Twitter to Remove Idle Accounts, Archive them

FILE PHOTO: A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed Twitter logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed Twitter logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo/File Photo
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Twitter to Remove Idle Accounts, Archive them

FILE PHOTO: A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed Twitter logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed Twitter logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo/File Photo

Social media platform Twitter Inc will remove accounts that have been inactive for several years, CEO
Elon Musk announced in a tweet on Monday, saying that the action is "important to free up abandoned handles."

Twitter's billionaire owner in a separate tweet said inactive accounts will be archived, Musk did not add any details
on when the process will begin.

It was not immediately known if or how Twitter users will be able to access archived accounts.

Musk also said users on the micro-blogging platform could see a drop in follower count, as several inactive accounts might get removed.

According to Twitter's policy, users should log in to their account at least once every 30 days to avoid permanent removal due to prolonged inactivity, Reuters reported.

Earlier this month, Musk "threatened" to reassign National Public Radio's Twitter account to another company, after the public broadcaster stopped posting content to its 52 official Twitter feeds in protest against a Twitter label that implied government involvement in its editorial content.

Twitter last month removed the legacy verified blue tick from the profile of thousands of people, including celebrities, journalists and prominent politicians.

Musk has made account verification a part of Twitter's Blue subscription, a move he said would tackle the issue of bot accounts on the social media platform.



ChatGPT Adds Shopping Help, Intensifying Google Rivalry

FILED - 18 April 2023, Berlin: On the monitor of a cell phone you can see the ChatGPT logo. Photo: Hannes P Albert/dpa
FILED - 18 April 2023, Berlin: On the monitor of a cell phone you can see the ChatGPT logo. Photo: Hannes P Albert/dpa
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ChatGPT Adds Shopping Help, Intensifying Google Rivalry

FILED - 18 April 2023, Berlin: On the monitor of a cell phone you can see the ChatGPT logo. Photo: Hannes P Albert/dpa
FILED - 18 April 2023, Berlin: On the monitor of a cell phone you can see the ChatGPT logo. Photo: Hannes P Albert/dpa

OpenAI announced Monday that ChatGPT is now helping users find products online, enhancing its challenge to Google amid regulatory pressure on the search giant's market dominance.

The new shopping capability further blurs the line between AI chatbots and search engines, signaling OpenAI's ambition to compete with Google in a market the latter has controlled for decades.

"Search has become one of our most popular and fastest growing features, with over 1 billion web searches just in the past week," the San Francisco-based company said in a post on X.

Rolled out on Monday, the update allows shoppers to find and compare items through natural conversation, then connect directly to merchants for purchases.

"Instead of scrolling through pages of results, you can simply start a conversation," OpenAI's post said, adding that users could also ask follow-up questions or compare products.

ChatGPT's shopping feature initially focuses on fashion, beauty, and home electronics categories. Product recommendations are personalized and come from the web, not advertisements, OpenAI said.

To counter increasing competition from AI chatbots, Google has integrated its own Gemini assistant into search results, providing AI-generated answers above traditional website links.

The rivalry intensified last week when an OpenAI executive testified the company would consider purchasing Chrome if Google were forced to sell the browser as part of an ongoing US antitrust case.