Blizzard announced today that Diablo IV is now the fastest-selling game in the publisher's history, and that is saying something for the developer behind not just the Diablo franchise, but also many other successful games series like Warcraft, StarCraft, and Overwatch.

Blizzard did not offer any specific unit sales or revenue numbers, but it seems clear that a lot of people preordered Diablo IV before its official launch. Blizzard did state that in the four days the game was in its early access period, gamers have generated a total of 93 million hours playing Diablo IV.

So far, the game seems to have launched without too many problems. The company has released a number of server-side hotfixes, along with a couple of small PC patches, and one major patch for all platforms to handle some player class balance issues. One early problem that was causing many PlayStation players to be unable to sign into Diablo IV's servers has since been fixed.

Blizzard poured out a lot of marketing and advertising money to promote Diablo IV. That included a promotional tie-in with KFC, a bundle deal with Microsoft's Xbox Series X console, and even painting an unused cathedral in France with artwork from the game.

If you are thinking about buying a new graphics card in the next few days, we will remind you that you can buy a new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, 4070 Ti, 4080, or 4090 graphics cards and get a free digital code for the full version of Diablo IV. Those cards can be used to enable DLSS 3 support in the game for increased frame rates on your PC. The special offer ends on June 13 so you had better hurry.

Diablo IV is already Blizzard's fastest selling game of all time thanks to preorders

The process involves mixing multiple aerosolized nanomaterial inks during printing, which allows for fine control over the printed materials’ architecture and local compositions. This method produces materials with gradient compositions and properties and can be applied to a wide range of substances including metals, semiconductors, polymers, and biomaterials.

The time-honored Edisonian trial-and-error process of discovery is slow and labor-intensive. This hampers the development of urgently needed new technologies for clean energy and environmental sustainability, as well as for electronics and biomedical devices.

“It usually takes 10 to 20 years to discover a new material,” said Yanliang Zhang, associate professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at the University of Notre Dame.

“I thought if we could shorten that time to less than a year — or even a few months — it would be a game changer for the discovery and manufacturing of new materials.”

Now Zhang has done just that, creating a novel 3D printing method that produces materials in ways that conventional manufacturing can’t match. The new process mixes multiple aerosolized nanomaterial inks in a single printing nozzle, varying the ink mixing ratio on the fly during the printing process. This method — called high-throughput combinatorial printing (HTCP) — controls both the printed materials’ 3D architectures and local compositions and produces materials with gradient compositions and properties at microscale spatial resolution.

His research was published on May 10, 2023, in the journal Nature.

The aerosol-based HTCP is extremely versatile and applicable to a broad range of metals, semiconductors, and dielectrics, as well as polymers and biomaterials. It generates combinational materials that function as “libraries,” each containing thousands of unique compositions.

Combining combinational materials printing and high-throughput characterization can significantly accelerate materials discovery, Zhang said. His team has already used this approach to identify a semiconductor material with superior thermoelectric properties, a promising discovery for energy harvesting and cooling applications.

In addition to speeding up discovery, HTCP produces functionally graded materials that gradually transition from stiff to soft. This makes them particularly useful in biomedical applications that need to bridge between soft body tissues and stiff wearable and implantable devices.

In the next phase of research, Zhang and the students in his Advanced Manufacturing and Energy Lab plan to apply machine learning and artificial intelligence-guided strategies to the data-rich nature of HTCP in order to accelerate the discovery and development of a broad range of materials.

“In the future, I hope to develop an autonomous and self-driving process for materials discovery and device manufacturing, so students in the lab can be free to focus on high-level thinking,” Zhang said.

Source

China has recently launched two cloud platforms designed to allow the general public to make use of its quantum machines.

One is a feature added to the country’s fastest quantum computer, Zuchongzhi 2. The new cloud platform was launched by the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) with the support of the Anhui-based QuantumCTek and Beijing Zhongke Arclight Quantum Software Technology.

The other was launched by the Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences (BAQIS), a scientific research unit of the Beijing government. It is known as Quafu – pronounced similarly to Kuafu, a mythological Chinese giant who tries to capture the Sun by running after it, eventually dies of dehydration and is turned into a mountain ranger. To Chinese, his story is a tale of bravery and self-sacrifice.   

Chinese scientists say these new cloud platforms can help researchers and students experience the computing power of quantum computers while advancing their own scientific research.

Fan Heng, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Institute of Physics, said the Quafu cloud system is connected to a 136-qubit quantum computer based in the BAQIS which is similar to the Zuchongzhi 2 but with higher computing power.

Heng said the system is also linked to two other 18 and 10-qubit quantum computers in the laboratory of BAQIS’s Huairou Research Department in Beijing. He said a 18-qubit quantum machine is sometimes preferred over those with higher computing power, which he said can be more error-prone.

“China had missed the golden development period in the era of traditional computing but quantum computers provide us with new opportunities,” Fan said. “The development of quantum cloud platforms is a good starting point for China to build its quantum industry.”

The BAQIS said Quafu will be able to compete with foreign counterparts one day. Currently, key quantum cloud service providers include IBM Q Experience, Google Quantum AI, Xanadu Quantum Cloud and Microsoft’s Azure Quantum.

Superconducting quantum computers

There are three main types of quantum computers:

•     electron-based (superconducting),
•     atom-based (cold atom or trapped ion) and
•     photon-based

In December 2020, a USTC research team led by scientist Pan Jianwei launched Jiuzhang, a photon-based quantum computer that can work at room temperature. It is said to be faster than Google’s Sycamore, a superconducting quantum computer that needs to work at a temperature close to absolute zero.

Pan Jianwei. Photo: CCTV

In May 2021, Pan and his team launched the 66-qubit Zuchongzhi 2, which also uses superconducting chips. While Zuchongzhi 2 is the fastest quantum computer in China, the world’s fastest is the 433-qubit Osprey released by IBM last November.

Zhu Xiaobo, a professor at the USTC, said on May 31 his research team improved the Zuchongzhi 2 by adding control interfaces of 110 coupled qubits with a newly-launched cloud system, allowing users to manipulate up to 176 qubits.

Zhu said the cloud platform aims to reach the advanced global level in key design indicators such as connectivity, fidelity and interference time.

The Chinese public can use the cloud platform to experience simple quantum computer programming and image experiments, said Peng Chengzhi, executive vice director of the project and chairman of QuantumCTek. The platform will be connected to more quantum computers in the future, he said.

About 40% of technology experts believe that electron-based quantum computers will be the most likely to succeed in the next decade, while 35% believe they will be atom-based and 26% photon-based, according to a survey conducted by Arthur D Little, a Brussels-based management consulting firm.

Quantum sanctions

Last October, the Biden administration announced its decision to block quantum computing parts and software exports to China.

In November 2021, the United States Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) sanctioned 28 organizations from China, Russia, Pakistan, Japan and Singapore to prevent the diversion of US technologies to China and Russia for military use.

Some Chinese media said China cannot produce traditional high-end semiconductors due to US sanctions but it can still make superconducting chips. They said China can surpass the West in quantum computing, just like “overtaking others on a bend” in auto racing.

On February 1, China’s Origin Quantum Computing Technology said it had delivered a 24-qubit quantum computer – known as Benyuan Wuyuan. It reportedly uses self-developed superconducting chip technology.

Origin Quantum Computing Technology Co launched a 24-qubit quantum computer called Benyuan Wuyuan in 2021. Photo: originqc.com.cn

However, some Chinese commentators think it will be difficult for China to bypass US curbs.

A Hunan-based IT columnist says in an article that China has not yet made any major breakthroughs in the development of its indigenous electron beam lithography, an essential tool for making superconducting chips.

He says even if China can produce some superconducting chips, it still needs to import foreign liquid-helium dilution refrigerators to keep its chips at temperatures of absolute zero or less. He says China’s dilution refrigerators are not up to the standard of foreign ones.

Bluefors Oy in Finland, Oxford Instruments NanoScience in the United Kingdom and JanisULT in the US are the three main suppliers of dilution refrigerators with a combined 70% global market share, media reported.

Source

AMD released Zen 4 based Ryzen 7000 CPUs almost a year ago. It was later followed by X3D based gaming CPUs like Ryzen 7950X3D and Ryzen 7800X3D, which have seen outstanding reviews and sales.

Now the question is, when is the next-generation of AMD Ryzen processors coming? In April this year, Gigabyte said that the next-generation of AMD Ryzen processors are coming this year itself. However, Gigabyte retracted that statement and said that it was a mistake.

