Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: robotics/AI – Page 829

DNA-folding nanorobots can manufacture limitless copies of themselves

Researchers have demonstrated a programmable nano-scale robot, made from a few strands of DNA, that’s capable of grabbing other snippets of DNA, and positioning them together to manufacture new UV-welded nano-machines – including copies of itself.

The robots, according to New Scientist, are created using just four strands of DNA, and measure just 100 nanometers across, so about a thousand of them could squeeze up into a line the width of a human hair.

The team, from New York University, the Ningbo Cixi Institute of Biomechanical Engineering, and The Chinese Academy of Sciences, says the robots surpass previous efforts, which were only able to assemble pieces into two-dimensional shapes. The new bots are able to use “multiple-axis precise folding and positioning” to “access the third dimension and more degrees of freedom.”

Google Admits Gemini AI Promotional Video Was Fabricated

Earlier this week, Google launched its Gemini AI platform that ‘wowed’ the tech world. A video posted on YouTube showcased the new AI model’s capabilities to process and reason with text, images, audio, video, and code. However, it has since come to light that Google staged the hands-on video demonstration of Gemini AI.

Bloomberg reports that Google modified interactions with Gemini AI to create the demonstration video. The video is titled “Hands-on with Gemini: Interacting with Multimodal AI.”

Google admitted in the video’s description: “For the purposes of this demo, latency has been reduced, and Gemini outputs have been shortened for brevity.” In other words, the model’s response time takes much longer than the video showed.

Europe reaches a deal on the world’s first comprehensive AI rules

LONDON (AP) — European Union negotiators clinched a deal Friday on the world’s first comprehensive artificial intelligence rules, paving the way for legal oversight of technology used in popular generative AI services like ChatGPT that has promised to transform everyday life and spurred warnings of existential dangers to humanity.

Negotiators from the European Parliament and the bloc’s 27 member countries overcame big differences on controversial points including generative AI and police use of facial recognition surveillance to sign a tentative political agreement for the Artificial Intelligence Act.

“Deal!” tweeted European Commissioner Thierry Breton, just before midnight. “The EU becomes the very first continent to set clear rules for the use of AI.”

Using Generative AI As An Interactive Rage-Room Chatbot Raises Mental Health Guidance Qualms

In today’s column, I am continuing my ongoing series that has closely been exploring the use of generative AI as a generalized interactive chatbot that imparts mental health guidance.

But serious and sobering qualms exist. There isn’t a pre-check to validate that someone ought to be resorting to generic generative AI for such advisement. There isn’t any ironclad certification of the generative AI for use in this specific capacity. The guardrails of the generative AI might not be sufficient to avoid professing ill-advised guidance. So-called AI hallucinations can arise (as an aside, the parlance “AI hallucination” terminology is something that I demonstrably disfavor as a phraseology, for the reasons stated at the link here, but anyway generally connotes that generative AI can produce specious or fabricated answers). And so on.

All in all, you might declare that we are immersed in the Wild West of AI-based human mental health advisement, which is taking place surreptitiously yet in plain sight, and lacks the traditional kinds of checks and balances that society expects to protectively be instilled.

I’ve got a bit of an additional surprise for you. Consider a new facet that you might find notably intriguing and at the same time disturbing. It is the latest novelty approach that veers into the mental health realm by controversially using generative AI in a rage-room capacity.

Rotor: World’s largest uncrewed drone helicopter enters production

R550X can carry loads of up to 1,200 pounds, boasts a flight time exceeding three hours, and a top speed of 150 miles per hour.

Rotor Technologies Inc., a firm engaged in the development of autonomous vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, has unveiled and commenced the production of what it claims to be the “largest uncrewed civilian helicopter on the market.”

Termed R550X, the VTOL is derived from the U.S. firm’s Robinson R44 platform and is developed as a versatile autonomous helicopter designed for multiple missions.

According to Rotor, R550X is capable of hoisting substantial loads of up to 1,200 pounds (lbs) — or 550 kilograms, kg —in diverse weather conditions, including night operations and situations with limited visibility. The vehicle comes in a ready-to-fly configuration for immediate flight and can be personalized with various mission-specific payloads and autonomy equipment.

Tianhe Xingyi: China unveils the ‘fastest’ homegrown supercomputer

No specifications have been revealed, but officials have claimed that it surpasses the capabilities of the famous Tianhe-2 supercomputer.

The National Supercomputing Center (NSC) in Guangzhou, China, has unveiled the Tianhe Xingyi, a homegrown supercomputer, at an industrial event in Guangdong Province, which several media reports have confirmed. The NSC is the parent organization under whose guidance the Tianhe-2 supercomputer was also developed.

Supercomputers are a crucial component of a nation’s progress as they aid in solving the most complex and technical problems. The US has conventionally led the world in hosting the fastest supercomputers, as captured by the TOP500 listings, while also leading in the absolute number of supercomputers available to its researchers.

The high computing prowess of supercomputers can be used to carry out simulations for understanding climate change, carrying out material research, space exploration, and finding cures for various diseases. Of late, supercomputers have assumed importance for developing AI models, and access to advanced supercomputers could be critical in determining who leads the next frontier of information technology.

/* */