In 2016, AlphaGo became the first machine to beat humans at the board game Go, and in 2023, ChatGPT, an AI chatbot, passed legal and medical exams and solved riddles. These machines are capable of doing things that their creators cannot explain. While this technology is exciting, it also provokes anxiety about its potential. The
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After buying San Francisco-based social media site Twitter last fall, billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hired Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of X Corp, formerly known as Twitter. Yaccarino, an advertising executive with decades of experience, will take on the role of running the company’s business operations, leaving Musk to focus on product
As the world faces increasing energy demands and environmental concerns, renewable energy solutions have become crucial in achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. One such sustainable energy source is microbial electrochemical technologies, specifically microbial fuel cells (SMFCs). These systems utilize naturally occurring microorganisms found in soil to convert organic matter into electricity, offering a cost-effective and
The Augmented Listening Laboratory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has developed 3D-printed, humanoid robot heads that can talk and listen to each other. The team hopes to use these realistic talking heads to investigate how humans receive sound and develop audio technology. The Talking Human Head Simulators The talking human head simulators were designed
In a bid to increase user engagement and monetization on Twitter, Elon Musk has announced that the platform will be cancelling accounts that have been inactive for an extended period. Musk, who purchased Twitter for $44 billion last year, stated in a tweet that accounts that have been dormant for several years would be purged.
Researchers from the Dutch National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI) have made significant progress in creating artificial intelligence (AI) that can be used on local devices like smartphones and virtual reality (VR) applications. In their study published in Nature Machine Intelligence, Bojian Yin and Sander Bohté show how brain-like neurons and novel
Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s vice president, has called for urgent action to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) use. She warned that there is no time to waste in controlling the risks that come with the technology. Vestager made these comments while speaking to reporters in Berlin. The European Commission had proposed regulatory measures early this
A new analysis led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) suggests that an “unprecedented ramp-up of production capacity” is required in the next two decades to achieve global decarbonization. The research indicates that the global electrical system requires 63.4 terawatts of installed nameplate capacity of photovoltaics (PV) between 2050 and 2060, which is a
The advancement of AI systems has raised concerns about the trust we have in those we communicate with. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have conducted a study on the impact of advanced AI systems on our trust in individuals we interact with. The study explores how individuals interpret and relate to situations where one
New research has discovered that the cost of securing thousands of inactive oil and gas wells in the US Gulf of Mexico could be more than $30 billion. The study weighed the potential environmental damage against the estimated price tag. Researchers found that there are around 14,000 unplugged oil and gas wells in the waters