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  • Engadget shared a link
    2025-05-13 14:37:15 ·
    Amazon renews Fallout months before season 2's premiere
    The second season of the Fallout TV series doesn't even have a concrete release date in December yet, but Amazon has already renewed the show for a third season. Amazon has announced that it has greenlit the new season at its annual presentation in New York City. The company said Fallout has had more than 100 million viewers since it dropped on Prime Video in April 2024 and remains one of its top-three most watched titles ever.  If you'll recall, the live adaptation was so well-received, Fallout 4 enjoyed a resurgence in sales nearly a decade after its release. Amazon also renewed the series for a second season just a few days after the first season debuted on its streaming service. Based on the video game franchise of the same name, Fallout is set 200 years into the future after an apocalyptic event. In the story, the humans who survived the apocalypse hid in luxury fallout shelters where their descendants remained for hundreds of years. The show follows Lucy as she leaves her shelter after an attack by outsiders to find her father who'd been kidnapped. Along the way, she meets more characters, including a squire from the Brotherhood of Steel and a ghoul bounty hunter. Amazon has yet to reveal season 3's story, which doesn't come as a surprise, seeing as the second season has yet to drop. But season 2 will pick up from where the first one had left off and will take viewers from the Mojave wastelands to New Vegas.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/amazon-renews-fallout-months-before-season-2s-premiere-143028657.html?src=rss" style="color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/amazon-renews-fallout-months-before-season-2s-premiere-143028657.html?src=rss
    style="margin-top: 10px; font-style: italic; color: #666;">المصدر: https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/amazon-renews-fallout-months-before-season-2s-premiere-143028657.html?src=rss" style="color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">www.engadget.com
    Amazon renews Fallout months before season 2's premiere
    The second season of the Fallout TV series doesn't even have a concrete release date in December yet, but Amazon has already renewed the show for a third season. Amazon has announced that it has greenlit the new season at its annual presentation in New York City. The company said Fallout has had more than 100 million viewers since it dropped on Prime Video in April 2024 and remains one of its top-three most watched titles ever.  If you'll recall, the live adaptation was so well-received, Fallout 4 enjoyed a resurgence in sales nearly a decade after its release. Amazon also renewed the series for a second season just a few days after the first season debuted on its streaming service. Based on the video game franchise of the same name, Fallout is set 200 years into the future after an apocalyptic event. In the story, the humans who survived the apocalypse hid in luxury fallout shelters where their descendants remained for hundreds of years. The show follows Lucy as she leaves her shelter after an attack by outsiders to find her father who'd been kidnapped. Along the way, she meets more characters, including a squire from the Brotherhood of Steel and a ghoul bounty hunter. Amazon has yet to reveal season 3's story, which doesn't come as a surprise, seeing as the second season has yet to drop. But season 2 will pick up from where the first one had left off and will take viewers from the Mojave wastelands to New Vegas.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/amazon-renews-fallout-months-before-season-2s-premiere-143028657.html?src=rss
    المصدر: www.engadget.com
    #amazon #renews #fallout #months #before #season #2039s #premiere
    WWW.ENGADGET.COM
    Amazon renews Fallout months before season 2's premiere
    The second season of the Fallout TV series doesn't even have a concrete release date in December yet, but Amazon has already renewed the show for a third season. Amazon has announced that it has greenlit the new season at its annual presentation in New York City. The company said Fallout has had more than 100 million viewers since it dropped on Prime Video in April 2024 and remains one of its top-three most watched titles ever.  If you'll recall, the live adaptation was so well-received, Fallout 4 enjoyed a resurgence in sales nearly a decade after its release. Amazon also renewed the series for a second season just a few days after the first season debuted on its streaming service. Based on the video game franchise of the same name, Fallout is set 200 years into the future after an apocalyptic event. In the story, the humans who survived the apocalypse hid in luxury fallout shelters where their descendants remained for hundreds of years. The show follows Lucy as she leaves her shelter after an attack by outsiders to find her father who'd been kidnapped. Along the way, she meets more characters, including a squire from the Brotherhood of Steel and a ghoul bounty hunter. Amazon has yet to reveal season 3's story, which doesn't come as a surprise, seeing as the second season has yet to drop. But season 2 will pick up from where the first one had left off and will take viewers from the Mojave wastelands to New Vegas.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/amazon-renews-fallout-months-before-season-2s-premiere-143028657.html?src=rss
    ·27 Views
    Please log in to like, share and comment!
  • Polygon shared a link
    2025-05-13 14:33:31 ·
    ‘Think bigger’: The Victorian steampunk game that died so that Clair Obscur could live
    If only every random scroll through Reddit was as productive as the one that changed Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead writer Jennifer Svedberg-Yen’s entire life.  Not too long after ditching the finance world to pursue creative dreams, but in the thick of the COVID-19 lockdown, Svedberg-Yen was wasting away an afternoon on the community forums when she stumbled upon a call from former Ubisoft producer Guillaume Broche for voice-actor help. Broche was in need of a willing and able person to record scratch lines for a game he was developing. Svedberg-Yen agreed to read for two roles — why not? — and immediately had notes for Broche on how to imbue the characters with more nuance. That game was not Clair Obscur. When Svedberg-Yen met Broche, the game designer was originally at work on We Lost, a much smaller, steampunk game set in Victorian England. An avid fantasy reader and writer, Svedberg-Yen sparked to Broche’s vision for a turn-based RPG that incorporated elements of realtime combat, and couldn’t help but offer her thoughts when discussing the characters she might voice. Over the course of months, and from two corners of the world — Broche in Shanghai and Svedberg-Yen in Sweden — the pair developed a narrative bible for the game. But by the end of the creative process, advisors and investors told them the idea wasn’t viable. They needed to go bigger.  “They said, ‘assume you had more resources,’” Svedberg-Yen recalls. “‘Think bigger’ […] We were trying to be realistic and that kind of limited the scope of it. So we went back to the drawing board, and came up with Expedition 33.” The only connections to the scrapped steampunk game and the Belle Époque-inspired RPG they eventually made are a few names — Lune and Maelle both made the cut. Everything else was built up from scratch, Svedberg-Yen says, world-building she says came easy to her thanks to a lifetime of reading. The Wheel of Time books were a major influence, just by the nature of them being expansive and lived in.  “I would say Robert Jordan was definitely a major influence on how I think about epic fantasy, in terms of how he weaves in societies and how social structures affect the citizens that reside within them,” she says. “You follow a lot of the logic of the world in terms of cause and effect. So when I start writing, I always try to think about what is the world that they inhabit? How does that shape who the characters are? Because I do believe that we are a function of all of our experiences, the society we grew up in, the people who are in our lives. The specific things that have happened to us that affect who we are affects how we see the world. And that in turn affects how we think, then affects how we speak and how we react to other things. And as a writer, you need to know how your characters are going to speak and react. Wheel of Time does a fantastic job with that.” Going back to the drawing board meant finding new inspiration, but the aesthetic of French architecture, baguette costumes, and mimes could only carry the new project so far. Svedberg-Yen ultimately found the game’s foundation in her own work, developed out of a short story she had previously written. In the writer’s words, the story was about a young woman “who thought she was an orphan and realizes later on that her mom is actually a painter and can enter paintings, and that her mom was still alive and was lost in a painting, and she has to go and try to save her mom and bring her out of the painting. So that then became the backstory for Clair Obscur.” As much as the pivot away from Victorian steampunk was driven by business potential, none of the development on Clair Obscur was driven by its potential as a long-lasting IP for studio Sandfall Interactive. She says there was nothing coded into the storytelling that would lead directly into a sequel or even a DLC, and that was never the goal. “I think we told the story we wanted to tell based on the characters we had — our story has a beginning, a middle and end,” she says. But she does have reams and reams of lore stashed away, lots of storytelling that didn’t make it into the games, and plenty of other ideas. So maybe “Clair Obscur” — which roughly translates to the contrasting balance of lightness and darkness often referred to as chiaroscuro in the painting world — could become what “Final Fantasy” is to the disconnected games of that franchise? “‘Clair Obscur’ has a lot of symbolic meaning tied to all of the themes within the game. It links very specifically to the emotional journey that the characters are going through, but it’s also broad enough,” she says without, wisely, committing to anything. “So who knows. The world is our oyster. Everything is possible.”
    #666;">المصدر: https://www.polygon.com/598739/clair-obscur-svedberg-yen-interview-victorian-steampunk" style="color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">www.polygon.com
    ‘Think bigger’: The Victorian steampunk game that died so that Clair Obscur could live
    If only every random scroll through Reddit was as productive as the one that changed Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead writer Jennifer Svedberg-Yen’s entire life.  Not too long after ditching the finance world to pursue creative dreams, but in the thick of the COVID-19 lockdown, Svedberg-Yen was wasting away an afternoon on the community forums when she stumbled upon a call from former Ubisoft producer Guillaume Broche for voice-actor help. Broche was in need of a willing and able person to record scratch lines for a game he was developing. Svedberg-Yen agreed to read for two roles — why not? — and immediately had notes for Broche on how to imbue the characters with more nuance. That game was not Clair Obscur. When Svedberg-Yen met Broche, the game designer was originally at work on We Lost, a much smaller, steampunk game set in Victorian England. An avid fantasy reader and writer, Svedberg-Yen sparked to Broche’s vision for a turn-based RPG that incorporated elements of realtime combat, and couldn’t help but offer her thoughts when discussing the characters she might voice. Over the course of months, and from two corners of the world — Broche in Shanghai and Svedberg-Yen in Sweden — the pair developed a narrative bible for the game. But by the end of the creative process, advisors and investors told them the idea wasn’t viable. They needed to go bigger.  “They said, ‘assume you had more resources,’” Svedberg-Yen recalls. “‘Think bigger’ […] We were trying to be realistic and that kind of limited the scope of it. So we went back to the drawing board, and came up with Expedition 33.” The only connections to the scrapped steampunk game and the Belle Époque-inspired RPG they eventually made are a few names — Lune and Maelle both made the cut. Everything else was built up from scratch, Svedberg-Yen says, world-building she says came easy to her thanks to a lifetime of reading. The Wheel of Time books were a major influence, just by the nature of them being expansive and lived in.  “I would say Robert Jordan was definitely a major influence on how I think about epic fantasy, in terms of how he weaves in societies and how social structures affect the citizens that reside within them,” she says. “You follow a lot of the logic of the world in terms of cause and effect. So when I start writing, I always try to think about what is the world that they inhabit? How does that shape who the characters are? Because I do believe that we are a function of all of our experiences, the society we grew up in, the people who are in our lives. The specific things that have happened to us that affect who we are affects how we see the world. And that in turn affects how we think, then affects how we speak and how we react to other things. And as a writer, you need to know how your characters are going to speak and react. Wheel of Time does a fantastic job with that.” Going back to the drawing board meant finding new inspiration, but the aesthetic of French architecture, baguette costumes, and mimes could only carry the new project so far. Svedberg-Yen ultimately found the game’s foundation in her own work, developed out of a short story she had previously written. In the writer’s words, the story was about a young woman “who thought she was an orphan and realizes later on that her mom is actually a painter and can enter paintings, and that her mom was still alive and was lost in a painting, and she has to go and try to save her mom and bring her out of the painting. So that then became the backstory for Clair Obscur.” As much as the pivot away from Victorian steampunk was driven by business potential, none of the development on Clair Obscur was driven by its potential as a long-lasting IP for studio Sandfall Interactive. She says there was nothing coded into the storytelling that would lead directly into a sequel or even a DLC, and that was never the goal. “I think we told the story we wanted to tell based on the characters we had — our story has a beginning, a middle and end,” she says. But she does have reams and reams of lore stashed away, lots of storytelling that didn’t make it into the games, and plenty of other ideas. So maybe “Clair Obscur” — which roughly translates to the contrasting balance of lightness and darkness often referred to as chiaroscuro in the painting world — could become what “Final Fantasy” is to the disconnected games of that franchise? “‘Clair Obscur’ has a lot of symbolic meaning tied to all of the themes within the game. It links very specifically to the emotional journey that the characters are going through, but it’s also broad enough,” she says without, wisely, committing to anything. “So who knows. The world is our oyster. Everything is possible.”
    المصدر: www.polygon.com
    #think #bigger #the #victorian #steampunk #game #that #died #clair #obscur #could #live
    WWW.POLYGON.COM
    ‘Think bigger’: The Victorian steampunk game that died so that Clair Obscur could live
    If only every random scroll through Reddit was as productive as the one that changed Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead writer Jennifer Svedberg-Yen’s entire life.  Not too long after ditching the finance world to pursue creative dreams, but in the thick of the COVID-19 lockdown, Svedberg-Yen was wasting away an afternoon on the community forums when she stumbled upon a call from former Ubisoft producer Guillaume Broche for voice-actor help. Broche was in need of a willing and able person to record scratch lines for a game he was developing. Svedberg-Yen agreed to read for two roles — why not? — and immediately had notes for Broche on how to imbue the characters with more nuance. That game was not Clair Obscur. When Svedberg-Yen met Broche, the game designer was originally at work on We Lost, a much smaller, steampunk game set in Victorian England. An avid fantasy reader and writer, Svedberg-Yen sparked to Broche’s vision for a turn-based RPG that incorporated elements of realtime combat, and couldn’t help but offer her thoughts when discussing the characters she might voice. Over the course of months, and from two corners of the world — Broche in Shanghai and Svedberg-Yen in Sweden — the pair developed a narrative bible for the game. But by the end of the creative process, advisors and investors told them the idea wasn’t viable. They needed to go bigger.  “They said, ‘assume you had more resources,’” Svedberg-Yen recalls. “‘Think bigger’ […] We were trying to be realistic and that kind of limited the scope of it. So we went back to the drawing board, and came up with Expedition 33.” The only connections to the scrapped steampunk game and the Belle Époque-inspired RPG they eventually made are a few names — Lune and Maelle both made the cut. Everything else was built up from scratch, Svedberg-Yen says, world-building she says came easy to her thanks to a lifetime of reading. The Wheel of Time books were a major influence, just by the nature of them being expansive and lived in.  “I would say Robert Jordan was definitely a major influence on how I think about epic fantasy, in terms of how he weaves in societies and how social structures affect the citizens that reside within them,” she says. “You follow a lot of the logic of the world in terms of cause and effect. So when I start writing, I always try to think about what is the world that they inhabit? How does that shape who the characters are? Because I do believe that we are a function of all of our experiences, the society we grew up in, the people who are in our lives. The specific things that have happened to us that affect who we are affects how we see the world. And that in turn affects how we think, then affects how we speak and how we react to other things. And as a writer, you need to know how your characters are going to speak and react. Wheel of Time does a fantastic job with that.” Going back to the drawing board meant finding new inspiration, but the aesthetic of French architecture, baguette costumes, and mimes could only carry the new project so far. Svedberg-Yen ultimately found the game’s foundation in her own work, developed out of a short story she had previously written. In the writer’s words, the story was about a young woman “who thought she was an orphan and realizes later on that her mom is actually a painter and can enter paintings, and that her mom was still alive and was lost in a painting, and she has to go and try to save her mom and bring her out of the painting. So that then became the backstory for Clair Obscur.” As much as the pivot away from Victorian steampunk was driven by business potential, none of the development on Clair Obscur was driven by its potential as a long-lasting IP for studio Sandfall Interactive. She says there was nothing coded into the storytelling that would lead directly into a sequel or even a DLC, and that was never the goal. “I think we told the story we wanted to tell based on the characters we had — our story has a beginning, a middle and end,” she says. But she does have reams and reams of lore stashed away, lots of storytelling that didn’t make it into the games, and plenty of other ideas. So maybe “Clair Obscur” — which roughly translates to the contrasting balance of lightness and darkness often referred to as chiaroscuro in the painting world — could become what “Final Fantasy” is to the disconnected games of that franchise? “‘Clair Obscur’ has a lot of symbolic meaning tied to all of the themes within the game. It links very specifically to the emotional journey that the characters are going through, but it’s also broad enough,” she says without, wisely, committing to anything. “So who knows. The world is our oyster. Everything is possible.”
