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China says chatbots must toe the party line

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:19 GMT

Five months after ChatGPT set off an investment frenzy over artificial intelligence, Beijing is moving to rein in China’s chatbots, a show of the government’s resolve to keep tight regulatory control over technology that could define an era.The Cyberspace Administration of China this month unveiled draft rules for so-called generative AI — the software systems, like the one behind ChatGPT, that can formulate text and pictures in response to a user’s questions and prompts.According to the regulations, companies must heed the Chinese Communist Party’s strict censorship rules, just as websites and apps have to avoid publishing material that besmirches China’s leaders or rehashes forbidden history. The content of AI systems will need to reflect “socialist core values” and avoid information that undermines “state power” or national unity.Companies will also have to make sure their chatbots create words and pictures that are truthful and respect intellectual property, and will be re...

With one service center open, Rivian plans second in Colorado as push for electric vehicles revs up

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:19 GMT

Denver is home to one of Rivian’s 28 service centers and the company that makes electric pickup trucks and SUVs expects to open a second location in Colorado soon as the push for more electric vehicles continues in the state.Rivian opened its center in north Denver a little more than a year ago and provides services to more than 1,000 vehicles in the area, said spokeswoman Miranda Jimenez. The center is where people pick up the vehicles they order and can test drive the futuristic-looking pickup, the R1T, or Rivian’s SUV, the R1S.Jimenez said there are thousands of people in the Denver area who have Rivians on order.Rivian also makes electric delivery vans for Amazon. The e-commerce giant’s all-electric vans hit Denver-area streets for the first time in late 2022.About 30 people work at the service center. Jimenez said the company is hiring more employees and plans to open a service center in Colorado Springs in the summer.Plans for expansion come as the state step...

Parents who don’t speak English would have more access to translated documents under Colorado bill

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:19 GMT

The personalized education plans that spell out how a school intends to support a student with a disability can run dozens of pages and be full of technical language.And in many Colorado school districts, parents who speak a language other than English don’t see a copy of their child’s plan in the language they understand best until they’re being asked to sign a legally binding final version.A bill in the Colorado legislature would change that, requiring that final education plans be translated, as also required by federal law, and allowing parents to request draft documents in their preferred language. A separate school finance bill would allocate $500,000 to offset school district costs for translating more documents.Related ArticlesEducation | A bill that would increase pay transparency for Colorado’s gig drivers is teetering Education | Gun rights advocates launch legal action after Gov. Jared Polis signs 4 gun bills into law Education | ...

Denver’s affordable housing shortfall a misery shared in cities across the Western Hemisphere

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:19 GMT

Mayors of 250 cities from Canada to Chile didn’t have to look far to see one of the chief concerns they came to discuss during the first Cities Summit of the Americas held in Denver on Thursday and Friday.Issues like the digital divide, sustainable development and accommodating migrants were all discussed, but those are more hidden. Denver’s lack of affordable housing was on full display just outside the Colorado Convention Center, and for many, it was a struggle they knew all too well.“What would it feel like if everybody were housed in your community,” Charlie Clark, mayor of the Canadian city of Saskatoon, asked those attending a panel on “Cities for Adequate Housing” held Thursday afternoon.The question, one he has asked others before, came to him again as he walked downtown, he said. He noticed the large number of unhoused people living on the streets. Then he noticed the heavy presence of armed security guards. And he also recalled the strug...

A bill that would increase pay transparency for Colorado’s gig drivers is teetering

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:19 GMT

When Colorado lawmakers in January unveiled a bill designed to increase transparency for ride-hail and delivery drivers, the tech companies sounded a cooperative tone.“We’ve long supported many of these ideas,” an Uber spokesman said.“Fair deactivations and pay transparency are important issues,” a Lyft representative said.But three months later, those companies and other business groups are lobbying heavily against the legislation, warning consumers about “unprecedented fees” and safety concerns that, they argue, would allow dangerous drivers to stay behind the wheel.Now, with just a week left in the legislative session, the future of the bill is murky. The Senate Finance Committee has bumped votes on SB23-098 multiple times, with key lawmakers voicing concern about portions of the proposal, including a state-run review board to oversee driver activations.“It doesn’t have the votes and I’m not the swing vote,” Sen. K...

