelerated mesh shading and dynamic caching.Where to preorder the M3 Ultra-powered Mac StudioMeanwhile, the base M3 Ultra-powered Mac Studio with a 28-core CPU, 60-core GPU, a 32-core Neural Engine, 96GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage starts at $3,999 at Apple, Best Buy, and B&H Photo. Upgrading to 256GB of RAM costs an extra $1,600.Alternatively, you can preorder it with a 32-core CPU, 80-core GPU, 32-core Neural Engine, 96GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage for $5,499. Again, upgrading to 256GB of RAM costs an additional $1,600, but you also have the option of adding 512GB of RAM for $4,000 more.No matter which M3 Ultra-powered Mac Studio configuration you buy, you can upgrade to 2TB of storage for $400 extra or 4TB for $1,000 more. Upgrading to 8TB of storage will cost you $2,200 extra, while 16TB will cost you an additional $4,600.$3999The M3 Ultra-powered Mac Studio is more powerful than the M4 Max model. It can be configured with up to 512GB of RAM and 16TB of storage, supports Thunderbolt 5 on all six USB-C ports, and connects to eight displays as opposed to five.See More:

President Donald Trumps tariffs on goods imported from Mexico, Canada, and China are in effect, but Big Tech companies have remained mostly silent despite the potential impact tariffs could have on their businesses.Ive written about this twice already: once shortly after Trump announced them in February, and again a week later after the initial 10 percent tariff on China went into effect and the Mexico and Canada tariffs had been paused. In both articles, The Verge reached out to many companies in Big Tech and adjacent industries, and the vast majority of them declined to comment or didnt reply at all. The ones that did reply usually gave generic statements.Weve done another round of outreach, and while there are a few new comments, things are mostly the same. Heres whats new:Walmart spokesperson Rodrigo Santos Legaspi: As we have done in the past, we will aggressively work to keep prices as low as possible for our customers. In the meantime, we encourage all parties to work towards finding common ground that will protect consumers from price hikes and continue to grow our economy.The CEOs from Best Buy and Target publicly stated that prices in their stores are about to go up. Gigabyte spokesperson Angela Cheng: What weve seen is that everyone will be increasing the price on the components of GPUs very soon. There will be changes for sure. Well need to make changes accordingly. But nothing is confirmed.In February, Acer said it would raise prices on its laptops.Otherwise, the situation is similar to the last time I wrote about it, with very minor changes:Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda, Microsoft spokesperson Kate Frischmann, and Nvidia spokesperson Stephanie Matthew declined to comment.Sony spokesperson Kishore Sawh declined to comment for my last article and tells The Verge that its unlikely that Sony will have a statement at this time.Canon USA, via a generic press email address with no stated spokesperson, said that Canon U.S.A., Inc. continues to monitor the situation regarding the tariffs.DJI, also via a generic press email with no stated spokesperson, said that we are assessing the impact internally and will be able to share more details once we complete the full evaluation and receive guidance from the USTR or other relevant departments.Amazon, Apple, Meta, Nintendo, and Samsung have not commented.Other companies that havent commented include: Alibaba, AMD, Asus, AT&T, Broadcom, Dell, EchoStar / Dish, Framework, Fujifilm, HP, Intel, Lenovo, LG, Logitech, Newegg, Nikon, Panasonic, Philips, Qualcomm, Razer, Shein, TCL, Temu, Texas Instruments, T-Mobile, and Verizon.RelatedBut as I wrote previously, the Trump administration is chaotic, so the nature of the tariffs could change at any moment. The Trump administration on Wednesday announced a one-month exemption on the automotive tariffs imposed on Canada and Mexico, according to Politico. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had signaled yesterday that the administration could announce some sort of compromise on the Mexico and Canada tariffs as early as today.We may not see the real lasting effects of these tariffs on tech companies until their next major product launches. Could the iPhone 17 have a higher price? Will you have to pay more for the next generation of Ray-Ban Meta glasses? We just dont know yet.See More:

LatestMachine LearningBuild Your Own Resume Chatbot and Share It with Recruiters 0 like March 5, 2025Share this postAuthor(s): Boris Dorian Da Silva Originally published on Towards AI. Image by playground.comIntroductionIn todays fast-paced world, Large Language Models (LLMs) are revolutionizing various aspects of our lives, and the job search process is no exception. Traditional resumes, often limited to 13 pages, frequently fail to capture the full depth of a candidates experience and expertise. This can make it challenging for recruiters to assess whether a candidate is the right fit for a role, potentially leading to missed opportunities or unnecessary interviews.To address this challenge, Im excited to share with you a Resume Chatbot. This solution allows you to create an interactive, AI-powered chatbot that showcases your skills, experience, and knowledge in a dynamic and engaging way. By deploying this chatbot on a web app service, you can share it with recruiters, enabling them to explore your profile in greater detail and ask specific questions about your background.Image