Meta says it wants to build the most powerful artificial intelligence supercomputer in the world. The Facebook owner has already designed and built what it calls the AI Research SuperCluster, or RSC, which it says is among the fastest AI supercomputers in the world. It hopes to top that league by mid-2022, it said, in what would be a major step towards increasing its artificial intelligence capabilities. That is partly focused on the metaverse, which Meta has staked its future on. With that new technology, "AI-driven applications and products will play an important role", it said in its announcement.

A new control technology has been developed by scientists for a four-legged robot that allowed it to achieve the "effortless" superhuman feat of hiking 120 vertical metres in the Alps in 31 minutes without any falls or missteps. The advance may lead to the development of new robots and other kinds of robotic technology that can be used in terrain too dangerous for humans, said the researchers, including those from ETH Zurich in Switzerland. The ANYmal quadrupedal robot successfully finished the hike – which consisted of steep sections on slippery ground, high steps and forest trails full of roots – four minutes faster than the estimated duration for human hikers, according to the study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Robotics. "The robot has learned to combine visual perception of its environment with proprioception – its sense of touch – based on direct leg contact. This allows it to tackle rough terrain faster, more efficiently and, above all, more robustly," study co-author Marco Hutter from ETH Zurich said in a statement.

The inventor of the PlayStation has said he "can't see the point" of the metaverse. "Being in the real world is very important, but the metaverse is about making quasi-real in the virtual world, and I can't see the point of doing it," Ken Kutaragi told Bloomberg News. "You would rather be a polished avatar instead of your real self? Mr Kutaragi is currently the head of Ascent Robotics, an artificial intelligence startup that aims to build robots for use in retail and logistics. It is also developing a system to transform real-world objects into data that can be read by a computer.

Users who asked the voice assistant for help were told that something had gone wrong, with an error light showing on the tubes. Amazon does not run a service status page for its Alexa service in particular. The company's representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent. But vast numbers of users across the world reported the problems, suggesting the problems could be very widespread. Amazon Web Services – which powers its online tools such as Alexa, as well as a variety of other websites that are not part of the company – does a run a page for service updates, which did not show any issues.

Elon Musk appears close to beginning the first ever human trials of his brain-computer interface technology. A new job posting for a'Clinical Trial Director' at Neuralink reveals that the neurotech startup is preparing to take its brain chip research to the next stage. Neuralink has already conducted trials on pigs and monkeys, including a successful experiment involving a nine-year-old macaque capable of playing video games using only its mind. The firm eventually hopes to use the technology to allow "human-AI symbiosis". Early human trials, which Mr Musk said last month will take place in 2022, will likely involve people with paralysis using Neuralink's interface to gain direct neural control of a computer cursor.

Researchers have built a sensor capable of recording signals from the human brain in record-breaking detail, opening up new possibilities for brain-computer interfaces. A team of engineers and surgeons, led by University of California San Diego professor Shadi Dayeh, used a densely packed grid embedded with thousands of electrocorticography (EC0G) sensors to allow them to read activity from the brain's cortex in 100 times higher resolution than existing technologies. Early applications could include surgeons receiving ultra clear brain signal information, providing better guidance for removing tumours without damaging healthy tissue, as well as surgically treating drug-resistant epilepsy. Longer-term, the brain device could be used as a permanent wireless implant to assist people living with paralysis or other neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's, which can be treated with electrical stimulation. Beyond that, the ECoG technology could be developed for use in the emerging field of brain-computer interfaces, which have a huge range of potential applications – from controlling a computer just by thinking, to streaming music directly to your brain.

Tesla boss Elon Musk has labelled a rival's criticism of his company's self-driving software a "tragic case of ego [over] ability". Dan O'Dowd, chief executive of a firm that provides software to automakers, took out a full-page ad in the New York Times warning people not to be "crash test dummies" in Tesla vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving (FSD) software. The advert, paid for by Mr O'Dowd's Dawn Project initiative, accused FSD of being the "worst software ever sold by a Fortune 500 company". Mr O'Dowd also appeared on various high-profile news networks in the US to make allegations against Tesla's software, calling for a ban on cars using FSD on public roads. As part of the publicity stunt, he offered a $10,000 reward "to the first person who can name another commercial product from a Fortune 500 company that has a critical malfunction every eight minutes".

Quantum computers could finally be made at large scale after a number of major breakthroughs, the scientists behind them have announced. The new research shows that it is possible to make robust and reliable silicon-based quantum computers, that would be compatible with the existing manufacturing technology we have. Three separate papers in Nature together show that such silicon-based quantum processors are dependable and efficient enough that they could be made and used in the real world. Each of the three papers show quantum computers that are more than 99.9 per cent error free, far above the 99 per cent threshold considered as the standard for fault-tolerant computers. As such, they could finally be ready to be used for actual applications.

A student in Indonesia has made a fortune after turning a collection of selfies into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) because he thought "it might be funny". Sultan Gustaf Al Ghozali, who studies computer science, took nearly 1,000 pictures of himself sitting in front of his computer over a four-year period, before transforming them into NFTs – unique digital items that are bought, sold and stored on a blockchain. The 22-year-old originally priced each one at just 0.00001 ETH ($3) but they soon sky-rocketed in value after gaining the attention of high-risk crypto traders, with individual images now selling for more than $10,000. Elon Musk responds to'tragic' Tesla self-driving ad Quantum computers could finally be made at large scale after major breakthrough Reddit founder predicts almost all games will soon pay you to play them Elon Musk responds to'tragic' Tesla self-driving ad The next day, he tweeted: "Can't believe people actually bought my photo NFT, 35 already sold in one day." More than 200 of his selfie NFTs were sold later that day, with hundreds more picked up by traders over the following days on the platform OpenSea.

A California motorist has become the first person to be charged over a fatal crash involving Tesla's Autopilot system. Kevin George Aziz Riad, 27, faces two counts of vehicular manslaughter after being behind the wheel of a Tesla when it ran a red light, crashing into another car and killing two people. It is the first time a motorist has been charged with a felony for an incident involving the electric car maker's partially automated driving system, according to the Associated Press. Los Angeles County prosecutors filed the charges in October, but details of the case have only just emerged. Mr Riad, who works as a limousine service driver, is out on bail while the case is pending.