Lifeboat Foundation

Researcher Inioluwa Deborah Raji says tech CEOs focused on big claims of what AI could do, but she was there to offer a reality check.

Recently, I wrote a quick guide about what we might expect at Congress’s first AI Insight Forum. Well, now that meeting has happened, and we have some important information about what was discussed behind closed doors in the tech-celeb-studded confab.

First, some context. The AI Insight Forums were announced a few months ago by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as part of his “SAFE Innovation” initiative, which is really a set of principles for AI legislation in the United States. The invite list was heavily skewed toward Big Tech execs, including CEOs of AI… More.

The US has embarked on a program to develop electronic-warfare drone swarms, the latest in its multiple projects to master what could potentially be war-winning AI and drone technology, though with significant operational and strategic implications and risks.

This month, Breaking Defense reported that the US Navy is seeking industry and government agencies to participate in a July 2024 exercise called Silent Swarm 2024, which aims to demonstrate early-stage unmanned systems’ capabilities to fight on the electromagnetic battlefield.

Breaking Defense notes that the event, hosted by Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane, will showcase “swarming, small, attritable” unmanned systems capable of distributed electromagnetic attack, deception, and digital payload delivery, with the tech must be within readiness levels (TRL) two to five, with higher numbers indicating more advanced systems.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson reacts to so-called alien bodies brought out in front of Mexico’s Congress.

#CNN #News

What does it take to bring life-changing medical robotic devices to reality? This is a question Dr. Gregory Fischer, founder and CEO of AiM Medical Robotics, explored in his keynote “From Concept to Commercialization: It’s not Brain Surgery, or is it?” at BIOMEDevice Boston, MA. As a researcher, professor, and lead investigator supported by federal government grants, director of a state-funded medtech accelerator, and founder of multiple medical device companies, Fischer has a unique perspective on conceptualizing, refining, and commercializing medical devices, as well as the challenges that come with each step.

Focusing on neurosurgery, he highlighted specific challenges clinicians face during procedures including an inability to leverage real-time intraoperative MR imaging for precision — surgeons must transfer a patient mid-surgery to an MRI in a separate room and sometimes even a separate building within the hospital complex — resulting in inefficient workflow and interruptions in sterility and anesthesia during transfers. Additionally, he mentioned limited compatibility with various MRI scanners, and an increased risk of human errors because of complex manual processes.

Integrating robotic assistance, he said, enhances the reachable target area and improves dexterity and precision of motion during such difficult procedures such as neurosurgery, adds enhanced feedback and virtual fixtures, reduces procedure time, and avoids ergonomic issues. An increase in intervention accuracy through inherent integration with image guidance tools, and improved diagnostic and therapeutic outcomes are also advantages of robotic assistance, according to Fischer.

Aiming to be first in the world to have the most advanced forms of artificial intelligence while also maintaining control over more than a billion people, elite Chinese scientists and their government have turned to something new, and very old, for inspiration—the human brain.

Equipped with surveillance and visual processing capabilities modelled on human vision, the new “brain” will be more effective, less energy hungry, and will “improve governance,” its developers say. “We call it bionic retina computing,” Gao Wen, a leading artificial intelligence researcher, wrote in the paper “City Brain: Challenges and Solution.”

Multiple prominent government ministries in Colombia are responding to a ransomware attack that is forcing officials to make significant operational changes.

This week, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, the country’s Judiciary Branch and the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce announced that a cyberattack on technology provider IFX Networks Colombia had caused a range of problems limiting the ability of both departments to function.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection said it began facing issues on Tuesday after IFX Networks told them of problems affecting their data center.

Decarbonising Australia’s transport systems will take more than a transition to electric vehicles. Understanding how and when owners like to charge their cars is important. Our researchers are examining how we might persuade the increasing electricity demand to meet the time-dependent renewable energy supply.

How many people do you know who own an electric vehicle? Most Australians still drive petrol-fuelled cars. But the proportion of electric vehicles (EVs) on our roads is set to boom in coming years, particularly if the government’s plans to introduce a fuel efficiency standard prove successful.

Transport researchers at the University of Melbourne Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology have studied the expectations EV owners have for charging – and what they think of policies and technologies that aim to shape EV charging behaviours.

Researchers at Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) and Technical University of Munich (TUM) demonstrated a potential platform for large-scale quantum computing and communication networks. Secure quantum networks are of interest to financial institutions, medical facilities, government agencies, and other organizations that handle personal data and classified information due to their much higher level of security.

To create an environment that supported quantum computing, the researchers excited individual atoms of the rare-earth metal erbium. The excitation process caused the erbium atoms to emit single photons with properties suitable for the construction of quantum networks.

Its Outline VPN can now be built directly into apps—making it harder for governments to block internet access, particularly during protests.

Google is launching new anti-censorship technology created in response to actions by Iran’s government during the 2022 protests there, hoping that it will increase access for internet users living under authoritarian regimes all over the world.

Jigsaw, a unit of Google that operates sort of like an internet freedom think tank and that creates related products, already offers a suite of anti-censorship tools including Outline, which provides free, open, and encrypted access to the internet through a VPN. Outline uses a protocol that makes it hard to… More.