Lifeboat Foundation

Facebook’s AI guru and machine learning pioneer Yann Lecun is coming for the artificial intelligence chatbot craze — and it may put him at odds with his own employer.

As Fortune reports, Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann Lecun admitted during a talk in Paris this week that he’s not exactly a fan of the current spate of chatbots and the large language models (LLMs) they’re built on.

“A lot of people are imagining all kinds of catastrophe scenarios because of AI, and it’s because they have in mind these auto-regressive LLMs that kind of spew nonsense sometimes,” he told the Meta Innovation Press Day crowd. “They say it’s not safe. They are right. It’s not. But it’s also not the future.”

One tip that I always give to family members, friends, and passersby when asked, “How can I make my phone faster?” is straightforward yet typically hidden, and that’s adjusting the animation speed. The method of doing so is quick, simple, and absolutely free. And as a bonus, you’ll feel like the “guy behind the computer” from every action movie. Just follow the steps below.

A few taps and a swipe are all it takes to make your Android phone feel like new again.

Continue reading “Change this Android setting to instantly give your phone twice the speed” »

MEET FLIPPY. STARTING in 2021, this tireless fry-station specialist toiled in 10 Chicago-area locations of White Castle, America’s first fast-food hamburger chain. Working behind a protective shield to reduce burn risk, Flippy could automatically fill and empty frying baskets as well as identify foods for frying and place them in the correct basket. While Flippy safely cooked French fries, White Castle employees could focus on serving customers and performing other restaurant tasks. That’s because Flippy is an AI-powered robot.

According to the International Federation of Robotics, more than half a million industrial robots are installed around the world, most in manufacturing. Now, a shortage of qualified workers is pushing more companies to explore using robots in a wide range of roles, from filling online orders in warehouses to making room service deliveries in hotels.

The restaurant industry is using AI to improve the human side of hospitality.

This car is interesting, and approved and certified by the FAA.

Alef Aeronautics unveiled a prototype of its first Alef flying car on Wednesday, a $300,000 machine the company hopes will let well-heeled commuters both drive on roads and soar over traffic starting in 2025.

Continue reading “Alef Reveals WILD Flying Car Design (Watch It Here)” »

In the next two decades, human beings will return to the moon, set foot on Mars, and launch telescopes capable of detecting extraterrestrial life. NASA’s outgoing head scientist Thomas Zurbuchen oversaw much of the planning for these projects, and space agencies around the world are pursuing similar goals collaboratively. Brian Greene is joined by Zurbuchen, Japan’s Masaki Fujimoto, Europe’s Kirsten MacDonnell and Australia’s Aude Vignelles, as they reveal their plans for what promises to be a New Golden Age of Space Exploration.

This program is part of the Big Ideas series, supported by the John Templeton Foundation.

Continue reading “The Golden Age of Space Exploration” »

When markets closed Friday, Apple’s market capitalization was more than $3 trillion, making it the most valuable company — ever.

It’s a massive milestone for the tech giant, which warned investors in May that its current-quarter revenue was expected to decline. But Friday’s stock price increasing by just over 2 percent to close at $193.97 per share suggests that investors are still confident in the company, a bright spot in an industry that has otherwise been rocked by layoffs and uncertainty over the past year.

Apple hits $3 million market cap for the first time Friday, suggesting that investors are still confident in the company.

Continue reading “Apple valued at $3 trillion, first company to ever reach milestone” »

Flexible displays that can change color, convey information and even send veiled messages via infrared radiation are now possible, thanks to new research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Engineers inspired by the morphing skins of animals like chameleons and octopuses have developed capillary-controlled robotic flapping fins to create switchable optical and infrared light multipixel displays that are 1,000 times more energy efficient than light-emitting devices.

The new study led by mechanical science and engineering professor Sameh Tawfick demonstrates how bendable fins and fluids can simultaneously switch between straight or bent and hot and cold by controlling the volume and temperature of tiny fluid-filled pixels. Varying the volume of fluids within the pixels can change the directions in which the flaps flip—similar to old-fashioned flip clocks—and varying the temperature allows the pixels to communicate via infrared energy. The study findings are published in the journal Science Advances.

Continue reading “Displays controlled by flexible fins and liquid droplets more versatile, efficient than LED screens” »

Summary: A ‘smart hand exoskeleton’, a custom-made robotic glove, can aid stroke patients in relearning dexterity-based skills like playing music. The glove, equipped with integrated tactile sensors, soft actuators, and artificial intelligence, can mimic natural hand movements and provide tactile sensations.

By applying machine learning, the glove can distinguish between correct and incorrect piano play, potentially offering a novel tool for personalized rehabilitation. Although the current design focuses on music, the technology holds promise for a broader range of rehabilitation tasks.

An optical isolator developed at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) could drastically improve optical systems for many practical applications.

All optical systems —used for telecommunications, microscopy, imaging, quantum photonics, and more—rely on a laser to generate photons and beams of light. To prevent those lasers from damage and instability, these systems also require isolators, components that prevent light from traveling in undesired directions. Isolators also help cut down on signal noise by preventing light from bouncing around unfettered. But conventional isolators have been relatively bulky in size and require more than one type of material to be joined together, creating a roadblock to achieving enhanced performance.

Now, a team of researchers led by electrical engineer Marko Lončar at SEAS has developed a method for building a highly-efficient integrated isolator that’s seamlessly incorporated into an optical chip made of lithium niobate. Their findings are reported in Nature Photonics.