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Big Tech builds AI with bad data. So scientists sought better data.
Yacine Jernite's fears about bias in artificial intelligence were vividly affirmed in 2017, when a Facebook translation error led Israeli police to arrest a Palestinian construction worker. The man had posted a picture of himself leaning against a bulldozer with the caption, in Arabic, "good morning." Facebook mistakenly translated it, in Hebrew, as "attack them." The error was quickly discovered and the man released, according to a report in Haaretz, but the incident cemented personal concerns about AI for Jernite, who joined Facebook's AI division soon after. As the child of Moroccan parents in post-9/11 America, Jernite said he has "spent hours upon hours in immigration secondary interviews -- in a way that I could not at the time trace to the technology that was being applied."
WATCH LIVE: State Department holds briefing following alleged Ukraine drone strikes inside Russia
State Department spokesman Ned Price will hold a briefing Tuesday afternoon after drones struck inside Russia's border with Ukraine in the second day of attacks. The briefing is scheduled to begin at 1:45 p.m. ET. Watch the event live in the player above. Ukrainian officials did not formally confirm carrying out drone strikes inside Russia, and they have maintained ambiguity over previous high-profile attacks. But Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhail Podolyak taunted Moscow in comments on Twitter, and Britain's Defense Ministry said Russia was likely to consider the attacks on Russian bases more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) from the border with Ukraine as "some of the most strategically significant failures of force protection since its invasion of Ukraine."
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 286
A third Russian airfield is ablaze from a drone attack, a day after Ukraine demonstrated an apparent new ability to penetrate hundreds of kilometres deep into Russian airspace with attacks on two Russian air bases. A drone struck an airfield in the Russian region of Kursk bordering Ukraine, setting fire to an oil storage tank. Russia said three of its military personnel were killed in what it said were Ukrainian drone attacks on two Russian air bases hundreds of kilometres from the frontlines in Ukraine. Kyiv did not directly claim responsibility. Ukraine's military intelligence chief said Russia had enough high-precision missiles to conduct several more big air raids on Ukraine before it runs out of stock.
Thales Reinforces its Border & Travel Offer With the New Multimodal Biometric Pod
The new Thales multimodal biometric pod is an efficient enrolment and identification solution that helps smoothly manage travelers' border and immigration processes. The combination of'iris & face' capture and recognition capacities enables a fast and secure enrolment and ID verification at borders. The pod features a modern design that perfectly suits the authority's needs in highly secure environments. The travel industry and border security agencies have recognized the need to improve efficiency and overall traveler experience at border entry and exit points. For years, biometrics has been used by authorities to simplify traveler experiences at borders, speeding up people enrolment and ID checks such as the eGates or Entry-Exit Systems.
China Develops A Tool To Defend Military Facilities In South China Sea, And It's Mind-Blowingly Simple
Amid rising tensions in the South China Sea, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has developed a low-cost fast deployable air defense system using radar reflector balloons to protect military facilities from aerial attacks. In the era of AI technology, the Chinese military is opting for a rather simplistic method to protect critical infrastructure. The PLA demonstrated its latest technique at a joint drill, called the Zhejiang Golden Shield-22, conducted by the Chinese military and local units in November. It involved the use of radar reflector balloons to safeguard military facilities in case of a long-range missile or drone attack, according to a report on The War Zone. It included the deployment of AD air balloons on UAVs avenues of approach&energy assets visual camouflage (Ukraine lesson learnt) pic.twitter.com/m21KrBIVnZ
Elon Musk's Neuralink 'faces USDA investigation after deaths of 1,500 animals in testing'
Elon Musk's Neuralink is under federal investigation for animal-welfare violations amid staff complaints that its animal testing is being rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths, according to a Reuters review of documents and sources familiar with the investigation and company operations who spoke to Reuters. Neuralink, a medical devices company, is developing a brain implant it hopes will help paralyzed people walk again and cure other neurological ailments. The federal probe, which has not been previously reported, was opened in recent months by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Inspector General at the request of a federal prosecutor, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. It comes amid growing employee dissent about Neuralink's animal testing, including complaints that pressure from CEO Musk to accelerate development has resulted in botched experiments, according to a Reuters review of dozens of Neuralink documents and interviews with more than 20 current and former employees. Elon Musk's Neuralink is facing a probe amid reports of botched animal testing according to Reuters In all, the company has killed about 1,500 animals, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys, following experiments since 2018, according to records reviewed by Reuters and sources with direct knowledge of the company's animal-testing operations.
Elon Musk's Neuralink 'faces USDA investigation after deaths of 1,500 animals in testing'
Elon Musk's Neuralink is under federal investigation for animal-welfare violations amid staff complaints that its animal testing is being rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths, according to a Reuters review of documents and sources familiar with the investigation and company operations who spoke to Reuters. Neuralink, a medical devices company, is developing a brain implant it hopes will help paralyzed people walk again and cure other neurological ailments. The federal probe, which has not been previously reported, was opened in recent months by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Inspector General at the request of a federal prosecutor, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. It comes amid growing employee dissent about Neuralink's animal testing, including complaints that pressure from CEO Musk to accelerate development has resulted in botched experiments, according to a Reuters review of dozens of Neuralink documents and interviews with more than 20 current and former employees. In all, the company has killed about 1,500 animals, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys, following experiments since 2018, according to records reviewed by Reuters and sources with direct knowledge of the company's animal-testing operations.
Textron's Bell V-280 Valor Chosen as New U.S. Army Long-Range Assault Aircraft
Textron announced that Bell Textron Inc., a Textron company, has been awarded the development contract for the U.S. Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program. The award is based on Bell's V-280 Valor tiltrotor that was developed and tested as part of the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR TD) program that began in 2013. The V-280 progressed through design, manufacturing, and more than three years of rigorous flight testing that provided extensive data validating the technical and operational advantages of the aircraft for the long-range assault mission. "We are honored that the U.S. Army has selected the Bell V-280 Valor as its next-generation assault aircraft," said Scott C. Donnelly, Textron's chairman and chief executive officer. "We intend to honor that trust by building a truly remarkable and transformational weapon system to meet the Army's mission requirements. We are excited to play an important role in the future of Army Aviation."
Four AI trends to watch in 2023
The launch of ChatGPT and GPT 3.5 (Generative Progressive Transformer-3.5) -- which many claim will herald a new era in dialogue-based conversational AI -- has ended the year on a high for conversational AI. People are using ChatGPT for tasks ranging from correcting code errors to rewriting the Bohemian Rhapsody and the number of ChatGPT users surpassed the million mark in less than a week last month. While 2022 was about newer and more advanced tools and models, commercial use cases, regulation, and standardisation of AI are expected to define 2023 for this domain. Here's what to expect from the AI industry in 2023. Generative AI, which is artificial intelligence that can create text, images, videos etc. without supervision, set the tone for this year and the trend will spill on to 2023 as well.
Neuralink is reportedly under federal investigation over animal testing
The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Inspector General is reportedly investigating Neuralink over potential animal welfare violations related to research testing. According to Reuters, internal documents show that staff members have been raising concerns that the company has been rushing animal testing and causing needless suffering and death. The news organization said the company has killed 1,500 animals, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys, since 2018. Those numbers don't automatically mean Neuralink is violating the law, and the company has passed all USDA inspections of its facilities. Former and current employees told Reuters, however, that pressure from Neuralink founder Elon Musk to accelerate development has led to faulty experiments and, hence, death rates higher than they need to be.