While nonconsensual deepfake porn has been used to torment women for years, the latest generation of AI makes it an even bigger problem. These systems are much easier to use than previous deepfake tech, and they can generate images that look completely convincing. Image-to-image AI systems, which allow people to edit existing images using generative AI, "can be very high quality … because it's basically based off of an existing single high-res image," Ben Zhao, a computer science professor at the University of Chicago, tells me. "The result that comes out of it is the same quality, has the same resolution, has the same level of details, because oftentimes [the AI system] is just moving things around." You can imagine my relief when I learned about a new tool that could help people protect their images from AI manipulation.

You've seen the art AI image generators can create, and you may have played with natural language AI chatbots. You've benefited from artificial intelligence tools recommending you music and suggesting your next streaming show. But AI can do much more. Humans are excellent at spotting patterns. It's why we see faces on Mars or in the clouds.

A house lays in the mud after it was washed away by Hurricane Fiona at Villa Esperanza in Salinas, ... [ ] Puerto Rico, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. Fiona left hundreds of people stranded across the island after smashing roads and bridges, with authorities still struggling to reach them four days after the storm smacked the U.S. territory, causing historic flooding. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, as of July 2022, nine climate disaster events exceeded $1 billion in losses. Hurricane Ian, which has a reported death of more than 100 people and caused as much as $47 billion in insured losses, could make it the most expensive storm in Florida's history. Since June 2022, floods in Pakistan have killed 1678 people and washed away villages and infrastructure leaving behind 3.4 million children at increased risk of waterborne diseases, drowning and malnutrition.

Watching TV increases your risk of dementia – but using a computer can help protect against it, a study suggests. Researchers analysed 12 years of data on 150,000 people in the UK aged 60 or over. Those who developed dementia watched three hours, 24 minutes of TV a day. Those who did not watched three hours – but spent six minutes longer a day on the computer. Watching TV increases your risk of dementia – but using a computer can help protect against it, a study suggests.

Ever scrolled through Instagram and spotted yourself in the background of a friend's photo looking a bit rough? A new AI-designed camera could fix the problem for you before it even happens -- though it's more intended as a solution for surveillance cameras than your pal's smartphone. Digital cameras are everywhere, and they see you a lot, thanks to facial recognition tech, body motion tracking, and medical imaging. These cameras pick up myriad details daily, resulting in massive troves of data and raising serious privacy concerns. To try and streamline what some of these lenses see, a group of researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, has created cameras that can be taught to snap images of important objects while simultaneously erasing others from the shot.

Founded in 1991, India-headquartered HCL Technologies is a global technology company that helps enterprises reimagine their businesses for the digital age. The company specializes in key areas, including digital, IoT, cloud, automation, cybersecurity, and analytics, amongst others. With the company increasingly having a presence in the RegTech space, how does it see the sector changing? How is RegTech changing compliance? According to Daryl Wilkinson – Senior Executive, Strategic Initiatives, Financial Services UK&I at HCL Technologies, "I think you can look at this through two lenses. First, there appears to be a consensus that the global RegTech market is expected to achieve $30bn by 2027 – so that alone is changing the compliance market –new investment is disrupting incumbent models and is changing the way regulators engage with businesses. The second lens is cost; financial services rely heavily on legacy technology – RegTech's nature is to find that niche to solve those problems at a much lower cost than the banks and insurers might otherwise do themselves."

Marine biologists have a new AI tool for monitoring and protecting coral reefs. The project--a collaboration between Google and Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO)--employs computer vision detection models to pinpoint damaging outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) through a live camera feed. Keeping a closer eye on reefs helps scientists address growing populations quickly, to protect the valuable Great Barrier Reef ecosystem. Despite covering less than 1% of the vast ocean floor, coral reefs support about 25% of sea species including fish, invertebrates, and marine mammals. When healthy, these productive marine environments provide commercial and subsistence fishing and income for tourism and recreational businesses.

Disasters stemming from natural hazards are increasing in both frequency and intensity, reflecting the immediate reality of climate change and prompting a growing succession of humanitarian crises. Fortunately, new technologies can help detect and prepare for extreme weather and other hazards, as well as communicate to people and communities effectively about the necessary response. "We are all exposed to natural hazards, and this will worsen in the future," said Jürg Luterbacher, Director of Science and Innovation of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), at a recent AI for Good online seminar. "We need to act upon them accordingly." WMO has set out, along with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), to explore the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to strengthen disaster mitigation worldwide.

Genghis Khan got his dying wish: despite attempts by archaeologists and scientists to find the Mongolian ruler's final resting place, the location remains a secret 800 years after his death. The search for his tomb, though, has inspired an innovative project that could help protect polar bears. "I randomly tuned into the radio one night and heard an expert talking about the use of synthetic aperture radar [SAR] to look for Genghis Khan's tomb," says Tom Smith, associate professor in plant and wildlife sciences at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Utah. "They were using SAR to penetrate layers of forest canopy in upper Mongolia, looking for the ruins of a burial structure." Talking to engineers, including BYU's Dr David Long, Smith learned that SAR is used by the military to detect enemy camps, tanks and vehicles hidden beneath camouflage and is being studied as a potential tool for finding avalanche survivors.

Amazon's new Echo Show 10 (third-generation), the first Alexa device with a motorized swiveling display, is now available for preorder for delivery starting on February 25. The new model, which was announced in September 2020, retails for $249.99 and is available in two colors: charcoal and glacier white. With the Echo Show 10, you can stream your favorite shows, follow along with recipes, call your friends and family, and more. The main draw for the Echo Show 10 is its smart motion. The touch-enabled display and embedded camera rotates atop a round base, which allows the built-in smart technology to keep the camera and screen in your line of sight automatically.