Lifeboat Foundation

Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Massachusetts pediatricians are reporting high rates of ‘walking pneumonia’ cases and other respiratory illnesses that are also surging in China and parts of Europe.

Physicists are coming to realise that hypothetical particles called axions could explain not only dark matter, but dark energy too, and more besides. Now there is fresh impetus to detect them.

By Jonathan O’Callaghan

Meta AI researchers announced on Thursday that they have developed a new suite of artificial intelligence models called Seamless Communication that aim to enable more natural and authentic communication across languages — essentially making the concept of a Universal Speech Translator a reality. The models were publicly released this week along with research papers and accompanying data.

The flagship model, called Seamless, merges capabilities from three other models — SeamlessExpressive, SeamlessStreaming, and SeamlessM4T v2 — into one unified system. According to the research paper, Seamless is “the first publicly available system that unlocks expressive cross-lingual communication in real-time.”

The Seamless translator represents a new frontier in the use of AI for communication across the blog. It combines three sophisticated neural network models to enable real-time translation between over 100 spoken and written languages while preserving the vocal style, emotion, and prosody of the speaker’s voice.

Some 380,000 of them are believed to be stable enough to aid in developing new technology.

Researchers at the University of Sydney Nano Institute have invented a compact silicon semiconductor chip that integrates electronics with photonic, or light, components. The new technology significantly expands radio-frequency (RF) bandwidth and the ability to accurately control information flowing through the unit.

Expanded bandwidth means more information can flow through the chip and the inclusion of photonics allows for advanced filter controls, creating a versatile new semiconductor device.

Researchers expect the chip will have applications in advanced radar, satellite systems, wireless networks and the roll-out of 6G and 7G telecommunications and also open the door to advanced sovereign manufacturing. It could also assist in the creation of high-tech value-add factories at places like Western Sydney’s Aerotropolis precinct.

A team of researchers affiliated with AI startups Gen AI, Meta, AutoGPT, HuggingFace and Fair Meta, has developed a benchmark tool for use by makers of AI assistants, particularly those that make Large Language Model based products, to test their applications as potential Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) applications. They have written a paper describing their tool, which they have named GAIA, and how it can be used. The article is posted on the arXiv preprint server.

Over the past year, researchers in the AI field have been debating the ability of AI systems, both in private and on social media. Some have suggested that AI systems are coming very close to having AGI while others have suggested the opposite is much closer to the truth. Such systems, all agree, will match and even surpass human intelligence at some point. The only question is when.

In this new effort, the research team notes that in order for a consensus to be reached, if true AGI systems emerge, a ratings system must be in place to measure their intelligence level both against each other and against humans. Such a system, they further note, would have to begin with a benchmark, and that is what they are proposing in their paper.

Ray Kurzweil and a host of other ambitious scientists are trying to take major next steps with AI — the revival of the dead. Within three decades, he hopes to create a ‘dad bot’ in the flesh.

Do you want to live forever?