Artificial intelligence could become your child’s new best friend. California-based Embodied has created Moxie – a robot companion designed to support social, emotional and cognitive development in children ages 5 to 10.

While AI can often feel mysterious, Moxie – with its blue body and big, curious eyes – provides a tangible application of the fast-growing technology, to the tune of $799. Outfitted with sensors, microphones and a camera, the robot uses play-based exercises to help children learn how to identify and better manage their emotions.

With kids experiencing increasing feelings of loneliness, especially after being isolated during the pandemic, the company announced it created Moxie so the next generation could have a trusted friend to help with those anxieties.

CEO and founder Paolo Pirjanian, a former NASA scientist, said talking to Moxie is very different than an AI chatbot. “93% of our communication is nonverbal, is body language, intonation of voice, facial expressions. Moxie has those capabilities. So it’s very different AI than what we see in the mainstream right now.”

AI HAS ALREADY SURPASSED HUMAN CAPABILITIES IN SEVERAL DOMAINS; WHICH JOBS ARE NEXT?

One concern is children could bond too much with Moxie, foregoing real human interaction. To prevent that, Embodied has implemented use limits.

“The whole goal is to teach skills that are going to improve the kid’s day-to-day life, so we actually have activities where Moxie will help a child practice,” Rachel Baynes, the head of clinical research for Embodied, shared. “Like, ‘How do you make a friend? Let’s think of some questions together.’ But then, the next activity is Moxie encouraging the child to go and use those skills.”

INSTAGRAM LABELS WOULD IDENTIFY META AI-GENERATED IMAGES: REPORT

Embodied is also taking a very conservative approach to content. Not every parent has the same level of comfort with their child learning about certain topics, so the company has built guardrails around anything that could be sensitive. In the future, though, parents will have the option to select what topics Moxie can and cannot address.

That conservative approach also applies to data privacy as well.

“Security and privacy is paramount for us. We encrypt everything we do and then destroy that information,” said CTO Mario Munich. “We probably took the strongest position, but we are dealing with children.”

CHATGPT AI CHATBOT AVAILABLE ON ANDROID IN US, OTHER COUNTRIES

The plan is to eventually expand to other populations, like the elderly, to address loneliness and cognitive decline. Embodied predicts in the foreseeable future, everyone will have an AI companion.

However, as AI use grows, so does the fear of catastrophe. Industry leaders, including Elon Musk and the Embodied CEO, recently signed a letter calling for a six-month pause in development. Pirjanian asserts it is not the technology that will cause harm, but the intent behind it.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

“AI can save the world. But it’s so powerful that in the wrong hands, it can also destroy many things,” Pirjanian said. “If it takes pausing for a little while to think through the consequences, then so be it. As a business person, I would rather not have to do that. But ethics has to trump that.”

His solution?

“We must build better humans.”

Read More 

A federal appeals court blocked President Biden’s administration from implementing rules aimed at providing debt relief to student loan borrowers who were misled by their colleges Monday.

The ruling from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest defeat for Biden’s efforts to forgive student loans across the country. The court granted a request from a for-profit college in Texas seeking an injunction against the administration’s rule change.

The block is temporary, and the three-judge panel will hear the case in full later this year.

The Biden administration’s rule changes would have expanded the number of student loan borrowers who are eligible for debt relief as well as facilitated the application process for obtaining relief.

BIDEN STUDENT LOAN ‘REDISTRIBUTION’ COULD BENEFIT FELONS, GOP OFFICIALS CLAIM IN LETTER DEMANDING DETAILS

Biden has made several pushes to forgive student loans since entering office in 2021, in addition to drastically extending a freeze on payments to lenders. The Supreme Court struck down his effort to provide nationwide relief in June, however.

SUPREME COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF COLORADO GRAPHIC DESIGNER WHO REFUSED TO CREATE SAME-SEX WEDDING WEBSITES

Biden’s initial plan was expected to cost upward of $400 billion. He released a pared back version in July that was expected to cost taxpayers some $39 billion.

BIDEN VETOES CANCELING HIS $400 BILLION STUDENT LOAN HANDOUT, VOWS HE’S ‘NOT GOING TO BACK DOWN’

Biden’s administration had relied on a federal statute, called the HEROES Act, to enact the first plan, claiming the law gave the secretary of education power to “waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision applicable to the student financial assistance programs… as the secretary deems necessary in connection with a war or other military national emergency.”

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

The court majority shot down that argument, however, saying, “The authority to ‘modify’ statutes and regulations allows the Secretary to make modest adjustments and additions to existing regulations, not transform them.”

READ THE APPEALS COURT ORDER – APP USERS, CLICK HERE: 

Read More 

Representatives of Amazon.com are set to meet next week with Federal Trade Commission officials, a person familiar with the plans said, in the latest sign that the agency is close to bringing an antitrust complaint against the online retail giant.

The Amazon representatives will meet individually with each of the FTC Commissioners during the week of Monday Aug. 14, the person said.

The person referred to the plans as a last-rites meeting, often one of the final steps before either a lawsuit or a settlement is filed.

AMAZON ENROLLED CUSTOMERS IN PRIME WITHOUT CONSENT, MADE IT HARD TO CANCEL, FTC SAYS IN LAWSUIT

If the commission does sue Amazon, it would mark a signature moment in the tenure of FTC Chair Lina Khan, who built her career in part by arguing in a widely read academic paper that Amazon had amassed too much market power and that antitrust law had failed to restrain it.

FTC STALLING MICROSOFT’S $69 BILLION ACTIVISION DEAL

The commission in recent years has been examining Amazon practices including whether it favors its own products over competitors’ on its platforms and how it treats outside sellers on Amazon.com, according to some of the people familiar with the matter. The FTC also has been scrutinizing the company’s Amazon Prime subscription service’s bundling practices, some of the people said.

Exactly which aspects of the business the FTC would target in a potential Amazon lawsuit couldn’t be learned.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

The lawsuit could challenge an array of the tech giant’s business practices as anticompetitive.

Read More