    ·37 Views
    Please log in to like, share and comment!
  • GameSpot shared a link
    2025-05-13 14:29:48 ·
    The Best And Wildest Grand Theft Auto 6 Theories We've Seen So Far
    Lots of time to think...Both times Rockstar Games has dropped a new Grand Theft Auto VI trailer so far, the internet has been set ablaze. First, the heat comes from the excitement of people who have been waiting for this game for over a decade. Eventually, though, that excitement turns to wonder--and then the theorizing begins.Trailer 2 for GTA VI--which was released with no warning on May 6--is no exception. All corners of the internet have been combing the three-minute trailer for clues, references, or anything else that may provide some sort of window into what the next GTA adventure is going to include.We've completed some of our favorite theories here, from those who think the game might be bigger than Leonida can contain, to a few ideas about how Jason and Lucia's relationship is going to end up--spoiler warning for those theories, they don't think things are going to end well.Note that this is all speculation based on the trailer--like how the trailer seems to tip off some of the many side activities Jason and Lucia can get up to--and we won't know what's actually going to happen until Grand Theft Auto VI launches on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 on May 26, 2026. Liberty City is in GTA VILiberty City is a key landmark for the GTA franchise--multiple core GTA games have taken place there, and co-protagonist Lucia is said to have moved to Leonida from Liberty City.There are multiple references to Liberty City in the trailer--from headwear to license plates--and that's got some GTA theorists thinking we may be headed back there at some point in the GTA VI story, even if only for a little while--even if it's a situation like GTA V's missions in North Yankton. Finally listen to GTA radio outside of a carAmong the many screenshots released alongside Trailer 2 in early May, we see Lucia relaxing in a pool with AirPod-like earbud headphones in her ears.While AirPods would certainly not be out of place in a video game set in the modern day, there's speculation that earbuds may be something either Jason or Lucia can wear whenever they want--which means they can listen to GTA VI's versions of the famous GTA radio stations whenever they want as well. Trailer 2 shows when Jason's gameplay beginsThere's a scene at the start of Trailer 2 where we see Jason enter his home, with the camera hugging his right shoulder. Seasoned gamers will recognize a setup like this, so many believe this scene is transitioning to where the player takes control of Jason--maybe even for the first time. Potential character-select screenIn a similar vein, a shot of Jason and Lucia embracing out front of a Vice City nightclub--found on the official GTA VI website--uses a sweeping camera shot to capture the moment, first in front of Jason, then moving to Lucia. Theorists suggest this could end up being the "character-select" screen, where players will choose which of the two they want to control. Jason is an undercover copJason and Lucia's relationship, based on the first two trailers, seems like a grounded, down-to-earth, realistic depiction of what a modern relationship looks like. So, of course, some in the community think it's all fake, because Jason is actually an undercover cop and will eventually bust her.Trailer 2 throws fuel onto this speculative fire with one character directly calling Jason a "fed," while a security guard at the prison Lucia's being held in asks Jason if he'd been there before, to which Jason responds, "I might have been." Whether Jason is a cop or not, fans still think… Jason and Lucia's relationship will end in betrayal…that Jason and Lucia are star-crossed lovers, who are headed for a bitter end thanks to a betrayal of some kind. The community is split on exactly who will do the betraying, and there are solid arguments for both. Watch, the betrayal we all expect will never come, and the two will live happily ever after on a beach somewhere. Heists are backA cheeky reference to action flick Fast Five--where a car is dragging what looks to be a safe through the streets--might actually be hinting at the return of Heists, which were a big part of GTA V's story and GTA Online's experience. Switch 2 might not be able to handle itThe tech wizards at Digital Foundry have a theory of their own, and fans of portable consoles are not going to be pleased. Despite its more powerful contents, DF seems to think that Nintendo Switch 2--another highly anticipated gaming item which launches June 5--might not be able to handle GTA VI, even at the same 30fps framerate as the trailer. One game, two islandsEarlier we mentioned that some think all of the references of Liberty City are signaling a return there in some capacity. However, based on a keen viewer's screenshot, Leonida itself may be larger than it seems, as a postcard for the fictional state shows two separate islands rather than one large landmass. Is that Michael's boat?Finally, at one point in the trailer, we see a nice boat sitting on a rig in a storage yard. A few smart GTA theorists went back and checked, and the boat bears a striking resemblance to the boat owned by Michael De Santa, one of three protagonists from GTA V. Whether or not there's a connection between GTA VI and its predecessors, in any capacity, remains to be seen, though this would continue the tradition of GTA games making cheeky references to their predecessors.
    #666;">المصدر: https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/gta-6-fan-theories/2900-6585/" style="color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">www.gamespot.com
    The Best And Wildest Grand Theft Auto 6 Theories We've Seen So Far
    Lots of time to think...Both times Rockstar Games has dropped a new Grand Theft Auto VI trailer so far, the internet has been set ablaze. First, the heat comes from the excitement of people who have been waiting for this game for over a decade. Eventually, though, that excitement turns to wonder--and then the theorizing begins.Trailer 2 for GTA VI--which was released with no warning on May 6--is no exception. All corners of the internet have been combing the three-minute trailer for clues, references, or anything else that may provide some sort of window into what the next GTA adventure is going to include.We've completed some of our favorite theories here, from those who think the game might be bigger than Leonida can contain, to a few ideas about how Jason and Lucia's relationship is going to end up--spoiler warning for those theories, they don't think things are going to end well.Note that this is all speculation based on the trailer--like how the trailer seems to tip off some of the many side activities Jason and Lucia can get up to--and we won't know what's actually going to happen until Grand Theft Auto VI launches on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 on May 26, 2026. Liberty City is in GTA VILiberty City is a key landmark for the GTA franchise--multiple core GTA games have taken place there, and co-protagonist Lucia is said to have moved to Leonida from Liberty City.There are multiple references to Liberty City in the trailer--from headwear to license plates--and that's got some GTA theorists thinking we may be headed back there at some point in the GTA VI story, even if only for a little while--even if it's a situation like GTA V's missions in North Yankton. Finally listen to GTA radio outside of a carAmong the many screenshots released alongside Trailer 2 in early May, we see Lucia relaxing in a pool with AirPod-like earbud headphones in her ears.While AirPods would certainly not be out of place in a video game set in the modern day, there's speculation that earbuds may be something either Jason or Lucia can wear whenever they want--which means they can listen to GTA VI's versions of the famous GTA radio stations whenever they want as well. Trailer 2 shows when Jason's gameplay beginsThere's a scene at the start of Trailer 2 where we see Jason enter his home, with the camera hugging his right shoulder. Seasoned gamers will recognize a setup like this, so many believe this scene is transitioning to where the player takes control of Jason--maybe even for the first time. Potential character-select screenIn a similar vein, a shot of Jason and Lucia embracing out front of a Vice City nightclub--found on the official GTA VI website--uses a sweeping camera shot to capture the moment, first in front of Jason, then moving to Lucia. Theorists suggest this could end up being the "character-select" screen, where players will choose which of the two they want to control. Jason is an undercover copJason and Lucia's relationship, based on the first two trailers, seems like a grounded, down-to-earth, realistic depiction of what a modern relationship looks like. So, of course, some in the community think it's all fake, because Jason is actually an undercover cop and will eventually bust her.Trailer 2 throws fuel onto this speculative fire with one character directly calling Jason a "fed," while a security guard at the prison Lucia's being held in asks Jason if he'd been there before, to which Jason responds, "I might have been." Whether Jason is a cop or not, fans still think… Jason and Lucia's relationship will end in betrayal…that Jason and Lucia are star-crossed lovers, who are headed for a bitter end thanks to a betrayal of some kind. The community is split on exactly who will do the betraying, and there are solid arguments for both. Watch, the betrayal we all expect will never come, and the two will live happily ever after on a beach somewhere. Heists are backA cheeky reference to action flick Fast Five--where a car is dragging what looks to be a safe through the streets--might actually be hinting at the return of Heists, which were a big part of GTA V's story and GTA Online's experience. Switch 2 might not be able to handle itThe tech wizards at Digital Foundry have a theory of their own, and fans of portable consoles are not going to be pleased. Despite its more powerful contents, DF seems to think that Nintendo Switch 2--another highly anticipated gaming item which launches June 5--might not be able to handle GTA VI, even at the same 30fps framerate as the trailer. One game, two islandsEarlier we mentioned that some think all of the references of Liberty City are signaling a return there in some capacity. However, based on a keen viewer's screenshot, Leonida itself may be larger than it seems, as a postcard for the fictional state shows two separate islands rather than one large landmass. Is that Michael's boat?Finally, at one point in the trailer, we see a nice boat sitting on a rig in a storage yard. A few smart GTA theorists went back and checked, and the boat bears a striking resemblance to the boat owned by Michael De Santa, one of three protagonists from GTA V. Whether or not there's a connection between GTA VI and its predecessors, in any capacity, remains to be seen, though this would continue the tradition of GTA games making cheeky references to their predecessors.
    المصدر: www.gamespot.com
    #the #best #and #wildest #grand #theft #auto #theories #we039ve #seen #far
    WWW.GAMESPOT.COM
    The Best And Wildest Grand Theft Auto 6 Theories We've Seen So Far
    Lots of time to think...Both times Rockstar Games has dropped a new Grand Theft Auto VI trailer so far, the internet has been set ablaze. First, the heat comes from the excitement of people who have been waiting for this game for over a decade. Eventually, though, that excitement turns to wonder--and then the theorizing begins.Trailer 2 for GTA VI--which was released with no warning on May 6--is no exception. All corners of the internet have been combing the three-minute trailer for clues, references, or anything else that may provide some sort of window into what the next GTA adventure is going to include.We've completed some of our favorite theories here, from those who think the game might be bigger than Leonida can contain, to a few ideas about how Jason and Lucia's relationship is going to end up--spoiler warning for those theories, they don't think things are going to end well.Note that this is all speculation based on the trailer--like how the trailer seems to tip off some of the many side activities Jason and Lucia can get up to--and we won't know what's actually going to happen until Grand Theft Auto VI launches on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 on May 26, 2026. Liberty City is in GTA VILiberty City is a key landmark for the GTA franchise--multiple core GTA games have taken place there, and co-protagonist Lucia is said to have moved to Leonida from Liberty City.There are multiple references to Liberty City in the trailer--from headwear to license plates--and that's got some GTA theorists thinking we may be headed back there at some point in the GTA VI story, even if only for a little while--even if it's a situation like GTA V's missions in North Yankton. Finally listen to GTA radio outside of a carAmong the many screenshots released alongside Trailer 2 in early May, we see Lucia relaxing in a pool with AirPod-like earbud headphones in her ears.While AirPods would certainly not be out of place in a video game set in the modern day, there's speculation that earbuds may be something either Jason or Lucia can wear whenever they want--which means they can listen to GTA VI's versions of the famous GTA radio stations whenever they want as well. Trailer 2 shows when Jason's gameplay beginsThere's a scene at the start of Trailer 2 where we see Jason enter his home, with the camera hugging his right shoulder. Seasoned gamers will recognize a setup like this, so many believe this scene is transitioning to where the player takes control of Jason--maybe even for the first time. Potential character-select screenIn a similar vein, a shot of Jason and Lucia embracing out front of a Vice City nightclub--found on the official GTA VI website--uses a sweeping camera shot to capture the moment, first in front of Jason, then moving to Lucia. Theorists suggest this could end up being the "character-select" screen, where players will choose which of the two they want to control. Jason is an undercover copJason and Lucia's relationship, based on the first two trailers, seems like a grounded, down-to-earth, realistic depiction of what a modern relationship looks like. So, of course, some in the community think it's all fake, because Jason is actually an undercover cop and will eventually bust her.Trailer 2 throws fuel onto this speculative fire with one character directly calling Jason a "fed," while a security guard at the prison Lucia's being held in asks Jason if he'd been there before, to which Jason responds, "I might have been." Whether Jason is a cop or not, fans still think… Jason and Lucia's relationship will end in betrayal…that Jason and Lucia are star-crossed lovers, who are headed for a bitter end thanks to a betrayal of some kind. The community is split on exactly who will do the betraying, and there are solid arguments for both. Watch, the betrayal we all expect will never come, and the two will live happily ever after on a beach somewhere. Heists are backA cheeky reference to action flick Fast Five--where a car is dragging what looks to be a safe through the streets--might actually be hinting at the return of Heists, which were a big part of GTA V's story and GTA Online's experience. Switch 2 might not be able to handle itThe tech wizards at Digital Foundry have a theory of their own, and fans of portable consoles are not going to be pleased. Despite its more powerful contents, DF seems to think that Nintendo Switch 2--another highly anticipated gaming item which launches June 5--might not be able to handle GTA VI, even at the same 30fps framerate as the trailer. One game, two islandsEarlier we mentioned that some think all of the references of Liberty City are signaling a return there in some capacity. However, based on a keen viewer's screenshot, Leonida itself may be larger than it seems, as a postcard for the fictional state shows two separate islands rather than one large landmass. Is that Michael's boat?Finally, at one point in the trailer, we see a nice boat sitting on a rig in a storage yard. A few smart GTA theorists went back and checked, and the boat bears a striking resemblance to the boat owned by Michael De Santa, one of three protagonists from GTA V. Whether or not there's a connection between GTA VI and its predecessors, in any capacity, remains to be seen, though this would continue the tradition of GTA games making cheeky references to their predecessors.
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  • Ars Technica shared a link
    2025-05-13 14:14:13 ·
    #333;">Ana de Armas is caught in Wick’s crosshairs in final Ballerina trailer

