Tech Create

The Future Is Now: Human Brain Cells Meet Computing

"The world’s first “code-deployable” biological computer is now for sale. The Cortical Labs CL1 costs $35,000 and has 800,000 human brain cells living and growing in a nutrient solution on a silicon chip. Computer scientists can deploy computer code directly to these neurons, which have been integrated into a “biOS” or Biological Intelligence Operating System with what the company says is a mixture of hard silicon and soft tissue.

Our human brains have neurons connected together in hierarchies, and from that emerges intelligence and consciousness, he adds. This approach is similar to neuromorphic computing architectures, which attempt to mimic biological brains with silicon-based hardware, but of course different in that neuromorphic chips do not typically use actual living brain cells. Cortical Labs, based in Australia, says scientists can solve today’s most difficult problems with their biological computers, which they say are self-programming and infinitely flexible. If all of this seems on the edge of creepy, or even right over, that’s likely because it is.

CL1 says they don’t do any animal testing, although they did start with mouse neurons, and they say that the human brain cells in their biological computers are lab-grown. But clearly the first human neurons came from somewhere. Cortical Labs says customers have to get “ethical approval” to general cell lines, and require buyers to have proper facilities to maintain the biological chips. What exactly that means, however, is unclear. Soon we may see physical system in the world, like humanoid robots, with partially organic components to their brains."

Posted by Staff ~ article: Forbes

Google’s Willow quantum chip brings Bitcoin security debate 10 years closer

"Google has unveiled its latest innovation, the Willow quantum computing chip, stirring discussions within the crypto community about its potential impact on Bitcoin’s cryptographic security. On Dec. 9, Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, introduced the Willow chip as a breakthrough in quantum computing. It boasts error reduction capabilities and 105 qubits, a new computational power milestone.

Pichai revealed that Willow achieved a benchmark computation in under five minutes that would take a modern supercomputer an astonishing ten septillion years—a timeline incomprehensibly longer than the universe’s age of 13.8 billion years. Further, Willow’s design includes low-error-rate gates and high-connectivity algorithms, making it a significant step forward in the quest for scalable quantum computing. This advancement highlights quantum computing’s potential to revolutionize fields dependent on complex calculations."

Posted by Staff ~ article: Crypto Slate

LLMs develop their own understanding of reality as their language abilities improve

"Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have uncovered intriguing results suggesting that language models may develop their own understanding of reality as a way to improve their generative abilities. The team first developed a set of small Karel puzzles, which consisted of coming up with instructions to control a robot in a simulated environment. They then trained an LLM on the solutions, but without demonstrating how the solutions actually worked. Finally, using a machine learning technique called “probing,” they looked inside the model’s “thought process” as it generates new solutions.

After training on over 1 million random puzzles, they found that the model spontaneously developed its own conception of the underlying simulation, despite never being exposed to this reality during training. Such findings call into question our intuitions about what types of information are necessary for learning linguistic meaning — and whether LLMs may someday understand language at a deeper level than they do today."

Posted by Staff ~ article: MIT News

OpenAI releases text-to-video model Sora for ChatGPT Plus and Pro users

"Dec 9 (Reuters) - OpenAI said on Monday it has released its artificial intelligence model, which creates video from text, to ChatGPT Plus and Pro users, expanding its foray into multimodal AI technologies. The Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O), opens new tab company, which kicked off a generative AI craze with the launch of its ChatGPT chatbot in November 2022, aims to target similar text-to-video tools from Meta (META.O), opens new tab and Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google, along with Stability AI's Stable Video Diffusion.

The AI model, named Sora, was first introduced in February, but its access was limited to safety testers in its research preview phase. It is now available to ChatGPT Plus and Pro users as Sora Turbo at no additional cost. "We're working on tailored pricing for different types of users, which we plan to make available early next year," the company said in a blog post, opens new tab. Users will be able to generate videos up to 1080p resolution, up to 20 seconds long and in widescreen, vertical or square aspect ratios."

Posted by Staff ~ article: Reuters

China targets Nvidia with antitrust probe: escalates US chip tensions

"BEIJING, Dec 9 (Reuters) - China said on Monday it has launched an investigation into Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab over suspected violations of the country's anti-monopoly law, a probe widely seen as a retaliatory shot against Washington's latest curbs on the Chinese chip sector. The statement from the State Administration for Market Regulation announcing the probe did not elaborate on how the U.S. company, known for its artificial intelligence and gaming chips, might have violated China's anti-monopoly laws.

