The Data That Powers AI Is Disappearing Fast
Kevin Roose | The New York Instances
“Over the previous 12 months, a lot of crucial internet sources used for coaching AI fashions have restricted the usage of their knowledge, in accordance with a research revealed this week by the Knowledge Provenance Initiative, an MIT-led analysis group. The research, which checked out 14,000 internet domains which can be included in three generally used AI coaching knowledge units, found an ’rising disaster in consent,’ as publishers and on-line platforms have taken steps to stop their knowledge from being harvested.”
How One Bad CrowdStrike Update Crashed the World’s Computers
Lily Hay Newman, Matt Burgess, and Andy Greenberg | Wired
“Solely a handful of instances in historical past has a single piece of code managed to immediately wreck laptop techniques worldwide. The Slammer worm of 2003. Russia’s Ukraine-targeted NotPetya cyberattack. North Korea’s self-spreading ransomware WannaCry. However the ongoing digital disaster that rocked the web and IT infrastructure across the globe over the previous 12 hours seems to have been triggered not by malicious code launched by hackers, however by the software program designed to cease them.”
Tiny Solar-Powered Drones Could Stay in the Air Forever
Matthew Sparkes | New Scientist
“A drone weighing simply 4 grams is the smallest solar-powered aerial car to fly but, due to its uncommon electrostatic motor and tiny photo voltaic panels that produce extraordinarily excessive voltages. Though the hummingbird-sized prototype solely operated for an hour, its makers say their strategy might lead to insect-sized drones that may keep within the air indefinitely.”
How Microsoft’s Satya Nadella Became Tech’s Steely Eyed AI Gambler
Karen Weise and Cade Metz | The New York Instances
“Although it could possibly be years earlier than he is aware of if any of this really pays off, Mr. Nadella sees the AI growth as an all-in second for his firm and the remainder of the tech business. He goals to guarantee that Microsoft, which was sluggish to the dot-com growth and whiffed on smartphones, dominates this new expertise.”
Chinese Nuclear Reactor Is Completely Meltdown-Proof
Alex Wilkins | New Scientist
“A big-scale nuclear energy station in China is the primary on the earth to be fully impervious to harmful meltdowns, even throughout a full lack of exterior energy. …To check this [capability in the power station], which grew to become commercially operational in December 2023, [Zhe] Dong and his group switched off each modules of HTR-PM as they had been working at full energy, then measured and tracked how the temperature of various components of the plant went down afterwards. They discovered that HTR-PM naturally cooled and reached a steady temperature inside 35 hours after the facility was eliminated.”
The AI-Powered Future of Coding Is Near
Will Knight | Wired
“I’m on no account a talented coder, however due to a free program referred to as SWE-agent, I used to be simply in a position to debug and repair a gnarly drawback involving a misnamed file inside completely different code repositories on the software-hosting web site GitHub. I pointed SWE-agent at a difficulty on GitHub and watched because it went by the code and reasoned about what could be fallacious. It appropriately decided that the foundation reason for the bug was a line that pointed to the fallacious location for a file, then navigated by the mission, positioned the file, and amended the code in order that every part ran correctly.”
Balloons Will Surf Wind Currents to Track Wildfires
Sarah Scoles | MIT Know-how Evaluation
“City Sky goals to mix the benefits of satellites and plane through the use of comparatively cheap high-altitude balloons that may fly above the fray—out of the way in which of airspace restrictions, different plane, and the hearth itself. The system doesn’t put a human pilot in danger and has an infrared sensor system referred to as HotSpot that gives a pointy, real-time image, with pixels 3.5 meters throughout.”
Here’s the Real Reason AI Companies Are Slimming Down Their Models
Mark Sullivan | Quick Firm
“OpenAI is one in all a variety of AI firms to develop a model of its greatest ‘basis’ mannequin that trades away some intelligence for some pace and affordability. Such a trade-off might let extra builders energy their apps with AI, and will open the door for extra advanced apps like autonomous brokers sooner or later.”
Will Space-Based Solar Power Ever Make Sense?
Kat Friedrich | Ars Technica
“Is space-based solar energy a pricey, dangerous pipe dream? Or is it a viable method to fight local weather change? Though beaming solar energy from area to Earth might in the end contain transmitting gigawatts, the method could possibly be made surprisingly secure and cost-effective, in accordance with consultants from Area Photo voltaic, the European Area Company, and the College of Glasgow. However we’re going to wish to maneuver nicely past demonstration {hardware} and clear up a variety of engineering challenges if we wish to develop that potential.”
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