Author: NY TIMES

The question of whether to be polite to artificial intelligence may seem a moot point — it is artificial, after all.But Sam Altman, the chief executive of the artificial intelligence company OpenAI, recently shed light on the cost of adding an extra “Please!” or “Thank you!” to chatbot prompts.Someone posted on X last week: “I wonder how much money OpenAI has lost in electricity costs from people saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to their models.”The next day, Mr. Altman responded: “Tens of millions of dollars well spent — you never know.”First things first: Every single ask of a chatbot costs…

After an outcry from scientists and experts, federal officials on Thursday said they would restore funding to the Women’s Health Initiative, one of the largest and longest studies of women’s health ever carried out.The findings of the W.H.I. and its randomized controlled trials have changed medical practices and helped shape clinical guidelines, preventing hundreds of thousands of cases of cardiovascular disease and breast cancer.“These studies represent critical contributions to our better understanding of women’s health,” said Emily G. Hilliard, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services.“We are now working to fully restore funding to these essential research…

A woman recently released after more than 15 months of captivity in Gaza refused any medical tests one day at the Israeli hospital that received her.The doctors were delighted.“We canceled a whole day’s schedule,” said Prof. Noa Eliakim-Raz, who heads the department that receives hostages at Beilinson Hospital near Tel Aviv. The woman’s ability to retake control indicated progress after months at the mercy of her Hamas captors.This was one of the small victories doctors say they have seen as dozens of freed hostages transition back to everyday life. For over a year, a team from Israel’s medical, military and…

Upstate, Schlather has been unfurling a series of Handel productions with the terrific period-instrument ensemble Ruckus; “Cesare,” running through May 2, comes on the heels of “Rodelinda” at Hudson Hall in 2023. It is a precious bastion of an ever rarer breed.His directorial style in dealing with this composer’s works has gotten clearer with experience. “Alcina” and “Orlando” were always quirky, often thrilling and sometimes bewildering. But this substantially yet intelligently trimmed “Cesare” — with intermission, it’s just under three hours — is a stylishly straightforward account of a story of vengeance and lust set amid Julius Caesar’s campaign to…

Jason Kelce, a mellow mountain of a man, has spent most of his life fretting over offensive snaps.Now, a year into his retirement after 13 seasons as a center for the Philadelphia Eagles, Mr. Kelce has space to puzzle over other matters. Lately, he’s been thinking about sweatshirts and T-shirts. And he has thoughts. Lots of thoughts.“On the inside of a sweatshirt, I don’t like when it feels fuzzy,” said Mr. Kelce, speaking on a video call from his Philadelphia home in April, just a few days after the birth of his fourth daughter. He wants a “heavier-duty” sweatshirt, with…

Farmers in Africa that produce some of the world’s most prized coffee are in a scramble to comply with new European Union environmental rules that require them to document the origin of every shipment of beans.The new measure, coming into force at the end of this year, is designed to prevent deforestation driven by agricultural expansion. To comply, farmers must provide geolocation data to show that their coffee was not grown on land where forests have recently been cut down.After Dec. 31, any producers that cannot provide this documentation will lose access to the vast European market.Europe consumes more coffee…

The Chinese are trolling the Trump administration.A YouTuber who used to make parody music videos about the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, produced “The Song of MAGA,” a satire of President Trump’s vision for the United States.A nationalistic TikToker who whitewashes China’s persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang made a video mocking Vice President JD Vance’s purported use of eyeliner in full drag fashion while demanding an apology for a comment Mr. Vance had made about “Chinese peasants.”In a post on the social media platform RedNote, a video of Mr. Trump admiring a portrait of himself at the Justice Department is accompanied…

Chinese manufacturers are flooding TikTok and other social media apps with direct appeals to American shoppers, urging people to buy luxury items straight from their factories. And amid the threats of sky-high tariffs on Chinese exports, Americans seem to be all in.The pitch in the videos is that people can buy leggings and handbags exactly like those from brands like Lululemon, Hermes and Birkenstock, but for a fraction of the price. They claim, often falsely, that the products are made in the same factories that produce items for those brands.American influencers have embraced the videos, promoting the factories and driving…

Few domestic industries have been as devastated by the flood of cheap Chinese imports as manufacturers of face masks, exam gloves and other disposable medical gear that protects health care workers from infectious pathogens.The industry’s demise had calamitous consequences during the Covid pandemic, when Beijing halted exports and American hospital workers found themselves at the mercy of a deadly airborne virus that quickly filled the nation’s emergency rooms and morgues.But as President Trump unveiled his tariff regimen earlier this month, and Beijing retaliated with an 84 percent tax on American imports, the few remaining companies that make protective gear in…

Pope Francis’ critics represent a minority of the American church but a powerful one. Ruth Graham, a reporter covering religion, faith and values for The New York Times, describes how his papacy galvanized a tide of conservative resistance in the American church hierarchy, in Washington and in the pews.