Olympic Games:As Igarashi and O’Leary are dropped from surfing, Inaba moves forward.

 

Reo Inaba of Japan advanced to the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympic Games surfing competition in Tahiti on Monday, while his fellow countrymen Connor O’Leary and Kanoa Igarashi, the silver medallist from the Tokyo Games, did not.

Teahupo’o, a French Polynesian reef break, lived true to its reputation of producing massive swells, offering surfers a fantastic chance for deep barrels and big scores. However, neither Inaba nor his rival Filipe Toledo could find the necessary waves.

Inaba’s greatest single-wave score in Round 3 was 3.17, but even with just 6.00 points overall, he defeated his Brazilian opponent, who could only muster 2.46.

The 26-year-old Igarashi, who was born in the United States, struggled as well, scoring only 3.67 and 3.37 on his waves. However, his opponent, Brazilian Gabriel Medina, made the necessary progress with his 17.40 total, which included a fantastic wave that scored a nearly perfect 9.90.

After a brilliant 8.00-point ride on his third wave, O’Leary was in a terrific position late in his heat. However, Ethan Ewing, his Australian opponent, pulled into a monster barrel on his fourth attempt, scoring 8.67 to steal a quarterfinal spot from the Japanese.

O’Leary, a Sydney native, finished the heat with 11.00 points, 3.17 fewer than Ewing.

On Tuesday, Inaba will play Alonso Correa of Peru in the quarterfinal.

Google Olympics commercial provokes fresh criticism about generative AI

The internet is in uproar over Google’s latest AI advertisement, which shows a father helping his daughter send a fan letter to an Olympic gold medalist with the help of the Gemini chatbot.

The larger picture: A lot of viewers interpret the advertisement as a tone-deaf depiction of how AI could rob people from a custom that is meant to be personal and handwritten, the fan note.

However, some point out that the advertisement specifies that Gemini will assist with a “draft to get you started.” Many users are gladly directing today’s chatbots to generate just that in an attempt to get beyond writer’s block and receive creative assistance.

Quick refresher: in Google’s “Dear Sydney” advertisement, a father asks Gemini for assistance in composing a letter, offering specific examples of his daughter’s affection for Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Gemini produces a draft quickly.

• Online pundits and Reddit users took exception quickly, criticizing the suggestion not only for the fan letter shortcut but also for supporting indolent parenting.
• Bluesky quoted Linda Holmes, host of the NPR pop culture podcast, as saying, “Sit down with your child and write the letter with them!
• In a blog post titled “Why Google’s ‘Dear Sydney’ Ad Makes Me Want to Scream,” media professor Shelly Palmer of Syracuse University stated that the father in the video is not helping his daughter to learn how to express herself.

Yes, but: A lot of users discover that chatbots, such as Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT, are helpful in relieving the stress that comes with staring at a blank screen.

Based on prompts, GenAI can produce a draft that anyone who has ever had writing difficulties (which is, of course, everyone) can edit to make it more uniquely their own.

According to Google’s ad communications manager Alana Beale, “We believe that AI can be a great tool for enhancing human creativity, but can never replace it,” Axios said.

Gemini was more critical of itself. Gemini Advanced answered when Shane Savitsky of Axios requested the bot to “write a quick paragraph on why i don’t like the gemini commercial running during the olympics.”

“There is something wrong with the Google Gemini Olympic commercial. Although the message is heartfelt, it seems false to use Al in such a private way. A message from a young fan should not be produced by a machine, but rather be an honest statement of their own admiration.”