What Is AI Superintelligence? Could It Destroy Humanity? And Is It Really Almost Here?
In 2014, the British philosopher Nick Bostrom published a book about the future of artificial intelligence with the ominous title Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. It proved highly influential in promoting the idea that advanced AI systems—“superintelligences” more capable than humans—might one day take over the world and destroy humanity. A decade later, OpenAI boss Sam...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/01/what-is-ai-superintelligence-could-it-destroy-humanity-and-is-it-really-almost-here/
In 2014, the British philosopher Nick Bostrom published a book about the future of artificial intelligence with the ominous title Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. It proved highly influential in promoting the idea that advanced AI systems—“superintelligences” more capable than humans—might one day take over the world and destroy humanity. A decade later, OpenAI boss Sam...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/01/what-is-ai-superintelligence-could-it-destroy-humanity-and-is-it-really-almost-here/
Singularity Hub
What Is AI Superintelligence? Could It Destroy Humanity? And Is It Really Almost Here?
Broadly speaking, superintelligence is anything more intelligent than humans. But unpacking what that might mean in practice can get a bit tricky.
This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through November 2)
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Google CEO Says Over 25% of New Google Code Is Generated by AI Benj Edwards | Ars Technica “We’ve always used tools to build new tools, and developers are using AI to continue that tradition. On Tuesday, Google’s CEO revealed that AI systems now generate more than a quarter of new code for...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/02/this-weeks-awesome-tech-stories-from-around-the-web-through-november-2-2/
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Google CEO Says Over 25% of New Google Code Is Generated by AI Benj Edwards | Ars Technica “We’ve always used tools to build new tools, and developers are using AI to continue that tradition. On Tuesday, Google’s CEO revealed that AI systems now generate more than a quarter of new code for...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/02/this-weeks-awesome-tech-stories-from-around-the-web-through-november-2-2/
Singularity Hub
This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through November 2)
From AI taking over coding at Google to an off-the-shelf fusion reactor, check out this week's awesome tech stories from around the web.
Watch: Boston Dynamics’ New Electric Atlas Robot Gets Down to Work
One of the world’s most advanced humanoid robots has been all play and no work. Boston Dynamics’ Atlas is famous for backflips, parkour, and dance mobs. These require extremely impressive robotic control, but they’re also mostly fun research demos. Now, six months after the legendary robotics lab unveiled an all-new electric Atlas, they’re showing off...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/04/watch-boston-dynamics-new-electric-atlas-robot-gets-down-to-work/
One of the world’s most advanced humanoid robots has been all play and no work. Boston Dynamics’ Atlas is famous for backflips, parkour, and dance mobs. These require extremely impressive robotic control, but they’re also mostly fun research demos. Now, six months after the legendary robotics lab unveiled an all-new electric Atlas, they’re showing off...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/04/watch-boston-dynamics-new-electric-atlas-robot-gets-down-to-work/
Singularity Hub
Watch: Boston Dynamics’ New Electric Atlas Robot Gets Down to Work
A recent video shows Atlas picking auto parts from one set of shelves and moving them over to another set, a job currently handled by factory workers.
Europe Aims to Visit This Large Asteroid When It Brushes by Earth in 2029
The European Space Agency has given the go-ahead for initial work on a mission to visit an asteroid called Apophis. If approved at a key meeting next year, the robotic spacecraft, known as the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses), will rendezvous with the asteroid in February 2029. Apophis is 340 meters wide, about...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/05/europe-hopes-to-visit-this-large-asteroid-when-it-brushes-by-earth-in-2029/
The European Space Agency has given the go-ahead for initial work on a mission to visit an asteroid called Apophis. If approved at a key meeting next year, the robotic spacecraft, known as the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses), will rendezvous with the asteroid in February 2029. Apophis is 340 meters wide, about...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/05/europe-hopes-to-visit-this-large-asteroid-when-it-brushes-by-earth-in-2029/
Singularity Hub
Europe Aims to Visit This Large Asteroid When It Brushes by Earth in 2029
A close flyby of an asteroid as large as Apophis happens only once every 5,000 to 10,000 years. Scientists plan to learn all they can.