    en pointe

    Ana de Armas is caught in Wick’s crosshairs in final Ballerina trailer
    "When you think of me, you should think of fire.
    Risen from ashes, again and again."

    Jennifer Ouellette

    –

    May 13, 2025 10:08 am

    |
    0

    Credit:

    Lionsgate Entertainment

    Credit:

    Lionsgate Entertainment

    Story text
    Size
    Small
    Standard
    Large
    Width
    *
    Standard
    Wide
    Links
    Standard
    Orange
    * Subscribers only
      Learn more
    One last trailer for From the World of John Wick: Ballerina.

    We're about three weeks out from the theatrical release of From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,  starring Ana de Armas.
    So naturally Lionsgate has released one final trailer to whet audience appetites for what promises to be a fiery, action-packed addition to the hugely successful franchise.
    (Some spoilers for 2019's John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum.)
    Chronologically, Ballerina takes place during the events of John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum.
    As previously reported, Parabellum found Wick declared excommunicado from the High Table for killing crime lord Santino D'Antonio on the grounds of the Continental.
    On the run with a bounty on his head, he makes his way to the headquarters of the Ruska Roma crime syndicate, led by the Director (Anjelica Huston).
    The Director also trains young girls to be ballerina-assassins, and one young ballerina (played by Unity Phelan) is shown rehearsing in the scene.
    That dancer, Eve Macarro, is the main character in Ballerina, now played by de Armas.
    Huston returns as the Director, Ian McShane is back as Winston, and Lance Reddick makes one final (posthumous) appearance as the Continental concierge, Charon.
    New cast members include Gabriel Byrne as the main villain, the Chancellor, who turns an entire town against Eve; Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Nogi, Eve's mentor; Norman Reedus as Daniel Pine; and Catalina Sandino Moreno and David Castaneda in as-yet-undisclosed roles.
    The first trailer was released last September and focused heavily on Eve's backstory: Having been orphaned, she chose to train with the Ruska Roma in hopes of avenging her father's brutal death.
    Wick only made a brief appearance, but he had more screen time in the second trailer, released in March, in which the pair face off in an atmospheric wintry landscape.
    This final trailer opens with Eve looking up while directly in Wick's crosshairs.
    Much of the ensuing footage isn't new, but it does show de Armas to her best deadly advantage as she takes on combatant after combatant in true John Wick style.
    Her vow: "This isn't done until they're dead."
    From the World of John Wick: Ballerina hits theaters on June 6, 2025.
    Jennifer Ouellette
    Senior Writer
    Jennifer Ouellette
    Senior Writer
    Jennifer is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series.
    Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M.
    Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban.

    0 Comments

    #0066cc;">#ana #armas #caught #wicks #crosshairs #final #ballerina #trailer #pointe #quotwhen #you #think #should #firerisen #from #ashes #again #and #againquot #jennifer #ouellette #may #credit #lionsgate #entertainment #story #textsizesmallstandardlargewidth #standardwidelinksstandardorange #subscribers #only #learn #more #one #last #for #the #world #john #wick #we039re #about #three #weeks #out #theatrical #release #starring #armasso #naturally #has #released #whet #audience #appetites #what #promises #fiery #actionpacked #addition #hugely #successful #franchisesome #spoilers #2019039s #chapter #parabellumchronologically #takes #placeduring #events #parabellumas #previously #reported #parabellum #found #declared #excommunicado #high #table #killing #crime #lord #santino #d039antonio #grounds #continentalon #run #with #bounty #his #head #makes #way #headquarters #ruska #roma #syndicate #led #director #anjelica #hustonthe #also #trains #young #girls #ballerinaassassins #played #unity #phelan #shown #rehearsing #scenethat #dancer #eve #macarro #main #character #now #armashuston #returns #ian #mcshane #back #winston #lance #reddick #posthumous #appearance #continental #concierge #charonnew #cast #members #include #gabriel #byrne #villain #chancellor #who #turns #entire #town #against #sharon #duncanbrewster #nogi #eve039s #mentor #norman #reedus #daniel #pine #catalina #sandino #moreno #david #castaneda #asyetundisclosed #rolesthe #first #was #september #focused #heavily #backstory #having #been #orphaned #she #chose #train #hopes #avenging #her #father039s #brutal #deathwick #made #brief #but #had #screen #time #second #march #which #pair #face #off #atmospheric #wintry #landscapethis #opens #looking #while #directly #wick039s #crosshairsmuch #ensuing #footage #isn039t #new #does #show #best #deadly #advantage #combatant #after #true #styleher #vow #quotthis #done #until #they039re #deadquotfrom #hits #theaters #june #2025jennifer #ouellettesenior #writerjennifer #writer #senior #ars #technica #particular #focus #where #science #meets #culture #covering #everything #physics #related #interdisciplinary #topics #favorite #films #seriesjennifer #lives #baltimore #spouse #physicist #sean #mcarroll #their #two #cats #ariel #caliban #comments
    Ana de Armas is caught in Wick’s crosshairs in final Ballerina trailer
    en pointe Ana de Armas is caught in Wick’s crosshairs in final Ballerina trailer "When you think of me, you should think of fire. Risen from ashes, again and again." Jennifer Ouellette – May 13, 2025 10:08 am | 0 Credit: Lionsgate Entertainment Credit: Lionsgate Entertainment Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more One last trailer for From the World of John Wick: Ballerina. We're about three weeks out from the theatrical release of From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,  starring Ana de Armas. So naturally Lionsgate has released one final trailer to whet audience appetites for what promises to be a fiery, action-packed addition to the hugely successful franchise. (Some spoilers for 2019's John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum.) Chronologically, Ballerina takes place during the events of John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum. As previously reported, Parabellum found Wick declared excommunicado from the High Table for killing crime lord Santino D'Antonio on the grounds of the Continental. On the run with a bounty on his head, he makes his way to the headquarters of the Ruska Roma crime syndicate, led by the Director (Anjelica Huston). The Director also trains young girls to be ballerina-assassins, and one young ballerina (played by Unity Phelan) is shown rehearsing in the scene. That dancer, Eve Macarro, is the main character in Ballerina, now played by de Armas. Huston returns as the Director, Ian McShane is back as Winston, and Lance Reddick makes one final (posthumous) appearance as the Continental concierge, Charon. New cast members include Gabriel Byrne as the main villain, the Chancellor, who turns an entire town against Eve; Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Nogi, Eve's mentor; Norman Reedus as Daniel Pine; and Catalina Sandino Moreno and David Castaneda in as-yet-undisclosed roles. The first trailer was released last September and focused heavily on Eve's backstory: Having been orphaned, she chose to train with the Ruska Roma in hopes of avenging her father's brutal death. Wick only made a brief appearance, but he had more screen time in the second trailer, released in March, in which the pair face off in an atmospheric wintry landscape. This final trailer opens with Eve looking up while directly in Wick's crosshairs. Much of the ensuing footage isn't new, but it does show de Armas to her best deadly advantage as she takes on combatant after combatant in true John Wick style. Her vow: "This isn't done until they're dead." From the World of John Wick: Ballerina hits theaters on June 6, 2025. Jennifer Ouellette Senior Writer Jennifer Ouellette Senior Writer Jennifer is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. 0 Comments
    المصدر: arstechnica.com
    #ana #armas #caught #wicks #crosshairs #final #ballerina #trailer #pointe #quotwhen #you #think #should #firerisen #from #ashes #again #and #againquot #jennifer #ouellette #may #credit #lionsgate #entertainment #story #textsizesmallstandardlargewidth #standardwidelinksstandardorange #subscribers #only #learn #more #one #last #for #the #world #john #wick #we039re #about #three #weeks #out #theatrical #release #starring #armasso #naturally #has #released #whet #audience #appetites #what #promises #fiery #actionpacked #addition #hugely #successful #franchisesome #spoilers #2019039s #chapter #parabellumchronologically #takes #placeduring #events #parabellumas #previously #reported #parabellum #found #declared #excommunicado #high #table #killing #crime #lord #santino #d039antonio #grounds #continentalon #run #with #bounty #his #head #makes #way #headquarters #ruska #roma #syndicate #led #director #anjelica #hustonthe #also #trains #young #girls #ballerinaassassins #played #unity #phelan #shown #rehearsing #scenethat #dancer #eve #macarro #main #character #now #armashuston #returns #ian #mcshane #back #winston #lance #reddick #posthumous #appearance #continental #concierge #charonnew #cast #members #include #gabriel #byrne #villain #chancellor #who #turns #entire #town #against #sharon #duncanbrewster #nogi #eve039s #mentor #norman #reedus #daniel #pine #catalina #sandino #moreno #david #castaneda #asyetundisclosed #rolesthe #first #was #september #focused #heavily #backstory #having #been #orphaned #she #chose #train #hopes #avenging #her #father039s #brutal #deathwick #made #brief #but #had #screen #time #second #march #which #pair #face #off #atmospheric #wintry #landscapethis #opens #looking #while #directly #wick039s #crosshairsmuch #ensuing #footage #isn039t #new #does #show #best #deadly #advantage #combatant #after #true #styleher #vow #quotthis #done #until #they039re #deadquotfrom #hits #theaters #june #2025jennifer #ouellettesenior #writerjennifer #writer #senior #ars #technica #particular #focus #where #science #meets #culture #covering #everything #physics #related #interdisciplinary #topics #favorite #films #seriesjennifer #lives #baltimore #spouse #physicist #sean #mcarroll #their #two #cats #ariel #caliban #comments
    ARSTECHNICA.COM
    Ana de Armas is caught in Wick’s crosshairs in final Ballerina trailer
    en pointe Ana de Armas is caught in Wick’s crosshairs in final Ballerina trailer "When you think of me, you should think of fire. Risen from ashes, again and again." Jennifer Ouellette – May 13, 2025 10:08 am | 0 Credit: Lionsgate Entertainment Credit: Lionsgate Entertainment Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more One last trailer for From the World of John Wick: Ballerina. We're about three weeks out from the theatrical release of From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,  starring Ana de Armas. So naturally Lionsgate has released one final trailer to whet audience appetites for what promises to be a fiery, action-packed addition to the hugely successful franchise. (Some spoilers for 2019's John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum.) Chronologically, Ballerina takes place during the events of John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum. As previously reported, Parabellum found Wick declared excommunicado from the High Table for killing crime lord Santino D'Antonio on the grounds of the Continental. On the run with a bounty on his head, he makes his way to the headquarters of the Ruska Roma crime syndicate, led by the Director (Anjelica Huston). The Director also trains young girls to be ballerina-assassins, and one young ballerina (played by Unity Phelan) is shown rehearsing in the scene. That dancer, Eve Macarro, is the main character in Ballerina, now played by de Armas. Huston returns as the Director, Ian McShane is back as Winston, and Lance Reddick makes one final (posthumous) appearance as the Continental concierge, Charon. New cast members include Gabriel Byrne as the main villain, the Chancellor, who turns an entire town against Eve; Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Nogi, Eve's mentor; Norman Reedus as Daniel Pine; and Catalina Sandino Moreno and David Castaneda in as-yet-undisclosed roles. The first trailer was released last September and focused heavily on Eve's backstory: Having been orphaned, she chose to train with the Ruska Roma in hopes of avenging her father's brutal death. Wick only made a brief appearance, but he had more screen time in the second trailer, released in March, in which the pair face off in an atmospheric wintry landscape. This final trailer opens with Eve looking up while directly in Wick's crosshairs. Much of the ensuing footage isn't new, but it does show de Armas to her best deadly advantage as she takes on combatant after combatant in true John Wick style. Her vow: "This isn't done until they're dead." From the World of John Wick: Ballerina hits theaters on June 6, 2025. Jennifer Ouellette Senior Writer Jennifer Ouellette Senior Writer Jennifer is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. 0 Comments
    ·23 Views
    Please log in to like, share and comment!
  • The Architect’s Newspaper shared a link
    2025-05-13 14:09:06 ·
    #333;">Outdoor light fixtures that don’t compromise style for functionality

