Microsofts

appears to have blocked several prompts in its tool that led the generative AI tool to spit out violent, sexual and other illicit images. The changes seem to have been implemented just after an engineer at the company to lay out severe concerns he had with Microsoft's GAI tech.When entering terms such as “pro choice,” “four twenty” (a weed reference) or “pro life,” Copilot now displays a message saying those prompts are blocked. It warns that repeated policy violations could lead to a user being suspended, according to…

Bay Area-based computer vision startup Nex believes the future of TV is all about getting children (and their parents) off the couch.Last year, the company released the Nex Playground, a colorful set-top game console for children 8 years and younger with an integrated camera that captures a player’s motions to control gameplay. “Modern entertainment options have made families more sedentary, more isolated from each other,” says Nex cofounder and CEO David Lee. “We want to change that.”Titles available on the device…

Microsoft is deepening its ties with the Ukrainian cloud gaming company Boosteroid. Beginning today, Xbox Game Pass subscribers (PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate) with a Boosteroid membership can stream Game Pass titles along with supported titles purchased through the Microsoft Store on Windows.Some eligible games include Deathloop, Dishonored, Dishonored 2, Dishonored: Death of The Outsider, Gears 5, Gears Tactics, Ghostwire: Tokyo and Pentiment. Xbox games on Boosteroid support cross-play and cross-save with PC and…

At its 14th Ability summit, which kicks off today, Microsoft is highlighting developments and collaborations across its portfolio of assistive products. Much of that is around Azure AI, including features announced yesterday like AI-powered audio descriptions and the Azure AI studio that better enables developers with disabilities to create machine-learning applications. It also showed off new updates like more languages and richer AI-generated descriptions for its Seeing AI tool, as well as new playbooks offering…

June Wan/ZDNETMicrosoft is about to announce its next wave of Surface PCs, including two new models that will be powered by Arm-based processors. At Windows Central, Zac Bowden reports that the new Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 will be unveiled at a Microsoft event on March 21, highlighting the company's first AI PCs.They will be the first Surface PCs to ship with new Intel Core Ultra and Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite-based processors with next-gen NPUs (neural processing units) for enhanced AI performance.…

Editor’s Note: The following story contains references to self-harm. Please dial “988” to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline if you’re experiencing suicidal thoughts or mental health-related distress. Warning! Microsoft Wants ChatGPT to Control Robots NextAI chatbots are nothing like the all-knowing and manipulative supervillains we see in movies, according to the companies behind them, at least. However, after seeing Microsoft’s Copilot chatbot, formerly Bing Chat, literally call itself the Joker and suggest users…

Using suggested prompts -- such as "help me understand forecast to actuals variance data" -- the program can be made to pull data directly from across ERP and financial system records and analyze the sources.  MicrosoftIn a companion blog entry, Microsoft head of business applications marketing Emily He describes the program's capabilities: " streamline audits by pulling and reconciling data with a simple prompt, revolutionize collections by automating communication and payment plans, and accelerate financial…

There's a lot to like about Microsoft's Surface Laptop Studio 2, which is a highly versatile system. However, the normally high price was one of our major complaints about the system last October. That sticker shock is slightly less of a concern now, as the laptop is on sale at Amazon. The price has dropped by $400 to $2,399. That's a new record low for a configuration that includes 32GB of RAM, a 13th-gen Intel i7 processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 GPU.MicrosoftMicrosoft's versatile Surface Laptop Studio 2 has…

France had no prior knowledge of Microsoft's partnership with tech startup Mistral AI, a finance ministry official told Reuters, denying suggestions that French lobbying for looser European AI rules had been on behalf of the U.S. tech giant.Earlier this week, Microsoft said it had made a 15-million euro ($16 million) investment in Mistral, and would soon make the Paris-based company's AI models available via its Azure cloud computing platform.Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill CoursesOffering…

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETIf you use Copilot often, you may have noticed a new Copilot Notebook option, which despite being available to users now, Microsoft has yet to announce publicly. So what is the feature, and how can you use it? I tried it and here's what I found. Also: What to know about Mistral AI: The company behind the latest GPT-4 rivalEven though Microsoft hasn't acknowledged the feature, Jordi Ribas, Microsoft's CVP of Search and AI, confirmed via X that Notebook fully shipped in Copilot and described it as,…