Author name: Kelly Newman

delightfully-irreverent-underdogs-isn’t-your-parents’-nature-docuseries

Delightfully irreverent Underdogs isn’t your parents’ nature docuseries

Narrator Ryan Reynolds celebrates nature’s outcasts in the new NatGeo docuseries Underdogs.

Most of us have seen a nature documentary or two (or three) at some point in our lives, so it’s a familiar format: sweeping, majestic footage of impressively regal animals accompanied by reverently high-toned narration (preferably with a tony British accent). Underdogs, a new docuseries from National Geographic, takes a decidedly different approach. Narrated with hilarious irreverence by Ryan Reynolds, the five-part series highlights nature’s less cool and majestic creatures: the outcasts and benchwarmers, more noteworthy for their “unconventional hygiene choices” and “unsavory courtship rituals.” It’s like The Suicide Squad or Thunderbolts*, except these creatures actually exist.

Per the official premise, “Underdogs features a range of never-before-filmed scenes, including the first time a film crew has ever entered a special cave in New Zealand—a huge cavern that glows brighter than a bachelor pad under a black light thanks to the glowing butts of millions of mucus-coated grubs. All over the world, overlooked superstars like this are out there 24/7, giving it maximum effort and keeping the natural world in working order for all those showboating polar bears, sharks and gorillas.” It’s rated PG-13 thanks to the odd bit of scatalogical humor and shots of Nature Sexy Time.

Each of the five episodes is built around a specific genre. “Superheroes” highlights the surprising superpowers of the honey badger, pistol shrimp, and the invisible glass frog, among others, augmented with comic book graphics; “Sexy Beasts” focuses on bizarre mating habits and follows the format of a romantic advice column; “Terrible Parents” highlights nature’s worst practices, following the outline of a parenting guide; “Total Grossout” is exactly what it sounds like; and “The Unusual Suspects” is a heist tale, documenting the supposed efforts of a macaque to put together the ultimate team of masters of deception and disguise (an inside man, a decoy, a fall guy, etc.). Green Day even wrote and recorded a special theme song for the opening credits.

Co-creators Mark Linfield and Vanessa Berlowitz of Wildstar Films are longtime producers of award-winning wildlife films, most notably Frozen Planet, Planet Earth, and David Attenborough’s Life of Mammals—you know, the kind of prestige nature documentaries that have become a mainstay for National Geographic and the BBC, among others. They’re justly proud of that work, but this time around the duo wanted to try something different.

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biofuels-policy-has-been-a-failure-for-the-climate,-new-report-claims

Biofuels policy has been a failure for the climate, new report claims

The new report concludes that not only will the expansion of ethanol increase greenhouse gas emissions, but it has also failed to provide the social and financial benefits to Midwestern communities that lawmakers and the industry say it has. (The report defines the Midwest as Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.)

“The benefits from biofuels remain concentrated in the hands of a few,” Leslie-Bole said. “As subsidies flow, so may the trend of farmland consolidation, increasing inaccessibility of farmland in the Midwest, and locking out emerging or low-resource farmers. This means the benefits of biofuels production are flowing to fewer people, while more are left bearing the costs.”

New policies being considered in state legislatures and Congress, including additional tax credits and support for biofuel-based aviation fuel, could expand production, potentially causing more land conversion and greenhouse gas emissions, widening the gap between the rural communities and rich agribusinesses at a time when food demand is climbing and, critics say, land should be used to grow food instead.

President Donald Trump’s tax cut bill, passed by the House and currently being negotiated in the Senate, would not only extend tax credits for biofuels producers, it specifically excludes calculations of emissions from land conversion when determining what qualifies as a low-emission fuel.

The primary biofuels industry trade groups, including Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association, did not respond to Inside Climate News requests for comment or interviews.

An employee with the Clean Fuels Alliance America, which represents biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel producers, not ethanol, said the report vastly overstates the carbon emissions from crop-based fuels by comparing the farmed land to natural landscapes, which no longer exist.

They also noted that the impact of soy-based fuels in 2024 was more than $42 billion, providing over 100,000 jobs.

“Ten percent of the value of every bushel of soybeans is linked to biomass-based fuel,” they said.

Biofuels policy has been a failure for the climate, new report claims Read More »

google-can-now-generate-a-fake-ai-podcast-of-your-search-results

Google can now generate a fake AI podcast of your search results

NotebookLM is undoubtedly one of Google’s best implementations of generative AI technology, giving you the ability to explore documents and notes with a Gemini AI model. Last year, Google added the ability to generate so-called “audio overviews” of your source material in NotebookLM. Now, Google has brought those fake AI podcasts to search results as a test. Instead of clicking links or reading the AI Overview, you can have two nonexistent people tell you what the results say.

This feature is not currently rolling out widely—it’s available in search labs, which means you have to manually enable it. Anyone can opt in to the new Audio Overview search experience, though. If you join the test, you’ll quickly see the embedded player in Google search results. However, it’s not at the top with the usual block of AI-generated text. Instead, you’ll see it after the first few search results, below the “People also ask” knowledge graph section.

Credit: Google

Google isn’t wasting resources to generate the audio automatically, so you have to click the generate button to get started. A few seconds later, you’re given a back-and-forth conversation between two AI voices summarizing the search results. The player includes a list of sources from which the overview is built, as well as the option to speed up or slow down playback.

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Ars Technica’s gift guide for Father’s Day: Give dad some cool things


Wondering what to get the dad who has everything? We have some ideas!

Greetings Arsians! It’s time—at least in some parts of the world—to celebrate dads. Father’s Day is nearly here, and as there’s a custom of gift-giving, many of us will have to choose something. Below, various Ars editors have identified a few things they’ve bought recently that they think could be great gifts for dads—with the caveat that there’s an indefinably large spectrum of variations of what dads like. Still, we did our best to include a few things that are pretty general, and a few that are weirdly specific. In any case, want to show some appreciation for your dad? Here are some options you can throw some money at.

