Plus: Anthropic is now valued higher than OpenAI. How a new extraction process could unlock the world's lithium A new method for extracting lithium could cut costs and emissions from one of the world's most important materials for EVs and energy storage. The technique uses a weak acid to dissolve silicate minerals. That frees not only the lithium but also other useful materials, including alumina and silica. "At scale, we believe this will be the lowest-cost way of sourcing lithium in the world," says Yet-Ming Chiang, an MIT professor who co-authored a study of the process published yesterday in . Startup Rock Zero is already working to commercialize the research.

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. As Compton students ace tests, educators are baffled by Rep. Maxine Waters' snub of school bond Students walk on campus at Dominguez High School in Compton. A bond measure would provide millions of dollars to rebuild the school. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here .

PCWorld anticipates Nvidia's N1X launch at Computex, featuring an Arm-based APU with 20 CPU cores and Blackwell graphics that could match RTX 5060 laptop performance. The article highlights growing concerns about PC hardware affordability, with examples like Steam Deck price increases suggesting higher costs may become the norm. This trend matters for consumers as powerful new hardware from Nvidia, AMD, and Intel may deliver impressive performance but potentially at premium prices that limit accessibility. The PC industry is once again on the brink of a pivotal moment in history--or so appears to be the case, given the rumors about Computex next week. In particular, the internet anticipates the launch of Nvidia's N1X, an Arm-based APU expected to marry ferocious CPU performance with equally knockout GPU chops.

Claire chatted to Ahti Heinla from Starship Technologies about their AI-powered delivery robots that operate independently on streets and pavements. Ahti Heinla is the co-founder and CEO of Starship Technologies, the world's leading autonomous delivery company building AI-powered robots that operate fully independently in real-world environments. One of the original engineers behind Skype's billion-dollar success, Ahti later made a quiet pivot into robotics, spending the past decade advancing practical, consumer-facing AI. Under his leadership, Starship has completed more than 10 million autonomous deliveries with a fleet of over 2,700 robots navigating streets, pavements, weather, and people, without human intervention. Robot Talk is a weekly podcast that explores the exciting world of robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous machines.

PCWorld highlights Google's Gemini Daily Brief as a standout AI feature that creates personalized to-do lists by scanning Gmail, Google Calendar, and recent chats. Available on Google's AI Pro and Ultra plans, the feature provides actionable buttons like "add to calendar" and "mark complete" for enhanced task management. While Google I/O introduced many AI announcements with limited immediate impact, Daily Brief proves genuinely useful for organizing daily commitments and appointments. Google's big I/O event came and went last week, stuffed to the gills with new AI announcements and functionality. Most of it left me cold . But one -- and only one -- of those Gemini announcements is actually making a difference for me in the week following Google I/O, and it's relatively humble: Daily Brief, a Gemini-generated daily to-do list based on your Google Workspace data.

Bereich How DER SPIEGEL processed the data from the NSDAP membership card file aufklappen The NSDAP membership card file was recently made available by the US National Archives on its website in digitized form. DER SPIEGEL downloaded all of these documents and extracted the content with the help of artificial intelligence. To minimize errors when reading the old files, the dataset was first classified with the help of machine learning and pre-sorted into groups. The handwriting on the index cards is in some cases difficult to read, on some the text has faded, many are written in old German script (Sütterlin). Other cards, meanwhile, were filled out with a typewriter.

Look closely and you'll see that every part of the text is not quite right. A few weeks ago, where I live in Johannesburg, a man ran a stop sign and crashed into my Subaru. At the scene he was frantic, unable to gather his thoughts. Half an hour later, I received a lengthy, perfectly grammatical text from him elegantly explaining how he perceived the crash had happened. For a repair quote, I wrote to a mechanic I know, a man who used to text me in curt phrases riddled with shorthand.

'Like a billionaire on acid': Star Wars director Gareth Edwards comes out in favour of AI Speaking at Amazon's AI on the Lot event, the Rogue One film-maker Gareth Edwards said'it'll do anything you ask' and'it's going to be better than CGI' Jurassic World Rebirth and Rogue One director Gareth Edwards has enthusiastically endorsed the use of generative AI in film-making, saying "it is a fucking genius at helping you" and "it's going to be better than CGI". Edwards was speaking at AI on the Lot, an event in Culver City, California, organised by Amazon, and in remarks reported by the Hollywood Reporter said: "I can't see a reason why you wouldn't become interested in this stuff as a film-maker. It's so clearly a tool that might be up there with the camera. It's going to be better than CGI." Edwards said that AI is most useful in the preparatory stages of film-making, saying: "It's only good for iteration and discovering what the movie should be, and then once you know what it is, go in and start making it your movie." He added: "It has no taste whatsoever. It is a fucking genius at helping you. I view it like having a second-unit director who is a billionaire on acid. Like, it'll do anything you ask, not a problem. And you'll give it notes, and it'll be like, 'I don't do notes. I'll just do something totally different.' Edwards' positive view of AI was echoed by veteran writer and director Paul Schrader, who was also speaking at the event. In remarks reported by Deadline, Schrader said: "I don't think the real future of AI commercially is in all this flash, all these monsters - that's just jacked-up special effects on steroids," he said. "The real tip of the spear is when we can create an AI protagonist, not a hybrid, and that movie makes money.

Data in the report show 4% of workers believe they have already lost a job because of AI. Data in the report show 4% of workers believe they have already lost a job because of AI. Exclusive: IPPR thinktank calls for new measures to boost employees' influence at'pivotal moment' in history Workers urgently need more bargaining power over the way AI is adopted in the workplace to ensure the benefits are fairly shared, according to a TUC-backed report from a leading thinktank. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is calling for a package of measures to boost employees' influence at what it calls a "pivotal moment in the history of work". Its report cites survey data showing that while 20% of workers say AI is making their working life better, 21% say it has made it worse - and 4% believe they have already lost a job because of the technology.

'In Silicon Valley, some have suggested that the pope doesn't know what he's talking about.' 'In Silicon Valley, some have suggested that the pope doesn't know what he's talking about.' The intelligent and thoughtful encyclical is an important warning of the uses and misuses of a rapidly developing technology. O ften I'm asked if I think that the novels of the future will all be written by AI. Do I worry that a machine can do what I do, only better? I usually say something like: "No algorithm is going to write Anna Karenina!" which is also not a real answer.