Author: NY TIMES

The nation’s largest association of psychologists this month warned federal regulators that A.I. chatbots “masquerading” as therapists, but programmed to reinforce, rather than to challenge, a user’s thinking, could drive vulnerable people to harm themselves or others.In a presentation to a Federal Trade Commission panel, Arthur C. Evans Jr., the chief executive of the American Psychological Association, cited court cases involving two teenagers who had consulted with “psychologists” on Character.AI, an app that allows users to create fictional A.I. characters or chat with characters created by others.In one case, a 14-year-old boy in Florida died by suicide after interacting with…

Few groups have had more impact on the shape and evolution of hip-hop than Wu-Tang Clan, the Staten Island supergroup that helped define the sound of 1990s New York rap and transform the industry.And yet seeing Wu-Tang Clan perform a full-length concert in the flesh — all of the members onstage together — is a privilege not many have experienced. Even in its golden era, the Wu-Tang Clan was never a reliable touring unit. Its smaller shows were often unruly, and by the time the group graduated to bigger stages, performances were often undone by competing egos and unreliable artist…

Frank G. Wisner II, a veteran American diplomat, Washington insider and foreign affairs specialist who relished the prestige of ambassadorial life as much as the back-channel cajoling and arm-twisting of less public influence, died on Monday at his home in Mill Neck, N.Y., on Long Island. He was 86.His son, David, said the cause was complications of lung cancer.Over decades as a member of the policy elite, Mr. Wisner headed embassies in Zambia, Egypt, the Philippines and India, held high office under both Republican and Democratic administrations and was linked to initiatives that wrought change in regions as disparate as…

Is it OK for men to wear white jeans? I think white looks good under a blazer, and throwing white jeans in the washer after a few wearings is easy and inexpensive compared with a trip to the dry cleaners. But I see only women wearing them in ads and catalogs. — Al, Winter Park, Fla.You clearly have not been watching the back catalog of French New Wave movies. Onscreen, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon are practically poster boys for men in white jeans, especially on the Riviera.Which may be why, despite the fact that white denim was introduced by…

Back in my twenties, I attended a party at a rooftop bar and chatted with a friend of mine. While scrambling to have a conversation, I asked her where she came from. “Foxtone,” she said. If you don’t know, it’s a coastal town in Kent in southeast England.I answered without hesitation: “Folkestone Invicta”, the name of the town’s local non-league club, currently playing in the seventh level of British football. Until today, I have never forgotten the expression on her face: almost total boredom and indifference, but regretful.However, to explain the “brand script” of a particular Premier League club: in…

Pope Francis was resting on Monday at the Rome hospital where he has spent the past 10 days with pneumonia, a complex infection and now kidney problems that have all left him in critical condition, the Vatican said.The Vatican said in a statement on Monday morning that “the night went well, the Pope slept and is now resting,” but it did not provide additional information about the health of the 88-year old pontiff.Officials were expected to give an update on his condition on Monday evening, a day after the Vatican said he was also suffering from “initial, mild kidney failure.”At…

Ken Rosenthal, who opened a bakery cafe in the St. Louis area, with sourdough bread as its star, and built it into a small chain that would become Panera Bread, died on Feb. 14 at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 81.His wife, Linda Rosenthal, said the cause was Alzheimer’s disease.Mr. Rosenthal had no interest in running a retail bakery in the mid-1980s, when he and his wife owned a women’s apparel store called Kenlyn’s in Chesterfield, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis.“I was a person who never went into a kitchen, much less understood how to bake anything,”…

A private company is aiming to heave a microwave oven-size spacecraft toward an asteroid later this week, its goal to kick off a future where precious metals are mined around the solar system to create vast fortunes on Earth.“If this works out, this will probably be the biggest business ever conceived of,” said Matt Gialich, the founder and chief executive of AstroForge, the builder and operator of the robotic probe.That may sound familiar: A decade ago, news stories were aflutter about the wealth promised by asteroid mining companies. But things didn’t quite work out.“We blossomed three or four years too…

Frozen shakes sold to nursing homes, hospitals and other institutions have been recalled after the drinks were tied to a yearslong deadly listeria outbreak, the Food and Drug Administration said on Friday.Since 2018, at least 11 people have died from the outbreak and dozens have been hospitalized, the F.D.A. said, but previous investigations had not been able to find a source of the bacteria.In 37 of the 38 known cases, the patients were hospitalized; 34 of those infected were in long-term care facilities or had been hospitalized before becoming sick with listeria.Cases have been reported in 21 states, including California,…

Voletta Wallace, the mother of the Brooklyn rapper the Notorious B.I.G., whose stewardship of her son’s career, and of his legacy after he was killed in 1997, helped cement him as a hip-hop legend, died on Friday. She was 78.Her death, in hospice care at her residence in Stroudsburg, Pa., was confirmed by the Monroe County coroner, Thomas Yanac. No cause was specified.A middle-class immigrant and single mother from Jamaica, Ms. Wallace was forced into the hip-hop spotlight after the Notorious B.I.G., born Christopher Wallace and also known as Biggie Smalls, was killed at 24 in a Los Angeles drive-by…