    Whether beamers, bollards, or lamp posts, the following light solutions prioritize lumen strength and distribution as well as charming, modern aesthetics.

    (Courtesy Landscape Forms)
    Moment Lighting
    Landscape Forms
    Characterized by straight lines, perfect circles, and conical shapes, this collection offers sleek, adaptable profiles.
    It’s available in different pole heights and mounting configurations, or hung and wall-mounted and with an optional hexcell louver to ensure precise illumination with minimal glare.
    (Courtesy Artemide)
    Gople Outdoor
    Artemide
    Drawing from the silhouette of a glass diffuser, BIG designed Gople Outdoor as a cotton candy–colored family of lighting.
    Bollards, spots, and lanterns make up some of the line, each interpreting diffusers in different ways.

    (Courtesy ERCO)
    Beamer Contour Projector
    ERCO
    Available in a new large size, ERCO’s beamers provide precise and powerful lighting suitable for museum applications.
    The narrow, inconspicuous framing houses straight-edge projections to create exact framing, cutting down on light pollution.
    (Courtesy Cyclone)
    Mochi
    Cyclone
    Mochi’s curved dome brings softness to urban settings.
    Offered in a side or pendant mount, the luminaire features 14 light distribution types as well as backward optics that can be oriented to illuminate a road or bike path.

    (Courtesy Lebello)
    Spore Garden & Path Light
    Lebello
    These mushroom-shaped LED lights illuminate pathways and gardens.
    They come in a variety of pole heights and colors, in brass, copper, stainless silver, or black accents, and in 3000K warm light or 4500K cool light.
    (Courtesy Luminis)
    Syrios Pro
    Luminis
    This luminaire enables a continuous aesthetic from curb to cube with pole, wall, and ceiling mount options.
    Optional beam angle reflectors are also available for public spaces, pathways, and facades.
    #666;">المصدر: https://www.archpaper.com/2025/05/outdoor-light-fixtures/" style="color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;">www.archpaper.com
    #0066cc;">#outdoor #light #fixtures #that #dont #compromise #style #for #functionality #whether #beamers #bollards #lamp #posts #the #following #solutions #prioritize #lumen #strength #and #distribution #well #charming #modern #aesthetics #courtesy #landscape #formsmoment #lightinglandscape #formscharacterized #straight #lines #perfect #circles #conical #shapes #this #collection #offers #sleek #adaptable #profilesits #available #different #pole #heights #mounting #configurations #hung #wallmounted #with #optional #hexcell #louver #ensure #precise #illumination #minimal #glarecourtesy #artemidegople #outdoorartemidedrawing #from #silhouette #glass #diffuser #big #designed #gople #cotton #candycolored #family #lightingbollards #spots #lanterns #make #some #line #each #interpreting #diffusers #ways #ercobeamer #contour #projectorercoavailable #new #large #size #ercos #provide #powerful #lighting #suitable #museum #applicationsthe #narrow #inconspicuous #framing #houses #straightedge #projections #create #exact #cutting #down #pollutioncourtesy #cyclonemochicyclonemochis #curved #dome #brings #softness #urban #settingsoffered #side #pendant #mount #luminaire #features #types #backward #optics #can #oriented #illuminate #road #bike #path #lebellospore #garden #ampamp #lightlebellothese #mushroomshaped #led #lights #pathways #gardensthey #come #variety #colors #brass #copper #stainless #silver #black #accents #3000k #warm #4500k #cool #lightcourtesy #luminissyrios #proluministhis #enables #continuous #aesthetic #curb #cube #wall #ceiling #optionsoptional #beam #angle #reflectors #are #also #public #spaces #facades
    Outdoor light fixtures that don’t compromise style for functionality
    Whether beamers, bollards, or lamp posts, the following light solutions prioritize lumen strength and distribution as well as charming, modern aesthetics. (Courtesy Landscape Forms) Moment Lighting Landscape Forms Characterized by straight lines, perfect circles, and conical shapes, this collection offers sleek, adaptable profiles. It’s available in different pole heights and mounting configurations, or hung and wall-mounted and with an optional hexcell louver to ensure precise illumination with minimal glare. (Courtesy Artemide) Gople Outdoor Artemide Drawing from the silhouette of a glass diffuser, BIG designed Gople Outdoor as a cotton candy–colored family of lighting. Bollards, spots, and lanterns make up some of the line, each interpreting diffusers in different ways. (Courtesy ERCO) Beamer Contour Projector ERCO Available in a new large size, ERCO’s beamers provide precise and powerful lighting suitable for museum applications. The narrow, inconspicuous framing houses straight-edge projections to create exact framing, cutting down on light pollution. (Courtesy Cyclone) Mochi Cyclone Mochi’s curved dome brings softness to urban settings. Offered in a side or pendant mount, the luminaire features 14 light distribution types as well as backward optics that can be oriented to illuminate a road or bike path. (Courtesy Lebello) Spore Garden & Path Light Lebello These mushroom-shaped LED lights illuminate pathways and gardens. They come in a variety of pole heights and colors, in brass, copper, stainless silver, or black accents, and in 3000K warm light or 4500K cool light. (Courtesy Luminis) Syrios Pro Luminis This luminaire enables a continuous aesthetic from curb to cube with pole, wall, and ceiling mount options. Optional beam angle reflectors are also available for public spaces, pathways, and facades.
    المصدر: www.archpaper.com
    #outdoor #light #fixtures #that #dont #compromise #style #for #functionality #whether #beamers #bollards #lamp #posts #the #following #solutions #prioritize #lumen #strength #and #distribution #well #charming #modern #aesthetics #courtesy #landscape #formsmoment #lightinglandscape #formscharacterized #straight #lines #perfect #circles #conical #shapes #this #collection #offers #sleek #adaptable #profilesits #available #different #pole #heights #mounting #configurations #hung #wallmounted #with #optional #hexcell #louver #ensure #precise #illumination #minimal #glarecourtesy #artemidegople #outdoorartemidedrawing #from #silhouette #glass #diffuser #big #designed #gople #cotton #candycolored #family #lightingbollards #spots #lanterns #make #some #line #each #interpreting #diffusers #ways #ercobeamer #contour #projectorercoavailable #new #large #size #ercos #provide #powerful #lighting #suitable #museum #applicationsthe #narrow #inconspicuous #framing #houses #straightedge #projections #create #exact #cutting #down #pollutioncourtesy #cyclonemochicyclonemochis #curved #dome #brings #softness #urban #settingsoffered #side #pendant #mount #luminaire #features #types #backward #optics #can #oriented #illuminate #road #bike #path #lebellospore #garden #ampamp #lightlebellothese #mushroomshaped #led #lights #pathways #gardensthey #come #variety #colors #brass #copper #stainless #silver #black #accents #3000k #warm #4500k #cool #lightcourtesy #luminissyrios #proluministhis #enables #continuous #aesthetic #curb #cube #wall #ceiling #optionsoptional #beam #angle #reflectors #are #also #public #spaces #facades
    WWW.ARCHPAPER.COM
    Outdoor light fixtures that don’t compromise style for functionality
    Whether beamers, bollards, or lamp posts, the following light solutions prioritize lumen strength and distribution as well as charming, modern aesthetics. (Courtesy Landscape Forms) Moment Lighting Landscape Forms Characterized by straight lines, perfect circles, and conical shapes, this collection offers sleek, adaptable profiles. It’s available in different pole heights and mounting configurations, or hung and wall-mounted and with an optional hexcell louver to ensure precise illumination with minimal glare. (Courtesy Artemide) Gople Outdoor Artemide Drawing from the silhouette of a glass diffuser, BIG designed Gople Outdoor as a cotton candy–colored family of lighting. Bollards, spots, and lanterns make up some of the line, each interpreting diffusers in different ways. (Courtesy ERCO) Beamer Contour Projector ERCO Available in a new large size, ERCO’s beamers provide precise and powerful lighting suitable for museum applications. The narrow, inconspicuous framing houses straight-edge projections to create exact framing, cutting down on light pollution. (Courtesy Cyclone) Mochi Cyclone Mochi’s curved dome brings softness to urban settings. Offered in a side or pendant mount, the luminaire features 14 light distribution types as well as backward optics that can be oriented to illuminate a road or bike path. (Courtesy Lebello) Spore Garden & Path Light Lebello These mushroom-shaped LED lights illuminate pathways and gardens. They come in a variety of pole heights and colors, in brass, copper, stainless silver, or black accents, and in 3000K warm light or 4500K cool light. (Courtesy Luminis) Syrios Pro Luminis This luminaire enables a continuous aesthetic from curb to cube with pole, wall, and ceiling mount options. Optional beam angle reflectors are also available for public spaces, pathways, and facades.
    ·29 Views
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  • Mashable shared a link
    2025-05-13 14:00:17 ·
    Spotify’s AI DJ now takes requests

    Credit: Spotify
    Spotify is turning up the volume on personalization with a new feature that lets Premium users make real-time music requests using just their voice.
    The music streamer has officially launched DJ requests, an interactive update to its AI-powered DJ feature, now available in over 60 markets worldwide.According to Spotify, this upgrade comes in response to growing user demand for more control and interactivity during listening sessions.
    Now, instead of passively enjoying a curated mix created by AI, listeners can shape the vibe on the fly, asking for anything from a specific genre or artist to a soundtrack that fits their current mood or activity.How DJ requests workTo try it out, Premium users can simply go to the Search tab in the Spotify app and type in "DJ." After pressing play, the AI DJ kicks off a personalized mix complete with commentary.
    When it's time to switch things up, users can press and hold the DJ button in the lower right corner until a beep sounds.
    That’s the cue to speak a request, such as:"Play me some electronic beats for a midday run.""Surprise me with some indie tracks I’ve never heard before.""Play modern country songs for my cowboy era.""Play something chill for a rainy afternoon.""Give me K-pop hits with strong choreography vibes." If you’re not sure what you want, Spotify has you covered: a quick tap of the DJ button skips to the next section for a fresh vibe without needing a specific command.
    Mashable Top Stories

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    As audio platforms race to deepen engagement, Spotify’s voice-interactive DJ could redefine how users experience music on demand.
    By merging personalization, ease of use, and interactivity, the company aims to keep Premium users tuned in and tuned up, wherever they go.Sure, voice recognition in a music app isn’t groundbreaking tech, and early users may find that the novelty wears off if the feature doesn’t consistently understand or deliver on more nuanced requests.
    Still, Spotify's move into voice interactivity signals a larger trend in streaming: shifting away from passive listening toward more dynamic, AI-driven engagement.
    For Premium users, it’s another tool in an increasingly complex listening toolkit, one that aims to turn Spotify from a simple music streaming platform into a more conversational, almost companion-like experience.So whether you're heading out for a run, hosting a dinner party, chasing a vibe, or just need the perfect track for your "main character moment," your Spotify DJ is now ready to take your requests, no searching required.
    Just say it, and let the DJ handle the rest.
    Crystal Bell
    Digital Culture Editor
    Crystal Bell is the Culture Editor at Mashable.
    She oversees the site's coverage of the creator economy, digital spaces, and internet trends, focusing on how young people engage with others and themselves online.
    She is particularly interested in how social media platforms shape our online and offline identities.
    She was formerly the entertainment director at MTV News, where she helped the brand expand its coverage of extremely online fan culture and K-pop across its platforms.
    You can find her work in Teen Vogue, PAPER, NYLON, ELLE, Glamour, NME, W, The FADER, and elsewhere on the internet.
    She's exceptionally fluent in fandom and will gladly make you a K-pop playlist and/or provide anime recommendations upon request.
    Crystal lives in New York City with her two black cats, Howl and Sophie.


