Jul 27, 2022
AI War Chest Grows: NATO Invests €1 Billion in Advanced Technologies
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) announced a €1 billion venture capital fund for technologies including AI.
Tech & Society
Tech & Society
Text-to-Image Goes Viral: Inside Craiyon, Formerly Known as DALL·E Mini
A homebrew re-creation of OpenAI’s DALL·E model is the latest internet sensation. Craiyon has been generating around 50,000 user-prompted images daily, thanks to its ability to produce visual mashups like Darth Vader ice fishing and photorealistic Pokemon characters.
Tech & Society
When Self-Driving Cars Won’t Drive: Cruise Self-Driving Cars Cause Traffic Jams in San Francisco
Dormant robotaxis are snarling traffic on the streets of San Francisco.What’s new: Cruise self-driving cabs lately have stalled en masse, Wired reported.
Tech & Society
AI AI, Captain! Mayflower AI Ship Crosses the Atlantic Ocean
An autonomous research ship crossed the Atlantic Ocean — with a few pit stops to address challenges along the way. Built by IBM and marine research nonprofit ProMare, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship 400 (MAS400) last week completed a voyage from Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts.
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Tracking Changes on Earth’s Surface: AI Tracks Land Change from Satellite Imagery
Computer vision systems are scanning satellite photos to track construction on the Earth’s surface — an exercise in behavior recognition on a global scale.
Tech & Society
U.S. Acts Against Algorithmic Bias: Meta Removes Bias from its Ad Algorithms
Regulators are forcing Meta (formerly Facebook) to display certain advertisements more evenly across its membership. The United States government compelled Meta to revise its ad-placement system to deliver ads for housing to members regardless of their age, gender, or ethnicity.
Tech & Society
Wind in the Forecast: AI Tool Predicts Wind Turbine Energy Output
Machine learning is making wind power more predictable. Engie SA, a multinational energy utility based in France, is the first customer for an AI-powered tool from Google that predicts the energy output of wind farms.
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Toward Next-Gen Language Models: New Benchmarks Test the Limits of Large Language Models
A new benchmark aims to raise the bar for large language models. Researchers at 132 institutions worldwide introduced the Beyond the Imitation Game benchmark (BIG-bench), which includes tasks that humans perform well but current state-of-the-art models don’t.
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Ethics Team Scuttles Taser Drone: Axon Cancels Plans to Sell a Taser Drone
A weaponized AI system intended to protect students has been grounded. Axon, which makes law-enforcement equipment such as tasers and body cameras, canceled a plan to sell remote-controlled drones capable of firing electroshock darts.
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LaMDA Comes Alive?: Google Engineer Says LaMDA AI is Sentient
A chatbot persuaded at least one person that it has feelings. A senior engineer at Google announced his belief that the company’s latest conversational language model is sentient.
Tech & Society
Child-Welfare Agency Drops AI: Oregon and Pennsylvania Halt Use of AI Tool for At-Risk Kids
Officials in charge of protecting children stopped using a machine learning model designed to help them make decisions in difficult cases. The U.S. state of Oregon halted its use of an algorithm intended to identify children who may benefit from intervention.
Tech & Society
Standout Startups: The Top 100 AI Startups off 2022
AI startups are creating high value across a wide variety of industries. CB Insights, which tracks tech startups, published the latest edition of the AI 100, its annual list of 100 notable AI startups.