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CAPTCHA-Breaking Services with Human Solvers Helping Cybercriminals Defeat Security

Cybersecurity researchers are warning about CAPTCHA-breaking services that are being offered for sale to bypass systems designed to distinguish legitimate users from bot traffic.

“Because cybercriminals are keen on breaking CAPTCHAs accurately, several services that are primarily geared toward this market demand have been created,” Trend Micro said in a report published last week.

“These CAPTCHA-solving services don’t use [optical character recognition] techniques or advanced machine learning methods; instead, they break CAPTCHAs by farming out CAPTCHA-breaking tasks to actual human solvers.”

Baidu invests $140 million to foster generative AI startups

Baidu Inc. is investing 1 billion yuan ($140 million) to nurture Chinese startups that explore generative AI, leveraging its Ernie AI model to help drive innovation.

Baidu Inc., China’s internet search leader, is investing 1 billion yuan ($140 million) to incubate Chinese startups that focus on generative AI. As reported in Bloomberg, the move makes Baidu a part of the global investment wave centering on ChatGPT-like services.


Baidu’s $140 Million Venture into Generative AI Startups

According to a statement released by Baidu, the investment will be used to foster projects utilizing its Ernie AI model, with funding potentially as high as 10 million yuan each. Venture investors, including IDG Capital, will evaluate pitches from founders, who will then create demo products before a decision on seed funding.

This incubation program merges one of China’s top startup investment firms with its leading player in AI development. This represents another leap forward in China’s aggressive AI investment strategy, catalyzed by the media buzz surrounding the debut of OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

This centipede-like robot can easily walk through rough terrain

“We can foresee applications in a wide variety of scenarios, such as search and rescue.”

One difficult challenge in robotics is to make them move smoothly across rough surfaces. Researchers have been experimenting with various methods, including the ones inspired by nature, to make robot movement more flexible.

By taking cues from nature, engineers have created a new centipede-like robot that can easily switch from straight walking to curved motion.

Experts worry about how AI deep fakes may impact 2024 US elections

In a special report by Reuters, various industry experts were asked their opinions on the looming issue of AI deep fakes for the upcoming 2024 US elections.

As reported by Reuters, next year’s elections in the United States are likely mired with ever-sophisticated deepfake videos and audio. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) tools like Midjourney and FakeYou have made it nye-on child’s play to generate realistic-looking images, videos, and audio files that are very difficult at times to distinguish from reality.

According to Reuters, there has been a significant increase in the creation of “synthetic” media of late using new “generative AI” tools like Midjourney.


Mrolands/iStock.

Google’s ‘Barkour’ will let robots navigate obstacle courses just like real dogs

The Barkour benchmark is customizable and can be adapted to larger course areas with different configurations, similar to real dog agility competitions.

In the world of robotics, quadrupedal robots are becoming increasingly impressive with their abilities and tricks. However, comparing these robots and evaluating their capabilities is challenging due to the absence of standardized metrics.

To address this issue, a team of research scientists at Google has come up with an innovative solution: robot obstacle courses inspired by dog agility competitions. This new approach, known as Barkour, aims to establish a benchmark for assessing the agility and mobility of quadruped robots, a blog post said.

Neil Gershenfeld: Self-Replicating Robots and the Future of Fabrication | Lex Fridman Podcast #380

Neil Gershenfeld is the director of the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
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OUTLINE:
0:00 — Introduction.
1:29 — What Turing got wrong.
6:53 — MIT Center for Bits and Atoms.
20:00 — Digital logic.
26:36 — Self-assembling robots.
37:04 — Digital fabrication.
47:59 — Self-reproducing machine.
55:45 — Trash and fabrication.
1:00:41 — Lab-made bioweapons.
1:04:56 — Genome.
1:16:48 — Quantum computing.
1:21:19 — Microfluidic bubble computation.
1:26:41 — Maxwell’s demon.
1:35:27 — Consciousness.
1:42:27 — Cellular automata.
1:46:59 — Universe is a computer.
1:51:45 — Advice for young people.
2:01:02 — Meaning of life.

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Brain Computer Interfaces in 2050: Top 10 Future Technologies

https://youtu.be/289mVc7PDsU

This video explores Brain Computer Interfaces in 2050. Watch this next video called “Transhumanism: 20 Ways It Will Change The World:” https://youtu.be/qcsihbGnXgE.
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💡 Future Business Tech explores the future of technology and the world.

Examples of topics I cover include:
• Artificial Intelligence & Robotics.
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• Transhumanism.
• Genetic Engineering.

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