Archive for the ‘Free Software’ Category

How To Find Alternatives To ChatGPT Forbes Advisor Australia – Forbes

If youre considering an alternative to ChatGPT, weve done the research for you. Here are a few AI programs that rival ChatGPT.

For comparison on cost, ChatGPT is free for general use, with a premium subscription plan costing $US20 ($30.49) per month. Its worth noting that the premium tier is billed as more accurate than the free version.

Related: AI Stocks On The ASX: A Guide To Investing

Google launched Bard, its own AI chatbot owned by Alphabet (Googles parent company) earlier this year. According to Google, Bard sought to combine the breadth of the worlds knowledge with the power, intelligence and creativity of our large language models, referring to it as an experimental conversational tool.

A few months after launching, the softwares capabilities were enhanced, with Bard now adding logic, math and coding capabilities to its linguistic skills. Bard was initially only available to the US and the UK, but by May, it was available in more than 180 countries worldwideincluding Australia.

Cost: Free. Google says that there are currently no plans to make this a paid product

Related: Googles Bard Is Now Available In Australia. How Does It Compare To ChatGPT?

In September 2023, Microsoft announced that it was launching its own AI technology.

We are entering a new era of AI, one that is fundamentally changing how we relate to and benefit from technology, the press release read.

At Microsoft, we think about this as having a copilot to help navigate any task.

Microsoft, the company maintained, had been building AI-powered copilots into its most popular products, such as Microsoft 365, Bing and other apps across PCs with Windows.

The company had decided to take the next step to unify these capabilities into a single experience with Microsoft Copilot: aka your everyday AI companion. It is available in windows 11, Microsoft 365, and in Microsofts web browser with Edge and Bing.

While it was initially only released overseas, Microsoft announced in October that a handful of Australian customers will access Microsoft 365 Copilot as part of the invitation-only global Early Access Program (EAP). It is expected to be available to the general Australian public in the near future.

Cost: US$30 ($45.72) per month

ClickUp is an AI tool that promises to help users write better and faster. Whatever your role or job function, ClickUp AI can transform the way you work, the website reads.

It states that by using research-based tools, it ensures high-quality content is produced via user-input prompts tailored to specific roles. You can also use ClickUp AU tasks for everyday written tasks like generating emails, improvising first drafts, or brainstorming, the website states.

Cost: Free for personal use; US$7 ($10.47) per month for unlimited (per user); US$12 ($18.29) per month for business (per user)

Otter AI is slightly different from ChatGPT, in that it is an AI tool focused more towards transcription than it is to production. The California-based tech company developed the software that develops speech to text transcription applications using AI and machine learning.

However, through these transcriptions, it claims it can then help you write notes and summarise meetings 30 times faster by automatically adding comments, highlighting key points and assigning action items depending on the transcription.

Cost: Free for personal use; US$10 ($15.24) per month for the Pro subscription; US$20 ($30.49) for the Business subscription.

Chatsonic is built on the GPT-4 language model and claims to be a more up-to-date AI chatbot than its rival, with direct access to Google Search. It is very similar to ChatGPT, in that its a conversational AI chatbot designed to interact with users and assist them with various tasksfrom AI text to image generation.

Chatsonic also claims its technology is the most advanced AI Chatbot in 2023. It has been developed by the technology company Writesonic, which is based in San Francisco.

Cost: Free trial plan lets you generate up to 10,000 words per month at no cost; the Long-Form plan offers up to 47,500 words for US$12.67 ($19.31) per month

Rather than focusing solely on AI-generated text, Amazon CodeWhisperer generates code suggestions from snippets to full functions in real time based on your comments and existing code. Ultimately, its a coding AI tool rather than solely a linguistic one.

As Amazon explains on its website, the tool is a general purpose, machine learning-powered code generator As you write code, CodeWhisperer automatically generates suggestions based on your existing code and comments.

Cost: Free for individual use; US$19 ($28.97) per month for professional use

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Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is now free to keep on Ubisoft Connect – OC3D

For a limited time, Ubisoft are giving away free PC copies of 2015s Assassins Creed Syndicate for free through their Ubisoft Connect client. This free game promotion will be running until December 6th, giving PC gamers a chance to see 1868s London through the eyes of twin Assassins.

While the game is from 2015, Syndicate remains visually impressive in 2023. The games interpretation of Industrial Revolution London looks incredible, and while technology has moved on, the games artistry is strong. While the games less visually impressive than its predecessor, Assassins Creed Unity, it also ran a lot better on PC and consoles at launch. If anything, Unity pushed PS4 and Xbox One too hard at launch, resulting in sub par framerates on both systems.

