Free Republic

The big names in artificial intelligence—leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and others—still confidently predict that AI attaining human-level smarts is right around the corner. But the naysayers are growing in number and volume. AI, they say, just doesn’t think like us. The work of these researchers suggests there’s something fundamentally limiting about the underlying architecture of today’s AI models. Today’s AIs are able to simulate intelligence by, in essence, learning an enormous number of rules of thumb, which they selectively apply to all the information they encounter. This contrasts with the many ways that humans and even animals are able...

Any other AI probably would have accused me to all sorts of racism, bigotry, Islamophobia, etc.But Grok actually answered my question.Heh heh heh.I asked Grok:If the Palestinians did get their wish of controlling all the land “from the river to the sea,” how long would it take for them to turn it from a first world country into a third world country?This is the answer that it gave:Predicting the outcome of such a hypothetical scenario involves many variables and assumptions, making precise timelines speculative. If Palestinians gained control over the entire territory from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea,...

I confess to being a troglodyte or cave man or idiot or whatever metaphor you'd like to use but I'm very skeptical of AI...

Four years of classes, thousands of dollars in tuition and one freshly minted diploma — all to be outdone by a chatbot. As artificial intelligence floods the workplace, nearly half of Gen Z job seekers say their degrees have already been made obsolete by the rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT — and they’re wondering why they even bothered hitting the books in the first place. It’s a waste of time and money, according to respondents to a new Indeed report, which found 49% of Gen Z job hunters think their college education has lost value in hoen defective...

Now that Pat Gelsinger is no longer occupying the corner office at embattled chipmaker Intel (INTC), he can acknowledge one thing about the semiconductor industry.Nvidia (NVDA) has a wide, wide lead over its rivals on the tech front..."They have built meaningful moats around their franchise," he added.Gelsinger led aggressive efforts to turn around Intel for more than three years. He slashed thousands of jobs, improved costs, secured CHIPS Act funding, built chip foundries, and promised fast AI chips that could compete with Nvidia and AMD (AMD).He was fired in early December amid missed financial targets, lack of progress on the...

Sam's Club stores is axing all self-checkouts from its 600 stores — in favor of controversial new technology. The Walmart-owned warehouse chain, often seen as Costco's biggest rival, is rolling out AI-powered 'Scan & Go' tech that lets shoppers skip the line and walk straight out the door once they're done shopping. The move is controversial because it uses a network of cameras and sensors to track shoppers and their carts. In addition, the checkout-free experience requires all customers to use a smartphone and download the store’s app. This could pose a challenge to older shoppers who may struggle with...

The Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepSeek is allegedly syphoning American user data to China’s communist government, according to a new congressional report. Released on Wednesday by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the 16-page analysis contends that the China-based AI firm “collects detailed user data, which it transmits via backend infrastructure that is connected to China Mobile.” A state-owned telecommunications giant, China Mobile was flagged by the Pentagon earlier this year for having ties to Beijing’s military. In 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) prohibited the firm from operating within the U.S. over concerns that...

An algorithm has been developed by the UK’s Ministry of Justice to predict which criminals might later commit murder. The tool, originally named the “Homicide Prediction Project,” is called the “Sharing Data to Improve Risk Assessment.”Led by the Ministry of Justice, Greater Manchester Police, Home Office and Metropolitan Police, the project started in January 2023 and, according to a timeline obtained by Statewatch via the Freedom of Information Act, was completed in December 2024 but is yet to be deployed.It raises concerns about bias and the ethical implications of using such predictive models on vast datasets, including those already facing...

The UK government is in the process of developing a system to predict whether people will commit homicide in the future.What could possibly go wrong with that?The idea is the literal plot line of Philip K. Dick’s dystopian story ‘Minority Report,’ where individuals are arrested before they are able to commit crimes thanks to a ‘precrime’ predictive policing system.It’s the exact same thing, minus the mutant human precogs. In reality the program will be much more boring, using ‘algorithms’ to churn through data and spit out results.Given that the data will presumably include spicy social media posts, which are now...

Eric Schmidt believes that AI models will quickly evolve to perform a greater number of highly specialized tasks that only humans can currently completeNEW YORK, April 17. /TASS/. Artificial intelligence (AI) could replace most programmers within the next year, US billionaire and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt stated. "We believe as an industry that in the next one year, the vast majority of programmers will be replaced by AI programmers," Schmidt said at the AI+ Biotechnology Summit. The expert believes that AI models will quickly evolve to perform a greater number of highly specialized tasks that only humans can currently...

