 Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America. I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Dan Novak. This program is designed for English learners, so we speak a little slower, and we use words and phrases, especially written for people learning English. Coming up on today's program, Gregory Stockle has a story on a new study that says Earth is outside of its safe operating space for humanity in six of nine measures of its health. Brian Lin has this week's technology report on Google's new BARD AI tool. The company has linked the tool to its Gmail and other services. Later, Andrew Smith and Jill Robbins present the English lesson of the day. But first, here is Gregory Stockle. A new study from international researchers says that Earth is outside of its safe operating space for humanity in six of nine measures of its health. The study added that two of the remaining three measures are moving in the wrong direction. The international scientists published the study in Science Advances. They said Earth's climate, biodiversity, land, freshwater, nutrient pollution, and human-made compounds are outside of safe operating space for humanity. The scientists said only the acidity of the oceans, the health of the air, and the ozone layer are within limits considered to be safe. The ozone layer is mainly high in the atmosphere and prevents dangerous solar radiation from reaching the surface of the Earth. But the study warned that both the ocean and air pollution are moving in the wrong direction. Johann Rockström is a climate scientist who helped write the study. He is director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. He said we are in very bad shape. He compared the Earth to a weakening sick patient. In 2009, Rockström and other researchers created nine boundary areas and used measurements of them to judge Earth's health. The latest study continued research from a similar one in 2015. The latest study added a sixth area to the unsafe listing. Rockström said the Earth's water went from being safe to being out of bounds. The scientists said this was because of river runoff. They said better measurements and understanding of the issue had shown there was a problem. Rockström said these boundaries would decide the future of the planet. He added the nine measures have been scientifically well established by other studies. If Earth can manage these nine measures, Earth could be more or less safe. But it is not, he said. The nine measures were compared with each other in different ways. The team used computer simulations to predict the future. They would, for example, make predictions based on increases in the average temperature of the Earth. The team found if one area was affected badly by a temperature change, then all areas were affected badly. The team also found that if one area improved, all areas improved. The scientists said the simulations showed that one of the most powerful ways to help the climate is to clean up land and to save forests. Returning forests to the late 20th century levels would provide natural areas to store carbon dioxide, instead of in the air, where it traps heat, the study said. Rockström added that biodiversity is in the most troubling area but does not get as much attention. However, the study said the ozone layer is improving. This shows that when the world and its leaders decide to deal with a problem, it can be fixed. Neil Donahue is a Carnegie Mellon chemistry and environment professor. He said, for the most part, there are things that we know how to do to improve the remaining problems. Some biodiversity scientists, like Duke University's Stuart Pym, have disputed Rockström's methods, saying they are not worth much. Ranger Morgan is a Carnegie Mellon environmental engineering professor and was not part of the study. He said, experts don't agree on exactly where the limits are or how much the planet's differing systems may interact, but we are getting dangerously close. Morgan said he has often said, if we do not cut back on how we are harming the Earth, we're toast. He added, this paper says it's more likely that we're burnt toast. I'm Gregory Stockle. Google has linked its barred artificial intelligence, AI tool, to its Gmail service, and other company offerings. The American-based search engine company says the change will permit its users to easily use the AI technology across different product areas. Bard is a chatbot, a computer-driven system designed to interact smoothly with humans and perform high-level writing. Such tools are also known as generative AI or large language models. The first widely released chatbot was ChatGPT. It was launched by technology company OpenAI late last year. Google announced the launch of its Bard tool last February, and shortly thereafter, Microsoft announced it was redesigning its Bing search engine to include OpenAI's chatbot technology. Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI. In an announcement Tuesday, Google said it had created a system that makes it possible for users to extend the AI tool to other company services, or apps. This brings Bard technology to Google products, including Gmail, Drive, YouTube, Maps, etc. The system to expand the AI tool to other Google apps is called Bard extensions. Users can decide which apps they want to add Bard to. This can be done by going to Google's Chrome browser and following the process to activate new extensions. For the moment, Bard extensions is only available in English. In a statement explaining the change, Google gave several descriptions of how users could use Bard with other apps. For example, a user of Gmail could ask Bard to create a summary of all emails dealing with a particular subject. Another example is a possible solution to someone planning a major family trip. In such a case, a series of Google apps can be used together with Bard. The user can ask Bard to search through Gmail messages to get available trip dates from the emails of multiple family members. At the same time, a user can ask Bard to use Google flights to look up flight dates that would work for the trip. Bard can also be used to book available hotel rooms and connect with Google Maps to provide everyone with directions to the airport. And users could also use Bard to find YouTube videos of things to do during the trip. Another example Google gives is how Bard can link up with other apps to assist someone with a job search. In this case, Google suggests asking Bard to find my resume titled June 2023 from my drive and summarize it to a short paragraph personal statement. Another new add-on for Bard permits users to invite others into their Bard conversations. In its announcement, Google also said it had created a way for users to verify whether information produced by the Bard tool is correct or not. This move is seen as an effort by Google to help users get over concerns about its AI system returning faults, outdated or damaging results. Google says the use of Bard's Google it button can test the correctness of its results. When people use this button, Bard's results are compared with the results of a Google search on the same subject. Then, Bard points out the differences in its own results compared to information returned from Google search. Google's senior product director, Jack Krasik, told Reuters news agency the company thought it was important to add this ability to help users find the most truthful results. We are presenting Bard in a way that it admits when it's not confident, Krasik said. He added that the effort is part of a goal by Google to build user trust in generative AI tools while holding Bard accountable for its performance. In announcing Bard extensions, Google promised to protect users' privacy by blocking its employees from seeing any personal information Bard gets from apps such as Gmail or Drive. Bard said it had also taken steps to prevent data linked to Bard from being used to target users with ads or to train the AI tool. Krasik noted that currently, Bard users can only pull in information from other Google apps. However, he said Google is already working with other companies to be able to connect their apps to Bard in the future. I'm Brian Lin. Brian Lin is back on the show to talk more about his technology report. Welcome Brian. Thanks for having me. This week you explored a change by Google that permits users of its Bard AI tool to link that technology to other product offerings. How important do you think this move is for Google? So, Google's main explanation is that being able to link Bard to other company services will add additional value for Google users. And we explained some possible use cases the company described. But some industry experts have noted the change is also linked to efforts by Google to better compete with similar tools like ChatGBT, Bard's main competitor. One report estimated ChatGBT had about 90% more visitors than Bard so far in August. So Google's latest move could help turn that around. I know the report touched a little on privacy issues. How has Google said it intends to protect private user data that gets imported into the Bard tool? The main ways Google is trying to reduce privacy concerns is by promising that data linked to Bard will never be seen by human reviewers. And also saying that data will not be used to target users with ads. Certainly one goal of these steps could be to get more people to start using Bard extensions right away without worrying about those privacy issues. Got it. Thanks again for being here, Brian. You're welcome. Thank you, Dan. VOA Learning English has launched a new program for children. It is called Let's Learn English with Anna. The new course aims to teach children American English through asking and answering questions and experiencing fun situations. For more information, visit our website learningenglish.voanews.com. My name is Anna Matteo. And my name is Jill Robbins. And I'm Andrew Smith. You're listening to the Learning English podcast. Welcome to the part of the show where we help you do more with our series, Let's Learn English. The series shows Anna Matteo in her work and life in Washington, DC. People all over the world like to talk about the weather. Don't they, Jill? They do. It's an important part of daily life. You know what else people like to talk about? What's that? Other people. That's true. And they like watching them, too. In lesson 15 of Let's Learn English, Anna gets to enjoy some nice weather and watch all kinds of people walk by. Let's listen. Hello. People from all over the world come to Washington, DC. When I'm at work, I love eating lunch outside. I like to watch people walking by. They all look very different. Today, my friend Ashley is eating lunch with me. Ashley, today the weather is beautiful, isn't it? Yes, it is. We have to return to work. No, we have time. Let's people watch a little more. It helps that Anna lives in Washington, DC, doesn't it? Yeah, it sure does. She can see people from many different countries almost every day. In lesson 15, it also helps that the weather is nice. She mentions it to her friend Ashley. And then Anna's boss, Miss Weaver, mentions it to Anna. Ashley, today the weather is beautiful, isn't it? Yes, it is. It's a beautiful day, isn't it? Yes, yes it is, Miss Weaver. I noticed that each of them used a tag question when they asked about the weather, didn't they? That's right, they did. And I think we should explain a bit about this. I do too. OK, for example, let's say that it is a sunny and beautiful day. If I say