OpenAI's latest large language model, known internally as Orion, has fallen short of performance targets, marking a broader slowdown in AI advancement across the industry's leading companies, according to Bloomberg, corroborating similar media stories in recent days. The model, which completed initial training in September, showed particular weakness in novel coding tasks and failed to demonstrate the same magnitude of improvement over its predecessor as GPT-4 achieved over GPT-3.5, the publication reported Wednesday. Google's upcoming Gemini software and Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Opus are facing similar challenges. Google's project is not meeting internal benchmarks, while Anthropic has delayed its model's release, Bloomberg said. Industry insiders cited by the publication pointed to growing scarcity of high-quality training data and mounting operational costs as key obstacles. OpenAI's Orion specifically struggled due to insufficient coding data for training, the report said. OpenAI has moved Orion into post-training refinement but is unlikely to release the system before early 2024. The report adds: [...] AI companies continue to pursue a more-is-better playbook. In their quest to build products that approach the level of human intelligence, tech firms are increasing the amount of computing power, data and time they use to train new models -- and driving up costs in the process. Amodei has said companies will spend $100 million to train a bleeding-edge model this year and that amount will hit $100 billion in the coming years. As costs rise, so do the stakes and expectations for each new model under development. Noah Giansiracusa, an associate professor of mathematics at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, said AI models will keep improving, but the rate at which that will happen is questionable. "We got very excited for a brief period of very fast progress," he said. "That just wasn't sustainable." Further reading: OpenAI and Others Seek New Path To Smarter AI as Current Methods Hit Limitations.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple executives have defended the relocation of the power button to the bottom of its new M4 Mac mini, citing the computer's significantly reduced size as the driving factor behind the design change. In a Bilibili video interview, Apple's Greg Joswiak and John Ternus explained that the Mac mini's form factor, now half the size of its predecessor, necessitated finding a new position for the power button. The executives said that the bottom placement allows for convenient access despite initial user criticism.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The James Bond star's donation helped avoid organisations being evicted from Brimscombe Mill.

Climate campaigners are bringing a legal case they hope will halt drilling at two huge fossil fuel projects.

Irish mixed martial artist Conor McGregor claimed to have had consensual sex with a woman who is accusing him of rape, a court has heard.

Justin Welby behaved like a politician and in some ways has faced the downfall of one, writes religion editor Aleem Maqbool.

The former soldier has pleaded guilty to escaping from prison but still faces other charges.

Regulators want to give more time to car dealers potentially facing a deluge of mis-selling claims.

1. Tata Steel Chess India Day 1: Abdussatorov Leads Carlsen, So, Narayanan  Chess.com
2. Magnus Carlsen interview: I probably will have the most fun playing Gukesh  Hindustan Times
3. Tata Steel Chess India - Live!  Chess News | ChessBase
4. Abdusattorov Nodirbek leads, Magnus Carlsen close behind in India Open chess  The Times of India
5. Indian chess has come a long way, courtesy Anand: Carlsen  The Hindu

1. Rohit Shetty gives an update on Deepika’s Lady Singham  123telugu
2. Rohit Shetty Confirms A Standalone Film On Deepika's Lady Singham: 'There's A Reason...' | Exclusive  News18
3. Rohit Shetty CONFIRMS a standalone film on Deepika Padukone's cop character from Singham Again: 'Otherwis  TOI Etimes
4. Rohit Shetty confirms Lady Singham with Deepika Padukone, promises action-packed spin-off  Moneycontrol
5. Deepika's cop character in 'Singham...' to get a solo film: Rohit | Ajay Devgn & Ranveer are part of 'Singham...' | Inshorts  Inshorts

Encouraging pre-kindergarten children to write affords teachers the opportunity to provide scaffolds to improve spelling development. Teachers, however, tend to provide more support than necessary to guide children's early spelling, which may stifle children's opportunities to engage in important thinking that helps them to grow in their literacy knowledge.

