Technologies

Microsoft Tests New Bing AI Personalities as It Allows Longer Chats

Microsoft had restricted exchanges earlier after a series of news articles and social media posts about strange responses in long conversations.

Microsoft said it’s expanding the lengths of chats people can have with the test version of its Bing AI, while the company’s also begun testing different «tone» personalities for more precise or more creative responses. The company’s moves follow efforts to restrict access to the technology after media coverage of the artificial intelligence chatting app going off the rails went viral last week.

Bing Chat can now respond to up to six questions or statements in a row per conversation, after which people will need to start a new topic, the company said in a blog post Tuesday. Microsoft had previously imposed a conversation limit of five responses, with a maximum of 50 total interactions per day. Microsoft said it will now allow 60 total interactions per day and plans to increase that total to 100 «soon.»

Microsoft also said it’s testing options for people to choose the tone of their conversations, whether they prefer Bing to be more precise in its responses, more creative or somewhere between the two.

Ultimately, the tech giant said it hopes to allow longer and more intricate conversations over time but wants to do so «responsibly.»

«The very reason we are testing the new Bing in the open with a limitedset of preview testers is precisely to find these atypical use casesfrom which we can learn and improve the product,» the company said in a statement.

Microsoft’s moves mark the latest twist for its Bing AI chatbot, which made a splash when it was announced earlier this month. The technology combines Microsoft’s less-popular Bing search engine with technology from startup OpenAI, whose ChatGPT responds to prompts for everything from being asked to write a poem to helping write code and even everyday math to figure out how many bags can fit in a car.

Experts believe this new type of technology, called «generative AI,» has the potential to remake the way we interact with technology. Microsoft, for example, demonstrated how its Bing AI could help someone plan a vacation day by day with relative ease.

Last week, though, critics raised concerns that Microsoft’s Bing AI may not be ready for prime time. People with early access began posting bizarre responses the system was giving them, including Bing telling a New York Times columnist to abandon his marriage, and the AI demanding an apology from a Reddit user over whether we’re in 2022 or 2023.

Microsoft said that the «long and intricate» chat sessions that prompted many of the unusual responses were «not something we would typically find with internal testing.» But it hopes that improvements to the program, including its potential new choice of tone for responses, will help give people «more control on the type of chat behavior to best meet» their needs.

More on AI chatbots

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 16, #539

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 16, No. 539.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Did you spot «fried» and «rice» in today’s Connections: Sports Edition and look for a food category? Ha ha ha … me too, but it would never be that easy. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Send it my way!

Green group hint: Hope you win your league.

Blue group hint: Bronx Bombers.

Purple group hint: Signal-callers.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Pass.

Green group: Descriptors for fantasy leagues.

Blue group: New York Yankees.

Purple group: First names of NFL starting QBs.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is pass. The four answers are assist, dish, distribute and give.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is descriptors for fantasy leagues. The four answers are dynasty, keeper, redraft and rotisserie.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is New York Yankees. The four answers are Fried, Gil, Judge and Rice.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is first names of NFL starting QBs. The four answers are Baker, Drake, Jordan and Lamar.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Monday, March 16

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 16.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I started slow, because 1-Across stumped me, but the rest of the answers came quickly. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Blues, e.g.
Answer: MUSIC

6A clue: Late actress Catherine of «Schitt’s Creek»
Answer: OHARA

7A clue: List included with a board game
Answer: RULES

8A clue: April Fools’ shenanigan
Answer: PRANK

9A clue: Greek god of the underworld
Answer: HADES

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Transform gradually
Answer: MORPH

2D clue: «Star Trek» officer portrayed by Zoe Saldaña
Answer: UHURA

3D clue: Greens, e.g.
Answer: SALAD

4D clue: Woman’s name that’s an anagram of ERNIE
Answer: IRENE

5D clue: Containers for reds and whites
Answer: CASKS

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for March 16 #743

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for March 16, No. 743.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun and easy one if you love college basketball, and a certain big event that’s about to begin. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: The Big Dance.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Tourney time

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

MARK, BRACK, RACK, RACKS, CADS, CRAM, MOVE, MUTE

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers: