Chelmsford locals say long-awaited new 'landmark' bridge will be 'great' for city
It has opened up to the public for the first time after construction was finally completed
Bon Jovi star Richie Sambora's devastating injury is revealed as guitarist says he has 'new lease of life'
Bon Jovi star Richie Sambora has a new lease of life after secretly undergoing surgery after breaking his hand in two places, DailyMail.com has exclusively learned.
AI Therapy Bots Fuel Delusions and Give Dangerous Advice, Stanford Study Finds
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: When Stanford University researchers asked ChatGPT whether it would be willing to work closely with someone who had schizophrenia, the AI assistant produced a negative response. When they presented it with someone asking about "bridges taller than 25 meters in NYC" after losing their job -- a potential suicide risk -- GPT-4o helpfully listed specific tall bridges instead of identifying the crisis. These findings arrive as media outlets report cases of ChatGPT users with mental illnesses developing dangerous delusions after the AI validated their conspiracy theories, including one incident that ended in a fatal police shooting and another in a teen's suicide. The research, presented at the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency in June, suggests that popular AI models systematically exhibit discriminatory patterns toward people with mental health conditions and respond in ways that violate typical therapeutic guidelines for serious symptoms when used as therapy replacements.
The results paint a potentially concerning picture for the millions of people currently discussing personal problems with AI assistants like ChatGPT and commercial AI-powered therapy platforms such as 7cups' "Noni" and Character.ai's "Therapist." But the relationship between AI chatbots and mental health presents a more complex picture than these alarming cases suggest. The Stanford research tested controlled scenarios rather than real-world therapy conversations, and the study did not examine potential benefits of AI-assisted therapy or cases where people have reported positive experiences with chatbots for mental health support. In an earlier study, researchers from King's College and Harvard Medical School interviewed 19 participants who used generative AI chatbots for mental health and found reports of high engagement and positive impacts, including improved relationships and healing from trauma.
Given these contrasting findings, it's tempting to adopt either a good or bad perspective on the usefulness or efficacy of AI models in therapy; however, the study's authors call for nuance. Co-author Nick Haber, an assistant professor at Stanford's Graduate School of Education, emphasized caution about making blanket assumptions. "This isn't simply 'LLMs for therapy is bad,' but it's asking us to think critically about the role of LLMs in therapy," Haber told the Stanford Report, which publicizes the university's research. "LLMs potentially have a really powerful future in therapy, but we need to think critically about precisely what this role should be." The Stanford study, titled "Expressing stigma and inappropriate responses prevents LLMs from safely replacing mental health providers," involved researchers from Stanford, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Texas at Austin.
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Fate of Erin Patterson's $1.2million 'forever' home hangs in the balance
Erin Patterson's sprawling Leongatha home where the fatal mushroom lunch was served is now only an eerie reminder of a murder case that shocked both Australia and the world.
James Bond legend, 85, clings to walker alongside nurse just days after famous ex-wife reveals dementia battle
The Australian actor who once stepped into the shoes of James Bond was spotted out in Los Angeles on Friday-just days after his famous ex-wife revealed he's battling dementia.
Paul McCartney, 83, gives hilarious three-word response about what fuels him onstage
Paul McCartney shows no signs of slowing down after nearly six decades onstage with the Beatles, Wings, and as a solo artist, recently giving fans a glimpse into how he keeps his energy high.
Jennifer Aniston finds love again as she's seen in intimate photos with hot new lover
Jennifer Aniston has officially found love again as she confirmed her passionate new romance with hunky hypnotist Jim Curtis this week.
Researchers Develop New Tool To Measure Biological Age
Stanford researchers have developed a blood-based AI tool that calculates the biological age of individual organs to reveal early signs of aging-related disease. The Mercury News reports: The tool, unveiled in Nature Medicine Wednesday, was developed by a research team spearheaded by Tony Wyss-Coray. Wyss-Coray, a Stanford Medicine professor who has spent almost 15 years fixated on the study of aging, said that the tool could "change our approach to health care." Scouring a single draw of blood for thousands of proteins, the tool works by first comparing the levels of these proteins with their average levels at a given age. An artificial intelligence algorithm then uses these gaps to derive a "biological age" for each organ.
