SF Superior Court

San Francisco Superior Court

ChatGPT turns 1: AI chatbot’s success says as much about humans as technology

Tim Gorichanaz, Drexel University ChatGPT was launched on Nov. 30, 2022, ushering in what many have called artificial intelligence’s breakout year. Within days of its release, ChatGPT went viral. Screenshots of conversations snowballed across social media, and the use of ChatGPT skyrocketed to an extent that seems to have surprised even its maker, OpenAI. By January, ChatGPT was seeing 13 million unique visitors each day, setting a record for the fastest-growing user base of a consumer application. Throughout this breakout year, ChatGPT has revealed the power of a good interface and the perils of hype, and it has sown the

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Henry Kissinger has died. The titan of US foreign policy changed the world, for better or worse

Lester Munson, University of Sydney Henry Kissinger was the ultimate champion of the United States’ foreign policy battles. The former US secretary of state died on November 29 2023 after living for a century. The magnitude of his influence on the geopolitics of the free world cannot be overstated. From world war two, when he was an enlisted soldier in the US Army, to the end of the cold war, and even into the 21st century, he had a significant, sustained impact on global affairs. From Germany to the US and back again Born in Germany in 1923, he came

Narcan given to man arrested for drug, gun charges

A Campbell man whom authorities found asleep while his vehicle was set in “drive” was arrested on multiple drug and gun charges Monday.  According to the Campbell Police Department, while transporting the man to the police department, he had a medical emergency.  Officers administered Narcan and provided life-saving support.  On November 27, Campbell police officers responded to a report of a man believed to be unconscious inside a vehicle.  At the scene, officers found Andrew Fiddler, 32, and found fentanyl pills, other illegal drugs, and a loaded handgun.  Fiddler was arrested for being under the influence of a controlled substance

One injured, one killed in Mission District stabbing

One was injured and one was fatally stabbed in San Francisco’s Mission District Saturday morning.  According to the San Francisco Police Department, the incident also involved a car hitting a local business.  At around 12:25 a.m., police responded to the area of 24th Street and Portero Avenue after receiving a report of a car crash with injuries.  A business on the 1100 block of Portero Avenue had been hit by a car.  At the scene, officers found two men, 27 and 34 years old, with stab wounds.  SFPD determined that the men had been stabbed at another location and were

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Parents appear in court after fentanyl kills baby

A mother and father are facing murder charges after their 18-month-old daughter was poisoned by fentanyl.  Derek Vaughn Rayo, 27, and Kelly Gene Richardson, 28, are the first parents in Santa Clara County’s history to be charged with murdering their own child with drugs. The victim, Winter, is called “Baby W. Doe” in court documents.  When she died, she had 15 times the lethal amount of fentanyl in her blood.  “Think of W. Doe … this innocent child and her sad and stolen life,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “This is not a law enforcement official overreacting to an illegal

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Forensic anthropologists work to identify human skeletal remains and uncover the stories of the unknown dead

Madeline Atwell, Clemson University and Katherine Weisensee, Clemson University A seasoned deer hunter is shocked when his hound dog trots up with a human femur clenched between its teeth. A woman veers off her normal urban walking path and happens upon a human skull. New property owners commission a land survey that reveals a set of human remains just below a pile of leaves. These examples are real cases handled by coroners’ offices where we have assisted as forensic anthropologists. What happens after someone inadvertently discovers a human body? How are human skeletal remains identified? It can be a major

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