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☆ Black Sea urchins have disappeared from the Gulf of Aqaba. Their loss could kill off an entire coral reef
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Hadas Gold | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Black sea urchins. The epidemic only affects the black sea urchins, and was even killing them in the research lab's tanks, and Eilat's aquarium -- which all use freshly circulating seawater. Black sea urchins feed on the algae that grows on the reef. The first step, needed in the coming weeks, is to establish "broodstock populations" that will eventually help repopulate and reintroduce the black sea urchins into the region. But the surviving sea urchins that could be used to do so are themselves under threat.

Persons: Omri Bronstein, Bronstein, we've, Bornstein, they're, " Bronstein, Omri Omesi, Omesi, he's Organizations: CNN, Tel, Tel Aviv University, Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences, Israel Nature, Parks Authority Locations: Eilat, Israel, Aqaba, Tel Aviv, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Turkey, Caribbean, Syria, Lebanon

☆ Google's patents cover tech in ChatGPT. But fighting rivals in court isn't worth it, legal experts say.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Google invented AI technology like the Transformer, which led to breakthroughs in the chatbot race. Essentially, outside researchers gain access to a piece of AI technology from Google and continue iterating on it, which in turn benefits Google's own products. Several experts in patent law spoke to Insider about Google's AI patents, namely why it hasn't used them against competitors and whether it even could. Technical and legal questions aside, it would be somewhat hypocritical for Google to sue anyone for infringing its AI patents. Patent warsLegal experts pointed to the idea of "mutually assured destruction" to explain why tech companies would file patents without enforcing them offensively.

Persons: hasn't, Matthew D'Amore, Idong Ebong, Nixon Peabody Organizations: Google, Cornell University, Big Tech, Microsoft, Samsung, Apple, HTC, IBM Locations: OpenAI, ChatGPT

☆ Is it possible to have compassion for billionaires? 'Succession' fans and 'empathy scholars' weigh in
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Aditi Shrikant | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The list of deplorable acts carried out by the Roy family is lengthy — blackmailing, covering up sexual assaults, murder. With what we know about the Roy family and the people who orbit them, one might find it hard to muster any compassion for these characters. He doesn't believe the show will inspire empathy for the ultra-wealthy, but it could for some of the struggles the Roy family has. 'I shouldn't have empathy for them, but I feel like do'For Succession fans, the Roys' wealth is a mental hurdle, but not an insurmountable one. Chase Shiflet 'Succession' fanMandy Weiss, 34, can conjure empathy for all the characters, including some of the more peripheral ones.

☆ When my son was accepted into Penn State for grad school, we learned he could negotiate the offer. He got an additional $52,000 in funding.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Ann Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

My son was accepted into Penn State for grad school and offered over $25,650 a year in funding. He's heading to Penn State in July, having earned over $300,000 in funding. He outlined his best offer and his desire to select Penn State if it could match the offer and consider additional funds for the summer. He scored another $52,000 in funding from Penn State, to be paid out over five years. He starts working in the lab at Penn State in July.

☆ These states might be the next to legalize weed
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Stefan Sykes | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

The state became the 22nd to legalize recreational marijuana and follows Missouri and Maryland, which did so earlier this year. Some states are even moving ahead with proposals or ballot measures to legalize weed, putting them within arms' reach of having recreational markets. These are the states that have a chance to legalize adult-use marijuana in the coming years. OhioOhio may vote on whether to legalize recreational marijuana in November. Haren said the proposal also plans to build upon Ohio's medical marijuana program and issue additional adult use licenses to new companies.

☆ ChatFished: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People With A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Emma Goldberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It is enough time to listen to the Spice Girls’ “Spice” album (40 minutes), Paul Simon’s “Paul Simon” album (42 minutes) and Gustav Mahler’s third symphony (his longest). It is enough time to roast a chicken, text your friends that you’ve roasted a chicken and prepare for an impromptu dinner party. Five hours is about how long many workers spend on email each day. It’s a weird thing, workplace chatter like email and Slack: It’s sometimes the most delightful and human part of the work day. It can also be mind-numbing to manage your inbox — to the extent you might wonder, couldn’t a robot do this?

☆ 'We're not at the moon yet': Human-like A.I. is still some way off, early investor in Google's DeepMind says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

"In terms of artificial general intelligence, OpenAI, ChatGPT stuff: it's like saying we're going to jump to the moon," Humayun Sheikh, a founding investor in AI startup DeepMind, which is now owned by Google , told CNBC in an interview. We are still some way off reaching human-level artificial intelligence despite rapid advances in the technology, according to an early investor in research laboratory DeepMind. His comments come as Google-parent Alphabet merges DeepMind with Google Brain, part of the U.S. internet giant's research division. Earlier this week, Demis Hassabis, the founder of DeepMind, told the Wall Street Journal that some form of AGI might be possible "in the next few years." How do we put that boundary around it and make sure AI doesn't go out of control?," Sheikh said.

The membership of the panel at Musk’s company, Neuralink, raises questions about potential violations of conflict-of-interest regulations aimed at protecting research integrity, a dozen animal-research and bioethics experts told Reuters. Autumn Sorrells has chaired an oversight board approving animal experiments by Elon Musk’s brain-chip startup, Neuralink, and also run the company’s animal care program. Reuters couldn’t determine the compensation terms of the Neuralink IACUC members who are also company employees. The independence of such boards, Nicolelis said, is critical to protecting the integrity of animal research that could impact humans in future clinical trials. These institutions generally prohibit people with direct financial interests from serving on IACUCs or voting on animal experiments.

☆ Dubai to build world's first 3D-printed mosque
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Nadia Leigh-Hewitson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —In recent years, 3D-printing has been used to build everything from homes to businesses and even bridges. Now, Dubai is set to construct the world’s first 3D-printed mosque. A rendering of the 3D-printed mosque, which will be built in Bur Dubai. By 2019 it held the world record for the largest 3D-printed structure – the Dubai Municipality building (standing 9.5 meters tall with an area of 640 square meters) – as well as being home to the world’s first 3D-printed office, and a 3D-printed drone research laboratory. He believes that a project like Dubai’s proposed mosque is the next phase in 3D-printed architectural design, but anticipates it will face challenges.

☆ He's played chess with Peter Thiel, sparred with Elon Musk and once, supposedly, stopped a plane crash: Inside Sam Altman's world, where truth is stranger than fiction
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Melia Russell | Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

But, "you do at some point need to start having contact with reality," he told Insider. The plan was still only a rough sketch, Blania told Insider, but that didn't seem to matter to his host. "He always wanted to understand everything at a very deep level," Thrun told Insider in an email. (When asked about guns, Altman told Insider he'd been "happy to have one both times my home was broken into while I was there.") When asked about this, Altman told Insider in an email: "i can guess what that's about; these stories grow crazily inflated over the years of getting re-told!

☆ Sam Altman is building his utopia, whether you want it or not
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Melia Russell | Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

Altman told Insider, "We debate our approach frequently and carefully." "I don't think anyone can lose your dad young and wish he didn't have more time with him," Altman told Insider. Altman told Insider that his thinking had evolved since those posts. (When asked about guns, Altman told Insider he'd been "happy to have one both times my home was broken into while I was there.") When asked about this, Altman told Insider in an email: "i can guess what that's about; these stories grow crazily inflated over the years of getting re-told!

☆ Ex-Harvard Professor Sentenced in China Ties Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Gina Kolata | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

For his work on nanotechnology, he had been seen by some as a contender for the Nobel Prize. But he also secretly accepted money from China, which had established a government initiative, the Thousand Talents program, to gain access to scientific knowledge and expertise, often paying scientists lavishly. When questioned about his involvement with Thousand Talents in 2018 by federal investigators, he denied it. Why It MattersDr. Lieber’s conviction in December 2021 resulted from the China Initiative, an effort launched in 2018, under the Trump administration, to identify scientists suspected of sharing sensitive information with China. But critics said that the China Initiative had unfairly targeted academic researchers of Asian descent.

Generative AI gobbles up reams of computing power, amplifying the urgency of Meta's capacity scramble, said five of the sources. Executives also that spring set about reorganizing Meta's AI units, naming two new heads of engineering in the process, including Janardhan, the author of the September memo. According to four of the sources, Meta did not prioritize building generative AI products until after the launch of ChatGPT in November. Zuckerberg announced a new top-level generative AI team in February that he said would "turbocharge" the company's work in the area. Carvill, the Meta spokesperson, said the company has been building generative AI products on different teams for more than a year.

☆ Democrats say Florida is 'dead for Biden' as his 2024 presidential campaign starts: 'We just need to be realistic'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

"It's like a dead carcass on the side of the road," DeSantis said in April of the Florida Democratic Party. Nearly two decades ago, Florida Democrats were "similarly declared dead, you know, forever, Amen," Schale said, but they rebounded. Wilfredo Lee/AP PhotoDemocrats say they still have spend in FloridaBut it's important for Democrats to still invest campaign resources in Florida, Democratic insiders said. Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said the party had no infrastructure and no voter registration drive when she took the helm in February. Joe Raedle/Getty Images, Scott Olson/Getty ImagesBuilding a Democratic benchFried she's optimistic about Florida Democrats' future — and Biden's potential there.

☆ We’re Trying to Learn from Bats to Fight Human Disease
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Betsy Mckay | Photos Dylan Nelson For Wsj | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Bats could help prevent pandemics and reveal blockbuster treatments for deadly human diseases or to slow aging. Bat stem-cell colonies, each containing thousands of individual cells, are visible as white spots at the bottom of a tissue-culture plate in a research lab.

☆ Opinion | China’s Lending Practices Are Not a Good Look
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Peter Coy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

This is undoubtedly a factor in China’s diminished standing in the world. Playing ball really would promote “peace and development for all humanity” while winning China some badly needed friends in the world. The explanation for China’s tough stance is discouraging for the short term but possibly encouraging for the long term. But there are signs that China’s leaders will eventually come around to seeing the value of working with the I.M.F. “In more and more countries, Suriname and elsewhere, we’re starting to see more coordination between the People’s Bank of China, the I.M.F.

