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Minecraft Enters Real World With $110 Million Global Theme Park Deal

Slashdot.org - Tue, 11/19/2024 - 16:21
An anonymous reader shares a report: The global gaming phenomenon Minecraft is coming to the real world for the first time in a global deal to open themed rides, attractions, hotel rooms and retail outlets, starting with the UK and US. Minecraft has struck a deal with UK-headquartered Merlin Entertainments -- Europe's largest theme park operator and the second biggest globally after Disney -- which runs more than 135 attractions in 23 countries including Alton Towers, Legoland, Sea Life, Madame Tussauds and the London Eye. Under the terms of the deal, Merlin will invest more than $110 million in the first two attractions. They are due to open in the UK and the US in 2026 and 2027, in either an existing theme park or as new city centre attractions. Over the longer term the two companies plan to expand the strategic partnership, which is called "Adventures Made Real," to other countries and territories. Minecraft is the bestselling video game of all time, with 140 million players each month, in territories as disparate as Antarctica and Vatican City, and there are more than 1.3 trillion videos posted by game players on YouTube.

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Microsoft Rolls Out Recovery Tools After CrowdStrike Incident

Slashdot.org - Tue, 11/19/2024 - 15:42
Microsoft has announced sweeping changes to Windows security architecture, including new recovery capabilities designed to prevent system-wide outages following July's CrowdStrike incident that disabled 8.5 million Windows devices. The Windows Resiliency Initiative introduces Quick Machine Recovery, allowing IT administrators to remotely fix unbootable systems through an enhanced Windows Recovery Environment. Microsoft is also mandating stricter testing and deployment practices for security vendors under its Microsoft Virus Initiative, including gradual rollouts and monitoring procedures. The company is also developing a framework to move antivirus processing outside the Windows kernel, with a preview planned for security partners in July 2025.

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The US Patent and Trademark Office Banned Staff From Using Generative AI

Slashdot.org - Tue, 11/19/2024 - 15:01
An anonymous reader shares a report: The US Patent and Trademark Office banned the use of generative artificial intelligence for any purpose last year, citing security concerns with the technology as well as the propensity of some tools to exhibit "bias, unpredictability, and malicious behavior," according to an April 2023 internal guidance memo obtained by WIRED through a public records request. Jamie Holcombe, the chief information officer of the USPTO, wrote that the office is "committed to pursuing innovation within our agency" but are still "working to bring these capabilities to the office in a responsible way." Paul Fucito, press secretary for the USPTO, clarified to WIRED that employees can use "state-of-the-art generative AI models" at work -- but only inside the agency's internal testing environment. "Innovators from across the USPTO are now using the AI Lab to better understand generative AI's capabilities and limitations and to prototype AI-powered solutions to critical business needs," Fucito wrote in an email.

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Indian News Agency Sues OpenAI Alleging Copyright Infringement

Slashdot.org - Tue, 11/19/2024 - 14:21
One of India's largest news agencies, Asian News International, has sued OpenAI in a case that could set a precedent for how AI companies use copyrighted news content in the world's most populous nation. From a report: Asian News International filed a 287-page lawsuit in the Delhi High Court on Monday, alleging the AI company illegally used its content to train its AI models and generated false information attributed to the news agency. The case marks the first time an Indian media organization has taken legal action against OpenAI over copyright claims.

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Pokemon Go Players Have Unwittingly Trained AI To Navigate the World

Slashdot.org - Tue, 11/19/2024 - 13:43
Augmented reality gaming company Niantic plans to develop an AI system for navigating physical spaces using data from millions of unsuspecting players of its games "Pokemon Go" and "Ingress," the company announced in a blog post. The "Large Geospatial Model" (LGM), named after language models like GPT, will process geolocated images to predict and understand physical environments.

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