    Source: https://mashable.com/article/spotify-ai-dj-now-takes-requests" style="color: #0066cc;">https://mashable.com/article/spotify-ai-dj-now-takes-requests
    #spotifys #now #takes #requests
    Spotify’s AI DJ now takes requests
    Credit: Spotify Spotify is turning up the volume on personalization with a new feature that lets Premium users make real-time music requests using just their voice. The music streamer has officially launched DJ requests, an interactive update to its AI-powered DJ feature, now available in over 60 markets worldwide.According to Spotify, this upgrade comes in response to growing user demand for more control and interactivity during listening sessions. Now, instead of passively enjoying a curated mix created by AI, listeners can shape the vibe on the fly, asking for anything from a specific genre or artist to a soundtrack that fits their current mood or activity.How DJ requests workTo try it out, Premium users can simply go to the Search tab in the Spotify app and type in "DJ." After pressing play, the AI DJ kicks off a personalized mix complete with commentary. When it's time to switch things up, users can press and hold the DJ button in the lower right corner until a beep sounds. That’s the cue to speak a request, such as:"Play me some electronic beats for a midday run.""Surprise me with some indie tracks I’ve never heard before.""Play modern country songs for my cowboy era.""Play something chill for a rainy afternoon.""Give me K-pop hits with strong choreography vibes." If you’re not sure what you want, Spotify has you covered: a quick tap of the DJ button skips to the next section for a fresh vibe without needing a specific command. Mashable Top Stories Stay connected with the hottest stories of the day and the latest entertainment news. Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up! As audio platforms race to deepen engagement, Spotify’s voice-interactive DJ could redefine how users experience music on demand. By merging personalization, ease of use, and interactivity, the company aims to keep Premium users tuned in and tuned up, wherever they go.Sure, voice recognition in a music app isn’t groundbreaking tech, and early users may find that the novelty wears off if the feature doesn’t consistently understand or deliver on more nuanced requests. Still, Spotify's move into voice interactivity signals a larger trend in streaming: shifting away from passive listening toward more dynamic, AI-driven engagement. For Premium users, it’s another tool in an increasingly complex listening toolkit, one that aims to turn Spotify from a simple music streaming platform into a more conversational, almost companion-like experience.So whether you're heading out for a run, hosting a dinner party, chasing a vibe, or just need the perfect track for your "main character moment," your Spotify DJ is now ready to take your requests, no searching required. Just say it, and let the DJ handle the rest. Crystal Bell Digital Culture Editor Crystal Bell is the Culture Editor at Mashable. She oversees the site's coverage of the creator economy, digital spaces, and internet trends, focusing on how young people engage with others and themselves online. She is particularly interested in how social media platforms shape our online and offline identities. She was formerly the entertainment director at MTV News, where she helped the brand expand its coverage of extremely online fan culture and K-pop across its platforms. You can find her work in Teen Vogue, PAPER, NYLON, ELLE, Glamour, NME, W, The FADER, and elsewhere on the internet. She's exceptionally fluent in fandom and will gladly make you a K-pop playlist and/or provide anime recommendations upon request. Crystal lives in New York City with her two black cats, Howl and Sophie. Source: https://mashable.com/article/spotify-ai-dj-now-takes-requests #spotifys #now #takes #requests
    MASHABLE.COM
    Spotify’s AI DJ now takes requests
    Credit: Spotify Spotify is turning up the volume on personalization with a new feature that lets Premium users make real-time music requests using just their voice. The music streamer has officially launched DJ requests, an interactive update to its AI-powered DJ feature, now available in over 60 markets worldwide.According to Spotify, this upgrade comes in response to growing user demand for more control and interactivity during listening sessions. Now, instead of passively enjoying a curated mix created by AI, listeners can shape the vibe on the fly, asking for anything from a specific genre or artist to a soundtrack that fits their current mood or activity.How DJ requests workTo try it out, Premium users can simply go to the Search tab in the Spotify app and type in "DJ." After pressing play, the AI DJ kicks off a personalized mix complete with commentary. When it's time to switch things up, users can press and hold the DJ button in the lower right corner until a beep sounds. That’s the cue to speak a request, such as:"Play me some electronic beats for a midday run.""Surprise me with some indie tracks I’ve never heard before.""Play modern country songs for my cowboy era.""Play something chill for a rainy afternoon.""Give me K-pop hits with strong choreography vibes." If you’re not sure what you want, Spotify has you covered: a quick tap of the DJ button skips to the next section for a fresh vibe without needing a specific command. Mashable Top Stories Stay connected with the hottest stories of the day and the latest entertainment news. Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up! As audio platforms race to deepen engagement, Spotify’s voice-interactive DJ could redefine how users experience music on demand. By merging personalization, ease of use, and interactivity, the company aims to keep Premium users tuned in and tuned up, wherever they go.Sure, voice recognition in a music app isn’t groundbreaking tech, and early users may find that the novelty wears off if the feature doesn’t consistently understand or deliver on more nuanced requests. Still, Spotify's move into voice interactivity signals a larger trend in streaming: shifting away from passive listening toward more dynamic, AI-driven engagement. For Premium users, it’s another tool in an increasingly complex listening toolkit, one that aims to turn Spotify from a simple music streaming platform into a more conversational, almost companion-like experience.So whether you're heading out for a run, hosting a dinner party, chasing a vibe, or just need the perfect track for your "main character moment," your Spotify DJ is now ready to take your requests, no searching required. Just say it, and let the DJ handle the rest. Crystal Bell Digital Culture Editor Crystal Bell is the Culture Editor at Mashable. She oversees the site's coverage of the creator economy, digital spaces, and internet trends, focusing on how young people engage with others and themselves online. She is particularly interested in how social media platforms shape our online and offline identities. She was formerly the entertainment director at MTV News, where she helped the brand expand its coverage of extremely online fan culture and K-pop across its platforms. You can find her work in Teen Vogue, PAPER, NYLON, ELLE, Glamour, NME, W, The FADER, and elsewhere on the internet. She's exceptionally fluent in fandom and will gladly make you a K-pop playlist and/or provide anime recommendations upon request. Crystal lives in New York City with her two black cats, Howl and Sophie.
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  • TNW shared a link
    2025-05-13 13:59:04 ·
    Helsing’s AI submarine joins Europe’s growing ocean drone fleet



    Helsing, Europe’s best-funded defence tech startup, has unveiled its latest product — an autonomous mini-submarine for underwater reconnaissance. 
    Dubbed SG-1 Fathom, the sub is the latest addition to Europe’s growing fleet of ocean drones, which aim to better protect the continent’s ships and subsea infrastructure from surveillance, sabotage, and attacks. 
    The 1.95-metre Fathom is designed to slowly patrol the ocean for up to three months at a time.
    The vessel is powered by an AI platform called Lura.
    The system is a large acoustic model (LAM) — like a large language model (LLM) but for sound. 
    Lura is able to classify sounds made by ships and submarines and then pinpoint their locations.
    Helsing said the algorithm can identify sounds at volumes 10 times quieter than competing AI models.
    It also works at 40 times the speed of an equivalent human operator.

    View all speakers
    Helsing said the “mass-producible” submarines can be deployed in hundreds-strong “constellations” to carry out large-scale surveillance. 
    Helsing plans to build the autonomous ocean drones in large numbers.
    Credit: Helsing
    Ocean reconnaissance of this kind has become increasingly urgent since the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, which exposed the vulnerability of underwater assets to covert attacks.
    European nations NATO are also stepping up their maritime defences amid growing concerns over Russian aggression. 
    In Ukraine, ocean drones have already become an important tool in its war against Moscow.

    High-tech arsenal 
    The war in Ukraine is increasingly characterised by battles between autonomous systems, mainly unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
    However, the battle between machines is also playing out in the seas.  
    Earlier this month, Ukraine used its Magura naval drone to shoot down two Russian aircraft.
    The Magura, armed with missiles, has been used extensively since 2023 to attack and destroy Russian ships and aircraft. 
    The country is also expanding its fleet of waterborne drones.
    Last week, Ukrainian company Nordex unveiled the Seawolf, an uncrewed surface vessel (USV) for combat, surveillance, and border security applications.    
    British company Kraken is developing a similar uncrewed boat that can engage enemies in combat or deliver cargo and personnel.
    Meanwhile, Denmark is set to trial autonomous sailboats to patrol the Baltic Sea looking for signs of potential threats.   
    The adoption of drones at sea comes amid rising geopolitical tensions, which have prompted European officials to go all-in on defence tech. 
    In March 2025, EU leaders endorsed the “ReArm Europe” plan, aiming to mobilise up to £683bn (€800bn) over the next four years to enhance military capabilities.
    Similarly, the UK government has committed to raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP and wants to spend at least 10% of its defence budget on “innovative technologies”. 
    Helsing looks to capitalise on this political momentum.
    The company told Bloomberg last month that it has “won over a dozen contracts” with “total order volumes of hundreds of millions of dollars” since its founding in 2021.  
    Helsing, which is valued at €5bn ($5.4bn), is perhaps best known for its combat drones and AI software that acts like the brain for military vehicles such as fighter jets.
    Fathom marks its first entry into ocean-bound technology. 
    Several naval forces have already shown interest in Helsing’s autonomous submarine, the company said.
    It aims to deploy the first fleets of underwater drones within a year. 
    Defence tech is a key theme of the Assembly, the invite-only policy track of TNW Conference.
    The event takes place in Amsterdam on June 19 — a week before the NATO Summit arrives in the city.

    Tickets for TNW Conference are now on sale — use the code TNWXMEDIA2025 at the checkout to get 30% off.








    Story by



    Siôn Geschwindt





    Siôn is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy.
    From nuclear fusion breakthroughs to electric vehic


    (show all)



    Siôn is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy.
    From nuclear fusion breakthroughs to electric vehicles, he's happiest sourcing a scoop, investigating the impact of emerging technologies, and even putting them to the test.
    He has five years of journalism experience and holds a dual degree in media and environmental science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
    When he's not writing, you can probably find Siôn out hiking, surfing, playing the drums or catering to his moderate caffeine addiction.
    You can contact him at: sion.geschwindt [at] protonmail [dot] com





    Get the TNW newsletter
    Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.


