A startup backed and incubated by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures has engineered a hybrid technology that combines

SANTA ROSA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 2023--

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS Big Tech firms will face new European Union rules to clearly label political

MrBeast compared the underwhelming viewership of these series to that of his own YouTube videos

On July 18, Amouranth faced an unexpected setback as she received a ban on Twitch

The probability of a “Terminator scenario” caused by artificial intelligence is “close to zero”, a University of Oxford professor has said. Sandra Wachter, professor of technology and regulation, called a letter released by the San Francisco-based Centre for AI Safety – which warned that the technology could wipe out humanity – a “publicity stunt”. The letter, which warns that the risks should be treated with the same urgency as pandemics or nuclear war, was signed by dozens of experts including artificial intelligence (AI) pioneers. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak retweeted the Centre for AI Safety’s statement on Wednesday, saying the Government is “looking very carefully” at it. Professor Wachter said the risk raised in letter is “science fiction fantasy” and she compared it to the film The Terminator. She added: “There are risks, there are serious risks, but it’s not the risks that are getting all of the attention at the moment. “What we see with this new open letter is a science fiction fantasy that distracts from the issue right here right now. The issues around bias, discrimination and the environmental impact. “The whole discourse is being put on something that may or may not happen in a couple of hundred years. You can’t do something meaningful about it as it’s so far in the future. “But bias and discrimination I can measure, I can measure the environmental impact. It takes 360 gallons of water daily to cool a middle-sized data centre, that’s the price that we have to pay. “It’s a publicity stunt. It will attract funding. It's a publicity stunt. It will attract funding. Professor Sandra Wachter “Let’s focus on people’s jobs being replaced. These things are being completely sidelined by the Terminator scenario. “What we know about technology now, the probability [of human extinction due to AI] is close to zero. People should worry about other things.” AI apps have gone viral online, with users posting fake images of celebrities and politicians, and students using ChatGPT and other “language learning models” to generate university-grade essays. But AI can also perform life-saving tasks, such as algorithms analysing medical images like X-rays, scans and ultrasounds, helping doctors to identify and diagnose diseases such as cancer and heart conditions more accurately and quickly. The statement was organised by the Centre for AI Safety, a non-profit which aims “to reduce societal-scale risks from AI”. It says: “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.” Senior bosses at companies such as Google DeepMind and Anthropic signed the letter along with a pioneer of AI, Geoffrey Hinton, who resigned from his job at Google earlier this month, saying that in the wrong hands, AI could be used to to harm people and spell the end of humanity. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live ‘I feel lost’ – AI pioneer speaks out as experts warn it could wipe out humanity Cabinet approves Irish involvement in cyber-threat network Trust and ethics considerations ‘have come too late’ on AI technology

Oracle Corp. reported cloud sales growth that slowed in the quarter, dimming enthusiasm about the software maker’s expansion