In Syndicate, players will control twin Assassins in the form of Jacob and Evie Frye. Jacob is a hot-headed brawler who specialises in combat, while Evie specialises in stealth and intelligence gathering. Players will control both Assassins throughout the game through linear missions and within the games large open world.

During the game, players will see historical figures like Darwin, Dickens, and even Queen Victoria. Syndicate is also the first Assassins Creed game to feature a grappling hook. On PC, Syndicate features support for Tobii Eye tracking, and PC-only graphical features like TXAA, HBAO+, and PCSS Shadows.

Unlike most newer AC games, Syndicate does not feature a levelling system or similar RPG mechanics. In many ways, Syndicate is more similar to this years AC: Mirage than it is to the games between them.

PC gamers can grab their free copy of Assassins Creed Syndicate through Ubisoft Connect. This free game promotion will end on December 6th at 1pm GMT. It is unknown if Ubisoft has any other game giveaways planned for December 2023.

You can join the discussion on Assassins Creed Syndicate being available for free on PC on the OC3D Forums.

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Assassin's Creed Syndicate is now free to keep on Ubisoft Connect - OC3D

Google Confirms Its Schedule for Disabling Third-Party Cookies in … – Slashdot

"The abolition of third-party cookies will make it possible to protect privacy-related data such as what sites users visit and what pages they view from advertising companies," notes the Japan-based site Gigazine.

And this month "Google has confirmed that it is on track to start disabling third-party cookies across its Chrome browser in a matter of weeks," writes TechRadar: An internal email published online sees Google software engineer Johann Hofmann share with colleagues the company's plan to switch off third-party cookies for 1% of Chrome users from Q1 2024 a plan that was shared months ago and that, surprisingly, remains on track, given the considerable pushbacks so far... Hofmann explains that Google is still awaiting a UK Competition and Markets Authority consultation in order to address any final concerns before "Privacy Sandbox" gets the go-ahead. The Register explores Google's "Privacy Sandbox" idea: Since 2019 after it became clear that European data protection rules would require rethinking how online ads work Google has been building a set of ostensibly privacy-preserving ad tech APIs known as the Privacy Sandbox... One element of the sandbox is the Topics API: that allows websites to ask Chrome directly what the user is interested in, based on their browser history, so that targeted ads can be shown. Thus, no need for any tracking cookies set by marketers following you around, though it means Chrome squealing on you unless you tell it not to...

Peter Snyder, VP of privacy engineering at Brave Software, which makes the Brave browser, told The Register in an email that the cookie cutoff and Privacy Sandbox remains problematic as far as Brave is concerned. "Replacing third-party cookies with Privacy Sandbox won't change the fact that Google Chrome has the worst privacy protections of any major browser, and we're very concerned about their upcoming plans," he said. "Google's turtle-paced removal of third-party cookies comes along with a large number of other changes, which when taken together, seriously harm the progress other browsers are making towards a user-first, privacy-protecting Web.

"Recent Google Chrome changes restrict the ability for users to modify, make private, and harden their Web experience (Manifest v3), broadcasting users' interests to websites they visit (Topics), dissolving privacy boundaries on the Web (Related Sites), offloading the battery-draining costs of ad auctions on users (FLEDGE/Protected Audience API), and reducing user control and Web transparency (Signed Exchange/WebBundles)," Snyder explained. "And this is only a small list of examples from a much longer list of harmful changes being shipped in Chrome."

Snyder said Google has characterized the removal of third-party cookies as getting serious about privacy, but he argued the truth is the opposite. "Other browsers have shown that a more private, more user-serving Web is possible," he said. "Google removing third-party cookies should be more accurately understood as the smallest possible change it can make without harming Google's true priority: its own advertising business." The Register notes that other browser makers such as Apple, Brave, and Mozilla have already begun blocking third-party cookies by default, while Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge "provide that option, just not out of the box."

EFF senior staff technologist Jacob Hoffman-Andrews told The Register that "When Google Chrome finishes the project on some unspecified date in the future, it will be a great day for privacy on the web. According to the announcement, the actual phased rollout is slated to begin in Q3 2024, with no stated deadline to reach 100 percent. Let's hope Google's advertising wing does not excessively delay these critical privacy improvements."

TechRadar points out that after the initial testing period in 2024, Google will begin its phased rollout of the cookie replacement program starting in June.

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader AmiMoJo for sharing the news.