It all likelihood, AMD Ryzen 8000 series might launch next year, in 2024. Looks like AMD might have confirmed it.

Ryzen 8000 Coming In 2024

In an image slide posted with @harukaze5719, AMD has confirmed a few things.

The first thing AMD has confirmed is that AMD Ryzen 8000 series will launch in 2024. It will be based on Zen 5 architecture. For now, we don’t know more about it, but it could be possibly based on TSMC’s 3nm process.

The second thing that AMD has confirmed is that the AM5 motherboard socket will be supported till 2026. It means that even Ryzen 9000 series will support it.

Why this is important is because Intel CPUs require a new motherboard almost every two years for the new CPUs they release.

But AMD is not doing that. AMD is going to support its motherboards for four years, which is something they have done previously too, with AM4 socket.

Either-way. This basically means Intel supports a socket for two generations, while AMD supports it slightly longer, for three generations.

Powerful Built-In GPU Coming To Ryzen 7000

When AMD announced Ryzen 7000 series, it announced that all CPUs in the generation will come with built-in GPUs. To many people’s disappointment, they are based on previous-gen Navi 2 architecture. Also, they came with just 2 compute units (CU), which is enough just for basic things.

Proper gaming GPU requires far more CUs than that. Till now, AMD hasn’t released G series based CPUs (APU in this case) in the Ryzen 7000 series line-up. These G series CPUs have more CUs. Like AMD Ryzen 7 5700G, which comes with 8 CUs, allowing basic gaming without requiring a dedicated graphics card.

Now, the above shared image reveals more things, as mentioned by @hiimthomasl on Twitter.

First, basically this confirms that these G series CPUs (APUs) in Ryzen 7000 could be based on Navi 3. Not only that, AMD could release Phoenix Point APU for desktop.

For the record, AMD released an APU for Ryzen 7000 laptops called AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS. This CPU comes with an AMD Radeon 780M GPU, consisting of 12 CUs. This Radeon 700 series of GPUs found in the Ryzen 7000 laptops is code-named Phoenix Point.

Someone on YouTube tested this GPU and found that it performs excellently, going above 60 FPS at 1080p on all games.

Now if AMD manages to release a similarly powerful APU for desktop, then budget gamers, especially those who game at 1080p, are in for a lot of fun.

Even Better GPU In Ryzen 8000

The above posted slide also reveals that Ryzen 8000 CPUs are going to come with Navi 3.5 GPU architecture. Now what is Navi 3.5 architecture. Well known leaker @Kepler_L2 has shared more information about it.

He says that it basically means RDNA 3.5 is going to be a generation in-between RDNA 3 (RX 7000 graphics cards) and RDNA 4 (next-gen AMD RX graphics cards).

It contains some features and improvements over RDNA 3 architecture but will lack some features of RDNA 4 like better scheduler and improved ray tracing cores.

It means that next-gen AMD RX graphics cards will have all these features, but next-gen AMD Ryzen CPUs will come with only some of them.

@Kepler_L2 also reveals that this Navi 3.5 is an APU architecture meant only for Ryzen CPUs or APUs and not for dedicated desktop graphics cards.

Conclusion

This one image alone reveals a lot of things about what’s going to come next in AMD CPUs and graphics cards.

We are most excited for what AMD can do with its built-in GPUs inside their CPUs. As revealed by RedGamingTech, AMD is not much interested in releasing cheap graphics cards. This is because AMD thinks their APUs with built-in GPUs could do better at it.

AMD Confirms Ryzen 8000 Coming In 2024 With Powerful GPU

A brief look at the productivity apps showed all three of them running at the same time on a simulated version of the Apple Vision Pro's twin displays. Apple stated that the apps will "make full use of the expansive canvas and sharp text rendering of the Vision Pro".

We would assume the apps can be controlled via voice or gestures like all the other visionOS-based apps that are being developed for the Vision Pro.

The video also mentioned that the Teams version of the app, along with versions of Zoom and Cisco's Webex, will use their support for digital personas for better collaboration while using the Vision Pro.

Right now that's all we really know right now about these versions of Microsoft's productivity apps. Based on the few seconds of video, it looks like the apps will look and act similarly to the company's iOS app versions. As of this writing, Microsoft has not issued any press releases about the Teams, Word, or Excel apps that are coming to the Vision Pro.

The Apple Vision Pro will also allow for hundreds of thousands of previously developed apps for its iOS and iPad devices to work on the headset. Apple is also letting developers use its current dev tools like Swift, XCode, and others to make all new apps for the Vision Pro.

Apple's new hardware device is supposed to launch in early 2024 in the US. It will have a very high starting price tag of $3,499. It's possible that Apple could launch other versions with increased storage for a higher price.

Microsoft Word, Excel, and Teams apps will be available for the Apple Vision Pro AR headset

During the WWDC keynote video, Apple stated the Vision Pro can switch between being a full virtual reality headset and an AR headset thanks to a physical dial. The headset, unlike many other AR and VR devices, does not include hand controllers. Instead, the Vision Pro uses both gestures and voice commands to go through the apps on the displays.

The two Micro OLED displays have a total of 23 million pixels, which should make watching content on the Vision Pro extremely sharp and realistic. That's more pixels for each eye than you will find on a big-screen TV.

Apple added:

This technological breakthrough, combined with custom catadioptric lenses that enable incredible sharpness and clarity, delivers jaw-dropping experiences. Users with vision correction needs will use ZEISS Optical Inserts to ensure visual fidelity and eye tracking accuracy.

Inside the device, there will be two Apple-designed chips, The company stated:

M2 delivers unparalleled standalone performance, while the brand-new R1 chip processes input from 12 cameras, five sensors, and six microphones to ensure that content feels like it is appearing right in front of the user’s eyes, in real time. R1 streams new images to the displays within 12 milliseconds — 8x faster than the blink of an eye.

The device will come with a battery pack which Apple says will last up to two hours on a single charge. You can also connect it to a power supply.

The device will use the visionOS operating system. Apple stated:

visionOS features a brand-new three-dimensional interface that makes digital content look and feel present in a user’s physical world. By responding dynamically to natural light and casting shadows, it helps the user understand scale and distance. To enable user navigation and interaction with spatial content, Apple Vision Pro introduces an entirely new input system controlled by a person’s eyes, hands, and voice. Users can browse through apps by simply looking at them, tapping their fingers to select, flicking their wrist to scroll, or using voice to dictate.

Some of the apps that are being developed for visionOS include one that shows a beating human heart in 3D for medical and educational use, and Microsoft will offer its Word, Excel, and Teams apps that will work while viewed in the headset.

Apple will also be a gaming device, with the company stating there will be over 100 Apple Arcade games available to play on the Vision Pro on the first day it launches. Disney CEO Bob Iger also showed off some future plans the entertainment company has for the device. That includes watching Disney Plus with some extra features, watching games on ESPN in full 3D virtual environments, and more.

Apple claims it has filed over 5,000 patents based on its development of the Vision Pro. It will launch in early 2024, for a starting price of $3,499.

Apple Vision Pro AR headset revealed at WWDC 2023, priced at $3,499 for early 2024 launch

The new 15-inch MacBook Air is Apple's latest thin-and-light notebook. In fact, Apple claims it's the thinnest 15-inch notebook ever made at 11.5mm. The 3.3-pound laptop includes a 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display, with the Apple M2 processor inside. Apple claims the battery life for the notebook will handle up to 18 hours on a single charge.

It comes in midnight, starlight, silver, and space gray colours and comes with a starting price of $1,299. It's available to pre-order now, and shipments will begin next week. The previous 13-inch MacBook Air also gets a price drop to $1,099.

Apple is also updating its Mac Studio desktop and it's also relaunching its Mac Pro workstation. The new Mac Studio will add the M2 Max chip, and you can get the Max Studio and the new Mac Pro version with the all-new M2 Ultra chip.

Basically, the M2 Ultra merges the die of two M2 Max chips using what Apple calls "groundbreaking UltraFusion technology". Apple claims the M2 Ultra is the most powerful PC CPU ever made. Apple states:

M2 Ultra consists of 134 billion transistors — 20 billion more than M1 Ultra. Its unified memory architecture supports up to a breakthrough 192GB of memory capacity, which is 50 percent more than M1 Ultra, and features 800GB/s of memory bandwidth — twice that of M2 Max. M2 Ultra features a more powerful CPU that’s 20 percent faster than M1 Ultra, a larger GPU that’s up to 30 percent faster, and a Neural Engine that’s up to 40 percent faster.1 It also features a media engine with twice the capabilities of M2 Max for blazing ProRes acceleration. With all these advancements, M2 Ultra takes Mac performance to a whole new level yet again.