Under $100

86Lux Book Light – $15

Unless your father has light dimmers or has jumped onboard the small-lights-not-big-ones interior design trend, chances are there are two environments available to him for reading: one giant, bright ceiling light that is great for reading but not so great for setting an immersive and relaxing mood or, well, darkness. Enter the clip book light, a good way to light up the page at a brightness suitable for not-so-new eyes without harshing the reading vibes. The 86Lux Book Light is one of many offerings, but we like its simple design. It has multiple temperature and brightness levels, and it’s adjustable, so it can reliably clip onto most books.

Stanley Heritage Thermos – $56

Stanley thermoses are renowned for their longevity and quality, with decades-old models still handling daily duty. The Stanley Heritage Thermos is a modern version of the classic containers, featuring a 1.1-quart capacity, stainless steel body, and the brand’s trademark vacuum insulation that can keep dad’s beverage of choice hot or cold for an impressive 24 hours. The lid is leak-proof, so you can toss it in a bag or backpack without worry, and it doubles as an 8-oz cup. At about $56, it’s more spendy than your average bargain-bin plastic thermos, but you get what you pay for.

AVIDGRAM HDMI 2.1 Switch 4-Port – $90

OK, so this one is admittedly for a very specific dad—but he exists, and if he’s your dad, you know it. Should your father be a true home theater geek and/or a console gamer, he has likely run up against the problem that most modern TVs just don’t have enough HDMI ports. What’s a dad to do when his TV has four HDMI ports, but he has a streaming box, a DVD player, a PlayStation, an Xbox, and a Switch? That’s one too many devices. Enter the Avidgram HDMI 4-port switcher. It supports HDMI 2.1, so it works with modern game consoles. And of a handful we’ve tried, it’s one of the nicest to use and most reliable. Plus, it has a remote, so dad doesn’t have to get off the couch to switch devices.

Mid-price: $100–$300

LaCie Rugged USB-C, 4TB Portable External Hard Drive  – $150

It’s always a good time to give the dad in your life peace of mind through data redundancy. That sounds boring, but it’s important. Whether dad is a digital packrat or just prudently paranoid about data loss, this rugged external drive offers a sizable 4TB of backup space at a price that makes copy-and-forget offsite storage feasible. The distinctive orange bumper isn’t just for show—it protects against 4-foot drops, dust, and water splashes, making it ideal for stashing in a safe deposit box, glove compartment, or anywhere away from the original data source in case disaster strikes. USB-C ensures transfers happen at decent speeds (up to 5Gb/s), so backing up his photo library won’t take all weekend. Mac users will need to reformat, but built-in password protection works regardless of platform.

Apple TV 4K – $179

The Apple TV 4K streaming box can be a suitable gift for various types of dads, from couch potatoes and tech fans to streaming enthusiasts and streaming holdouts. If your dad has been holding out on cutting the cord, the latest Apple TV box is a good incentive for him to make the move.

There’s a strong chance that the Apple TV’s tvOS operating system (OS) will work more smoothly and reliably than whatever OS his TV uses. If your dad has multiple streaming subscriptions, the set-top box’s built-in Apple TV app is handy for unifying many mainstream streaming libraries, so he can spend less time app-hopping and more time watching.

The Apple TV also offers one of the most private approaches to streaming. Your dad (or you) will find it easy and quick to set his privacy controls when setting up the Apple TV. And you don’t have to worry about the OS tracking your dad’s activity nearly as much as you do with most smart TVs and other streaming hardware.

For a bonus gift, you can sign your dad up for a relevant streaming subscription(s) that he doesn’t have, ensuring his new streaming box is put to use. You can save money here by adding an extra member to a streaming subscription you already have or installing free streaming apps.

Big spender: $300+

Sony WH-1000XM6 – $450

The Sony WH-1000XM6 don’t have the best name, but they are some of the nicest Bluetooth headphones money can buy. These cans offer superb audio fidelity, along with class-leading noise cancellation, which is great if dad is a jet-setter—or even if his household is just a bit chaotic. They also have a full raft of connectivity options, like Bluetooth LE, Auracast, and multipoint for pairing with multiple devices. The battery life is rated at an impressive 30 hours with noise cancellation on, and the frame and ear cups are generously padded for long listening sessions without discomfort. Plus, they can fold up for easier transport compared to the older XM5 headphones. The $450 price tag is higher than many other headphones, but it’s hard to argue with the total package.

Segway Ninebot E2 Pro Scooter – $450

Fair warning: Dad will feel like a kid again on this thing—just insist on a high-quality helmet. The E2 Pro’s 15.5 mph top speed is fast enough not to feel slow but slow enough not to be insanely dangerous, hitting that perfect sweet spot for urban commuting or a neighborhood joyride. With up to 25 miles of range, a dual braking system, and traction control for various terrains, it’s practical transportation that happens to be fun. The 750 W peak motor handles 18 percent inclines, while Apple FindMy integration adds security. You can also lock it via an app on a smartphone. Safety gear is essential—this thing is more thrilling than the specs suggest—but that’s exactly what makes it such a perfect gift.

iFixit FixHub Soldering Toolkit – $300

Today’s handyman needs more than just a tool belt and nails. Today, it’s very common for the things that need repairing to include some sort of circuit board or other electronic components. With the proper soldering kit, your dad could up his repair game and save more items from the trash bin. But not every dad was born with a soldering iron in their mouth.

iFixit built its FixHub Soldering Toolkit as an introductory and portable soldering iron that’s novice-friendly, yet remarkably helpful.

The full toolkit comes with a soldering iron, battery pack, and a variety of additional tools, including mandible wire strippers and flush cutters, silicone electrical tape, angled tweezers, a desoldering braid, and a silicone work mat.

If your dad doesn’t need all that, iFixit also sells the soldering iron with just the battery pack for $250. Or you could opt to buy the portable soldering iron with a USB-C charging cable for $80.

In either case, your father gets a soldering iron with a swappable beveled 1.5 mm tip that powers up to 100 watts, besting the 60 W you typically see from USB-powered soldering irons. Your dad will be eagerly awaiting the next broken gadget.

Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

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how-to-draft-a-will-to-avoid-becoming-an-ai-ghost—it’s-not-easy

How to draft a will to avoid becoming an AI ghost—it’s not easy


Why requests for “no AI resurrections” will probably go ignored.

Proton beams capturing the ghost of OpenAI to suck it into a trap where it belongs

All right! This AI is TOAST! Credit: Aurich Lawson

All right! This AI is TOAST! Credit: Aurich Lawson

As artificial intelligence has advanced, AI tools have emerged to make it possible to easily create digital replicas of lost loved ones, which can be generated without the knowledge or consent of the person who died.

Trained on the data of the dead, these tools, sometimes called grief bots or AI ghosts, may be text-, audio-, or even video-based. Chatting provides what some mourners feel is a close approximation to ongoing interactions with the people they love most. But the tech remains controversial, perhaps complicating the grieving process while threatening to infringe upon the privacy of the deceased, whose data could still be vulnerable to manipulation or identity theft.

Because of suspected harms and perhaps a general repulsion to the idea of it, not everybody wants to become an AI ghost.

After a realistic video simulation was recently used to provide a murder victim’s impact statement in court, Futurism summed up social media backlash, noting that the use of AI was “just as unsettling as you think.” And it’s not the first time people have expressed discomfort with the growing trend. Last May, The Wall Street Journal conducted a reader survey seeking opinions on the ethics of so-called AI resurrections. Responding, a California woman, Dorothy McGarrah, suggested there should be a way to prevent AI resurrections in your will.

“Having photos or videos of lost loved ones is a comfort. But the idea of an algorithm, which is as prone to generate nonsense as anything lucid, representing a deceased person’s thoughts or behaviors seems terrifying. It would be like generating digital dementia after your loved ones’ passing,” McGarrah said. “I would very much hope people have the right to preclude their images being used in this fashion after death. Perhaps something else we need to consider in estate planning?”

For experts in estate planning, the question may start to arise as more AI ghosts pop up. But for now, writing “no AI resurrections” into a will remains a complicated process, experts suggest, and such requests may not be honored by all unless laws are changed to reinforce a culture of respecting the wishes of people who feel uncomfortable with the idea of haunting their favorite people through AI simulations.

Can you draft a will to prevent AI resurrection?

Ars contacted several law associations to find out if estate planners are seriously talking about AI ghosts. Only the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils responded; it connected Ars to Katie Sheehan, an expert in the estate planning field who serves as a managing director and wealth strategist for Crestwood Advisors.

Sheehan told Ars that very few estate planners are prepared to answer questions about AI ghosts. She said not only does the question never come up in her daily work, but it’s also “essentially uncharted territory for estate planners since AI is relatively new to the scene.”

“I have not seen any documents drafted to date taking this into consideration, and I review estate plans for clients every day, so that should be telling,” Sheehan told Ars.

Although Sheehan has yet to see a will attempting to prevent AI resurrection, she told Ars that there could be a path to make it harder for someone to create a digital replica without consent.

“You certainly could draft into a power of attorney (for use during lifetime) and a will (for use post death) preventing the fiduciary (attorney in fact or executor) from lending any of your texts, voice, image, writings, etc. to any AI tools and prevent their use for any purpose during life or after you pass away, and/or lay the ground rules for when they can and cannot be used after you pass away,” Sheehan told Ars.

“This could also invoke issues with contract, property and intellectual property rights, and right of publicity as well if AI replicas (image, voice, text, etc.) are being used without authorization,” Sheehan said.

And there are likely more protections for celebrities than for everyday people, Sheehan suggested.

“As far as I know, there is no law” preventing unauthorized non-commercial digital replicas, Sheehan said.

Widely adopted by states, the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act—which governs who gets access to online accounts of the deceased, like social media or email accounts—could be helpful but isn’t a perfect remedy.

That law doesn’t directly “cover someone’s AI ghost bot, though it may cover some of the digital material some may seek to use to create a ghost bot,” Sheehan said.

“Absent any law” blocking non-commercial digital replicas, Sheehan expects that people’s requests for “no AI resurrections” will likely “be dealt with in the courts and governed by the terms of one’s estate plan, if it is addressed within the estate plan.”

Those potential fights seemingly could get hairy, as “it may be some time before we get any kind of clarity or uniform law surrounding this,” Sheehan suggested.

In the future, Sheehan said, requests prohibiting digital replicas may eventually become “boilerplate language in almost every will, trust, and power of attorney,” just as instructions on digital assets are now.

As “all things AI become more and more a part of our lives,” Sheehan said, “some aspects of AI and its components may also be woven throughout the estate plan regularly.”

“But we definitely aren’t there yet,” she said. “I have had zero clients ask about this.”

Requests for “no AI resurrections” will likely be ignored

Whether loved ones would—or even should—respect requests blocking digital replicas appears to be debatable. But at least one person who built a grief bot wished he’d done more to get his dad’s permission before moving forward with his own creation.

A computer science professor at the University of Washington Bothell, Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad, was one of the earliest AI researchers to create a grief bot more than a decade ago after his father died. He built the bot to ensure that his future kids would be able to interact with his father after seeing how incredible his dad was as a grandfather.

When Ahmad started his project, there was no ChatGPT or other advanced AI model to serve as the foundation, so he had to train his own model based on his dad’s data. Putting immense thought into the effort, Ahmad decided to close off the system from the rest of the Internet so that only his dad’s memories would inform the model. To prevent unauthorized chats, he kept the bot on a laptop that only his family could access.

Ahmad was so intent on building a digital replica that felt just like his dad that it didn’t occur to him until after his family started using the bot that he never asked his dad if this was what he wanted. Over time, he realized that the bot was biased to his view of his dad, perhaps even feeling off to his siblings who had a slightly different relationship with their father. It’s unclear if his dad would similarly view the bot as preserving just one side of him.

