Bulk hacking’ by UK spy agencies is illegal, high court told
By: Owen Bowcott June 17, 2019 “Bulk hacking” powers exploited by the intelligence services to access electronic devices represent an illegal intrusion into the private lives of millions of people, the high court has been told. In its latest challenge to the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), the civil rights organisation Liberty has argued that […]
New Robots Can Safely Decommission Nuclear Reactors
By: Dan Robitzski June 14, 2019 Going In A new semi-autonomous robot is capable of traveling into a decommissioned nuclear reactor and safely dismantling it, piece by piece. Typically, the robots that handle nuclear waste, like the one sent into the Fukushima reactor after it was destroyed by a tsunami, need to be remote-controlled every […]
Experts: Spy used AI-generated face to connect with targets
By: RAPHAEL SATTER June 13, 2019 LONDON (AP) — Katie Jones sure seemed plugged into Washington’s political scene. The 30-something redhead boasted a job at a top think tank and a who’s-who network of pundits and experts, from the centrist Brookings Institution to the right-wing Heritage Foundation. She was connected to a deputy assistant secretary […]
‘UK citizens will on average outlive savings by 10 years’
By: Financial Times August 26, 2019 Retired people in the UK will on average outlive their savings by more than 10 years, according to research underlining the strains on global retirement systems. The report by the World Economic Forum suggests the average female in the UK will outlive her savings by 12.6 years; while for […]
A member of Google’s disastrous AI council says the company needs to be treated like a ‘world power’
By: Isobel Asher Hamilton June 12, 2019 A member of Google’s disbanded AI ethics council said on Wednesday that the company’s enormous global influence means it needs to be treated like a world power. Joanna Bryson, an associate professor in computer science at the University of Bath, spoke about Google’s short-lived AI ethics council at […]
Terrifying AI Matches DNA to Facial Recognition Databases
By: Dan Robitzski June 12, 2019 Sketch Artist Cops would love to have a system that uses DNA from a crime scene to generate a picture of a suspect’s face, but that tech is still restricted to science fiction. That technology may never exist, but a team of Belgian and American engineers just developed something […]
Robot Hiveminds & Network Effects
By: Ali Yahya June 12, 2019 While I was at Google X, I worked on an effort to build a robot hivemind––a network of robots with collective intelligence. Our work was part of a broader strategy to gain a data advantage. Here’s what I learned about “data network effects”. About a month ago, my partners […]
NYT Calls For “Fully Automated Luxury Communism”
By: _Dan Robitzsk June 11, 2019 One For All Lab-grown meat could feed the world. Renewable energy could power it. Automation could save us from mind-numbing jobs. But only if capitalism is replaced with a form of communism that deploys these technologies to the benefit of the many. At least, that’s the argument in a […]
Uber Air announces Melbourne as trial city for flying taxi service
By: Lisa Martin June 11, 2019 Melbourne will be the first city outside the US to host trials of Uber Air, a service the company describes as “aerial ridesharing” that will shuttle people from rooftop to rooftop for the price of an UberX. The company has flagged test flights will begin next year, with commercial […]