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OpenAI has suspended the developer behind Dean.Bot, a ChatGPT-powered bot designed to impersonate Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips to help bolster his campaign, according to The Washington Post. The chatbot was created by AI startup Delphi for the super PAC We Deserve Better, which supports Phillips.

Dean.Bot didn’t all-out pretend to be Phillips himself; before engaging with Dean.Bot, website visitors would be shown a disclaimer describing the nature of the chatbot. Still, this type of use goes directly against OpenAI’s policies. A spokesperson for the company confirmed the developer's suspension in a statement to the Post. It comes just weeks after OpenAI published a lengthy blog post about the measures it’s taking to prevent the misuse of its technology ahead of the 2024 elections, specifically citing “chatbots impersonating candidates” as an example of what’s not allowed. 

Dean.Bot

OpenAI also said in its blog post that it does not “allow people to build applications for political campaigning and lobbying.” Per an earlier story by The Washington Post, the intent of Dean.Bot was to engage with potential supporters and spread the candidate’s message. Following the Post’s inquiry, Delphi initially removed ChatGPT from the bot and kept it running with other, open-source tools before ultimately taking it town altogether on Friday night once OpenAI stepped in. 

If you visit the site now, you’ll still be greeted by the disclaimer — but the chatbot itself is down due to “technical difficulties,” presenting visitors with the message, “Apologies, DeanBot is away campaigning right now!” Engadget has reached out to OpenAI for comment. 

Amazon upgraded its Echo Show 8 display late last year to give it a sleeker design and faster Alexa responses, and you can get it right now at the lowest price we've seen it hit. The third-gen, 2023 Echo Show 8 is 40 percent off on Amazon, bringing it down to just $90. It normally costs $150. The display comes in two colors, Charcoal and Glacier White, and the discount applies to both.

The 2023 Echo Show 8 brought upgrades inside and out to the smart home gadget. It has spatial audio with room calibration that should make for much fuller sound than the previous models were able to achieve. The improvements carry over to video calling, which benefits from crisper audio and a 13-megapixel camera.

Amazon debuted its new Adaptive Content feature alongside the 2023 Echo Show 8, which changes what’s shown on the screen based on where you are in the room. If you’re standing far away, it’ll display easily digestible information in large font, like the weather or news headlines. As you get closer, it’ll switch to a more detailed view. It can also show personalized content for anyone enrolled in visual ID, surfacing your favorite playlists and other content.

The Echo Show 8 also boasts 40 percent faster response times for Alexa thanks to its upgraded processor. For privacy-conscious buyers, it has a physical camera shutter that’s controlled with a slider on the top of the device, so you know for sure that it’s not watching. There’s also a button to turn off the mic and camera.

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After a short period of worrying silence, NASA said on Saturday night that it was able to regain contact with the Ingenuity helicopter. The autonomous aircraft unexpectedly ceased communications with the Perseverance rover, which relays all transmissions between Ingenuity and Earth, on Thursday during its 72nd flight on Mars. It had already been acting up prior to this, having cut its previous flight short for an unknown reason, and NASA intended to do a systems check during the latest ascent.

The space agency said in an update posted on X that it’s now reviewing the data from Ingenuity to understand what happened. Perseverance picked up its signal after the team instructed it to perform “long-duration listening sessions.” Ingenuity has experienced blackouts before, as recently as last year, and was able to return to flight. But it’s too early to say if that will be the case this time. The mini helicopter is already running well past the original timeline of its mission.

The ancient art of sailing can be very intimidating for the uninitiated given the shifty nature of wind. To help understand the interaction of wind direction and board orientation, [KifS] designed a hands-on sailing demonstrator that lets students grasp the basics before setting foot on a real sailboat.

The demonstrator uses a potentiometer as a tiller to control a model sailboat’s angle, while another stepper motor adjusts the position of a fan to simulate changing wind directions. With an Arduino Uno controlling everything, this setup affords students the opportunity to learn about sail positioning and adjusting to shifting winds in an interactive way, without the pressures and variables of being on the water.

[KifS]’s creation isn’t just about static demonstrations. It features four modes that progressively challenge learners—from simply getting a feel for the tiller, to adjusting sails with dynamic wind changes, even adding a game element that introduces random wind movements demanding quick adjustments. [KifS] mentions there are potentials aspects that can be refined, like more realistic sail response and usability, but it already achieved the main project goals.

There are a myriad of potential ways to add new tech to the ancient art of sailing. We’ve seen a DIY autopilot system, full sensor arrays, and an open source chart plotter. It’s even been proven you can have a wind powered land vehicle that travels faster than the wind.

NASA is trying to figure out how to reach its Ingenuity Mars helicopter after losing contact with the craft earlier this week. During its 72nd flight — a “quick pop-up” to an altitude of about 40 feet — NASA says Ingenuity stopped communicating with the Perseverance rover before it was meant to. It went quiet on Thursday, and as of Friday evening, NASA still hadn’t heard from it.

