ANDREW NEIL: The Industrial Revolution hit working class jobs but the rise of AI will decimate middle-class employment
It's a well-run business but in the past year he's discovered how artificial intelligence, or AI, can make his companies even more productive and profitable.
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Geeky Gadgets
19 minutes ago
- Geeky Gadgets
ChatGPT 5 Performance Testing : The AI Assistant We've Been Waiting For?
What if your AI assistant didn't just respond but truly understood? With the release of ChatGPT 5, this bold vision feels closer than ever. Boasting a unified reasoning model that eliminates the need for toggling between modes, this iteration promises a leap in both simplicity and sophistication. Imagine an AI capable of seamlessly switching from drafting a persuasive email to analyzing complex datasets—all while delivering faster, more accurate results. But does it live up to the hype? With claims of reduced hallucinations and enhanced adaptability, ChatGPT 5 positions itself as a fantastic option for professionals and casual users alike. Yet, as with any technological leap, it's worth asking: where does it shine, and where does it stumble? In this exploration of ChatGPT 5's performance, the Skill Leap AI team uncover the key advancements that set it apart from its predecessors. From its improved accuracy and speed to its practical applications in writing, coding, and task management, this piece will break down what makes this model a standout—and where it still has room to grow. Whether you're a business professional seeking efficiency or a curious user eager to test its limits, there's much to discover about how ChatGPT 5 reshapes the AI landscape. As we delve into its capabilities, consider this: how much closer are we to an AI that feels truly indispensable? ChatGPT 5 Overview Model Updates: Unified Reasoning for Enhanced Simplicity ChatGPT 5 introduces a new hybrid reasoning model that merges reasoning and thinking processes into a seamless system. This eliminates the need for manual toggling between modes, significantly improving the user experience. Free users can access the most advanced version of the model, while paid plans unlock additional features, such as extended reasoning capabilities through GPT5 Thinking. By consolidating all previous versions into one cohesive framework, ChatGPT 5 ensures consistent performance across a wide range of tasks, from simple queries to complex problem-solving. The unified reasoning model not only simplifies interactions but also enhances the model's ability to adapt to various contexts. This makes it particularly valuable for users who require a reliable and efficient AI tool for both personal and professional use. Performance Enhancements: Accuracy and Speed in Harmony ChatGPT 5 delivers notable advancements in both accuracy and speed, addressing key limitations of its predecessors. The model significantly reduces hallucinations—instances of incorrect or irrelevant outputs—resulting in more dependable responses. This improvement is particularly evident in multi-step reasoning tasks, where the model demonstrates a higher level of precision and efficiency. For example, when analyzing complex datasets or predicting outcomes, ChatGPT 5 provides actionable insights more rapidly than earlier versions. These enhancements make it an indispensable tool for professionals in fields such as business, education, and research, where timely and accurate information is critical. By balancing speed with reliability, ChatGPT 5 ensures that users can trust its outputs in high-stakes scenarios. ChatGPT 5 Performance Tested Watch this video on YouTube. Expand your understanding of ChatGPT 5 with additional resources from our extensive library of articles. Practical Applications: Versatility Across Domains ChatGPT 5 showcases its adaptability through a wide range of practical applications, offering tailored solutions for diverse needs: Writing: The model excels at generating well-structured, high-quality content suitable for various formats, including blog posts, email drafts, and social media updates. Its ability to adapt to different writing styles ensures relevance across multiple contexts, making it a valuable tool for content creators and marketers. The model excels at generating well-structured, high-quality content suitable for various formats, including blog posts, email drafts, and social media updates. Its ability to adapt to different writing styles ensures relevance across