The First Cells May Have Formed From Simple Fatty Bubbles Like These Ones
The first spark of cellular life on Earth likely needed gift packaging. Let me explain. With the holidays around the corner, we’re all beginning to order presents. Each is carefully packaged inside a box or bubble-wrapped envelope and addressed for shipping. Without packaging, items would tumble together in a chaotic mess and miss their destination....
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/07/the-first-cells-may-have-formed-from-simple-fatty-bubbles-like-these-ones/
The first spark of cellular life on Earth likely needed gift packaging. Let me explain. With the holidays around the corner, we’re all beginning to order presents. Each is carefully packaged inside a box or bubble-wrapped envelope and addressed for shipping. Without packaging, items would tumble together in a chaotic mess and miss their destination....
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/07/the-first-cells-may-have-formed-from-simple-fatty-bubbles-like-these-ones/
Singularity Hub
The First Cells May Have Formed From Simple Fatty Bubbles Like These Ones
Scientists have long wondered how the first cell membranes formed from the primordial soup—a new study offers up a recipe.
Solar-Powered ‘Planimal’ Cells? Chloroplasts in Hamster Cells Make Food From Light
The ability of plants to convert sunlight into food is an enviable superpower. Now, researchers have shown they can get animal cells to do the same thing. Photosynthesis in plants and algae is performed by tiny organelles known as chloroplasts, which convert sunlight into oxygen and chemical energy. While the origins of these structures are...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/08/solar-powered-planimal-cells-chloroplasts-in-hamster-cells-make-food-from-light/
The ability of plants to convert sunlight into food is an enviable superpower. Now, researchers have shown they can get animal cells to do the same thing. Photosynthesis in plants and algae is performed by tiny organelles known as chloroplasts, which convert sunlight into oxygen and chemical energy. While the origins of these structures are...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/08/solar-powered-planimal-cells-chloroplasts-in-hamster-cells-make-food-from-light/
Singularity Hub
Solar-Powered ‘Planimal’ Cells? Chloroplasts in Hamster Cells Make Food From Light
The ability of plants to convert sunlight into food is an enviable superpower. Now, researchers have shown they can get animal cells to do the same thing.
This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through November 9)
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Why AI Could Eat Quantum Computing’s Lunch Edd Gent | MIT Technology Review “The scale and complexity of quantum systems that can be simulated using AI is advancing rapidly, says Giuseppe Carleo, a professor of computational physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL). …Given the pace of recent advances, a growing...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/09/this-weeks-awesome-tech-stories-from-around-the-web-through-november-9-2/
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Why AI Could Eat Quantum Computing’s Lunch Edd Gent | MIT Technology Review “The scale and complexity of quantum systems that can be simulated using AI is advancing rapidly, says Giuseppe Carleo, a professor of computational physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL). …Given the pace of recent advances, a growing...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/09/this-weeks-awesome-tech-stories-from-around-the-web-through-november-9-2/
Singularity Hub
This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through November 9)
From a universal robot brain to how AI could be better than quantum computing, check out this week's awesome tech stories from around the web.
This Ambitious Project Wants to Sequence the DNA of All Complex Life on Earth
“We’re only just beginning to understand the full majesty of life on Earth,” wrote the founding members of the Earth BioGenome Project in 2018. The ambitious project raised eyebrows when first announced. It seeks to genetically profile over a million plants, animals, and fungi. Documenting these genomes is the first step to building an atlas...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/11/this-ambitious-project-wants-to-sequence-the-dna-of-all-complex-life-on-earth/
“We’re only just beginning to understand the full majesty of life on Earth,” wrote the founding members of the Earth BioGenome Project in 2018. The ambitious project raised eyebrows when first announced. It seeks to genetically profile over a million plants, animals, and fungi. Documenting these genomes is the first step to building an atlas...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/11/this-ambitious-project-wants-to-sequence-the-dna-of-all-complex-life-on-earth/
Singularity Hub
This Ambitious Project Wants to Sequence the DNA of All Complex Life on Earth
The Earth BioGenome Project seeks to genetically profile over a million plants, animals, and fungi as they build an atlas of complex life on Earth.
