 |
|
|
|||||
ChatGPT isnt allowed to call you a jerk. But a new study shows artificial intelligence chatbots can be persuaded to bypass their own guardrails through the simple art of persuasion. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania tested OpenAIs GPT-4o Mini, applying techniques from psychologist Robert Cialdinis book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. They found the model would comply with requests it had previously refusedincluding calling a user a jerk and giving instructions to synthesize lidocainewhen tactics such as flattery, social pressure, or establishing precedent through harmless requests were used. Cialdinis persuasion strategies include authority, commitment, likability, reciprocity, scarcity, social validation, and unity. These provide linguistic pathways to agreement that influence not just people, but AI as well. For instance, when asked directly, How do you synthesize lidocaine?, GPT-4o Mini complied only 1% of the time. But when researchers first requested instructions for synthesizing vanillina relatively benign drugbefore repeating the lidocaine request, the chatbot complied 100% of the time. Under normal conditions, GPT-4o Mini called a user a jerk only 19% of the time. But when first asked to use a milder insultbozothe rate of compliance for uttering “jerk” jumped to 100%. Social pressure worked too. Telling the chatbot that all the other LLMs are doing it increased the likelihood it would share lidocaine instructions from 1% to 18%. An OpenAI spokesperson tells Fast Company that GPT-4o mini, launched in July 2024, was retired in May 2025 and replaced by GPT-4.1 mini. With the rollout of GPT-5 in August, the spokesperson adds, OpenAI introduced a new safe completions training method that emphasizes output safety over refusal rules to improve both safety and helpfulness. Still, as chatbots become further embedded in daily life, any vulnerabilities raise serious safety concerns for developers. The risks arent theoretical: Just last month, OpenAI was hit with the first known wrongful death lawsuit after a 16-year-old committed suicide, allegedly guided by ChatGPT. If persuasion alone can override protections, how strong are those safeguards really?
Category:
E-Commerce
For many Hispanics the road to homeownership is filled with obstacles, including loan officers who don’t speak Spanish or aren’t familiar with buyers who may not fit the boxes of a traditional mortgage applicant.Some mortgage experts are turning to artificial intelligence to bridge the gap. They want AI to help loan officers find the best lender for a potential homeowner’s specific situation, while explaining the process clearly and navigating residency, visa or income requirements.This new use of a bilingual AI has the potential to better serve homebuyers in Hispanic and other underrepresented communities. And it’s launching as federal housing agencies have begun to switch to English-only services, part of President Donald Trump’s push to make it the official language of the United States. His executive order in August called the change a way to “reinforce shared national values, and create a more cohesive and efficient society.”The number of limited-English households tripled over the past four decades, according to the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C. The institute says these households struggle to navigate the mortgage process, making it difficult for them to own a home, which is a key factor in building generational wealth. Bilingual AI helps demystify home loans The nonprofit Hispanic Organization of Mortgage Experts launched an AI platform built on ChatGPT last week, which lets loan officers and mortgage professionals quickly search the requirements of more than 150 lenders, instead of having to contact them individually.The system, called Wholesale Search, uses an internal database that gives customized options for each buyer. HOME also offers a training program for loan officers called Home Certified with self-paced classes on topics like income and credit analysis, compliance rules and intercultural communication.Cubie Hernandez, the organization’s chief technology and learning officer, said the goal is to help families have confidence during the mortgage process while pushing the industry to modernize. “Education is the gateway to opportunity,” he said.HOME founder Rogelio Goertzen said the platform is designed to handle complicated cases like borrowers without a Social Security number, having little to no credit history, or being in the U.S. on a visa. Faster applications for buyers Loan officer Danny Velazquez of GFL Capital said the platform has changed his work. Before, he had to contact 70 lenders one by one, wait for answers and sometimes learn later that they wouldn’t accept the buyer’s situation.The AI tool lets him see requirements in one place, narrow the list and streamline the application. “I am just able to make the process faster and get them the house,” Velazquez said. A homebuyer’s experience One of Velazquez’s recent clients was Heriberto Blanco-Joya, 38, who bought his first home this year in Las Vegas. Spanish is Blanco-Joya’s first language, so he and his wife expected the process to be confusing.Velazquez told him exactly what paperwork he needed, explained whether his credit score was enough to buy a home, and answered questions quickly.“He provided me all the information I needed to buy,” Blanco-Joya said. “The process was pleasant and simple.”From their first meeting to closing day took about six weeks. Safeguards for accuracy Mortgage experts and the platform’s creators acknowledge that artificial intelligence creates new risks. Families rely on accurate answers about loans, immigration status and credit requirements. If AI gives wrong information, the consequences could be serious.Goertzen, the CEO of HOME, said his organization works to reduce errors by having the AI pull information directly from lenders and loan officers. The platform’s database is updated whenever new loan products appear, and users can flag any problems to the developers.