to Jill, it's a nice day, Jill would agree. I can agree by saying something like, yes, it sure is. So Jill agrees with me. Tag questions basically ask if the listener agrees with the speaker. So if I say, it's a nice day, isn't it? I'm asking Jill if she agrees that it's a nice day. So my answer would be the same as before because I agree. I could just say, yes, it is. But if I want to stress how nice it is, I might say, it sure is. Tag questions might be confusing for some learners if they try to get the meaning based on the exact words spoken. When I say, isn't it? Which is the shortened form of, is it not? The word not can be confusing because in a tag question it actually means something different from not. Yep, the tag question really means the same thing as adding the short question, right? That's true. You can also think about it this way. If I say, isn't it at the end of a sentence, I'm really saying, is this in fact true? So listen to these two examples. Example one, this restaurant is really good. Is this in fact true? Example two, this restaurant is really good, isn't it? Example one and example two mean the exact same thing. The speaker wants to know if the listener agrees with the idea that the restaurant is in fact good. You're listening to the Learning English podcast. We also use tag questions with the auxiliary do. Don't we, Jill? Yes, we do. Let's give our listeners some more examples of tag questions but with different forms of the verbs. OK, I'll start. You like teaching English, don't you? Yes, I do. That professor talks a lot, doesn't she? Yeah, she sure does. That was a great concert, wasn't it? Yeah, it sure was. We don't have to work tomorrow, do we? No, we don't. In this example, the tag or end of my question was simply do we. The not was put in the first part of the question when I said, we don't have to work tomorrow. The not goes at the end tag for positive statements like, the weather is nice, isn't it? And in the beginning part for negative statements. And there is another case we should explain. If we are not asking if someone agrees, like about the nice weather, but instead are really trying to confirm if something is in fact true, then we usually put the not into the first part of the question. And there is no tag at the end. All right, let's give an example. I can say, doesn't Michael work in California? That means Andrew thinks Michael does in fact work in California, but he is asking to check. Doesn't Michael work in California means, is it in fact the case that Michael works in California? OK, by now I think we've explained enough about tag questions, don't you? Yes, indeed. But what about people watching? Anna likes to do that, and so does her boss, Ms. Weaver. They just look at people for a brief moment. They don't really stare at them. That would be rude, wouldn't it? In general, that would be rude, especially if the people are close by. So we usually just look at a person for a few moments. But it does depend on the distance. Is people watching something you like to do too, Andrew? Yeah, sometimes, especially in places like airports or tourist areas like Washington, where there are a mix of people from different areas. And I think that when you really know a culture deeply, you can make some good guesses about what country or even what area of a country people are from, sometimes just based on their clothes. That's true. You are more aware of small details. For example, I spent some time in France, and I can often notice if someone is from France just by some very small details in clothing and the way they walk and move their body. I don't even have to hear them speak. That's because you've seen more details of French culture. Yes, but on the other hand, I think we all need to be careful not to jump to conclusions about other people just based on the way they look. Especially if that leads you to stereotype or overgeneralize about other people. Each person has their own individual story to tell. This is a big, deep topic that I think is worth a longer discussion. Why don't we continue with this in another Learning English podcast soon? I think that's a good idea. There is a lot to talk about. Oh, but before we go, I just thought of another really good place to people watch. What's that? It rhymes with the number two. It rhymes with two. The zoo? Yes. Sometimes I think it's more fun to watch the people watching the animals than to watch the animals themselves. I think you're right, but that's kind of a tricky sentence you just said. Let's play it again for our listeners. Let's play it four times. OK, here we go. OK, but before we do, here's something our listeners can try. After you hear the sentence the first time, try to speak along with the sentence the next three times the sentence repeats. Or try to write down what you hear and then play it again and try to repeat it. Here's the sentence. Sometimes I think it's more fun to watch the people watching the animals than to watch the animals themselves. Sometimes I think it's more fun to watch the people watching the animals than to watch the animals themselves. Sometimes I think it's more fun to watch the people watching the animals than to watch the animals themselves. Sometimes I think it's more fun to watch the people watching the animals than to watch the animals themselves. Well, like we said, there's lots more could say about people watching and cultures. So listen for that discussion in another Learning English podcast soon. And be sure to keep Learning English with VOA Learning English. I'm Jill Robbins. And I'm Andrew Smith. And that's our program for today. Join us again tomorrow to keep Learning English through stories from around the world. I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Dan Novak.