Author: NY TIMES

OpenAI said on Wednesday that it was opening an app store for people to share customized versions of its popular chatbot, ChatGPT, as the artificial intelligence company works to expand the reach of its flagship technology and turn it into a moneymaker.The new store is called the GPT Store. People who spend $20 a month for a subscription to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus service can browse the store for custom chatbots that provide a wide array of services, including those that recommend books, teach mathematics and search through scientific papers.The store will “help you find useful and popular custom versions of…

Shortly after dropping two Harvard scientists with financial conflicts of interest, the national organization assembling a committee to assess the evidence about drinking and health has chosen four new panelists, among them another Harvard professor who also has financial ties to the alcohol industry.The committee’s work, under the auspices of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, will be used to update the federal government’s dietary guidelines, which advise Americans on nutrition and diet, including how much they should or should not drink.Scientists at universities all over North America study the health effects of alcohol, and many do not…

This week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, includes segments on:Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan, the two stars of “Saltburn,” who offer two different modes for the leading man of the momentElordi’s work in “The Sweet East,” in which he pokes fun at and downsizes his public imageJeremy Allen White, star of “The Bear” and the current Calvin Klein underwear campaign, as heartthrob rookieThe anti-heartthrob heartthrob Nathan Fielder, who’s been toying with his public image through canny character work as Asher on “The Curse”New songs from Starlito featuring…

The Gaza Strip was plunged into another communications blackout on Friday, with internet and phone service cut off for most of its more than two million residents as Israeli bombardment continued.“All telecom services in Gaza Strip have been lost due to the ongoing aggression,” the major Palestinian telecommunications company, Paltel, announced late Friday afternoon. Another mobile network, Ooredoo Palestine, said damage to communications lines had shut down all of its services in the southern and central parts of the territory, which Israeli forces have recently made a focus of their operations. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to the…

It is famed for a love of singing and a passion for rugby. It has a distinctive Celtic language and is the birthplace of the poet Dylan Thomas. But few would claim that Wales, a nation of three million people outnumbered by sheep, is well known for whiskey, or whisky, as it is known in Wales.Yet the country has played its part in distilling history — a Welshman is considered one of the founding fathers of bourbon — and a recent revival of whisky production has prompted new rules governing which liquor can call itself Welsh.That was how the problems…

Un lunes reciente, Karissa Bodnar, de 34 años y fundadora y directora ejecutiva de Thrive, una empresa de cosméticos, llegó a una fiesta de lanzamiento para su última línea de productos. El lugar: una oficina en un quinto piso iluminada con luces fluorescentes en el centro de Manhattan. La parafernalia: quesos, crudités, cerveza y vino. El entretenimiento: una bocina con conexión Bluetooth que reproducía hip-hop de los años 2000 (Flo Rida, Lil Jon).En las siguientes tres horas, llegarían decenas de maquilladores, editores de publicaciones de belleza e influentes de redes sociales acostumbrados a fiestas en destinos lejanos como Tokio y…

Mindy Neira, a financial planner in Westwood, N.J., recommended that if you were having trouble managing card debt, take stock of your spending. “The first step is to look — without judgment — at where your money is going,” she said, including housing, food, entertainment, travel and loan payments.Then set a target for each category. (Ms. Neira said she preferred setting targets to making a strict budget, to account for monthly variations.) Ask: “Can I shift things around? Can I spend an extra $25 a month to pay down the debt?” Realize that if you took years to build your…

Amazon is laying off hundreds of employees at its studio division as well as its subsidiary Twitch to reduce costs, the latest in a wave of new job cuts hitting the tech industry.Twitch, a video streaming platform, will cut just over 500 roles, or 35 percent of its work force, according to a blog post on the company’s website. Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios will eliminate hundreds of jobs, said an email sent to staff on Wednesday.Since late 2022, Amazon has laid off 27,000 workers, as the company has slashed costs in an effort to recover from overexpansion during…

Multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that affects 2.9 million people, presents a biological puzzle.Many researchers suspect that the disease is triggered by a virus, known as Epstein-Barr, which causes the immune system to attack the nerves and can leave patients struggling to walk or talk. But the virus can’t be the whole story, since nearly everyone is infected with it at some point in life.A new study found a possible solution to this paradox in the skeletal remains of a lost tribe of nomads who herded cattle across the steppes of western Asia 5,000 years ago. It turns out that…

Kali Uchis basks in pleasure on her fourth studio album, “Orquídeas.” Make that pleasures: carnal, material, romantic, sonic, competitive and, if necessary, vengeful, all with a girlish nonchalance. The album begins with loops of laughter and ethereal oohs and ahs; it ends with Uchis thanking listeners with a “mwah” kiss. It’s an album of breezy confidence and sly ingenuity, easily moving among futuristic electronics, 1990s nostalgia and Latin roots.“Orquídeas” are orchids: the national flower of Colombia, where Uchis’s parents were born. Uchis — Karly-Marina Loaiza — was born and grew up in Virginia, but she made long visits to Colombia…