Fabi, who weighs more than 100kg, was under anaesthetic for the two-and-a-half hour procedure.
A tiger at a zoo in Devon has undergone a lengthy root canal procedure – performed by a brave veterinary dentist.
Fabi, who is 11 years old and lives at Paignton Zoo, weighs more than 100kg (220lbs) and has 30 teeth including four very long canines.
He required a complete root canal after fracturing his lower canine teeth – measuring 8cm (3.15in) from crown to root – and beginning to develop abscesses.
Jo Reynard, a vet at the zoo, said: “Life in the Paignton Zoo veterinary department is always interesting, but a bilateral tiger root canal treatment is a challenging procedure.
“The fact it went so incredibly smoothly reflects the great team spirit among vets, keepers, curatorial staff and outside experts.”
Vets and keepers created a makeshift operating theatre in the largest tiger den the day before the procedure, making a table out of hay bales and tarpaulin.
Matthew Oxford, a veterinary dentist, brought specialist surgical kit and hand-held radiographic apparatus to carry out the two-and-a-half hour procedure on December 18.
He was accompanied by three vets, three vet nurses, two big cat keepers and senior animal staff – including one armed with a shotgun as part of safety protocols.
Jo Reynard administered anaesthetic to Fabi through the steel mesh of the den wall, with the calm tiger lying down for the injection.
He then received similar care to human patients including a breathing tube to deliver anaesthetic gases, and carefully-administered fluids and pain relief.
Fabi was kept warm throughout the procedure by an electric blanket and a duvet, with his paws wrapped in bubble wrap to ensure his extremities did not become cold.
Mr Oxford took x-rays and found Fabi’s lower canine teeth were fractured, the pulp had died and tooth root abscesses had started to develop.
His canines measured 8cm from crown to root. Human teeth are usually between 2-2.5cm (0.7-1n), with the largest domestic dog teeth about 4-4.5cm (1.5-1.7in) long.
The root canal procedure removed the bacteria and pulp from the chamber in the centre of the tooth and filled it with inert material.
After the procedure was completed, Fabi was carried to his pen where he was sitting up within about 15 minutes.
He received one-on-one observation during his recovery and seemed back to normal by the following day.
Nic Dunn, curator of mammals at the zoo, said: “Fabi is getting on now and it is not uncommon to see signs of wear and tear in an older cat.
“For tigers, the teeth and claws are very important pieces of equipment and so we need to make sure they are well looked after.
“While Matthew was performing the dental work it also gave us the chance to give Fabi a full health check and we were pleased to see that he was in great health.”
OpenAI says it will soon start showing advertisements to ChatGPT users who aren't paying for a premium version of the chatbot.
The artificial intelligence company said Friday it hasn't yet rolled out ads but will start testing them in the coming weeks.
It's the latest effort by the San Francisco-based company to make money from ChatGPT's more than 800 million users, most of whom get it for free.
Though valued at $500 billion, the startup loses more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit.
“Most importantly: ads will not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you,” said Fidji Simo, the company’s CEO of applications, in a social media post Friday.
OpenAI said the digital ads will appear at the bottom of ChatGPT's answers “when there’s a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation.”
The ads “will be clearly labeled and separated from the organic answer,” the company said.
Two of OpenAI’s rivals, Google and Meta, have dominated digital advertising for years and already incorporate ads into some of their AI features.
Originally founded as a nonprofit with a mission to safely build better-than-human AI, OpenAI last year reorganized its ownership structure and converted its business into a public benefit corporation. It said Friday that its pursuit of advertising will be “always in support” of its original mission to ensure its AI technology benefits humanity.
But introducing personalized ads starts OpenAI “down a risky path” previously taken by social media companies, said Miranda Bogen of the Center for Democracy and Technology.
“People are using chatbots for all sorts of reasons, including as companions and advisors," said Bogen, director of CDT’s AI Governance Lab. “There’s a lot at stake when that tool tries to exploit users’ trust to hawk advertisers’ goods.”
OpenAI makes some money from paid subscriptions but needs more revenue to pay for its more than $1 trillion in financial obligations for the computer chips and data centers that power its AI services. The risk that OpenAI won’t make enough money to fulfill the expectations of backers like Oracle and Nvidia has amplified investor concerns about an AI bubble.
“It is clear to us that a lot of people want to use a lot of AI and don’t want to pay, so we are hopeful a business model like this can work,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a post Friday on social platform X. He added that he likes the ads on Meta's Instagram because they show him things he wouldn't have found otherwise.
OpenAI claims it won't use a user's personal information or prompts to collect data for ads, but the question is “for how long,” said Paddy Harrington, an analyst at research group Forrester.
“Free services are never actually free and these public AI platforms need to generate revenue,” Harrington said. “Which leads to the adage: If the service is free, you’re the product.”
FILE - The OpenAI logo is displayed on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen with output from ChatGPT, March 21, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)