The entire staff of the Defense Digital Service (DDS), the Pentagon’s decade-old technology development office, is leaving by the start of May, with nearly all individuals resigning, a current member of the office confirmed to The Hill on Tuesday. The mass exodus, first reported by Politico, means the service will effectively shutter in less than a month. Of the 14 members of the office, a dozen including Director Jennifer Hay have requested the Trump administration’s deferred resignation option and plan to leave by May 1. Two other staffers are also leaving in that time frame. “Although DDS was excited to...

Nvidia has announced plans to build AI supercomputers in Texas and invest up to $500 billion in AI production within the United States. Barron’s reports that AI powerhouse Nvidia has commissioned over a million square feet of manufacturing space in Arizona and Texas to build and test its Blackwell chips and AI supercomputers. This marks the first time that Nvidia will be producing its cutting-edge AI technology entirely within the United States. Nvidia’s Blackwell chips have already started production at TSMC’s chip plants in Phoenix, Arizona. Meanwhile, the company is constructing supercomputer manufacturing plants in partnership with Foxconn in Houston...

NVIDIA is working with its manufacturing partners to design and build factories that, for the first time, will produce NVIDIA AI supercomputers entirely in the U.S. Together with leading manufacturing partners, the company has commissioned more than a million square feet of manufacturing space to build and test NVIDIA Blackwell chips in Arizona and AI supercomputers in Texas. NVIDIA Blackwell chips have started production at TSMC’s chip plants in Phoenix, Arizona. NVIDIA is building supercomputer manufacturing plants in Texas, with Foxconn in Houston and with Wistron in Dallas. Mass production at both plants is expected to ramp up in the...

Microsoft has begun the rollout of an AI-powered tool which takes snapshots of users' screens every few seconds. The Copilot+ Recall feature is available in preview mode to some people with Microsoft's AI PCs and laptops. It is the relaunch of a feature which was dubbed a "privacy nightmare" when it was first announced last year. Microsoft paused the rollout in 2024, and after trialling the tech with a small number of users, it has begun expanding access to those signed up to its Windows Insider software testing programme. ... Microsoft says Recall will be rolled out worldwide, but those...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) looks to upend higher education—all education—in no end of ways. The advantage it gives to cheaters by itself is upending the practice of teaching. But AI poses its greatest threat to the liberal arts, to the studia humanitatis, by getting rid of the basic function of this education: to prepare recipients for a job serving the state. At its best, this kind of education also prepares students to govern the state—to converse about the ends of government and to decide prudently how to achieve them as citizens of a democratic republic, as the leaders of an aristocratic...

People upload a picture of themselves to a tool like ChatGPT, along with written prompts that explain how they want the final picture to look. These instructions are really important. They tell the AI tool everything it is meant to generate, from the items a person wants to appear with to the kind of packaging they should be in - which includes mimicking the box and font of popular toys like Barbie. Many online will then personalise it further with their name, job and clothing choices. Though it does not always work, and many have also shared some of the...

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is seeking to raise about $20 billion in what will be the largest fund in its history, to capitalize on global investors' interest in backing U.S. artificial intelligence companies, sources told Reuters. The tech investment firm, known informally as a16z, has told limited partners that the fund will be dedicated to growth-stage investments in AI companies and draw upon global investors keen on investing in American companies, the sources said. The record fundraising and the goal of capitalizing on foreign investment interest in the U.S. tech industry come against the backdrop of a sweeping tariff...

Suchir Balaji, the OpenAi whistleblower who allegedly committed suicide was shot twice in the head, according to his parents. Balaji, 26, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment with a gunshot wound to the head in November shortly after he told the New York Times that OpenAi was violating copyright laws. His death was initially ruled a suicide by a medical examiner, however his parents immediately hired a private investigator and did a second autopsy. ..... Snip..... His parents, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, insist he couldn’t have killed himself, and paid for their own autopsy, toxicology, and other...

Fingerprint analysis has been a dependable tool in crime-solving for more than a century. Investigators lean on fingerprint evidence to identify suspects or connect them to specific crime scenes, believing that every print offers a distinctive code. Yet, a team of researchers has found that prints from different fingers of the same person can sometimes appear more alike. This insight came from an artificial intelligence model that revealed surprising connections between prints. Hod Lipson, from Columbia Engineering, stands out in this effort to question widely accepted forensic norms, in collaboration with Wenyao Xu from the University at Buffalo. AI takes...

As the artificial intelligence (AI) boom drives exponential demand for data centers, the United States’ position as an AI leader is at risk without immediate action to address growth constraints. The “transition toward cloud-based services and generative AI applications [is forecast to drive] a 37% compound annual increase in AI spending out to 2032,” according to Bloomberg. The significant growth comes at a time when supply chain constraints are limiting revenue growth among the largest U.S. data center developers—known as hyperscalers. In the past year, hyperscalers have been flagging the data center supply chain as a headwind in their growth...