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Dec 20, 2023

This AI transformer tech-powered robot taught itself to walk

Posted by in categories: information science, physics, robotics/AI

The robot is blind and cannot see its environment but can continue to balance and walk, even if an object is hurled at it.


UC researchers Ilija Radosavovic and Bike Zhang wondered if “reinforcement learning,” a concept made popular by large language models (LLMs) last year, could also teach the robot how to adapt to changing needs. To test their theory, the duo started with one of the most basic functions humans can perform — walking.

Transformer model for learning

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Dec 20, 2023

Google will pay $700 million to US states, users in Play Store settlement

Posted by in category: entertainment

The deal comes a week after a jury found Google guilty of violating antitrust laws in a similar case brought by Epic Games, the maker of the popular Fortnite game.


As part of the settlement, Google will pay $630 million to refund US consumers overcharged for in-app purchases made through the Play Store between August 2016 and September 2023. The estimated 102 million eligible consumers will receive at least $2 each and may get more depending on their spending. They will be automatically notified about how to claim their money.

Google will also pay $70 million in penalties and other costs to the states involved in the lawsuit.

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Dec 20, 2023

Google plans to restrict election-related queries in 2024 on Bard

Posted by in categories: internet, law enforcement, robotics/AI

Google, the internet giant now a subsidiary of Alphabet, announced on Tuesday that it will limit the kinds of queries related to elections that its chatbot Bard and search generative experience can answer ahead of the 2024 U.S. Presidential election.

The company said that the new restrictions will be implemented by early 2024. The company recently made a landmark change to its location data privacy which has made it difficult for law enforcement agencies to access private location data of people near the crime scene and issue geofence warrants.

According to Reuters, the U.S. is not the only country that will witness crucial elections in 2024. India, the world’s largest democracy, and South Africa, among others, will also hold national elections in the same year.

Dec 20, 2023

Scientists discover a framework in the brain for organizing the order of things

Posted by in categories: information science, neuroscience

“I believe we have found one of the brain’s prototypes for building sequences” says Professor Edvard Moser.


Scientists at NTNU’s Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience in Norway have discovered a pattern of activity in the brain that serves as a template for building sequential experiences.

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Dec 20, 2023

New COVID variant JN.1 is on the rise this holiday season: What symptoms to look out for

Posted by in category: futurism

The JN.1 variant is responsible for roughly one fifth of current COVID infections, estimates the CDC. These are the symptoms to watch for.

Dec 20, 2023

A New Brain-Like Supercomputer Aims to Match the Scale of the Human Brain

Posted by in categories: biological, neuroscience, supercomputing

A supercomputer scheduled to go online in April 2024 will rival the estimated rate of operations in the human brain, according to researchers in Australia. The machine, called DeepSouth, is capable of performing 228 trillion operations per second.

It’s the world’s first supercomputer capable of simulating networks of neurons and synapses (key biological structures that make up our nervous system) at the scale of the human brain.

DeepSouth belongs to an approach known as neuromorphic computing, which aims to mimic the biological processes of the human brain. It will be run from the International Center for Neuromorphic Systems at Western Sydney University.

Dec 20, 2023

Marvin Minsky on AI: The Turing Test is a Joke!

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

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Marvin Minsky is often called the Father of Artificial Intelligence and I have been looking for an opportunity to interview him for years. I was hoping that I will finally get my chance at the GF2045 conference in NY City. Unfortunately, Prof. Minsky had bronchitis and consequently had to speak via video. A week later, though still recovering, Marvin generously gave me a 30 min interview while attending the ISTAS13 Veilance conference in Toronto. I hope that you enjoy this brief but rare opportunity as much as I did!

Dec 20, 2023

UK Supreme Court rules AI is not an inventor

Posted by in categories: law, robotics/AI

The ruling follows a similar decision denying patent registrations naming AI as creators.

The UK Supreme Court ruled that AI cannot get patents, declaring it cannot be named as an inventor of new products because the law considers only humans or companies to be creators.


It follows a similar decision in the US.

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Dec 20, 2023

Apple’s immersive next-gen CarPlay will start with Porsche and Aston Martin

Posted by in categories: mobile phones, transportation

2024 vehicles from high-end automakers will get the first taste of Apple’s “cohesive design experience that is the very best of your car and your iPhone.”


FYI, just in case you’re car shopping.

Dec 20, 2023

These minuscule pixels are poised to take augmented reality by storm

Posted by in categories: augmented reality, virtual reality

LEDs and their organic counterparts are getting truly tiny. This could be the moment AR and VR companies have been waiting for.