Computing
Google’s Quantum Computer Makes a Big Technical LeapCade Metz | The Recent York Times ($)
“Leveraging the counterintuitive powers of quantum mechanics, Google’s machine ran this algorithm 13,000 times as fast as a top supercomputer executing similar code within the realm of classical physics, based on a paper written by the Google researchers within the scientific journal Nature.”
Future
The Next Revolution in Biology Isn’t Reading Life’s Code—It’s Writing ItAndrew Hessel | Big Think
“Andrew Hessel, cofounder of the Human Genome Project–write, argues that genome writing is humanity’s next great moonshot, outlining how DNA synthesis could transform biology, medicine, and industry. He calls for global cooperation to make sure that humanity’s latest power to create life is used correctly and for the common good.”
Robotics
Amazon Hopes to Replace 600,000 Us Employees With Robots, In response to Leaked DocumentsJess Weatherbed | The Verge
“Citing interviews and internal strategy documents, The Recent York Times reports that Amazon is hoping its robots can replace greater than 600,000 jobs it will otherwise should hire in the US by 2033, despite estimating it’ll sell about twice as many products over the period.”
Computing
Retina e-Paper Guarantees Screens ‘Visually Indistinguishable From Reality’Michael Franco | Recent Atlas
“The team was in a position to create a screen that is in regards to the size of a human pupil full of pixels measuring about 560 nanometers wide. The screen, which has been dubbed retinal e-paper, has a resolution beyond 25,000 pixels per inch. ‘This breakthrough paves the way in which for the creation of virtual worlds which might be visually indistinguishable from reality,’ says a Chalmers news release in regards to the breakthrough.”
Robotics
Nike’s Robotic Shoe Gets Humans One Step Closer to CyborgMichael Calore | Wired ($)
“At the tip of every step, the motor pulls up on the heel of the shoe. The device is calibrated so the movement of the motor can match the natural movement of everybody’s ankle and lower leg. The result’s that every step is powered, or given a little bit little bit of a spring and an additional push by the robot mechanism.”
SpaceX Launches 10,000th Starlink Satellite, With No Sign of Slowing DownStephen Clark | Ars Technica
“Bearing in mind [decommissioned Starlink satellites, there are] 8,680 total Starlink satellites in orbit, 8,664 functioning Starlink satellites in orbit (including newly launched satellites not yet operational), [and] 7,448 Starlink satellites in operational orbit. …The European Space Agency estimates there at the moment are roughly 12,500 functioning satellites in orbit. This implies SpaceX owns and operates as much as 70 percent of all of the lively satellites in orbit today.”
Computing
Amazon Unveils AI Smart Glasses for Its Delivery DriversAisha Malik | TechCrunch
“The e-commerce giant says the glasses will allow delivery drivers to scan packages, follow turn-by-turn walking directions, and capture proof of delivery, all without using their phones. The glasses use AI-powered sensing capabilities and computer vision alongside cameras to create a display that features things like hazards and delivery tasks.”
Biotechnology
The Astonishing Embryo Models of Jacob HannaAntonio Regalado | MIT Technology Review ($)
“Clark and her colleagues are right that, for the foreseeable future, nobody goes to decant a full-term baby out of a bottle. That’s still science fiction. But there’s a pressing issue that should be handled straight away. And that’s what to do about synthetic embryo models that develop just a part of the way in which—say for just a few weeks, or months, as Hanna proposes. Because straight away, hardly any laws or policies apply to synthetic embryos.”
Tech
OpenAI Readies Itself for Its Facebook EraKalley Huang, Erin Woo, and Stephanie Palazzolo | The Information ($)
“Because the Meta alums have arrived, it’s turn out to be evident that a few of OpenAI’s latest strategies and initiatives do resemble the tactics Meta used to grow into a company juggernaut, based on conversations with seven current and former employees. OpenAI itself is keenly enthusiastic about growing into the same gigantic form, an effort to satisfy investors and justify the half-a-trillion-dollar valuation it received just a few months ago.”
Artificial Intelligence
Sakana AI’s CTO Says He’s ‘Absolutely Sick’ of Transformers, the Tech That Powers Every Major AI ModelMichael Nuñez | VentureBeat
“Llion Jones, who co-authored the seminal 2017 paper ‘Attention Is All You Need’ and even coined the name ‘transformer,’ delivered an unusually candid assessment on the TED AI conference in San Francisco on Tuesday: Despite unprecedented investment and talent flooding into AI, the sector has calcified around a single architectural approach, potentially blinding researchers to the subsequent major breakthrough.”
Tech
The ChatGPT Atlas Browser Still Feels Like Googling With Extra StepsEmma Roth | The Verge
“OpenAI’s latest browser is great at providing AI-generated responses, but not so great at searches. …Given the choices already on the market, ChatGPT Atlas is a little bit of an underwhelming start for a corporation that wishes to construct a series of interconnected apps that might eventually turn out to be an AI operating system.”
Computing
OpenAI Executive Explains the Insatiable Appetite For AI ChipsSri Muppidi | The Information ($)
“Because training and running models are blurring together, given inference is using more compute than before and incorporating user feedback, OpenAI likely needs more and stronger chips to power every stage of constructing and deploying its models. So it is sensible why OpenAI is attempting to get its hands on every Nvidia chip under the sun.”