World’s first IVF rhino pregnancy could save species
The critically endangered northern white rhinoceros could be brought back from the brink of extinction after scientists successfully transferred a lab-created embryo into a surrogate mother. At present, there exist only two infertile female northern white rhinoceros on Earth as a consequence of illegal poaching – fuelled by the demand...
Current in Tech
OpenAI alleges the New York Times tricked ChatGPT into plagiarism
In what is due to be a definitive case for the future of generative AI, the New York Times is suing OpenAI for training ChatGPT using its articles without permission. The defendant alleges that the media outlet tricked its AI model specifically to produce answers verbatim. The landscape of generative...
X launches new AI tool called ‘Grok’ for US-based users
Allegedly modelled after the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, it is designed to answer questions and help content creators generate creative and engaging tweets. With the turn of the new year, Elon Musk has introduced a new feature to the platform he acquired a little over a year ago. You...
How will tech experts prevent AI from adopting extreme bias?
As Artificial Intelligence becomes further interwoven with everyday life, more questions about its input biases emerge. By 2032, the market value of Artificial intelligence is expected to reach $2,760.3 billion. This relatively novel technology has become an integral part of our most-used devices, through the incorporation of Siri in our smartphones...
Disrupted sleep linked to cognitive decline in later life
According to a new study, young people with poor sleep quality are more than twice as likely to have memory and thinking issues when they get older. Though sleep is known to play an important role in the health of our brains and numerous studies have associated the lack of...
AI discovers the first new antibiotic in over 60 years
A deep-learning algorithm has helped scientists identify new compounds that are effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria – a public health threat that causes thousands of deaths annually. With doctors concerned that antibiotics have become increasingly ineffective since Fleming first purified penicillin in 1928, the recent discovery of a compound which...
Hackers leak more than a terabyte of Insomniac Games’ private data
A week after unsuccessfully blackmailing Sony for a $2 million payout, a ransomware outfit has leaked a trove of internal data from Insomniac Games totalling 1.67 terabytes. Oh, to be a game developer. In what is becoming an alarmingly regular occurrence, yet another major game studio has fallen victim to an illicit hacking operation. This time, Sony’s Insomniac Games has been ransacked for digital assets totalling over 1.67 terabytes. Employees of the studio...
Search engines are amplifying misinformation
A study published in Nature last week has uncovered that using online search engines to vet conspiracies can actually compound the probability that someone will believe it.
In November, UNESCO’s Director-General Audrey Azoulay sounded the alarm on the intensification of misinformation and hate speech online, which she said poses ‘major risks to social cohesion, peace, and stability.’
Her warning came on the back of a UNESCO-commissioned
New European AI laws hope to influence global tech regulations
As AI technology rapidly advances, policymakers have agreed upon a new set of regulations to ensure its capabilities are used ethically across EU member states. Once passed, they hope the laws will act as a blueprint for other nations around the globe. With the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) software advancing tremendously in the last year, the question of ‘what can AI do?’ has become ‘what can’t AI do?’ In...
‘The Day Before’ shuts down four days after launching
Our hunch was correct. After five years of so-called development, post-apocalyptic MMO ‘The Day Before’ has vanished from stores four days into release. Its studio, Fntastic, has also liquidated. All signs point to a scam. A few hundred days late, and more than a buck short. RIP ‘The Day Before’ (Dec 2023 – Dec 2023). So, it turns out The Day Before was actually real, it just delivered absolutely nothing that...