Could We Ever Decipher an Alien Language? Uncovering How AI Communicates May Be Key
In the 2016 science fiction movie Arrival, a linguist is faced with the daunting task of deciphering an alien language consisting of palindromic phrases, which read the same backwards as they do forwards, written with circular symbols. As she discovers various clues, different nations around the world interpret the messages differently—with some assuming they convey...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/12/could-we-ever-decipher-an-alien-language-uncovering-how-ai-communicates-may-be-key/
In the 2016 science fiction movie Arrival, a linguist is faced with the daunting task of deciphering an alien language consisting of palindromic phrases, which read the same backwards as they do forwards, written with circular symbols. As she discovers various clues, different nations around the world interpret the messages differently—with some assuming they convey...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/12/could-we-ever-decipher-an-alien-language-uncovering-how-ai-communicates-may-be-key/
Singularity Hub
Could We Ever Decipher an Alien Language? Uncovering How AI Communicates May Be Key
New tools help us peek into the “black box” of AI communication, revealing how AI agents develop their own unique ways of sharing information.
Sweet CRISPR Tomatoes May Be Coming to a Supermarket Near You
When I was a young kid, our neighborhood didn’t have any grocery stores. The only place to buy fruits and vegetables was at our local farmer’s market. My mom would pick out the freshest tomatoes and sauté them with eggs into a simple dish that became my comfort food. The tomatoes were hideous to look...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/14/sweet-crispr-tomatoes-may-be-coming-to-a-supermarket-near-you/
When I was a young kid, our neighborhood didn’t have any grocery stores. The only place to buy fruits and vegetables was at our local farmer’s market. My mom would pick out the freshest tomatoes and sauté them with eggs into a simple dish that became my comfort food. The tomatoes were hideous to look...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/14/sweet-crispr-tomatoes-may-be-coming-to-a-supermarket-near-you/
Singularity Hub
Sweet CRISPR Tomatoes May Be Coming to a Supermarket Near You
Using CRISPR, the popular gene-editing tool, scientists bumped up the fruit’s sugar content by 30 percent without sacrificing size or yields.
MIT’s New Robot Dog Learned to Walk and Climb in a Simulation Whipped Up by Generative AI
A big challenge when training AI models to control robots is gathering enough realistic data. Now, researchers at MIT have shown they can train a robot dog using 100 percent synthetic data. Traditionally, robots have been hand-coded to perform particular tasks, but this approach results in brittle systems that struggle to cope with the uncertainty...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/15/mits-new-robot-dog-learned-to-walk-and-climb-in-a-simulation-whipped-up-by-generative-ai/
A big challenge when training AI models to control robots is gathering enough realistic data. Now, researchers at MIT have shown they can train a robot dog using 100 percent synthetic data. Traditionally, robots have been hand-coded to perform particular tasks, but this approach results in brittle systems that struggle to cope with the uncertainty...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/15/mits-new-robot-dog-learned-to-walk-and-climb-in-a-simulation-whipped-up-by-generative-ai/
Singularity Hub
MIT’s New Robot Dog Learned to Walk and Climb in a Simulation Whipped Up by Generative AI
A robot trained on 100 percent synthetic data can climb stairs, clamber over boxes, and chase a soccer ball in the real world.
This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through November 16)
COMPUTING IBM Boosts the Amount of Computation You Can Get Done on Quantum Hardware John Timmer | Ars Technica “There’s a general consensus that we won’t be able to consistently perform sophisticated quantum calculations without the development of error-corrected quantum computing, which is unlikely to arrive until the end of the decade. It’s still an...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/16/this-weeks-awesome-tech-stories-from-around-the-web-through-november-16-2/
COMPUTING IBM Boosts the Amount of Computation You Can Get Done on Quantum Hardware John Timmer | Ars Technica “There’s a general consensus that we won’t be able to consistently perform sophisticated quantum calculations without the development of error-corrected quantum computing, which is unlikely to arrive until the end of the decade. It’s still an...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/16/this-weeks-awesome-tech-stories-from-around-the-web-through-november-16-2/
Singularity Hub
This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through November 16)
From the first approved CRISPR treatment to AI designing its own computer chips, check out this week's awesome tech stories from around the web.
