OpenAI has launched a web crawler to improve artificial intelligence models like GPT-4. Called GPTBot,

A “moral panic” will be caused by the use of self-driving vehicles on public roads, a transport minister has warned. Jesse Norman told MPs that a “horrendous” part of the development of the technology will be “scare stories, particularly in the early stages”. Last month the UK became the first European country to allow drivers to take their hands off car steering wheels on public roads, after the Department for Transport gave manufacturer Ford permission to activate its BlueCruise system on motorways. This controls functions such as steering, acceleration, braking and lane positioning. It's a really interesting question of consent Jesse Norman Fully self-driving cars remain banned on public roads in the UK apart from during Government-approved trials. Legislation to approve the technology could be introduced as early as 2025. Asked about the safety of self-driving vehicles by the Commons’ Transport Select Committee, Mr Norman said: “The horrendous thing about this is that we can be rationally certain there are going to be some scare stories, particularly in the early stages, because of the diversity of human life. “It’s a really interesting question of consent and democratic engagement as to whether or not we as a policy, as a country, are able to weather that moral panic in the pursuit of a future which might lead to an enormously larger number of people not dying.” The safety record of self-driving vehicles will be “intensely publicly scrutinised”, the minister predicted. He added: “As people understand the difference between assisted and self-driving (systems), we ought to be able to create a public environment in which there’s acceptance and understanding of that situation, but we can’t bank on it.” Committee member and Conservative MP Paul Howell compared the issue to smart motorways, where “public opinion kicked back hard” as people “didn’t perceive (them) as being safe” despite data suggesting otherwise. The Government announced last month that no new smart motorways would be built, with Transport Secretary Mark Harper citing a “lack of public confidence”. National Highways figures indicate they are England’s safest roads in terms of serious or fatal casualties. Meanwhile, Mr Norman earlier told the committee that evidence suggests e-scooters tend to be used to replace journeys that would have been made by walking or cycling, rather than in a car. Asked about trials of rental e-scooters in England, Mr Norman said: “Early on in the rental market I think there was a great deal of excitement about the potential for e-scooters to take people out of cars and to improve on decarbonisation and on air quality. “We’ve now looked at a lot of the work that’s been done in the trials … and it does look like the e-scooters cannibalise active travel rather more than they take people out of cars.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Cryptocurrency trading should be regulated as gambling, says treasury committee WhatsApp offers new password protected feature to hide messages 75% of Irish data watchdog’s GDPR decisions since 2018 overruled – report

Google is moving forward with plans to bring AI chat features to its core search engine as it works to keep pace with a wave of new artificial intelligence tools that could threaten the company's dominance online for the first time in decades.

Scientists have found a vast planet, so large that it should not exist. The planet appears to be too big for its sun, and therefore calls into question our understanding of how planets and solar systems form, according to the researchers who found it. The planet is more than 13 times as massive as Earth. It orbits around a star that is nine times less massive than our Sun. As such, the ratio between the two of them is 100 times higher than it is between the Earth and our sun. It is the first time that a planet with such a high mass has been seen orbiting a star with such a low amount of mass. And the discrepancy is so large that scientists thought such a planet could not exist. “This discovery really drives home the point of just how little we know about the universe,” said Suvrath Mahadevan, from Penn State. “We wouldn’t expect a planet this heavy around such a low-mass star to exist.” When stars are formed, out of large clouds of gas and dust, that material sticks with the star as a disc that orbits around it. Planets can then form out of that extra material, and go on to make a planetary system like our own. But science would suggest that the disc around the star in the new paper, known as LHS 3154, would not have enough material to make a planet so large. “The planet-forming disc around the low-mass star LHS 3154 is not expected to have enough solid mass to make this planet,” Mahadevan said. “But it’s out there, so now we need to reexamine our understanding of how planets and stars form.” The finding is reported in a new paper, ‘A Neptune-mass exoplanet in close orbit around a very low mass star challenges formation models’, published in Science. Read More Astronomers find unprecedented ‘disc’ around distant planet Planet too big for its sun ‘is challenging the idea of how solar systems form’ Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets are punching holes in edge of space

Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes will revive a stalled plan to export solar power from Australia to Singapore after sealing

By Krystal Hu and Manya Saini (Reuters) -SoftBank Investment Advisers, which manages two Vision Funds, is exploring launching a private

Indonesia opened its first carbon exchange as part of a bid to cap emissions and reap the benefits

