AI & Robotics News and Discussions

[Powers]

How does this work then, if it's local?

Well, hopefully no one is watching. That is for damn sure.

[weatheriscool]

[funkervogt]

In the future, most robots won't be humanoid.

[caltrek]

Can AI Tell You What Your Dog’s Bark Means?
Posted by Kate McAlpine
June 7, 2024

Introduction:

(Futurity) A new study finds that AI models originally trained on human speech can be used as a starting point to train new systems that target animal communication.

“By using speech processing models initially trained on human speech, our research opens a new window into how we can leverage what we built so far in speech processing to start understanding the nuances of dog barks,” says Rada Mihalcea, professor of computer science and engineering and director of the AI Laboratory at the University of Michigan.

“There is so much we don’t yet know about the animals that share this world with us. Advances in AI can be used to revolutionize our understanding of animal communication, and our findings suggest that we may not have to start from scratch.”

Read more here: https://www.futurity.org/artificial-in ... ource=rss

[firestar464]

ruff

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Absolutely horrendous. There are so many privacy/security/legal risks... where to even begin? I hope it's 100% banned.

This kind of thing makes me wonder – when we do finally get brain implants and other upgrades (which could happen this century) will these megacorporations be stealing our very thoughts and memories, etc.?

Just because a technology can be made, doesn't mean it should be made.

[Powers]

Obligatory.

[Cyber_Rebel]

When I first heard about Recall, I figured it was some method for whatever digital assistant (perhaps Co-Pilot or GPT-Agent) to better remember things when performing a task on your computer. That combined with much longer context windows would be a boon for many use cases across the board.

Also, never again worry about losing work if the machine goes brrrrr!

I'm not saying they are right in their implementation of doing so, as it's a surveillance state's wet dream, but assuming it is secure and private I can see the value of it. The biggest issue for me is taking some screenshot of your bank account, credit card info, doxxing blackmail info or whatnot, and somehow having that leak if encryption is not secure enough. It's little hacker brother I'm more concerned with rather than big brother Microsoft looking through my future debauchery.

Going to be a contentious topic for many, as will many cases be looking forwards over these next few years.

This kind of thing makes me wonder – when we do finally get brain implants and other upgrades (which could happen this century) will these megacorporations be stealing our very thoughts and memories, etc.?

You think Elon Musk's future iterations of Neuralink or Google's inevitable version wouldn't do this anyways? Especially in the latter's case, to tailor ads directly into your cerebellum where your neural receptors will respond positively upon dopamine manipulation. I mean, that's pretty dark, but I definitely see someone doing it and wouldn't be surprised if this has already been thought about in some boardroom meeting.

[funkervogt]

Rogan asks about user privacy and the threat of hacking of the future brain implants. Intelligence agencies and more advanced private hackers can easily break into personal cell phones. Tech companies have proven time and again to be frustratingly unable or unwilling to solve the problem. What assurance is there that this won’t be true for brain implants? Kurzweil has no real answer.

This is an important point: the nanomachine brain implants that Kurzweil thinks are coming would potentially let third parties read your thoughts, download your memories, put thoughts in your head, and even force you to take physical actions. The temptation for spies and crooks to misuse that power for their own gain would be enormous, so they’d devote massive resources into finding ways to exploit the implants.

https://www.militantfuturist.com/im-ok- ... s-smarter/

[wjfox]

Bacon ice cream and nugget overload sees misfiring McDonald's AI withdrawn

18 June 2024, 12:13 BST

McDonald's is removing artificial intelligence (AI) powered ordering technology from its drive-through restaurants in the US, after customers shared its comical mishaps online.

A trial of the system, which was developed by IBM and uses voice recognition software to process orders, was announced in 2019.

It has not proved entirely reliable, however, resulting in viral videos of bizarre misinterpreted orders ranging from bacon-topped ice cream to hundreds of dollars worth of chicken nuggets.

McDonald's told franchisees it would remove the tech from the more than 100 restaurants it has been testing it in by the end of July, as first reported by trade publication Restaurant Business, external.

"After thoughtful review, McDonald’s has decided to end our current global partnership with IBM on AOT [Automated Order Taking] beyond this year," the restaurant chain said in a statement.