It said the U.S. chipmaker was also suspected of violating commitments it made during its acquisition of Israeli chip designer Mellanox Technologies, under terms outlined in the regulator's 2020 conditional approval of that deal. The announcement is the latest salvo in a long-running trade war between China and the United States as the countries vie for technological superiority."

Posted by Staff ~ article: Reuters

US clears export of advanced AI chips to UAE under Microsoft deal

"(Reuters) -The U.S. government has approved the export of advanced artificial intelligence chips to a Microsoft-operated facility in the United Arab Emirates as part of the company's highly-scrutinized partnership with Emirati AI firm G42, Axios reported on Saturday, citing two people familiar with the deal.

Microsoft invested $1.5 billion in G42 earlier this year, giving the U.S. company a minority stake and a board seat. As part of the deal, G42 would use Microsoft's cloud services to run its AI applications.

The deal, however, was scrutinized after U.S. lawmakers raised concerns G42 could transfer powerful U.S. AI technology to China. They asked for a U.S. assessment of G42's ties to the Chinese Communist Party, military and government before the Microsoft deal advances.

The U.S. Commerce Department and G42 did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Microsoft declined to comment on the report."

Posted by Staff ~ article: Yahoo Finance(Reuters)

What's New in Apple Intelligence

"More Apple intelligence features are expected to become available in December with the release of iOS 18.2, but you can try them now if you're running the developer beta. Here's what Apple has said is coming.

Genmoji: You'll be able to create custom emojis called Genmoji by using photos of friends and family or by typing a description of what you want.

Image Playground: This tool will let you quickly create fun images, like turning yourself into a cartoon character, and let you come up with a new image based on the description you give.

ChatGPT integration: Perhaps the most well-known AI tool will be built-in to Writing Tools and Siri to help out with requests. For instance, if you ask Siri about a certain document, ChatGPT can help. But Apple is, as usual, prioritizing privacy considerations: You'll always be asked before your information is shared and you'll control when it's used.

Priority Notifications: When you receive multiple notifications each day, they'll be prioritized by what’s most important. For instance, if you have a dinner reservation that evening or an important meeting to attend, those notifications will be shown at the top of your notifications so you don't forget.

Visual intelligence (iPhone 16 series only): Using the new Camera Control button on the iPhone 16 lineup, you'll be able to learn about and interact with objects and places right in front of you. For instance, you can use it to translate a sign from one language to another or find out more about a restaurant you've never been to by opening the Camera app, then pressing and holding the Camera Control button.

In 2025, we'll see a more robust Siri integration. For starters, it's getting onscreen awareness to "take action with things on your screen." So if a friend texts you their new email address or when their birthday is, you can ask Siri to add it to their contact card."

Posted by Staff ~ article: engadget

SpaceX Stock Is Going To The Moon

"The race to explore the cosmos has never been more competitive, and at the forefront of this new space age is SpaceX.

With its revolutionary technology, cost-efficient launches, and global projects like Starlink, SpaceX isn’t just reaching for the stars—it’s already there, changing the way we think about space travel and the future of commercial space exploration.

But what does this mean for investors? Can SpaceX’s skyrocketing potential translate into incredible return? Can retail investors even participate, or will you miss the liftoff? Fortunately, the XOVR ETF has the answer. When it comes to launching payloads into space, cost is a major factor. NASA, the long-established leader in space exploration, spends a staggering $54,000 for every kilogram of payload sent into orbit.

In contrast, SpaceX has brought that price down to a jaw-dropping $150 per kilogram. This efficiency alone gives SpaceX a massive competitive edge, allowing them to offer affordable launch services to private companies, governments, and even non-profit organizations around the world."

Posted by Staff ~ article: Forbes

Tesla Robotaxi launch

"Dec 9 (Reuters) - Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab aims to start its robotaxi service with a company-owned fleet backed up by human teleoperators for safety, Deutsche Bank said in a note after a meeting with the company's head of investor relations.

