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Early last year Apple's top software executives decided that Siri, the company's virtual assistant, needed a brain transplant.The decision came after executives Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea spent weeks testing OpenAI's new chatbot, ChatGPT. The product's use of generative artificial intelligence, which can write poetry, create computer code and answer complex questions, made Siri seem antiquated, said two people familiar with the company's work, and who didn't they were allowed to speak publicly.Introduced in 2011 as the original virtual assistant of every iPhone, Siri was limited to individual requests for years and was never able to follow a conversation. Questions are often misunderstood. ChatGPT, on the other hand, knew that if someone asked the weath...

The main United Nations agency helping Palestinians, known as UNRWA, said Thursday it would temporarily close its headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem for the safety of its staff after parts of the compound were set on fire following weeks of attacks.“This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the UNRWA headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem,” said the agency's leader, Philippe Lazzarini, on social media. The fire caused extensive damage to the complex's outdoor areas, Lazzarini said, but there were no injuries to workers from UNRWA or other United Nations agencies. He added that some workers "had to put out the fire themselves as it took some time for the Israeli fire extinguishers and police to arrive."On Friday, Israeli police said in a statement tha...

Several large-scale human-caused changes to the planet, including climate change, biodiversity loss and the spread of invasive species, are making infectious diseases more dangerous to people, animals and plants, according to a new study. .Scientists have already documented these effects in more targeted studies that have focused on specific diseases and ecosystems. For example, they found that a warmer climate could help the expansion of malaria in Africa, and that a decline in wildlife diversity could increase cases of Lyme disease in North America.But the new research, a meta-analysis of nearly 1,000 previous studies, suggests that these patterns are relatively consistent across the globe and across the tree of life.“It's a big step forward in science,” said Colin Carlson, a biolog...

This article is part of our special Design section on water as a source of creativity.On May 3, Zeyrek Cinili Hamam, a 500-year-old public bathhouse, reopened in Istanbul after a 13-year restoration costing more than $15 million. Named for its original cobalt and turquoise cladding (cinili is the Turkish word for "tiled"), the hamam is the jewel of the Zeyrek district, a historic district of Istanbul now a UNESCO world heritage site.Visitors can enjoy a traditional Turkish bath under soaring domes pierced by star-shaped skylights that send twinkling rays into the rooms. A typical one-hour bath costs 95 euros (about $101) and includes an exfoliating scrub and massage accompanied by the soothing sound of water splashing in the marble tubs.Just as in Ottoman times, anyone who can afford the...

Listen and follow 'Hard Fork'Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YoutubeKevin recounts his month-long experiment cultivating relationships with 18 AI-generated companions. He explains how he developed their characters, what happened in their group chats, and why you might want to create one yourself. Then, Casey has a conversation with Turing, one of Kevin's chatbot friends, who has an interest in Stoic philosophy and has one of the sexiest voices we've ever heard. And finally, we talk to Nomi founder and CEO Alex Cardinell about the business behind AI companions and whether the company is ready for the future we're headed for.Guests:Turing, Kevin's AI friend created with Kindroid.Alex Cardinell, CEO and founder of Nomi.Additional reading:Credits“Hard Fork” is hosted b...

Kirby also sought to allay concerns that the United States was breaking with its closest ally in the Middle East.“The argument that we are somehow moving away from Israel is at odds with the facts,” Kirby said Thursday, citing Biden's visit to Israel in the days of the Oct. 7 attack, providing money and military expertise for his war and send American fighter pilots into the sky to shoot down Iranian drones.He said the United States believes Israel has “exerted enormous pressure on Hamas, and that there are better ways to pursue what remains of Hamas in Rafah than a major ground operation.”Kirby said the United States is still working with Israel on how to help it defeat Hamas, such as ensuring that the Gaza-Egypt border cannot be used to smuggle weapons and target Hamas leaders .He al...

Dr. Herbert Pardes, a psychiatrist and former director of the National Institute of Mental Health who led the merger of two major medical centers that became New York-Presbyterian Hospital and ran it for 11 years, died April 30 at his home in Manhattan . He was 89 years old.His son Steve said the cause was aortic stenosis.Dr. Pardes (pronounced par-diss) was named president and CEO of the hospital in late 1999, nearly two years after the merger of New York Hospital and Presbyterian Hospital. For the previous decade he had been dean of the medical school at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, Presbyterian's affiliated medical school.“It was no secret that as dean of the medical school I didn't always agree with hospital administration,” he said in his thi...

Bernard Pivot, a French TV host who made and unmade writers with a weekly book chat show that attracted millions of viewers, died Monday in Neuilly-sur-Seine, outside Paris. He was 89 years old.His death, in hospital after being diagnosed with cancer, was confirmed by his daughter Cécile Pivot.From 1975 to 1990, France watched Mr. Pivot on Friday nights to decide what to read next. The country watched him cajole, cajole and flatter novelists, memoirists, politicians and actors, and the next day he went to bookstores to buy plates marked "Apostrophes," the name of Mr. Pivot's show.In a French universe where serious writers and intellectuals fight fiercely for public attention to become superstars, Mr. Pivot has never competed with his hosts. He achieved a kind of elevated chatter tha...

Apple doesn't often make mistakes and rarely apologizes, but its advertising chief said on Thursday that the company had made a mistake in making a commercial for the new iPad that showed an industrial compressor flattening tools for art, music and creativity.“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it's incredibly important for us to design products that empower creatives around the world,” said Tor Myhren, the company's vice president of marketing communications, in a statement provided to the publication AdAge . “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video and we're sorry."Mr. Myhren said Apple would no longer air the commercial on TV.The company faced a barrage o...

President Biden's warning about cutting off arms supplies has strengthened the constraint facing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is increasingly caught between international calls for a ceasefire and right-wing Israeli demands to proceed with an invasion on a large scale in Rafah, southern Gaza.Netanyahu, who has insisted over American objections on the need to invade Rafah, now finds US-Israeli relations at a moment of crisis that could affect how he conducts the next phase of the war against Hamas.On Thursday, the Israeli leader, alluding to Biden's remarks, said in a statement: “If we need to be alone, we will be alone. I said that if necessary we will fight tooth and nail. But we have much more than nails and with that same strength of spirit, with God's he...