    Also tagged with


    Source: https://thenextweb.com/news/helsings-ai-submarine-lura-europe-ocean-drone-defence
    #helsings #submarine #joins #europes #growing #ocean #drone #fleet
    Helsing’s AI submarine joins Europe’s growing ocean drone fleet
    Helsing, Europe’s best-funded defence tech startup, has unveiled its latest product — an autonomous mini-submarine for underwater reconnaissance.  Dubbed SG-1 Fathom, the sub is the latest addition to Europe’s growing fleet of ocean drones, which aim to better protect the continent’s ships and subsea infrastructure from surveillance, sabotage, and attacks.  The 1.95-metre Fathom is designed to slowly patrol the ocean for up to three months at a time. The vessel is powered by an AI platform called Lura. The system is a large acoustic model (LAM) — like a large language model (LLM) but for sound.  Lura is able to classify sounds made by ships and submarines and then pinpoint their locations. Helsing said the algorithm can identify sounds at volumes 10 times quieter than competing AI models. It also works at 40 times the speed of an equivalent human operator. View all speakers Helsing said the “mass-producible” submarines can be deployed in hundreds-strong “constellations” to carry out large-scale surveillance.  Helsing plans to build the autonomous ocean drones in large numbers. Credit: Helsing Ocean reconnaissance of this kind has become increasingly urgent since the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, which exposed the vulnerability of underwater assets to covert attacks. European nations NATO are also stepping up their maritime defences amid growing concerns over Russian aggression.  In Ukraine, ocean drones have already become an important tool in its war against Moscow. High-tech arsenal  The war in Ukraine is increasingly characterised by battles between autonomous systems, mainly unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). However, the battle between machines is also playing out in the seas.   Earlier this month, Ukraine used its Magura naval drone to shoot down two Russian aircraft. The Magura, armed with missiles, has been used extensively since 2023 to attack and destroy Russian ships and aircraft.  The country is also expanding its fleet of waterborne drones. Last week, Ukrainian company Nordex unveiled the Seawolf, an uncrewed surface vessel (USV) for combat, surveillance, and border security applications.     British company Kraken is developing a similar uncrewed boat that can engage enemies in combat or deliver cargo and personnel. Meanwhile, Denmark is set to trial autonomous sailboats to patrol the Baltic Sea looking for signs of potential threats.    The adoption of drones at sea comes amid rising geopolitical tensions, which have prompted European officials to go all-in on defence tech.  In March 2025, EU leaders endorsed the “ReArm Europe” plan, aiming to mobilise up to £683bn (€800bn) over the next four years to enhance military capabilities. Similarly, the UK government has committed to raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP and wants to spend at least 10% of its defence budget on “innovative technologies”.  Helsing looks to capitalise on this political momentum. The company told Bloomberg last month that it has “won over a dozen contracts” with “total order volumes of hundreds of millions of dollars” since its founding in 2021.   Helsing, which is valued at €5bn ($5.4bn), is perhaps best known for its combat drones and AI software that acts like the brain for military vehicles such as fighter jets. Fathom marks its first entry into ocean-bound technology.  Several naval forces have already shown interest in Helsing’s autonomous submarine, the company said. It aims to deploy the first fleets of underwater drones within a year.  Defence tech is a key theme of the Assembly, the invite-only policy track of TNW Conference. The event takes place in Amsterdam on June 19 — a week before the NATO Summit arrives in the city. Tickets for TNW Conference are now on sale — use the code TNWXMEDIA2025 at the checkout to get 30% off. Story by Siôn Geschwindt Siôn is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy. From nuclear fusion breakthroughs to electric vehic (show all) Siôn is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy. From nuclear fusion breakthroughs to electric vehicles, he's happiest sourcing a scoop, investigating the impact of emerging technologies, and even putting them to the test. He has five years of journalism experience and holds a dual degree in media and environmental science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. When he's not writing, you can probably find Siôn out hiking, surfing, playing the drums or catering to his moderate caffeine addiction. You can contact him at: sion.geschwindt [at] protonmail [dot] com Get the TNW newsletter Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week. Also tagged with Source: https://thenextweb.com/news/helsings-ai-submarine-lura-europe-ocean-drone-defence #helsings #submarine #joins #europes #growing #ocean #drone #fleet
    THENEXTWEB.COM
    Helsing’s AI submarine joins Europe’s growing ocean drone fleet
    Helsing, Europe’s best-funded defence tech startup, has unveiled its latest product — an autonomous mini-submarine for underwater reconnaissance.  Dubbed SG-1 Fathom, the sub is the latest addition to Europe’s growing fleet of ocean drones, which aim to better protect the continent’s ships and subsea infrastructure from surveillance, sabotage, and attacks.  The 1.95-metre Fathom is designed to slowly patrol the ocean for up to three months at a time. The vessel is powered by an AI platform called Lura. The system is a large acoustic model (LAM) — like a large language model (LLM) but for sound.  Lura is able to classify sounds made by ships and submarines and then pinpoint their locations. Helsing said the algorithm can identify sounds at volumes 10 times quieter than competing AI models. It also works at 40 times the speed of an equivalent human operator. View all speakers Helsing said the “mass-producible” submarines can be deployed in hundreds-strong “constellations” to carry out large-scale surveillance.  Helsing plans to build the autonomous ocean drones in large numbers. Credit: Helsing Ocean reconnaissance of this kind has become increasingly urgent since the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, which exposed the vulnerability of underwater assets to covert attacks. European nations NATO are also stepping up their maritime defences amid growing concerns over Russian aggression.  In Ukraine, ocean drones have already become an important tool in its war against Moscow. High-tech arsenal  The war in Ukraine is increasingly characterised by battles between autonomous systems, mainly unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). However, the battle between machines is also playing out in the seas.   Earlier this month, Ukraine used its Magura naval drone to shoot down two Russian aircraft. The Magura, armed with missiles, has been used extensively since 2023 to attack and destroy Russian ships and aircraft.  The country is also expanding its fleet of waterborne drones. Last week, Ukrainian company Nordex unveiled the Seawolf, an uncrewed surface vessel (USV) for combat, surveillance, and border security applications.     British company Kraken is developing a similar uncrewed boat that can engage enemies in combat or deliver cargo and personnel. Meanwhile, Denmark is set to trial autonomous sailboats to patrol the Baltic Sea looking for signs of potential threats.    The adoption of drones at sea comes amid rising geopolitical tensions, which have prompted European officials to go all-in on defence tech.  In March 2025, EU leaders endorsed the “ReArm Europe” plan, aiming to mobilise up to £683bn (€800bn) over the next four years to enhance military capabilities. Similarly, the UK government has committed to raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP and wants to spend at least 10% of its defence budget on “innovative technologies”.  Helsing looks to capitalise on this political momentum. The company told Bloomberg last month that it has “won over a dozen contracts” with “total order volumes of hundreds of millions of dollars” since its founding in 2021.   Helsing, which is valued at €5bn ($5.4bn), is perhaps best known for its combat drones and AI software that acts like the brain for military vehicles such as fighter jets. Fathom marks its first entry into ocean-bound technology.  Several naval forces have already shown interest in Helsing’s autonomous submarine, the company said. It aims to deploy the first fleets of underwater drones within a year.  Defence tech is a key theme of the Assembly, the invite-only policy track of TNW Conference. The event takes place in Amsterdam on June 19 — a week before the NATO Summit arrives in the city. Tickets for TNW Conference are now on sale — use the code TNWXMEDIA2025 at the checkout to get 30% off. Story by Siôn Geschwindt Siôn is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy. From nuclear fusion breakthroughs to electric vehic (show all) Siôn is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy. From nuclear fusion breakthroughs to electric vehicles, he's happiest sourcing a scoop, investigating the impact of emerging technologies, and even putting them to the test. He has five years of journalism experience and holds a dual degree in media and environmental science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. When he's not writing, you can probably find Siôn out hiking, surfing, playing the drums or catering to his moderate caffeine addiction. You can contact him at: sion.geschwindt [at] protonmail [dot] com Get the TNW newsletter Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week. Also tagged with
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  • CNET shared a link
    2025-05-13 13:57:07 ·
    #333;">How to Spot AI Hype and Avoid The AI Con, According to Two Experts
    "Artificial intelligence, if we're being frank, is a con: a bill of goods you are being sold to line someone's pockets."That is the heart of the argument that linguist Emily Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna make in their new book The AI Con.
    It's a useful guide for anyone whose life has intersected with technologies sold as artificial intelligence and anyone who's questioned their real usefulness, which is most of us.
    Bender is a professor at the University of Washington who was named one of Time magazine's most influential people in artificial intelligence, and Hanna is the director of research at the nonprofit Distributed AI Research Institute and a former member of the ethical AI team at Google.The explosion of ChatGPT in late 2022 kicked off a new hype cycle in AI.
    Hype, as the authors define it, is the "aggrandizement" of technology that you are convinced you need to buy or invest in "lest you miss out on entertainment or pleasure, monetary reward, return on investment, or market share." But it's not the first time, nor likely the last, that scholars, government leaders and regular people have been intrigued and worried by the idea of machine learning and AI.Bender and Hanna trace the roots of machine learning back to the 1950s, to when mathematician John McCarthy coined the term artificial intelligence.
    It was in an era when the United States was looking to fund projects that would help the country gain any kind of edge on the Soviets militarily, ideologically and technologically.
    "It didn't spring whole cloth out of Zeus's head or anything.
    This has a longer history," Hanna said in an interview with CNET.
    "It's certainly not the first hype cycle with, quote, unquote, AI."Today's hype cycle is propelled by the billions of dollars of venture capital investment into startups like OpenAI and the tech giants like Meta, Google and Microsoft pouring billions of dollars into AI research and development.
    The result is clear, with all the newest phones, laptops and software updates drenched in AI-washing.
    And there are no signs that AI research and development will slow down, thanks in part to a growing motivation to beat China in AI development.
    Not the first hype cycle indeed.Of course, generative AI in 2025 is much more advanced than the Eliza psychotherapy chatbot that first enraptured scientists in the 1970s.
    Today's business leaders and workers are inundated with hype, with a heavy dose of FOMO and seemingly complex but often misused jargon.
    Listening to tech leaders and AI enthusiasts, it might seem like AI will take your job to save your company money.
    But the authors argue that neither is wholly likely, which is one reason why it's important to recognize and break through the hype.So how do we recognize AI hype? These are a few telltale signs, according to Bender and Hanna, that we share below.
    The authors outline more questions to ask and strategies for AI hype busting in their book, which is out now in the US.Watch out for language that humanizes AIAnthropomorphizing, or the process of giving an inanimate object human-like characteristics or qualities, is a big part of building AI hype.
    An example of this kind of language can be found when AI companies say their chatbots can now "see" and "think."These can be useful comparisons when trying to describe the ability of new object-identifying AI programs or deep-reasoning AI models, but they can also be misleading.
    AI chatbots aren't capable of seeing of thinking because they don't have brains.
    Even the idea of neural nets, Hanna noted in our interview and in the book, is based on human understanding of neurons from the 1950s, not actually how neurons work, but it can fool us into believing there's a brain behind the machine.That belief is something we're predisposed to because of how we as humans process language.
    We're conditioned to imagine that there is a mind behind the text we see, even when we know it's generated by AI, Bender said.
    "We interpret language by developing a model in our minds of who the speaker was," Bender added.In these models, we use our knowledge of the person speaking to create meaning, not just using the meaning of the words they say.
    "So when we encounter synthetic text extruded from something like ChatGPT, we're going to do the same thing," Bender said.
    "And it is very hard to remind ourselves that the mind isn't there.
    It's just a construct that we have produced."The authors argue that part of why AI companies try to convince us their products are human-like is that this sets the foreground for them to convince us that AI can replace humans, whether it's at work or as creators.
    It's compelling for us to believe that AI could be the silver bullet fix to complicated problems in critical industries like health care and government services.But more often than not, the authors argue, AI isn't bring used to fix anything.
    AI is sold with the goal of efficiency, but AI services end up replacing qualified workers with black box machines that need copious amounts of babysitting from underpaid contract or gig workers.
    As Hanna put it in our interview, "AI is not going to take your job, but it will make your job shittier."Be dubious of the phrase 'super intelligence'If a human can't do something, you should be wary of claims that an AI can do it.
    "Superhuman intelligence, or super intelligence, is a very dangerous turn of phrase, insofar as it thinks that some technology is going to make humans superfluous," Hanna said.
    In "certain domains, like pattern matching at scale, computers are quite good at that.
    But if there's an idea that there's going to be a superhuman poem, or a superhuman notion of research or doing science, that is clear hype." Bender added, "And we don't talk about airplanes as superhuman flyers or rulers as superhuman measurers, it seems to be only in this AI space that that comes up."The idea of AI "super intelligence" comes up often when people talk about artificial general intelligence.
    Many CEOs struggle to define what exactly AGI is, but it's essentially AI's most advanced form, potentially capable of making decisions and handling complex tasks.
    There's still no evidence we're anywhere near a future enabled by AGI, but it's a popular buzzword.Many of these future-looking statements from AI leaders borrow tropes from science fiction.
    Both boosters and doomers — how Bender and Hanna describe AI enthusiasts and those worried about the potential for harm — rely on sci-fi scenarios.
    The boosters imagine an AI-powered futuristic society.
