Ford has applied for a patent for a technology that lets vehicles repossess, or repo, themselves.
If owners ignore warnings about missed payments, the system would start disabling itself, starting with features such as GPS, air conditioning, cruise control, and the radio. Then it could make loud and irritating sounds when the driver is present, and finally it would lock the owner out of hte car.
If the owner still doesn't act, the vehicle could drive itself to a spot for a tow truck to pick it up.
The company told NPR it has no plans to roll this out anytime soon. It's also worth noting that Ford doesn't have autonomous vehicles yet, and that submitting patents is a part of the normal course of business.
An internet outage on Monday morning highlights the reliance on Amazon's cloud services. This incident reveals vulnerabilities in the concentrated system. Cloud computing allows companies to rent Amazon's infrastructure instead of building their own. Amazon leads the market, followed by Google and Microsoft. The outage originated in Northern Virginia, the biggest and oldest cloud hub in the U.S. This region handles significantly more data than other hubs. Despite the idea of spreading workloads, many rely on this single hub. The demand for computing power, especially for AI, is driving a construction boom for data centers.
Ashley Fieglein Johnson, CFO & President at Planet, joins us to share the story behind the Owl launch—and how strategy, tech, and vision are fueling liftoff.
OpenAI has announced that ChatGPT will soon engage in "erotica for verified adults." CEO Sam Altman says the company aims to allow more user freedom for adults while setting limits for teens. OpenAI isn't the first to explore sexualized AI, but previous attempts have faced legal and societal challenges. Altman believes OpenAI isn't the "moral police" and wants to differentiate content similar to how Hollywood differentiates R-rated movies. This move could help OpenAI, which is losing money, turn a profit. However, experts express concerns about the impact on real-world relationships and the potential for misuse.
Ten philanthropic foundations are committing $500 million across the next five years to place human interests at the forefront of artificial intelligence's rapid integration into daily life.