☆ Elon Musk threatens to sue Microsoft over using Twitter data for its A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter CEO Elon Musk threatened to sue Microsoft on Wednesday, accusing the software giant of illegally using the social media company's data to train its artificial intelligence model. "They trained illegally using Twitter data," Musk tweeted. Microsoft develops its own so-called large language models (LLMs) and sells access to OpenAI's models. Training data from social networks is valuable because it captures informal, back-and-forth conversations. As these new AI models move from research labs and universities into the corporate world, the owners of the data are starting to make demands.

☆ Elon Musk says people should be cautious with AI because the tech is 'a danger to the public'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk called AI a danger to the public during an interview with Tucker Carlson. In an interview on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight," he said people should be "cautious with AI" and advised that there should be government oversight because the tech is "a danger to the public." "I think we'll have a better chance of advanced AI being beneficial to humanity in that circumstance," he added. It's far from the first time the billionaire has discussed the potential risks of advanced AI. He's previously compared AI with nuclear warheads, told Tesla investors that the tech stresses him out, and criticized OpenAI, a company he cofounded.

☆ DeepMind's CEO said there's a chance that AI could become self-aware in the future
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The CEO of Alphabet's DeepMind said there's a possibility that AI could become self-aware one day. DeepMind is an AI research lab that was co-founded in 2010 by Demis Hassabis. The CEO of Alphabet-owned AI research lab, DeepMind Technologies, spoke about the potential of artificial intelligence in an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes," which aired on Sunday. DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis told CBS that he thinks that AI might one day become self-aware. Hassabis told CBS that he believes AI is "the most important invention that humanity will ever make."

☆ First photo of a black hole resembles 'skinny' doughnut
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —The first photo ever taken of a black hole looks a little sharper now. The central region is darker and larger, surrounded by a bright ring as hot gas falls into the black hole in the new image. The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, called EHT, is a global network of telescopes that captured the first photograph of a black hole. Computers using PRIMO analyzed more than 30,000 high-resolution simulated images of black holes to pick out common structural details. But if heated materials in the form of plasma surround the black hole and emit light, the event horizon could be visible.

☆ Elon Musk's AI ambitions for Twitter show that some of the people calling for the tech to 'pause' seem to be acting out of their own self-interest
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Asia Martin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk-owned Twitter purchased 10,000 GPUs, apparently to get into the generative AI boom. This move goes against Musk's open-letter plea for companies to slow down AI development. It also backs up Reid Hoffman's claim that some like Musk wanted the pause so they could catch up. In December, a few months after taking full ownership of Twitter, Musk went so far as to tweet about how he cut OpenAI's access to Twitter, which was used to train OpenAI's language models. For someone who says he wants to pause AI development, Musk seems to be doing the very opposite of that.

☆ Inside Nike: Sources share claims of sexism, cheating, abuse at the world's wokest brand
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Joshua Hunt | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +51 min

The conservative blowback came as no surprise to Parker, who told Nike's board of directors to expect some short-term backlash. In late 2014, the BBC sent a film crew to Portland to interview several former Oregon Project employees. "He would be at the side of the track calling out runners' splits but wouldn't call Kara's out," Adam Goucher told me. When people asked why she left the Oregon Project, she said it was a "personal decision." "I don't think it has anything to do with who the CEO is," Goucher told me.

☆ 4 signs you need to check in on your friends, according to a Harvard-trained psychologist
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Aditi Shrikant | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

People who have five or more friends are 60% happier than people with fewer than five friends, according to a recent study. Here's how to know when your friend is in a bad place, and how to effectively check in, according to Bryant. 4 signs you need to check in on your friendDisappearing. will elicit a scripted response, Bryant said. You can say, "I know you're working a lot and your oldest kid has been giving you a hard time.

☆ Nokia will launch 4G internet on the moon later this year to help expand lunar exploration
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Nokia plans to put a 4G/LTE network on the moon later this year, CNBC reported. The network will help potential lunar explorations, including plans to look for ice on the moon. Nokia is set to launch 4G internet on the moon later this year, CNBC reported, part of the company's ongoing relationship with NASA. The Finnish telecommunication company intends to launch the network on a SpaceX rocket later this year, CNBC reported. Nokia's plan to introduce 4G to the moon includes an antenna-equipped base station on the moon and a solar-powered rover.

☆ Air taxi firm Lilium says in funding talks, defends battery design
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Tim Hepher | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

PARIS, March 28 (Reuters) - German air taxi developer Lilium said on Tuesday it was in "active and constructive" discussions for new funding as it ramps up battery-cell production. But the challenge of securing certification and funding innovations such as batteries weigh heavily on the new sector. In November, Lilium raised $119 million from existing and new shareholders and partners such as Honeywell. Headed by former Airbus executive Klaus Roewe, Lilium is initially targeting contracts with large corporations and private individuals. Critics say the more radical design may be harder and take longer to certify than other eVTOL models.

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