The $17.4 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust rallied the most since July 2021 after a US court ruling potentially

By Katie Paul Two U.S. senators introduced legislation on Wednesday that would allow social media companies to be

One of the pioneers of artificial intelligence has warned the Government is not safeguarding against the dangers posed by future super-intelligent machines. Professor Stuart Russell told The Times ministers were favouring a light touch on the burgeoning AI industry, despite warnings from civil servants it could create an existential threat. A former adviser to both Downing Street and the White House, Professor Russell is a co-author of the most widely used AI text book and lectures on computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He told The Times a system similar to ChatGPT – which has passed exams and can compose prose – could form part of a super-intelligence machine which could not be controlled. “How do you maintain power over entities more powerful than you – forever?” he asked. “If you don’t have an answer, then stop doing the research. It’s as simple as that. “The stakes couldn’t be higher: if we don’t control our own civilisation, we have no say in whether we continue to exist.” In March, he co-signed an open letter with Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak warning of the “out-of-control race” going on at AI labs. The letter warned the labs were developing “ever more powerful digital minds that no one, not even their creators, can understand, predict or reliably control”. Professor Russell has worked for the UN on a system to monitor the nuclear test-ban treaty and was asked to work with the Government earlier this year. “The Foreign Office… talked to a lot of people and they concluded that loss of control was a plausible and extremely high-significance outcome,” he said. “And then the Government came out with a regulatory approach that says: ‘Nothing to see here… we’ll welcome the AI industry as if we were talking about making cars or something like that’.” He said making changes to the technical foundations of AI to add necessary safeguards would take “time that we may not have”. “I think we got something wrong right at the beginning, where we were so enthralled by the notion of understanding and creating intelligence, we didn’t think about what that intelligence was going to be for,” he said. We've sort of got the message and we're scrambling around trying to figure out what to do Professor Stuart Russell “Unless its only purpose is to be a benefit to humans, you are actually creating a competitor – and that would be obviously a stupid thing to do. “We don’t want systems that imitate human behaviour… you’re basically training it to have human-like goals and to pursue those goals. “You can only imagine how disastrous it would be to have really capable systems that were pursuing those kinds of goals.” He said there were signs of politicians becoming aware of the risks. “We’ve sort of got the message and we’re scrambling around trying to figure out what to do,” he said. “That’s what it feels like right now.” The Government has launched the AI Foundation Model Taskforce which it says will “lay the foundations for the safe use of foundation models across the economy and ensure the UK is at the forefront of this pivotal AI technology”. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live TikTok ‘does not want to compete with BBC for Eurovision final viewers’ Eurovision’s preparations for potential Russia cyberthreat ‘in good place’ UK-based tech company claims quantum computing ‘breakthrough’

HIGH POINT, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 1, 2023--

TL;DR: As of May 20, you can get a lifetime license to Microsoft Office (for

Solar and wind energy installations could earn hundreds of millions of dollars by mining bitcoin during periods of excess electricity generation, according to a new study. Scientists from Cornell University in the US, who conducted the research, said setting up mining operations could reduce the environmental impact of cryptocurrency, while also providing revenue that could be reinvested in future renewable energy projects. “Profitability of a mining system hinges on periods of steady energy availability since renewable energy sources can vary significantly,” said Fengqi You, a professor of energy systems at Cornell University. “Therefore, it is important to site the mining farm strategically to maximise productivity.” The state with the most potential for setting up profitable crypto mining operations is Texas, according to the study, with 32 planned renewable projects capable of generating combined profits of $47 million. California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Nevada and Virginia all showed potential, though setting up mining rigs presents a large initial cost. One way of incentivising such projects, Cornell doctoral student Apoorv Lal suggested, could be the introduction of new policies that provide economic rewards for mining bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with clean energy ”These rewards can act as an incentive for miners to adopt clean energy sources, which can lead to combined positive effects on climate change mitigation, improved renewable power capacity, and additional profits during pre-commercial operation of wind and solar farms,” Mr Lal said. “We also recommend policies that encourage cryptocurrency-mining operations to return some of their profits back into infrastructure development. This would help create a self-sustaining cycle for renewable energy expansion.” Bitcoin has drawn criticism from environmentalists for the vast amounts of electricity required to support its network and mint new units of the cryptocurrency, with recent analysis from the University of Cambridge estimating that it uses roughly the same amount of electricity as Poland. The plummeting costs of renewable energy mean bitcoin miners are increasingly turning to solar, wind and hydro sources to power their operations. “In its current status, the infrastructure that supports the Bitcoin protocol cannot be sustained, but the beauty of the protocol is that the incentive structure will force miners to adopt the cheapest form of electricity, which in the near future will be renewable energy,” Don Wyper, COO of DigitalMint, told The Independent last year. The latest study, titled ‘From mining to mitigation: how bitcoin can support renewable energy development and climate action’, was published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. Read More Bitcoin mining rate hits all-time high amid record-breaking prediction for 2024 Nasa has received a signal from 10 million miles away Scientists reveal surprise finding from huge study into internet and mental health Nasa has received a signal from 10 million miles away Scientists reveal surprise finding from huge study into internet and mental health Software firm Cloudsmith announces £8.8m investment

A recession is coming, and ESG investors may be among those who stand to lose the most. That’s

A group of nonprofits is pushing Barclays Plc to retract an analyst research note they claim amounts to

It seems like TikTok star Alix Earle has a few untold secrets, read on to discover more

Intelsat SA, the world’s biggest geostationary satellite operator, is making a series of bets on companies that focus

The BAFTA Game Awards will return next Spring.

Microsoft Teams, the popular workplace chat app, has gone down in the middle of the working day. Users complained that they were unable to get online or talk to colleagues in what appeared to be a widespread outage. But soon after the problems were identified, many appeared to be able to get back online again. The problems began around lunchtime in the UK, and around the time that many in the US are beginning work, according to tracking website Downdetector. Numerous users complained on that site and elsewhere that they were unable to get online, particularly using their browser. Many of those users were hit by a mysterious message reading: “Operation failed with unexpected error”. Others saw similarly vague messages about not being able to connect to the internet or indistinct error codes. Microsoft confirmed on its official account that it was aware of an issue where “some users may be unable to access Microsoft Teams using web browsers”. But numerous users complained that they were unable to get online through the desktop app, either.