Ultimately, Ahmad didn’t regret building the bot, and he told Ars he thinks his father “would have been fine with it.”

But he did regret not getting his father’s consent.

For people creating bots today, seeking consent may be appropriate if there’s any chance the bot may be publicly accessed, Ahmad suggested. He told Ars that he would never have been comfortable with the idea of his dad’s digital replica being publicly available because the question of an “accurate representation” would come even more into play, as malicious actors could potentially access it and sully his dad’s memory.

Today, anybody can use ChatGPT’s model to freely create a similar bot with their own loved one’s data. And a wide range of grief tech services have popped up online, including HereAfter AI, SeanceAI, and StoryFile, Axios noted in an October report detailing the latest ways “AI could be used to ‘resurrect’ loved ones.” As this trend continues “evolving very fast,” Ahmad told Ars that estate planning is probably the best way to communicate one’s AI ghost preferences.

But in a recently published article on “The Law of Digital Resurrection,” law professor Victoria Haneman warned that “there is no legal or regulatory landscape against which to estate plan to protect those who would avoid digital resurrection, and few privacy rights for the deceased. This is an intersection of death, technology, and privacy law that has remained relatively ignored until recently.”

Haneman agreed with Sheehan that “existing protections are likely sufficient to protect against unauthorized commercial resurrections”—like when actors or musicians are resurrected for posthumous performances. However, she thinks that for personal uses, digital resurrections may best be blocked not through estate planning but by passing a “right to deletion” that would focus on granting the living or next of kin the rights to delete the data that could be used to create the AI ghost rather than regulating the output.

A “right to deletion” could help people fight inappropriate uses of their loved ones’ data, whether AI is involved or not. After her article was published, a lawyer reached out to Haneman about a client’s deceased grandmother whose likeness was used to create a meme of her dancing in a church. The grandmother wasn’t a public figure, and the client had no idea “why or how somebody decided to resurrect her deceased grandmother,” Haneman told Ars.

Although Haneman sympathized with the client, “if it’s not being used for a commercial purpose, she really has no control over this use,” Haneman said. “And she’s deeply troubled by this.”

Haneman’s article offers a rare deep dive into the legal topic. It sensitively maps out the vague territory of digital rights of the dead and explains how those laws—or the lack thereof—interact with various laws dealing with death, from human remains to property rights.

In it, Haneman also points out that, on balance, the rights of the living typically outweigh the rights of the dead, and even specific instructions on how to handle human remains aren’t generally considered binding. Some requests, like organ donation that can benefit the living, are considered critical, Haneman noted. But there are mixed results on how courts enforce other interests of the dead—like a famous writer’s request to destroy all unpublished work or a pet lover’s insistence to destroy their cat or dog at death.

She told Ars that right now, “a lot of people are like, ‘Why do I care if somebody resurrects me after I’m dead?’ You know, ‘They can do what they want.’ And they think that, until they find a family member who’s been resurrected by a creepy ex-boyfriend or their dead grandmother’s resurrected, and then it becomes a different story.”

Existing law may protect “the privacy interests of the loved ones of the deceased from outrageous or harmful digital resurrections of the deceased,” Haneman noted, but in the case of the dancing grandma, her meme may not be deemed harmful, no matter how much it troubles the grandchild to see her grandma’s memory warped.

Limited legal protections may not matter so much if, culturally, communities end up developing a distaste for digital replicas, particularly if it becomes widely viewed as disrespectful to the dead, Haneman suggested. Right now, however, society is more fixated on solving other problems with deepfakes rather than clarifying the digital rights of the dead. That could be because few people have been impacted so far, or it could also reflect a broader cultural tendency to ignore death, Haneman told Ars.

“We don’t want to think about our own death, so we really kind of brush aside whether or not we care about somebody else being digitally resurrected until it’s in our face,” Haneman said.

Over time, attitudes may change, especially if the so-called “digital afterlife industry” takes off. And there is some precedent that the law could be changed to reinforce any culture shift.

“The throughline revealed by the law of the dead is that a sacred trust exists between the living and the deceased, with an emphasis upon protecting common humanity, such that data afforded no legal status (or personal data of the deceased) may nonetheless be treated with dignity and receive some basic protections,” Haneman wrote.

An alternative path to prevent AI resurrection

Preventing yourself from becoming an AI ghost seemingly now falls in a legal gray zone that policymakers may need to address.

Haneman calls for a solution that doesn’t depend on estate planning, which she warned “is a structurally inequitable and anachronistic approach that maximizes social welfare only for those who do estate planning.” More than 60 percent of Americans die without a will, often including “those without wealth,” as well as women and racial minorities who “are less likely to die with a valid estate plan in effect,” Haneman reported.”We can do better in a technology-based world,” Haneman wrote. “Any modern framework should recognize a lack of accessibility as an obstacle to fairness and protect the rights of the most vulnerable through approaches that do not depend upon hiring an attorney and executing an estate plan.”

Rather than twist the law to “recognize postmortem privacy rights,” Haneman advocates for a path for people resistant to digital replicas that focuses on a right to delete the data that would be used to create the AI ghost.

“Put simply, the deceased may exert control over digital legacy through the right to deletion of data but may not exert broader rights over non-commercial digital resurrection through estate planning,” Haneman recommended.

Sheehan told Ars that a right to deletion would likely involve estate planners, too.

“If this is not addressed in an estate planning document and not specifically addressed in the statute (or deemed under the authority of the executor via statute), then the only way to address this would be to go to court,” Sheehan said. “Even with a right of deletion, the deceased would need to delete said data before death or authorize his executor to do so post death, which would require an estate planning document, statutory authority, or court authority.”

Haneman agreed that for many people, estate planners would still be involved, recommending that “the right to deletion would ideally, from the perspective of estate administration, provide for a term of deletion within 12 months.” That “allows the living to manage grief and open administration of the estate before having to address data management issues,” Haneman wrote, and perhaps adequately balances “the interests of society against the rights of the deceased.”

