Machine learning & AI news

Machine learning & AI

Meta's Movie Gen lets users animate photos into videos

Meta on Friday provided a look at a generative artificial intelligence model it is working on that lets people create short videos, complete with audio, from text prompts and photos.

Consumer & Gadgets

Q&A: Generative AI embraced faster than internet, PCs

ChatGPT's debut in November 2022 caused a near-instant sensation. It gave most users their first opportunity to try out a new type of artificial intelligence that uses existing data and published materials to create content ...

Security

Each year, landmines kill residents of war-torn countries. This innovative tool could save lives

As he grew up in Bogotá, Colombia, Mateo Dulce Rubio would hear a familiar news story every few days—someone had stepped on another landmine. The explosion had killed or injured them. Though the capital city was far from ...

Robotics

Engineers teach a quadruped robot to climb standard ladders

A team of robotics engineers at ETH Zurich, Robotics Systems Lab, has modified an ANYbotics ANYMal quadruped robot to allow it to easily and effectively climb a standard ladder. The group has written a paper describing their ...

Automotive

Balancing cost and reliability in autonomous machine design

With millions of self-driving cars projected to be on the road in 2025 and autonomous drones generating billions in annual sales, safety and reliability are important considerations for consumers, manufacturers, and regulators. ...

Business

Google is working on reasoning AI, chasing OpenAI's efforts

Google is working on artificial intelligence software that resembles the human ability to reason, similar to OpenAI's o1, marking a new front in the rivalry between the tech giant and the fast-growing startup.

Computer Sciences

How AI is improving simulations with smarter sampling techniques

Imagine you're tasked with sending a team of football players onto a field to assess the condition of the grass (a likely task for them, of course). If you pick their positions randomly, they might cluster together in some ...

Business

Historic funding round values OpenAI at $157 billion

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, secured $6.6 billion in new funding, propelling its valuation to $157 billion and cementing its position as the world leader in artificial intelligence.

Machine learning & AI

Microsoft beefs-up its AI assistant with voice, vision

Microsoft on Tuesday doubled down on deploying artificial intelligence to consumers, releasing an updated version of its Copilot chatbot that can hold voice conversations and interpret images.

Machine learning & AI

AI pareidolia: Can machines spot faces in inanimate objects?

In 1994, Florida jewelry designer Diana Duyser discovered what she believed to be the Virgin Mary's image in a grilled cheese sandwich, which she preserved and later auctioned for $28,000. But how much do we really understand ...

Energy & Green Tech

Researcher wants to ensure AI doesn't ruin the environment

Artificial intelligence (AI) has changed the world as we know it. It's been used for everything from health-care monitoring to writing speeches. But the technology's impact on the environment is becoming a serious concern.

Computer Sciences

A computational shortcut for neural networks

Neural networks are learning algorithms that approximate the solution to a task by training with available data. However, it is usually unclear how exactly they accomplish this. Two young Basel physicists have now derived ...

Robotics

Researchers develop humanoid robotic system to teach Tai Chi

Zhi Zheng's robot is skilled at Tai Chi, and her research team hopes it will soon lead a class of older adults at a local community center. Her robot is more than a cute companion. It can help improve cognitive function and ...

Computer Sciences

Do humans think computers make fair decisions?

Today, machine learning helps determine the loan we qualify for, the job we get, and even who goes to jail. But when it comes to these potentially life-altering decisions, can computers make a fair call? In a study published ...

Computer Sciences

Chess: How to spot a potential cheat

A few years ago, the chess website Chess.com temporarily banned U.S. grandmaster Hans Niemann for playing chess moves online that the site suspected had been suggested to him by a computer program. It had reportedly previously ...

Machine learning & AI

How to stop cities from being turned into AI jungles

As artificial intelligence grows more ubiquitous, its potential and the challenges it presents are coming increasingly into focus. How we balance the risks and opportunities is shaping up as one of the defining questions ...

Computer Sciences

AI worse at recognizing images than humans

Researchers from HSE University and Moscow Polytechnic University have discovered that AI models are unable to represent features of human vision due to a lack of tight coupling with the respective physiology, so they are ...

Robotics

Soft robots that grip with the right amount of force

Tool use has long been a hallmark of human intelligence, as well as a practical problem to solve for a vast array of robotic applications. But machines are still wonky at exerting just the right amount of force to control ...

Robotics

Teaching robots to be team players with nature

Algae bloom, birds flock, and insects swarm. This en masse behavior by individual organisms can provide separate and collective good, such as improving chances of successful mating propagation or providing security. Now, ...