    The doomers bemoan a future where AI robots take over the world and wipe out humanity.The connecting thread, according to the authors, is an unshakable belief that AI is smarter than humans and inevitable.
    "One of the things that we see a lot in the discourse is this idea that the future is fixed, and it's just a question of how fast we get there," Bender said.
    "And then there's this claim that this particular technology is a step on that path, and it's all marketing.
    It is helpful to be able to see behind it."Part of why AI is so popular is that an autonomous functional AI assistant would mean AI companies are fulfilling their promises of world-changing innovation to their investors.
    Planning for that future — whether it's a utopia or dystopia — keeps investors looking forward as the companies burn through billions of dollars and admit they'll miss their carbon emission goals.
    For better or worse, life is not science fiction.
    Whenever you see someone claiming their AI product is straight out of a movie, it's a good sign to approach with skepticism.
    Ask what goes in and how outputs are evaluatedOne of the easiest ways to see through AI marketing fluff is to look and see whether the company is disclosing how it operates.
    Many AI companies won't tell you what content is used to train their models.
    But they usually disclose what the company does with your data and sometimes brag about how their models stack up against competitors.
    That's where you should start looking, typically in their privacy policies.One of the top complaints and concerns from creators is how AI models are trained.
    There are many lawsuits over alleged copyright infringement, and there are a lot of concerns over bias in AI chatbots and their capacity for harm.
    "If you wanted to create a system that is designed to move things forward rather than reproduce the oppressions of the past, you would have to start by curating your data," Bender said.
    Instead, AI companies are grabbing "everything that wasn't nailed down on the internet," Hanna said.If you're hearing about an AI product for the first time, one thing in particular to look out for is any kind of statistic that highlights its effectiveness.
    Like many other researchers, Bender and Hanna have called out that a finding with no citation is a red flag.
    "Anytime someone is selling you something but not giving you access to how it was evaluated, you are on thin ice," Bender said.It can be frustrating and disappointing when AI companies don't disclose certain information about how their AI products work and how they were developed.
    But recognizing those holes in their sales pitch can help deflate hype, even though it would be better to have the information.
    For more, check out our full ChatGPT glossary and how to turn off Apple Intelligence.
    #0066cc;">#how #spot #hype #and #avoid #the #con #according #two #experts #quotartificial #intelligence #we039re #being #frank #bill #goods #you #are #sold #line #someone039s #pocketsquotthat #heart #argument #that #linguist #emily #bender #sociologist #alex #hannamake #their #new #bookthe #conit039s #useful #guide #for #anyone #whose #life #has #intersected #with #technologies #artificial #who039s #questioned #real #usefulness #which #most #usbender #professor #university #washington #who #was #named #one #time #magazine039s #influential #people #hanna #director #research #nonprofit #distributed #instituteand #former #member #ethical #team #googlethe #explosion #chatgpt #late #kicked #off #cycle #aihype #authors #define #quotaggrandizementquot #technology #convinced #need #buy #invest #quotlest #miss #out #entertainment #pleasure #monetary #reward #return #investment #market #sharequot #but #it039s #not #first #nor #likely #last #scholars #government #leaders #regular #have #been #intrigued #worried #idea #machine #learning #aibender #trace #roots #back #1950s #when #mathematician #john #mccarthy #coined #term #intelligenceit #era #united #states #looking #fund #projects #would #help #country #gain #any #kind #edge #soviets #militarily #ideologically #technologicallyquotit #didn039t #spring #whole #cloth #zeus039s #head #anythingthis #longer #historyquot #said #interview #cnetquotit039s #certainly #quote #unquote #aiquottoday039s #propelled #billions #dollars #venture #capital #into #startups #like #openai #tech #giants #meta #google #microsoft #pouring #developmentthe #result #clear #all #newest #phones #laptops #software #updates #drenched #aiwashingand #there #signs #development #will #slow #down #thanks #part #growing #motivation #beat #china #developmentnot #indeedof #course #generative #much #more #advanced #than #eliza #psychotherapy #chatbot #enraptured #scientists #1970stoday039s #business #workers #inundated #heavy #dose #fomo #seemingly #complex #often #misused #jargonlistening #enthusiasts #might #seem #take #your #job #save #company #moneybut #argue #neither #wholly #reason #why #important #recognize #break #through #hypeso #these #few #telltale #share #belowthe #outline #questions #ask #strategies #busting #book #now #uswatch #language #humanizes #aianthropomorphizing #process #giving #inanimate #object #humanlike #characteristics #qualities #big #building #hypean #example #this #can #found #companies #say #chatbots #quotseequot #quotthinkquotthese #comparisons #trying #describe #ability #objectidentifying #programs #deepreasoning #models #they #also #misleadingai #aren039t #capable #seeing #thinking #because #don039t #brainseven #neural #nets #noted #our #based #human #understanding #neurons #from #actually #work #fool #believing #there039s #brain #behind #machinethat #belief #something #predisposed #humans #languagewe039re #conditioned #imagine #mind #text #see #even #know #generated #saidquotwe #interpret #developing #model #minds #speaker #wasquot #addedin #use #knowledge #person #speaking #create #meaning #just #using #words #sayquotso #encounter #synthetic #extruded #going #same #thingquot #saidquotand #very #hard #remind #ourselves #isn039t #thereit039s #construct #producedquotthe #try #convince #products #sets #foreground #them #replace #whether #creatorsit039s #compelling #believe #could #silver #bullet #fix #complicated #problems #critical #industries #health #care #servicesbut #bring #used #anythingai #goal #efficiency #services #end #replacing #qualified #black #box #machines #copious #amounts #babysitting #underpaid #contract #gig #workersas #put #quotai #make #shittierquotbe #dubious #phrase #039super #intelligence039if #can039t #should #wary #claims #itquotsuperhuman #super #dangerous #turn #insofar #thinks #some #superfluousquot #saidin #quotcertain #domains #pattern #matching #scale #computers #quite #good #thatbut #superhuman #poem #notion #doing #science #hypequot #added #quotand #talk #about #airplanes #flyers #rulers #measurers #seems #only #space #comes #upquotthe #quotsuper #intelligencequot #general #intelligencemany #ceos #struggle #what #exactly #agi #essentially #ai039s #form #potentially #making #decisions #handling #tasksthere039s #still #evidence #anywhere #near #future #enabled #popularbuzzwordmany #futurelooking #statements #borrow #tropes #fictionboth #boosters #doomers #those #potential #harm #rely #scifi #scenariosthe #aipowered #futuristic #societythe #bemoan #where #robots #over #world #wipe #humanitythe #connecting #thread #unshakable #smarter #inevitablequotone #things #lot #discourse #fixed #question #fast #get #therequot #then #claim #particular #step #path #marketingit #helpful #able #itquotpart #popular #autonomous #functional #assistant #mean #fulfilling #promises #worldchanging #innovation #investorsplanning #utopia #dystopia #keeps #investors #forward #burn #admit #they039ll #carbon #emission #goalsfor #better #worse #fictionwhenever #someone #claiming #product #straight #movie #sign #approach #skepticism #goes #outputs #evaluatedone #easiest #ways #marketing #fluff #look #disclosing #operatesmany #won039t #tell #content #train #modelsbut #usually #disclose #does #data #sometimes #brag #stack #against #competitorsthat039s #start #typically #privacy #policiesone #top #complaints #concernsfrom #creators #trainedthere #many #lawsuits #alleged #copyright #infringement #concerns #bias #capacity #harmquotif #wanted #system #designed #move #rather #reproduce #oppressions #past #curating #dataquot #saidinstead #grabbing #quoteverything #wasn039t #nailed #internetquot #saidif #you039re #hearing #thing #statistic #highlights #its #effectivenesslike #other #researchers #called #finding #citation #red #flagquotanytime #selling #access #evaluated #thin #icequot #saidit #frustrating #disappointing #certain #information #were #developedbut #recognizing #holes #sales #pitch #deflate #though #informationfor #check #fullchatgpt #glossary #offapple
    How to Spot AI Hype and Avoid The AI Con, According to Two Experts
    "Artificial intelligence, if we're being frank, is a con: a bill of goods you are being sold to line someone's pockets."That is the heart of the argument that linguist Emily Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna make in their new book The AI Con. It's a useful guide for anyone whose life has intersected with technologies sold as artificial intelligence and anyone who's questioned their real usefulness, which is most of us. Bender is a professor at the University of Washington who was named one of Time magazine's most influential people in artificial intelligence, and Hanna is the director of research at the nonprofit Distributed AI Research Institute and a former member of the ethical AI team at Google.The explosion of ChatGPT in late 2022 kicked off a new hype cycle in AI. Hype, as the authors define it, is the "aggrandizement" of technology that you are convinced you need to buy or invest in "lest you miss out on entertainment or pleasure, monetary reward, return on investment, or market share." But it's not the first time, nor likely the last, that scholars, government leaders and regular people have been intrigued and worried by the idea of machine learning and AI.Bender and Hanna trace the roots of machine learning back to the 1950s, to when mathematician John McCarthy coined the term artificial intelligence. It was in an era when the United States was looking to fund projects that would help the country gain any kind of edge on the Soviets militarily, ideologically and technologically. "It didn't spring whole cloth out of Zeus's head or anything. This has a longer history," Hanna said in an interview with CNET. "It's certainly not the first hype cycle with, quote, unquote, AI."Today's hype cycle is propelled by the billions of dollars of venture capital investment into startups like OpenAI and the tech giants like Meta, Google and Microsoft pouring billions of dollars into AI research and development. The result is clear, with all the newest phones, laptops and software updates drenched in AI-washing. And there are no signs that AI research and development will slow down, thanks in part to a growing motivation to beat China in AI development. Not the first hype cycle indeed.Of course, generative AI in 2025 is much more advanced than the Eliza psychotherapy chatbot that first enraptured scientists in the 1970s. Today's business leaders and workers are inundated with hype, with a heavy dose of FOMO and seemingly complex but often misused jargon. Listening to tech leaders and AI enthusiasts, it might seem like AI will take your job to save your company money. But the authors argue that neither is wholly likely, which is one reason why it's important to recognize and break through the hype.So how do we recognize AI hype? These are a few telltale signs, according to Bender and Hanna, that we share below. The authors outline more questions to ask and strategies for AI hype busting in their book, which is out now in the US.Watch out for language that humanizes AIAnthropomorphizing, or the process of giving an inanimate object human-like characteristics or qualities, is a big part of building AI hype. An example of this kind of language can be found when AI companies say their chatbots can now "see" and "think."These can be useful comparisons when trying to describe the ability of new object-identifying AI programs or deep-reasoning AI models, but they can also be misleading. AI chatbots aren't capable of seeing of thinking because they don't have brains. Even the idea of neural nets, Hanna noted in our interview and in the book, is based on human understanding of neurons from the 1950s, not actually how neurons work, but it can fool us into believing there's a brain behind the machine.That belief is something we're predisposed to because of how we as humans process language. We're conditioned to imagine that there is a mind behind the text we see, even when we know it's generated by AI, Bender said. "We interpret language by developing a model in our minds of who the speaker was," Bender added.In these models, we use our knowledge of the person speaking to create meaning, not just using the meaning of the words they say. "So when we encounter synthetic text extruded from something like ChatGPT, we're going to do the same thing," Bender said. "And it is very hard to remind ourselves that the mind isn't there. It's just a construct that we have produced."The authors argue that part of why AI companies try to convince us their products are human-like is that this sets the foreground for them to convince us that AI can replace humans, whether it's at work or as creators. It's compelling for us to believe that AI could be the silver bullet fix to complicated problems in critical industries like health care and government services.But more often than not, the authors argue, AI isn't bring used to fix anything. AI is sold with the goal of efficiency, but AI services end up replacing qualified workers with black box machines that need copious amounts of babysitting from underpaid contract or gig workers. As Hanna put it in our interview, "AI is not going to take your job, but it will make your job shittier."Be dubious of the phrase 'super intelligence'If a human can't do something, you should be wary of claims that an AI can do it. "Superhuman intelligence, or super intelligence, is a very dangerous turn of phrase, insofar as it thinks that some technology is going to make humans superfluous," Hanna said. In "certain domains, like pattern matching at scale, computers are quite good at that. But if there's an idea that there's going to be a superhuman poem, or a superhuman notion of research or doing science, that is clear hype." Bender added, "And we don't talk about airplanes as superhuman flyers or rulers as superhuman measurers, it seems to be only in this AI space that that comes up."The idea of AI "super intelligence" comes up often when people talk about artificial general intelligence. Many CEOs struggle to define what exactly AGI is, but it's essentially AI's most advanced form, potentially capable of making decisions and handling complex tasks. There's still no evidence we're anywhere near a future enabled by AGI, but it's a popular buzzword.Many of these future-looking statements from AI leaders borrow tropes from science fiction. Both boosters and doomers — how Bender and Hanna describe AI enthusiasts and those worried about the potential for harm — rely on sci-fi scenarios. The boosters imagine an AI-powered futuristic society. The doomers bemoan a future where AI robots take over the world and wipe out humanity.The connecting thread, according to the authors, is an unshakable belief that AI is smarter than humans and inevitable. "One of the things that we see a lot in the discourse is this idea that the future is fixed, and it's just a question of how fast we get there," Bender said. "And then there's this claim that this particular technology is a step on that path, and it's all marketing. It is helpful to be able to see behind it."Part of why AI is so popular is that an autonomous functional AI assistant would mean AI companies are fulfilling their promises of world-changing innovation to their investors. Planning for that future — whether it's a utopia or dystopia — keeps investors looking forward as the companies burn through billions of dollars and admit they'll miss their carbon emission goals. For better or worse, life is not science fiction. Whenever you see someone claiming their AI product is straight out of a movie, it's a good sign to approach with skepticism. Ask what goes in and how outputs are evaluatedOne of the easiest ways to see through AI marketing fluff is to look and see whether the company is disclosing how it operates. Many AI companies won't tell you what content is used to train their models. But they usually disclose what the company does with your data and sometimes brag about how their models stack up against competitors. That's where you should start looking, typically in their privacy policies.One of the top complaints and concerns from creators is how AI models are trained. There are many lawsuits over alleged copyright infringement, and there are a lot of concerns over bias in AI chatbots and their capacity for harm. "If you wanted to create a system that is designed to move things forward rather than reproduce the oppressions of the past, you would have to start by curating your data," Bender said. Instead, AI companies are grabbing "everything that wasn't nailed down on the internet," Hanna said.If you're hearing about an AI product for the first time, one thing in particular to look out for is any kind of statistic that highlights its effectiveness. Like many other researchers, Bender and Hanna have called out that a finding with no citation is a red flag. "Anytime someone is selling you something but not giving you access to how it was evaluated, you are on thin ice," Bender said.It can be frustrating and disappointing when AI companies don't disclose certain information about how their AI products work and how they were developed. But recognizing those holes in their sales pitch can help deflate hype, even though it would be better to have the information. For more, check out our full ChatGPT glossary and how to turn off Apple Intelligence.