To Haneman, it’s also the better solution for the people left behind because “creating a right beyond data deletion to curtail unauthorized non-commercial digital resurrection creates unnecessary complexity that overreaches, as well as placing the interests of the deceased over those of the living.”

Future generations may be raised with AI ghosts

If a dystopia that experts paint comes true, Big Tech companies may one day profit by targeting grieving individuals to seize the data of the dead, which could be more easily abused since it’s granted fewer rights than data of the living.

Perhaps in that future, critics suggest, people will be tempted into free trials in moments when they’re missing their loved ones most, then forced to either pay a subscription to continue accessing the bot or else perhaps be subjected to ad-based models where their chats with AI ghosts may even feature ads in the voices of the deceased.

Today, even in a world where AI ghosts aren’t yet compelling ad clicks, some experts have warned that interacting with AI ghosts could cause mental health harms, New Scientist reported, especially if the digital afterlife industry isn’t carefully designed, AI ethicists warned. Some people may end up getting stuck maintaining an AI ghost if it’s left behind as a gift, and ethicists suggested that the emotional weight of that could also eventually take a negative toll. While saying goodbye is hard, letting go is considered a critical part of healing during the mourning process, and AI ghosts may make that harder.

But the bots can be a helpful tool to manage grief, some experts suggest, provided that their use is limited to allow for a typical mourning process or combined with therapy from a trained professional, Al Jazeera reported. Ahmad told Ars that working on his bot has not only kept his father close to him but also helped him think more deeply about relationships and memory.

Haneman noted that people have many ways of honoring the dead. Some erect statues, and others listen to saved voicemails or watch old home movies. For some, just “smelling an old sweater” is a comfort. And creating digital replicas, as creepy as some people might find them, is not that far off from these traditions, Haneman said.

“Feeding text messages and emails into existing AI platforms such as ChatGPT and asking the AI to respond in the voice of the deceased is simply a change in degree, not in kind,” Haneman said.

For Ahmad, the decision to create a digital replica of his dad was a learning experience, and perhaps his experience shows why any family or loved one weighing the option should carefully consider it before starting the process.

In particular, he warns families to be careful introducing young kids to grief bots, as they may not be able to grasp that the bot is not a real person. When he initially saw his young kids growing confused with whether their grandfather was alive or not—the introduction of the bot was complicated by the early stages of the pandemic, a time when they met many relatives virtually—he decided to restrict access to the bot until they were older. For a time, the bot only came out for special events like birthdays.

He also realized that introducing the bot also forced him to have conversations about life and death with his kids at ages younger than he remembered fully understanding those concepts in his own childhood.

Now, Ahmad’s kids are among the first to be raised among AI ghosts. To continually enhance the family’s experience, their father continuously updates his father’s digital replica. Ahmad is currently most excited about recent audio advancements that make it easier to add a voice element. He hopes that within the next year, he might be able to use AI to finally nail down his South Asian father’s accent, which up to now has always sounded “just off.” For others working in this space, the next frontier is realistic video or even augmented reality tools, Ahmad told Ars.

To this day, the bot retains sentimental value for Ahmad, but, as Haneman suggested, the bot was not the only way he memorialized his dad. He also created a mosaic, and while his father never saw it, either, Ahmad thinks his dad would have approved.

“He would have been very happy,” Ahmad said.

There’s no way to predict how future generations may view grief tech. But while Ahmad said he’s not sure he’d be interested in an augmented reality interaction with his dad’s digital replica, kids raised seeing AI ghosts as a natural part of their lives may not be as hesitant to embrace or even build new features. Talking to Ars, Ahmad fondly remembered his young daughter once saw that he was feeling sad and came up with her own AI idea to help her dad feel better.

“It would be really nice if you can just take this program and we build a robot that looks like your dad, and then add it to the robot, and then you can go and hug the robot,” she said, according to her father’s memory.

Photo of Ashley Belanger

Ashley is a senior policy reporter for Ars Technica, dedicated to tracking social impacts of emerging policies and new technologies. She is a Chicago-based journalist with 20 years of experience.

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AI Overviews hallucinates that Airbus, not Boeing, involved in fatal Air India crash

When major events occur, most people rush to Google to find information. Increasingly, the first thing they see is an AI Overview, a feature that already has a reputation for making glaring mistakes. In the wake of a tragic plane crash in India, Google’s AI search results are spreading misinformation claiming the incident involved an Airbus plane—it was actually a Boeing 787.

Travelers are more attuned to the airliner models these days after a spate of crashes involving Boeing’s 737 lineup several years ago. Searches for airline disasters are sure to skyrocket in the coming days, with reports that more than 200 passengers and crew lost their lives in the Air India Flight 171 crash. The way generative AI operates means some people searching for details may get the wrong impression from Google’s results page.

Not all searches get AI answers, but Google has been steadily expanding this feature since it debuted last year. One searcher on Reddit spotted a troubling confabulation when searching for crashes involving Airbus planes. AI Overviews, apparently overwhelmed with results reporting on the Air India crash, stated confidently (and incorrectly) that it was an Airbus A330 that fell out of the sky shortly after takeoff. We’ve run a few similar searches—some of the AI results say Boeing, some say Airbus, and some include a strange mashup of both Airbus and Boeing. It’s a mess.

In this search, Google’s AI says the crash involved an Airbus A330 instead of a Boeing 787.

Credit: /u/stuckintrraffic

In this search, Google’s AI says the crash involved an Airbus A330 instead of a Boeing 787. Credit: /u/stuckintrraffic

But why is Google bringing up the Air India crash at all in the context of Airbus? Unfortunately, it’s impossible to predict if you’ll get an AI Overview that blames Boeing or Airbus—generative AI is non-deterministic, meaning the output is different every time, even for identical inputs. Our best guess for the underlying cause is that numerous articles on the Air India crash mention Airbus as Boeing’s main competitor. AI Overviews is essentially summarizing these results, and the AI goes down the wrong path because it lacks the ability to understand what is true.

