Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: robotics/AI – Page 677

3D printing is advancing rapidly, and the range of materials that can be used has expanded considerably. While the technology was previously limited to fast-curing plastics, it has now been made suitable for slow-curing plastics as well. These have decisive advantages as they have enhanced elastic properties and are more durable and robust.

The use of such polymers is made possible by a new technology developed by researchers at ETH Zurich and a US start-up. As a result, researchers can now 3D print complex, more durable robots from a variety of high-quality materials in one go. This new technology also makes it easy to combine soft, elastic, and rigid materials. The researchers can also use it to create delicate structures and parts with cavities as desired.

Read more | >

NASA has temporarily stopped sending commands to its Mars-exploring robots, but there’s nothing to worry about.

We’re currently experiencing a “Mars solar conjunction,” a two-week stretch in which Earth and the Red Planet are situated on opposite sides of the sun. Mars mission teams halt commands during such alignments, which occur roughly every two years, for safety reasons.

Read more | >

This opens up new possibilities for creating complex robots with soft and rigid materials in one go.

Thomas Buchner / ETH Zurich.

3D printing is a revolutionary technology that can create objects of any shape and size from various materials. However, until now, it was mostly limited to using fast-curing plastics, which have some drawbacks. They are brittle, prone to cracking, and lose their shape easily when bent.

Read more | >

In an exclusive interview, Peter Hegemann said AI is more dangerous than optogenetics.

Contrary to popular belief, there is very little chance that optogenetics will be used in the future to control the human brain, says Peter Hegemann, a biochemist and biophysicist, in a conversation with Interesting Engineering (IE) at the Hong Kong Laureate Forum 2023.

Optogenetics is a scientific technique that uses light to control and manipulate cells within living tissues, particularly in the brain. It allows researchers to control the activity of specific neurons with high precision, both in terms of location and timing.

Currently, scientists are applying optogenetics in pain therapy, behavioral science, and questions around neurological diseases. It has also shown potential for therapeutic applications, such as in the treatment of neurological disorders.

Read more | >

Copilot, Microsoft’s brand of generative AI technologies, promises to be a big moneymaker for the company, with one analyst predicting that it could generate $10 billion in annualized revenue by 2026. Despite a staggered and somewhat confusing rollout, 40% of companies in the Fortune 100 were testing Copilot by fall, according to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Forrester predicts, meanwhile, that 6.9 million U.S. knowledge workers will be using some form of Copilot in 2024.

And so Microsoft’s quest to grow the tech continues.

During Ignite 2023, Microsoft took the wraps off of three new Copilot offerings across its software and services portfolio: Copilot for Azure, Copilot for Service and Copilot in Dynamics 365 Guides. The company also launched Copilot Studio, a new platform that delivers tools for connecting Copilot for Microsoft 365 — the Copilot in apps like Excel, Word and PowerPoint as well as Microsoft’s Edge browser and Windows — to third-party data.

Read more | >

Most companies developing AI models, particularly generative AI models like ChatGPT, GPT-4 Turbo and Stable Diffusion, rely heavily on GPUs’ ability to perform many computations in parallel make them well-suited to training — and running — today’s most capable AI.

But there simply aren’t enough GPUs to go around.

Nvidia’s best-performing AI cards are reportedly sold out until 2024. The CEO of chipmaker TSMC was less optimistic recently, suggesting that the shortage of AI GPUs from Nvidia — as well as chips from Nvidia’s rivals — could extend into 2025.

Read more | >

Microsoft launched its big AI push earlier this year as part of its Bing search engine, integrating a ChatGPT-like interface directly into its search results. Now less than a year later, it’s dropping the Bing Chat branding and moving to Microsoft Copilot, the new name for the chat interface you might have used in Bing, Microsoft Edge, and Windows 11.

Microsoft initially talked up the Google search competition for its AI ambitions earlier this year, but it now looks like it has its sights set on ChatGPT instead. The Bing Chat rebranding comes just days after OpenAI revealed 100 million people are using ChatGPT on a weekly basis. Despite a close partnership worth billions, Microsoft and OpenAI continue to compete for the same customers seeking out AI assistants, and Microsoft is clearly trying to position Copilot as the option for consumers and businesses.

“Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise will now simply become Copilot,” explains Colette Stallbaumer, general manager of Microsoft 365. The official name change comes just a couple of months after Microsoft picked Copilot as its branding for its chatbot inside Windows 11. At the time it wasn’t clear that the Bing Chat branding would fully disappear, but it is today.

Read more | >