The electric vehicle maker still is shooting for a launch of its cheaper vehicle in the first half of next year and other models later in the year, the bank said after the meeting with investor relations chief Travis Axelrod. It published the note on Friday."

Posted by Staff ~ article: Reuters

Grok's new nearly photorealistic image generator

"For a few hours on Saturday, some users of Elon Musk's X reported having access to Aurora, a new, more photorealistic image generator powered by Musk's artificial intelligence model, Grok.

While Aurora has not been widely released — and some users who reported having access to it later said their Grok had reverted to its older model, Flux — the brief glimpse at the newer model offered the first insight into how it compares to its predecessor and competitors."

Posted by Staff ~ article: Business Insider

Adobe Premiere to integrate generative fill

"Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) announced beta availability of Premiere Pro’s first set of Firefly-powered video editing workflows powered by the new Firefly Video Model (beta), along with enhancements and upgrades to the app’s performance and user experience. New features include Generative Extend (beta) which addresses a common but complex challenge in video editing by making it easy for video professionals to extend clips to cover gaps in footage, smooth out transitions and hold on shots longer for perfectly timed edits. The new upgrades in Premiere Pro unlock more creative time for busy editors, including by tripling export speeds and offering a new context-sensitive properties panel, and are generally available to Premiere Pro customers today. The Firefly Video Model (beta) is the first publicly available video model designed to be commercially safe. “We believe our Firefly Video Model will revolutionize video editing in ways that video professionals are going to love,” said Ashley Still, senior vice president, digital media at Adobe. “The latest innovations across Premiere Pro, After Effects and Frame.io will empower video professionals to do their best work more quickly, efficiently and beautifully.”

First Firefly-Powered Video Workflows Adobe has been deeply engaged with professional video editors over the past year to understand how generative AI can solve real problems in their work. A common challenge that surfaced throughout this community engagement was the ability to create new media from an existing clip to help fine-tune edits, hold on a shot for an extra beat or add a few frames to cover a transition. The Firefly-powered Generative Extend tool (beta), now available in Premiere Pro (beta), was designed to make shots a little bit longer by generating entirely new frames at the beginning or end of a clip. It can also be used to extend audio clips to create ambient “room tone” to smooth out audio edits. Just click and drag for the perfect edit. To help video professionals quickly communicate their creative intent, create b-roll to fill gaps, or to add new elements to a shot.

Adobe also released today the new Generative Video (beta) module powered by Adobe Firefly. As with all Firefly generative AI models, the Firefly Video Model (beta) – and the features it powers, like Generative Extend (beta) – is designed to be safe for commercial use. Adobe trained its Firefly generative AI models on licensed content, such as Adobe Stock and public domain content. In addition, Adobe’s AI features undergo an AI Ethics Impact Assessment to ensure that they meet the company’s AI Ethics principles of accountability, responsibility, and transparency. Content Credentials, which act like a “nutrition label” for digital content to show how it was created and edited, are applied to select Firefly-powered features such as Generative Extend and Firefly Video Model outputs to indicate the use of generative AI."

Posted by Staff ~ article: News.Adobe.com

AI Driving New Paradigms in Creative Fields

"There is an ever-growing number of AI tools that enhance workflows and speed up design for those in creative industries. Many are embedding these into their everyday lives, which is fantastic. But they’re missing a trick: using AI to analyze datasets and identify emerging design trends.

Designers and marketers constantly face challenges in knowing what will resonate with audiences. For example, only 42% of B2B marketers find the time to talk to customers to understand their needs and therefore produce the right content. Rather than taking a stab in the dark, AI canhelp creatives understand trends and derive inspiration. And it can do so within seconds.

Instead of tasking someone with the time-consuming effort it takes to sift through vast datasets, AI tools can analyze data from social media platforms, websites, surveys, and more to uncover patterns. For instance, AI could track the popularity of colors or materials to inform new designs or strategy. If marketers are trying to reach a new audience, such as Gen Z, they can use AI analysis to understand the differences between Gen Z consumers and their current target audience. These insights can then be used to differentiate design, copywriting, or campaigns depending on who it needs to be tailored to.

With the right prompts, AI can provide creatives with fresh, data-driven inspiration tailored to their unique styles and project needs. It also means that less time is wasted creating materials that are doomed to fail from the beginning."

Posted by Staff ~ article: Fast Company

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