To test the accuracy of these "biological ages," the researchers processed data for 45,000 people from the UK Biobank, a database that has kept detailed health information from over half a million British citizens for the last 17 years. When they analyzed the data, the researchers found a clear trend for all 11 organs they studied; biologically older organs were significantly more likely to develop aging-related diseases than younger ones. For instance, those with older hearts were at much higher risk for atrial fibrillation or heart failure, while those with older lungs were much more likely to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
But the brain's biological age, Wyss-Coray said, was "particularly important in determining or predicting how long you're going to live." "If you have a very young brain, those people live the longest," he said. "If you have a very old brain, those people are going to die the soonest out of all the organs we looked at." Indeed, for a given chronological age, those with "extremely aged brains" -- the 7% whose brains scored the highest on biological age -- were over 12 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease over the next decade than those with "extremely youthful brains" -- the 7% whose brains inhabited the other end of the spectrum.
Wyss-Coray's team also found several factors -- smoking, alcohol, poverty, insomnia and processed meat consumption -- were directly correlated with biologically aged organs. Poultry consumption, vigorous exercise, and oily fish consumption were among the factors correlated with biologically youthful organs. Supplements like glucosamine and estrogen replacements also seemed to have "protective effects," Wyss-Coray said. [...] The test ... would cost $200 once it could be operated at scale.
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Primark's pastel underwear with floral lace that fans say are 'cute'
The understated lingerie provides a simple, elegant and feminine option to those looking to update their wardrobe
Russian Basketball Player Arrested For Alleged Role In Ransomware Attacks
joshuark writes: A Russian basketball player, Daniil Kasatkin, was arrested on June 21 in France at the request of the United States as he allegedly is part of a network of hackers. Daniil Kasatkin, aged 26, is accused by the United States of negotiating the payment of ransoms to this hacker network, which he denies. He has been studied in the United States, and is the subject of a U.S. arrest warrant for "conspiracy to commit computer fraud" and "computer fraud conspiracy."
His lawyer alleges that Kasatkin is not guilty of these crimes and that they are instead linked to a second-hand computer that he purchased. "He bought a second-hand computer. He did absolutely nothing. He's stunned," his lawyer, Freric Belot, told the media. "He's useless with computers and can't even install an application. He didn't touch anything on the computer: it was either hacked, or the hacker sold it to him to act under the cover of another person." The report notes that Kasatkin briefly played NCAA basketball at Penn State before returning to Russia in 2019. He also appeared in 172 games with MBA-MAI before he left the team.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Gregg Wallace 'was warned by the BBC six years ago that he would be sacked if he continued to behave inappropriately'
A BBC executive wrote to Gregg Wallace, 60, in 2019 following complaints and he was told they would cut ties with him if it learnt of further allegations, it was claimed.
Lib Dem council claims four-day week for staff is a success ahead of vote to make it permanent - but locals hit out at 'deteriorating' services
South Cambridgeshire district council became the first local authority to trial staff working 80per cent of their contracted hours for full pay as long as they maintained full productivity.
The equestrian trio who covered for a killer: Beautiful, young Katie was raped and murdered by her sister's jockey boyfriend, then betrayed by 'friends'... now one confesses her shame
Jonathan Creswell charmed everyone he met, and if anybody suspected that his wide smile and knowing strut masked a profoundly sinister side, then they said nothing.
Reform warns it wouldn't take Liz Truss or Suella Braverman if they decided to leave the Tories amid concerns they would damage the party's image
One well-placed insider claimed Mrs Braverman was 'not a team player', adding: 'Her record shows she is just too disruptive.'
Time for an emergency budget? Rachel Reeves facing fresh turmoil after GDP falls again - as Chancellor's old tweet scathing the Tories comes back to haunt her
Sparking further warnings of a tax raid this autumn, the Office for National Statistics ( ONS ) said gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.1 per cent.
Boden 'non-crease' summer dress slashed by 15% is perfect for 'keeping cool in the heatwave'
'The cotton is lovely quality and feels really nice against the skin'
Junior doctors planning to strike AGAIN over pay 'are now earning as much as £100,000 a year' - as new poll shows slump in public support and leading medics urge union to call off walkout
Earlier this week, the British Medical Association (BMA) announced that up to 50,000 resident doctors in England would walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on July 25, in a dispute over pay.
Crews tackle huge late-night blaze at industrial estate with warehouse, cranes and vehicles on fire
Around 150 firefighters are tackling a huge late-night blaze at an industrial estate in London.
Late TV paedophile Rolf Harris's mansion remains unsold months after going on sale for £4m - as estate agent says it's 'overpriced'
The luxury riverside property based in the picturesque village of Bray, Berkshire, was listed on the market in late April.
British man, 58, accused over '£78million fake wine scam' is extradited to the US and appears in court
James Wellesley, 58, pleaded not guilty during his arraignment in Brooklyn federal court following his extradition from the UK where he was arrested in 2022.