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Federal energy regulators this week approved a long-awaited rule to make it easier to transmit renewable energy such as wind and solar power to the electric grid — a key part of President Joe Biden’s goal to eliminate carbon emissions economy-wide by 2050. The rule, under development for two years, is aimed at boosting the nation’s aging power grid to meet surging demand fueled by huge data centers, electrification of vehicles and buildings, artificial intelligence and other uses. The increased demand comes as coal-fired power plants continue to be retired amid competition from natural gas, and other energy sources face increasingly strict federal pollution rules, setting up what experts say could be a crisis for electric reliability. The grid is also being tested by more frequent service disruptions during extreme…

The voice Alexis “Lexi” Bogan had before last summer was exuberant. She loved to belt out Taylor Swift and Zach Bryan ballads in the car. She laughed all the time — even while corralling misbehaving preschoolers or debating politics with friends over a backyard fire pit. In high school, she was a soprano in the chorus. Then that voice was gone. Doctors in August removed a life-threatening tumor lodged near the back of her brain. When the breathing tube came out a month later, Bogan had trouble swallowing and strained to say “hi” to her parents. Months of rehabilitation aided her recovery, but her speech is still impaired. Friends, strangers and her own family members struggle to understand what she is trying to tell them. In April, the 21-year-old got…

A tiny, low-priced electric car called the Seagull has American automakers and politicians trembling. The car, launched last year by Chinese automaker BYD, sells for around $12,000 in China, but drives well and is put together with craftsmanship that rivals U.S.-made electric vehicles that cost three times as much. A shorter-range version costs under $10,000. Tariffs on imported Chinese vehicles probably will keep the Seagull away from America’s shores for now, and it likely would sell for more than 12 grand if imported. But the rapid emergence of low-priced EVs from China could shake up the global auto industry in ways not seen since Japanese makers exploded on the scene during the oil crises of the 1970s. BYD, which stands for “Build Your Dreams,” could be a nightmare for the…

How good would an algorithm have to be to take over your job? It’s a new question for many workers amid the rise of ChatGPT and other AI programs that can hold conversations, write stories and even generate songs and images within seconds. For doctors who review scans to spot cancer and other diseases, however, AI has loomed for about a decade as more algorithms promise to improve accuracy, speed up work and, in some cases, take over entire parts of the job. Predictions have ranged from doomsday scenarios in which AI fully replaces radiologists, to sunny futures in which it frees them to focus on the most rewarding aspects of their work. That tension reflects how AI is rolling out across heath care. Beyond the technology itself, much depends…

The U.S. government’s highway safety agency has opened another investigation of automated driving systems, this time into crashes involving Waymo’s self-driving vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posted documents detailing the probe on its website early Tuesday after getting 22 reports of Waymo vehicles either crashing or doing something that may have violated traffic laws. In the past month, the agency has opened at least four investigations of vehicles that can either drive themselves or take on at least some driving functions as it appears to be getting more aggressive in regulating the devices. In the probe of Waymo, which was once Google’s self-driving vehicle unit, the agency said it has reports of 17 crashes and five other reports of possible traffic law violations. No injuries were reported. In…

OpenAI’s latest update to its artificial intelligence model can mimic human cadences in its verbal responses and can even try to detect people’s moods. The effect conjures up images of the 2013 Spike Jonze move “Her,” where the (human) main character falls in love with an artificially intelligent operating system, leading to some complications. While few will find the new model seductive, OpenAI says it does works faster than previous versions and can reason across text, audio and video in real time. GPT-4o, short for “omni,” will power OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT chatbot, and will be available to users, including those who use the free version, in the coming weeks, the company announced during a short live-streamed update. CEO Sam Altman, who was not one of the presenters at the event,…

Apple wowed professionals with its all-new iPad Pro and iPad Air at its Let Loose event in May, but it is the accessories and software that will make the next generation of tablets stand out from the crowd and empower users to be more creative and productive than ever before. INCREDIBLE SOFTWARE FOR IPADOS There’s no denying that professionals are keen to see major changes come to iPadOS, and though we won’t know for sure until Apple lifts the lid on the next version at WWDC, Apple’s latest software developments for iPadOS are worth talking about. The introduction of Logic Pro for iPad 2 and Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 marks an enhancement in how iPad users can leverage cutting-edge technology to elevate their workflows. For instance, Logic Pro…

Google this week rolled out a retooled search engine that will frequently favor responses crafted by artificial intelligence over website links, a shift promising to quicken the quest for information while also potentially disrupting the flow of money-making internet traffic. The makeover announced at Google’s annual developers conference will begin this week in the U.S. when hundreds of millions of people will start to periodically see conversational summaries generated by the company’s AI technology at the top of the search engine’s results page. The AI overviews are supposed to only crop up when Google’s technology determines they will be the quickest and most effective way to satisfy a user’s curiosity — a solution mostly likely to happen with complex subjects or when people are brainstorming, or planning. People will likely…

