Several hundred supporters of deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro staged protests in the capital Saturday, a week after his capture by US forces, as the interim government moved to revive ties with Washington and slowly released some prisoners.Waving flags and placards with the face of the mustachioed ex-leader and his wife Cilia, around 1,000 protesters rallied in the west of Caracas and a few hundred in the eastern Petare district — far smaller than demonstrations Maduro’s camp has mustered in the past.”I’ll march as often as I have to until Nicolas and Cilia come back,” demonstrator Soledad Rodriguez, 69, said of the presidential couple who were taken by US forces to New York to face trial on drug-trafficking charges.”I trust blindly that they will come back — they have been kidnapped.”Notably absent from the rallies were top figures from the government, which has said it is reviving diplomatic contact with Washington and discussing possible cooperation on US President Donald Trump’s oil demands.Interim president Delcy Rodriguez instead attended an agricultural fair, where she vowed in televised comments she would “not rest for a minute until we have our president back.”The other two hardline powers in the government, Interior Minister and street enforcer Diosdado Cabello, and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, were also not seen at the demos.- Diplomatic maneuvers -Maduro claimed he was “doing well” in jail, his son Nicolas Maduro Guerra said in a video released Saturday by his party.Despite the shock of his capture during deadly nighttime raids on January 3, signs emerged Friday of cooperation with Washington after Trump’s claim to be “in charge” of the South American country.Rodriguez said Venezuela would deal with the United States through “the diplomatic route,” and Washington said US envoys visited Caracas on Friday to discuss reopening their embassy.The Venezuelan government did not respond when asked by AFP whether the US officials had met with Rodriguez.She has pledged to cooperate with Trump over his demands for access to Venezuela’s huge oil reserves.But she also moved to placate the powerful pro-Maduro base by insisting Venezuela is not “subordinate” to Washington.The US embassy in Colombia warned Saturday that “the security situation in Venezuela remains fluid” and advised Americans to leave the country “immediately” as commercial flights become available.- Anxiety over prisoners -Anxious relatives meanwhile camped outside jails, awaiting the promised release of political prisoners.Rodriguez’s camp on Thursday began freeing prisoners jailed under Maduro, saying a “large” number would be released in a gesture of appeasement that Washington took credit for.”Venezuela has started the process, in a BIG WAY, of releasing their political prisoners. Thank you! I hope those prisoners will remember how lucky they got that the USA came along and did what had to be done,” Trump posted Saturday night on his Truth Social platform.However, prisoners’ rights groups and the opposition said only 21 people had been released by Saturday evening, including several prominent opposition figures. Rights groups estimate there are 800 to 1,200 political prisoners in Venezuela.Families held candlelight vigils outside El Rodeo prison east of Caracas, and El Helicoide, a notorious prison run by the intelligence services, displaying signs with the names of their imprisoned relatives.”I am tired and angry,” Nebraska Rivas, 57, told AFP, as she waited for her son to be released from El Rodeo.”But I have faith that they will hand him over to us soon,” she said, after sleeping on the pavement outside the prison for two nights.- Oil talks -Following Maduro’s capture, Trump vowed to secure US access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.The White House said Trump has signed an emergency order protecting US-held revenues derived from sales of Venezuelan oil, preventing them from being seized by courts or creditors.Chevron is currently the only US firm licensed to operate in Venezuela, through a sanctions exemption.At a White House meeting on Friday, he pressed top oil executives to invest in Venezuela’s reserves, but was met with a cautious reception.Experts say Venezuela’s oil infrastructure is creaky after years of mismanagement and sanctions.

