Goto

Collaborating Authors

 Government


Revisiting Euclidean Alignment for Transfer Learning in EEG-Based Brain-Computer Interfaces

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Due to the non-stationarity and large individual differences of EEG signals, EEG-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) usually need subject-specific calibration to tailor the decoding algorithm for each new subject, which is time-consuming and user-unfriendly, hindering their real-world applications. Transfer learning (TL) has been extensively used to expedite the calibration, by making use of EEG data from other subjects/sessions. An important consideration in TL for EEG-based BCIs is to reduce the data distribution discrepancies among different subjects/session, to avoid negative transfer. Euclidean alignment (EA) was proposed in 2020 to address this challenge. Numerous experiments from 10 different BCI paradigms demonstrated its effectiveness and efficiency. This paper revisits the EA, explaining its procedure and correct usage, introducing its applications and extensions, and pointing out potential new research directions. It should be very helpful to BCI researchers, especially those who are working on EEG signal decoding.


Logical Lease Litigation: Prolog and LLMs for Rental Law Compliance in New York

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Legal cases require careful logical reasoning following the laws, whereas interactions with non- technical users must be in natural language. As an application combining logical reasoning using Prolog and natural language processing using large language models (LLMs), this paper presents a novel approach and system, LogicLease, to automate the analysis of landlord-tenant legal cases in the state of New York. LogicLease determines compliance with relevant legal requirements by analyzing case descriptions and citing all relevant laws. It leverages LLMs for information extraction and Prolog for legal reasoning. By separating information extraction from legal reasoning, LogicLease achieves greater transparency and control over the legal logic applied to each case. We evaluate the accuracy, efficiency, and robustness of LogicLease through a series of tests, achieving 100% accuracy and an average processing time of 2.57 seconds. LogicLease presents advantages over state-of-the-art LLM- based legal analysis systems by providing clear, step-by-step reasoning, citing specific laws, and distinguishing itself by its ability to avoid hallucinations - a common issue in LLMs.


DOGE Has Started Gutting a Key US Technology Agency

WIRED

At least dozens of workers for the Technology Transformation Services, housed within the General Services Administration, were fired Wednesday afternoon, sources tell WIRED. The sudden cuts seemingly targeted probationary and short-term staffers, including workers supplied by the Presidential Innovation Fellowship program, which brings skilled technologists from the private sector to work in government for a few years at a time. Around 50 of the 70 members of the US Digital Corps, an early-career two-year government fellowship, were terminated as well, sources say. Sources also tell WIRED that TTS management met with workers individually prior to the terminations, giving them one last chance to take the deferred resignation offered in the "Fork In the Road" email late last month. One TTS staffer called the meetings "coercive for sure."


Google will use machine learning to try and tell if a user is under 18

Engadget

Google will start testing a feature this year that uses machine learning to weed out children trying to access adult content on YouTube. The "machine learning-based age estimation model" will try to predict whether a user is under 18 and, if so, apply appropriate age filter settings to their account. The announcement came amid a flurry of Google child safety announcements as the US Senate considers a bill that would ban pre-teens from social media. YouTube CEO Neal Mohan first mentioned the ML age restriction feature on Tuesday in his letter about the platform's "bets" for the coming year. "We'll use machine learning in 2025 to help us estimate a user's age -- distinguishing between younger viewers and adults -- to help provide the best and most age-appropriate experiences and protections," he wrote.


Google defends scrapping AI pledges and DEI goals in all-staff meeting

The Guardian

Google's executives gave details on Wednesday on how the tech giant will sunset its diversity initiatives and defended dropping its pledge against building artificial intelligence for weaponry and surveillance in an all-staff meeting. Melonie Parker, Google's former head of diversity, said the company was doing away with its diversity and inclusion employee training programs and "updating" broader training programs that have "DEI content". It was the first time company executives have addressed the whole staff since Google announced it would no longer follow hiring goals for diversity and took down its pledge not to build militarized AI. The chief legal officer, Kent Walker, said a lot had changed since Google first introduced its AI principles in 2018, which explicitly stated Google would not build AI for harmful purposes. He said it would be "good for society" for the company to be part of evolving geopolitical discussions in response to a question about why the company removed prohibitions against building AI for weapons and surveillance.


