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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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.

Engineering

Artificial intelligence on the hunt for illegal nuclear material

Millions of shipments of nuclear and other radiological materials are moved in the U.S. every year for good reasons, including health care, power generation, research and manufacturing. But there remains the threat that bad ...

Computer Sciences

Computer vision technique to enhance 3D understanding of 2D images

Upon looking at photographs and drawing on their past experiences, humans can often perceive depth in pictures that are, themselves, perfectly flat. However, getting computers to do the same thing has proved quite challenging.

Robotics

A technique to teach bimanual robots stir-fry cooking

As robots make their way into a variety of real-world environments, roboticists are trying to ensure that they can efficiently complete a growing number of tasks. For robots that are designed to assist humans in their homes, ...

Machine learning & AI

Should we be concerned about Google AI being sentient?

From virtual assistants like Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa, to robotic vacuums and self-driving cars, to automated investment portfolio managers and marketing bots, artificial intelligence has become a big part of our everyday ...

Computer Sciences

Novel tuning method for Spark SQL applications

Spark SQL is a Spark module for structured data processing. It has been widely deployed in industry but it is challenging to tune its performance.

Robotics

New prototype exoskeletons for industrial workers

Researchers at IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of Technology) and INAIL (Italian Worker's Compensation Authority) have designed and created innovative prototypes of wearable robotic exoskeletons for ...

Internet

It's (not) alive! Google row exposes AI troubles

An internal fight over whether Google built technology with human-like consciousness has spilled into the open, exposing the ambitions and risks inherent in artificial intelligence that can feel all too real.

Robotics

Insect-inspired AI for autonomous robots

Small autonomous mobile robots, such as drones, rovers, and legged robots, promise to perform a wide range of tasks, from autonomously monitoring crops in greenhouses to last-kilometer delivery. These applications require ...

Engineering

Using AI to predict when and where glass will break

The ability to predict when materials will fracture is of immense importance for industrial applications—companies can use this information to maintain devices and components more efficiently and cost effectively. A research ...

Hardware

New hardware architecture provides an edge in AI computation

As applications of artificial intelligence spread, more computation has to occur—and more efficiently with lower energy consumption—on local devices instead of in geographically distant data centers in order to overcome ...