AI Overviews hallucinates that Airbus, not Boeing, involved in fatal Air India crash Read More »

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Amazon Prime Video subscribers sit through up to 6 minutes of ads per hour

Amazon forced all Prime Video subscribers onto a new ad-based subscription tier in January 2024 unless users paid more for their subscription type. Now, the tech giant is reportedly showing twice as many ads to subscribers as it did when it started selling ad-based streaming subscriptions.

Currently, anyone who signs up for Amazon Prime (which is $15 per month or $139 per year) gets Prime Video with ads. If they don’t want to see commercials, they have to pay an extra $3 per month. One can also subscribe to Prime Video alone for $9 per month with ads or $12 per month without ads.

When Amazon originally announced the ad tier, it said it would deliver “meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.” Based on “six ad buyers and documents” ad trade publication AdWeek reported viewing, Amazon has determined the average is four to six minutes of advertisements per hour.

“Prime Video ad load has gradually increased to four to six minutes per hour,” an Amazon representative said via email to an ad buyer this month, AdWeek reported.

That would mean that Prime Video subscribers are spending significantly more time sitting through ads than they did at the launch of Prime Video with ads. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) at the time, which cited an Amazon presentation it said it reviewed, “the average ad load at launch was two to three-and-a-half minutes.” However, when reached for comment, an Amazon Ads representative told Ars Technica that the WSJ didn’t confirm that figure directly with Amazon.

Amazon’s Ads spokesperson, however, declined to specify to Ars how many ads Amazon typically shows to Prime Videos subscribers today or in the past.

Instead, they shared a statement saying:

We remain focused on prioritizing ad innovation over volume. While demand continues to grow, our commitment is to improving ad experiences rather than simply increasing the number of ads shown. Since the beginning of this year alone, we’ve announced multiple capabilities, including Brand+, Complete TV, and new ad formats—all designed to deliver industry-leading relevancy and enhanced customer experiences. We will continue to invest in this important work, creating meaningful innovations that benefit both customers and advertisers alike.

Kendra Tang, programmatic supervisor at ad firm Rain the Growth Agency, told AdWeek that Amazon “told us the ad load would be increasing” and that she’s seen more ad opportunities made available in Amazon’s ad system.

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HP reveals first Google Beam 3D video conferencing setup, priced at $25,000

Amid all the Gemini hype at Google I/O last month, the company also turned one of its experiments into a (kind of) real product. Project Starline was reborn as Google Beam, a 3D video conferencing system that makes it look like you’re in the same room with the other party. Google said HP would reveal the first Beam setup, and now it has. The HP Dimension is coming this year, and the price tag is a predictably hefty $24,999.

Google Beam calls for a lot of advanced hardware, so the high price isn’t a surprise. The HP Dimension uses six high-speed cameras positioned around the display to capture the speaker from multiple angles. This visual data is then fed into Google’s proprietary volumetric video model, which merges the streams together into a 3D reconstruction of the speaker.

Eventually, there will be Beam systems of various sizes, but the HP model comes with a big 65-inch display. All Beam systems will use light field screen technology, which can show the volumetric model in 3D, eliminating the need to wear a headset or glasses for the 3D effect. Google says Beam can show minute details at 60 fps with millimeter-scale precision.

Obscene price tag aside, Google Beam is impressive technology. We got a glimpse of it at Google I/O, and it really does look like the person you’re talking to is on the other side of the table. Google and HP claim that Beam’s 3D video makes meetings more efficient, with better display of non-verbal cues and participants experiencing improved recall of details versus a regular 2D chat. Google also promises its Meet-based live translation features will come to Beam later.

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The new version of Audi’s best-selling Q5 SUV arrives in the US


The driving dynamics are improved, and there’s plenty of tech to play with.

A white Audi Q5 parked on some dirt next to some trees

This is the third-generation Audi Q5. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

This is the third-generation Audi Q5. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

ASPEN, Colo.—There’s a lot riding on Audi’s next Q5. The model has been Audi’s bread and butter here since the model went on sale in the US in 2009, as tastes changed and sedans fell out of favor. The third-generation Q5 is built on an all-new platform and is one of a new generation of software-defined vehicles that’s meant to ditch a lot of legacy crud for a clean sheet approach. You would have known all of that from our look at the new Q5 in a studio last year, when Audi briefed us on its new platform. What you wouldn’t have known from that piece is how it drives, particularly on US roads. The answer is: surprisingly well.

PPC

Just a few years ago, the world’s big car brands were telling us that soon everyone would be driving electric cars, and that it would be wonderful. Things haven’t quite panned out the way people thought they might when prognosticating in 2018, though. Electric powertrains have yet to reach price parity, in many places infrastructure still lags, and so automakers are developing new combustion-powered vehicles, particularly for markets like the US, where adoption remains far behind Europe or China.

For Audi and the other premium brands within the Volkswagen Group empire, that’s a new platform called PPC, or Premium Platform Combustion. PPC will provide the bones for new vehicles in a range of sizes and shapes, the same way the MLB (and MLB Evo) platforms have done until now. In a week, you can read about the A5, for example, but as the sales figures show, SUVs are what people want, so the Q5 comes first.

And this is the third-generation Audi SQ5. Jonathan Gitlin

To begin with, the US will get just two choices of powertrain. The Q5, which starts at $52,200, is powered by a 2.0 L turbocharged, direct-injection four-cylinder engine, which generates 268 hp (200 kW) and 295 lb-ft (400 Nm), which is sent to all four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The SQ5 is the fancier, more powerful version. This starts at $64,800, and its 3.0 L turbocharged, direct-injection V6 provides 362 hp (270 kW) and 406 lb-ft (550 Nm), again to all four wheels via a seven-speed DCT.

At some point Audi will likely put a plug-in hybrid powertrain in the Q5, but there’s no guarantee it would come to the US, particularly if the US government remains hostile to both foreign trade and environmental protection. Audi sells a 48 V mild hybrid Q5—essentially a powerful starter motor—in Europe but currently has no plans to bring that version to the US. Happily for those looking for an entirely electric Audi midsize SUV, the Q6 e-tron is ready and waiting.