The Dirty Truth Behind Musk and Altman's Mud Fight

Slate

Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. On Monday, Elon Musk and a group of investors made an unsolicited offer to buy ChatGPT parent company OpenAI for 97.4 billion. This ticked off OpenAI CEO Sam Altman not only because the company isn't for sale, but because the offer is insultingly low. OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise new money in a funding round led by SoftBank at a 300 billion valuation, which would make it the most valuable privately held company in the world. Altman's return fire was equally petty, with him refusing via tweet before offering to buy Musk's social media company X for a decimal-sliding 9.74 billion.


The Tesla Revolt

The Atlantic - Technology

Donald Trump may be pleased enough with Elon Musk, but even as the Tesla CEO is exercising his newfound power to essentially undo whole functions of the federal government, he still has to reassure his investors. Lately, Musk has delivered for them in one way: The value of the company's shares has skyrocketed since Trump was reelected to the presidency of the United States. But Musk had much to answer for on his recent fourth-quarter earnings call--not least that in 2024, Tesla's car sales had sunk for the first time in a decade. Profits were down sharply too. Usually, when this happens at a car company, the CEO issues a mea culpa, vows to cut costs, and hypes vehicles coming to market soon.


Fox News AI Newsletter: VP calls for ideology-free AI

FOX News

Gladstone A.I. co-founders and CEOs Edouard Harris and Jeremie Harris explain the major role that A.I will play in national security and warfare on'The Will Cain Show.' Vice President JD Vance will attend an AI summit in Paris, France, a French official said anonymously. FREE FROM BIAS: Vice President JD Vance told world leaders in Paris on Tuesday that the United States intends to remain the dominant force in artificial intelligence and warned that the European Union's far tougher regulatory approach to the technology could cripple it. 'TRYING TO SLOW US DOWN': OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Elon Musk is "probably just trying to slow us down" with his bid to purchase the company, insisting on Tuesday that it is not for sale. 'MASS SURVEILLANCE': OpenAI CEO Sam Altman predicts that artificial general intelligence will lead to lower costs for many goods, but has also warned that AI could be leveraged by authoritarian governments aiming to control people. TRANSLATED TRUTH: Whether you have an iPhone or an Android, these apps have got you covered with features like live speech translation, text input and even AI-powered sign and menu translation.


Paris AI summit: Why won't US, UK sign global artificial intelligence pact?

Al Jazeera

The United States and United Kingdom have refused to sign an Artificial Intelligence Action Summit declaration calling for policies "ensuring AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy". The summit in Paris on Monday and Tuesday brought together representatives from more than 100 countries to discuss how to reach a consensus on guiding the development of AI. "We are still in the early days, and I already believe AI will be the most profound shift of our lifetimes," Google CEO Sundar Pichai told the summit. The meeting, which was held amid a three-way race for AI dominance, revealed a divide in the priorities of some nations. While Europe is seeking to regulate and invest, China is focused on expanding access through state-backed tech giants, and the US is pushing for a hands-off approach in terms of regulation. Here's what you need to know about the summit and the AI race: Some leaders at the summit emphasised the need for the creation of a diverse and inclusive AI "ecosystem" that is human rights-based, ethical, safe and trustworthy.


'It's long past time': Colombian-born GOP senator rallies around making English official language of US

FOX News

FIRST ON FOX: Freshman GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno is introducing a bill that would declare English as the official language of the United States. The bill, named the English Language Unity Act of 2025, would "declare English as the official language of the United States" and "establish a uniform English language rule for naturalization, and to avoid misconstructions of the English language texts of the laws of the United States." Variations of the bill have been put forward in the past, including in 2023 from then Ohio Sen. JD Vance, who said at the time that English "has been a cornerstone of American culture for over 250 years" and that it "is far past time for Congress to codify its place into law, which is exactly what this bill does." In a statement to Fox News Digital, Moreno, who was born in Colombia, said, "JD Vance was right – English is the official language of the United States and, as one of the only naturalized citizens serving in the Senate, I should know." Bernie Moreno has introduced a bill to make English the official language of the United States.