U.S. Navy pilots and sailors won't be considered crazy for reporting unidentified flying objects, under new rules meant to encourage them to keep track of what they see. Yet just a few years ago, the Pentagon reportedly shut down another official program that investigated UFO sightings. Is the U.S. military finally coming around to the idea that alien spacecraft are visiting our planet? The answer to that question is almost certainly no. Humans' misinterpretation of observations of natural phenomena are as old as time and include examples such as manatees being seen as mermaids and driftwood in a Scottish loch being interpreted as a monster.

A new startup has created an artificial intelligence system capable of mimicking voices that are unprecedentedly close to the real thing. In a video from Dessa, an AI company staffed by former employees of Google, IBM, and Microsoft, multiple audio clips demonstrate a machine-learning software that parrots the voice of popular podcaster, Joe Rogan to a degree that's almost indiscernible from the real thing. In the clips, the computer-generated Rogan muses on topics like chimpanzee's who can play hockey; it pulls off some adept tongue-twisters; and it even pontificates theories about how we're all living in a simulation, which as noted by The Verge, are some of Rogan's favorite topics. Joe Rogan is one of the most popular podcasters in the world, giving AI plenty of data to choose from when trying to mimic the host's voice In a response, even Rogan himself called the demonstration'terrifyingly accurate' reports CNET. What makes the demonstration more intriguing, or perhaps scary, according to Dessa is that software like the one demonstrated channeling Rogan could soon be commonplace.

The Diet on Friday enacted legislative revisions aimed at creating systems to ensure the safety of self-driving vehicles. The revisions to the Road Transport Vehicle Act, approved unanimously by the House of Councilors at a plenary session, call for the applying of vehicle safety standards to self-driving equipment necessary to check the surroundings, including cameras and radars. Under the revised law, special certification will be granted to auto safety inspection business operators capable of undertaking maintenance work for self-driving equipment. The original law did not have provisions that assumed vehicles would ever be self-driving. The revisions also require automakers to provide technical information necessary to carry out inspections of self-driving equipment.

Elizabeth Keatinge tells us about Tesla's Autonomy Investor Day where robotaxis were discussed. A Tesla Model 3 had Autopilot engaged in the seconds before it crashed into a semi truck in March, killing the driver, federal investigators confirmed in a report on Thursday. The car drove beneath the trailer in a crash that is similar to one that occurred in another part of Florida in 2016, also involving Autopilot. In both instances, drivers died and the top of the car was sheared off. In the most recent crash in Delray Beach, Florida, the 50-year-old driver turned on Autopilot about 10 seconds before the sedan collided with a semi-truck, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Machine learning (ML), a form of artificial intelligence that recognizes faces, understands language and navigates self-driving cars, can help bring to Earth the clean fusion energy that lights the sun and stars. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) are using ML to create a model for rapid control of plasma--the state of matter composed of free electrons and atomic nuclei, or ions--that fuels fusion reactions. The sun and most stars are giant balls of plasma that undergo constant fusion reactions. Here on Earth, scientists must heat and control the plasma to cause the particles to fuse and release their energy. PPPL research shows that ML can facilitate such control.

Computer scientists have taught an artificial intelligence agent how to take in its whole environment by just taking a few snapshots. The new technology can gather visual information that can be used for a wide range of tasks including search-and-rescue. Researchers have taught the computer system how to take quick glimpses around a room it has never seen before to create a'full scene'. The scientists used deep learning, a type of machine learning inspired by the brain's neural networks, to train their agent on thousands of 360-degree images of different environments. They say that their research could aid effective search-and-rescue missions by making robots that could relay information to authorities.

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - A Yemen rebel drone strike this week on a critical Saudi oil pipeline shows that the otherwise-peaceful sandy reaches of the Arabian Peninsula now are at risk of similar assault, including an under-construction nuclear power plant and Dubai International Airport, among the world's busiest. U.N. investigators said the Houthis' new UAV-X drone, found in recent months during the Saudi-led coalition's war in Yemen, likely has a range of up to 1,500 km (930 miles). That puts the far reaches of both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the two main opponents of the Iranian-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen, within reach of drones difficult to detect and track. Their relatively simple design, coupled with readily available information online, makes targeting even easier, analysts say. "These installations are easily findable, like on Google Earth," said Tim Michetti, an expert on illicit weapons technology with experience in Yemen.

DETROIT - A Tesla Model S involved in a fatal crash with a semitrailer in Florida March 1 was operating on the company's semi-autonomous Autopilot system, federal investigators have determined. The car drove beneath the trailer, killing the driver, in a crash that is strikingly similar to one that happened on the other side of Florida in 2016 that also involved use of Autopilot. In both cases, neither the driver nor the Autopilot system stopped for the trailers, and the roofs of the cars were sheared off. The crash, which remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, raises questions about the effectiveness of Autopilot, which uses cameras, long-range radar and computers to detect objects in front of the cars to avoid collisions. The system also can keep a car in its lane, change lanes and navigate freeway interchanges.

SANAA - The Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen carried out several airstrikes on the Houthi-held capital Sanaa on Thursday after the Iranian-aligned movement claimed responsibility for drone attacks on Saudi oil installations. The Sanaa strikes targeted nine military sites in and around the city, residents said, with humanitarian agencies reporting a number of casualties. Rubble filled a populated street lined by mud-brick houses, a Reuters journalist on the scene said. A crowd of men lifted the body of a women, wrapped in a white shroud, into an ambulance. Houthi-run Masirah television quoted the Houthi health ministry as saying six civilians, including four children, had been killed and 60 wounded, including two Russian women working in the health sector.

San Francisco is on track to become the first U.S. city to ban the use of facial recognition by police and other city agencies, reflecting a growing backlash against a technology that's creeping into airports, motor vehicle departments, stores, stadiums and home security cameras. Government agencies around the U.S. have used the technology for more than a decade to scan databases for suspects and prevent identity fraud. But recent advances in artificial intelligence have created more sophisticated computer vision tools, making it easier for police to pinpoint a missing child or protester in a moving crowd or for retailers to analyze a shopper's facial expressions as they peruse store shelves. Efforts to restrict its use are getting pushback from law enforcement groups and the tech industry, though it's far from a united front. Microsoft, while opposed to an outright ban, has urged lawmakers to set limits on the technology, warning that leaving it unchecked could enable an oppressive dystopia reminiscent of George Orwell's novel "1984."