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Tata Consultancy Services Ordered To Cough Up $210 Million In … – Slashdot

Richard Speed reports via The Register: A jury has sided with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) against Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) over the theft of source code and documentation. A total of $210 million was this week awarded. According to the verdict [PDF], a Texas jury agreed that TCS had "willfully and maliciously" misappropriated both source and confidential documentation by "improper means," awarding CSC $140 million in damages, with another $70 million tacked on for TCS's "unjust enrichment." The complaint [PDF] was filed in April 2019 regarding CSC's VANTAGE-ONE and CyberLife software platforms. CSC had licensed these software platforms to Transamerica Corporation, a life insurance holding company, to whom Tata -- used here to collectively refer to Tata Consultancy Services Limited and Tata America International Corporation -- began providing maintenance services.

In 2014, CSC and Transamerica signed off on a Third-Party Access Addendum that would allow Tata to alter CSC's software, but only for the benefit of its customer -- Transamerica. All was well until 2016, when Transamerica decided it needed to refresh its software. CSC and Tata both put in bids. CSC lost, and Tata won with its own software platform called BaNCS. The circumstances got sticky at this point, not least because Tata hired more than 2,000 Transamerica employees. CSC alleged that these former employees had access to its code and documents, and forwarded them on to the Tata BaNCS development team. The situation escalated in 2019, when a CSC employee was accidentally copied in on an email between Tata and Transamerica showing that Tata was accessing confidential information, according to CSC. The company then began legal proceedings. Documents and motions have been exchanged in the years since as Tata sought to get the case thrown out while CSC's claims were upheld. Eventually, it went to a jury trial, which found for CSC.

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Tata Consultancy Services Ordered To Cough Up $210 Million In ... - Slashdot

Meta Knowingly Collected Data on Pre-Teens, Unredacted … – Slashdot

The New York Times reports: Meta has received more than 1.1 million reports of users under the age of 13 on its Instagram platform since early 2019 yet it "disabled only a fraction" of those accounts, according to a newly unsealed legal complaint against the company brought by the attorneys general of 33 states.

Instead, the social media giant "routinely continued to collect" children's personal information, like their locations and email addresses, without parental permission, in violation of a federal children's privacy law, according to the court filing. Meta could face hundreds of millions of dollars, or more, in civil penalties should the states prove the allegations. "Within the company, Meta's actual knowledge that millions of Instagram users are under the age of 13 is an open secret that is routinely documented, rigorously analyzed and confirmed," the complaint said, "and zealously protected from disclosure to the public...."

It also accused Meta executives of publicly stating in congressional testimony that the company's age-checking process was effective and that the company removed underage accounts when it learned of them even as the executives knew there were millions of underage users on Instagram... The lawsuit argues that Meta elected not to build systems to effectively detect and exclude such underage users because it viewed children as a crucial demographic the next generation of users that the company needed to capture to assure continued growth. More from the Wall Street Journal: An internal 2020 Meta presentation shows that the company sought to engineer its products to capitalize on the parts of youth psychology that render teens "predisposed to impulse, peer pressure, and potentially harmful risky behavior," the filings show... "Teens are insatiable when it comes to 'feel good' dopamine effects," the Meta presentation shows, according to the unredacted filing, describing the company's existing product as already well-suited to providing the sort of stimuli that trigger the potent neurotransmitter. "And every time one of our teen users finds something unexpected their brains deliver them a dopamine hit...."

"In December 2017, an Instagram employee indicated that Meta had a method to ascertain young users' ages but advised that 'you probably don't want to open this pandora's box' regarding age verification improvements," the states say in the suit. Some senior executives raised the possibility that cracking down on underage usage could hurt Meta's business... The states say Meta made little progress on automated detection systems or adequately staffing the team that reviewed user reports of underage activity. "Meta at times has a backlog of 2-2.5 million under-13 accounts awaiting action," according to the complaint...

The unredacted material also includes allegations that Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg instructed his subordinates to give priority to boosting its platforms' usage above the well being of users... Zuckerberg also repeatedly dismissed warnings from senior company officials that its flagship social-media platforms were harming young users, according to unsealed allegations in a lawsuit filed by Massachusetts earlier this month...

The complaint cites numerous other executives making public claims that were allegedly contradicted by internal documents. While Meta's head of global safety, Antigone Davis, told Congress that the company didn't consider profitability when designing products for teens, a 2018 internal email stated that product teams should keep in mind that "The lifetime value of a 13 y/o teen is roughly $270" when making product decisions.

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