Blockchain is the new talk of the town. It is the technology behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Today, it has turned out to be a game-changer for businesses. Its decentralized ledger offers transparency and immutability in transactions between parties without any intermediary. The transactions are irreversible, which means once a ledger is updated, it can never be changed or deleted. Blockchain technology will eventually find its space in the new and innovative applications of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.

Duke Professor Wins $1 Million Artificial Intelligence Prize, A ‘New Nobel’. Cynthia Rudin becomes second recipient of AAAI Squirrel AI Award for …

Groundbreaking research has always been an important aspect of SIGGRAPH, as scientists and researchers present the latest industry advancements to conference-goers. So, the fact that Nvidia, in collaboration with top academic researchers at 14 universities, will be presenting a record number (16) of research papers at this year's conference is astounding. When a reinforcement learning model is used to develop a physics-based animated character, the AI typically learns just one skill at a time: walking, running, or perhaps cartwheeling. But researchers from UC Berkeley, the University of Toronto, and Nvidia have created a framework that enables AI to learn a whole repertoire of skills--demonstrated with a warrior character who can wield a sword, use a shield, and get back up after a fall. Achieving these smooth, lifelike motions for animated characters is usually tedious and labor-intensive, with developers starting from scratch to train the AI for each new task.

To conclude, our study showed that medical AI systems can easily learn to recognise self-reported racial identity from medical images, and that this capability is extremely difficult to isolate,

Robots or advanced artificial intelligences that "wake up" and become conscious are a staple of thought experiments and science fiction. Whether or not this is actually possible remains a matter of great debate. All of this uncertainty puts us in an unfortunate position: we do not know how to make conscious machines, and (given current measurement techniques) we won't know if we have created one. At the same time, this issue is of great importance, because the existence of conscious machines would have dramatic ethical consequences. We cannot directly detect consciousness in computers and the software that runs on them, any more than we can in frogs and insects.

Based on early appearances, you should expect the unexpected when characters from Game of Thrones, Looney Tunes, and other popular Warner Bros. franchises team up and scrap together in WB Interactive Entertainment's upcoming MultiVersus. The "platform fighter" from the developers at Player First Games is built like a gaming sandbox where magical moments of play emerge from happy accidents and inventive players. The wascally wabbit can toss a projectile-blocking safe on the ground, but it's also a physics-based object that can be moved -- which means a punch can knock it into other players. Arya Stark, meanwhile, steps into the battlefield armed with a throwing knife that she can teleport herself over to, even if a teammate -- or, say, a cartoon safe -- is touching it. "Bugs Bunny will knock the safe up in the air and [Arya] will throw the dagger and teleport to the safe...and then re-direct it."

Autonomous vehicle startup Gatik says it will start using its self-driving box trucks in Kansas as it expands to more territories. Governor Laura Kelly last week signed a bill that makes it legal for self-driving vehicles to run on public roads under certain circumstances. Following a similar effort in Arkansas, Gatik says it and its partner Walmart worked with legislators and stakeholders to "develop and propose legislation that prioritizes the safe and structured introduction of autonomous vehicles in the state." Before Gatik's trucks hit Kansas roads, the company says it will provide training to first responders and law enforcement. Gatik claims that, since it started commercial operations three years ago, it has maintained a clean safety record in Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana and Ontario, Canada.

Popularised in the Brad Pitt film Moneyball, groundbreaking analytics almost saw the Oakland A's crowned the kings of baseball back in 2002. General manager Billy Beane's evidence-based, sabermetric approach allowed the small-market franchise to compete against teams with much bigger budgets by finding undervalued players through revolutionary statistical analysis. The concept sparked the adoption of more data-driven principles across a myriad of sports – with teams and coaches all trying to gain a competitive advantage – but the latest innovation may be the biggest game-changer of the lot. Invented by artificial intelligence company Zone7, the new Silicon Valley algorithm is being used by teams in the NBA, NFL and Premier League as a way to detect injury risk and recommend pre-emptive action. One of those clubs, Liverpool FC, has deployed it to great success this season in their hunt for an unprecedented quadruple, cutting the number of days players have lost to injury to 1,008 from more than 1,500 in 2020/21.

Unraveled, chaotic meals could be a thing of the past for burrito lovers thanks to a group of engineering students from Johns Hopkins University and their lunch-saving invention. Dubbed'Tastee Tape', the invention is simply edible sticky tape designed to hold a burrito together while it's being eaten. 'Tastee Tape allows you to put full faith in your tortilla and enjoy your meal, mess-free,' said Tyler Guarino, who led the project. Unraveled, chaotic meals could be a thing of the past for burrito lovers thanks to a group of engineering students from Johns Hopkins University and their lunch-saving invention. Dubbed'Tastee Tape', the invention is simply edible sticky tape designed to hold a burrito together while it's being eaten The team tested a'multitude' of ingredients and combinations before settling on a final recipe.

If you spend too much time on your smartphone, scientists have a list of 10 solutions that can help you cut back on screen time. The small but effective changes can help curb smartphone addiction and mental health issues such as depression, say experts at McGill University in Canada. In experiments, people following the strategies reduced their screen time, felt less addicted to their phone and improved their sleep quality, the experts report. Among the 10 strategies are changing the phone display to'greyscale' so the display appears black and white, and disabling facial recognition as a method of unlocking the screen. A black and white screen makes smartphones'less gratifying' to look at compared to the bright colours offered by app icons such as TikTok and Instagram.