Downtown office valuations flat as Denver retail, hospitality properties rebound

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:19 GMT

Commercial property owners in Denver are seeing less of a change in valuations this cycle than residential property owners.The median commercial property increased 17 percent in value compared to two years prior, while residential properties saw a median increase of 33 percent, according to the Denver assessor.The hospitality and retail sectors led the way on the commercial side, Assessor Keith Erffmeyer told a Denver City Council committee on Tuesday. Hotels and motels saw a median 33 percent increase, while retail properties saw a median 17 percent increase.Erffmeyer said those sectors were “really regaining what they had lost in COVID.”“That’s kind of a bounceback to where they were,” he said.Warehouse properties in the city saw a median 16 percent increase. The median change for office buildings in LoDo and the Central Business District, however, was an increase of just 0.5 percent.That reflects the lingering impact of the pandemic on office building owners, who are seeing many ...

Former VF Corp. CEO sells Cherry Creek home for $6M

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:19 GMT

The former CEO of Denver-based VF Corp. has sold his Cherry Creek home for $6 million.Steven Rendle, who oversaw the relocation of the company’s headquarters from North Carolina to the Mile High City, retired in December.He and wife Julie sold their 5,400-square-foot home in the 400 block of Milwaukee St. on April 14, according to public records. They had bought it in 2018 for $3.65 million.Related ArticlesBusiness | Bittersweet restaurant property in West Wash Park listed for sale or lease Business | Unprecedented gains in Colorado home values preview budget-busting property tax hikes next year Business | RiNo office building made out of wood on track to be completed this year Business | The Wonder Academy preschool to close in downtown Denver after landlord sells property to developer Business | Pikes Peak summit builder accused by city of shoddy work at 14,000 feet The home was purchased by David and ...

Here are some of hottest mud-season hotel deals in Colorado

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:19 GMT

Mud season is one of the best times for hotel deals in the high countrySure, the convivial Après-ski culture makes winter the prime time to visit local ski resorts, but with 300 days of sunshine in Colorado, there’s never really a bad season in the mountains, is there?The spring snowmelt — often called mud season — brings a quiet, crowd-free experience, made even better by major deals. So, raise a toast to mild, high-country weather, having the golf course to yourself, long nights of fireside reading, catching first glimpses of the state’s earliest blooming flowers, and first-class service at these four- and five-star resorts.AspenAspen’s still known as a ski town, but gone are the days of the town’s resorts shutting down completely when the lifts stop turning (only to reopen when international crowds return in June for events like Aspen Ideas Festival, the Food & Wine Classic, etc.). Now, a secret season draws in Coloradans looking to enjoy Aspen without the tourist...

Will higher pay lure more teachers? Bill aims to boost salaries 50% by 2030

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:19 GMT

Michael Rodriguez loves teaching 7th grade at Oakland Unified’s United for Success Academy, but to help pay the bills, he’s got a side gig making branded T-shirts and hoodies for restaurants and other small businesses around his neighborhood.“At night and on the weekends, I’ll be grading tests while I pump out 20 hoodies,” said Rodriguez, 51, who’s paid $78,000 to teach. “That’s the kind of stuff we have to do while also being expected to give the highest quality of education that we can.”But a new proposal in Sacramento aims to put a lot more cash in the pockets of teachers such as Rodriguez: Assembly Bill 938 would boost school teacher and staff pay a whopping 50% by 2030. Jeff Freitas, president of the California Federation of Teachers, the bill’s sponsor, acknowledged it’s “a big and bold idea.”“We make no mistake about that,” Freitas told the Assembly Education Committee this week. “...

Editorial: Horrific death of 8-year-old Sophia Mason must be independently examined

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:19 GMT

Sophia Mason, the 8-year-old girl whose 55-pound body was found decomposing in a bathtub last year, might be alive today if Alameda County social workers had not dismissed the danger the child was in.Records and reporting by this news organization over the past year show that social workers ignored at least eight separate warnings in the 15 months before Sophia’s death that she was being abused and in danger. But no one in the county has been publicly held accountable. No one.Not the social workers who dismissed warning signs. Not Michelle Love, head of the Department of Children and Family Services; Andrea Ford, director of the county’s Social Services Agency; nor County Administrator Susan Muranishi.And not the elected Alameda County Board of Supervisors. Supervisors Nate Miley and David Haubert last year promised an investigation of Sophia’s death, but nothing happened.The stonewalling has gone on too long. The board must hire an independent outside investigator to figure out how...