Ingenuity sends its data to Perseverance, which then passes it on to Earth. According to NASA, the small helicopter completed the ascent as planned, but ceased communications while on its way back down. “The Ingenuity team is analyzing available data and considering next steps to reestablish communications with the helicopter,” NASA said in a status update on Friday. Ingenuity had previously ended a flight earlier than it was supposed to, and Thursday’s jaunt was meant to “check out the helicopter’s systems.”

Ingenuity has been on the red planet since 2021, when it arrived with the Perseverance rover. And it’s far exceeded its mission goals. NASA originally hoped the experimental helicopter would be able to complete a handful of flights; it went on to fly more than 20 times within its first year in operation. The space agency officially extended its mission in 2022, and it’s since executed dozens more more successful flights. Ingenuity is the first aircraft to take flight from the surface of Mars.

Who doesn’t love showing off their collection of cool rocks? NASA was finally able to get into the asteroid Bennu sample container last week after struggling with it for a couple of months, and now, it’s sharing a look at what’s inside. The space agency published a high-resolution image of the newly opened Touch-and-Go-Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) on Friday, revealing all the dust and rocks OSIRIS-REx scraped off the asteroid’s surface.

The image is massive, so you can zoom in to see even the finer details of the sample. Check out the full-sized version on NASA’s website. There’s an abundance of material for scientists to work with, and as OSIRIS-REx team member Lindsay Keller said back in September, they plan to make the most of microanalytical techniques to “really tear it apart, almost down to the atomic scale.” Asteroid Bennu, estimated to be about 4.5 billion years old, may hold clues into the formation of our solar system and how the building blocks of life first came to Earth.

Scientists have already discovered signs of carbon and water in the excess material they found on the outside of the TAGSAM. While they’d hoped to get at least 2.1 ounces (60 grams) of regolith from the asteroid, OSIRIS-REx was able to grab much more. The team obtained 2.48 ounces (70.3 grams) just from the “bonus” material accumulated on the sample hardware. NASA plans to spend the next two years analyzing portions of the sample, but the majority of it will be preserved for future studies and to be shared with other scientists.

Welcome back to your Saturday morning tech injectable. This week's TMA focuses on two big tech launches. First of all, Samsung started 2024 early with its flagship smartphone series, announcing three S24 models set to go on sale at the end of the month. This time around, sure, they look like last year's phones again, but that's offset with a barrage of AI tricks and features that you can't find on any other smartphone. And isn't that the point of getting a new phone?

We've also got more in-depth impressions of Apple's first foray into VR/AR/XR as the Vision Pro ($3,500) goes on preorder, ahead of launch later this month. You've got big pockets right? This is the company’s first new product since 2014’s Apple Watch and our most recent impressions suggest the Vision Pro is a fluid, intelligent headset experience beyond the VR headsets we’ve seen so far. Two Engadget editors strapped on the Vision Pro for some more extensive demos, including immersive video and attempted to type in thin air on the Vision Pro’s floating keyboard. 

This week:

🥽🍎 Apple Vision Pro hands-on, redux

🕹️R🕹️R Take-Two’s lawyers think Remedy’s new R logo is too similar to Rockstar’s R logo

📱📲 Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra hands-on:  

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Sheryl Sandberg is leaving Meta's board of directors, and the company continues to sail toward the Metaverse while the rest of us wonder if that's even a destination that exists. The company is also shaking up its AI teams. The company has two teams pursuing AI research, but now Mark Zuckerberg is bringing them closer together. What will that lead to? Karissa Bell explains it all. 

If you're going to purchase the Apple Vision Pro, you may want to get a case for it, as well. Based on the company's repair and service page for the device as first noticed by AppleInsider, getting it repaired can be very costly, even when you have AppleCare+. If the headset's cover glass cracks, it'll set you back $799 to get it replaced. Other types of damage could cost you up to $2,399, which is only $1,100 less expensive than a brand new base unit. 

The repair prices don't sound as outrageous if you pay for AppleCare+, but they're still not cheap. A damaged cover class or any other type of repair will cost you $299, on top of the extended warranty's $25-a-month fee. While you could get it fixed by a third-party, it could cause you issues if you send it to Apple for another repair in the future, and those services might not have the components you need. Apple has been supportive of the right-to-repair movement lately, though, and has an existing self-repair program for its phones and computers. The company could add the Vision Pro to that program, but it may not happen anytime soon. 

Apple's Vision Pro is now available for pre-order from Apple's US website and all its brick-and-mortar stores across the country. The $3,499 version will give you 256GB of storage space, while the 512GB model will cost you $3,699. Want 1TB of space? That one will set you back $3,899. Take note that its accessories are sold separately, and you'll have to shell out an additional $199 for its travel case. 

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