Consumer AI

How one system's collapse revealed the risks students already face.

Google has officially acknowledged the upcoming merger of Android and Chromebooks, and it may be coming in 2026.

CC is our new experimental AI productivity agent from Google Labs, built with Gemini to help you stay organized and get things done. When you sign up, it connects your Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive and the wider web to gain an understanding of your day, delivering a “Your Day Ahead” briefing to your inbox every morning.This briefing synthesizes your schedule, key tasks and updates into one clear summary, so you know what needs to be done next, whether it's paying a bill or preparing for an appointment. CC also prepares email drafts and calendar links when needed to help you take action quickly. Plus, you can steer CC by replying or emailing directly with custom requests, teaching it things about yourself or asking it to remember ideas and todos.CC is an early Labs experiment, launching in early access today to Google consumer account users 18+ in the U.S. and Canada, starting with Google AI Ultra and paid subscribers. Join the waitlist by signing up on our website.

Quilter says its AI designed a complex Linux single-board computer in just one week, booting Debian on first power-up. "Holy crap, it's working," exclaimed one of the engineers. Tom's Hardware reports: LA-based startup Quilter has outlined Project Speedrun, which marks a milestone in computer desig...

The Wall Street Journal reports that 68% of CEOs "plan to spend even more on AI in 2026, according to an annual survey of more than 350 public-company CEOs from advisory firm Teneo." And yet "less than half of current AI projects had generated more in returns than they had cost, respondents said."...

A new report says the race to build data centers amid booming AI demand is a serious threat to the world’s water supply.

They called it “minimalist guardrails” that should set a standard.

Adobe is integrating Photoshop, Express, and Acrobat directly into ChatGPT so users can edit photos, design graphics, and tweak PDFs through the chatbot. The Verge reports: The Adobe apps are free to use, and can be activated by typing the name of the app alongside an uploaded file and conversation...

Google's Gemini is on pace to push Copilot into third place.Microsoft has cut its sales targets for its agentic AI software after struggling to find buyers interested in using it. In some cases, …

