The machines are whispering: We tested AI Dungeon 2 and cannot stop laughing

Sometimes, this game understands Pokemon and love. Sometimes, it fails spectacularly.

A child with TV for a head wields a toy sword

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images)

In February 2019, we at Ars Technica learned about the Generative Pre-trained Transformer-2 (GPT-2) toolset, a freakish machine-learning algorithm that was trained on roughly 40GB of human-written text. Its ability to generate unique, seemingly human text scared its creators (the non-profit research group OpenAI) enough for them to temporarily lock the tools up for public consumption. (Despite those fears, we at Ars got to access and play with the results two weeks later.)

Since then, GPT-2's public availability has exploded with tons of experiments, and the one that has arguably made the rounds more than any other is AI Dungeon, a freely available "text adventure" that is designed to create a seemingly endless interactive narrative experience. That experience received a formal "sequel" in December, and we've finally tested the results as a staff.

According to its creators, the game combines GPT-2 with roughly 30MB of stories lifted from ChooseYourStory.com, a community-driven hub for interactive fiction. The resulting database is served to users in a funnel of one of four story prompts: fantasy, mystery, apocalyptic, or zombie. (A fifth option lets users write their own one- or two-sentence prompt to describe their own ideal setting.) From there, users are given some sort of verbose prompt, then left to type out whatever action, description, or rumination they imagine doing in that fictional universe.

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Passwortherausgabe: Bundesdatenschützer warnt vor Klartextspeicherung

Die Pläne für die Herausgabe von Passwörtern an Behörden beunruhigen Datenschützer und Netzaktivisten. Der Bundesdatenschutzbeauftragte Kelber sieht sogar den elektronischen Bankenverkehr gefährdet. Von Friedhelm Greis (Datenschutz, Internet)

Die Pläne für die Herausgabe von Passwörtern an Behörden beunruhigen Datenschützer und Netzaktivisten. Der Bundesdatenschutzbeauftragte Kelber sieht sogar den elektronischen Bankenverkehr gefährdet. Von Friedhelm Greis (Datenschutz, Internet)

Arbeit: Warum anderswo mehr Frauen IT-Berufe ergreifen

In Deutschland ist die Zahl der Frauen in IT-Studiengängen und -Berufen viel niedriger als die der Männer. Biologische Ursachen sind dafür auszuschließen. Denn in anderen Ländern sieht es ganz anders aus, etwa im arabischen Raum. Warum? Von Valerie Lux…

In Deutschland ist die Zahl der Frauen in IT-Studiengängen und -Berufen viel niedriger als die der Männer. Biologische Ursachen sind dafür auszuschließen. Denn in anderen Ländern sieht es ganz anders aus, etwa im arabischen Raum. Warum? Von Valerie Lux (Arbeit, Internet)

Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 01/20/20

The top 10 most downloaded movies on BitTorrent are in again. ‘Joker’ tops the chart this week, followed by ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’. ‘Countdown’ completes the top three.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

This week we have four newcomers in our chart.

Terminator: Dark Fate is the most downloaded movie.

The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.

RSS feed for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.

This week’s most downloaded movies are:
Movie Rank Rank last week Movie name IMDb Rating / Trailer
Most downloaded movies via torrents
1 (…) Terminator: Dark Fate 6.4 / trailer
2 (…) 1917 (DVDscr) 8.6 / trailer
3 (1) Joker 8.8 / trailer
4 (…) Dark Waters (screener) 8.6 / trailer
5 (2) Maleficent: Mistress of Evil 6.8 / trailer
6 (4) Frozen 2 (DVDScr) 7.2 / trailer
7 (3) Countdown 7.2 / trailer
8 (…) Motherless Brooklyn 7.0 / trailer
9 (6) Ford v Ferrari (DVDScr) 8.3 / trailer
10 (7) Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood 7.9 / trailer

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

Editorial Team: Ubisoft will sich von seiner Formel verabschieden

Elitesoldaten in offener Welt, dazu viel Ausrüstung plus ein paar taktische Elemente: Dieses Strickmuster hat Ubisoft in The Division und Ghost Recon Breakpoint ausgereizt. Nun soll es durch den Umbau einer zentralen Entwicklerabteilung mehr Vielfalt g…

Elitesoldaten in offener Welt, dazu viel Ausrüstung plus ein paar taktische Elemente: Dieses Strickmuster hat Ubisoft in The Division und Ghost Recon Breakpoint ausgereizt. Nun soll es durch den Umbau einer zentralen Entwicklerabteilung mehr Vielfalt geben. (Ubisoft, Yves Guillemot)

Elektromobilität: China will Standards für Akkutausch einführen

Mit dem Aus von Better Place schien das Konzept des Wechselakkus für Elektroautos vom Tisch. Chinesische Hersteller haben es wieder aufleben lassen. Die Regierung hat angekündigt, Standards dafür einzuführen, damit die Fahrer der Autos ihre Akkus übera…

