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Federated Multi-Task Learning

Neural Information Processing Systems

Federated learning poses new statistical and systems challenges in training machine learning models over distributed networks of devices. In this work, we show that multi-task learning is naturally suited to handle the statistical challenges of this setting, and propose a novel systems-aware optimization method, MOCHA, that is robust to practical systems issues. Our method and theory for the first time consider issues of high communication cost, stragglers, and fault tolerance for distributed multi-task learning. The resulting method achieves significant speedups compared to alternatives in the federated setting, as we demonstrate through simulations on real-world federated datasets.


Amazon's Echo Dot Max just got its best discount yet (25% off)

PCWorld

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Amazon's Echo Dot Max just got its best discount yet (25% off) It's the newest model of the Echo Dot and it can be yours for just $75 (was $100) right now with this limited-time Amazon deal. Amazon's newest smart speaker, the Echo Dot Max, has just gone on sale for the best price it's had so far. The latest model of the Echo Dot, this one's a bit larger and a lot louder than previous iterations, plus it now features a new chip that's perfectly optimized for the Alexa Plus AI assistant. In this way, the speaker ensures an effortless experience across all major streaming platforms.


Nvidia faces gamer backlash over 'breakthrough' AI graphics feature

BBC News

Nvidia faces gamer backlash over'breakthrough' AI graphics feature A new feature from chip-maker Nvidia that promises cinematic-quality graphics using AI has prompted a backlash online, despite the company claiming it would reinvent what is possible in video games. Nvidia said the DLSS 5 tool, which will be rolled out this autumn, would allow games to have photoreal computer graphics previously only achieved in Hollywood visual effects. In images shared with the media, the tech was shown radically changing the appearance of characters and environments in games such as Resident Evil Requiem and Hogwarts Legacy. But some industry professionals said its use of AI went too far, making graphics feel airbrushed and hollow. Clearly this is a massive glow-up for environments, said video game critic Alex Donaldson on Bluesky.


Ireland's 250-million-year-old gray spot

Popular Science

The folds in the tilted rock layers and differences in their erosion rate gives the limestone the step-like appearance we see today. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. While Ireland's natural landscape is known for every shade of green imaginable, a different color dominates one part of Ireland. Along the Burren Region on the country's western coast, gray limestone pavement covers the rocky and treeless landscape. NASA's Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite captured a view of Burren, showing the rocky landscape and an 860-foot-tall limestone hill called Moneen Mountain.


Online Learning of Optimal Bidding Strategy in Repeated Multi-Commodity Auctions

Neural Information Processing Systems

We study the online learning problem of a bidder who participates in repeated auctions. With the goal of maximizing his T-period payoff, the bidder determines the optimal allocation of his budget among his bids for $K$ goods at each period. As a bidding strategy, we propose a polynomial-time algorithm, inspired by the dynamic programming approach to the knapsack problem. The proposed algorithm, referred to as dynamic programming on discrete set (DPDS), achieves a regret order of $O(\sqrt{T\log{T}})$. By showing that the regret is lower bounded by $\Omega(\sqrt{T})$ for any strategy, we conclude that DPDS is order optimal up to a $\sqrt{\log{T}}$ term. We evaluate the performance of DPDS empirically in the context of virtual trading in wholesale electricity markets by using historical data from the New York market. Empirical results show that DPDS consistently outperforms benchmark heuristic methods that are derived from machine learning and online learning approaches.


Not everyone has an internal monologue

Popular Science

Your inner monologue may be less constant than you think--more like a fridge light that turns on when you look. Thinking doesn't always involve words. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. When I first started researching this story, I assumed I was writing about other people: those fascinating outliers who reportedly lack an internal monologue--the experience of actively speaking words in your mind as a sort of private narration of your life. Then I got on a Zoom call with Dr. Russell Hurlburt, a psychologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who has spent 50 years studying inner experience, and somewhere in the first ten minutes, I started to wonder: What if I'm talking about myself?


The Download: OpenAI's US military deal, and Grok's CSAM lawsuit

MIT Technology Review

Plus: China has approved the world's first commercial brain chip. Where OpenAI's technology could show up in Iran OpenAI has controversially agreed to give the Pentagon access to its AI. But where exactly could its tech show up, and which applications will its customers and employees tolerate? There's pressure to integrate it quickly with existing military tools. One defense official revealed it could even assist in selecting strike targets. OpenAI's partnership with Anduril, which makes drones and counter-drone technologies, adds another hint at what is to come.


WATCH: Wall-climbing robot swarms crawl US Navy warships as China's fleet surges

FOX News

Navy robots from Gecko Robotics will inspect U.S. warships in $71 million effort to reduce maintenance delays as only 60% of fleet remains operational amid China's naval expansion.


An AI image generator for non-English speakers

AIHub

Although text-to-image generation is rapidly advancing, these AI models are mostly English-centric. Researchers at the University of Amsterdam Faculty of Science have created NeoBabel, an AI image generator that can work in six different languages. By making all elements of their research open source, anyone can build on the model and help push inclusive AI research. When you generate an image with AI, the results are often better when your prompt is in English. This is because many AI models are English at their core: if you use another language, your prompt is translated into English before the image is created.


Senators tell ByteDance to shut down Seedance 2.0 AI video app 'immediately'

Engadget

They said the company'has shown it is willing to... steal the intellectual property ofAmerican creators.' After ByteDance suspended the global rollout of its new Seedance 2.0 AI video generator on the weekend, US senators have now told the company to immediately shut down the app. Seedance 2.0 poses a direct threat to the American intellectual property system and, more broadly, to the constitutional rights and economic livelihoods of our creative community, Senators Marsha Blackburn and Peter Welch wrote in a letter to the company . Responsible global companies follow the law and respect core economic rights, including intellectual property and personal likeness protections, the senators wrote. They cited Seedance AI examples including an AI generated Thanos and Superman battle, a rewritten ending and that famous (fake) Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt battle .