AI & Robotics News and Discussions

[firestar464]

It's interesting how people are still calling the current robots crappy. The thing is, it's already pretty impressive. Sure, it's a little slower than people, but it could get something done while I'm busy with something, even if I could do it faster myself.

[Cyber_Rebel]

It's interesting how people are still calling the current robots crappy. The thing is, it's already pretty impressive. Sure, it's a little slower than people, but it could get something done while I'm busy with something, even if I could do it faster myself.

Guaranteed the same people will be saying we should have pulled the plug when they were a little slower than us once they really start running. Also, a case of shifting expectations and goalpost. Robots by 2029 will probably truly be like something out of science fiction, and much more visible in many sectors.

There will be a "robots rights" movement alongside a luddite undercurrent, the latter of which is already in motion.

[firestar464]

OpenAI, Anthropic sign deals with US govt for AI research and testing

https://www.reuters.com/technology/arti ... 024-08-29/

[Time_Traveller]

UK's first "teacherless" AI classroom set to opens in London

Saturday 31 August 2024 00:33, UK

The UK's first "teacherless" GCSE class, using artificial intelligence instead of human teachers, is about to start lessons.

David Game College, a private school in London, opens its new teacherless course for 20 GCSE students in September.

The students will learn using a mixture of artificial intelligence platforms on their computers and virtual reality headsets.

The platforms learn what the student excels in and what they need more help with, and then adapt their lesson plans for the term.

Strong topics are moved to the end of term so they can be revised, while weak topics will be tackled more immediately, and each student's lesson plan is bespoke to them.

https://news.sky.com/story/uks-first-te ... n-13200637

[firestar464]

It's almost as if that's all many people there care about

[Cyber_Rebel]

^ "He" might not be able to grant you sexo, but he can give you a hug and hold you tenderly. Don't worry, soon hand holding will be on that exponential curve, cuddling, and then...



This robot might be ready to give you a hug in your home and nobody is ready for this
X1 Neo Beta is undergoing limited home trials


Source: Tech Radar

Sometimes, a robot just wants a hug. That's the message, I think, of the very brief 1X Neo Beta home robot introduction video. The Norwegian robotics company used the short video to unveil its new sweatsuit-clad humanoid robot on August 30 and show how it might safely operate in your home.

1X has been working on humanoid robotics for a decade with the original intention of bringing them to factories and other commercial facilities. The turning point to a more consumer focus might've been its 2022 partnership with OpenAI, which led to generative AI integration in its 1X line of robots. Earlier this year, the company started posting videos of its 1X A1 robot, a humanoid robot with gripper hands and wheels for feet. In those clips, the robots could be seen poorly cleaning tables, slowly folding laundry, and responding to commands like, "Can you please pick up the cup?"

Neo Beta, though, appears to be a significant leap forward. Gone is the somewhat cartoonish face, replaced with what appears to be an expressionless black glass. Instead of wheels, the robot has feet, and the grippers were replaced with expressive, 10-fingered hands.

[firestar464]

Clearview AI hit with its largest GDPR fine yet as Dutch regulator considers holding execs personally liable

https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/03/clear ... ly-liable/

[firestar464]

[firestar464]

I was thinking about these AI agents. If I understand correctly this represents an interesting mix between individual AIs and a collective hive mind.

It could also be good for alignment as this reduces the risk of the entire superintelligence collectively messing everything up; there will be "voices" of dissent to guard against that.

[Time_Traveller]

International AI Treaty to be signed by EU, UK and US

Published on 05/09/2024 - 12:08 GMT+2



The AI Treaty is different from the EU's AI Act, allowing non-EU member states to sign.

The EU, Norway, UK and US are among countries to sign The Council of Europe’s international AI Treaty which is prepared for signature in Lithuania today (5 September).

The treaty, the first international legally binding text which was adopted last May, sets out a legal framework that covers the entire lifecycle of AI systems and addresses the risks they may pose while promoting responsible innovation.

It’s different from the EU’s AI Act, which entered into force in early August, because non-EU countries can sign too. In addition, the treaty covers the use of AI systems for public and private sectors with different models of complying with its principles and obligations when regulating the private sector.

“The Framework Convention is an open treaty with a potentially global reach. I hope that these will be the first of many signatures and that they will be followed quickly by ratifications, so that the treaty can enter into force as soon as possible,” Council of Europe Secretary-General Marija Pejčinović Burić said in a statement.

https://www.euronews.com/next/2024/09/0 ... -uk-and-us

[weatheriscool]

Microsoft Says Copilot+ Will Come to Intel and AMD PCs in November
Qualcomm's AI exclusivity is coming to an end.
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/m ... n-november

Microsoft has traditionally been slow to change, but this big ship is suddenly turning with remarkable speed in the age of AI. Since announcing its partnership with OpenAI, Microsoft has put the Copilot AI on millions of Windows PCs and launched the Copilot+ initiative for a new generation of AI-accelerated computers. Those features have been limited to Qualcomm's new laptop chips so far, but Microsoft now says Intel and AMD will be able to get Copilot+ features later this year.