But you can get the Q5, and the SQ5, in a pair of different body styles. As before, Audi has a Sportback variant, which trades the upright rear hatch for a more sloping roofline. What the Sportback loses in rear headroom, it makes up for in style but should drive the exact same way. In Colorado, Audi only had the regular SUVs for us to test.

Software-defined vehicles

Although the Q5 and Q6 e-tron don’t share a common platform, they do share a common electronic architecture. Gone are the days of CANBUS and a hundred or more discrete black boxes and ECUs, each with a single function. Instead, it’s an entirely clean-sheet approach known as a software-defined vehicle, where a handful of powerful computers are each responsible for controlling a different domain, in this case vehicle dynamics, driver assists, infotainment, climate, and convenience, all tied together by Ethernet, with a backbone computer overseeing it all.

VW Group bit off a bit more than it could chew and tried simultaneously developing not one but two SDV architectures, before realizing no one wanted to work on the one the company actually needed sooner. That architecture is called E3 1.2, and with a bit of focus, VW Group’s software division has gotten it out the door.

I feel like Audi has taken a step back in terms of HMI for this latest generation of user interfaces. And why can’t I put a map display here? Audi

The practical upshot of SDVs, unlike older cars with their single-function black boxes, is that everything on an SDV should be updatable. The flip side is the potential for more bugs, although I can report that the Q5s and SQ5s we encountered in Colorado felt much more mature, software-wise, than the somewhat buggy preproduction cars using E3 1.2 that we drove in mid-2024.

As for VW’s future SDV architecture, it might well come from Rivian instead of its in-house division. Last summer, VW Group invested $5 billion in Rivian to gain access to the startup’s SDV technology.

As part of E3 1.2, the Q5 gets the latest version of Audi’s MMI infotainment, which now uses Android Automotive OS. There’s a more powerful voice assistant, triggered by “Hey, Audi,” that uses natural language processing that’s able to easily understand me, and which I think provides a good alternative to using a touchscreen while driving. I lament the lack of customizability, particularly in the main driver display and the fact that you can no longer display a map there, despite that being a feature Audi pioneered.

You can also add a second infotainment screen for the passenger, although only by ticking the box for the Prestige trim, which adds $8,400 to the price of a Q5, or $6,400 to the price of an SQ5. More on this later.

The driving experience: Q5

We began our day in the Q5, albeit one fitted with the optional air suspension and 20-inch wheels (18-inch wheels are standard, and 19-inch wheels are also available). Despite the altitude, there was more than sufficient power and torque to move the Q5’s 4,244 lb (1,925 kg) curb weight—forced induction providing the same benefit here as it did for piston-engined aircraft a century ago or more. At sea level, you could expect to reach 60 mph in 5.8 seconds, or 100 km/h in 6.2 seconds, according to Audi.

There’s plenty of storage places, and all the bits you touch feel pleasant under hand. Audi

There’s a new drive mode called Balanced, which fits between Comfort and Dynamic; on the road this mode is well-named as it indeed provides a good balance between ride comfort and responsiveness, with just enough but not too much weight to the steering. There’s also an individual mode that lets you pick and choose your own suspension, transmission, and steering settings, plus off-road and off-road plus modes, which we’ll encounter again later.

In fact, for a midsize crossover, the Q5 proved quite engaging from behind the wheel. It doesn’t lean too much when cornering, although if you plan to negotiate a sequence of twisty tarmac, the lower ride height in Dynamic mode, plus the firmer air springs, is definitely the way to go. When you’re not in a hurry or grinding along the highway, the ride is comfortable, and up front, there is little road noise thanks to some acoustic glass. I would like to try a car fitted with the conventional steel springs, however.

The cockpit layout is similar to the electric Q6 e-tron, with the same “digital stage” that includes a second infotainment screen for the passenger. But the materials here feel of a higher quality—my guess is that weight saving was much less of a concern for the gasoline-powered Q5 than the battery-carrying Q6. There is plenty of cargo room in the back, and perhaps a little more rear legroom than the photo would suggest—38 inches (965 mm), according to the spec sheet.

The driving experience: SQ5

The SQ5 can be specced with Nappa leather. Audi

The second half of our day was spent in the SQ5, most of it above 10,000 feet (3 km). Even in the thin air, the car was responsive, with the extra power and torque over the Q5 quite apparent. Audi was evidently confident in the SQ5, since our drive route included more than an hour on unpaved roads. None of the cars, all equipped with 21-inch wheels and lower-profile tires, had any trouble with punctures, and the off-road plus mode, which raises up the suspension, changes the throttle mapping, and disables the stability control, coped perfectly well over stretches of road that few luxury SUVs will ever face. I can report that as occupants, we weren’t even particularly jostled.

I liked the way the SQ5 sounded, particularly in Dynamic, and it’s engaging enough to drive that you’d take the long way home in it, despite being an SUV. However, it’s also deceptively quick, in part thanks to being quiet and refined inside. There’s a lack of intrusion from the outside environment that removes the noise and vibrations associated with speed, so you can look at the dash or heads-up display and see you’re 20 mph faster than you thought. That’s not great when mountain roads with no guard rails trigger your fear of heights, but the fact that I’m writing this means it ended OK.

They make you pay

I enjoyed driving both the Q5 and SQ5, but as is always the case on first drives for the media, we were presented with very well-equipped examples to test. For example, the great ride I experienced with the Q5 requires the $8,400 Prestige pack, which also adds the acoustic glass that made it so quiet inside. That’s also the only way to get heated rear seats and ventilated front seats, the clever OLED tail lights, or the second display for the passenger. (On the SQ5 the Prestige pack is only $6,400, since air suspension is standard on all SQ5s, and adds Nappa leather as well.)

A pair of Audi Q5s parked by some mountain scenery

With scenery like this, who needs to look at cars? Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

Some other features that I expected would be standard were instead behind the Premium Plus pack—$4,500 for the Q5 and $3,500 for the SQ5. I would expect the high-resolution, full-color heads-up display to be an extra, but you also have to tick this option if you want USB-C ports (2 x 60 W in the front, 2 x 100 W in the rear) in the car. And you probably do.