by authorIn this article, Ill describe the general aspects of this solution, including the technologies involved and some building details.In the GitHub repository, you will find the code and a step-by-step guide.Why Use a Resume Chatbot?A Resume Chatbot offers several advantages over traditional resumes:Interactive Experience: Recruiters can ask specific questions about your experience, skills, and achievements, gaining a deeper understanding of your profile.Dynamic Content: Unlike static resumes, the chatbot can provide tailored responses based on the recruiters queries, ensuring relevant and up-to-date information.Time-Saving: Recruiters can quickly assess your fit for a role without scheduling an initial interview, streamlining the hiring process.Enhanced Engagement: A chatbot creates a memorable and innovative impression, setting you apart from other candidates.Data-Driven Insights: The chatbot can track recruiter interactions, providing valuable insights into which aspects of your profile attract the most interest.Multilingual Support: The chatbot can communicate in multiple languages, making your profile accessible to recruiters worldwide.Personalized Experience: The chatbot can adapt its tone and responses to align with the recruiters preferences, creating a more engaging interaction.Real-Time Updates: You can instantly update your skills, experiences, or achievements, ensuring recruiters always have access to the most current information.Reduced Bias: By focusing on skills and achievements, the chatbot can help minimize unconscious bias during the initial screening process.Technologies and Tools UsedTo build this Resume Chatbot, I leveraged the following technologies and libraries:OpenAI API: Used to power the chatbot with a state-of-the-art LLM. For this solution, I utilized the gpt-4o-mini model.LangChain: This framework was instrumental in interacting with the LLM and integrating various tools to enhance the chatbots functionality.Azure AI Search: An information retrieval platform that fetches relevant data to provide accurate and context-aware responses to user queries.Azure SQL Server: Used to store user credentials, profile information, and chat history.Streamlit: A library for building the front-end interface of the chatbot.Azure Web App: The solution was deployed on this platform to make it publicly accessible.Image by authorThe complete code for this project is available in the following GitHub repository: https://github.com/bdoriandasilva/resume_chatbot_publicUser InterfaceThe user interface (UI) is built using the Streamlit framework and consists of two main components:Login Interface: This is a login screen that authenticates users by verifying credentials stored in the Azure SQL Server database. This step is optional but recommended to ensure that only authorized users can access the chatbot.Image by authorChat Interface: Once logged in, users are greeted with a simple and intuitive chat interface. A welcome message explains the purpose of the chatbot and guides recruiters on how to interact with it.Image by authorThe code of the user interface is in the app.py file.BackendThe backend of the Resume Chatbot is structured into three key modules:chatbot.py: Handles the core logic of interacting with the LLM, processing user queries, and generating responses.db_manager.py: Manages database operations, including storing and retrieving user credentials, profile data, and chat history.retriever.py: Integrates with Azure AI Search to fetch relevant information from your resume data and provide context for the prompt sent to the LLM model.Additional FeaturesThe solution has different features that are describe below:Query Limit per User: Each user can be assigned a query limit, which is stored in their profile information in the SQL database. After logging in, the solution calculates the number of queries the user has made in the past and ensures it does not exceed the defined limit.Image by authorConversation History Storage: The chatbot stores conversation history for each user. Apart from being used to facilitate follow-up conversations with the chatbot, this data can also be analyzed in an ad-hoc analysis to understand recruiters interest in your profile. (Note: Analysis of this data is not part of the scope of this solution.)Set the Last N Messages for Prompt Inclusion: This allows you to specify the number of recent messages from the user-chatbot interaction to be included in the LLM prompt. By configuring this, you can control how much conversation history is provided as context to the model.Azure AI Search Index CreationTo create and populate the Azure AI Search index, a Jupyter notebook is provided in the notebooks/upload_index.ipynb file. This notebook contains the necessary schema and scripts to create the index and prepare it for use.Before running the code, ensure that the Azure AI Search service has been created and configured in your Azure environment.The process is divided into two main parts:Index Creation:The first part includes a JSON script to create the index directly from the Azure AI Search portal. This script defines the structure of the index, including fields for unique IDs, titles, metadata, and embeddings.Document Splitting and Embedding:The second part automates the preparation of your resume data for indexing. Before running this section, it is essential to divide your resume into separate documents, with each document representing a distinct section (e.g., work experience, education, skills). This strategy ensures that unrelated sections are not combined