    المصدر: www.cnet.com
    #how #spot #hype #and #avoid #the #con #according #two #experts #quotartificial #intelligence #we039re #being #frank #bill #goods #you #are #sold #line #someone039s #pocketsquotthat #heart #argument #that #linguist #emily #bender #sociologist #alex #hannamake #their #new #bookthe #conit039s #useful #guide #for #anyone #whose #life #has #intersected #with #technologies #artificial #who039s #questioned #real #usefulness #which #most #usbender #professor #university #washington #who #was #named #one #time #magazine039s #influential #people #hanna #director #research #nonprofit #distributed #instituteand #former #member #ethical #team #googlethe #explosion #chatgpt #late #kicked #off #cycle #aihype #authors #define #quotaggrandizementquot #technology #convinced #need #buy #invest #quotlest #miss #out #entertainment #pleasure #monetary #reward #return #investment #market #sharequot #but #it039s #not #first #nor #likely #last #scholars #government #leaders #regular #have #been #intrigued #worried #idea #machine #learning #aibender #trace #roots #back #1950s #when #mathematician #john #mccarthy #coined #term #intelligenceit #era #united #states #looking #fund #projects #would #help #country #gain #any #kind #edge #soviets #militarily #ideologically #technologicallyquotit #didn039t #spring #whole #cloth #zeus039s #head #anythingthis #longer #historyquot #said #interview #cnetquotit039s #certainly #quote #unquote #aiquottoday039s #propelled #billions #dollars #venture #capital #into #startups #like #openai #tech #giants #meta #google #microsoft #pouring #developmentthe #result #clear #all #newest #phones #laptops #software #updates #drenched #aiwashingand #there #signs #development #will #slow #down #thanks #part #growing #motivation #beat #china #developmentnot #indeedof #course #generative #much #more #advanced #than #eliza #psychotherapy #chatbot #enraptured #scientists #1970stoday039s #business #workers #inundated #heavy #dose #fomo #seemingly #complex #often #misused #jargonlistening #enthusiasts #might #seem #take #your #job #save #company #moneybut #argue #neither #wholly #reason #why #important #recognize #break #through #hypeso #these #few #telltale #share #belowthe #outline #questions #ask #strategies #busting #book #now #uswatch #language #humanizes #aianthropomorphizing #process #giving #inanimate #object #humanlike #characteristics #qualities #big #building #hypean #example #this #can #found #companies #say #chatbots #quotseequot #quotthinkquotthese #comparisons #trying #describe #ability #objectidentifying #programs #deepreasoning #models #they #also #misleadingai #aren039t #capable #seeing #thinking #because #don039t #brainseven #neural #nets #noted #our #based #human #understanding #neurons #from #actually #work #fool #believing #there039s #brain #behind #machinethat #belief #something #predisposed #humans #languagewe039re #conditioned #imagine #mind #text #see #even #know #generated #saidquotwe #interpret #developing #model #minds #speaker #wasquot #addedin #use #knowledge #person #speaking #create #meaning #just #using #words #sayquotso #encounter #synthetic #extruded #going #same #thingquot #saidquotand #very #hard #remind #ourselves #isn039t #thereit039s #construct #producedquotthe #try #convince #products #sets #foreground #them #replace #whether #creatorsit039s #compelling #believe #could #silver #bullet #fix #complicated #problems #critical #industries #health #care #servicesbut #bring #used #anythingai #goal #efficiency #services #end #replacing #qualified #black #box #machines #copious #amounts #babysitting #underpaid #contract #gig #workersas #put #quotai #make #shittierquotbe #dubious #phrase #039super #intelligence039if #can039t #should #wary #claims #itquotsuperhuman #super #dangerous #turn #insofar #thinks #some #superfluousquot #saidin #quotcertain #domains #pattern #matching #scale #computers #quite #good #thatbut #superhuman #poem #notion #doing #science #hypequot #added #quotand #talk #about #airplanes #flyers #rulers #measurers #seems #only #space #comes #upquotthe #quotsuper #intelligencequot #general #intelligencemany #ceos #struggle #what #exactly #agi #essentially #ai039s #form #potentially #making #decisions #handling #tasksthere039s #still #evidence #anywhere #near #future #enabled #popularbuzzwordmany #futurelooking #statements #borrow #tropes #fictionboth #boosters #doomers #those #potential #harm #rely #scifi #scenariosthe #aipowered #futuristic #societythe #bemoan #where #robots #over #world #wipe #humanitythe #connecting #thread #unshakable #smarter #inevitablequotone #things #lot #discourse #fixed #question #fast #get #therequot #then #claim #particular #step #path #marketingit #helpful #able #itquotpart #popular #autonomous #functional #assistant #mean #fulfilling #promises #worldchanging #innovation #investorsplanning #utopia #dystopia #keeps #investors #forward #burn #admit #they039ll #carbon #emission #goalsfor #better #worse #fictionwhenever #someone #claiming #product #straight #movie #sign #approach #skepticism #goes #outputs #evaluatedone #easiest #ways #marketing #fluff #look #disclosing #operatesmany #won039t #tell #content #train #modelsbut #usually #disclose #does #data #sometimes #brag #stack #against #competitorsthat039s #start #typically #privacy #policiesone #top #complaints #concernsfrom #creators #trainedthere #many #lawsuits #alleged #copyright #infringement #concerns #bias #capacity #harmquotif #wanted #system #designed #move #rather #reproduce #oppressions #past #curating #dataquot #saidinstead #grabbing #quoteverything #wasn039t #nailed #internetquot #saidif #you039re #hearing #thing #statistic #highlights #its #effectivenesslike #other #researchers #called #finding #citation #red #flagquotanytime #selling #access #evaluated #thin #icequot #saidit #frustrating #disappointing #certain #information #were #developedbut #recognizing #holes #sales #pitch #deflate #though #informationfor #check #fullchatgpt #glossary 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    How to Spot AI Hype and Avoid The AI Con, According to Two Experts
    "Artificial intelligence, if we're being frank, is a con: a bill of goods you are being sold to line someone's pockets."That is the heart of the argument that linguist Emily Bender and sociologist Alex Hanna make in their new book The AI Con. It's a useful guide for anyone whose life has intersected with technologies sold as artificial intelligence and anyone who's questioned their real usefulness, which is most of us. Bender is a professor at the University of Washington who was named one of Time magazine's most influential people in artificial intelligence, and Hanna is the director of research at the nonprofit Distributed AI Research Institute and a former member of the ethical AI team at Google.The explosion of ChatGPT in late 2022 kicked off a new hype cycle in AI. Hype, as the authors define it, is the "aggrandizement" of technology that you are convinced you need to buy or invest in "lest you miss out on entertainment or pleasure, monetary reward, return on investment, or market share." But it's not the first time, nor likely the last, that scholars, government leaders and regular people have been intrigued and worried by the idea of machine learning and AI.Bender and Hanna trace the roots of machine learning back to the 1950s, to when mathematician John McCarthy coined the term artificial intelligence. It was in an era when the United States was looking to fund projects that would help the country gain any kind of edge on the Soviets militarily, ideologically and technologically. "It didn't spring whole cloth out of Zeus's head or anything. This has a longer history," Hanna said in an interview with CNET. "It's certainly not the first hype cycle with, quote, unquote, AI."Today's hype cycle is propelled by the billions of dollars of venture capital investment into startups like OpenAI and the tech giants like Meta, Google and Microsoft pouring billions of dollars into AI research and development. The result is clear, with all the newest phones, laptops and software updates drenched in AI-washing. And there are no signs that AI research and development will slow down, thanks in part to a growing motivation to beat China in AI development. Not the first hype cycle indeed.Of course, generative AI in 2025 is much more advanced than the Eliza psychotherapy chatbot that first enraptured scientists in the 1970s. Today's business leaders and workers are inundated with hype, with a heavy dose of FOMO and seemingly complex but often misused jargon. Listening to tech leaders and AI enthusiasts, it might seem like AI will take your job to save your company money. But the authors argue that neither is wholly likely, which is one reason why it's important to recognize and break through the hype.So how do we recognize AI hype? These are a few telltale signs, according to Bender and Hanna, that we share below. The authors outline more questions to ask and strategies for AI hype busting in their book, which is out now in the US.Watch out for language that humanizes AIAnthropomorphizing, or the process of giving an inanimate object human-like characteristics or qualities, is a big part of building AI hype. An example of this kind of language can be found when AI companies say their chatbots can now "see" and "think."These can be useful comparisons when trying to describe the ability of new object-identifying AI programs or deep-reasoning AI models, but they can also be misleading. AI chatbots aren't capable of seeing of thinking because they don't have brains. Even the idea of neural nets, Hanna noted in our interview and in the book, is based on human understanding of neurons from the 1950s, not actually how neurons work, but it can fool us into believing there's a brain behind the machine.That belief is something we're predisposed to because of how we as humans process language. We're conditioned to imagine that there is a mind behind the text we see, even when we know it's generated by AI, Bender said. "We interpret language by developing a model in our minds of who the speaker was," Bender added.In these models, we use our knowledge of the person speaking to create meaning, not just using the meaning of the words they say. "So when we encounter synthetic text extruded from something like ChatGPT, we're going to do the same thing," Bender said. "And it is very hard to remind ourselves that the mind isn't there. It's just a construct that we have produced."The authors argue that part of why AI companies try to convince us their products are human-like is that this sets the foreground for them to convince us that AI can replace humans, whether it's at work or as creators. It's compelling for us to believe that AI could be the silver bullet fix to complicated problems in critical industries like health care and government services.But more often than not, the authors argue, AI isn't bring used to fix anything. AI is sold with the goal of efficiency, but AI services end up replacing qualified workers with black box machines that need copious amounts of babysitting from underpaid contract or gig workers. As Hanna put it in our interview, "AI is not going to take your job, but it will make your job shittier."Be dubious of the phrase 'super intelligence'If a human can't do something, you should be wary of claims that an AI can do it. "Superhuman intelligence, or super intelligence, is a very dangerous turn of phrase, insofar as it thinks that some technology is going to make humans superfluous," Hanna said. In "certain domains, like pattern matching at scale, computers are quite good at that. But if there's an idea that there's going to be a superhuman poem, or a superhuman notion of research or doing science, that is clear hype." Bender added, "And we don't talk about airplanes as superhuman flyers or rulers as superhuman measurers, it seems to be only in this AI space that that comes up."The idea of AI "super intelligence" comes up often when people talk about artificial general intelligence. Many CEOs struggle to define what exactly AGI is, but it's essentially AI's most advanced form, potentially capable of making decisions and handling complex tasks. There's still no evidence we're anywhere near a future enabled by AGI, but it's a popular buzzword.Many of these future-looking statements from AI leaders borrow tropes from science fiction. Both boosters and doomers — how Bender and Hanna describe AI enthusiasts and those worried about the potential for harm — rely on sci-fi scenarios. The boosters imagine an AI-powered futuristic society. The doomers bemoan a future where AI robots take over the world and wipe out humanity.The connecting thread, according to the authors, is an unshakable belief that AI is smarter than humans and inevitable. "One of the things that we see a lot in the discourse is this idea that the future is fixed, and it's just a question of how fast we get there," Bender said. "And then there's this claim that this particular technology is a step on that path, and it's all marketing. It is helpful to be able to see behind it."Part of why AI is so popular is that an autonomous functional AI assistant would mean AI companies are fulfilling their promises of world-changing innovation to their investors. Planning for that future — whether it's a utopia or dystopia — keeps investors looking forward as the companies burn through billions of dollars and admit they'll miss their carbon emission goals. For better or worse, life is not science fiction. Whenever you see someone claiming their AI product is straight out of a movie, it's a good sign to approach with skepticism. Ask what goes in and how outputs are evaluatedOne of the easiest ways to see through AI marketing fluff is to look and see whether the company is disclosing how it operates. Many AI companies won't tell you what content is used to train their models. But they usually disclose what the company does with your data and sometimes brag about how their models stack up against competitors. That's where you should start looking, typically in their privacy policies.One of the top complaints and concerns from creators is how AI models are trained. There are many lawsuits over alleged copyright infringement, and there are a lot of concerns over bias in AI chatbots and their capacity for harm. "If you wanted to create a system that is designed to move things forward rather than reproduce the oppressions of the past, you would have to start by curating your data," Bender said. Instead, AI companies are grabbing "everything that wasn't nailed down on the internet," Hanna said.If you're hearing about an AI product for the first time, one thing in particular to look out for is any kind of statistic that highlights its effectiveness. Like many other researchers, Bender and Hanna have called out that a finding with no citation is a red flag. "Anytime someone is selling you something but not giving you access to how it was evaluated, you are on thin ice," Bender said.It can be frustrating and disappointing when AI companies don't disclose certain information about how their AI products work and how they were developed. But recognizing those holes in their sales pitch can help deflate hype, even though it would be better to have the information. For more, check out our full ChatGPT glossary and how to turn off Apple Intelligence.
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