This article was published on April 13, 2021The European Commission is set to unveil a new set of regulations for artificial intelligence products. While some AI tech would be outright banned, other potentially harmful systems would be forced through a vetting process before developers could release them to the general public.The proposed legislation, per obtained by Politico’s Melissa Heikkila, would ban systems it deems as “contravening the Union values or violating fundamental rights.”The regulations, if passed, could limit the potential harm done by AI-powered systems involved in...…This article was published on April 13, 2021The European Commission is set to unveil a new set of regulations for artificial intelligence products. While some AI tech would be outright banned, other potentially harmful systems would be forced through a vetting process before developers could release them to the general public.The proposed legislation, per obtained by Politico’s Melissa Heikkila, would ban systems it deems as “contravening the Union values or violating fundamental rights.”The regulations, if passed, could limit the potential harm done by AI-powered systems involved in...WW…

This article was published on December 28, 2021In other words: We live inside a computer that learns.Subscribe to our newsletter now for a weekly recap of our favorite AI stories in your inbox.One implication is that if the evolution of laws is real, it is likely to be unidirectional, for otherwise it would be common for laws to revert to previous states, perhaps even more likely than for them to find a new state. This is because a new state is not random but rather must meet certain constraints, while the immediate past state has already met constraints.A reversible but evolving system...…This article was published on December 28, 2021In other words: We live inside a computer that learns.Subscribe to our newsletter now for a weekly recap of our favorite AI stories in your inbox.One implication is that if the evolution of laws is real, it is likely to be unidirectional, for otherwise it would be common for laws to revert to previous states, perhaps even more likely than for them to find a new state. This is because a new state is not random but rather must meet certain constraints, while the immediate past state has already met constraints.A reversible but evolving system...WW…

This article was published on April 7, 2021What would happen if an AI gained control of the US military’s nuclear stash and decided to preemptively win World War 3 before any perceived enemy nations could react?Fans of cinema from the 1980s may recognize that query as the plot to the classic science-fiction film “” starring a young Matthew Broderick. It was a great but terribly silly movie that paired nicely with popcorn and suspended disbelief. Nevertheless, the question it asked remains valid.[Note: Spoilers ahead because the movie is more than 30 years old]Subscribe to our newsletter now...…This article was published on April 7, 2021What would happen if an AI gained control of the US military’s nuclear stash and decided to preemptively win World War 3 before any perceived enemy nations could react?Fans of cinema from the 1980s may recognize that query as the plot to the classic science-fiction film “” starring a young Matthew Broderick. It was a great but terribly silly movie that paired nicely with popcorn and suspended disbelief. Nevertheless, the question it asked remains valid.[Note: Spoilers ahead because the movie is more than 30 years old]Subscribe to our newsletter now...WW…

This article was published on March 23, 2021The (ITER) will, if things go according to plan, move one step closer to becoming the world’s first functioning nuclear fusion reactor this summer when scientists conduct its inaugural test runs.Nuclear fusion has, traditionally, been used as the core scientific principle behind thermonuclear warheads. But the same technology that powers our weapons of mass destruction could, theoretically, be harnessed to power our cities. This would be the first fusion reactor capable of producing more energy than it takes to operate.If we can build and operate...…This article was published on March 23, 2021The (ITER) will, if things go according to plan, move one step closer to becoming the world’s first functioning nuclear fusion reactor this summer when scientists conduct its inaugural test runs.Nuclear fusion has, traditionally, been used as the core scientific principle behind thermonuclear warheads. But the same technology that powers our weapons of mass destruction could, theoretically, be harnessed to power our cities. This would be the first fusion reactor capable of producing more energy than it takes to operate.If we can build and operate...WW…

This article was published on December 25, 2021The core idea is deceptively simple: every observable phenomenon in the entire universe can be modeled by a neural network. And that means, by extension, the universe itself may be a neural network.Vitaly Vanchurin, a professor of physics at the University of Minnesota Duluth, published last August entitled “The World as a Neural Network” on the arXiv pre-print server. It managed to slide past our notice until today when Futurism’s Victor Tangermann published with Vanchurin discussing the paper.The big ideaSubscribe to our newsletter now for a...…This article was published on December 25, 2021The core idea is deceptively simple: every observable phenomenon in the entire universe can be modeled by a neural network. And that means, by extension, the universe itself may be a neural network.Vitaly Vanchurin, a professor of physics at the University of Minnesota Duluth, published last August entitled “The World as a Neural Network” on the arXiv pre-print server. It managed to slide past our notice until today when Futurism’s Victor Tangermann published with Vanchurin discussing the paper.The big ideaSubscribe to our newsletter now for a...WW…