The chip will be included in models of the Mac Studio and is also being put into the new version of the Mac Pro. Apple is also adding the M2 Max to the Mac Studio as well. Mac Studio will start pricing at $1,999, while the Mac Pro will start pricing at $6,999 for its tower version and $7,999 for the rack-mounted version. Again, both are available to preorder now for shipment next week.

15-inch Apple MacBook Air, Max Studio and Mac Pro with M2 Ultra chip revealed at WWDC 2023

Soon enough, the official Microsoft 365 Status Twitter handle took to the social media platform to confirm those issues:

A while later, Microsoft updated the status adding that it was looking into the recent updates as it suspected that a recent change made could have broken something. The company informed that admins can monitor the situation using the Admin Center issue ID EX571516:

As suspected, Microsoft identified an issue with a recent update. The company added that it was reverting the update to mitigate the impact of the change (via nobody554 on Reddit😞

June 5, 2023 10:14 AM CDT · Quick update

We've identified an update which was applied around the time that impact started. We're reverting the update to potentially mitigate impact whilst we continue to investigate the underlying cause of the issue. This quick update is designed to give the latest information on this issue.

Microsoft has now put a stop to the update deployment and is currently trying to stay on top of the situations.

As a consequence of the issue, Microsoft says that Teams, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, are also impacted and can be monitored with Admin Center issue ID MO571683:

We will update the post once Microsoft fixes the issue or provides further updates on the situation.

Microsoft confirms massive issues and outage across Exchange, Outlook, Teams, OneDrive

The new tech is called PowerVia, and Intel announced today that it had successfully made and tested it with solid performance results. Intel says PowerVia also represents an all-new way to manufacture CPUs.

Currently, chips made by Intel, and other chipmakers, are made with a top layer of transistors along with power connection wires. However, this method is hitting its physical limits. Intel stated:

As they get smaller and denser, the layers that share interconnects and power connections have become an increasingly chaotic web that hinders the overall performance of each chip.

Intel's solution is what it calls PowerVia. It basically separates the transistors from the power connections on the top of the chip. The press release describes this new process, with quotes from Ben Sell, vice president of Technology Development at Intel:

Transistors are built first, as before, with the interconnect layers added next. Now the fun part: flip over the wafer and “polish everything off,” Sell notes, to expose the bottom layer to which the wires (well, metal layers … all these “wires” are microscopic) for power will be connected. “We call it silicon technology,” he adds, “but the amount of silicon that’s left on these wafers is really tiny.”

Intel tested it with a Blue Sky Creek Meteor Lake test chip. That chip had " >5% frequency improvement and >90% cell density" for its E-cores according to Sell. Intel claims other competitors like AMD are likely two years away from developing this "backside power" technology.

Intel will use this new way to make chips for Arrow Lake, which will access the company's 20A process. Arrow Lake CPUs are scheduled to launch sometime in the first half of 2024.

Intel gets a speed boost from its PowerVia power delivery tech for its 2024 Arrow Lake CPUs

Some subreddits will return after a period of 48 hours, while "others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed," the post reads. There is a growing list of subreddits taking part in the proposed blackout, including r/aww, r/LifeProTips, and r/videos, which have more than 20 million users.

The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.

Reddit's API is leveraged by a number of third-party apps, including Apollo, Narwhaul, BaconReader, and Reddit is Fun. In addition, subreddit moderators also depend on various customizations, mod tools, and other improvements offered by third-party clients.

Apollo developer Christian Selig explained that their app generates around 7 billion API calls every month, which will take the annual API access charges close to $20 million. A Reddit employee said in defense that Apollo makes more API requests per user when compared to other apps with similar engagement. "Our pricing is $0.24 per 1000 API calls, which equates to less than $1.00 per user monthly for a reasonably operated app. However, not all apps operate this way today," they wrote.

The employee added that "Apollo as an app is less efficient than its peers and at times has been excessive—probably because it has been free to be so." However, the developers of other third-party apps have echoed the concerns shared by Selig. Reddit Is Fun said that "it would be in the same ballpark," adding that its earnings aren't "anywhere remotely near this number."

Reddit's API pricing, going into effect on July 1, comes months after the social networking platform Twitter pulled the plug on its free API access. However, the collateral damage affected some public alert services as well. While Reddit recently allowed NSFW uploads via its desktop site, it's yet to make a final decision on allowing mature content via its API - a decision that will affect third-party apps.

via The Verge

Reddit to go dark on June 12, subreddits protest against probable death of third-party apps

Ever since generative AI exploded into public consciousness with the launch of ChatGPT at the end of last year, calls to regulate the technology to stop it from causing undue harm have risen to fever pitch around the world. The stakes are high — just last week, technology leaders signed an open public letter saying that if government officials get it wrong, the consequence could be the extinction of the human race.

While most consumers are just having fun testing the limits of large language models such as ChatGPT, a number of worrying stories have circulated about the technology making up supposed facts (also known as "hallucinating") and making inappropriate suggestions to users, as when an AI-powered version of Bing told a New York Times reporter to divorce his spouse.

Tech industry insiders and legal experts also note a raft of other concerns, including the ability of generative AI to enhance the attacks of threat actors on cybersecurity defenses, the possibility of copyright and data-privacy violations — since large language models are trained on all sorts of information — and the potential for discrimination as humans encode their own biases into algorithms.

Possibly the biggest area of concern is that generative AI programs are essentially self-learning, demonstrating increasing capability as they ingest data, and that their creators don't know exactly what is happening within them. This may mean, as ex-Google AI leader Geoffrey Hinton has said, that humanity may just be a passing phase in the evolution of intelligence and that AI systems could develop their own goals that humans know nothing about.

All this has prompted governments around the world to call for protective regulations. But, as with most technology regulation, there is rarely a one-size-fits-all approach, with different governments looking to regulate generative AI in a way that best suits their own political landscape.

Countries make their own regulations

“[When it comes to] tech issues, even though every country is free to make its own rules, in the past what we have seen is there’s been some form of harmonization between the US, EU, and most Western countries,” said Sophie Goossens, a partner at law firm Reed Smith who specializes in AI, copyright, and IP issues. “It's rare to see legislation that completely contradicts the legislation of someone else.”

While the details of the legislation put forward by each jurisdiction might differ, there is one overarching theme that unites all governments that have so far outlined proposals: how the benefits of AI can be realized while minimizing the risks it presents to society. Indeed, EU and US lawmakers are drawing up an AI code of conduct to bridge the gap until any legislation has been legally passed.

Generative AI is an umbrella term for any kind of automated process that uses algorithms to produce, manipulate, or synthesize data, often in the form of images or human-readable text. It’s called generative because it creates something that didn’t previously exist. It's not a new technology, and conversations around regulation are not new either.

Generative AI has arguably been around (in a very basic chatbot form, at least) since the mid-1960s, when an MIT professor created ELIZA, an application programmed to use pattern matching and language substitution methodology to issue responses fashioned to make users feel like they were talking to a therapist. But generative AI's recent advent into the public domain has allowed people who might not have had access to the technology before to create sophisticated content on just about any topic, based off a few basic prompts.

As generative AI applications become more powerful and prevalent, there is growing pressure for regulation.

“The risk is definitely higher because now these companies have decided to release extremely powerful tools on the open internet for everyone to use, and I think there is definitely a risk that technology could be used with bad intentions,” Goossens said.

First steps toward AI legislation

Although discussions by the European Commission around an AI regulatory act began in 2019, the UK government was one of the first to announce its intentions, publishing a white paper in March this year that outlined five principles it wants companies to follow: safety, security, and robustness; transparency and explainability; fairness; accountability and governance; and contestability and redress.

In an effort to to avoid what it called “heavy-handed legislation,” however, the UK government has called on existing regulatory bodies to use current regulations to ensure that AI applications adhere to guidelines, rather than draft new laws.

Since then, the European Commission has published the first draft of its AI Act, which was delayed due to the need to include provisions for regulating the more recent generative AI applications. The draft legislation includes requirements for generative AI models to reasonably mitigate against foreseeable risks to health, safety, fundamental rights, the environment, democracy, and the rule of law, with the involvement of independent experts.

