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“The Twilight Zone” moment: A Michigan grad student was chatting with Google’s Gemini chatbot about homework. Out of nowhere, the bot said, “You are a burden on society … Please die. Please.” Google’s response? Large-language models can sometimes produce nonsensical responses, and this was just one of those instances.
Tags: AI (artificial intelligence), Gemini, Google, Michigan
Still stuck in election season on your social media feed? Or maybe you bought one bottle of perfume and now Big Tech thinks you’re launching a beauty empire. Algorithms are smart, but they don’t know when you’re ready to get back to your regularly scheduled programming, like cat videos and memes. Here’s how to reset your feed and take control of what you see.
🤔 Did I forget something? If your emails, blog posts, articles or any other writing feel off, ask ChatGPT to check for holes or confusion. Try this prompt: “Could you critique my writing and see if anything is missing?” Another set of (virtual) eyes will save you time.
No “regerts”: The next time you make a typo on your phone, try this trick instead of tapping backspace a bunch. On Android and iPhone, press and hold the spacebar until your keyboard goes away. Without letting go, move your finger until your cursor lands where you want to edit. Done!
For you, Android pals: Files by Google is seriously underrated. It’s an easy way to view all your images, videos, apps and other files and clear out the junk quickly. Try this: Tap the three-dot menu > Clean. Here, you can delete duplicates, old screenshots, blurry pics and large files with just a click.
Deals without tracking: Download your grocery store’s app for the best possible prices. No one says you have to use your real email address and phone number if you’re not into the data collection. Make a burner account!
Ctrl + Alt + Del: Windows people know that’s how you force-quit apps, and it’s just as easy on a Mac. Press and hold Cmd + Q to close the app that’s not responding. Another method: Right-click on the app’s icon and choose Quit from the dropdown menu. Bye-bye, spinning wheel of death.
Windows 11 smarts: “Quick settings” lets you control Airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Battery-saver mode and lots more, all in one place. To open it, left-click on the taskbar where the speaker icon is. To edit what you see, click the pencil icon. Unpin anything you don’t use. Easy-peasy.
Hide-and-seek: You’re shopping online for your kiddo or spouse and they walk in. Quick! Hide your open browser windows. On a PC: Windows key + M. (Use Windows key + Shift + M to reopen.) On a Mac: Cmd + Option + H + M. Phew, no spoilers.
New to the Apple App Store: Google Gemini for iPhone. The AI chatbot has a leg up on ChatGPT in one big way: It links to Google apps like Mail, Maps, Calendar and YouTube. Open the Gemini for iPhone app, tap your profile icon at the top right corner and select Extensions. Toggle on any apps you want to link all in one place.