This article was published on February 8, 2021A team of researchers from University College Maastricht recently published a study exploring the use of GPT-3 as an email manager. As someone with an inbox that can only be described as ludicrous, color me intrigued.The big idea: We spend hours a day reading and responding to emails, what if an AI could automate both processes?The Maastricht team explored the idea of letting GPT-3 loose in our email systems from a pragmatic point of view. Rather than focus on exactly how good GPT-3 is at responding to specific emails, the team examined whether...…This article was published on February 8, 2021A team of researchers from University College Maastricht recently published a study exploring the use of GPT-3 as an email manager. As someone with an inbox that can only be described as ludicrous, color me intrigued.The big idea: We spend hours a day reading and responding to emails, what if an AI could automate both processes?The Maastricht team explored the idea of letting GPT-3 loose in our email systems from a pragmatic point of view. Rather than focus on exactly how good GPT-3 is at responding to specific emails, the team examined whether...WW…

This article was published on January 26, 2021Quantum computers, according to experts, will one day be capable of performing incredible calculations and nearly unfathomable feats of logic. In the near future, we know they’ll help us discover new drugs to fight disease and new materials to build with. But the far future potential for these enigmatic machines is as vast as the universe itself.The realm of classic science fiction is littered with ideas that today’s experts believe lie within the realm of reality – if not today’s reality, then perhaps tomorrow’s quantum computer-laden one. One...…This article was published on January 26, 2021Quantum computers, according to experts, will one day be capable of performing incredible calculations and nearly unfathomable feats of logic. In the near future, we know they’ll help us discover new drugs to fight disease and new materials to build with. But the far future potential for these enigmatic machines is as vast as the universe itself.The realm of classic science fiction is littered with ideas that today’s experts believe lie within the realm of reality – if not today’s reality, then perhaps tomorrow’s quantum computer-laden one. One...WW…

This article was published on January 27, 2021What happens when the pandemic finally ends and hundreds of millions of people who’ve spent an inordinate amount of time secluded are suddenly launched back into the rat race?Things will likely never go back to normal, but eventually we’ll find a way to occupy space together again and that could be difficult for people who’ve developed social anxiety or had setbacks in their treatment due to the unique nature of pandemic isolation.We couldn’t find any actual rats to ask how they’re coping with the race, but a team of laboratory mice might just...…This article was published on January 27, 2021What happens when the pandemic finally ends and hundreds of millions of people who’ve spent an inordinate amount of time secluded are suddenly launched back into the rat race?Things will likely never go back to normal, but eventually we’ll find a way to occupy space together again and that could be difficult for people who’ve developed social anxiety or had setbacks in their treatment due to the unique nature of pandemic isolation.We couldn’t find any actual rats to ask how they’re coping with the race, but a team of laboratory mice might just...WW…

This article was published on January 27, 2021A team of researchers from MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital recently published a study linking social awareness to individual neuronal activity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time evidence for the ‘‘ has been identified at this scale.regionsSubscribe to our newsletter now for a weekly recap of our favorite AI stories in your inbox.[Read:]theory of other mindsGreetings Humanoids! Did you know we have a newsletter all about AI? You can subscribe to it right here.…This article was published on January 27, 2021A team of researchers from MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital recently published a study linking social awareness to individual neuronal activity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time evidence for the ‘‘ has been identified at this scale.regionsSubscribe to our newsletter now for a weekly recap of our favorite AI stories in your inbox.[Read:]theory of other mindsGreetings Humanoids! Did you know we have a newsletter all about AI? You can subscribe to it right here.WW…

This article was published on January 13, 2021Everyone’s always talking about traveling through time, but if you ask me the ultimate temporal vacation would be just to pause the clock for a bit. Who among us couldn’t use a five or six month break after 2020 before we commit to an entire new calendar year? It’s not you 2021; it’s us.But maybe our computers can.Subscribe to our newsletter now for a weekly recap of our favorite AI stories in your inbox.speculative sciencestop time in order to solve a problem requiring a near-immediate solution.what happens next[Read next: ]The first...…This article was published on January 13, 2021Everyone’s always talking about traveling through time, but if you ask me the ultimate temporal vacation would be just to pause the clock for a bit. Who among us couldn’t use a five or six month break after 2020 before we commit to an entire new calendar year? It’s not you 2021; it’s us.But maybe our computers can.Subscribe to our newsletter now for a weekly recap of our favorite AI stories in your inbox.speculative sciencestop time in order to solve a problem requiring a near-immediate solution.what happens next[Read next: ]The first...WW…