Elon Musk’s XAI has filed a lawsuit against a former engineer for allegedly stealing AI secrets worth hundreds of millions of dollars to benefit OpenAI, highlighting the intense competition and corporate espionage in the AI industry Questions to inspire discussion AI Security and Corporate Espionage 🔒 Q: How did the XA.
A team at the University of Florida has developed a new kind of computer chip that uses light with electricity to perform one of the most power-intensive parts of artificial intelligence—image recognition and similar pattern-finding tasks. Using light dramatically cuts the power needed to perform these tasks, with efficiency 10 or even 100 times that of current chips performing the same calculations. Using this approach could help rein in the enormous demand for electricity that is straining power grids while enabling higher performance AI models and systems.
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are increasingly central to technology, powering everything from facial recognition to language translation. But as AI models grow more complex, they consume vast amounts of electricity—posing challenges for energy efficiency and sustainability. A new chip developed by researchers at the University of Florida could help address this issue by using light, rather than just electricity, to perform one of AI’s most power-hungry tasks.
The research is reported in Advanced Photonics.
Four research volunteers will soon participate in NASA’s year-long simulation of a Mars mission inside a habitat at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. This mission will provide NASA with foundational data to inform human exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Ross Elder, Ellen Ellis, Matthew Montgomery, and James Spicer enter into the 1,700-square-foot Mars Dune Alpha habitat on Sunday, Oct. 19, to begin their mission. The team will live and work like astronauts for 378 days, concluding their mission on Oct. 31, 2026. Emily Phillips and Laura Marie serve as the mission’s alternate crew members.
Through a series of Earth-based missions called CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog), carried out in the 3D-printed habitat, NASA aims to evaluate certain human health and performance factors ahead of future Mars missions. The crew will undergo realistic resource limitations, equipment failures, communication delays, isolation and confinement, and other stressors, along with simulated high-tempo extravehicular activities. These scenarios allow NASA to make informed trades between risks and interventions for long-duration exploration missions.
Astronomers have uncovered a massive new trans-Neptunian object, 2017 OF201, lurking at the edge of our solar system. With an orbit stretching 25,000 years and a size that may qualify it as a dwarf planet, this mysterious world challenges long-held assumptions about the “empty” space beyond Neptune. Its unusual trajectory sets it apart from other distant bodies and may even cast doubt on the controversial Planet Nine hypothesis.