multiple contexts, making it a valuable tool for content creators and marketers. Coding: ChatGPT 5 demonstrates improved capabilities in handling complex coding prompts and generating functional visual elements, such as SVG graphics. However, some inconsistencies persist, highlighting the need for further refinement in this area to achieve optimal reliability. ChatGPT 5 demonstrates improved capabilities in handling complex coding prompts and generating functional visual elements, such as SVG graphics. However, some inconsistencies persist, highlighting the need for further refinement in this area to achieve optimal reliability. Agent Mode: The model shows significant progress in agent-based tasks, such as scheduling appointments or booking services. While these features are more functional than in previous versions, manual oversight remains advisable for high-stakes or sensitive actions to ensure accuracy and reliability. These practical applications underscore ChatGPT 5's versatility, making it a valuable resource for professionals and individuals seeking efficient solutions to everyday challenges. Tool Integration: Expanding Functionality for Seamless Workflows ChatGPT 5 enhances productivity by integrating seamlessly with existing tools and platforms. It supports advanced features such as image generation, canvas modes, and deep research capabilities, making it a comprehensive solution for both creative and analytical tasks. Planned integrations with widely used platforms like Gmail and Google Calendar aim to further streamline workflows, allowing users to manage tasks more efficiently within a unified ecosystem. These integrations are designed to enhance user convenience by reducing the need to switch between multiple tools. For instance, the ability to draft emails, schedule meetings, and conduct research within a single interface simplifies complex workflows, saving time and effort. This focus on seamless functionality positions ChatGPT 5 as a valuable asset for professionals in fast-paced environments. User Experience: Simplified, Flexible, and Intuitive The user experience in ChatGPT 5 has been significantly refined to prioritize simplicity and flexibility. The model selection process has been streamlined, with reasoning and thinking capabilities enabled by default. Users can easily adjust writing styles, refine specific portions of responses, and access detailed workflows tailored to their industry or specific needs. These enhancements make ChatGPT 5 particularly useful for professionals in fields such as business, marketing, and e-commerce, where adaptability and precision are essential. The model's intuitive interface and customizable features ensure that users can achieve their goals efficiently, whether they are drafting a marketing campaign or analyzing market trends. Limitations: Areas for Further Development Despite its advancements, ChatGPT 5 is not without limitations. Its coding capabilities, while improved, still require further testing to ensure consistency and reliability. Similarly, agent mode, although more functional than in previous versions, could benefit from greater efficiency and user control. These areas highlight opportunities for ongoing development to fully unlock the model's potential. Addressing these limitations will be crucial for making sure that ChatGPT 5 continues to meet the evolving needs of its users. By focusing on these areas, future updates can further enhance the model's utility and reliability. Future Directions: Advancing AI Capabilities Looking ahead, ChatGPT 5 is poised for continuous refinement to address its current limitations and expand its capabilities. Planned updates include the development of educational resources and tutorials to help users maximize the model's potential. Additionally, expanded integrations and feature enhancements aim to keep ChatGPT 5 at the forefront of AI innovation. These efforts reflect a commitment to making sure that ChatGPT 5 remains a valuable tool for a wide range of applications, from professional tasks to personal projects. By prioritizing user feedback and ongoing development, the model is well-positioned to adapt to the changing demands of its users and the broader technological landscape. Media Credit: Skill Leap AI Filed Under: AI, Technology News, Top News Latest Geeky Gadgets Deals Disclosure: Some of our articles include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, Geeky Gadgets may earn an affiliate commission. Learn about our Disclosure Policy.