Photo of Jonathan M. Gitlin

Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica’s automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC.

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5 things in Trump’s budget that won’t make NASA great again

If signed into law as written, the White House’s proposal to slash nearly 25 percent from NASA’s budget would have some dire consequences.

It would cut the agency’s budget from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion. Adjusted for inflation, this would be the smallest NASA budget since 1961, when the first American launched into space.

The proposed funding plan would halve NASA’s funding for robotic science missions and technology development next year, scale back research on the International Space Station, turn off spacecraft already exploring the Solar System, and cancel NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft after two more missions in favor of procuring lower-cost commercial transportation to the Moon and Mars.

The SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft have been targets for proponents of commercial spaceflight for several years. They are single-use, and their costs are exorbitant, with Moon missions on SLS and Orion projected to cost more than $4 billion per flight. That price raises questions about whether these vehicles will ever be able to support a lunar space station or Moon base where astronauts can routinely rotate in and out on long-term expeditions, like researchers do in Antarctica today.

Reusable rockets and spaceships offer a better long-term solution, but they won’t be ready to ferry people to the Moon for a while longer. The Trump administration proposes flying SLS and Orion two more times on NASA’s Artemis II and Artemis III missions, then retiring the vehicles. Artemis II’s rocket is currently being assembled at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for liftoff next year, carrying a crew of four around the far side of the Moon. Artemis III would follow with the first attempt to land humans on the Moon since 1972.

The cuts are far from law

Every part of Trump’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 remains tentative. Lawmakers in each house of Congress will write their own budget bills, which must go to the White House for Trump’s signature. A Senate bill released last week includes language that would claw back funding for SLS and Orion to support the Artemis IV and Artemis V missions.

5 things in Trump’s budget that won’t make NASA great again Read More »

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False claims that ivermectin treats cancer, COVID lead states to pass OTC laws

Doctors told the Times that they have already seen some cases where patients with treatable, early-stage cancers have delayed effective treatments to try ivermectin, only to see no effect and return to their doctor’s office with cancers that have advanced.

Risky business

Nevertheless, the malignant misinformation on social media has made its way into state legislatures. According to an investigation by NBC News published Monday, 16 states have proposed or passed legislation that would make ivermectin available over the counter. The intention is to make it much easier for people to get ivermectin and use it for any ailment they believe it can cure.

Idaho, Arkansas, and Tennessee have passed laws to make ivermectin available over the counter. On Monday, Louisiana’s state legislature passed a bill to do the same, and it now awaits signing by the governor. The other states that have considered or are considering such bills include: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and West Virginia.

State laws don’t mean the dewormer would be readily available, however; ivermectin is still regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, and it has not been approved for over-the-counter use yet. NBC News called 15 independent pharmacies in the three states that have laws on the books allowing ivermectin to be sold over the counter (Idaho, Arkansas, and Tennessee) and couldn’t find a single pharmacist who would sell it without a prescription. Pharmacists pointed to the federal regulations.

Likewise, CVS Health said its pharmacies are not currently selling ivermectin over the counter in any state. Walgreens declined to comment.

Some states, such as Alabama, have considered legislation that would protect pharmacists from any possible disciplinary action for dispensing ivermectin without a prescription. However, one pharmacist in Idaho, who spoke with NBC News, said that such protection would still not be enough. As a prescription-only drug, ivermectin is not packaged for retail sale. If it were, it would include over-the-counter directions and safety statements written specifically for consumers.

“If you dispense something that doesn’t have directions or safety precautions on it, who’s ultimately liable if that causes harm?” the pharmacist said. “I don’t know that I would want to assume that risk.”

It’s a risk people on social media don’t seem to be concerned with.

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Review: The John Wick franchise is alive and kicking with Ballerina

Ballerina has all the eye-popping visuals, lavish sets, and spectacularly inventive stuntwork one would expect from a film set in the John Wick universe. It’s a more tightly plotted than recent entries in the franchise, and the globe-trotting locations make narrative sense; it’s not just an excuse for staging a spectacle (not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that).

[WARNING: A couple of significant spoilers below. Do not proceed if you haven’t the seen the film.]

This was Lance Reddick’s final appearance as the concierge Charon. Lionsgate

As always, the fight choreography is perfection. Eve is smaller than most of the men she takes on, but that doesn’t make her any less deadly, particularly when she’s more than willing to fight dirty—and pretty skilled at making lethal weapons out of, say, a random pair of ice skates. A fight scene with dueling flame throwers is one for the ages. It’s a genuine shame that Ballerina‘s highly skilled stunt team isn’t eligible for the new Oscar category honoring stunt work.

I do have a couple of minor quibbles. While any appearance of Keanu Reeves’ John Wick is always welcome, it’s not clear why the Ruska Roma would send him to take out Eve when she defies direct orders. This all occurs during the events of Parabellum, and we’ve already seen Wick “punch his ticket” with the Director to escape New York City with a contract on his head. Are we supposed to believe that he found time during all those Parabellum shootouts for a brief stopover in a remote alpine village to engage in a spot of target practice?

The other quibble is more of a missed opportunity. One of the Chancellor’s minions is an assassin named Lena (Catalina Sandino Moreno), who turns out to be Eve’s long-lost sister. But their reunion is short-lived. Once the Chancellor realizes Lena will balk at killing her own sister, he gives the order to take them both out, and Lena dies protecting Eve. I understand that John Wick movies are about the violence, but giving this character and her connection to Eve a bit more time to develop would have given Ballerina a bit of emotional depth. Lena deserved to be more than momentary cannon fodder. On the whole, however, Ballerina is an immensely entertaining and action-packed addition to the franchise.

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is now playing in theaters. The finale leaves things open for a sequel, and I think de Armas (and Eve) deserve the chance to continue their story. Here’s hoping.

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