February 20, 2024
(New York Times) – Within seconds, each passenger’s image was matched to a photo from a government database, and the traveler was ushered past security into the deeper maze of the airport. No physical ID or boarding pass required. Some … Read More
February 19, 2024
February 19, 2024
(The Verge) – In late December 2023, several of Brian Vastag and Beth Mazur’s friends were devastated to learn that the couple had suddenly died. Vastag and Mazur had dedicated their lives to advocating for disabled people and writing about … Read More
February 19, 2024
(Wall Street Journal) – Fischer, a 41-year-old mental-health professional and suburban homeowner with two boys, was by then in debt by six figures from online gambling losses. For nearly a year, she lost again and again, complaining to at least … Read More
February 16, 2024
(The Conversation) – Putting a computer inside someone’s brain used to feel like the edge of science fiction. Today, it’s a reality. Academic and commercial groups are testing “brain-computer interface” devices to enable people with disabilities to function more independently. … Read More
February 16, 2024
(Wired) – In the face of such widespread injury, the Kyiv government has turned to Ukraine’s now-famous civic tech infrastructure for help. As the war enters its third year, the municipal government is starting to build a citywide system for … Read More
February 16, 2024
(The Atlantic) – The most advanced and attention-grabbing AI programs, especially language models, have consumed most of the text and images available on the internet and are running out of training data, their most precious resource. This, along with the … Read More
February 16, 2024
(NPR) – In March, the Supreme Court will hear a case about mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortions. A key question in that case is: Was the Food and Drug Administration correct when it deemed the drug … Read More
February 15, 2024
(Wired) – An analysis into 11 so-called romance and companion chatbots, published on Wednesday by the Mozilla Foundation, has found a litany of security and privacy concerns with the bots. Collectively, the apps, which have been downloaded more than 100 … Read More
February 15, 2024
(New York Times) – My column about the experience was probably the most consequential thing I’ll ever write — both in terms of the attention it got (wall-to-wall news coverage, mentions in congressional hearings, even a craft beer named Sydney … Read More
February 15, 2024
(Associated Press) – Similar to general-purpose AI chatbots, companion bots use vast amounts of training data to mimic human language. But they also come with features — such as voice calls, picture exchanges and more emotional exchanges — that allow … Read More
February 15, 2024
(The Guardian) – Looksmaxxing has existed for at least a decade, but has exploded in recent months from obscure forums and Reddit pages into mainstream social media – and TikTok in particular. Impossibly chiselled jaws, pouty lips and cheekbones as … Read More
February 15, 2024
(New York Times) – There is a lot going on for Father Benanti, who, as both the Vatican’s and the Italian government’s go-to artificial intelligence ethicist, spends his days thinking about the Holy Ghost and the ghosts in the machines. … Read More
February 14, 2024
(CNN) – A tiny surgical robot in residence at the International Space Station completed its first surgery demo in zero gravity on Saturday, developers of the technology exclusively told CNN. The robot, known as spaceMIRA — which stands for Miniaturized … Read More
February 14, 2024
(New York Times) – Hackers working for nation-states have used OpenAI’s systems in the creation of their cyberattacks, according to research released Wednesday by OpenAI and Microsoft. The companies believe their research, published on their websites, documents for the first … Read More
February 14, 2024
(Reuters) – A federal judge on Monday prevented Ohio from implementing a new law that requires social media companies, including Meta Platform’s Instagram and ByteDance’s TikTok, to obtain parental consent before allowing children under 16 to use their platforms. Chief … Read More
February 14, 2024
(Nature) – Apple’s virtual-reality (VR) headset, the Vision Pro, was released only 10 days ago — but scientists are already grappling with some of the research implications. Researchers say that the headset could be a watershed in the path towards … Read More
February 13, 2024
(Quanta) – Two years ago, in a project called the Beyond the Imitation Game benchmark, or BIG-bench, 450 researchers compiled a list of 204 tasks designed to test the capabilities of large language models, which power chatbots like ChatGPT. On … Read More
February 13, 2024
(Wired) – The promise and peril of the internet has always been a memory greater than our own, a permanent recall of information and events that our brains can’t store. More recently, tech companies have promised that virtual assistants and … Read More
February 12, 2024
(Insider via MSN) – The Vision Pro, like the similarly kitted-out Quest 3 and Quest Pro headsets from Meta, uses what’s known as “passthrough” video — cameras and other sensors that capture imagery of the outside world and reproduce it … Read More
February 9, 2024
(Wired) – Let’s say you read a novel that you really loved, something that inspired you. And only after you were done were you told that the author had not been a human being, but an artificial intelligence system … … Read More
February 8, 2024
(Wall Street Journal) – It’s not just Congress. States are taking on social media’s grip on teenagers, too. Officials in New York are pushing to restrict the algorithms that power a platform’s feed, making it the latest state to attempt … Read More
February 8, 2024
(ABC News) – A large children’s hospital in Chicago remains hobbled by a cyberattack that began more than a week ago, cutting doctors and nurses off from digital patient records and limiting parents’ ability to communicate with their kids’ caregivers. … Read More
February 7, 2024
(Tech Crunch) – China-backed hackers have maintained access to American critical infrastructure for “at least five years” with the long-term goal of launching “destructive” cyberattacks, a coalition of U.S. intelligence agencies warned on Wednesday. Volt Typhoon, a state-sponsored group of … Read More
February 7, 2024
(The Verge) – A driverless Waymo vehicle struck a cyclist in San Francisco, causing minor injuries. It was the latest incident in the city at a time when tensions around autonomous vehicles are particularly high after a driverless Cruise vehicle … Read More
