Artificial Intelligence
Watershed Moment for AI–Human Collaboration in MathBenjamin Skuse | IEEE Spectrum
“The 8-dimensional sphere-packing proof formalization alone, announced on February 23, represents a watershed moment for autoformalization and AI–human collaboration. But today, Math, Inc. revealed an even more impressive accomplishment: Gauss has autoformalized Viazovska’s 24-dimensional sphere-packing proof—all 200,000+ lines of code of it—in just two weeks.”
Biotechnology
The Millisecond That Could Change Cancer TreatmentTom Clynes | IEEE Spectrum
“Here at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) and other particle-physics labs, scientists and engineers are applying the tools of fundamental physics to develop a technique called FLASH radiotherapy that offers a radical and counterintuitive vision for treating the disease.”
Computing
Google Spinoff Beams Blazing-Fast 25-Gbps Internet Around Cities Using LightAbhimanyu Ghoshal | New Atlas
“The system shapes and steers beams of light between devices that are in line of sight of each other, and up to 6.2 miles (10 km) apart. Roughly the size of a shoebox and weighing 17.6 lb (8 kg), the Beam is meant to be mounted high up on poles and atop tall buildings for use in densely populated urban areas. Taara says it’s capable of fiber-like bidirectional data transfer speeds of up to 25 Gbps, with ultra-low latency.”
Computing
Nvidia’s Spending $4 Billion on Photonics to Stay Ahead of the Curve in AIStevie Bonifield | The Verge
“Nvidia isn’t the only organization paying attention to photonics, either. Last month, DARPA put out a call for research proposals for improving photonic computing, specifically related to AI applications. Nvidia’s rival AMD also acquired silicone photonics startup Enosemi last year, which it said would ‘accelerate’ AMD’s optics innovation for its AI systems.”
Computing
Inside the Company Selling Quantum EntanglementKarmela Padavic-Callaghan | New Scientist ($)
“Mehdi Namazi wants to sell you quantum entanglement. He and his colleagues at Qunnect have spent nearly a decade building devices that make sharing quantum-entangled particles of light, or photons, practical enough to be used for unhackable communication.”
Artificial Intelligence
Can AI Replace Humans for Market Research?Belle Lin | The Wall Street Journal ($)
“The AI agents are essentially digital clones of real individuals, who are interviewed to gather their preferences, personality and other traits. …Previously, businesses contracted with consulting or market research firms to learn about their customers—a costly process that could take months. Now, they can query Simile’s online bank of agents, access that can cost between $150,000 to millions for each customer annually, Park said.”
Tech
Jack Dorsey Blamed AI for Block’s Massive Layoffs. Skeptics Aren’t Buying It.Angel Au-Yeung | The Wall Street Journal ($)
‘”The vast majority of these cuts were probably not due to AI,’ said Dan Dolev of Mizuho Americas, noting the ‘significant amount of bloating’ in recent years. ‘This isn’t an AI story. It’s a workforce correction wearing an AI costume,’ wrote Jason Karsh, a former Block employee, on X.”
Future
AI Frees the Corporate PhalanxAndy Kessler | The Wall Street Journal ($)
“‘Is artificial intelligence coming for your job? More likely your title. …As old jobs, titles and charts are destroyed, people are still important to help capture the quickly changing landscape and constant decisions—each person makes 35,000 decisions a day, one study claims. Watch for the creation of new jobs and job descriptions that tap the coming flexibility, decoupling and flattening—most likely at brand-new, quick-on-their-feet companies.'”
Space
NASA Shakes Up Its Artemis Program to Speed Up Lunar ReturnEric Berger | Ars Technica
“At the core of Isaacman’s concerns is the low flight rate of the SLS rocket and Artemis missions. During past exploration missions, from Mercury through Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle program, NASA has launched humans on average about once every three months. It has been nearly 3.5 years since Artemis I launched.”
