Earlier this fall, A.I. ethicist Timnit Gebru submitted a paper for consideration at an academic conference about predictive language models: on their environmental cost, and how they could learn racist and sexist language and also spread misinformation. Since she was working for Google, the company first wanted to review the paper--which Gebru wrote with several of her colleagues--and sign off on it. She was then told by senior managers that the paper didn't meet Google's publication bar, and that she should retract it or remove the names of Google employees. Gebru wanted more clarity on why they wanted it retracted and said that if Google couldn't provide that information, she would resign. This kicked off a few days of wrangling and several intense emails--until a manager emailed Gebru's boss, saying they had accepted her resignation.

Northrop Grumman Corporation has announced that the company is on track to begin collaborating and investing in Deepwave Digital with the intent to support research, development, and integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. According to the company, this partnership will aim to improve communications processing power for next-generation capabilities for defense customers. "We're evolving the way we think and the way we work, to use emerging commercial technologies to provide our warfighters the most advanced capabilities more quickly," said Chris Daughters, vice president of research, technology and engineering, Aeronautics Systems, Northrop Grumman. Throughout the year, the Congressional Research Service has been updating the document "Artificial Intelligence and National Security" to include arguments encouraging defense manufacturers to foster strategic partnerships with the private sector, especially when developing AI technologies. The goal is to combat the gradual speed at which the Department of Defense has been adopting and implementing AI policy in contrast to how quickly the commercial industry is moving.

GrammaTech will explore the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence to automate software tools' design, testing and implementation under a contract of an undisclosed sum from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The company said Monday research findings will be available on Mnemosyne, its open source tool being designed to serve as an automated software development assistant that will help ensure documentation aligns with implementation. With support from GrammaTech, DARPA aims to help developers employ statistical machine learning, formal methods and search-based software engineering to tackle problem definition and high-level software design via the Intent Defined Adaptive Software program. "By separating problem definition from implementation, this project will help make it possible for software developers to focus on'what to do', by handling the details of'how to do it' using automated code synthesis and adaptation tools," said Alexey Loginov, vice president of research at GrammaTech. The agency plans to roll out a framework that optimizes modern software development environments and yields various types of intent specification.

Despite everything we've all been through, though, there were a few bright spots in the world of tech. Console makers blessed us with mouthwatering next-gen hardware, while Apple wowed the industry with the prowess of its own M1 CPU. Google also delivered an excellent phone for just $350, demonstrating an ability to not just read the room, but also to think of a world beyond a well-heeled tech-savvy audience. There are also companies that flourished during the global lockdown, and though truth continued to be contested throughout the US elections, we thankfully saw social media step up their efforts to combat misinformation. Clearly, staying home gave some of us the freedom to produce great products and fight for good. Apple's M1 system on a chip (SOC) may be tiny, but its impact on the computing industry will be felt for years to come. The first of Apple's silicon to reach Macs, the M1 is a powerhouse, with 8 CPU cores and up to 8 GPU cores. Both the M1-equipped MacBook Air and MacBook Pro blew away comparable Intel or AMD-based PCs in the Geekbench 5 benchmark.

However, it is not too late, nor is it to India's disadvantage not to have top-notch algorithm developments taking place outside the country. The reality is that most useful algorithms make it to the public domain quickly, leading to their wide availability. Algorithms are not hard to get, data is. Indeed, one could argue that there could be advantages in not getting into the algorithm race, at least as a short-term winning strategy. We can let others do the complex and expensive job of creating these algorithms, and focus on India-specific use cases and data instead.

Despite being nearly identical in size to Earth, our sister world suffers from a choking greenhouse effect, a surface covered in permanent sulfuric acid clouds, and average temperatures hot enough to melt lead. Most digital devices will get swiftly destroyed under such conditions, which makes planning a robotic rover that can survive long-term a challenge. So, thought Jonathan Sauder, a mechatronics engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, why not go analog? Rather than relying entirely on state-of-the-art components, a mechanical automaton built from high-temperature steel and titanium could travel over Venus' scorching terrain, using clockwork sensors to avoid obstacles while collecting power from wind and storing it in a wind-up spring. Though it sounds like the basis of some retro-future sci-fi novel in which the Victorians explore the solar system, a rudimentary version of Sauder's vision is being built and tested in the modern day.

Innovative automakers, software developers and tech companies are transforming the automotive industry. Today, drivers enjoy enhanced entertainment, information options and connection with the outer world. As cars move toward more autonomous capabilities, the stakes are increasing in terms of security. As per a report by the UN, Europol and cybersecurity company Trend Micro, cyber-criminals could exploit disruptive technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to conduct attacks against autonomous cars, drones and IoT-connected vehicles. The rapid increase in these technologies inevitably creates a rich target for hackers looking to get access to personal information and control the essential automotive functions and features.

A satellite-controlled machine gun with "artificial intelligence" was used in last week's assassination of a top nuclear scientist in Iran, the deputy commander of the country's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps told local media Sunday. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, long regarded by Israel and the US as the head of Iran's rogue nuclear weapons program, was driving on a highway outside Iran's capital Tehran with a security detail of 11 Guards on November 27, when the machine gun "zoomed in" on his face and fired 13 rounds, said Rear-admiral Ali Fadavi. The machine gun was mounted on a Nissan pickup and "focused only on martyr Fakhrizadeh's face in a way that his wife, despite being only 25 centimeters (10 inches) away, was not shot," the Mehr news agency quoted IRGC chief Fadavi as saying. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up It was being "controlled online" via a satellite and used an "advanced camera and artificial intelligence" to make the target, he added. Fadavi said that Fakhrizadeh's head of security took four bullets "as he threw himself" on the scientist, and that there were "no terrorists at the scene."

You need to speak with an agent quickly, but everyone is occupied, with lines stretching endlessly. So you go to the robot for help. The robot assistant answers your questions over the course of a genuine, back-and-forth conversation. And despite the noisy environment, it's able to register the stress in your voice -- along with a multitude of other verbal emotional cues -- and modulate its own tone in response. That scenario, laid out by Rana Gujral, CEO of Behavioral Signals, is still a hypothetical -- but it might be reality sooner than you think. "Within the next five years, you'll see some really amazing experiences come out." "Within the next five years, you'll see some really amazing experiences come out," he said. Gujral isn't in the robotics or chatbot game, but he is in the business of emotion AI: artificial intelligence that detects and analyzes human emotional signals. Emotion AI isn't limited to voice.