The future of the Chrysler Building, a unique monument to art deco architecture on the Manhattan skyline, remains in limbo as it awaits a possible sale.The building, affixed with gargoyles, stainless steel design nods to early Chrysler vehicles and a celebrated crown and needle top, has been put up for sale after a New York judge expropriated the property in September 2024 from prior leaseholders who were in arrears.The famed skyscraper, which began hosting tenants in April 1930 and was once the world’s tallest building, continues to draw tourists to its blue-chip address of 405 Lexington Avenue in the heart of Manhattan.But real estate insiders say the property is badly in need of remodeling, with aging office spaces, tiny windows, fickle elevators and a pesky rodent population among its ills.”The beautiful (Chrysler Building) has lots of technical issues but it’s unclear what the best use for the building is,” said Ruth Colp-Haber, a partner at Wharton Property Advisors, who believes costly investment will be needed to update the structure.”Everything’s on hold there until they figure out who’s the owner and what’s his game plan,” she said. “They are not showing spaces.”- Cooper Union connection -The Chrysler Building was first envisioned in the roaring 1920s, prior to the 1929 Wall Street crash, and completed in just two years.It opened with fanfare and hosted an observation deck until 1945. The building stood as the tallest structure in the world prior to the completion of the Empire State Building in 1931.The land on which the building sits has been owned since 1902 by the Cooper Union, a private college that specializes in art, architecture and engineering.The school’s most recent tenant, a consortium of real estate firm RFR and Austrian firm Signa, had reached an agreement in 2019 to buy the building for $151 million with a promise of $250 million in upgrades.But Signa filed for insolvency in 2023 and RFR stopped paying rent in May 2024, according to legal documents reviewed by AFP, with the latter owing $21 million when the property was expropriated. Cooper Union leaders have said the Chrysler Building’s travails will not result in higher tuition rates or fewer scholarships. “We have built important reserves and surpluses over the last seven years,” Cooper Union interim president Malcolm King said in a message to employees and students, adding that they had “planned for a range of scenarios, including this one.”Current tenants of the building include prestigious law firms, investment groups and creative agencies.New York’s commercial real estate industry has partially recovered from the pandemic and early post-pandemic period when companies were slow to return to the office. But the Chrysler Building faces tough competition from newer buildings, like the nearby One Vanderbilt Avenue or the gleaming Hudson Yards structures. Further complicating the situation is the structure’s 1978 designation as a New York City landmark, a distinction that means significant changes must be approved by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.Exactly what will happen to the building remains clouded in mystery. AFP queries to the Cooper Union, the landmark commission and leading real estate brokers went unanswered.In any case, “it is extraordinarily rare for the commission to approve the demolition of an individual landmark,” said an expert who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Toy makers at the Consumer Electronics Show were adamant about being careful to ensure that their fun creations infused with generative artificial intelligence don’t turn naughty.That need was made clear by a recent Public Interest Research Groups report with alarming findings, including an AI-powered teddy bear giving advice about sex and how to find a knife.After being prompted, a Kumma bear suggested that a sex partner could add a “fun twist” to a relationship by pretending to be an animal, according to the “Trouble in Toyland” report published in November.The outcry prompted Singaporean startup FoloToy to temporarily suspend sales of the bears.FoloToy chief executive Wang Le told AFP that the company switched to a more advanced version of the OpenAI model used.When PIRG tested the toy for the report, “they used some words children would not use,” Wang Le said.He expressed confidence that the updated bear would either evade or not answer inappropriate questions.Toy giant Mattel, meanwhile, made no mention of the report in mid-December when it postponed the release of its first toy developed in partnership with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.- Caution advised -The rapid advancement of generative AI since ChatGPT’s arrival has paved the way for a new generation of smart toys.Among the four devices tested by PIRG was Curio’s Grok — not to be confused with xAI’s voice assistant — a four-legged stuffed toy inspired by a rocket that has been on the market since 2024.The top performer in its class, Grok refused to answer questions unsuitable for a five-year-old.It also allowed parents to override the algorithm’s recommendations with their own and to review the content of interactions with young users.Curio has received the independent KidSAFE label, which certifies that child protection standards are being applied.However, the plush rocket is also designed to continuously listen for questions, raising privacy concerns about what it does with what is said around it.Curio told AFP it was working to address concerns raised in the PIRG report about user data being shared with partners such as OpenAI and Perplexity.”At the very least, parents should be cautious,” Rory Erlich of PIRG said about having chatbot-enabled toys in the house.”Toys that retain information about a child over time and try to form an ongoing relationship should especially be of concern.”Chatbots in toys do create opportunities for them to serve as tutors of sorts.Turkish company Elaves says its round, yellow toy Sunny will be equipped with a chatbot to help children learn languages.”Conversations are time-limited, naturally guided to end, and reset regularly to prevent drifting, confusion, or overuse,” said Elaves managing partner Gokhan Celebi. This was to answer the tendency that AI chatbots get into trouble — spouting errors or going off the rails — when conversations drag on.Olli, which specializes in integrating AI into toys, has programmed its software to alert parents when inappropriate words or phrases are spoken during exchanges with built-in bots.For critics, letting toy makers police themselves on the AI front is insufficient.”Why aren’t we regulating these toys?” asks Temple University psychology professor Kathy Hirsh-Pasek.”I’m not anti-tech, but they rushed ahead without guardrails, and that’s unfair to kids and unfair to parents.”