Reuters
21 minutes ago
- Reuters
India approves $3.4 billion payout to state-run refiners for cooking gas losses
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI Aug 8 (Reuters) - India has approved 300 billion rupees ($3.4 billion) compensation to oil marketing companies for losses incurred in selling subsidised cooking gas, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Friday. The compensation, approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet, would be paid to state-run Indian Oil Corp ( opens new tab, Bharat Petroleum Corp ( opens new tab and Hindustan Petroleum Corp ( opens new tab in 12 tranches, according to a government statement. It will allow state-run oil companies to continue crude procurement, debt servicing, and sustaining capital expenditure, the statement said. "As gas prices are impacted by geopolitics, the subsidy will insulate the country's middle-class families from any negative impact," Vaishnaw said at a briefing. The government also allocated 120.6 billion rupees towards a scheme to provide subsidised cooking gas connections to women from nearly 100 million poor households. ($1 = 87.6880 Indian rupees)
Times
an hour ago
- Times
I was fired from my tech job. Here's why I picked up the welding gun
For eight years, the most physical work Tabby Toney Douglass did was to move a cursor around a screen. Three months ago, she swapped her mouse for a welding gun and a fire-resistant jacket. Douglass is one of nearly 250,000 tech workers who have been laid off in the United States since the start of last year. Artificial intelligence and cost-cutting measures are causing havoc in an industry previously considered best equipped to cope with technological advancement. Software engineers, whose area of study was once seen as a sure-fire path to a reliable six-figure income, have been particularly affected. Instead of trying to stay in the industry, Douglass decided to follow her creative passion: welding. She is not alone. Many former tech workers are turning to traditional blue-collar jobs as a fallback option. We spoke to three of them. Tabby Toney Douglass, a 37-year-old living in Oklahoma City, graduated with a PhD in history from Oklahoma State University and initially worked as a lecturer and in museums. She discovered that the non-profit world did not provide her with a reliable salary, and decided to teach herself to code. She initially worked as a software tester, and was later hired at a payroll and human resources company as a software engineer. Douglass said she first noticed the emergence of AI in her work about a year ago. At first, it was useful to have a new tool to reduce her workload. 'Then a lot of companies started to think 'Oh, we can replace people with that'. It's very short-sighted,' she said. In May, Douglass was laid off for the second time in three years. She was burnt out and unsatisfied with the long hours chained to a computer, and decided to take a month's break to recharge. Douglass grew up on a farm in Oklahoma, and was introduced to welding as a toddler in her grandfather's garage. She recalled wearing his protective mask and it coming down to her knees. 'I remember him telling me, 'Don't look at the spark',' she said. While deciding her next career move, Douglass borrowed a welding gun, clamps, gloves, glasses and fire-resistant jacket from a relative. 'I enjoyed the creative side of it,' she said. 'Metallurgy involves knowing what tools to use and how to execute it in certain situations, so there's still a thinking aspect to it. And that's when I realised, 'I don't want to work in software any more'.' She applied to get into several welding trade schools, but found they were fully booked for two years due to the high demand for tradespeople in Oklahoma's oil and gas industry. Douglass said she eventually 'got lucky' and was accepted into a five-month intensive course. She feels confident she could go straight into work, but would rather be certified. 'I don't want a building to fall down,' she said. Douglass is not concerned about the physical side of the work. She has a black belt in karate and lifts weights at the gym. Besides, it will be a breeze compared to having to sit in front of a computer for eight or nine hours a day. 'I don't sit still well,' she said. Neither is she bothered about working in an industry where men make up about 90 per cent of the workforce. 'There aren't too many female welders, but there aren't many female software engineers either. I was usually the only woman on my team,' she said. Recruiters she spoke to said some employers preferred to hire female welders because they showed greater attention to detail in their work. Mid-level software engineers can make anywhere from $66,000 to $90,000 in Oklahoma. Salaries for remote workers are higher, ranging from $100,000 to $120,000. Douglass said she would make $40,000 to $50,000 for her first two years as a welder, but could easily double or triple that within a few years. 'It'll definitely be a huge pay cut at first, but once I get some experience I'd like to travel interstate and work at shipyards. That's where the money is.' Travis Ross, 49, started out in tech in Los Angeles in the late 1990s working as a 3D graphic designer in film and television. He created computer-generated replicas of human characters, known as 'digital doubles', for movies like Blade: Trinity and Batman & Robin. When the dot-com crash hit, Ross moved to San Diego and found work on early Sony Playstation NBA and Major League Baseball video games, doing 3D scanning of baseball and basketball players' faces. 'We had a lot of fun in those days. We were innovating, we were creating new techniques and it was a blast,' he said. A few years later, in 2008, the bottom fell out of the tech world again as the financial crisis rippled through economies worldwide. 