MIDLAND, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 21, 2023--

AstraZeneca Plc is setting up Britain’s first subsidy-free biomethane gas system that will provide the pharmaceutical giant with

Scientists have revealed they had found a way to combine the technology of brain scans and artificial intelligence to transcribe “the gist” of people’s thoughts. Alex Huth, an assistant professor of neuroscience and computing science at the University of Texas at Austin, and a co-author on the new study published in Nature Neuroscience, said that ‘this is a real leap forward.’ The study was led by Huth and Jerry Tang, a doctoral student in computer science. The main development from this study is that it’s non-invasive. This means that subjects do not require surgical implants. Instead, brain activity is measured using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In the study, individuals listened to hours of podcasts in the scanner. Then, given the participant’s consent to have their thoughts decoded, they listened to a new story and the machine-generated corresponding texts from brain activity. It’s not a word-for-word transcript. For example, when an individual heard the phrase ‘I don’t have my driver’s licence yet’, the model decoded the individual’s thoughts to read as ‘she has not even started to learn to drive yet.’ Even when participants thought up their own stories, the machine was able to decode their thoughts still. Tang acknowledged that the advancements made in the study had the potential for negative aftermath. Tang said, ‘we take very seriously the concerns that it could be used for bad purposes and have worked to avoid that.’ They ran tests that highlighted that unless the machine had been trained on an individual’s particular brain activity, it could not decode its thoughts. An individual had to allow for the machine to train their brain activity over a long period of time inside a fMRI scanner for it to work. Researchers also found that it was easy to ‘sabotage’ the machine. Three participants were told to tell a different story in their mind, or count by seven, while listening to one of the podcasts. The study highlights even more development with artificial intelligence, after the popularity of OpenAI’s Chat GPT has sparked debate around the potential of AI. 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.

In an interview with billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, Joe Rogan focused on the conspiracy theory regarding nuclear test videos and photographs

By Kanishka Singh and Richard Cowan U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will host tech leaders and experts

Elon Musk’s plan to build an “everything app” is underway. After rebranding Twitter to X, the tech billionaire encouraged users to rethink the “whole concept” of what the platform is. Before he even purchased Twitter in October 2022, Mr Musk said that buying the site was an “accelerant” to creating a super app akin to China’s WeChat, India’s PayTM and Indonesia’s GoJek. These apps offer users the ability to not just make posts, but also send and receive payments, watch and listen to content, and even access services like booking taxis or ordering food deliveries. Earlier this month, Mr Musk reportedly secured money-transmitting licenses in three US states, suggesting it is already preparing to become a payments business. Linda Yaccarino, who took over as the chief executive of Twitter last month, gave more details about what the new X app will become, tweeting on Sunday that the rebranding was part of the company’s goal to “transform the global town square” beyond a social network. “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centred in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine,” she tweeted. “For years, fans and critics alike have pushed Twitter to dream bigger, to innovate faster, and to fulfil our great potential. X will do that and more. We’ve already started to see X take shape over the past 8 months through our rapid feature launches, but we’re just getting started.” X did not respond to a request for further information from The Independent about when such changes might take place. Shortly before his takeover of Twitter was complete, Mr Musk tweeted: “Twitter probably accelerates X by three to five years, but I could be wrong.” Mr Musk has had access to the X.com domain since 2000, during which time he was working on PayPal. Before rebranding Twitter, the website simply showed the letter ‘X’, but now redirects to Twitter.com. Earlier this year, Twitter changed its business name to X Corp to align with Mr Musk’s “everything app” vision, but social media experts have questioned whether such a concept could ever work outside of Asia. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” industry commentator Matt Navarra said at the time of Mr Musk’s takeover. “Super apps, as they are known in the industry, are not a new thing. They’ve been hugely successful in Asia, but have not really caught on elsewhere. Could Twitter form part of a super app that lets you buy goods, chat to friends, get news updates, book a taxi etc.? Sure. Can Elon Musk make it work? Possibly. Will Elon actually do it? Who knows. He seems to have commitment issues.” Others have raised concerns about whether ditching the Twitter brand and associated bird logo could further damage the platform’s reputation, which has been under heavy scrutiny since Mr Musk’s takeover last year. “By changing Twitter’s app name, Elon Musk will have single handedly wiped out over fifteen years of a brand name that has secured its place in our cultural lexicon,” Mike Proulx, a research director at advisory firm Forrester, told The Independent. “This is an extremely risky move because with ‘X,’ Musk is essentially starting over while its competition is afoot.” Read More Twitter rebrands to X as part of Elon Musk’s plan to create an ‘everything app’ Twitter no longer exists as a company Twitter rebrands to X as part of Elon Musk’s plan to create an ‘everything app’ DMs may come to Threads soon as app’s user base grows to one-fifth of Twitter’s Twitter in negative cash flow due to 50% drop in advertising revenue, says Elon Musk

OpenAI has unveiled a major new update for its popularAI chatbot, allowing anyone to create their own personalised version of ChatGPT. The purpose-built artificial intelligence is “designed for flexibility”, according to the company, allowing people to create anything from an AI-powered holiday planner, to a voice-controlled DJ. “Eventually you’ll just ask the computer for what you need, and it’ll do all of these tasks for you,” OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said during a keynote speech at the firm’s first developer conference in San Francisco on Monday. Users will be able to publish their unique versions of the AI bot onto a marketplace called the GPT Store, where other users can download and use them. The new feature is one of several new abilities of the viral AI chatbot, with its training data now running until April 2023 instead of the previously limited version whose knowledge ended in 2021. “We really believe that gradual iterative development is the best way to address the safety challenges of AI,” Mr Altman said. “We think it’s especially important to move carefully towards this future.” The tech boss also revealed that ChatGPT now has more than 100 million weekly active users, including two million developers who use the platform. The updates come amid growing competition from other tech firms like Google and Meta, which have launched their own versions of the AI chatbot in the year since ChatGPT was released. The most recent arrival is Grok, launched over the weekend by Elon Musk’s new artificial intelligence startup xAI. Mr Musk claims that his AI chatbot – which is currently only available for paying subscribers of X (formerly Twitter) in the US – can outperform its rivals in certain areas due to real-time access to data from the social media platform. “Grok is designed to answer questions with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak, so please don’t use it if you hate humour,” a blog post introducing the new AI noted. “A unique and fundamental advantage of Grok is that it has real-time knowledge of the world via the X platform. It will also answer spicy questions that are rejected by most other AI systems.” Read More 10 ways AI will change the world – from curing cancer to wiping out humanity How Elon Musk’s ‘spicy’ Grok compares to ‘woke’ ChatGPT ChatGPT and other chatbots respond to emotions, report says ‘Is AI dangerous?’ UK’s most Googled questions about artificial intelligence

A month after exiting an ambitious project to help build one of India's first chip factories, Taiwan's Foxconn says it remains bullish about the world's most populous nation and is planning "billions" of dollars in investments there, as multinationals seek to diversify their supply chains beyond China.

TL;DR: As of August 22, you can get the RokBlok 2.0 for $89.99 — that's

By Jarrett Renshaw The White House on Friday said electric-vehicle charging stations using Tesla standard plugs would be

TEL AVIV, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 14, 2023--

The world's largest tech companies must comply with a sweeping new European law starting Friday that affects everything from social media moderation to targeted advertising and counterfeit goods in e-commerce.