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Category: business – Page 42

Inside The Secret Deals Between Tech Companies And Nuclear Power Plants

Tech companies, including Amazon Web Services, are striking deals with U.S. nuclear power plants to secure electricity for their data centers, driven by the skyrocketing demands of artificial intelligence. This move promises 24/7 carbon-free power but stirs controversy, as it could divert existing energy supplies, raise prices, and increase reliance on natural gas. These nuclear-powered data centers might accelerate the AI race, but they also spark debates over economic development, grid reliability, and climate goals. Could this be the future of tech or a risky gamble with unforeseen consequences?

As reported by WSJ, tech businesses searching the country for electrical supplies have focused on one important target: America’s nuclear power facilities.

The owners of about one-third of the United States’ nuclear power reactors are in negotiations with technology companies about providing electricity to new data centers needed to satisfy the needs of an artificial intelligence boom.

Kratos’ Erinyes hypersonic test vehicle reaches Mach 5 in 1st flight

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (Kratos) has announced the successful test flight of its Erinyes hypersonic test vehicle.

Developed by the company’s Space & Missile Defense Systems Business Unit, the test was completed on June 12, 2024, according to the announcement.

The test vehicle reached Mach 5 in its first test flight. Erinyes is being developed under the auspices of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC).

From chatbots to superintelligence: Mapping AI’s ambitious journey

With the pending arrival of AI agents, we will even more effectively join the always-on interconnected world, both for personal use and for work. In this way, we will increasingly dialog and interact with digital intelligence everywhere.

The path to AGI and superintelligence remains shrouded in uncertainty, with experts divided on its feasibility and timeline. However, the rapid evolution of AI technologies is undeniable, promising transformative advancements. As businesses and individuals navigate this rapidly changing landscape, the potential for AI-driven innovation and improvement remains vast. The journey ahead is as exciting as it is unpredictable, with the boundaries between human and artificial intelligence continuing to blur.

By mapping out proactive steps now to invest and engage in AI, upskill our workforce and attend to ethical considerations, businesses and individuals can position themselves to thrive in the AI-driven future.

Parsing The Future: The Promises And Perils Of Large Language Models

Large language models have emerged as a transformative technology and have revolutionized AI with their ability to generate human-like text with seemingly unprecedented fluency and apparent comprehension. Trained on vast datasets of human-generated text, LLMs have unlocked innovations across industries, from content creation and language translation to data analytics and code generation. Recent developments, like OpenAI’s GPT-4o, showcase multimodal capabilities, processing text, vision, and audio inputs in a single neural network.

Despite their potential for driving productivity and enabling new forms of human-machine collaboration, LLMs are still in their nascent stage. They face limitations such as factual inaccuracies, biases inherited from training data, lack of common-sense reasoning, and data privacy concerns. Techniques like retrieval augmented generation aim to ground LLM knowledge and improve accuracy.

To explore these issues, I spoke with Amir Feizpour, CEO and founder of AI Science, an expert-in-the-loop business workflow automation platform. We discussed the transformative impacts, applications, risks, and challenges of LLMs across different sectors, as well as the implications for startups in this space.

Taming the Machine, with Nell Watson

Those who rush to leverage AI’s power without adequate preparation face difficult blowback, scandals, and could provoke harsh regulatory measures. However, those who have a balanced, informed view on the risks and benefits of AI, and who, with care and knowledge, avoid either complacent optimism or defeatist pessimism, can harness AI’s potential, and tap into an incredible variety of services of an ever-improving quality.

These are some words from the introduction of the new book, “Taming the machine: ethically harness the power of AI”, whose author, Nell Watson, joins us in this episode.

Nell’s many roles include: Chair of IEEE’s Transparency Experts Focus Group, Executive Consultant on philosophical matters for Apple, and President of the European Responsible Artificial Intelligence Office. She also leads several organizations such as EthicsNet.org, which aims to teach machines prosocial behaviours, and CulturalPeace.org, which crafts Geneva Conventions-style rules for cultural conflict.

Selected follow-ups:

• Nell Watson’s website (https://www.nellwatson.com/)
• Taming the Machine (https://tamingthemachine.com/) — book website.
• BodiData (https://www.bodidata.com/) (corporation)
• Post Office Horizon scandal: Why hundreds were wrongly prosecuted (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-5…) — BBC News.
• Dutch scandal serves as a warning for Europe over risks of using algorithms (https://www.politico.eu/article/dutch…) — Politico.
• Robodebt: Illegal Australian welfare hunt drove people to despair (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-aust…) — BBC News.
• What is the infected blood scandal and will victims get compensation? (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-485…) — BBC News.
• MIRI 2024 Mission and Strategy Update (https://intelligence.org/2024/01/04/m…) — from the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI)
• British engineering giant Arup revealed as $25 million deepfake scam victim (https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/16/te…) — CNN
• Zersetzung psychological warfare technique (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zersetzung) — Wikipedia.

Music: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration.

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