Tesla is recalling almost 200,000 vehicles in China over problems with the trunk and front hood that raise the risk of collisions, a state regulator said Friday, hours after a similar recall was announced in the United States. The order is the latest blow to the American self-driving car pioneer, which is hugely popular in China although the firm's reputation has taken a hit this year following a spate of crashes, scandals and data security concerns. China's State Administration for Market Regulation said the defects could affect the vehicles' backup cameras or cause the hoods to open suddenly while driving. The move covers three batches of cars produced between 2015 and 2020. Elon Musk's electric vehicle company will inspect the cars for free and fix the issues, the regulator said in a statement.

Nine technologies developed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory have been selected as R&D 100 Award winners for 2021. Since 1963, this awards program has recognized the 100 most significant technologies transitioned to use or introduced into the marketplace over the past year. The winners are selected by an independent panel of expert judges. R&D World, an online publication that serves research scientists and engineers worldwide, announces the awards. The winning technologies are diverse in their applications.

In recent years, underground chemists have increasingly made small chemical tweaks on known recreational drugs to skirt laws, creating novel designer versions. Instead of cannabis, for instance, these chemists could offer up XLR-11, or instead of PCP they might have 3-MeO-PCE. Novel designer drugs, also called research chemicals or legal highs, still produce physiological and psychological effects, though experts say that they can come with a slew of risks. Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, for instance, are increasingly cited among the number of opioid-related deaths in the United States, which reached more than 75,000 this year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, synthetic cannabinoids can cause heart attacks, kidney failure, and, in some cases, death.

When it comes to identification, I think there's been a lot of gains in terms of testing the accuracy of different kinds of software, right. AI software that does facial recognition, or other kinds of biometric identification. NIST, the Department of Commerce, for example, has tests that they actually publish the results of different kinds of software. And the sort of background concern there is accuracy, obviously, but also bias, particularly if some of the algorithms are not as good or as accurate when it comes to, for example, certain racial groups. And that's also the kind of information that this puts out.

Enterprises continued to accelerate the adoption of AI and machine learning to solve product and business challenges and improve revenues in 2021. Meanwhile, AI startups have experienced significant growth, roping in major investments to improve their product offerings and meet the growing demand for AI solutions across sectors. In fact, data from CB Insights Research shows that while the number of equity funding deals in the global AI space this year is just slightly less than the last (2,384 deals in 2021 versus 2,450 in 2020), the amount of capital invested has almost doubled to $68 billion. As we head into 2022, here's a quick look back at the milestones that shaped the AI space over the past 12 months. To start the year, OpenAI announced DALL-E, a multimodal AI system that generated images from text.

In the moon-like landscape of northern Sudan, informal gold miners toil with spades and pickaxes to extract their prize from shallow pits that pockmark the terrain. Mining ore in the sweltering heat of the Nubian desert is the first stage of an illicit network that has exploded in the past 18 months following a pandemic-induced spike in the gold price. African governments desperate to recoup lost revenue are looking to Dubai to help stop the trade. Interviews with government officials across Africa reveal smuggling operations that span at least nine countries and involve tons of gold spirited over borders. That's a cause for international concern because the funds from contraband minerals dealing in Africa fuel conflict, finance criminal and terrorist networks, undermine democracy and facilitate money laundering, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. While it's impossible to say precisely how much is lost to smugglers each year, United Nations trade data for 2020 show a discrepancy of at least $4 billion between the United Arab Emirates' declared gold imports from Africa and what African countries say they exported to the UAE.

A new spy-in-the-sky camera which identified 15,000 cases of drivers using mobile phones could also catch motorists eating, drinking, or not wearing a seatbelt, its makers say. Smart cameras linked to a new, automated system using artificial intelligence (AI) are being trialled on an undisclosed motorway - ahead of a blanket ban on holding a mobile device while driving which comes into force in early 2022. The cameras instantly analyse high-definition photos taken through the windscreen of passing cars, and Jenoptik, the enforcement technology firm testing the cameras in the UK, believes they will be crucial in providing evidence to prosecute offenders. The pilot scheme has been running since spring and it is hoped a wider rollout across the country will be possible next year. But Acusensus, the Australian firm who designed the cameras, admits that they can be used to catch motorists doing anything from eating, drinking, smoking, adjusting the radio or using navigation devices in a holder.

DECEMBER 30, 2021 – Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane), Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the NavalX Midwest Tech Bridge (MTB) recently announced the winners of the Artificial Intelligence for Small Unit Maneuvers (AISUM) Prize Challenge. EpiSys Science, Inc. (Episci) took first place and Draper, Inc. (Draper) took second place. According to their website, Episci is "a multidisciplinary innovation company that develops next-generation autonomous technologies for defense, aerospace, and commercial applications." Draper's website says the organization "serves our nation's interests and security needs; advances technologies at the intersection of government, academia, and industry; cultivates the next generation of innovators; and solves the most complex challenges." "The overall goal of this challenge was to move the technology needle," said Amy Ross, Program Manager for the AISUM Prize Challenge.

A version of this article was published in TIME's newsletter Into the Metaverse. You can find past issues of the newsletter here. There are two versions of a BMW factory in the medieval town of Regensburg, Germany. One is a physical plant that cranks out hundreds of thousands of cars a year. The other is a virtual 3-D replica, accessed by screen or VR headset, in which every surface and every bit of machinery looks exactly the same as in real life.

The Army has set up a quantum computing laboratory and a centre for artificial intelligence (AI) at a military engineering institute in Madhya Pradesh's Mhow. The two centres will carry out extensive research in developing transformative technologies for use by the armed forces. 'The Army, with support from the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), has recently established the Quantum Lab at Military College of Telecommunication Engineering, Mhow to spearhead research and training in this key developing field,' the Defence Ministry said. It said the Indian Army is making steady and significant strides in the field of emerging technologies. Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane visited the facility during his recent visit to Mhow. 'Indian Army has also established an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Centre at the same institution with over 140 deployments in forward areas and active support of industry and academia,' the ministry said in a statement.