H+ Weekly - Issue #351
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This week - UK lab connects brains with quantum computers; China is about to regulate AI; deep fake faces are more trustworthy; Baidu launches robotaxi services in six cities; and more!
MORE THAN A HUMAN
Inside the U.K. lab that connects brains to quantum computers
Researchers in the UK mashed two exciting technologies - brain-computer interfaces and quantum computing - together to see what they can do and learn from experiments.
Printing Your Own Exoskeleton
Do you remember those scenes from the first Iron Man movie where Tony Stark builds the suit in his workshop? Andrew Piccinno is bringing those scenes into reality by building his own 3d printed exoskeleton.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
China Is About to Regulate AI—and the World Is Watching
On March 1, China will enact new rules as part of what may be the world’s most ambitious effort to regulate artificial intelligence. Under the rules, companies will be prohibited from using personal information to offer users different prices for a product or service. The sweeping rules cover algorithms that set prices, control search results, recommend videos, and filter content.
AI Generated Faces Are More Trustworthy Than Real Faces Say Researchers Who Warn of “Deep Fakes”
According to the research cited in this article, deep fake faces got so good and convincing that humans have problems distinguishing them from real human faces. Those who were trained to spot fake faces did not perform any better. The research also found that people tend to classify AI-generated faces as more trustworthy.
► How Nvidia Won AI (18:07)
In this video, Asianometry explains how Nvidia went from a company making gaming cards to a company that enabled the deep learning revolution and dominated the AI hardware scene.
The US Copyright Office says an AI can’t copyright its art
The US Copyright Office has rejected a request to let an AI copyright a work of art. Last week, a three-person board reviewed a 2019 ruling against Steven Thaler, who tried to copyright a picture on behalf of an algorithm he dubbed Creativity Machine. The board found that Thaler’s AI-created image didn’t include an element of “human authorship” — a necessary standard, it said, for protection.
Machine Learning Becomes a Mathematical Collaborator
Mathematicians have a new tool in their toolkit - machine learning. Two separate groups of mathematicians that worked alongside DeepMind have published their papers and shared their experience with working with AI on math problems. “The things that I love about mathematics are its intuitive and creative aspects,” said Geordie Williamson, a mathematician at the University of Sydney and co-author of one of the papers. “The [machine learning] models were supporting that in a way that I hadn’t felt from computers before.”
ROBOTICS
Baidu's robotaxi service is now available in all 'first-tier' Chinese cities
Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxi service is now available in every first-tier city in China which includes Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. The initial robotaxi service is available through Baidu's Apollo Go app at 50 stations between 9AM and 5PM. The initial focus is on "high-frequency" transport arteries, including Shenzhen Talent Park and the surrounding area. Baidu plans to expand coverage to more than 300 stations by the end of 2022 and to enable the service in 65 cities by 2025.
BIOTECHNOLOGY
The future is fungi
This article envisions a world where everything - from food to materials to medicine - can be grown and at the heart of this vision is humble fungi.
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