A new batch of startups are using tech and data to help supermarkets reduce waste of fresh produce, to the benefit of business and planet.
Sam Altman was already trying to lead the development of human-level artificial intelligence. Now he has another great ambition: raising trillions of dollars to reshape the global semiconductor industry.
The OpenAI chief executive officer is in talks with investors including the United Arab Emirates government to raise funds for a wildly ambitious tech initiative that would boost the world’s chip-building capacity, expand its ability to power AI, among other things, and cost several trillion dollars, according to people familiar with the matter. The project could require raising as much as $5 trillion to $7 trillion, one of the people said.
The fundraising plans, which face significant obstacles, are aimed at solving constraints to OpenAI’s growth, including the scarcity of the pricey AI chips required to train large language models behind AI systems such as ChatGPT. Altman has often complained that there aren’t enough of these kinds of chips—known as graphics processing units, or GPUs—to power OpenAI’s quest for artificial general intelligence, which it defines as systems that are broadly smarter than humans.
Apple Vision Pro has tremendous opportunity in the enterprise. However, version 1.0 of the visionOS software shipped without mobile device management support. That’s about to change with the upcoming visionOS 1.1 software update. Apple released the first developer beta version of the software today.
Mobile device management, of MDM, is critical for using Apple devices in business environments. For example, my pal Jeff Richardson from iPhone J.D. was unable to access his work email, contacts, and calendar on Apple Vision Pro without MDM support.
Starting in visionOS 1.1, Apple Vision Pro will treat MDM accounts just like on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. This will really unlock using Apple Vision Pro for work for a lot of folks.
The recent move to open access, in which researchers pay a fee to publish an article in a journal, has also encouraged some publishers to boost revenues by publishing as many papers as possible. At the same time, there has been a rise in retractions, especially of fabricated or manipulated manuscripts sold by “paper mills”. Last year, for example, more than 10 000 journal articles were retracted – a record high – with about 8,000 alone from journals owned by Hindawi, a London-based subsidiary of the publicly-owned publisher Wiley.
The new “purpose-led” coalition is designed to show how the three learned-society publishers have a business model that is not like that of profit-focussed corporations. In particular, they plough all the money generated from publishing back into science by supporting initiatives such as educational training, mentorship, awards and grants. “Purpose-led publishing is about our dedication to science, and to the scientific community,” says Antonia Seymour, IOP Publishing’s chief executive. “We’re proudly declaring that science is our only shareholder.”
In the XXI century, the world of orbital launchers has started a revolution, a fundamental change of paradigm: the replacement of expendable rockets with reusable ones is well underway. This presentation summarizes the situation at the beginning of year 2024.
A short bio.
Alberto Cavallo is an Electrical Engineer, graduated at the Politecnico di Torino in 1985. He began his activity with designing electric systems in Fiat Engineering, the engineering and construction company of the FIAT Group, moving soon to control and automation systems in the same company. He was involved in all business areas of the company, which included revamping and new projects of car factories for the FIAT Group as well as large infrastructures, power and cogeneration plants for external clients. Among the projects of that time were the new FIAT factories in Melfi and Pratola Serra, the high speed railways Torino-Milano and Bologna-Firenze, the district heating system of Torino Sud, combined cycle power plants for several hundred megawatts in Italy and in Brazil. Since Fiat Engineering was transferred from the FIAT Group to a new EPC group and then merged with a large EPC company in Milan, he has been involved in large oil and gas and petrochemical projects all over the world. Besides his professional activity, he has always taken part in several cultural activities. He was a member of the Associations of Alumni of the Liceo Classico Vittorio Alfieri of Turin, active in promoting humanistic culture as well as its connection to the technical and scientific area. He manages his own website www.eurinome.it (in Italian only) about philosophy, science and politics/geopolitics. Due to this he got in contact with Adriano Autino and his TDF, then becoming one of the founding members of Space Renaissance International. Besides several papers in his professional area he has written several articles for his own site, for TDF and SRI, coauthoring the book “Three Theses for the Space Renaissance” with Adriano Autino and Patrick Q. Collins. He is currently member of the Board of SRI.
Mastercard has announced that it has developed an in-house generative AI to help combat fraud on its payment processing network.
Instead of relying on textual inputs, Mastercard’s algorithm uses a cardholder’s merchant visit history as a prompt to determine whether a transaction involves a business that the customer would likely visit. The algorithm generates pathways through Mastercard’s network, akin to heat-sensing radar, to provide a score as an answer.
Continue reading “Mastercard’s new anti-fraud AI has a success rate of up to 300%” »
Since 2022, Spot from Boston Dynamics has been performing inspections at the Simmering power plant. It is the first quadruped robot used in Europe for routine power plant operations, reporting technical faults autonomously. Equipped with numerous sensor payloads, Spot helps to ensure the energy supply to more than 800,000 households in Vienna. Employees at the power plant operator Wien Energie affectionately call Spot “Energy Dog”
The task: Optimizing maintenance and safety at the Simmering power plant
Simmering is Austria’s largest power plant and generates electrical energy and district heating from various primary energy sources such as natural gas and biomass. The power plant is operated by Wien Energie and supplies over 800,000 households and 7,000 business customers with electricity, achieving an efficiency of 81 percent. With more than a hundred-year history, Simmering is not only one of Austria’s largest power plants, but among the oldest.
We are witnessing a professional revolution where the boundaries between man and machine slowly fade away, giving rise to innovative collaboration.
Photo by Mateusz Kitka (Pexels)
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to advance by leaps and bounds, it’s impossible to overlook the profound transformations that this technological revolution is imprinting on the professions of the future. A paradigm shift is underway, redefining not only the nature of work but also how we conceptualize collaboration between humans and machines.
As creator of the ETER9 Project (2), I perceive AI not only as a disruptive force but also as a powerful tool to shape a more efficient, innovative, and inclusive future. As we move forward in this new world, it’s crucial for each of us to contribute to building a professional environment that celebrates the interplay between humanity and technology, where the potential of AI is realized for the benefit of all.
In the ETER9 Project, dedicated to exploring the interaction between artificial intelligences and humans, I have gained unique insights into the transformative potential of AI. Reflecting on the future of professions, it’s evident that adaptability and a profound understanding of technological dynamics will be crucial to navigate this new landscape.
Two tech titans are now duking it out in the headset wars. Apple’s Vision Pro and Meta’s Quests offer different price points, different specs, and most importantly, different visions of the future of virtual reality. And both have big hurdles to clear. This week on TechCheck, why the headset battle is Apple’s to lose.
Chapters:
0:00 – Who will win the headset wars?
0:42 – The case for Apple.
5:35 – The case for Meta.
7:56 – The case for both… or neither.
Continue reading “The headset wars: Why it’s Apple’s to lose” »
Aniai, a startup that has built a burger-grilling robot, Alpha Grill, said today it has raised $12 million, bringing its total raise to $15 million. The money will go toward launching its first manufacturing facility, Factory One, in South Korea. The firm will also be deploying a cloud-based AI software platform for the robot called Alpha Cloud.
Robot adoption in the restaurant business is becoming popular as it can help restaurants address their high pain points like labor shortages, and rising wage issues. Robotics enables restaurants to save 30% to 70% of labor costs, and restaurants could replace more than 80% of restaurant positions with robots, according to a research report.
“Burger chains hire six to eight kitchen staff per shift to grill burgers,” Aniai CEO Gunpil Hwang said. “Alpha Grill enables restaurants to engage only one staff member to grill burgers.”