'It was really rough, and I ended up getting laid off with very small kids in a terrible economy,' Ross said. Film production studios began chasing tax incentives in Canada and Asia, many of Ross's friends in the industry followed the work overseas. But with three young children, that was not an option for him. When the pandemic kicked off in 2020, he wound up moving to Nashville to do user research for a media company. 'Then in late 2023, I was driving home after being laid off again and I just thought, 'I'm going to be a handyman, I would rather swing a hammer',' he said. Ross started researching how to set up a home improvement company. He had always had the practical skills to fix and maintain his homes, and helped friends with renovation projects. 'But I knew if I wanted to be taken seriously, I needed to get a licence as a home improvement contractor. I got bonded and insured. Here I am a year later and I'm still doing it,' he said. Ross does kitchen remodelling, floor installations, and builds patios, playgrounds and sheds. But he prefers custom-designed work: furniture, walk-in closets and faux fireplaces that he designs with his clients, fabricates and then installs the finished product. 'I was recently hired to be a subcontractor for a home building project, and I went in and literally nothing but the foundation had been poured,' he said. 'The little kids were running around, they're like, 'This is our home, this is going to be the bedroom, this is going to be the bathroom.' 'When you see that, it's very gratifying. Whereas in tech, you don't see the results of what you're doing for months. It's a slow, grinding, weird process that my brain never enjoyed. 'I wanted to build up my skills in an area that AI can't completely dominate. 'My three kids are teenagers now and they're all involved in the business.' Ross used to earn between $110,000 to $150,000 a year in tech, which comes out to about $72 an hour. Now he makes $125 an hour, a standard for handymen in the Nashville area. 'The money is inconsistent and cash flow is always an issue for me but it's worth the effort,' he said. 'What I'd say to someone coming out of the tech space who is disenchanted or unemployed, is 'What is it that gives you energy? That you lose track of time in?' And then just keep doing that until you have a business.' Chris Jeffs, 58, was born in the UK and began his tech career working as a software developer in Germany in the 1990s before moving to the US in 1995. 'It was incredibly rewarding to build a technology platform from the ground up because you see the entire evolution of the product,' he said. 'Then I moved into software management roles at mid-sized multinationals, and started to run into the kinds of headaches associated with the way larger corporations work. I enjoyed the work, until I didn't.' By 2018, Jeffs had lost his passion for tech and was ready to take a leap. He had two school-aged children and the extensive travel that the job required had become exhausting. Jeffs came from a family of accomplished carpenters and always found the work appealing. His eldest brother does custom joinery for old cottages in the UK, and his father dabbled in it as a hobby. 'I admired what they did,' he said. When his son joined a theatre group in Atlanta, Jeffs volunteered with a couple of other dads to help build the sets. 'I wouldn't say I wasn't a craftsman by any means, but I knew I liked it enough that I could give it a go when I quit the corporate world,' he said. Over the Christmas holidays, Jeffs brainstormed how to set up a woodworking business and came up with a basic business plan. 'I had a budget of like $20,000 to get started, and I figured if it failed after a year, I could go back to the corporate world,' he said. Jeffs converted his 14 sq ft basement into a workshop. He bought a table saw and an air filtration system for the sawdust for about $7,000. 'I didn't know what I'd make or what I'd be able to sell, so I tried a handful of different things to see what would stick,' he said. 'I built backpack organisers and picket fences to put around a Christmas tree. I'd always had this idea to make custom-designed drawer organisers for silverware, and at that time I was one of only a handful of people selling them on Etsy. 'Within six months, they took off. After a year and a half, I had outgrown our basement and managed to find a lease on an 800 sq ft workshop,' he said. 'I take a lot of pride in my work. I'm really scared that customers won't like what I do, and when you start getting bad reviews on Etsy, that can kill your business. 'A lot of people ask me, 'do you get bored?' And I say 'not really', because each drawer is different. They're all designed uniquely for that customer.' During the first few years as Jeffs was building an online presence, his income was a small fraction of his corporate salary. 'By the third year, I was making around 60 per cent of my corporate income, and it now fluctuates between 75 and 90 per cent,' he said. Being his own boss brings a tremendous amount of freedom. Jeffs typically works four to five hours a day in the workshop and another one or two hours talking to customers about orders. 'Compared to the ten-hour days of the tech-corporate world, I am now able to dictate how much I choose to work, and therefore my income,' he said. 'In the tech world that I came from, as you get into your fifties and sixties, it's very, very hard to find new opportunities. You're perceived as having aged out. 'If you're fortunate enough to have a little bit of wiggle room with finances or personal life or whatever it may be, I'd encourage people to take a leap of faith. Worst-case scenario it fails and you go back and get a proper job.'
