Bloomberg Originals (August 17, 2023) – On this episode of The Circuit, Emily Chang sits down with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to hear how AI is shaking up the competition for search. Nadella argues that this new wave of technology is as big as the web browser or the iPhone.
Chang also speaks with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to discuss his company (which has some help from Microsoft), its ambitions and the latest on ChatGPT.
The Guardian Weekly (August 18, 2023) – This issue features ‘Back to the office: Is the work from home revolution over?’; Bangladesh’s ‘lost children’; AI does architecture; Pathfinders – In Ukraine minefields and more…
With even the big internet firms warning staff they need to show up more often, is working from home over? Or have the attitudes and expectations of employees changed for ever?
For years, Bibi Hasenaar felt rejected because she was adopted aged four. Then she saw a photo that described her as missing – and began to uncover an astonishing dark history
In the coming decades, as the pace of technological change continues to increase, millions of workers may need to be not just upskilled but reskilled—a profoundly complex societal challenge that will sometimes require workers to both acquire new skills and change occupations entirely.
New research looked at the extent to which the employees of a fashion retailer followed the stocking recommendations of two algorithms: one whose workings were easy to understand and one that was indecipherable. Surprisingly, they accepted the guidance of the uninterpretable algorithm more often.
Arts & Architecture Films (August 13, 2023) – ‘On the Verge of’ is an AI-Generated short film by Feen’Arts. It is the cinematic exploration of what Post-AI world would look like, inspired by the works of Manuel Hector Coto This short film is solely made using AI based language models.
World Economic Forum (August 12, 2023) – This week’s top stories of the week include:
0:15Scientists discover self healing metals – They have the ability to weld tiny cracks back together again without human intervention. Scientists were studying how microscopic cracks spread through platinum using a machine that repeatedly pulled on the ends of the metal. But after 40 minutes, the damage began to heal itself. The scientists said it was ‘absolutely stunning’ to watch first-hand. The finding revises some of our basic theories about metals.
1:42Who owns a song written by AI – Music made with artificial intelligence has made headlines this year. In April, an AI-generated track cloned the voices of Drake and The Weeknd. Heart on My Sleeve racked up 20 million streams on Spotify, Tiktok and Twitter before copyright claims by Universal Music Group saw it pulled from platforms. The pop star Grimes has taken a different route, offering to split royalties with anyone who uses her voice on an AI track. The limits of creative copyright were once clear but AI has introduced uncertainty.
4:50These special microbes kill harmful bacteria – The food industry struggles with persistent pathogens, such as Salmonella which causes fever, diarrhoea and stomach pain. In 2021, 96,000 cases of salmonellosis were reported in the EU. The illness costs up to €3 billion a year in health bills and lost productivity. These phage food safety solutions have been created by Phageguard. Phages are the most abundant organisms in nature and a natural solution to bacteria which they infect and dissipate. As well as being natural and safe, phages are specific to each target pathogen and unlike antibiotics, they don’t lead to side-effects or antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
6:24 Prescribing fruit and veg could save millions of lives – In the US, fruit and veg prescriptions would prevent almost 300,000 heart attacks and strokes and give people an extra 260,000 years of good health if they were offered to people with diabetes aged 40-79.
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The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. We believe that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to make positive change.
Comcast’s broadband network is crucial to the future of technology. Even so, its stock is cheap compared with buzzier names like Netflix, Nvidia, and Meta Platforms.
nature Magazine – August 10, 2023 issue: Algorithm designs 3D shapes to follow specific pathways; Why Indigenous youth need a voice in the climate debate; DNA leaks linked to inflammageing in the brains of mice; JWST spots what could be a quasar from the early Universe….
The Scopus, Dimensions and Web of Science databases are introducing conversational AI search.
The conversational AI-powered chatbots that have come to Internet search engines, such as Google’s Bard and Microsoft’s Bing, look increasingly set to change scientific search, too. On 1 August, Dutch publishing giant Elsevier released a ChatGPT-like artificial-intelligence (AI) interface for some users of its Scopus database, and British firm Digital Science announced a closed trial of an AI large language model (LLM) assistant for its Dimensions database. Meanwhile, US firm Clarivate says it’s working on bringing LLMs to its Web of Science database.
The bleeding edge … LookX uses a piece of crumpled paper as a prompt to create buildings in the style of Frank Gehry (left) and Zaha Hadid (right). Composite: Tim Fu
It’s revolutionizing building – but could AI kill off an entire profession? Perhaps not, finds our writer, as he enters a world where Corbusier-style marvels and 500-room hotels are just a click away
Oliver Wainwright – The Guardian (August 7, 2023):A handful of little green blocks flashes up on the screen, filling a building site with a neat grid of uniform cubes. One second they form rows of towers, next they morph into low-rise courtyards, then they flip back into long slender slabs, before cycling through hundreds of other iterations, in a hypnotic high-speed ballet of bristling buildings.
“You don’t even have to do much” … Patrik Schumacher-generated designs for ZHA using Midjourney. Photograph: Zaha Hadid Architects
I watch this while on a Zoom call with Wanyu He, an architect based in Shenzhen, China, and the founder of XKool, an artificial intelligence company determined to revolutionise the architecture industry. She freezes the dancing blocks and zooms in, revealing a layout of hotel rooms that fidget and reorder themselves as the building swells and contracts. Corridors switch sides, furniture dances to and fro. Another click and an invisible world of pipes and wires appears, a matrix of services bending and splicing in mesmerising unison, the location of lighting, plug sockets and switches automatically optimised. One further click and the construction drawings pop up, along with a cost breakdown and components list. The entire plan is ready to be sent to the factory to be built.
World Economic Forum (August 5, 2023) – This week’s top stories of the week include:
0:15Half of Gen Z & Millenials live paycheck to paycheck – A new survey asked young people their biggest concerns. The cost-of-living crisis came out top. Many say they’ve been forced to take on side jobs to make ends meet or postpone big life decisions such as buying a house. And the extra stress is taking its toll. 46% of Gen Zs and 39% of millennials feel anxious at work all or most of the time and levels of burnout are on the rise. Their second biggest concern is unemployment.
1:51This start-up recycles household batteries – The Better Battery Company sells batteries in special packaging. Its batteries are white at the positive end and blue at the negative. Inside the box, the batteries are arranged in rows with the white end upturned. When each battery runs out, you put it back in the box the other way up so it’s easy to see which are used and which are new. When the box is filled with spent batteries, you return it using a free postage label and the Better Battery Company sends them off to be recycled.
3:01AI translates K pop hits into 6 languages – K-pop stars have recorded songs in Japanese and English before but a simultaneous 6-language release is a global first. Right now, the pronunciation correction process takes ‘weeks or months’, according to HYBE. But one day, AI could translate songs in real-time. This isn’t the only way AI is changing the music industry. Streaming platforms use AI to analyse users’ listening habits to pick the perfect playlist AIs are even composing their own music or being employed as collaborators.
4:48New airline tires can cut pollution – Airless tyres could cut pollution and make punctures a thing of the past. Made of shape memory alloy, these tyres are puncture-proof, sustainable, and easier to recycle.
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The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. We believe that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to make positive change.
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Bloomberg Originals
Arts & Architecture Films (August 13, 2023) – ‘On the Verge of’ is an AI-Generated short film by Feen’Arts. It is the cinematic exploration of what Post-AI world would look like, inspired by the works of Manuel Hector Coto This short film is solely made using AI based language models.
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