into the same chunk, improving retrieval performance.Image by authorEnsure that the name of each document is representative of its content, as this name will be uploaded into the title field of the index. Since the retrieval process applies a hybrid query in Azure AI Search (combining text and vector queries in a single search request), this field is considered in the query alongside the vector content.The script uses a RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter to divide each document into smaller, manageable chunks (with a specified chunk size and overlap). It then leverages OpenAI embeddings to generate vector representations of the content. Each chunk is assigned a unique ID, title, and metadata, and the results are stored in a structured list for further processing or indexing.The script iterates through a folder containing all the resume sections, processes each file, and compiles a comprehensive list of structured data ready for integration into the index.Database Tables CreationTo create and test the database, a Jupyter notebook is provided in the notebooks/database_creation.ipynb file.Before running the code, ensure that the Azure SQL Server service has been created and configured in your Azure environment.The notebook is divided into two main sections:Database Table Creation:The first section contains the SQL script to create the two tables required for the database. These tables are designed to store user credentials, profile information, and chat history.Database Testing:The second section includes example scripts to test the database functionality.Since there is no dedicated interface for uploading users, the population of user data was performed directly through the Azure Data Studio application, which I installed locally.Lines of ImprovementWhile the current solution provides a functional foundation, there are several areas where enhancements can be made to improve usability, security, and scalability. Here you have some examples:Interface for Uploading New Users:Currently, the Users table is populated directly through Azure Data Studio application. To streamline this process, a user-friendly interface could be developed to allow administrators to upload and manage user data directly within the application.Enhanced Login Security:The current implementation uses a simple approach for user authentication. To bolster security, it is recommended to adopt more robust authentication mechanisms, such as OAuth2. This method would provide stronger protection against unauthorized access and improve overall system security.ConclusionBuilding a Resume Chatbot is a powerful way to modernize your job application process and stand out in a competitive job market. By leveraging cutting-edge technologies like OpenAI, LangChain, and Azure services, you can create a dynamic and interactive tool that showcases your expertise in a way that traditional resumes simply cannot.Ready to get started? Check out the GitHub repository for the complete code and step-by-step instructions: https://github.com/bdoriandasilva/resume_chatbot_publicIf you found this article helpful, feel free to share it with your network or leave a comment below.Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AITowards AI - Medium Share this post

For this week only (and while supplies last), Target is offering a 50% discount on the popular Beats Solo 4 wireless on-ear headphones. Right now you can get the Target exclusive Warm White color, featuring a white colorway with gold accents, for just $99.99. That's currently the best price across all retailers and matches last year's Black Friday deal.50% Off Beats Solo 4 Wireless HeadphonesWarm WhiteBeats Solo 4 Wireless Bluetooth On-Ear HeadphonesThe Beats Solo 4 is a very compact and lightweight headphone that can still pack a punch when you need it. It features 40mm drivers, Spatial Audio with Dynamic Head Tracking, Lossless audio via USB Type-C, and up to 50 hours of battery life. The Solo 4 doesn't have built-in active noise cancellation, however the headphone's design keeps the earcups securely on the head, aiding in excellent passive noise isolation. Because Apple owns Beats, the Solo 4 is one of the few headphones that supports seamless integration with iPhones and, unlike AirPods, is a good option for Android users.We picked the Beats Solo 4 as the best wireless headphones for Apple users. "If youre not fully in the AirPods camp but want headphones that work seamlessly with your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, the Beats Solo 4 is the way to go. Rather than going with an Apple chip like in previous models, the Solo 4 is powered by Beats' own processor, which supports Google Fast Pair for an easy connection to Android devices as well. But you can still link these headphones to an iCloud account for speedy pairing and auto-switching between Apple devices. However, the spatial audio with head tracking is exclusive to Apple users."Why Should You Trust IGN's Deals Team?IGN's deals team has a combined 30+ years of experience finding the best discounts in gaming, tech, and just about every other category. We don't try to trick our readers into buying things they don't need at prices that aren't worth buying something at. Our ultimate goal is to surface the best possible deals from brands we trust and our editorial team has personal experience with. You can check out our deals standards here for more information on our process, or keep up with the latest deals we find on IGN's Deals account on Twitter.Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.