Technologies

Mozilla Launches Startup to Home In on ‘Trustworthy AI’

The organization says it wants to «turn the tide» as companies rush to adopt generative artificial intelligence.

Mozilla, the organization behind the Firefox browser, on Wednesday launched an artificial intelligence-focused startup, called Mozilla.ai, intended to work toward building an independent, trustworthy, open-source AI ecosystem.

«The vision for Mozilla.ai is to make it easy to develop trustworthy AI products,» Mark Surman, Mozilla’s executive president and a Mozilla.ai board member, wrote in a blog post.

Surman wrote that he and Mozilla had met with people who want to develop AI that prioritizes transparency, accountability, human agency and the interests of users — in contrast, he said, with the approach being embraced by other tech companies. That was what spurred the launch of the startup.

«Mozilla.ai will be a space outside big tech and academia for like-minded founders, developers, scientists, product managers and builders to gather,» he wrote. «We believe that this group of people, working collectively, can turn the tide to create an independent, decentralized and trustworthy AI ecosystem — a real counterweight to the status quo.»

The launch of Mozilla.ai comes as companies rush to release generative AI tools following the November launch of ChatGPT, a chatbot that can quickly scour the internet to create travel plans, write essays and more. On Tuesday, for instance, Google opened up a waitlist for its AI tool, Bard. Other tech companies, like Microsoft, DuckDuckGo, Grammarly and Adobe, have also released generative AI tools.

One big knock on such AI services, critics say, is that they don’t actually understand the information they’re packaging into authoritative-sounding narratives that could contain errors and misinformation.

The initial focus for Mozilla.ai, Surman wrote, will be on tools that make generative AI services, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, safer and more transparent, as well as recommendation systems that don’t misinform people, according to Surman.

Mozilla has made a $30 million initial investment in Mozilla.ai. Moez Draief, formerly the chief scientist at Huawei’s Noah’s Ark lab, will be the organization’s managing director, and a three-person board will help lead it.

For more on AI, check out answers to your AI questions and the one thing people are getting wrong about AI.

Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to create some personal finance explainers that are edited and fact-checked by our editors. For more, see this post.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, April 6

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 6.

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.

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword has my favorite Australian cartoon as an answer. If you’re a fan of Bingo, Bandit and Chilli, you’ll nail that answer. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. 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 at those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Nibble : food :: ___ : drink
Answer: SIP

4A clue: Like a kid doodling in class, maybe
Answer: BORED

6A clue: Popular Disney+ show about a family of Australian cattle dogs
Answer: BLUEY

7A clue: Fill in, as a puzzle
Answer: SOLVE

8A clue: Perceive
Answer: SEE

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Some first-chair performances in an orchestra
Answer: SOLOS

2D clue: «Go me!»
Answer: IRULE

3D clue: Loud chewing or talking during a movie, e.g.
Answer: PEEVE

4D clue: Ammo for a Red Ryder rifle
Answer: BBS

5D clue: Part of an Easter egg kit
Answer: DYE

How to play more Mini Crosswords

The New York Times Games section offers a large number of online games, but only some of them are free for all to play. You can play the current day’s Mini Crossword for free, but you’ll need a subscription to the Times Games section to play older puzzles from the archives.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for April 6, #665

Find hints and answers for the New York Times’ Connections puzzle for Sunday, April 6.

Looking for the most recent 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, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections puzzle was a challenging one. The yellow and green categories were pretty easy, but I struggled with blue and purple. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

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

Yellow group hint: We’re not close.

Green group hint: Pay the bills.

Blue group hint: Don’t get a shock!

Purple group hint: Think 420.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Aloof.

Green group: Utilities.

Blue group: What an electrometer measures.

Purple group: ____ joint.

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

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is aloof. The four answers are cool, distant, remote and removed.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is utilities. The four answers are cable, gas, trash and water.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is what an eletrometer measures. The four answers are charge, current, resistance and voltage.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ joint. The four answers are dovetail, hip, pizza and Spike Lee.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for April 6, #195

Hints and answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 195, for Sunday, April 6.

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.

Is it just me, or is Connections: Sports Edition getting tougher each week? Or am I getting dumber? Fight fans, you might do all right today, but there was one compound word in your category (green) that I literally have never heard before. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it 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: Get out of here.

Green group hint: It happens in the octagon.

Blue group hint: They call it football.

Purple group hint: Not on…