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☆ Salesforce's UK chief urges government not to regulate all AI companies in the same way
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-11 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON — The UK chief executive of Salesforce wants the Labor government to regulate artificial intelligence — but says it's important that policymakers don't tar all technology companies developing AI systems with the same brush. Bahrololoumi noted that there's a difference between companies developing consumer-facing AI tools — like OpenAI — and firms like Salesforce making enterprise AI systems. She said consumer-facing AI systems, such as ChatGPT , face fewer restrictions than enterprise-grade products, which have to meet higher privacy standards and comply with corporate guidelines. A spokesperson for the UK's Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said that planned AI rules would be "highly targeted to the handful of companies developing the most powerful AI models," rather than applying "blanket rules on the use of AI. " That indicates that the rules might not apply to companies like Salesforce, which don't make their own foundational models like OpenAI.

Persons: Zahra Bahrololoumi, Salesforce, Bahrololoumi Organizations: LONDON, Labor, CNBC, Ireland, UK's Department of Science, Innovation, Technology Locations: Ireland, Salesforce, San Francisco , California, London, American

☆ A dog and a bird formed an unlikely friendship. Their separation has infuriated followers
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

In the four years since their unlikely bond was posted online, the odd couple has attracted almost two million followers on Instagram and Facebook. But in an emotional video posted online Tuesday, Peggy’s owners, Juliette Wells and Reece Mortensen, announced that the animals had been separated. Wildlife officials worried that others would follow their lead of domesticating wild animals in the hope of profiting online. Followers are being urged to write to their local member of parliament and the director general of the department. Bernard Ashcroft, CEO of Wildlife Rescue Australia, said the law prohibits people from taking wild animals as pets, for good reason.

Persons: Australia CNN —, Peggy, Molly ”, Molly, Juliette Wells, Reece Mortensen, ”, Wells, “, Darryl Jones, Molly didn’t, “ Peggy, Mortensen, DESI, Jones, Australia – “, “ It’s, ” Jones, Bernard Ashcroft Organizations: Australia CNN, Facebook, DES – Department of Science, Department of Science, Griffith University, CNN, Australia –, Wildlife Rescue Locations: Brisbane, Australia, Staffordshire, Australian, crazily

CNN —A search and rescue operation has been launched for more than 100 missing people in India’s northeast after flash floods ripped through the Himalayan state of Sikkim Wednesday, killing at least 14 people and washing away roads and bridges, according to the state government. Known as the rooftop of the world, the ecologically-sensitive Himalayan region is prone to flash floods and landslides and flooding is not unusual in Sikkim. High water levels in the Teesta river in Sikkim, India, on October 4. Rising water levels of the Teesta river in Sikkim, India, after flash flooding indundated the region. About 2,000 people were evacuated after the flash floods in Sikkim.

Persons: Prem Singh Tamang, Narendra Modi, ” Organizations: CNN, Indian Army, of, Indian Space Research Organization, ISRO, ” ISRO, state’s Disaster Management Authority, Sikkim’s Department of Science, Technology, . Indian Army, India Meteorological Department, Indian, Indian Institute of Technology Locations: India’s, Sikkim, Lhonak, Sikkim’s, India, of Sikkim, Lhonak Lake, Pakyong, Gangtok, Pakistan, Peru, China, Government, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Uttarakhand

The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded Monday to two scientists whose work led to the mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. As countries prepared to roll out those shots, The Associated Press took a look at how the vaccines were developed so quickly. ___How could scientists race out COVID-19 vaccines so fast without cutting corners? A head start helped -- over a decade of behind-the-scenes research that had new vaccine technology poised for a challenge just as the coronavirus erupted. Both shots — one made by Pfizer and BioNTech, the other by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health — are so-called messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines, a brand-new technology.

Persons: Dr, Anthony Fauci, Buddy Creech, ” Creech, Tal Zaks, ”, Drew Weissman, Weissman, Katalin, Philip Dormitzer, Barney Graham’s, ” Fauci, Graham, Jason McLellan, hadn't, “, ” Graham, Germany’s, Pfizer’s Dormitzer, Ugur Sahin Organizations: Medicine, COVID, Associated Press, Vanderbilt University, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, National Institutes of Health, NIH, University of Pennsylvania, Penn, NIH’s Vaccine Research Center, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education, AP Locations: U.S, Massachusetts, BioNTech, New York, China

Two days later, the man was cracking jokes and able to sit in a chair, Maryland doctors said Friday. “You know, I just keep shaking my head – how am I talking to someone who has a pig heart?” Dr. Bartley Griffith, who performed the transplant, told The Associated Press. “It’s just an amazing feeling to see this pig heart work in a human,” said Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin, the Maryland team’s xenotransplantation expert. That FDA allowed this second case “suggests that the agency is not ready to permit a pig heart clinical trial to start,” Mashke added. The pig heart, provided by Blacksburg, Virginia-based Revivicor, has 10 genetic modifications – knocking out some pig genes and adding some human ones to make it more acceptable to the human immune system.

Persons: –, “, ” Lawrence Faucette, Dr, Bartley Griffith, David Bennett, Ann Faucette, ”, Faucette, “ It’s, Muhammad Mohiuddin, Karen Maschke, ” Mashke Organizations: WASHINGTON, — Surgeons, Navy, University of Maryland Medicine, Associated Press, Maryland, Food and Drug Administration, FDA, National Institutes of Health, Maryland team’s, Hastings Center, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education, AP Locations: Maryland, Frederick , Maryland, U.S, Blacksburg , Virginia

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio now holds the record for the longest U.S. spaceflight. Rubio surpassed the U.S. space endurance record of 355 days on Monday at the International Space Station. But their stay was doubled after their Soyuz capsule developed a coolant leak while parked at the space station. By then, Rubio will have spent 371 days in space, more than two weeks longer than Mark Vande Hei, the previous U.S. record holder for a single spaceflight, Russia holds the world record of 437 days, set in the mid-1990s. “Your dedication is truly out of this world, Frank!” NASA chief Bill Nelson said via X, formerly known as Twitter.

Persons: Frank Rubio, Rubio, Mark Vande Hei, Frank !, Bill Nelson Organizations: NASA, Space, Twitter, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education, AP Locations: Russia, Kazakhstan

☆ South Africa's new ground station to help NASA track space flights
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Wendell Roelf | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MATJIESFONTEIN, South Africa Nov 8 (Reuters) - A new deep-space ground station being built in South Africa's semi-desert Karoo region will come online by 2025 to help track history-making NASA missions to the moon and beyond, space agency officials said Tuesday. The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) will establish, operate and maintain the station. South Africa has committed an initial 70 million rand ($3.93 million) to build the infrastructure and communications needed to ready the site, part of the government's investment in building its space infrastructure and research base. "NASA would not come to South Africa if they didn't feel that we have capacities to do the work in partnership with them," said Phil Mjwara, director general at South Africa's department of science and innovation. ($1 = 17.8206 rand)Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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