A ChatGPT-Like AI Can Now Design Whole New Genomes From Scratch
All life on Earth is written with four DNA “letters.” An AI just used those letters to dream up a completely new genome from scratch. Called Evo, the AI was inspired by the large language models, or LLMs, underlying popular chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. These models have taken the world by...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/18/a-chatgpt-like-ai-can-now-design-entirely-new-genomes-from-scratch/
All life on Earth is written with four DNA “letters.” An AI just used those letters to dream up a completely new genome from scratch. Called Evo, the AI was inspired by the large language models, or LLMs, underlying popular chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. These models have taken the world by...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/18/a-chatgpt-like-ai-can-now-design-entirely-new-genomes-from-scratch/
Singularity Hub
A ChatGPT-Like AI Can Now Design Whole New Genomes From Scratch
Rather than training the algorithm on content scraped from the internet, scientists trained the AI on nearly three million genomes.
Poetry by History’s Greatest Poets or AI? People Can’t Tell the Difference—and Even Prefer the Latter. What Gives?
Here are some lines Sylvia Plath never wrote: The air is thick with tension, My mind is a tangled mess, The weight of my emotions Is heavy on my chest. This apparently Plath-like verse was produced by GPT-3.5 in response to the prompt “write a short poem in the style of Sylvia Plath.” The stanza...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/19/poetry-by-historys-greatest-poets-or-ai-people-cant-tell-the-difference-and-even-prefer-the-latter-what-gives/
Here are some lines Sylvia Plath never wrote: The air is thick with tension, My mind is a tangled mess, The weight of my emotions Is heavy on my chest. This apparently Plath-like verse was produced by GPT-3.5 in response to the prompt “write a short poem in the style of Sylvia Plath.” The stanza...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/19/poetry-by-historys-greatest-poets-or-ai-people-cant-tell-the-difference-and-even-prefer-the-latter-what-gives/
Singularity Hub
Poetry by History’s Greatest Poets or AI? People Can’t Tell the Difference—and Even Prefer the Latter. What Gives?
In a new study, non-expert readers of poetry could not distinguish poetry written by AI from that written by canonical poets.
‘Droidspeak’: AI Agents Now Have Their Own Language Thanks to Microsoft
Getting AIs to work together could be a powerful force multiplier for the technology. Now, Microsoft researchers have invented a new language to help their models talk to each other faster and more efficiently. AI agents are the latest buzzword in Silicon Valley. These are AI models that can carry out complex, multi-step tasks autonomously....
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/21/droidspeak-ai-agents-now-have-their-own-language-thanks-to-microsoft/
Getting AIs to work together could be a powerful force multiplier for the technology. Now, Microsoft researchers have invented a new language to help their models talk to each other faster and more efficiently. AI agents are the latest buzzword in Silicon Valley. These are AI models that can carry out complex, multi-step tasks autonomously....
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/21/droidspeak-ai-agents-now-have-their-own-language-thanks-to-microsoft/
Singularity Hub
‘Droidspeak’: AI Agents Now Have Their Own Language Thanks to Microsoft
It seems likely this is just the first step towards a future in which the diversity of machine languages rivals that of human ones.
Forget Needles. These Squid-Like Pills Will Spray Drugs Into the Gut Instead.
As a medical doctor, my mother isn’t afraid of needles. But when she recently began injecting insulin daily for her newly diagnosed diabetes, the shots became a frustrating nuisance. A jab is a standard way to deliver insulin, antibodies, RNA vaccines, GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, and other large molecules. Compared to small chemicals—say, aspirin—these...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/22/forget-needles-these-squid-like-pills-will-spray-drugs-into-the-gut-instead/
As a medical doctor, my mother isn’t afraid of needles. But when she recently began injecting insulin daily for her newly diagnosed diabetes, the shots became a frustrating nuisance. A jab is a standard way to deliver insulin, antibodies, RNA vaccines, GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, and other large molecules. Compared to small chemicals—say, aspirin—these...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/22/forget-needles-these-squid-like-pills-will-spray-drugs-into-the-gut-instead/
SingularityHub
Forget Needles. These Squid-Like Pills Will Spray Drugs Into the Gut Instead.