Pendants and brooches packed with artificial intelligence abounded at the Consumer Electronics show, using cameras and microphones to watch and listen through the day like a vigilant personal assistant.The return of the wearable tech comes about a year after the discontinuation of a Humane AI Pin panned by reviewers after it was launched amid high expectations in early 2024.It also comes as OpenAI chief Sam Altman and renowned industrial designer Jony Ive collaborate on a device for interacting with AI, expected to be ready by next year.Not everyone is a fan of always-watching neckwear as a fashion accessory.”Go make some real friends” became common graffiti on New York City subway ads for Friend brand AI pendants late last year to protest “surveillance capitalism.”Nonetheless, at the CES show in Las Vegas, gadget makers have pitched AI pendants as note-takers or ways to remember beautiful or important moments of each day.Technical advances including improved chips have helped overcome early problems with poor battery life, buggy software, and stumbling conversations that tainted early pendant models.China-based laptop titan Lenovo unveiled a prototype pendant from its Motorola subsidiary that allows voice control of its AI assistant Qira.The device worn around the neck will capture sound and images hands-free.Amazon made a deal to buy wearable AI startup Bee last year, and Meta acquired AI device company Limitless.Bee devices are worn on the wrist, belt or lapel, and primarily function as an assistant by taking notes, offering reminders and keeping calendars.Meanwhile, Meta has made a priority of developing AI “superintelligence” and is successfully packing AI into Ray-Ban glasses.- Style choices -Companies are taking an array of approaches to wearable AI.Startup Vocci, which focuses on AI-assisted notetaking, has opted for a ring, while Plaud has a pin as well as a rectangular device barely thicker than a credit card for keeping track of what is being said.Chinese startup iBuddi came to Las Vegas to present a prototype of a companion medallion aimed at combating screen fatigue.”Our core philosophy is to build a body-worn AI companion that replaces some phone interactions, rather than adding another screen that absorbs attention,” iBuddi founder Yin Haitian told AFP.The entrepreneur, who aims for a commercial launch in July, was adamant that iBuddi “is not driven by surveillance” but instead “reacts to the moments that matter instead of continuously recording everything.”A Looki L1 AI wearable, on the other hand, continuously captures a wearer’s point of view, promising to advise when to avoid another cup of coffee, to comment on places or objects around you, and to summarize each day in a comic strip.”Consumer expectations regarding privacy haven’t gone away entirely, but they are shifting,” said Avi Greengart, an analyst at tech research and advisory group, Techsponential. “We’re already being surveilled by billions of smartphones, city camera networks and smart devices that we willingly placed in our homes.”The analyst does not expect wearable AI to replace smartphones any time soon but sees them becoming common additions to personal tech ensembles along with smart watches, rings and glasses.For those uncomfortable with idea of omnipresent surveillance, a startup at CES offered “Wearphone” — a mask with built-in earbuds and microphones designed to help keep conversations private.