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Down the physics rabbit hole we go…

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While humans have long thought of gods living in the sky, the idea of space travel or humans living in space dates to at least 1,610 after the invention of the telescope when German astronomer Johannes Kepler wrote to Italian astronomer Galileo: “Let us create vessels and sails adjusted to the heavenly ether, and there will be plenty of people unafraid of the empty wastes. In the meantime, we shall prepare, for the brave sky-travellers, maps of the celestial bodies.” [1]

In popular culture, space travel dates back to at least the mid-1600s when Cyrano de Bergerac first wrote of traveling to space in a rocket. Space fantasies flourished after Jules Verne’s “From Earth to the Moon” was published in 1,865, and again when RKO Pictures released a film adaptation, A Trip to the Moon, in 1902. Dreams of space settlement hit a zenith in the 1950s with Walt Disney productions such as “Man and the Moon,” and science fiction novels including Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles (1950). [2] [3] [4].

Now Edelbroek is CEO of SpaceBorn United, a biotech startup seeking to pioneer the study of human reproduction away from Earth. Next year, he plans to send a mini lab on a rocket into low Earth orbit, where in vitro fertilization, or IVF, will take place. If it succeeds, Edelbroek hopes his work could pave the way for future space settlements.

“Humanity needs a backup plan,” he says. “If you want to be a sustainable species, you want to be a multiplanetary species.”

Beyond future space colonies, there is also a more pressing need to understand the effects of space on the human reproductive system. No one has ever become pregnant in space—yet. But with the rise of space tourism, it’s likely that it will eventually happen one day. Edelbroek thinks we should be prepared.

A new proposal spells out the very specific ways companies should evaluate AI security and enforce censorship in AI models.

Ever since the Chinese government passed a law on generative AI back in July, I’ve been wondering how exactly China’s censorship machine would adapt for the AI era.

Last week we got some clarity about what all this may look like in practice.

Hollywood actors are on strike over concerns about the use of AI, but for as little as $300, Meta and a company called Realeyes hired them to make avatars appear more human.

One evening in early September, T, a 28-year-old actor who asked to be identified by his first initial, took his seat in a rented Hollywood studio space in front of three cameras, a director, and a producer for a somewhat unusual gig.

The two-hour shoot produced footage that was not meant to be viewed by the public—at least, not a human public.

While Meta hasn’t reinvented the category, it’s nailed the execution. But culturally, is the timing right for smart glasses?

I’m a smart glasses skeptic. Not because the technology is impossible but because I’ve tested several pairs and even dove deep into the category for a two-part mini-documentary a while back. So when I say I was impressed by the $299 Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, it’s not just that mine came with rose-colored lenses.

To be clear, nothing about the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses is revolutionary. The Google Glass Explorer Edition first introduced us to modern-day smart glasses in 2013. Several other companies, big and small, have since jumped on the bandwagon, including Snap, … More.

Continue reading “The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses actually make the future look cool” »

Dubbed NorthPole, it excels in terms of performance, energy, and area efficiency.

Artificial intelligence is an energy vampire that runs on substantial computational power. Running AI applications like behavior monitoring, facial recognition software, or live object tracking in real-time, a computing system with faster and more accurate inferences is required. For this to happen, a large AI model must work closely with the source of data.

This problem of moving large amounts of data between compute and memory started with one of the earliest electronic computers, the Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer (EDVAC). The compute and memory of the system were based on differing technologies and had to be operated separately by necessity.

This also means faster robotics and self-driving cars.

Foxconn, the largest producer of iPhones, is joining hands with the biggest chipmaker in the world, NVIDIA, to develop artificial intelligence factories that will power a range of applications like self-driving cars, more generative AI tools, and robotic systems, said a press release.

Dubbed AI factories, they are data centers that will power a wide range of applications, including the digitalization of manufacturing and inspection workflows, the development of AI-powered electric vehicle and robotics platforms, and language-based generative AI services.

The team estimates that their hardware can outperform the best electronic processors by a factor of 100 in terms of energy efficiency and compute density.

A team of scientists from Oxford University and their partners from Germany and the UK have developed a new kind of AI hardware that uses light to process three-dimensional (3D) data. Based on integrated photonic-electronic chips, the hardware can perform complex calculations in parallel using different wavelengths and radio frequencies of light. The team claims their hardware can boost the data processing speed and efficiency for AI tasks by several orders of magnitude.

AI computing and processing power

Continue reading “Oxford researchers’ photonic-electronic AI chip puts apps on steroids” »