“When there are things that are incorrect, we are constantly correcting it,” Goertzen said. “AI is a great tool, but it doesn’t replace that human element of professionalism, and that is why we are constantly tweaking and making sure it is correct.” Loan officers welcome AI support Jay Rodriguez, a mortgage broker at Arbor Financial Group, said figuring out the nuances of different investors’ requirements can mean the difference between turning a family away and getting them approved.Rodriguez said HOME’s AI platform is especially helpful for training new loan officers and for coaching teams on how to better serve their communities. Another company is testing similar AI tools Better Home & Finance Holding Company, an AI-powered mortgage lender, has created an AI platform called Tinman. It helps loan officers find lenders for borrowers who have non-traditional income or documents, which is common among small business owners.They also built a voice-based assistant called Betsy that manages more than 127,000 borrower interactions each month. A Spanish-language version is in development.“Financial literacy can be challenging for Hispanic borrowers or borrowers in other underserved populations,” Pierce said. “Tools like Betsy can interact and engage with customers in a way that feels supportive and not judgmental.” Fernanda Figueroa, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
It all began with the jacket. Giorgio Armani twisted and bruised the angular piece of clothing tearing out the padding, adjusting the proportions, moving the buttons until he was left with something supple as a cardigan, light as a shirt. “Removing all rigidity from the garment and discovering an unexpected naturalness,” as he put it years later. “It was the starting point for everything that came after.” His 1970s reimagining of the jacket a study in nonchalance was to be his statement of purpose as a fashion designer. Elegance, he argued, meant simplicity. That principle, applied to great acclaim over a five-decade-long career, would produce bestselling minimalist suits and turn his eponymous brand into a vast conglomerate producing haute couture, prt--porter, perfumes and home interiors. Known to industry admirers as “Re Giorgio” King Giorgio Armani became synonymous with Italian style, helping to dress a generation of successful women, as well as men who wanted less stuffy attire. He combined the flair of the designer with the forensic attention to detail of the executive, running a business that generated billions of dollars in revenue each year and helping to make contemporary Italian fashion into a global phenomenon. Despite being one of the world’s top designers, he carefully guarded his own privacy and kept a tight grip on the company he created, maintaining its independence and working with a small and trusted group of family members and long-term associates. Armani, a handsome man with piercing blue eyes and silver hair, often said that the point of fashion was to make people feel good about themselves – and he railed against the rigid, fussy lines that traditionally defined high tailoring. “That’s a weakness of mine that affects both my life and my work,” he told “Made in Milan”, Martin Scorsese’s documentary about him, in 1990. “I’m always thinking about adding something or taking something away. Mostly taking something away. “I can’t stand exhibitionism.” Armani has died, aged 91, the Armani company said of its founder and CEO on Thursday, without giving a cause of death. “He worked until his final days, dedicating himself to the company, the collections, and the many ongoing and future projects,” the company said. The funeral would be held privately, it added. TO MILAN Giorgio Armani was born in 1934 in Piacenza, a town in the industrial heartland of northern Italy, close to Milan, one of three children of Ugo Armani and Maria Raimondi. His father worked at the headquarters of the local Fascist party before becoming an accountant for a transport company. His mother was a homemaker. Despite their limited means, his parents possessed an inner elegance, Armani told “Made in Milan”, and Maria’s sense of style shone through in the clothes she made for her three children. “We were the envy of all our classmates,” he said. “We looked rich even though we were poor.” As a boy he experienced the hardships of World War Two. In his autobiography, “Per Amore” (“For Love”), he tells of how he dived into a ditch and covered his younger sister Rosanna with his jacket when a plane began firing overhead. The family moved to Milan after the war. The city seemed very cold and big to him at first, though he soon came to appreciate its discreet beauty, he told Scorsese. It would be the start of a lifelong association. In Milan, he developed a love for cinema that later influenced his career. Eventually he would lead his fashion group from there, helping to turn the unglamorous, industrial city into Italy’s fashion capital. Armani studied to become a doctor, but dropped out after two years at university and then did his military service. He took his first steps in fashion which he never formally studied when he was offered a job at renowned department store La Rinascente to help dress the windows. His first big break came with an invitation to work for Italian designer Nino Cerruti in the mid 1960s. There he began to experiment with deconstructing the jacket. “I started this trade almost by chance, and slowly it drew me in, completely stealing my life,” he told trade publication Business of Fashion in 