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People Are Protesting Data Centers--but Embracing the Factories That Supply Them

WIRED

As the data center backlash grows, support is growing for server factories and the hundreds of jobs they're expected to bring. Last month, Pamela Griffin and two other residents of Taylor, Texas, took to the lectern at a city council meeting to object to a data center project. But later, they sat back as council members discussed a proposed tech factory. Griffin didn't speak up against that development. A similar contrast is repeating in communities across the US.


DHS Has Been Collecting US Citizens' DNA for Years

WIRED

DHS Has Been Collecting US Citizens' DNA for Years Newly released data shows Customs and Border Protection funneled the DNA of nearly 2,000 US citizens--some as young as 14--into an FBI crime database, raising alarms about oversight and legality. Save this storyFor years, Customs and Border Protection agents have been quietly harvesting DNA from American citizens, including minors, and funneling the samples into an FBI crime database, government data shows. This expansion of genetic surveillance was never authorized by Congress for citizens, children, or civil detainees. According to newly released government data analyzed by Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy & Technology, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, collected the DNA of nearly 2,000 US citizens between 2020 and 2024 and had it sent to CODIS, the FBI's nationwide system for policing investigations. An estimated 95 were minors, some as young as 14. The entries also include travelers never charged with a crime and dozens of cases where agents left the "charges" field blank.


China experimenting with brain-computer interfaces in global race for AI dominance: report

FOX News

WEHEAD connects to ChatGPT and displays a face, expressions and voice. China is reportedly working to cognitively merge humans with machines as part of its ongoing efforts to compete in the artificial intelligence race. The communist country is using brain-computer interface (BCI) technology -- systems that allow for communication between the brain and an external device -- to "augment human cognition and human-machine teaming," The Washington Times reported, citing a presentation from Georgetown experts delivered to U.S. officials. These include invasive, minimally-invasive and non-invasive BCIs, according to The Washington Times. Invasive BCIs involve surgery to implant electrodes into the brain, while non-invasive BCIs use sensors on the scalp to monitor brain activity. Meanwhile, minimally-invasive BCIs involve implanting devices, but they do not penetrate brain tissue, according to a report in the National Library of Medicine.


3D-printed Texas neighborhood is going up as homes start in mid-$400K range: 'Tremendous interest'

FOX News

In 2023, people who want to reside in Georgetown, Texas, may have the opportunity to live in a large, 3D-printed neighborhood. Homebuyers interested in relocating to Georgetown, Texas, may have the opportunity to live in a large, 3D-printed neighborhood. ICON, a construction tech company, along with Lennar, a home construction company and Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), an architecture company, are teaming up to develop Wolf Ranch -- a 100-home, 3D-printed community. "Wolf Ranch marks the largest community of its kind in development in the world and in partnership with one of the largest home builders in the country, Lennar," Dmitri Julius, chief of special projects at ICON, told Fox News Digital. The partnership between Austin-based ICON and Lennar "offers a promising path toward an alternate method of delivering technology-driven homes that meet rising demand in desirable communities," Julius added.


Research Fellow- Center for Security and Emerging Technology (Multiple Opportunities)

#artificialintelligence

CSET Research Fellows apply their varied experience and expertise to challenging policy questions at the intersection of national security and emerging technology. Comfortable working with empirical data and evidence to support policy recommendations, Research Fellows are expected to lead research projects, brief policymakers, participate in public events, and manage and mentor CSET's Research Analysts, Research Assistants, and student affiliates. They are also expected to work closely with CSET's data scientists to conduct empirical analyses. Generally, Research Fellows are less than 10 years out of graduate school (MA, PhD or JD) programs and are encouraged to enter public service at the conclusion of their fellowship. Please note that each position has separate, detailed position descriptions, requirements and application instructions.


AI Can Write Disinformation Now--and Dupe Human Readers

WIRED

When OpenAI demonstrated a powerful artificial intelligence algorithm capable of generating coherent text last June, its creators warned that the tool could potentially be wielded as a weapon of online misinformation. Now a team of disinformation experts has demonstrated how effectively that algorithm, called GPT-3, could be used to mislead and misinform. The results suggest that although AI may not be a match for the best Russian meme-making operative, it could amplify some forms of deception that would be especially difficult to spot. Over six months, a group at Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology used GPT-3 to generate misinformation, including stories around a false narrative, news articles altered to push a bogus perspective, and tweets riffing on particular points of disinformation. "I don't think it's a coincidence that climate change is the new global warming," read a sample tweet composed by GPT-3 that aimed to stoke skepticism about climate change.


ICE Turned To DMV Driver's License Databases For Help With Facial Recognition

NPR Technology

Now we're going to look more broadly at what's been revealed today about ICE turning to DMV offices for help with facial recognition - that is, using driver's license photographs and algorithms to identify people suspected of being in the country illegally. Now, this collaboration was unearthed by a team at Georgetown University, and here to brief us is NPR's Aarti Shahani. CORNISH: I understand that in the past, ICE has gone to DMV offices and just asked for records on immigrants. We just heard about the case in Vermont that alleges that much. What exactly is new here?


Georgetown to launch AI think tank

#artificialintelligence

The announcement follows an executive order that President Donald Trump signed in February to increase AI research and development. The order calls for more training in the form of apprenticeships, skills programs and STEM education, with a focus on computer science. Georgetown joins at least two other U.S. colleges with big plans in AI. In October, MIT revealed its new, $1 billion College of Computing, which will integrate AI, computer science and data science throughout the institution. And in February, the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, in Albany, announced a $2 billion investment from IBM to create an AI research center on the campus.


At Toyota, The Automation Is Human-Powered

#artificialintelligence

On the assembly line in Toyota's low-strung, sprawling Georgetown, Kentucky factory, worker ingenuity pops up in the least expected places. For instance, normally in auto plants installing a gas tank is a tedious, relatively complicated procedure. Because the tank is so heavy, a crane usually positions and holds it against the skeletal frame while employees tighten its straps and bolts from under the chassis, a strained and time-consuming maneuver that requires keeping arms up in the air for long periods of time. To allay the obvious shortcomings in this process, a group of Toyota workers designed an ingenuous device–a multi-armed piece of industrial machinery that in a single action lifts the tank in the air, places it in its crevice and reaches underneath the vehicle's skeletal body to permanently attach the tank to the chassis. The process is fast, seamless, and ergonomically safe.


Legal Week - Is artificial intelligence the key to unlocking innovation in your law firm?

#artificialintelligence

The recent media frenzy about artificial intelligence (AI) has been unavoidable. This vision has perhaps come a step closer with the arrival of IBM Watsoni and Richard Susskind's latest book, The Future of the Professionsii, which predicts an internet society with greater virtual interaction with professional services such as doctors, teachers, accountants, architects and lawyers. In reality, is AI many years away from making any real impact in the legal sector? And should law firms see this technical advancement as an opportunity or threat? Broadly speaking, AI is the theory and development of computer systems which will perform tasks that normally require human intelligence.