However, it added it remained confident the tech would still be "part of its restaurants’ future."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c722gne7qngo

[weatheriscool]

Self-Charging Robots Could Explore the Ocean Autonomously
Using kinetic energy, these experimental robots generate their own power while diving and resurfacing.
By Adrianna Nine June 19, 2024

For all of humanity's expansion over the last several hundred years, a majority of the ocean floor remains unexplored. While some of this can be chalked up to the fact that some parts of the ocean are simply too deep for people or imaging equipment to visit safely, the difficulty of using that equipment is also a factor. Subsea robots need power to run, and most are battery operated. This means the battery eventually dies, turning the robot into deep-sea trash or forcing operators to recharge the battery on a ship. These ships are extremely expensive to run—about $50,000 per day, by NASA's latest estimate—and burn tons of diesel fuel.

https://www.extremetech.com/science/sel ... tonomously

[spryfusion]

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

Japan’s Defense Ministry unveils first basic policy on use of AI

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/ ... rsecurity/

Also: OpenAI Startup Fund & Arianna Huffington's Thrive Global Create New Company, Thrive AI Health, To Launch Hyper-Personalized AI Health Coach

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 90536.html

[Cyber_Rebel]

^ I could see ThriveAI as a potential way for Americans to eventually have a kind of Universal Basic Healthcare system in the future, even more personalized and specifically tailored to each individual. Especially if one pairs it with Sam Altman's idea of Universal Basic Compute where one would have access to future GPT's (presumably) as a right. It's starting to make somewhat more sense as to why such idea was promoted over the typical UBI, if we start thinking of certain necessities being AI driven to start with.
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AI-Driven Behavior Change Could Transform Health Care

TIME

A staggering 129 million Americans have at least one major chronic disease—and 90% of our $4.1 trillion in annual health care spending goes toward treating these physical and mental-health conditions. That financial and personal toll is only projected to grow.

We know this is unsustainable. But there are solutions, because health outcomes are shaped by more than just medical care or genes. Behavior change can be a miracle drug, both for preventing disease and for optimizing the treatment of disease.

Yes, behavior change is hard. But through hyper-personalization, it’s also something that AI is uniquely positioned to solve.

AI is already greatly accelerating the rate of scientific progress in medicine—offering breakthroughs in drug development, diagnoses, and increasing the rate of scientific progress around diseases like cancer. In fact, OpenAI is partnering with Color Health on an AI copilot to assist doctors in cancer screening and in creating treatment plans after a doctor has made a diagnosis.

But humans are more than medical profiles. Every aspect of our health is deeply influenced by the five foundational daily behaviors of sleep, food, movement, stress management, and social connection. And AI, by using the power of hyper-personalization, can significantly improve these behaviors.

[firestar464]

Coders' Copilot code-copying copyright claims crumble against GitHub, Microsoft

https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/08/ ... ilot_dmca/

[firestar464]

New AI model can provide high-accuracy forecasts from even low-resolution data

https://phys.org/news/2024-07-ai-high-a ... ution.html

[firestar464]

When to trust an AI model: New approach can improve uncertainty estimates

https://techxplore.com/news/2024-07-ai- ... ainty.html

[Time_Traveller]

New AI cameras to be fitted to motorway gantries in these 11 police force areas

15:32, 16 JUL 2024

Eleven police forces have extended a trial of new artificial cameras which automatically detect motorists who are not wearing a seatbelt or using mobile phones and said they were now being fixed to overhead gantries on motorways. The police forces taking part in the trial are Durham, Greater Manchester Police, Humberside, Staffordshire, West Mercia, Northamptonshire, Wiltshire, Norfolk, Thames Valley Police, Sussex and Warwickshire.

Using AI, the cameras capture and process footage of drivers who could be using a handheld mobile phone behind the wheel or driving without a seat belt on. The cameras, which are mounted on the side of the road to a vehicle or trailer – are positioned higher than traditional speed or traffic cameras in order to catch drivers who are committing either of the two offences.

AI speed cameras in the UK are linked to all UK police and Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) databases, so checks on car tax and insurance can also be carried out. Department for Transport (DfT) data showed that 400,000 drivers a year still use a mobile device when behind the wheel. During the initial trials, National Highways sent offenders warning letters informing them of the dangers of their behaviour.

Their research found that drivers are four times more likely to be in a crash if they use a phone while driving – and are twice as likely to die in a crash if they aren’t wearing a seatbelt.

In partnership with Texas-based multinational infrastructure consulting firm AECOM, the success of the initial trial has led to an extension until March 2025.

https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/n ... ay-9415903