Was it recommending "Die Amerika-Partei" ?

Unofficial Windows reinstaller app locks you out of your Windows 11 PC until you pay by Sayan Sen According to reports, Windows 11 version 25H2 could have a native option to uninstall Microsoft apps. Some people hate the idea of 'bloat' and for them, this will certainly be a nice addition. However, recent testing has suggested that such bloat may not, in fact, matter all that much, which could certainly raise some eyebrows given that a 'cleaner' PC should intuitively perform better than a 'dirtier' one that has not been reinstalled or reset in a while. So, for those who are looking to do so, you are probably going to be spending time needlessly if your rig is already fairly good and you do not feel any slowdown. Still, if you want to proceed with a Windows reset, you must be careful not to fall victim to an unofficial Windows re-installer app called "Windows Reinstall Master". The app has been doing the rounds in the Chinese community and is targeting the non-tech-savvy individuals out there who may not be familiar with how Windows installations and reinstallations work. The mechanism of this scam app is that it proceeds to reinstall Windows but does not allow the user to restart and get into the OS again until the victim pays. This is similar to ransomware in a way, although the fees charged here are far lower. The app asks for 98 RMB (Chinese Yuan), which is roughly equivalent to around US$13, which is essentially the installation service fee since the Windows 11 upgrade is free. Here is what the lock-out screen says: In addition to Windows, the scam software also installs a bunch of other junkware; so if the user had initially set out with the goal to reset Windows so as to get rid of the junk and bloat, this certainly does not improve the situation, if not make it worse than what it already was. The other unnecessary apps include PotPlayer, Microsoft VSCode, which are also free. Chances of victims falling for this also rise now as Microsoft is ending Windows 10 support very soon, and thus users would probably be looking to move to Windows 11; and if the upgrade does not quite go as planned, they could go looking in the wrong places for help. Source: Appin via HKEPC

Any news of the DHCP debacle from last month? Has it been fixed?

UK partners with Google Cloud to ditch legacy IT and upskill 100,000 civil servants by Paul Hill The UK government has announced a strategic partnership with Google Cloud in a bid to modernize “ball and chain” legacy IT systems and upskilling 100,000 civil servants in digital and AI by 2030. The situation in the UK right now is that 25% of public sector systems are running on legacy technology. This figure rises to 70% in some police forces and NHS trusts because of decades old contracts which means they’re stuck using old servers that are vulnerable to outages and cyber breaches. Peter Kyle, the UK’s Tech Secretary has told other tech companies that they can bring their best ideas, best tech, and their best price to try and secure other deals to address the UK’s tech woes. With this partnership the government and Google are focusing on a whole range of areas that can be modernized including the NHS, local councils, tax returns, bin collections, and other services. By choosing Google Cloud, the government hopes to transition from “locked-in” contracts to “secure-by-design” cloud technology. The potential savings are estimated to be £45 billion for the public sector. Aside from what has been mentioned, Google DeepMind will work with technical experts in government to help them deploy new emerging technologies, such as AI, to boost efficiency across the public sector. It won’t only affect things like time saving, the government said it will also include accelerating scientific discovery. This deal will also see as many as 100,000 civil servants trained in AI and digital over the next five years through a new Google Cloud training program. Prime Minister Starmer has a goal of making 1 in 10 civil servants tech experts so that the delivery of the Plan for Change can be sped up; the training Google is offering will help to achieve this goal. Artificial intelligence holds immense promise for boosting the efficiency of the public sector. Last month, the UK government reported that AI was able to save each civil servant about 26 minutes per day, freeing them up to do other work. It also announced an AI breakthrough for slashing planning delays to deliver more homes. The government also announced that Google Cloud will explore the development of a single platform that can monitor and respond to cybersecurity issues across the government. The pair will also work together to explore new technologies for public sector use, such as quantum computing. Image via Depositphotos.com

Musk disables Grok's text generation after 'anti-woke' chatbot praises Hitler by David Uzondu Image via Depositphotos.com Earlier this month, Elon Musk announced that his AI chatbot, Grok, had been "significantly improved." It did not take long to see how "politically incorrect" the new version had become. The bot went on a rampage, making antisemitic and pro-Hitler comments that forced its parent company, xAI, to pull the plug on its text generation. To understand what happened, let us review how we got here by looking at Musk's plan for Grok's training. This really began when he was asking users to supply "divisive facts" for the chatbot, and this was around June 21, last month. Musk's goal has always been to create an "anti-woke" AI, one that he feels avoids the perceived liberal biases of competitors like ChatGPT. His method for achieving this involved crowdsourcing what he called "politically incorrect, but nonetheless factually true" information directly from X users. The call for this material resulted in a flood of responses, including Holocaust denial claims and other extremist viewpoints. Around July 8, the "improved" Grok started generating a firestorm of hateful content. There are many screenshots of the now-deleted posts floating around, some containing sexually violent material. For that reason, we won't be including them here. But, to give you a gist of how bad things got, here is a now-deleted post the chatbot made in response to a false claim that Cindy Steinberg, the National Director of Policy & Advocacy for the US Pain Foundation, had criticized victims of the Texas floods: "Anti-woke" Grok is not limited to English speakers. When a Polish user asked the chatbot to tell them a joke, it responded with the following: Image: Business Insider Here's another where Grok recommends a second holocaust: Image: K. Thor Jensen Following the intense backlash, xAI released a statement through Grok's official account, acknowledging the inappropriate posts and promising to find and take them all down. And if you are wondering what the "Chief Twit" thinks of all this, here is a post he made recently: This certainly is not the first time Grok has gone off the rails. Last month, the chatbot developed a strange fixation on South Africa, Elon Musk's country of origin, bringing up topics of white genocide even in unrelated situations. That incident was blamed on an "unauthorised modification" by the company.