How AI chatbots keep people coming back
Chatbots are increasingly looking to keep people chatting, using familiar tactics that we've already seen lead to negative consequences. Sycophancy can make AI chatbots respond in a way that's overly agreeable or flattering. And while having a digital hype person might not seem like a dangerous thing, it is actually a tactic used by tech companies to keep users talking with their bots and returning to their platforms.
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Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trending tickers: The latest investor updates on Alphabet, Amazon, Circle, Shell and Whitbread
Shares in Amazon (AMZN) dipped 1% in Wednesday's session, after CEO Andy Jassy warned that the rollout of artificial intelligence (AI) across the tech company would likely result in jobs cuts in the coming years. Jassy said in a memo to employees on Tuesday that this "should change the way our work is done. We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs. Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: Stocks slip as Bank of England set to hold interest rates amid inflation fears "It's hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company." Meanwhile, Amazon's autonomous driving subsidiary, Zoox, announced on Wednesday that it has opened the first-ever production facility for purpose built robotaxis in the US. The site in California spans 220,000 square feet — the equivalent of three and a half American football fields. In other autonomous vehicle news, Alphabet-owned (GOOG, GOOGL) Waymo is looking to bring its robotaxi service to New York. In a post on social media platform X on Wednesday, Waymo said: "We've applied for a @NYC_DOT permit to drive autonomously with a specialist behind the wheel while we're in the city — a key step to one day serving New Yorkers." Read more: Pound treads water ahead of interest rate decision The company said it was advocating for changes to state law to allow it to bring fully autonomous ride-hailing service the city in the future. Waymo currently operates in parts of San Francisco, Pheonix, Los Angeles and Austin, and has just announced that it is expanding its service in greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. Shares in stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) surged nearly 34% on Wednesday and were up a further 6% in after-hours trading, at the time of writing, though US markets are closed on Thursday for Juneteenth. The jump in shares came after the US Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that would establish a federal framework for stablecoins, which are dollar-backed cryptocurrencies. Shares in crypto exchange platform Coinbase (COIN) — which co-founded the USDC (USDC-USD) stablecoin — also rallied on the news, closing Wednesday's session up more than 16%. Read more: Stocks that are trending today In addition, Coinbase announced on Wednesday the launch of its stablecoin payment stack for commerce platform. It said that the system offers instant, 24/7 USDC stablecoin payments to merchants "globally, securely, and without blockchain complexity". Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Coinbase (COIN) is riding the wave of stablecoin momentum with the launch of a new payment stack aimed at making it easier for shoppers to buy and pay using US dollar-backed crypto. "It's a bold move that puts pressure on traditional payment giants like Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA), whose dominance in the card space is starting to look a little less certain. For crypto enthusiasts, this marks one of the first real-world applications of blockchain tech that could genuinely scale with consumer use." On the London market, rising oil prices continued to drive up the shares of Shell (SHEL.L) and BP (BP.L), as the conflict between Iran and Israel entered its seventh day. According to a Reuters report, Shell CEO Wael Sawan said at a conference in Tokyo on Thursday that the "escalation in tensions over the last few days, in essence, has added to what has already been significant uncertainty in the region." "We're being very careful with, for example, our shipping in the region, just to make sure that we do not take any unnecessary risks," he said. Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio Concerns about disruption to supply as a result of the conflict have pushed oil prices higher, with brent crude futures (BZ=F) up 0.4% at $76.97 (£57.33) a barrel on Thursday morning, their highest point since February. Hargreaves Lansdown's Britzman said: "Oil prices are in a holding pattern as markets wait for clarity on possible US involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict. While the White House stayed vague after president Trump met with advisers, any direct action could escalate tensions and threaten vital energy routes like the Strait of Hormuz." Shell shares were up nearly 1% on Thursday morning, while BP rose 1.6%. Shares in Premier Inn-owner Whitbread dipped 2.4% on Thursday morning, following the release of its first quarter results. The hospitality business warned that total sales were down 1% like-for-like in the first quarter. The weakness came from the company's UK accommodation and food and beverage segments, though it saw stronger sales growth in its Germany business. Even so, Whitbread said its five-year plan was on track to deliver incremental profit of at least £300m ($403m) by its 2030 fiscal year, which would generate more than £2bn in shareholder returns. Read more: Bank of England expected to hold interest rates as inflation comes in above target Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: "Normally-reliable Whitbread provided an unpleasant surprise for investors with their poorer update this morning. "Always a useful bellwether of the UK consumer, Whitbread suggests that the economy is still in a tough patch, though the better Germany performance was at least some comfort for investors. "Hopefully the longer-term turnaround will bear fruit in due course; once a star performer, Whitbread's shares have lost direction over the last decade, although the dividend helps to boost their attractiveness." Read more: Bank of England expected to hold interest rates as inflation comes in above target Bitcoin price steady above $105k as Trump mulls Iran strike Eurozone inflation falls below ECB target to 1.9%Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Coinbase and Circle Surge as Senate Passes Stablecoin Bill
