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A startup called Ringg is making a strong case that AI can handle the phones. Using OpenAI's latest model, Ringg says its voice and chat agents now resolve up to sixty-five percent of customer calls on their own, across multiple languages and platforms, at roughly ninety percent less cost than the previous generation. That's a number that will get attention in every customer service boardroom.
From the frontier of autonomous vehicles to a rather awkward diplomatic moment — a Waymo robotaxi apparently held up a Secret Service motorcade this week, raising the kind of question nobody quite planned for: what happens when a self-driving car meets the protocols of presidential security? It's a small incident with larger implications for how autonomous vehicles will coexist with the machinery of government.
And in a quieter corner of Washington, a Democratic congresswoman from Illinois is pushing to end the surveillance tower program along the southern border. The proposal follows an investigation by MIT Technology Review documenting deaths that occurred near those towers, putting hard questions to policymakers about what the technology was actually delivering, and for whom.
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