Microsoft opted to launch Copilot+ with support for the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus in May. Those machines have been shipping over the summer, offering live captions, image generation in MS Paint, auto super-resolution upscaling for games, and more. AI PCs are also slated to get Recall, Microsoft's screen analyzer feature that lets you search for and retrieve information that was previously displayed on your screen. The company is still working to retool this experience after the internet collectively decided Recall was creepy.

[firestar464]

[firestar464]

[wjfox]

Man accused of using bots and AI to earn streaming revenue

1 hour ago

A musician in the US has been accused of using artificial intelligence (AI) tools and thousands of bots to fraudulently stream songs billions of times in order to claim millions of dollars of royalties.

Michael Smith, of North Carolina, has been charged with three counts of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy charges.

Prosecutors say it is the first criminal case of its kind they have handled.

[...]

The tracks were streamed billions of times across multiple platforms by thousands of automated bot accounts to avoid detection.

Authorities say Mr Smith claimed more than $10m in royalty payments over the course of the scheme, which spanned several years.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly3ld9wy3eo

[firestar464]

I just read Yuli Ban's essay on the future of AI.

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/fLzbjZL ... ally-using

One thing I will agree on is that "techbros are weird." I was also pleased to learn that Ireland already gives artists free money. Given the current situation, this should be done in many more countries.

However, while I do sympathize with the economic concerns of all people who may lose their jobs to emergent technology, I do not sympathize with those who, in their attempts to point out issues with AI, succumb to the worst forms of internet syndrome: the belief that one is right and that due to said rightness, one is somehow justified in forgoing basic decency. I wish this was more forcefully condemned.

It also saddens me that there is so much talk of violence on the part of those who are unhappy with AI. I'm sure you all know the pattern by now- if a given community of like-minded people makes discussion of violence a persistent and regular thing, eventually said violence will occur somewhere. God help us when that happens.

[caltrek]

Engineers Gave a Mushroom a Robot Body and Let It Run Wild
by Mike McRae
September 4, 2024

Introduction:

(Science Alert) Nobody knows what sleeping mushrooms dream of when their vast mycelial networks flicker and pulse with electrochemical responses akin to those of our own brain cells.

But given a chance, what might this web of impulses do if granted a moment of freedom?

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from Cornell University in the US and the University of Florence in Italy took steps to find out, putting a culture of the edible mushroom species Pleurotus eryngii (also known as the king oyster mushroom) in control of a pair of vehicles, which can twitch and roll across a flat surface.

Through a series of experiments, the researchers showed it was possible to use the mushroom's electrophysiological activity as a means of translating environmental cues into directives, which could, in turn, be used to drive a mechanical device's movements.

"By growing mycelium into the electronics of a robot, we were able to allow the biohybrid machine to sense and respond to the environment," says senior researcher Rob Shepherd, a materials scientist at Cornell.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/engineers ... -run-wild

[firestar464]

This AI chatbot got conspiracy theorists to question their convictions

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq1814

Original paper here:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq1814

Across two experiments, 2190 Americans articulated—in their own words—a conspiracy theory in which they believe, along with the evidence they think supports this theory. They then engaged in a three-round conversation with the LLM GPT-4 Turbo, which we prompted to respond to this specific evidence while trying to reduce participants’ belief in the conspiracy theory (or, as a control condition, to converse with the AI about an unrelated topic).

This study was run on 19 to 22 January 2024 and took 30.98 min on average to complete.

How would o1 perform on this?

[firestar464]

A Redditor posted this as an image link. Holy shit.

[Cyber_Rebel]

I just read Yuli Ban's essay on the future of AI.

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/fLzbjZL ... ally-using

Really good essay by him, it would appear as if we're seeing the "unhobbling" of the AI in real time by allowing it to reason and actually think through responses. (without placing a gun to its head as he puts it) Seeing GPT's self-reflections on each answer is also very illuminating to me, since I feel like I get a sense of its thought processes.

Imagine that agency is next as that's Stage 3 and could very well be a big part of Orion/GPT5. Having AI agents work on tasks very well autonomously while thinking/iterating on them throughout the process, delegating lesser portions to other agents to help solve is the big computing step change we're waiting for.

[Powers]

A Redditor posted this as an image link. Holy shit.

LOL

ctrl shift i