Filed under: North America, United States, Airports, Travel Security

Continue reading 4 Thanksgiving Travel Tips to Save You Time

4 Thanksgiving Travel Tips to Save You Time originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 26 Nov 2013 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Asia, Thailand

Not only are tourists still coming, but they've been arriving in increasing numbers in recent years, according to government data.

Continue reading Demonstrations in Thailand? No Problem, Travelers Say.

Demonstrations in Thailand? No Problem, Travelers Say. originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 02 Dec 2013 11:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: North America, United States, Airlines, Airports, News

The new application process allows U.S. citizens to directly enroll in TSA Pre✓[TM], an expedited screening program that allows travelers to leave on their shoes, light outerwear and belt, keep their laptop in its case and their 3-1-1 compliant liquids/gels bag in a carry-on, in select screening lanes. To date, passengers have only been eligible through existing programs such as U.S. Custom and Border Protection's Global Entry program and frequent flier programs with certain airlines, but this announcement will allow travelers to apply directly for the expedited screening program.

Continue reading TSA Lets Travelers Apply for PreCheck

TSA Lets Travelers Apply for PreCheck originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 04 Dec 2013 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Internet Tools, News

Continue reading Facebook, Instagram Release Top Checked-in Locations of 2013

Facebook, Instagram Release Top Checked-in Locations of 2013 originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 13 Dec 2013 14:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: History, Blogs

A recently-released program called Mosaic was revolutionizing what might be possible on the World Wide Web. "What we hope you'll do," the editor [at O'Reilly Media] said, "is write columns for us - from the road. We'll publish them live, on the GNN [Global Network Navigator, O'Reilly's website], where people can read them as you travel." The Travelers' Center, he told me, would include a feature that sounded miraculous: A map would be displayed on their website, with dots showing the locations from where I'd sent back posts. People would simply click on those dots - and see the story I'd written from that location!

Continue reading Travel Blogging Turns 20 Today

Travel Blogging Turns 20 Today originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 06 Jan 2014 17:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, North America, United States

With their reputations on the line, travel agents Joanne and Gary will tackle any request, no matter how impossible, and any client, no matter how unreasonable. Full of overzealous travelers, overbooked flights, and hoteliers who are just over it, Craving for Travel reminds us why we travel-and everything that can happen when we do.

Continue reading Off-Broadway Comedy 'Craving for Travel' Showcases Travel Agents Trying to do the Impossible

Off-Broadway Comedy 'Craving for Travel' Showcases Travel Agents Trying to do the Impossible originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 07 Jan 2014 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Business, Europe, North America, Denmark, Iceland, Belize, United States

Continue reading Top 5 Family Travel Destinations for 2014 (and Possibly Beyond)

Top 5 Family Travel Destinations for 2014 (and Possibly Beyond) originally appeared on Gadling on Thu, 09 Jan 2014 13:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Business, Talking Travel

Skift Acquires Gadling Travel From AOL originally appeared on Gadling on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 09:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland plans to expand his arsenal and attack hitters in every quadrant of the strike zone this season.

Raimel Tapia has renewed opportunity with the Rockies in 2019, along with a need to deliver.

Rockies manager Bud Black said the team prefers that longtime center fielder Charlie Blackmon move to right field, rather than left.

At one of my first meetings as an elected council member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, we approved a report called Access All Ages. It encouraged less ageist thinking and bias among healthcare staff that might lead to them denying older people surgery.1 But sometimes an operation isn’t the best option. Among patients who have surgery, 14% express regret and 15% experience complications, which are at least four times as likely if they’re frail or physically inactive.2 The Centre for Perioperative Care has published information on the importance of exercise before surgery,3 but that alone may not be enough.We need shared decision making,4 including asking patients what matters to them. The public should be primed to ask about BRAN—the benefits, risks, and alternatives to surgery and the likely result from doing nothing.4 A slew of data supports this approach, especially from the POPS initiative (Perioperative Care of...

