Month: March 2023

Enlarge / There's certainly no ignoring the BMW XM's styling. But don't let it distract you from a competent chassis and powertrain. (credit: BMW)

There was a time when "M" cars were lauded not only for the dynamic capability bestowed upon them by BMW's motorsport division but also for their measured aesthetic. Models like the E39-generation M5 epitomized the "if you know, you know" design philosophy, a balanced approach that won the hearts of enthusiasts and mostly flew under the radar for everyone else. But as the new XM plug-in hybrid clearly illustrates, the M Division is undergoing a sea change.

It has been more than four decades since BMW produced the last M1, the only other road-going machine developed exclusively by the company's storied performance arm. And much like the M1, the XM serves as a statement of purpose.

But this is not a limited-production, mid-engine supercar, nor is it a stripped-down homologation specially built to satisfy the stipulations of a racing series, as the first M3 was. Instead, the XM was designed to represent the pinnacle. Not the pinnacle of performance, but the pinnacle of the modern BMW experience. And it resoundingly succeeds in that mission.

Enlarge / There's certainly no ignoring the BMW XM's styling. But don't let it distract you from a competent chassis and powertrain. (credit: BMW)

There was a time when "M" cars were lauded not only for the dynamic capability bestowed upon them by BMW's motorsport division but also for their measured aesthetic. Models like the E39-generation M5 epitomized the "if you know, you know" design philosophy, a balanced approach that won the hearts of enthusiasts and mostly flew under the radar for everyone else. But as the new XM plug-in hybrid clearly illustrates, the M Division is undergoing a sea change.

It has been more than four decades since BMW produced the last M1, the only other road-going machine developed exclusively by the company's storied performance arm. And much like the M1, the XM serves as a statement of purpose.

But this is not a limited-production, mid-engine supercar, nor is it a stripped-down homologation specially built to satisfy the stipulations of a racing series, as the first M3 was. Instead, the XM was designed to represent the pinnacle. Not the pinnacle of performance, but the pinnacle of the modern BMW experience. And it resoundingly succeeds in that mission.

Enlarge / "A gaming PC riding a skateboard" as generated by the DALL-E 2-powered Bing Image Creator. The version of DALL-E in the Bing Chat preview may be more advanced. (credit: Bing Image Creator)

Microsoft is giving its work-in-progress Bing AI chatbot the ability to generate images, the company announced today. Bing preview users can generate images by typing "create an image" (or something similar) followed by the prompt. As with other AI-powered image generators, the more detailed a prompt you provide, the more specific and consistent the output is.

Not all Bing preview users will be able to generate images right away, as Microsoft is rolling the feature out in phases (it's not working for me as of this writing). Initially, it will only work in the chatbot's "Creative" mode. The bot has three "personalities," and "Creative" is the most prone to giving wrong answers and inaccurate information.

Microsoft said it was using "an advanced version" of the DALL-E generator without providing additional details. The Bing chatbot was using OpenAI's GPT-4 model several weeks before it was formally announced to the public, so Microsoft could also be using a more powerful pre-release version of the DALL-E model. The image generator Microsoft made available to the public in October uses DALL-E 2.

Enlarge / "A gaming PC riding a skateboard" as generated by the DALL-E 2-powered Bing Image Creator. The version of DALL-E in the Bing Chat preview may be more advanced. (credit: Bing Image Creator)

Microsoft is giving its work-in-progress Bing AI chatbot the ability to generate images, the company announced today. Bing preview users can generate images by typing "create an image" (or something similar) followed by the prompt. As with other AI-powered image generators, the more detailed a prompt you provide, the more specific and consistent the output is.

Not all Bing preview users will be able to generate images right away, as Microsoft is rolling the feature out in phases (it's not working for me as of this writing). Initially, it will only work in the chatbot's "Creative" mode. The bot has three "personalities," and "Creative" is the most prone to giving wrong answers and inaccurate information.

Microsoft said it was using "an advanced version" of the DALL-E generator without providing additional details. The Bing chatbot was using OpenAI's GPT-4 model several weeks before it was formally announced to the public, so Microsoft could also be using a more powerful pre-release version of the DALL-E model. The image generator Microsoft made available to the public in October uses DALL-E 2.

Enlarge (credit: Sean Gallup | Getty Images)

Google Bard is out—sort of. Google says you can now join the waitlist to try the company's generative AI chatbot at the newly launched bard.google.com site. The company is going with "Bard" and not the "Google Assistant" chatbot branding it was previously using. Other than a sign-up link and an FAQ, there isn't much there right now.

Google's blog post calls Bard "an early experiment," and the project is covered in warning labels. The Bard site has a bright blue "Experiment" label right on the logo, and the blog post warns, "Large language models will not always get it right. Feedback from a wide range of experts and users will help Bard improve." A disclaimer below the demo input box warns, "Bard may display inaccurate or offensive information that doesn't represent Google's views."

Microsoft has been criticized for taking a very aggressive stance toward rolling out AI, even cutting its AI ethics team. Google is trying to paint itself as more cautious, saying, "Our work on Bard is guided by our AI Principles, and we continue to focus on quality and safety. We’re using human feedback and evaluation to improve our systems, and we’ve also built in guardrails, like capping the number of exchanges in a dialogue, to try to keep interactions helpful and on topic."

Enlarge (credit: Sean Gallup | Getty Images)

Google Bard is out—sort of. Google says you can now join the waitlist to try the company's generative AI chatbot at the newly launched bard.google.com site. The company is going with "Bard" and not the "Google Assistant" chatbot branding it was previously using. Other than a sign-up link and an FAQ, there isn't much there right now.

Google's blog post calls Bard "an early experiment," and the project is covered in warning labels. The Bard site has a bright blue "Experiment" label right on the logo, and the blog post warns, "Large language models will not always get it right. Feedback from a wide range of experts and users will help Bard improve." A disclaimer below the demo input box warns, "Bard may display inaccurate or offensive information that doesn't represent Google's views."

Microsoft has been criticized for taking a very aggressive stance toward rolling out AI, even cutting its AI ethics team. Google is trying to paint itself as more cautious, saying, "Our work on Bard is guided by our AI Principles, and we continue to focus on quality and safety. We’re using human feedback and evaluation to improve our systems, and we’ve also built in guardrails, like capping the number of exchanges in a dialogue, to try to keep interactions helpful and on topic."