Roku will carry Major League Baseball games on Sundays beginning this week, and viewers will be able to watch for free and not be required to use a Roku device, the streaming service announced Monday. Roku secured multiyear rights for MLB Sunday Leadoff games beginning with the Boston Red Sox at St. Louis Cardinals this Sunday. The telecasts will be produced in collaboration with local broadcast teams. They previously were available through the subscription service Peacock. Viewers without a Roku device can stream the games on the Roku Channel app, which is free and available on Amazon Fire devices, Samsung TVs and Google TVs. It also is accessible via therokuchannel.com with no login required. The games also will be available to MLB.TV subscribers. “With free games available to anyone, MLB…

It’s a good time to be in the market for a used Tesla. Tesla’s significant price cuts over the past year on its new cars have caused the prices of used Teslas to drop significantly. But buying a used Tesla isn’t as straightforward as buying a used Toyota, especially if you’ve never owned one. Car experts outline five general tips for car shoppers who are in the market for a used Tesla. PICK THE RIGHT TESLA FOR YOU Most shoppers looking for a used Tesla choose between the brand’s two sedans and two SUVs. The Model 3 is Tesla’s smallest and most affordable model. It’s a small sedan that’s about the size of a Honda Civic. The Model Y, Tesla’s most popular model, is a small SUV based on the…

Seventy years ago on Friday, no one outside of the U.S. Supreme Court building heard it when Chief Justice Earl Warren announced the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision on school desegregation. Now, through the use of an innovative voice-cloning technology, it is becoming possible for people to “hear”Warren read the decision as he did on May 17, 1954, along with oral arguments by lawyers including a future Supreme Court justice, Thurgood Marshall. The “Brown Revisited” recreation should be made available by Friday at brown.oyez.org a website that has been the dream of former Northwestern University professor Jerry Goldman. Goldman has painstakingly put together the site allowing people to hear oral arguments in decades worth of Supreme Court cases, and follow along with written transcriptions. Yet it always frustrated…

Artificial intelligence is just about everywhere you look these days — including the workplace. That means training staff about the technology and using it responsibly is critical. It’s a tall order, especially as the commercialization of generative AI continues its rapid growth. Now some tech players have kickstarted initiatives in hopes of meeting that need. Christy Pambianchi, chief people officer at Intel, recently spoke about how the semiconductor chip maker is expanding AI education programming beyond the company’s walls — as well as best practices around implementing AI in a workforce from an HR perspective. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length. Q: HOW HAVE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT AI IN THE WORKFORCE EVOLVED SINCE YOU JOINED INTEL IN AUGUST, 2021? A: Intel’s products are part of the AI innovation…

General Motors’ troubled Cruise autonomous vehicle unit said it will start testing robotaxis in Arizona this week with human safety drivers on board. Cruise said that during the testing, it will check the vehicles’ performance against the company’s “rigorous” safety and autonomous vehicle performance requirements. Testing will start in Phoenix and gradually expand to Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler and Paradise Valley, the company said. The vehicles will operate in autonomous mode, but the human drivers will be ready to take over if needed as the company takes a step toward resuming driverless operations. Human drivers are important in testing the vehicles’ performance “and the continuous improvement of our technology,” Cruise said. Cruise suspended operations in October when one of its Chevrolet Bolt autonomous electric vehicles dragged a San Francisco…

A South Korean deejay dressed as a Buddhist monk bounced up and down on stage while playing electronic music and shouting: “This too shall pass!”The performance brought cheers from a crowd of thousands at an annual lantern-lighting festival over the weekend to celebrate the Buddha’s birthday. Religious belief in South Korea has been on the decline for years. In 2021, just 22% of South Koreans in their 20s identified as religious, compared to 45% in 2004, according to a Gallup poll. But that might be changing as social media fuels an uptick in interest in Buddhism among young people. The festival DJ, Youn Sung Ho, is a significant contributor to this trend. Youn, who is also a comedian, said he has received much support from the younger generations, especially Millennials…

A bipartisan group of four senators led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is recommending that Congress spend at least $32 billion over the next three years to develop artificial intelligence and place safeguards around it, writing in a new report released Wednesday that the U.S. needs to “harness the opportunities and address the risks” of the quickly developing technology. The group of two Democrats and two Republicans said in an interview Tuesday that while they sometimes disagreed on the best paths forward, it was imperative to find consensus with the technology taking off and other countries like China investing heavily in its development. They settled on a raft of broad policy recommendations that were included in their 33-page report. While any legislation related to AI will be difficult to pass,…