The current system for delivering NHS cardiovascular disease (CVD) health checks is not working effectively and must be reviewed to ensure that it reaches people with the highest risk, the National Audit Office has said.1In a review of the commissioning, delivery, and performance of CVD health checks the watchdog found that just over one in 12 people (8.8%) who were eligible attended a health check in 2023-24—which, if maintained, would equate to a five year coverage of 44%.Health checks were first introduced in 2009, with the aim of reducing ill health from CVD by offering everyone aged 40-74 without a pre-existing heart condition a check-up every five years. However, problems have arisen since the responsibility for commissioning these checks was transferred to local authorities in 2013, said the National Audit Office.The move led to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) losing its ability to influence local authority performance,...

The sudden appearance of a visual distractor shortly before saccade initiation can capture spatial attention and modulate the saccade trajectory in spite of the ongoing execution of the initial plan to shift gaze straight to the saccade target. To elucidate the neural correlates underlying these curved saccades, we recorded from single neurons in the frontal eye field of two male rhesus monkeys shifting gaze to a target while a distractor with the same eccentricity appeared either left or right of the target at various delays after target presentation. We found that the population level of presaccadic activity of neurons representing the distractor location encoded the direction of the saccade trajectory. Stronger activity occurred when saccades curved toward the distractor, and weaker when saccades curved away. This relationship held whether the distractor was ipsilateral or contralateral to the recorded neurons. Meanwhile, visually responsive neurons showed asymmetrical patterns of excitatory responses that varied with the location of the distractor and the duration of distractor processing relating to attentional capture and distractor inhibition. During earlier distractor processing, neurons encoded curvature toward the distractor. During later distractor processing, neurons encoded curvature away from the distractor. This was observed when saccades curved away from distractors contralateral to the recording site and when saccades curved toward distractors ipsilateral to the recording site. These findings indicate that saccadic motor planning involves dynamic push–pull hemispheric interactions producing attraction or repulsion for potential but unselected saccade targets.

Basketball is not played much in South Africa, but OM SportsLink successfully introduces the game to students in Mamelodi, a township outside of Pretoria.

Typically, at least two discarded babies are found in the Mamelodi City Dump every week. AIDS Hope seeks to eliminate this horrible reality.

God unexpectedly provides just what a family needs.

Logos Hope crew members share the Gospel in a hair salon with someone who has never before heard about Jesus.

The AIDS Hope team encourages children in their afterschool program in Mamelodi to share the gospel with the community.

A young couple who met on the Internet answers God’s call to missions to help others find Christ using their IT and web design skills.

A Dutch team member shares her mission trip experience praying with a man in Siberia.

OM Russia hosted and participated in AIDSLink International’s (ALI) Channels of Hope Facilitator Training©.

During outreach to a Tatar village, the team met a woman at the well and introduced her to Jesus.

OM Philippines partners with the local church to provide water and food in areas hit by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake on 15 October.

How OM Philippines is making a long-term difference in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.

Seven thousand were reported homeless after fire destroyed homes in Lorega cemetery, Cebu City, on 18 March. OM helps provide basic relief.

OM Philippines hosts micro-business workshops that offer a future with hope.

OM Philippines received a huge donation of brand new clothing, shoes and food packs for Typhoon Haiyan victims.

Three boys who sell fish become “men of peace” for the DreamAsia+ team in three of the poorest Muslim communities in the Philippines.

Cebu, Philippines :: A full-day workshop on HIV and AIDS is held on board Logos Hope to encourage churches and voluntary organisations to reach out to those living with HIV and AIDS.

OM Philippines celebrates 25 years of transforming lives and communities.

OM Philippines send staff to assess the earthquake damages in Surigao City and provide needed disaster relief training.

One hundred Filipino teens, aged 12-18 are expected to come to the five-day event of fun, learning and life-changing encounters in Cebu.

Ministries in Turkey experience acceleration through wide sowing, building projects, and church planting.