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Category: robotics/AI – Page 1,030

I’m shocked! Shocked, I tell you

Oh hey, AI enthusiasts and futurism fans! I’d love to share with you an article I recently wrote on my Substack. It takes you on a journey from the ancient Greek device known as the Antikythera mechanism, all the way to the generative AI explosion of 2023, tracing the history of computation and AI.

For more than a decade, I’ve been writing about technology, society, and the future, aiming to provide thoughtful analysis and critical thinking on the latest trends and their implications. I’ve been following these topics for over 15 years, and I am enthusiastic about initiating a meaningful conversation with you about the changing world and its intersection with technology.

Well, not that shocked.

AI-Driven Maritime Custody Service Now Available Commercially

BlackSky Technology and Spire Global have teamed up to create a real-time, commercially available Maritime Custody Service that can automatically detect, identify and track more than 270 thousand vessels worldwide in open water, along rivers and canals, and while docked at port.

The system uses data from Spire’s radio frequency-monitoring satellite constellation to detect emissions from maritime targets, including the ability to detect and locate dark vessels that manipulate their reported position in order to conceal nefarious activities. Then, BlackSky’s satellites automatically tip-and-cue to collect imagery and analyze the images using artificial intelligence to detect vessels, classify each vessel by type, estimate cargo and monitor change over time.

“BlackSky and Spire have developed a very cost-effective and flexible vessel tracking service capable of delivering on-demand maritime intelligence at scale,” said Patrick O’Neil, chief innovation officer at BlackSky. “The unique AI-driven system reduces end-to-end latency across the entire tasking, collection, processing, exploitation, and dissemination process. With interoperability in mind, the MCS provides an easy-to-use autonomous, continuous and predictive maritime tracking capability directly into customer hands.”

$115 million raised by Moonfire Ventures for European AI startups

Founded in 2020, Moonfire Ventures has raised a $115 million second round of investment to invest in European technology and AI startups.

As reported by Reuters, a large investment fund called Moonfire Ventures has just raised $115 million to help invest in European technology and artificial intelligence (AI) startups. Founded by Atomico (a venture capital firm) co-founder Mattias Ljungman in 2020, this news will undoubtedly be welcomed by the tech industry across the continent.

“Europe has been a leader in AI, and we find our best fit is to support the next generation of founders solving some of our greatest challenges within health, work, finance, and gaming,” said Ljungman.

Gopixa/iStock.

WSU researchers develop robotic bee that can fly like real bees

The bee is capable of flight in all directions and can also perform the challenging yaw motion.

Researchers at the Washington State University (WSU) in the U.S. have successfully developed a robotic bee that can fly just like a real bee marking a significant development in robotics.

Called Bee++, the robotic counterpart has four wings, each fitted with independent lightweight actuators that can control the wing independently. This design enables the robotic bee to emulate the six degrees of freedom movement in natural flying insects.

Bill Gates says the winner of the A.I. race will be whoever creates a personal assistant—and it’ll spell the end for Amazon

The Microsoft founder has called time on Amazon’s business as we know it—saying A.I. will make the e-commerce giant obsolete.

Billionaire philanthropist Gates added the developer destined to win the artificial intelligence race will be the one which manages to create a personal agent that can perform certain tasks to save users time.

“Whoever wins the personal agent, that’s the big thing, because you will never go to a search site again, you will never go to a productivity site, you’ll never go to Amazon again,” he explained.

Whole Brain Emulation

I had an amazing experience at the Foresight Institute’s Whole-Brain Emulation (WBE) Workshop at a venue near Oxford! For more information and a list of participants, see: https://foresight.org/whole-brain-emulation-workshop-2023/ I had the opportunity to work within a group of some of the most brilliant, ambitious, and visionary people I’ve ever encountered on the quest for recreating the human brain in a computer. We also discussed in depth the existential risks of upcoming artificial superintelligence and how to mitigate these risks, perhaps with the aid of WBE.

My subgroup focused on exploring the challenge of human connectomics (mapping all of the neurons and synapses in the brain).

WBE is a potential technology to generate software intelligence that is human-aligned simply by being based directly on human brains. Generally past discussions have assumed a fairly long timeline to WBE, while past AGI timelines had broad uncertainty. There were also concerns that the neuroscience of WBE might boost AGI capability development without helping safety, although no consensus did develop. Recently many people have updated their AGI timelines towards earlier development, raising safety concerns. That has led some people to consider whether WBE development could be significantly speeded up, producing a differential technology development re-ordering of technology arrival that might lessen the risk of unaligned AGI by the presence of aligned software intelligence.

‘Deepfake’ scam in China raises concerns of AI-powered fraud

Citizens are concerned about whether implemented rules are sufficient to protect them.

A recently reported scam in China that used ‘deep fake’ technology has raised concerns about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in conducting fraudulent activities in the country. Discussion on the social media website Weibo about the explosion in the number of AI-powered scans gained more than 120 million views in a day, Reuters.

Over the years, the term ‘deep fakes’ has mainly been associated with celebrities, but as AI tech becomes more mainstream, it has also sparked fears of affecting the commoner.

Kentoh/iStock.