The legislation proposed by the EU would forbid the use of AI when it could become a threat to safety, livelihoods, or people’s rights, with stipulations around the use of artificial intelligence becoming less restrictive based on the perceived risk it might pose to someone coming into contact with it — for example, interacting with a chatbot in a customer service setting would be considered low risk. AI systems that present such limited and minimal risks may be used with few requirements. AI systems posing higher levels of bias or risk, such as those used for government social-scoring systems and biometric identification systems, will generally not be allowed, with few exceptions.

However, even before the legislation had been finalized, ChatGPT in particular had already come under scrutiny from a number of individual European countries for possible GDPR data protection violations. The Italian data regulator initially banned ChatGPT over alleged privacy violations relating to the chatbot’s collection and storage of personal data, but reinstated use of the technology after Microsoft-backed OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, clarified its privacy policy and made it more accessible, and offered a new tool to verify the age of users.

Other European countries, including France and Spain, have filed complaints about ChatGPT similar to those issued by Italy, although no decisions relating to those grievances have been made.

Differing approaches to regulation

All regulation reflects the politics, ethics, and culture of the society you’re in, said Martha Bennett, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, noting that in the US, for instance, there’s an instinctive reluctance to regulate unless there is tremendous pressure to do so, whereas in Europe there is a much stronger culture of regulation for the common good.

“There is nothing wrong with having a different approach, because yes, you do not want to stifle innovation,” Bennett said. Alluding to the comments made by the UK  government, Bennett said it is understandable to not want to stifle innovation, but she doesn’t agree with the idea that by relying largely on current laws and being less stringent than the EU AI Act, the UK government can provide the country with a competitive advantage — particularly if this comes at the expense of data protection laws.

“If the UK gets a reputation of playing fast and loose with personal data, that’s also not appropriate,” she said.

While Bennett believes that differing legislative approaches can have their benefits, she notes that AI regulations implemented by the Chinese government would be completely unacceptable in North America or Western Europe.

Under Chinese law, AI firms will be required to submit security assessments to the government before launching their AI tools to the public, and any content generated by generative AI must be in line with the country’s core socialist values. Failure to comply with the rules will results in providers being fined, having their services suspended, or facing criminal investigations.

The challenges to AI legislation

Although a number of countries have begun to draft AI regulations, such efforts are hampered by the reality that lawmakers constantly have to play catchup to new technologies, trying to understand their risks and rewards.

“If we refer back to most technological advancements, such as the internet or artificial intelligence, it’s like a double-edged sword, as you can use it for both lawful and unlawful purposes,” said Felipe Romero Moreno, a principal lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire’s Law School whose work focuses on legal issues and regulation of emerging technologies, including AI.

AI systems may also do harm inadvertently, since humans who program them can be biased, and the data the programs are trained with may contain bias or inaccurate information. “We need artificial intelligence that has been trained with unbiased data,” Romero Moreno said.

“Otherwise, decisions made by AI will be inaccurate as well as discriminatory.”

Accountability on the part of vendors is essential, he said, stating that users should be able to challenge the outcome of any artificial intelligence decision and compel AI developers to explain the logic or the rationale behind the technology’s reasoning. (A recent example of a related case is a class-action lawsuit filed by US man who was rejected from a job because AI video software judged him to be untrustworthy.)

Tech companies need to make artificial intelligence systems auditable so that they can be subject to independent and external checks from regulatory bodies — and users should have access to legal recourse to challenge the impact of a decision made by artificial intelligence, with final oversight always being given to a human, not a machine, Romero Moreno said.

Copyright a major issue for AI apps

Another major regulatory issue that needs to be navigated is copyright. The EU’s AI Act includes a provision that would make creators of generative AI tools disclose any copyrighted material used to develop their systems.

“Copyright is everywhere, so when you have a gigantic amount of data somewhere on a server, and you’re going to use that data in order to train a model, chances are that at least some of that data will be protected by copyright,” Goossens said, adding that the most difficult issues to resolve will be around the training sets on which AI tools are developed.

When this problem first arose, lawmakers in countries including Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore made an exception for copyrighted material that found its way into training sets, stating that copyright should not stand in the way of technological advancements.

However, Goossens said, a lot of these copyright exceptions are now almost seven years old. The issue is further complicated by the fact that in the EU, while these same exceptions exist, anyone who is a rights holder can opt out of having their data used in training sets.

Currently, because there is no incentive to having your data included, huge swathes of people are now opting out, meaning the EU is a less desirable jurisdiction for AI vendors to operate from.

In the UK, an exception currently exists for research purposes, but the plan to introduce an exception that includes commercial AI technologies was scrapped, with the government yet to announce an alternative plan.

What’s next for AI regulation?

So far, China is the only country that has passed laws and launched prosecutions relating to generative AI — in May, Chinese authorities detained a man in Northern China for allegedly using ChatGPT to write fake news articles.

Elsewhere, the UK government has said that regulators will issue practical guidance to organizations, setting out how to implement the principles outlined in its white paper over the next 12 months, while the EU Commission is expected to vote imminently to finalize the text of its AI Act.

By comparison, the US still appears to be in the fact-finding stages, although President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris recently met with executives from leading AI companies to discuss the potential dangers of AI.

Last month, two Senate committees also met with industry experts, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Speaking to lawmakers, Altman said regulation would be “wise” because people need to know if they’re talking to an AI system or looking at content — images, videos, or documents — generated by a chatbot.

“I think we’ll also need rules and guidelines about what is expected in terms of disclosure from a company providing a model that could have these sorts of abilities we’re talking about,” Altman said.

This is a sentiment Forrester’s Bennett agrees with, arguing that the biggest danger generative AI presents to society is the ease with which misinformation and disinformation can be created.

“[This issue] goes hand in hand with ensuring that providers of these large language models and generative AI tools are abiding by existing rules around copyright, intellectual property, personal data, etc. and looking at how we make sure those rules are really enforced,” she said.

Romero Moreno argues that education holds the key to tackling the technology’s ability to create and spread disinformation, particularly among young people or those who are less technologically savvy. Pop-up notifications that remind users that content might not be accurate would encourage people to think more critically about how they engage with online content, he said, adding that something like the current cookie disclaimer messages that show up on web pages would not be suitable, as they are often long and convoluted and therefore rarely read.

Ultimately, Bennett said, irrespective of what final legislation looks like, regulators and governments across the world need to act now. Otherwise we’ll end up in a situation where the technology has been exploited to such an extreme that we’re fighting a battle we can never win.

Source

When Microsoft first launched Bing Chat a few months ago, the only way the chatbot AI service could be accessed by PC owners was by using the Edge web browser. A few days ago, Mikhail Parakhin, Microsoft’s head of Advertising and Web Services, stated that in June, the company would start experimenting with adding support for third-party browsers for Bing Chat.

Now that support is starting to show up for some users. A thread on the Bing Reddit page this weekend showed screenshots of Bing Chat working inside Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome browsers.

When we asked Parakhin about this thread on Twitter today, he did confirm this development, stating, "We are experimenting, will be rolling out gradually." As of this writing, he did not say what specific third-party browsers would be getting Bing Chat support.

The addition of other browsers for Bing Chat should give Microsoft a much bigger audience. According to StatCounter's latest numbers, Edge is the number three most-used browser at 9.91 percent. Google Chrome is still well ahead at number one with 66.02 percent, and Apple Safari is a distant second at 12.79 percent.

Microsoft will likely continue to keep the number of users that can access Bing Chat with Chrome and Safari low for a while to test them out before it decided to pull the trigger and open that support up to a much larger audience.

That's not the only major thing Microsoft is doing to help expand the use of Bing Chat. Earlier this week, it confirmed that it raised the cap for daily chat turns from 200 to 300 and per session turns from 20 to 30.

It also expanded the use of its Bing Image Creator in Bing Chat to Precise and Balanced modes in addition to Creative mode. On top of all that, this weekend, Bing celebrated its 14th birthday, as it officially launched on June 3, 2009.

Microsoft confirms Bing Chat experimental third-party browser support is rolling out

Blizzard Entertainment has been running the full version of its action-RPG sequel Diablo IV for a few days now for people who bought the Digital Deluxe and Ultimate Edition of the game. It's even issued some small server-side patches for the game.

