Lifeboat Foundation

Speak, an English language learning platform backed by OpenAI’s startup investment fund, the OpenAI Startup Fund, today announced that it raised $16 million in a Series B-2 funding round led by angel investor Lachy Groom.

The co-founders of Dropbox, Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, also participated in Speak’s tranche, which brings the startup’s total raised to $63 million. CEO Connor Zwick says that it’ll be used to support Speak’s launch in more markets, including in the U.S. by the end of the year. (Speak is currently live in around 20 countries including Japan, Taiwan, Germany, France, Brazil and Mexico.)

“It’s been incredible to see that the learning experience we spent years honing in a single market, South Korea, has proven to resonate with almost no modifications needed in markets and cultures across the globe,” Zwick said in a press release. “Looking ahead, we plan on bringing our AI-powered tutor to most major markets around the world by the end of this year, and are gearing up for a launch in the U.S., offering English speakers the ability to learn other languages.”

At a time in history when too many things seem to be heading in the wrong direction, I believe there is still hope. Lots of it, actually.

Last week I was reminded that the best is still ahead of us, and the people who will lead this increasingly challenging space world are not just those from the Ivy League or historically elite coasts. While they may have extraordinary resources, they haven’t cornered all the best students and ideas to solve our most vexing space problems. Across the country, thousands of students are thinking about how to tackle tomorrow’s challenges – uninhibited by the confines of the traditional military-industrial acquisition process of the last generation and armed with the “why not” attitude propagated by new pioneers in commercial space.

To hone in on the pockets of creative genius found across the United States, this past year the SmallSat Alliance hosted its first annual Collegiate Space Competition. The design challenge, sponsored and staffed by the space companies that comprise the Alliance, is open to every college and university student in the U.S. – technical or non-technical, from junior colleges to traditional universities. The students are presented with real world space problems that could be partially solved with low cost, off the shelf space systems and components, specifically the new generation of commercially available small satellite technologies.

A new study discusses how high-fidelity quantum information could be sent through fiber optic networks by a novel atomic device.

Did you know quantum transmissions can’t be amplified over a city or an ocean like conventional data signals? Instead, they have to be periodically repeated using specialized devices called quantum repeaters.

For the technology to be used in future communications networks, researchers have developed a novel method of connecting quantum devices over great distances.

AI helps implants work better, preventing diseases before they happen despite immune system challenges.

Imagine your body had an implant that could continuously monitor the occurrence of diseases and infections and immediately release medications to prevent them. Wouldn’t that be ideal, especially for patients who suffer from conditions like heart failure, diabetes, and asthma?

Continue reading “AI can make implants last longer inside the human body” »

The AI won 15 of the 25 races against humans and led the fastest time on the track by more than half a second.

Researchers at the University of Zurich in Switzerland have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can not only fly drones but also beat human counterparts who are champions, according to a press release published in Nature.

Continue reading “Swiss researchers invent drone-flying AI that tops champions” »

The mission will observe the Sun from a unique vantage point and explore its activity and influence on space weather.

As nations across the world expand their exploratory missions into outer space, India is taking a crucial leap forward by setting its sights on our solar system’s most vital celestial body: the Sun. Slated for launch on September 2nd, India’s first-ever solar mission, Aditya-L1, has arrived at its launch pad at the Sathish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR in Sriharikota, off the eastern coast of India.

Source: ISRO

Continue reading “Aditya-L1: India’s maiden Sun mission to lift off Sept 2” »

Bearacreative/iStock.

This is according to a press release by the University of Waterloo published on Monday.

Bacteria that can align themselves with the Earth’s magnetic field have been found in a new habitat. Previously spotted on land and in shallow waters, these magnetotactic bacteria have now been confirmed to thrive in the depths of a hydrothermal vent. Despite the challenging conditions, the bacteria were able to adapt and survive in an environment that was not ideal for their typical needs.

Magnetotactic bacteria are of interest not only for the role they play in Earth’s ecosystem but also in the search for extraterrestrial life. Evidence of their existence can remain in rocks for billions of years. Their magnetic inclinations can also provide a record of how magnetic poles have shifted over time. This new discovery brings hope to researchers that the magnetic bacteria might be found in yet more unexpected locations, on Earth and perhaps even on Mars.

Mars is the second smallest planet in our solar system and the fourth planet from the sun. It is a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. Iron oxide is prevalent in Mars’ surface resulting in its reddish color and its nickname “The Red Planet.” Mars’ name comes from the Roman god of war.

We believe artificial intelligence has the power to save the world —and that a thriving open source ecosystem is essential to building this future.

Thankfully, the open source ecosystem is starting to develop, and we are now seeing open source models that rival closed-source alternatives. Hundreds of small teams and individuals are also working to make these models more useful, accessible, and performant.

These projects push the state of the art in open source AI and help provide a more robust and comprehensive understanding of the technology. They include: instruction-tuning base LLMs; removing censorship from LLM outputs; optimizing models for low-powered machines; building novel tooling for model inference; researching LLM security issues; and many others.