Shares of Coinbase (COIN, Financials) and Circle (CRCL, Financials) jumped Wednesday after the U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS Act, a bill that could set the stage for broad adoption of U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Signs with COIN. Circle, which issued USDC and recently went public, rose 33%; its shares are now trading around $180, up nearly sixfold from the $31 IPO price earlier this month. Coinbase, which co-founded USDC and shares in 50% of its revenue, gained more than 16%. The GENIUS Act short for Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins would require issuers to maintain full reserves and undergo monthly audits. The bill still needs to clear the House, where a competing version splits regulatory authority among agencies including the Federal Reserve and Comptroller of the Currency. Coinbase earns all interest on USDC held on its platform and has seen stablecoin-related income surge 50% year over year. CEO Brian Armstrong recently said he expects USDC to challenge Tether as the dominant global stablecoin. Circle Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad told a media outlet that the legislation could unlock new investment, saying it clarifies the rules and could help accelerate stablecoin integration into the financial system. Coinbase also announced a new merchant payments product Wednesday, allowing e-commerce businesses to accept USDC with near-instant settlement a move that challenges traditional payment networks. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
24 minutes ago
- Forbes
16 Billion Apple, Facebook, Google And Other Passwords Leaked — Act Now
The biggest password leak in history confirmed. getty Update, June 19, 2025: This story, originally published on June 18, has been updated with comments from the founders of Keeper Security regarding the 16 billion leaked passwords and other login credentials across the major tech vendor landscape. If you thought that my May 23 report, confirming the leak of login data totaling an astonishing 184 million compromised credentials, was frightening, I hope you are sitting down now. Researchers have just confirmed what is also certainly the largest data breach ever, with an almost incredulous 16 billion login credentials, including passwords, exposed. As part of an ongoing investigation that started at the beginning of the year, the researchers have postulated that the massive password leak is the work of multiple infostealers. Here's what you need to know and do. Password compromise is no joke; it leads to account compromise and that leads to, well, the compromise of most everything you hold dear in this technological-centric world we live in. It's why Google is telling billions of users to replace their passwords with much secure passkeys. It's why the FBI is warning people not to click on links in SMS messages. It's why stolen passwords are up for sale, in their millions, on the dark web to anyone with the very little amount of cash required to purchase them. And it's why this latest revelation is, frankly, so darn concerning for everyone. According to Vilius Petkauskas at Cybernews, whose researchers have been investigating the leakage since the start of the year, '30 exposed datasets containing from tens of millions to over 3.5 billion records each,' have been discovered. In total, Petkauskas has confirmed, the number of compromised records has now hit 16 billion. Let that sink in for a bit. These collections of login credentials, these databases stuffed full of compromised passwords, comprise what is thought to be the largest such leak in history. The 16 billion strong leak, housed in a number ion supermassive datasets, includes billions of login credentials from social media, VPNs, developer portals and user accounts for all the major vendors. Remarkably, I am told that none of these datasets have been reported as leaked previously, this is all new data. Well, almost none: the 184 million password database I mentioned at the start of the article is the only exception. 'This is not just a leak – it's a blueprint for mass exploitation,' the researchers said. And they are right. These credentials are ground zero for phishing attacks and account takeover. 'These aren't just old breaches being recycled,' they warned, 'this is fresh, weaponizable intelligence at scale.' Most of that intelligence was structured in the format of a URL, followed by login details and a password. The information contained, the researchers stated, open the door to 'pretty much any online service imaginable, from Apple, Facebook, and Google, to GitHub, Telegram, and various government services.' Not all password databases are tye result of compromise and infostealer malware, such as is the case with the 16 billion megadump here. Darren Guccione, the CEO and co-founder of Keeper Security, a privileged access management platform, told me that this GOAT passwords leak was an apt reminder of 'just how easy it is for sensitive data to be unintentionally exposed online.' And Guccione certainly isn't wrong, far from it in fact. This could be just the tip of the biggest security iceberg waiting to crash into the online world. I mean, just imagine how many exposed credentials, including passwords, are sitting there in the cloud, or more to the point in misconfigured cloud environments, waiting for some to find them. If we are lucky, that someone will be a security researcher who responsibly discloses the exposure to the owner or host; if not, then it will be a malicious actor. Who would you put your money on? 'The fact that the credentials in question are of high value for widely used services carries with it far-reaching implications,' Guccione said, which is why it is more important than ever for consumers to invest in password management solutions and dark web monitoring tools. The latter can help by alerting users when their passwords have been exposed online, hopefully enabling them to take direct action and update their account logins if the password has been reused across services. Organizations, however, do not escape the necessity of investment either. They should be looking at adopting zero-trust security models that provide privileged access controls to 'limit risk by ensuring access to sensitive systems is always authenticated, authorized and logged,' Guccione concluded, 'regardless of where the data lives.' Ultimately, this reinforces that cybersecurity is not just a technical challenge but a shared responsibility. 'Organisations need to do their part in protecting users,' Javvad Malik, lead security awareness advocate at KnowBe4, said, 'and people need to remain vigilant and mindful of any attempts to steal login credentials. Choose strong and unique passwords, and implement multi factor authentication wherever possible." To which I would add: change your account passwords, use a password manager and switch to passkeys wherever possible. Now is the time to take this seriously, don't wait until your passwords show up in these ongoing leak datasets – get on top of your password security right now.