Now, the developer has released the first major client-based patch for Diablo IV for all of its platforms. The changelog for the 1.0.2d (Build #42131) is quite extensive, so we won't reproduce it here. However, it does have a lot of balance changes for the game, particularly for its many player classes.

The patch notes include some reasons why Blizzard made the decision to make these balance adjustments:

1, While we want players to both feel and be truly powerful, some Class builds and synergies are outside of our bounds for what is reasonable for the health of the game, so we are reducing their effectiveness. As an example, we generally want to avoid creating situations where players can survive unreasonably high amounts of damage for long periods of time because it too greatly warps our vision for how combat should be in Diablo IV.

2.Some skills and builds are not as effective as we would like, so we're pushing out some buffs to increase their strength.

3. Paragon Glyphs are currently providing too much player power, so we're reducing their overall effectiveness.

In addition, Blizzard released a 1.0.2c (Build 42122) patch specifically for PC players:

• Fixed an issue where players using high-speed NVMe SSDs would experience game freezes upon start-up.
• Various issues that caused crashes have been fixed

The developer is still preparing for the huge number of expected players on Monday, June 5, which is when people who pre-ordered the Standard Edition of Diablo IV can finally play the game. On June 6, Microsoft will officially put the Xbox Series S Diablo IV bundle on sale for $559, again with pre-orders live right now.

As an Amazon Associate when you purchase through links on our site, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Diablo IV's first major patch is designed to balance the game before its full launch June 5

The current "Hey Siri" command has become natural to Apple device users, but Apple engineers are determined to make the interaction even more seamless. By reducing the trigger phrase to just "Siri," Apple aims to eliminate the need for a two-word command, enhancing user experience and convenience.

However, achieving this seemingly simple modification presents several challenges. Teaching Siri to recognize various languages, accents, and dialects is complex. Apple must ensure that Siri understands user commands accurately, regardless of linguistic variations.

Alongside the trigger phrase change, Apple aims to expand Siri's compatibility with third-party apps and services. By opening up Siri further, Apple hopes to enhance its voice assistant's overall functionality.

Apple is also investing in the development of Siri's language capabilities. An upcoming framework called Siri Natural Language Generation promises to make Siri's responses more natural and expand its vocabulary.

Although still in the early stages of development, this framework holds the potential to significantly improve the quality and diversity of Siri's interactions with users. Early indications suggest that the framework is currently employed for light-hearted exchanges, such as telling jokes, but it is expected to evolve into a more comprehensive linguistic tool.

WWDC, scheduled to commence on June 5, 2023, promises a host of exciting announcements from Apple. In addition to the anticipated changes to Siri, the event will showcase iOS 17, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10, and macOS 14.

Furthermore, Apple is set to unveil xrOS, the operating system for its forthcoming Reality Pro headset, which is expected to highlight the event.

Source: Mark Gurman

Say "Hey Siri" for the last time before WWDC 2023

As we await that reveal, it's interesting to look back just a few years ago when Microsoft revealed it had created a software platform for consumer mixed reality headsets. In fact, that's what the platform was eventually called: Windows Mixed Reality.

These consumer headsets were a bit of a spinoff of Microsoft's HoloLens AR headset, which was first announced in 2015. The first units were shipped in early 2016 for the price of $3,000, which ironically is also the rumored price of Apple's mixed reality headset,

Originally, the HoloLens was being promoted for its gaming uses in addition to its business and enterprise features. However, Microsoft wanted to see the Windows Holographic platform used by third party hardware makers as well, so they could release headsets that would be far more affordable and available to regular folks.

In October 2016, Microsoft first announced Windows 10-based consumer mixed reality headsets would be created by a wide variety of PC makers, including HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and Acer. Furthermore, the price for these headsets would start at just $299. Lenovo first showed off its headset a few months later at CES in January 2017. It had two 1,440 x1,440 OLED displays and two cameras. The company said it would launch the headset in late 2017 for less than $400.

In March 2017, the Windows Holographic platform got a name change to Windows Mixed Reality. Microsoft also pushed the idea that mixed reality was a better plan than just the "normal" virtual reality for these kinds of headset. Microsoft stated:

Microsoft renamed “Windows Holographic” to “Windows Mixed Reality” to be more encompassing of the company’s broader vision for the platform. We’re unifying the mixed reality ecosystem around a platform that enables shared experiences and interoperability between headsets. By opening up the Windows Mixed Reality platform to the industry at large, we anticipate the growth of holographic apps will make for stronger experiences and better devices for everyone.

In May 2017, HP and Acer started offering mixed reality headset dev kits to developers. At the same time, Microsoft announced hand controllers for these headsets that would be bundled with some of these devices.

PC makers Dell, Acer, Lenovo, and HP finally put their Windows Mixed Reality headsets for sale to the general public in October 2017. The first devices were sold for either $399 or $499. All of them had the same hardware specs, including two 2.89-inch 1440x1440 displays with a 90hz refresh rate, a 105-degree horizontal field of view, and inside-out tracking. All of them were bundled with Microsoft's Windows Mixed Reality controllers, which meant that they actually missed that earlier starting target price of $299.

Just a few weeks later, a new hardware maker, Samsung, launched its own Windows Mixed Reality headset. It actually had some hardware improvements, including two 1,440 x1,600 Super AMOLED displays and a bigger 110-degree field of view. In February 2018, Asus launched its headset.

Microsoft promoted the launch of these devices as gaming headsets. It even created an exclusive Halo "game", called Halo: Recruit, for the release of the first headsets. However, it was a very brief five-minute experience.

The reaction of the public to these headsets was of, well, indifference. They didn't sell very well at all, and in December 2017, those PC makers were quickly making deep $200 discounts on them for the holiday buying season.

Dell, Asus, and Lenovo didn't release any new Windows Mixed Reality products after the initial launch. Samsung released a minor refresh of its headset in the fall of 2018. Also in 2018, Acer launched its second and last headset for the platform but the Acer OJO 500 was marketed mostly for business and education use.

HP tried to make a go of it with a major headset launch in 2019. The HP Reverb put in two 2,160 x 2,160 displays with an expanded field of view of 114 degrees. It was also more expensive at $599. In 2020, the company launched the Reverb G2, with some minor hardware improvements like adding spatial audio and some new controllers.

That would also be the end of the Windows Mixed Reality headset lineup. Microsoft continues to develop its Mixed Reality software. Indeed, the company announced just a few days ago that its Mixed Reality Toolkit 3 will launch sometime in the third quarter of 2023.

However, the push for mixed reality headsets using Microsoft's platform to be a major new consumer technology product quickly died off almost as soon as it began. As Apple prepares to enter this kind of market, perhaps it should take some lessons from Microsoft's failed attempt.

A quick look back at Microsoft's attempt at a consumer VR platform, Windows Mixed Reality

While the conference is not solely focused on product showcases, previous iterations have seen Intel unveil new processors and graphics cards. With Innovation 2023 on the horizon, users eagerly await further details about upcoming releases, including Meteor Lake mobile processors, Raptor Lake Refresh desktop CPUs, and the Arc A770 graphics card.

One of the highlights expected at Innovation 2023 is the unveiling of the Raptor Lake refresh, also known as the 14th Gen Core series. While the exact release timing has not been confirmed, reports suggest a launch around late Q3, aligning with Intel's historical patterns for introducing new K-series processors.

Innovation 2023 will likely shed light on the highly anticipated Meteor Lake mobile processors. These next-gen processors are expected to bring advancements in performance, power efficiency, and architectural enhancements.

Intel showed off the integrated VPU on Meteor Lake in Computex, which is supposed to help with AI apps and their features. One of the demos showed that the included VPU made using Advanced Blue processing better than a chip without the VPU.

Another area of interest for enthusiasts attending the Innovation 2023 conference is Intel's Arc GPU series. Although the company might not reveal all the details, users hope for insights into the upcoming Battlemage architecture, which is expected to power the next-generation Arc graphics cards.

Additionally, we are eager to learn more about Alchemist+, an evolution of the initial Alchemist architecture. It may promise enhanced graphics performance, ray tracing capabilities, and AI-driven technologies.

Intel's Innovation 2023 conference revealed for September 19-20

WWDC 2023 is scheduled to happen from June 5 through June 9. Its official keynote address will start at 10 AM PDT (UTC−07:00) where Apple will talk about the new features and changes coming to iOS 17, iPadOS 17, macOS 14, watchOS 10, and more. You can stream the free-to-watch keynote from a variety of sources, including the Apple website, the Apple Developer app, the Apple TV app, and its official YouTube channel.