A never-before-seen ore containing vast quantities of an element widely used in semiconductors has been found in China in a discovery that could propel new advances in battery technology. Geologists found rare earth metal niobium inside the new ore named niobobaotite from north China’s Inner Mongolia. The rare earth metal is widely used in alloys for jet engines and rockets and has also been shown to have exceptional current conducting properties in low temperatures. Some researchers have said batteries made from niobium have several advantages over traditional lithium-ion batteries. The main source of niobium until now has been from the ore mineral columbite that is extracted widely in Canada, Brazil, Australia and Nigeria, with China obtaining nearly 95 per cent of the element for its steel industry via imports. If geologists can prove that sufficient volume and quality of niobium can be extracted from niobobaotite, experts said it could help make China “self-sufficient”, reported the South China Morning Post newspaper. The niobobaotite ore has received official approval from the International Mineralogical Association’s classification committee, according to the China National Nuclear Corporation, a state-run enterprise responsible for overseeing China’s civilian and military nuclear programmes. The Brazilian Metallurgy and Mining Company (CBMM) has been working on new projects towards the use of niobium to make advanced lithium-ion batteries. China’s state news agency Xinhua reported earlier this year that CBMM is partnering with universities, research centres and battery makers to improve the use of the rare earth element in lithium batteries. Niobium batteries are expected to bring several advantages over traditional lithium-ion batteries that tend to pose challenges like safety risks, short life cycles and long charging times, Antonio Castro Neto, director of the National University of Singapore’s Centre for Advanced 2D Materials, said earlier this year. “We have made significant progress in our development of niobium-graphene batteries which are proving to be a game changer in safety, efficiency, and sustainability,” Dr Neto said. Researchers said the performance duration of niobium-graphene batteries can be 10 times longer than traditional lithium-ion batteries, thus making them last for an estimated 30 years and make them more durable and reliable as well. These batteries, currently in development, can also be fully charged in less than 10 minutes, they said. “As they have a longer lifespan, the new graphene-niobium batteries significantly reduce total cost of ownership compared to existing lithium-ion batteries and have ultrafast charging capabilities. In addition, they offer higher safety as they do not risk explosion even in high temperatures,” Rogerio Ribas, CBMM’s global head of batteries, said in a statement. Read More China’s ‘government-approved’ AI chatbot says Taiwan invasion is likely Australian-Chinese journalist detained for 3 years in China returns to Australia Driver killed after crashing into Chinese consulate in San Francisco had knives and crossbow EU asks Elon Musk to ‘walk the talk’ on X/Twitter disinformation over Hamas attack Earth hit by a huge solar storm that would devastate civilisation, trees show Viral WhatsApp warning of cyberattack targeting Jewish people is fake

LONDON The United Nations Security Council will hold its first formal discussion on artificial intelligence (AI) this week

Apple is significantly increasing the price of its TV streaming service. The cost of Apple TV Plus will go up by around a third: from $6.99 to $9.99, or from £6.99 to £8.99. The annual price has a similar increase, from $69 to $99. Apple will also raise the cost of other services: Apple Arcade will go from $4.99 to $6.99, and Apple News Plus will go from $9.99 to $12.99. The Apple One bundle that wraps those services into one subscription will also get increases, with the individual membership going from $16.95 to $19.95. Many Apple subscriptions will stay at the same price, however. Apple Music, Fitness Plus and the premium iCloud Plus subscription will not get price rises. Subscribers will see the new prices go into effect in 30 days, after their next subscription. Apple is among the last of its competitors to substantially increase prices in recent months. Both Netflix and Disney have also raised their monthly subscriptions, with both citing the need to make more programmes and increased costs. The change from Apple comes ahead of the publication of its fourth quarter earnings next week. In recent years, Apple has looked to its services business to help its growth, amid slowdowns in some other businesses. It also after a separate report that Apple will completely overhaul its TV app later this year. The change, planned for around December, will consolidate the TV app to focus more on streaming services and bring a look more similar to that on Netflix, Bloomberg reported. At the moment, Apple’s TV app includes a significant focus on downloading Movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store. The new design is expected to bring more Apple TV Plus to a more central place in the app, as well as changing its menus to make it easier to find its programmes and those from others. Read More The Apple Watch feature everyone has been waiting for has finally arrived What to expect Apple’s surprise, spooky upcoming launch Apple announces surprise event: ‘Scary fast’

MCKINNEY, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 29, 2023--

Machines called “Readies” were writer Bob Brown’s answer to “talkies” in the 1930s.