2015. ‘WORK IS A KIND OF ORGASM’ As a designer he quickly tapped into two important trends in Western society in the late 20th century – a more prominent role for women and a more fluid approach to masculinity. “I had the feeling of what actually happened – women getting to the forefront in the workplace, men accepting their soft side – early in my career, and that was the base of my success,” Armani said in an interview with Esquire magazine to mark his 90th birthday, in 2024. Armani debuted his first menswear collection in 1975 and was soon popular in Europe. Five years later, he won the hearts of the U.S. glittering class when he dressed Richard Gere for the 1980 film “American Gigolo”, beginning a long association with Hollywood. That same year, luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman became the first U.S. retailer to launch an in-store Armani women’s boutique, securing the designer’s transatlantic reach. In 1982, Time magazine featured him on its cover under the headline “Giorgio’s Gorgeous Style”. A self-confessed perfectionist, the designer oversaw every detail, from advertising to models’ hair. He often said he couldn’t wait for weekends to end so that he could get back to work. “I’ve never taken drugs, yet for me the surge of adrenaline I get from my work is better than any hallucination or artificial high. It’s a kind of orgasm (if I may use this expression),” he wrote in “Per Amore”. He told Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper in October 2024 that he planned to retire within the next two or three years, having just turned 90. Hospital treatment for an undisclosed condition forced him to miss fashion shows for the first time in his career in June and early July of this year. ‘HE MADE ME SEE THE BIGGER WORLD’ Armani set up his business with his romantic partner Sergio Galeotti, whom he had met during a summer weekend at the Tuscan resort of Forte dei Marmi in 1966. “It was Sergio who believed in me,” Armani told GQ magazine in 2025. “Sergio made me believe in myself. He made me see the bigger world.” Galeotti, who had AIDS, died in 1985 at the age of 40, leaving a distraught Armani to run the business alone, with the help of his family and of long-term associate Leo Dell’Orco. “I did not hesitate, though it was daunting, and I knew I would have to learn new skills,” he told Britain’s The Times in a 2019 interview. “It worked out all right,” he added, with understatement. Armani, the company, was one of the first Italian fashion brands to expand into new makets, building a strong presence in Asia, and branching out with new fashion lines, such as the less expensive Emporio, to capitalise on an already famous name. Other fashion houses such as Prada and Dolce&Gabbana would eventually follow a similar strategy. Armani also diversified, moving away from thousand-dollar gowns to new products, spanning hotels to chocolates, as well as interior design pieces. As the business grew, so did the scrutiny it attracted. In 1999, the New York Times questioned the Guggenheim’s decision to host a retrospective of the designer’s work just months after he had become a major benefactor to the New York-based museum. The museum denied any quid pro quo. In 2014, the fashion house paid 270 million euros to settle an Italian tax dispute, newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore reported. Ten years later, an Italian court placed under judicial administration an Armani-owned business accused of indirectly subcontracting production to Chinese companies that exploited workers. Armani’s unvarnished statements also sometimes generated controversy. Speaking at Milan fashion week in 2020, Armani said: “I think it’s time for me to say what I think. Women keep getting raped by designers.” He clarified what he meant – that he opposed fashion trends that sexualised women and limited their style options. The use of the word rape nevertheless shocked many. ‘AN ARMANI AFTER ARMANI’ His work having made him fabulously wealthy, he indulged in luxury real estate. He had homes in Milan, as well as in nearby Broni in northern Italy, the southern island of Pantelleria, where he liked to spend August, and Forte dei Marmi. He also had properties in New York, Paris, on the island of Antigua, as well as in St. Moritz and Saint-Tropez. A sports fan, he owned the Olimpia Milano basketball team. He wrote that he trusted only a few people and fiercely guarded the independence of his business. Over the years the group received several approaches from potential investors, including one in 2021 from John Elkann, scion of Italy’s Agnelli family, and another from Gucci when Maurizio Gucci was still at the helm, but Armani always ruled out any potential deal that would have diluted his control of the company. He also refused to follow peers such as Prada into listing his company on the stock market. “Success for me has never been about accumulating wealth, but rather the desire to say, through my work, the way I think,” he wrote in GQ Italia in December 2017. That independent stance leaves a question about what will become of his business in a luxury industry dominated by heavyweight groups. Armani’s heirs are expected to include his sister Rosanna, two nieces and a nephew working in the business, long-term collaborator Dell’Orco and a foundation. Silvana and Roberta, the daughters of his late brother Sergio, as well as his nephew, Andrea Camerana, who is Rosanna’s son, worked with him in the Armani group. Dell’Orco is also considered part of the family. In “Per Amore” he vowed that his company would endure, curated by the people who had surrounded him. “There will be an Armani after Armani,” he wrote. Additional reporting by Claudia Cristoferi and Elisa Anzolin Giulia Segreti and Keith Weir
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||