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/6989654 [https://hexbear.net/post/6989654] cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/12537 [https://news.abolish.capital/post/12537] [https://lemmy.zip/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhexbear.net%2Fapi%2Fv3%2Fimage_proxy%3Furl%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.commondreams.org%252Fmedia-library%252Fmiami-doral-florida-walmart-supercenter-self-checkout-lane-close-view-customer-scanning-fresh-fruit-apple-produce.jpg%253Fid%253D62296356%2526width%253D1200%2526height%253D400%2526coordinates%253D0%25252C379%25252C0%25252C288] Consumer advocates on Tuesday called on the Federal Trade Commission and state officials to investigate artificial intelligence-enabled pricing experiments used by Instacart, the grocery shopping app millions of Americans rely on, that charge up to 23% more for some shoppers than others when they buy the same item at the same store. Consumer Reports joined the advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative and the labor-focused media organization More Perfect Union to uncover [https://groundworkcollaborative.org/news/new-report-exposes-instacarts-hidden-price-games/] Instacart’s pricing experiments enabled by Eversight, an AI pricing software that Instacart acquired in 2022. The company’s CEO said last year that the experiments have helped the company “to really figure out which categories of products our customers [are] more price sensitive on"—in other words, to tailor prices based on a customer’s shopping habits, whether they’re near a competing store, and other factors. The groups’ study, Same Cart, Different Price [https://groundworkcollaborative.org/work/instacart/], describes how researchers ran five tests with 437 participants, studying the prices of a basket of items bought at two Target stores and three Safeway stores using Instacart. In one test at a Safeway in Washington, DC, shoppers logged on to the app to buy a carton of eggs from the same brand at the same time and found that the price they were given varied widely. Some shoppers were charged just $3.99 for the eggs, while others saw a price as high as $4.79—20% higher. Shoppers at a Safeway in Seattle saw a 23% difference in prices for Skippy peanut butter, Oscar Mayer turkey, and Wheat Thins crackers. At two different Safeways in Washington, DC, Instacart quoted shoppers at one store a price that was 23% higher than at another for Signature Select Corn Flakes. “It’s time for Instacart to close the lab. Americans shopping for groceries aren’t guinea pigs and shouldn’t have to pay an Instacart tax.” For the same basket of groceries, shoppers at the Seattle store were asked to pay as much as $123.93, while others were charged just $114.34. “The average price variations observed in the study could cost a household of four about $1,200 per year,” said Groundwork. Justin Brookman, director of tech policy at Consumer Reports, said [https://groundworkcollaborative.org/news/new-report-exposes-instacarts-hidden-price-games/] Instacart’s tactics “hurt families who are simply trying to purchase essential groceries.” “At a time when everyday Americans are struggling with high prices, it is particularly egregious to see corporations secretly conducting individual experiments to see how much a person is willing to pay,” said Brookman. “Companies must be transparent and upfront with people about pricing, so that they can make informed choices and keep more of their hard-earned money. We encourage the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to investigate Instacart’s pricing tactics.” Groundwork noted that Instcart’s website acknowledges that it runs price tests, but states that “shoppers are not aware that they’re in an experiment” and are having their grocery prices selected for them via algorithm. While Instacart has claimed its price experiments are “negligible,” the groups emphasized that they’re being used “against the backdrop of the fastest increase in food prices since the late 1970s.” After previous reporting on companies’ use of “shrinkflation [https://www.commondreams.org/news/shrinkflation],” “dynamic pricing [https://www.commondreams.org/news/kroger-ai],” and other practices [https://www.commondreams.org/news/corporate-profits] that keep prices high even as pandemic-era labor and supply chain issues have subsided, “today’s report shows Instacart’s experiments are yet another way corporate pricing tactics are squeezing American families,” said Groundwork. The study did not find evidence that Instacart is giving shoppers different prices based on their ZIP code or income, as companies like Amazon, Delta Air Lines, and Home Deport have been accused of doing. But the groups said Eversight gives the company the capability to use that data to make pricing decisions tailored to particular shoppers. “Instacart is quietly running pricing experiments on millions of shoppers during the worst grocery affordability crisis in a generation, and it’s costing households as much as $1,200 a year,” said Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens. “They have turned the simple act of buying groceries into a high-tech game of pricing roulette. When the same box of Wheat Thins can jump 23% in price because of an algorithm, that’s not innovation or convenience, it’s unfair. It’s time for Instacart to close the lab. Americans shopping for groceries aren’t guinea pigs and shouldn’t have to pay an Instacart tax.” The groups credited some state and federal lawmakers who have begun to take notice of pricing practices like Instacart’s; US Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) introduced [https://www.commondreams.org/news/casar-tlaib-ai-price-gouging] the Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act in July with the aim of prohibiting the use of automated systems to set prices. New York has enacted the first-of-its-kind Algorithmic Pricing Disclosure Act, which requires companies to prominently disclose to customers, “This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data” when they use methods like Instacart’s. Other state legislation has been introduced in Colorado, California, and Pennsylvania to ban the use of surveillance to set prices. The groups called on the FTC to take action under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which bans “unfair methods of competition.” Those could include “‘price discrimination not justified by differences in cost or distribution,’ which appears to match Instacart’s pricing experiments and fluctuations,” the report reads. The FTC could also bring enforcement cases or initiate rulemaking to officially label AI-enabled pricing strategies as an “unfair or deceptive practice,” affirming that companies who use them are breaking a consumer protection standard. “Fair and honest markets are the bedrock of a healthy economy,” reads Tuesday’s report. “Companies like Instacart offer great convenience, but they are increasingly pursuing corporate pricing practices that unfairly decouple the price of a product from its true cost. As more consumers learn about, and decry, these practices, perhaps companies will change course. But if they do not, policymakers should intervene and require them to change their practices.” — From Common Dreams [https://www.commondreams.org/feeds/news.rss] via This RSS Feed [https://www.commondreams.org/feeds/news.rss].

Force Remove Copilot, Recall and More in Windows 11 - zoicware/RemoveWindowsAI

Microsoft is building Copilot into every product it owns, while Google is integrating its Gemini LLM tool into all of its properties. To determine which tool is better, I came up with seven …

: Analysts worry lazy users could have agents complete mandatory infosec training, and attackers could do far nastier things

I’m the first to admit I’m a Luddite. It’s an odd thing for a tech journalist to say, but it’s the truth.I rely heavily on pen and paper for my notes and research, and I only recently discovered the …

If you use AI chatbots for anything remotely sensitive — finances, health questions, job concerns, parenting, relationships — choosing the right one matters more than you think. Every LLM handles …

Advanced Excel secrets unlocked with NotebookLM

: All those new features won’t fund themselves