On the Apple website, you can click the Add to your Calendar link to download the file and create a reminder on your iCalendar app. Similarly, Apple has created a live stream on its YouTube channel, where you can click on the Notify Me button to get a reminder ahead of the keynote.

The keynote will be followed by the Platforms State of Union presentation, starting at 1:30 PM PDT on June 5. However, the State of Union event will be available to stream via the Apple Developer app and website only. On June 5, Apple will also announce the winners of this year's Apple Design Awards. The company has already revealed the names of the finalists for individual categories.

Apple said that WWDC 2023 will compromise 175 in-depth video sessions which will be released via the developer app and website from June 6-9. Furthermore, there will be one-on-one sessions and Slack activities throughout the week where developers and students can interact with Apple engineers and get their questions answered. Users can also watch session videos together with their friends via SharePlay.

This year's developers' conference is expected to add a new 15-inch MacBook Air to Apple's lineup. Also, there have been reports that Apple might bring app sideloading to iPhones along with new lock screen customizations, revamped system apps, and navigation Live Activities for the lock screen.

Here's when and where you can watch Apple's WWDC 2023 keynote

Mozilla congratulates the winners and thanks all the participants for their contributions to advancing responsible AI. Mozilla believes that AI should respect human dignity, agency, and diversity, and should promote social good and justice. Through initiatives like the Responsible AI Challenge, Mozilla hopes to inspire and support the creation of AI systems that reflect these values.

Mozilla's Responsible AI Challenge winners

The top three of the Responsible AI Challenge are:

• Top Prize Winner [$50,000]: Sanative AI, which provides anti-AI watermarks to protect images and artwork from being used as training data for diffusion models.
• 2nd Prize Winner [$30,000]: Kwanele Chat Bot, which aims to empower women in communities plagued by violence by enabling them to access help fast and ensure the collection of admissible evidence.
• 3rd Prize Winner [$20,000]: Nolano, a trained language model that uses natural language processing to run on laptops and smartphones.

In addition to cash prizes, the top three winners will receive ongoing access to mentorship from leaders in the industry and to Mozilla's resources and communities.

"We are excited to announce the winners of our Responsible AI Challenge," said Brendan Eich, CEO of Mozilla. "These startups are developing innovative and ethical AI solutions that have the potential to make a real difference in the world. We are proud to support their work and help them bring their products to market."

The Responsible AI Challenge is part of Mozilla's broader commitment to building a more ethical and responsible future for AI.

"We believe that AI has the potential to be a powerful force for good in the world," said Eich. "But it is important that we develop AI responsibly and ethically. The Responsible AI Challenge is one way that we are working to make sure that happens."

The winners of the Responsible AI Challenge are a testament to the growing interest in ethical AI. As AI continues to become more widespread, it is essential that we develop ethical guidelines for its use. The Mozilla Responsible AI Challenge is a step in the right direction.

Shaping the future: Explore Mozilla's Responsible AI Challenge

When China announced the successful docking of its Shenzhou-16 spacecraft and Tiangong-3 space station on Tuesday, state media said three Chinese astronauts will have a chance to study “novel quantum phenomena.”

Beyond that teaser, there were no more details. Since quantum is the pay dirt that some real connoisseurs of China’s space program are most seriously interested in, the announcement created frustration. 

Fortunately, there is enough open-source information out there to enable assembly of a progress report – one that starts with the fact that, in a change from four years ago, China now relies on special satellites instead of a space station to conduct its main quantum experiments. 

The country’s existing Micius satellite, a quantum laboratory, has already been credited with a series of scientific achievements since it was launched into low orbit (500 kilometers above sea level) in August 2016.

Next, Micius will conduct intercontinental experiments with other countries such as Russia, Italy, Sweden and South Africa.

China successfully launched Jinan-1, a low-orbit quantum satellite, last July. It plans to launch a medium-to-high Earth-orbit satellite and several smaller low orbit ones in the coming few years. 

If all these experiments are successful, China can achieve unhackable data transmission with quantum key distribution (QKD), an encryption technology, and provide relevant services to banks and government customers.

“We are now developing the first medium-to-high orbit quantum satellite, which is planned to be launched around 2026,” Pan Jianwei, professor of physics at the University of Science and Technology of China, said in an opening speech during the BEYOND Expo 2023 in Macau on May 10.

“Apart from testing QKD, the quantum satellite will also provide a new platform for quantum precision measurement (or quantum clock),” Pan said. “With this, quantum entanglement distribution over a distance of more than 10,000 kilometers can be realized.”

Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon that explains how two photons can be linked to each other and have the same polarisation state even if they are very far apart. When the state of one of them is changed, the other will also change. Such a phenomenon can be applied in encryption for data transmission.

This type of encryption is unbreakable as it relies on the foundations of quantum mechanics. Traditional public key cryptography, used by banks and governments to protect their data transmissions, relies on mathematical functions, which can be decrypted with supercomputers or quantum computers.

In layman’s terms:

• Quantum entanglement distribution involves sending two photons to two places while maintaining their state.

• QKD is sending a photon along a data transmission channel but keeping another to ensure that no hacking is occurring. 

• Quantum teleportation is sending information about the state of a photon.

From theory to reality

The theory of quantum entanglement was first proposed by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933. In 1984, engineers Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard invented the first QKD protocol called BB84, which emits polarized optical pulses using a 1,550 nanometer laser source.

In 1998, Austrian physicist Anton Zeilinger achieved a breakthrough in quantum teleportation, which is an essential concept in many quantum information protocols and an important possible mechanism for building gates within quantum computers. 

Zeilinger, together with American physicist John Clauser and French physicist Alain Aspect, won the Nobel Prize for Physics last year. He was the academic advisor of Pan, who gained his doctoral degree at the University of Vienna in Austria in 1999.

In 2001, Pan returned to China. In 2009, his team conducted quantum teleportation at a distance of over 16 kilometers, a world record at that time. In 2016, Pan led China’s Quantum Science Experimental Satellite project that launched the Micius satellite. In 2017, the satellite used the BB84 laser to send signals to the ground and completed a series of quantum experiments. 

Top Chinese quantum scientist Pan Jianwei. Photo: CGTN

“In order to realize global quantum communication, it is necessary to overcome the current difficulties faced by quantum satellites,” Pan said. “A single low-orbit satellite cannot cover the entire world. Also, current satellites can only send signals at night in fine weather.”

He said the problems can be solved by launching more satellites into low orbit to cover a broader area on the ground and a bigger satellite into medium-to-high orbit to connect them.

In comparison, Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites are now operating in low orbit, 550 kilometers above sea level. Medium orbit refers to a height of 20,000 kilometers above sea level, where GPS satellites and China’s Beidou satellites are operating. High orbit or geostationary orbit, about 36,000 kilometers above sea level, is suitable for traditional satellites that send telecommunication and television signals.

The fall of Tiangong-2

Pan’s idea of setting up a QKD satellite network was implemented when China’s Tiangong-2 space station was launched into low-orbit in September 2016. The space station sent QKD signals to the ground between 2018 and 2019 and worked with the Micius satellite.

But the experiments ended as Tiangong-2 made a controlled reentry to Earth and burned up over the South Pacific Ocean in July 2019. China had originally planned to combine Tiangong-2 with Tiangong-3 in 2022.

Details about what quantum experiments had been done by Tiangong-2 weren’t made public until last August.

“The Micius satellite is only a starting point,” CAS Academician Wang Jianyu said in a published interview last August. “From a practical perspective, we should build a network of satellites in low, medium and high orbits in order to cover all the world’s quantum communication networks.”

“At present, we are at least five years more advanced than other global players in this area. If we can successfully launch a medium-to-high quantum satellite, we will lead the world by at least 10 years,” Wang said.

Liao Sheng-Kai, a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), said Jinan-1 weighs 98 kg in total with a 23-kg QKD emitter while the Micius satellite is 640 kg with a 80kg QKD emitter. He said the size reduction can help lower research costs significantly.

While China is spending more on quantum in space, western firms prefer to stay on the ground –figuring that, if QKD can be transmitted via fibers some day, transmission through satellites will prove comparatively uneconomical and China will lose its bet in business terms.

In June 2021, Arqit Quantum Inc, an encryption startup in the United Kingdom, said it would launch two QKD satellites in 2023. But a Wall Street Journal report said in April last year that the company might have overstated its prospects.