Pokémon’s TV series has been delighting animé lovers for more than 26 years, and yet, there’s one episode that even the most diehard of fans may well have missed. The installment, titled Dennō Senshi Porygon (which roughly translates as "Computer Warrior Porygon”) aired in Japan on December 16, 1997. And, after that single, fateful outing, it was never to grace television screens again. The reason for the ban? Reports of a strange health outbreak among children which was linked to a specific scene. The episode follows Ash Ketchum, Pikachu and their pals as they investigate a faulty Poké Ball transfer machine by getting inside it. Once there, the team come under attack, but are saved when Pikachu unleashes one of his high-octane electric outbursts – represented by a barrage of red and blue strobe lights. And that’s where the trouble began. According to scientific paranormal investigator Benjamin Radford and sociologist Robert Bartholomew, who dedicated a study to the event: "At 6:51 PM, the flashing lights of Pikachu's 'attack' appeared on television screens. “By 7:30 PM, according to Japan's Fire-Defense Agency, 618 children had been taken to hospitals complaining of various symptoms." These symptoms included convulsions, nausea and vomiting, with news of the “illness” spreading rapidly throughout the country. Inevitably, it made headlines, with several news broadcasters replaying the offending clip, “whereupon even more children fell ill and sought medical attention,” Radford and Bartholomew wrote. The following day, TV Tokyo issued an apology, suspended the show, and announced an investigation into the cause of the seizures. Meanwhile, video retailers pulled the series from their shelves, and even the then-prime minister Ryuaro Hashimoto expressed concern at the use of rays and lasers in the popular cartoon. Within two days, the number of children reported to have been affected by the flashing sequence increased to around 12,700. And yet, after four months of investigation – with input from health experts and Japanese government officials – no obvious cause could be found for the outbreak and Pokémon returned to the airwaves. Because, although the bright flashes were assumed to be the cause of the health panic, such visual techniques had been used in numerous other animé episodes before, with no reports of any problems. So what was going on here? Well, a tiny fraction of the children who reported being affected were diagnosed with photosensitive epilepsy, with experts concluding that the rapid colour changes during the scene caused them to suffer seizures. However, the bulk of “patients” reported symptoms that had no identifiable “organic” cause and were, instead, consistent with a very different type of condition… Mass hysteria. Radford and Bartholomew attribute this “epidemic hysteria”, in large part, to the mass media, which they say fuelled panic and misinformation. "Many of the children's symptoms had no identifiable organic basis; other than the verified cases of seizures, the symptoms reported were minor and short-lived; the victims were nearly exclusively school children in early adolescence; and anxiety from dramatic media reports of the first wave of illness reports was evident,” they wrote. “Media reports and publicity fuel the hysteria as news of the affliction spreads, planting the idea or concern in the community while reinforcing and validating the veracity of the illness for the initial victims,” they continued. “According to news accounts of the time, the number of children said to be affected remained around 700 the evening of the Pokémon episode and the next day. “The next morning, the episode dominated the Japanese news. Japanese children who had not heard about their peers from the news or from their parents learned of it that morning when the seizures ‘were the talk of the schoolyards’,” they continued. “Once the children had a chance to hear panicky accounts of what had happened through the mass media, their friends and their schools, the number of children reported the next day to have been initially affected – 2 days earlier – increased by 12,000.” Radford and Bartholomew ended their paper by noting that this Pokémon drama offers a warning to us all. They pointed out that our continuing reliance on mass communications, especially TV and the internet, places us at risk of more and more hysteria outbreaks. “Technological innovations are occurring at unprecedented rates and have the potential to influence significant numbers of people beyond the typical number in traditional mass hysteria episodes,” they stressed. “Epidemic hysterias that in earlier periods were self-limited by geography now have free and wide access to the globe in seconds.” Concluding on an ominous note, they added: “The Pokémon illness symptoms are without precedence, given the large numbers affected, and may be a harbinger of future technological hysterias that have the capacity to affect unprecedented numbers of people at a phenomenal speed.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Lawyers for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on Monday filed motions to dismiss the US government's fraud charges against him.

A marriage proposal at Super Nintendo World has gone viral online due to the character Luigi’s hilarious reaction. Fans of the Nintendo games have been able to enjoy the Super Nintendo World theme park at Universal Studios in California since it opened in early 2023. For one superfan, he decided it was the perfect time and place for a wedding proposal and the clip was shared online after being caught on camera. In the video, a man and woman could be seen standing between the dressed-up characters of Mario and Luigi. He got on one knee and opened a ring box to pop the question. While the character of Mario displayed the appropriate level of excitement by mimicking a look of excitement and shock, the Luigi character simply stood there with his hands on his hips. When Luigi noticed what was going on, his reaction was still fairly muted and it has left viewers in hysterics. @bellabelli260 #nintendoworld #supermario #proposal #universalstudioshollywood #engagement #happilyeverafter #engagementring #supernintendoworld #mariobros #california #hollywood #supernintendoworldhollywood #supernintendo #peaches #mario #luigi #engaged One person commented: “Luigi: I do not see it.” “Luigi did NOT care,” said another. Someone else wrote: “Luigi not noticing till later is cannon.” Another commented: “LUIGI IS SENDING ME.” Others commented on the sound effects in the background that come from the Super Mario Bros video game. One TikToker argued: “Can you imagine being proposed to and in the background Mario is just blabbing about 'its Mario time!’” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

It's hard to believe, but it's almost time for Apple's September event. Speaking of time

Former Bethesda design director Bruce Nesmith is having his say on what he anticipates 'The Elder Scrolls 6' to be like.