Alef Aeronautics receives testing approval for world’s first flying car
Startup Alef Aeronautics has been given FAA Special Airworthiness Approval, which means it will be allowed to undergo experimental testing of its new flying car. Could we soon be buying flying cars? Well, we’re one step closer at least. The startup company Alef Aeronautics, backed by Space-X, is the first...
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Kenyan startup uses VR to teach about pollution
Kenyan startup Ukwenza VR is using virtual reality technology to improve young people’s understanding of environmental challenges such as plastic pollution and climate change. Despite the efforts of governments, organizations, and the private sector, the utilization of technology in most African countries is still expensive. Digital devices like laptops and...
How AI is impacting our education system
The advent of AI and the proliferation of social media have brought about significant changes in various aspects of our lives, including education. While the technological advancements of AI have opened up new avenues for learning, they have also introduced unforeseen challenges. One such unlikely hurdle has emerged in the form...
Music made with AI will be eligible for a Grammy
To better reflect an evolving industry, artists using machine learning for their compositions now have the opportunity to win an award. However, as stressed by Harvey Mason Jr. – CEO of the Recording Academy – only the human creators who contributed to a song can be nominated. Last month, the Recording...
Can Atlantic Declaration reinforce UK as an AI leader?
Rishi Sunak's recent meeting at the White House was his opportunity to defy his critics and demonstrate the UK's potential to lead the AI industry. The last few years have seen growth in AI development, impacting economies worldwide. Recently, Sunak revealed that the UK will host a significant summit on artificial...
A once-retired California mine could supply the US renewable revolution
The US may have its own rare Earth element supply chain, and the very first in the Western Hemisphere at that. Could this end China’s dominance over the West’s renewable revolution? Just across the border from Nevada resides the only large-scale rare-Earth element mine in the entire Western Hemisphere. Named Mountain...
Tencent launches WeChat Palm Payments in China
This week, Tencent started introducing palm recognition through its WeChat Pay service. The tech is to be installed in Beijing’s Airport Express Line, where it will take payments by scanning people’s palm prints and their unique formation of veins without physical contact. Like the idea of completing financial transactions with the wave of a hand? That prospect is, as of this week, a reality in China thanks to its national tech...
Wimbledon to use AI commentary at upcoming championships
The All England Club has teamed up with tech group IBM to leverage the boom in large language models such as ChatGPT to cover matches that would ordinarily be watched in silence. Although Wimbledon has a reputation for favouring tradition over change, it’s set to follow a global trend this year in embracing artificial intelligence (AI) at the upcoming championships. Teaming up with tech group IBM to...
Should we put restrictions on AI in music?
An anonymous artist called ‘ghostwriter’ created a song using AI-generated vocals from Drake and The Weeknd. It gained over 250,000 streams overnight before it was pulled from Spotify. Is this the start of an AI takeover in music? A song made using AI-generated vocals from The Weeknd and Drake was pulled from Spotify last week after amassing over 250,000 streams in a few days. Posted by an artist called ‘ghostwriter’, the...
Google launches new AI tool PaLM 2
In an attempt to keep up with the competition, Google has announced PaLM 2, a ‘next-generation language model’ that will be available for many of its upcoming products. It will be in direct competition with services like Midjourney and DALL-E. Google is attempting to throw itself back to the forefront of AI tools and services. Despite years of AI research and in-house work, the company has been unable to create popular...