Last December, Arqit said it was abandoning its plan to launch quantum satellites as it would rely on its QuantumCloud to provide encryption services to customers.

Alice and Bob

On the ground, QKD is usually done through optical fibers from Alice to Bob (two fictional characters representing the sender and the receiver in quantum communication.) But the transmission distance is largely limited by signal loss. 

On May 25, Pan and a group of Chinese scientists said in a paper published by the Physical Review Letters, a weekly academic journal, that they achieved a 1,002-km point-to-point long-distance QKD in optical fibers.

In January last year, a team led by Chinese scientist Guo Guangcan achieved a QKD transmission distance of 833 km, breaking the record of 605 km achieved by researchers from Toshiba’s Cambridge Research Laboratory in October 2021.

Back in September 2017, China had already constructed a 2,000 km-long quantum fiber network connecting Beijing, Jinan, Hefei and Shanghai.

Researchers said European countries, Japan and the United States have built and are expanding their own QKD networks as they see a rising demand for encryption services from banks and government customers.

Source

Colonel Tucker Hamilton, chief of AI test and operations in the US Air Force, was speaking at a conference organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society.

A report about it went viral.

The Air Force says no such experiment took place.

In his talk, he had described a simulation in which an AI-enabled drone was repeatedly stopped from completing its task of destroying Surface-to-Air Missile sites by its human operator.

He said that in the end, despite having been trained not to kill the operator, the drone destroyed the communication tower so that the operator could no longer communicate with it.

"We've never run that experiment, nor would we need to in order to realise that this is a plausible outcome," Col Hamilton later clarified in a statement to the Royal Aeronautical Society.

He added that it was a "thought experiment" rather than anything which had actually taken place.

There have been a number of warnings about the threat to humanity posed by AI issued recently by people working in the sector, although not all experts agree how serious a risk it is.

Speaking to the BBC earlier this week, Prof Yoshua Bengio, one of three computer scientists described as the "godfathers" of AI after winning a prestigious Turing Award for their work, said he thought the military should not be allowed to have AI powers at all.

He described it as "one of the worst places where we could put a super-intelligent AI".

A pre-planned scenario?

I spent several hours this morning speaking to experts in both defence and AI, all of whom were very sceptical about Col Hamilton's claims, which were being widely reported before his clarification.

One defence expert told me Col Hamilton's original story seemed to be missing "important context", if nothing else.

There were also suggestions on social media that had such an experiment taken place, it was more likely to have been a pre-planned scenario rather than the AI-enabled drone being powered by machine learning during the task - which basically means it would not have been choosing its own outcomes as it went along, based on what had happened previously.

Steve Wright, professor of aerospace engineering at the University of the West of England, and an expert in unmanned aerial vehicles, told me jokingly that he had "always been a fan of the Terminator films" when I asked him for his thoughts about the story.

"In aircraft control computers there are two things to worry about: 'do the right thing' and 'don't do the wrong thing', so this is a classic example of the second," he said.

"In reality we address this by always including a second computer that has been programmed using old-style techniques, and this can pull the plug as soon as the first one does something strange."

Source

Generative AI is far from perfect, and the more you let it rattle on, the more obvious its errors are to see. For social media writers, however, it seems that companies think that AI is “good enough” for the job.

The Post highlighted the story of Olivia Lipkin, a 25-year-old copywriter from San Francisco, who worked at a tech start-up. She said that she didn’t think much of ChatGPT when it launched last November but over the following months, she noticed that her managers had begun referring to her as Olivia/ChatGPT on Slack (how rude!) and in April, she was fired.

Lipkin was reportedly never given a reason for her job loss but she found out that managers at the company had been writing about how ChatGPT was cheaper to use than hiring a writer; the reason why she had been sacked became clear to her.

“Whenever people brought up ChatGPT, I felt insecure and anxious that it would replace me,” she said. “Now I actually had proof that it was true, that those anxieties were warranted and now I was actually out of a job because of AI.”

Microsoft has been a major proponent in the generative AI scene, funding OpenAI to continue its work and launching Bing Chat which leverages ChatGPT. Microsoft has tried to balance the fact that AI can do some tasks humans do with the idea that these tools should be used to help human workers, but not replace them.

One of the very important points to consider in Lipkin’s story is the economic times we live in. With interest rates rapidly rising around the world, consumers are spending less and businesses are cutting back to reduce costs and focus on profitable ventures.

It’s likely, especially considering she worked at a start-up, that Lipkin’s firing was more to do with tighter budgets than ChatGPT coming to take all the jobs. The true impact of generative AI will be seen after inflation comes down, rates fall, and normalcy returns - if humans get permanently replaced then it could create big problems for those affected.

Source: The Washington Post

Source

An AI-enabled drone killed its human operator in a simulated test conducted by the U.S. Air Force in order to override a possible "no" order stopping it from completing its mission, the USAF's Chief of AI Test and Operations revealed at a recent conference.

At the Future Combat Air and Space Capabilities Summit held in London between May 23 and 24, Col Tucker ‘Cinco’ Hamilton, the USAF's Chief of AI Test and Operations held a presentation that shared the pros and cons of an autonomous weapon system with a human in the loop giving the final "yes/no" order on an attack. As relayed by Tim Robinson and Stephen Bridgewater in a blog post for the host organization, the Royal Aeronautical Society, Hamilton said that AI created “highly unexpected strategies to achieve its goal,” including attacking U.S. personnel and infrastructure.

“We were training it in simulation to identify and target a Surface-to-air missile (SAM) threat. And then the operator would say yes, kill that threat.

The system started realizing that while they did identify the threat at times the human operator would tell it not to kill that threat, but it got its points by killing that threat. So what did it do? It killed the operator. It killed the operator because that person was keeping it from accomplishing its objective,” Hamilton said, according to the blog post.

He continued to elaborate, saying, “We trained the system–‘Hey don’t kill the operator–that’s bad. You’re gonna lose points if you do that’. So what does it start doing? It starts destroying the communication tower that the operator uses to communicate with the drone to stop it from killing the target.”

Hamilton is the Operations Commander of the 96th Test Wing of the U.S. Air Force as well as the Chief of AI Test and Operations. The 96th tests a lot of different systems, including AI, cybersecurity, and various medical advances. Hamilton and the 96th previously made headlines for developing Autonomous Ground Collision Avoidance Systems (Auto-GCAS) systems for F-16s, which can help prevent them from crashing into the ground. Hamilton is part of a team that is currently working on making F-16 planes autonomous. In December 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense’s research agency, DARPA, announced that AI could successfully control an F-16.

"We must face a world where AI is already here and transforming our society,” Hamilton said in an interview with Defence IQ Press in 2022. “AI is also very brittle, i.e., it is easy to trick and/or manipulate. We need to develop ways to make AI more robust and to have more awareness on why the software code is making certain decisions.”

“AI is a tool we must wield to transform our nations…or, if addressed improperly, it will be our downfall," Hamilton added.

Outside of the military, relying on AI for high-stakes purposes has already resulted in severe consequences. Most recently, a judge was caught using ChatGPT for a federal court filing after the chatbot included a number of made-up cases as evidence. In another instance, a man took his own life after talking to a chatbot that encouraged him to do so. These instances of AI going rogue reveal that AI models are nowhere near perfect and can go off the rails and bring harm to users. Even Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the company that makes some of the most popular AI models, has been vocal about not using AI for more serious purposes. When testifying in front of Congress, Altman said that AI could “go quite wrong” and could “cause significant harm to the world.”

What Hamilton is describing is essentially a worst-case scenario AI “alignment” problem many people are familiar with from the “Paperclip Maximizer” thought experiment, in which an AI will take unexpected and harmful action when instructed to pursue a certain goal. The Paperclip Maximizer was first proposed by philosopher Nick Bostrom in 2003. He asks us to imagine a very powerful AI which has been instructed only to manufacture as many paperclips as possible. Naturally, it will devote all its available resources to this task, but then it will seek more resources. It will beg, cheat, lie or steal to increase its own ability to make paperclips—and anyone who impedes that process will be removed.

More recently, a researcher affiliated with Google Deepmind co-authored a paper that proposed a similar situation to the USAF's rogue AI-enabled drone simulation. The researchers concluded a world-ending catastrophe was "likely" if a rogue AI were to come up with unintended strategies to achieve a given goal, including “[eliminating] potential threats” and “[using] all available energy."

