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Welcome to Adventures with AI, a column exploring what happens when artificial intelligence takes control of everyday tasks. I enjoy exercise, but I’ve always hated gyms. I can’t stand the pugnacious meatheads hogging the bench; the vacuous EDM pounding my brain into mush; the putrid blend of BO dripping off the walls; the eye-watering fees; the […]

Elon Musk hopes to put computer chips in our brains that will enable “human-AI symbiosis.” But for now, he’s focused on making monkeys play video games. Musk’s Neuralink startup posted a video today of a primate playing Pong with its mind. The nine-year-old macaque, called Pager, has a Neuralink implanted in his brain. [embedded content] Pager was first […]

AI has helped recreate an artwork that had been hidden under a Pablo Picasso painting for nearly 120 years. The mysterious landscape lurks beneath the visible surface of Picasso’s La Miséreuse Accroupie (The Crouching Beggar), a portrayal of a destitute woman. Credit: Oxia PalusThe Crouching Beggar is a major work from Picasso’s Blue Period. In 2018, […]

In news that should surprise no one, Boston Dynamics‘ terrifying robot dog is being tested by a military force. Spot was pictured alongside French soldiers during a series of training exercises at a military school in Brittany. 21. Je déploie le robot pour reconnaitre OSCAR3.Retour en images sur l’exercice de recherche appliquée organisé les 30 et 31 […]

In 2015, Joy Buolamwini, a graduate student at MIT, was developing a device called the Aspire Mirror. Onlookers would stare into a webcam and then see a reflection on their face of something that inspires them. At least, that was the plan. But Buolamwini quickly noticed that the facial recognition software was struggling to track her face — until […]

As a talentless artist who likes to imagine myself as a masterful painter, I always appreciate AI tools that turn my embarrassing sketches into masterpieces. Computer artist Glenn Marshall recently developed one of my favorite techniques yet: a text-to-image generator that transforms any picture into the style of famous artists. The system morphs an input image towards […]

Scientists have demonstrated the first human use of a wireless brain-computer interface, a potential breakthrough for people with paralysis. While traditional BCIs are tethered to users via cables, the new system — called BrainGate — replaces the cords with a small transmitter affixed atop a users’ head. The unit then connects to an electrode array implanted […]

MIT researchers have developed a robot that can detect and grab objects that are hidden behind walls or pieces of clutter. The system, called RF-Grasp, uses radio waves to locate items beyond the line-of-sight of a robot’s cameras. It could help warehouse robots grab customer orders or tools that are occluded behind obstacles. Existing mechanical search systems struggle […]

Scientists have used the stem cells of frogs to create new living robots that can heal themselves and even record memories. Named “Xenobots” after the Xenopus laevis frog that supplies their cells, the machines are an upgraded version of devices that were first unveiled last year. Like their predecessors, the new Xenobots can work together in […]

Spotify has launched a trio of new personalized playlists that evolve alongside your tastes in music. The streaming service today announced that it’s introducing an artist mix, genre mix, and decade mix. The feature is already rolling out to Free and Premium users around the world. The mixes use Spotify’s vaunted recommendation algorithms to curate playlists […]

Scientists have successfully measured brain waves through an ear implant for the first time, a breakthrough that could improve smart hearing aids. Researchers from KU Leuven, a university in Belgium, used an experimental cochlear implant to record neural signals that arise in response to sounds. These signals could be used to measure and monitor hearing quality. “In the […]

Microsoft Teams has got a new AI-powered feature that makes it easier to zone out during endless online meetings. The app has launched a live transcription tool that creates a written record of what was said during a meeting. It identities each speaker, captures audio in “near real-time,” and generates a live transcript on the right-hand […]

The NFT art market has exploded in recent months, bagging unheralded artists and popstars eye-watering sums for their creations. But it’s not only humans who are cashing in on the craze. On Thursday, an NFT artwork co-created by Sophia the robot snatched almost $700,000 at an auction in Hong Kong. The winning bidder took home a 12-second MP4 file […]

Humans aspired to colonize the Moon for centuries, but the celestial body has an extremely hostile environment. The safest locations for settlers could be under the Moon’s surface. The European Space Agency (ESA) believes lunar caves could provide shelter from radiation, micrometeorites, and extreme temperatures — and perhaps even access to water ice deposits. The […]

Amazon is about to take employee monitoring to a whole ‘nother level of dystopian surveillance. The retail giant will this week ask delivery drivers in the US to sign a “biometric consent” form or lose their jobs, Vice reports. The form permits the company to use AI-powered cameras in its vans to monitor drivers’ locations, movements, […]