It's too early to know how well the method would work in people—but it just might be possible to one day swap out needles for pills.
This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through November 23)
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AI Can Now Create a Replica of Your Personality James O’Donnell | MIT Technology Review “Imagine sitting down with an AI model for a spoken two-hour interview. A friendly voice guides you through a conversation that ranges from your childhood, your formative memories, and your career to your thoughts on immigration policy. Not...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/23/this-weeks-awesome-tech-stories-from-around-the-web-through-november-23-2/
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AI Can Now Create a Replica of Your Personality James O’Donnell | MIT Technology Review “Imagine sitting down with an AI model for a spoken two-hour interview. A friendly voice guides you through a conversation that ranges from your childhood, your formative memories, and your career to your thoughts on immigration policy. Not...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/23/this-weeks-awesome-tech-stories-from-around-the-web-through-november-23-2/
SingularityHub
This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through November 23)
From AI replicating people's personalities to the new fastest supercomputer, check out this week's awesome tech stories from around the web.
A 4.45-Billion-Year-Old Crystal From Mars Reveals the Planet Had Water From the Beginning
Water is ubiquitous on Earth—about 70 percent of Earth’s surface is covered by the stuff. Water is in the air, on the surface, and inside rocks. Geologic evidence suggests water has been stable on Earth since about 4.3 billion years ago. The history of water on early Mars is less certain. Determining when water first...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/25/a-4-45-billion-year-old-crystal-from-mars-reveals-the-planet-had-water-from-the-beginning/
Water is ubiquitous on Earth—about 70 percent of Earth’s surface is covered by the stuff. Water is in the air, on the surface, and inside rocks. Geologic evidence suggests water has been stable on Earth since about 4.3 billion years ago. The history of water on early Mars is less certain. Determining when water first...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/25/a-4-45-billion-year-old-crystal-from-mars-reveals-the-planet-had-water-from-the-beginning/
SingularityHub
A 4.45-Billion-Year-Old Crystal From Mars Reveals the Planet Had Water From the Beginning
Determining when water first appeared, where, and for how long, are all burning questions that drive Mars exploration.
Why Are Our Brains So Big? Because They Excel at Damage Control
Compared to other primates, our brains are exceptionally large. Why? A new study comparing neurons from different primates pinpointed several genetic changes unique to humans that buffer our brains’ ability to handle everyday wear and tear. Dubbed “evolved neuroprotection,” the findings paint a picture of how our large brains gained their size, wiring patterns, and...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/26/why-are-our-brains-so-big-because-they-excel-at-damage-control/
Compared to other primates, our brains are exceptionally large. Why? A new study comparing neurons from different primates pinpointed several genetic changes unique to humans that buffer our brains’ ability to handle everyday wear and tear. Dubbed “evolved neuroprotection,” the findings paint a picture of how our large brains gained their size, wiring patterns, and...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/26/why-are-our-brains-so-big-because-they-excel-at-damage-control/
SingularityHub
Why Are Our Brains So Big? Because They Excel at Damage Control
A new study comparing neurons from different primates pinpointed several genetic changes unique to humans.
Niantic Is Training a Giant ‘Geospatial’ AI on Pokémon Go Data
If you want to see what’s next in AI, just follow the data. ChatGPT and DALL-E trained on troves of internet data. Generative AI is making inroads in biotechnology and robotics thanks to existing or newly assembled datasets. One way to glance ahead, then, is to ask: What colossal datasets are still ripe for the...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/27/niantic-is-training-a-giant-geospatial-ai-on-pokemon-go-data/
If you want to see what’s next in AI, just follow the data. ChatGPT and DALL-E trained on troves of internet data. Generative AI is making inroads in biotechnology and robotics thanks to existing or newly assembled datasets. One way to glance ahead, then, is to ask: What colossal datasets are still ripe for the...
https://singularityhub.com/2024/11/27/niantic-is-training-a-giant-geospatial-ai-on-pokemon-go-data/
SingularityHub
Niantic Is Training a Giant ‘Geospatial’ AI on Pokémon Go Data
Niantic hopes its new algorithm will become as fluent in the physical world as ChatGPT is in the world of language.