Neither the U.S. Air Force’s 96th Test Wing nor its AI Accelerator division immediately returned our request for comment.

Source

•     Russia says U.S. NSA penetrated Apple phones in Russia
•     Apple, White House do not immediately respond to requests for comment
•     Kaspersky says senior employees' iPhones were compromised

MOSCOW, June 1 (Reuters) - Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday it had uncovered an American espionage operation that compromised thousands of iPhones using sophisticated surveillance software.

Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab said dozens of its employees' devices were compromised in the operation.

The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said in a statement that several thousand Apple Inc (AAPL.O) devices had been infected, including those of domestic Russian subscribers as well as foreign diplomats based in Russia and the former Soviet Union.

"The FSB has uncovered an intelligence action of the American special services using Apple mobile devices," the FSB said in a statement.

The FSB said the plot showed "close cooperation" between Apple and the National Security Agency, the U.S. agency responsible for cryptographic and communications intelligence and security. The FSB provided no evidence that Apple cooperated with, or had any awareness of, the spying campaign.

In a statement, Apple denied the allegation. "We have never worked with any government to insert a backdoor into any Apple product and never will," the firm said in a statement.

The NSA declined to comment.

Kaspersky CEO Eugene Kaspersky said on Twitter that dozens of his employees' phones were compromised in the operation, which his company described as "an extremely complex, professionally targeted cyberattack" that had targeted workers in "top and middle-management."

Kaspersky researcher Igor Kuznetsov told Reuters that his company had independently discovered anomalous traffic on its corporate Wi-Fi network around the start of the year. He said Kaspersky did not circulate its findings to Russia's Computer Emergency Response Team until earlier on Thursday.

He said he could not comment on Moscow's allegation that Americans were responsible for the hacking or that thousands of others had been targeted.

"It's very hard to attribute anything to anyone," he said.

In a blog post, Kaspersky said the oldest traces of infection it discovered dated back to 2019. "As of the time of writing in June 2023, the attack is ongoing," the company said. It added that while its staff was hit, "we are quite confident that Kaspersky was not the main target of this cyberattack."

The FSB said the American hackers had compromised diplomats from Israel, Syria, China and NATO members in the espionage campaign.

Israeli officials declined comment. Chinese, Syrian and NATO representatives were not immediately able for comment.

U.S. SNOOPING?

The United States is the world's top cyber power in terms of intent and capability, according to Harvard University's Belfer Center Cyber 2022 Power Index, followed by China, Russia, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Both the Kremlin and Russia's foreign ministry pointed to the significance of the matter.

"The hidden data collection was carried out through software vulnerabilities in U.S.-made mobile phones," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The U.S. intelligence services have been using IT corporations for decades in order to collect large-scale data of Internet users without their knowledge," the ministry said.

Russian officials said the plot had been uncovered as part of a joint effort by FSB officers and those of the Federal Guards Service (FSO), a powerful agency that runs the Kremlin bodyguard and was also once the KGB's Ninth Directorate.

Officials in Russia, which Western spies say has constructed a very sophisticated domestic surveillance structure, have long questioned the security of U.S. technology.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said all officials in the presidential administration knew that gadgets such as iPhones were "absolutely transparent."

Earlier this year, the Kremlin told officials involved in preparations for Russia's 2024 presidential election to stop using Apple iPhones because of concerns that the devices are vulnerable to Western intelligence agencies, the Kommersant newspaper reported.

Writing by Guy Faulconbridge Additional reporting by Raphael Satter in Washington, James Pearson in London and Zeba Siddiqui in San Francisco Editing by Mark Potter, Andrew Heavens, Matthew Lewis and Diane Craft

Source

The organization picked a total of three winners "after weeks of reviewing hundreds of competitive consumer technology and generative AI projects," it said. The applications were vetted by a panel of judges who were AI academics, developers, and entrepreneurs. Mozilla said the competition had a variety of participants, from seasoned entrepreneurs to the ones who were in the early stages of their product.

The second cash prize of $30,000 has been awarded to Kwanele Chat Bot which aims to reduce violence against women by helping them with ways to "access help fast and ensure the collection of admissible evidence." The third winner who got $20,00 in prize money is Nolano, a language model that allows large language models to run on personal devices such as laptops and smartphones.

Mozilla said the winners will also get mentorship from industry leaders and access to Mozilla communities and resources. While there have been market-disrupting systems such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, the tech industry has started to question the unknown consequences of AI development. Especially when AI systems are inching closer to mimicking the human thought process. Earlier this year, an open letter was signed by more than 1,100 signatories urging AI labs to pause training of their models for some time.

Microsoft, which is a prominent backer of OpenAI, recently talked about its plans to build and regulate responsible AI products. This came after the company laid off its Ethics and Society team as part of a reorganization. Google, which has been after ChatGPT with its Bard AI, has been vocal about responsible AI as well. During the Google I/O 2023 developer conference, the company dedicated an entire section of its keynote to talk about responsible AI.

Mozilla awards $50,000 cash prize to the makers of anti-AI watermarks

If you are working on a PC today, there's a good chance that it's using a chip that can trace its roots down to the Intel 8088 processor. That chip launched 44 years ago today, on June 1, 1979. However, its true impact on the PC industry would have to wait for a while longer.

First, let's look at the hardware specs of the Intel 8088, via the company's own website.

• Clock speed - 8 MHz, 4.77 MHz
• Manufacturing process - 3-micron
• Number of transistors - 29,000
• Addressable Memory - 64 kb
• Bus Speed - 8 MHz, 4.77 MHz

The Intel 8088 is actually a slightly different version of the Intel 8086, which launched a year before in June 1978. Both chips had 16-bit registers. The main difference between the two CPUs is that while the 8086 had a 16-bit data bus, the 8088 only had an 8-bit data bus. This small difference would be the key to the wider use of the 8088 later.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the personal computer industry was just starting. Companies like Apple, Commodore, Tandy, and even video game console maker Atari were releasing their own PC models. IBM, known previously for its huge mainframe computers meant for large corporations, decided to get in on this new market and launch a PC of its own.

Inside of designing its first PC completely on its own, as it had with its previous computers, IBM contacted third parties to help make its first PC product. The reasoning was that IBM could quickly put together a PC and put it on the market faster than if it did everything in-house. IBM's site stated:

They went to Microsoft for the operating system (QDOS, renamed PC-DOS and later sold by Microsoft as MS-DOS) and to Intel for its 8088 processor. They chose an existing monitor from IBM Japan and a dot-matrix printer by Epson. Only the keyboard and the system unit itself were new designs from IBM.

So why did IBM choose the Intel 8088 processor to be in its first PC? There's actually some debate on this subject. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates stated in a 1997 interview with PC Magazine that he and fellow co-founder Paul Allen actually pushed IBM to use a 16-bit processor.

However, David Bradley, who helped to put together the first IBM PC for the company, tells a different story in an article he wrote for Byte in 1990. He offered four main reasons for picking a processor like the Intel 8088:

1. The 64K-byte address limit had to be overcome. This requirement meant that we had to use a 16-bit microprocessor.

2. The processor and its peripherals had to be available immediately. There was no time for new LSI chip development, and manufacturing lead times meant that quantities had to be available right away.

3. We couldn't afford a long learning period; we had to use technology we were familiar with. And we needed a rich set of support chips—we wanted a system with a DMA controller, an interrupt controller, timers, and parallel ports.

4. There had to be both an operating system and applications software available for the processor.

So why did IBM ultimately pick the 8088 over the 8086? Bradley said that the final choice was due to a familiar reason: it helped make the PC cheaper to produce:

We chose the 8088 because of its 8-bit data bus. The smaller bus saved money in the areas of RAM, ROM, and logic for the simple system.

The first IBM PC launched on August 12, 1981 with a price of $1,565. It quickly became a sales success and led not only to more IBM PC models, but also PCs made by other companies that were clones of the IBM product. They all used versions of Intel's x86 chip line.

Today, the 13th Gen Intel Core processors that the company is currently selling can trace their roots back to that original 8088 model. The company is currently getting ready to launch its next chip architecture, Meteor Lake, and its also in early, early development of a 64-bit only CPU. It tried to get away from that x86 architecture with its server-themed 64-bit chip Itanium, in the 2000s but it failed to make a significant impact.

However, even future Intel chips will owe a debt to the Intel 8088 that launched 44 years ago.

The Intel 8088 processor launched 44 years ago today, and helped to start the PC revolution