Mit dem Aus von Better Place schien das Konzept des Wechselakkus für Elektroautos vom Tisch. Chinesische Hersteller haben es wieder aufleben lassen. Die Regierung hat angekündigt, Standards dafür einzuführen, damit die Fahrer der Autos ihre Akkus überall tauschen können. (Elektromobilität, Technologie)

Taika Waititi: The-Mandalorian-Regisseur könnte neuen Star-Wars-Film drehen

Der Regisseur und Schauspieler Taika Waititi hat erfolgreiche Projekte wie Thor: Ragnarok und eine Folge der hochgelobten Star-Wars-Serie The Mandalorian zu verantworten. Disney ist wohl nun im Gespräch mit dem Neuseeländer – für den Regisseurposten ei…

Der Regisseur und Schauspieler Taika Waititi hat erfolgreiche Projekte wie Thor: Ragnarok und eine Folge der hochgelobten Star-Wars-Serie The Mandalorian zu verantworten. Disney ist wohl nun im Gespräch mit dem Neuseeländer - für den Regisseurposten eines kommenden Star-Wars-Films. (Star Wars, Film)

Star Citizen: Cloud Imperium Games will 500.000 US-Dollar von Crytek

Neue Wende im Rechtsstreit zwischen den Entwicklern von Star Citizen und Crytek: Jetzt fordert Cloud Imperium Games rund 500.000 US-Dollar. Das Studio argumentiert, dass Crytek sich bei Amazon viel zu spät über Lizenzrechte bei seiner eigenen Engine in…

Neue Wende im Rechtsstreit zwischen den Entwicklern von Star Citizen und Crytek: Jetzt fordert Cloud Imperium Games rund 500.000 US-Dollar. Das Studio argumentiert, dass Crytek sich bei Amazon viel zu spät über Lizenzrechte bei seiner eigenen Engine informiert habe. (Star Citizen, Crytek)

New Pirate Sites Line Up to Fill IndoXXI’s Shoes

Pirate streaming giant ‘IndoXXI,’ stopped offering pirated movies at the start of the year. This left millions of Indonesian pirates without their favorite site. However, according to anti-piracy group AVIA, many others have jumped in to fill this gap. Industry insiders are now calling on the government there to consider criminal prosecutions.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

According to a recent survey, nearly a third of all Indonesians have accessed streaming piracy websites or torrent sites.

In recent months, Indonesia’s Information and Communications Ministry has worked hard to address the country’s piracy problem. Among other things, the Government has ordered ISPs to block more than 1,000 domain names.

The main target of these efforts was streaming giant ‘IndoXXI.’ With millions of daily visitors, it was listed among the 25 most-visited sites in the country up until last month.

Initially, the notorious streaming site evaded the blocks by switching to new domains. However, after a new round of blockades just before the new year, it decided to throw in the towel.

“Happy New Year 2020. As of today our site is no longer accessible, as is the case with the IndoXXI lite application,” the operators wrote at the site.

This news was welcomed by the local movie industry as well as Hollywood, which had previously complained about IndoXXI as well. However, the site’s demise doesn’t mean that the piracy problem is over now.

According to the Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA), hundreds of other sites stepped up to fill the gap left by IndoXXI. Some of these mimic the look and feel of the closed site, hoping to draw in visitors.

“[S]ince this announced closure, many other piracy sites, including some obvious copycat clones of IndoXXI, have become available,” AVIA notes.

One of the many clones

In response, copyright holders have stepped up again demanding that more domain names be blocked. AVIA notes that more than 200 new sites have been reported to the government during the past week alone.

Although website blockades may have some short-term effects, the Video Coalition of Indonesia (VCI) believes that the government can do more. Ideally, the group would like the culprits behind these sites to be criminally prosecuted.

Neil Gane, General Manager of AVIA’s Coalition Against Piracy, believes that the people running pirate sites are often involved in other crimes as well, which may in part be financed by piracy revenue.

“Many syndicates and individuals associated with the piracy ecosystem are involved in other criminal endeavors including illicit online gambling, and there is a likelihood that part of the illegal proceeds are used to finance these other crimes,” Gane says.

The call for criminal prosecutions is supported by prominent Indonesian film director Mira Lesmana, who wants the site operators to be brought to justice.

“We need to be able to recoup our financial investments to fund new creative content. We encourage the government to track down and prosecute those Indonesian-based operators who are behind these networks of piracy sites,” Lesmana says.

The question remains whether criminal prosecutions will do much to stop the flood of pirate sites. In recent years there have been various criminal piracy cases around the world. Despite these efforts, there has been no shortage of pirate sites.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.