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Archive for the ‘Elon Musk’ category: Page 241

Apr 14, 2018

New Trojan Malware Could Mind-Control Neural Networks

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, Elon Musk, robotics/AI, space

Each new technological breakthrough comes seemingly prepackaged with a new way for hackers to kill us all: self-driving cars, space-based weapons, and even nuclear security systems are vulnerable to someone with the right knowledge and a bit of code. Now, deep-learning artificial intelligence looks like the next big threat, and not because it will gain sentience to murder us with robots (as Elon Musk has warned): a group of computer scientists from the US and China recently published a paper proposing the first-ever trojan for a neural network.

Neural networks are the primary tool used in AI to accomplish “deep learning,” which has allowed AIs to master complex tasks like playing chess and Go. Neural networks function similar to a human brain, which is how they got the name. Information passes through layers of neuron-like connections, which then analyze the information and spit out a response. These networks can pull off difficult tasks like image recognition, including identifying faces and objects, which makes them useful for self-driving cars (to identify stop signs and pedestrians) and security (which may involve identifying an authorized user’s face). Neural networks are relatively novel pieces of tech and aren’t commonly used by the public yet but, as deep-learning AI becomes more prevalent, it will likely become an appealing target for hackers.

The trojan proposed in the paper, called “PoTrojan,” could be included in a neural network product either from the beginning or inserted later as a slight modification. Like a normal trojan, it looks like a normal piece of the software, doesn’t copy itself, and doesn’t do much of anything… Until the right triggers happen. Once the right inputs are activated in a neural network, this trojan hijacks the operation and injects its own train of “thought,” making sure the network spits out the answer it wants. This could take the form of rejecting the face of a genuine user and denying them access to their device, or purposefully failing to recognize a stop sign to create a car crash.

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Apr 12, 2018

SpaceX’s Valuation Climbs to $25 Billion With New Funding Round

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

The value of Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. keeps reaching new heights.

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Apr 10, 2018

Elon Musk: We Must Leave Earth For One Critical Reason

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, Elon Musk, existential risks, particle physics

In its early life, the Earth would have been peppered nearly continuously by asteroids smashing into our young planet. These fiery collisions made our world what it is today. It may seem like things have changed since then, given the vast assortment of life and wide blue oceans—and things have indeed changed. At least in some respects. However, Earth still receives thousands of tons of matter from space, but this is in the form of microscopic dust particles (as opposed to recurrent, energetic collisions).

Fortunately, in modern times, a large asteroid colliding with the surface of the Earth happens only very rarely. Nevertheless, it does happen from time to time.

As most are probably already aware, it is widely believed that an asteroid initiated the dinosaurs’ extinction some 65 million years ago. And more recently, the Russian Chelyabinsk meteor hit our planet in February of 2013. It entered at a shallow angle at 60 times the speed of sound. Upon contact with our atmosphere, it exploded in an air burst. The size of this body of rock (before it burned up and shattered) is estimated to be around 20 meters (across) and it weighed some 13,000 metric tons.

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Apr 9, 2018

Elon Musk shows off SpaceX BFR spaceship tool (and it’s huge)

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

SpaceX’s CEO feeds the hype for a new rocket with a photo showing a gigantic tool that will be used as a mold to create the spaceship’s body.

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Apr 8, 2018

Tech billionaire Elon Musk plans hyperloop high-speed acceleration and braking test

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, transportation

A passenger pod would try to reach half the speed of sound, roughly 381 miles an hour, and then brake in less than a mile, Musk tweeted in the tech billionaire’s latest update. The announcement came as competitors, including British tycoon Richard Branson, pursue rival hyperloop plans.

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Apr 8, 2018

Elon Musk Urges People to Watch Chris Paine’s A.I. Movie While It’s Free

Posted by in categories: education, Elon Musk, robotics/AI

“Do You Trust this Computer?” is a documentary about artificial intelligence and it’s free to stream until tonight.


Chris Paine, the man behind “Who Killed the Electric Car” that looked at General Motors and Tesla, has a new documentary called “Do You Trust This Computer” that looks at how artificial intelligence could threaten the future of humanity. Elon Musk shared the video on Twitter.

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Apr 7, 2018

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Has Been Streaming Launches Without Permission

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

SpaceX has been streaming its launches illegally.

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Apr 6, 2018

We will all serve under an immortal ROBOT DICTATOR‘, says Elon Musk

Posted by in categories: education, Elon Musk, life extension, robotics/AI

Elon Musk has famously compared AI to ‘summoning the devil’.

Now the Tesla billionaire claims the technology could lead to the creation of immortal robot leaders from which humanity can never escape.

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Apr 3, 2018

Elon Musk and Peter Diamandis

Posted by in categories: business, Elon Musk, life extension, Peter Diamandis, singularity, sustainability, transportation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f22CGnnhmCI

Elon Reeve Musk is a South African-born Canadian-American business magnate, engineer, inventor and investor. He is the CEO and CTO of SpaceX, CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, and chairman of SolarCity as well as co-chairman of OpenAI.

He is the founder of SpaceX and a co-founder of Zip2, PayPal, and Tesla Motors. He has also envisioned a conceptual high-speed transportation system known as the Hyperloop and has proposed a VTOL supersonic jet aircraft with electric fan propulsion. He is the wealthiest person in Los Angeles.

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Apr 1, 2018

How does science fiction influence the real world?

Posted by in categories: computing, Elon Musk, space travel, virtual reality

The tech-industry is led by sci-fi nerds who want to create the things they read about, or saw on screen.

We all stand to benefit, provided that is, they can avoid the ethical pitfalls depicted in science fiction.

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