We present Proto-PINV+H, a fast training paradigm that combines closed-form weight computation with gradient-based optimisation of a small set of synthetic inputs, soft labels, and-crucially-hidden activations. At each iteration we recompute all weight matrices in closed form via two (or more) ridge-regularised pseudo-inverse solves, while updating only the prototypes with Adam. The trainable degrees of freedom are thus shifted from weight space to data/activation space. On MNIST (60k train, 10k test) and Fashion-MNIST (60k train, 10k test), our method reaches 97.8% and 89.3% test accuracy on the official 10k test sets, respectively, in 3.9s--4.5s using approximately 130k trainable parameters and only 250 epochs on an RTX 5060 (16GB). We provide a multi-layer extension (optimised activations at each hidden stage), learnable ridge parameters, optional PCA/PLS projections, and theory linking the condition number of prototype matrices to generalisation. The approach yields favourable accuracy--speed--size trade-offs against ELM, random-feature ridge, and shallow MLPs trained by back-propagation.

DUBAI, UAE – The United States of America and the United Arab Emirates reaffirm their shared commitment to a strong bilateral relationship within the framework of the U.S.-UAE Strategic Energy Dialogue first established in 2010 and reiterated in 2017. U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence Omar bin Sultan Al-Olama met to exchange views on the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence in improving grid resilience, increasing energy exploration and environmental sustainability, optimizing transportation and enabling smarter cities, improving water resource management, and in the discovery of new materials and compounds. They identified opportunities for DOE's Artificial Intelligence & Technologies Office and the Dubai Futures Foundation to hold further discussions, and agreed to explore the potential to expand the U.S.-UAE Strategic Dialogue to include cooperation on areas of mutual interest in AI. The parties also reiterated the importance of addressing energy security challenges through public and private sector partnerships and investment to support the research, development and deployment of all forms of energy and technologies.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $13 million in funding for five research projects in artificial intelligence (AI) aimed at improving AI as a tool of scientific investigation and prediction. The projects involve scientists at nine research institutions, including both DOE national laboratories and universities. "Artificial intelligence, including machine learning, provides an extremely powerful way of tackling the most pressing issues facing our scientists today," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. "This research will help us adapt AI to the specific scientific challenges that DOE-supported scientists are addressing today and in the process help sustain U.S. leadership in this critical and growing field." Of the $13 million, $11.1 million is reserved for two three-year projects focused on the development of new AI algorithms and software adapted to specific scientific problems.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry announced the establishment of the DOE Artificial Intelligence and Technology Office (AITO). The Secretary has established the office to serve as the coordinating hub for the work being done across the DOE enterprise in Artificial Intelligence. This action has been taken as part of the President's call for a national AI strategy to ensure AI technologies are developed to positively impact the lives of Americans. DOE-fueled AI is already being used to strengthen our national security and cybersecurity, improve grid resilience, increase environmental sustainability, enable smarter cities, improve water resource management, as well as speed the discovery of new materials and compounds, and further the understanding, prediction, and treatment of disease. DOE's National Labs are home to four of the top ten fastest supercomputers in the world, and we're currently building three next-generation, exascale machines, which will be even faster and more AI-capable computers.

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Today, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry announced the establishment of the DOE Artificial Intelligence and Technology Office (AITO). The Secretary has established the office to serve as the coordinating hub for the work being done across the DOE enterprise in Artificial Intelligence. This action has been taken as part of the President's call for a national AI strategy to ensure AI technologies are developed to positively impact the lives of Americans. DOE-fueled AI is already being used to strengthen our national security and cybersecurity, improve grid resilience, increase environmental sustainability, enable smarter cities, improve water resource management, as well as speed the discovery of new materials and compounds, and further the understanding, prediction, and treatment of disease. DOE's National Labs are home to four of the top ten fastest supercomputers in the world, and we're currently building three next-generation, exascale machines, which will be even faster and more AI-capable computers.

LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA – Today, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and Founder of the Weill Family Foundation, Mr. Sandy Weill, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to formally initiate a public-private partnership for artificial intelligence (AI), neurological disorders, and related subjects. The partnership will apply DOE-fueled AI capabilities to advance transformative scientific opportunities in biomedical and public health research. The MOU will foster collaboration to demonstrate AI based research breakthroughs that span from basic science focused on a better understanding of how the brain functions, to clinical and translational research focused on developing novels methods for preventing, treating, and repairing damage caused by diseases and disorders of the brain. "Artificial Intelligence has the power to literally change the world we live in by tackling some of the biggest problems facing humanity – from improving our environment, to advancing our understanding of the cosmos; from increasing cyber security to improving crop production," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. "This Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Energy and Weill Family Foundation will advance groundbreaking AI research and development in health sciences that will enhance our overall security and improve our quality of life."

This weekend, I hopped on a train for my annual trek to Maker Faire, held this year at the San Mateo Events Center. Over 150,000 people attended this year's show, coming to check out new drones, 3D printers, robots and more. This particular event is the granddaddy of Maker Faires, started by Maker Media and its visionary founder Dale Dougherty. It bills itself as the greatest "Show and Tell on Earth." I've long been following the Maker Movement as a part of my overall interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.