The Myth of ‘Open Source’ AI

source: wired.com  |  image: pexels.com

 

A new analysis shows that “open source” AI tools like Llama 2 are still controlled by big tech companies in a number of ways.

CHATGPT MADE IT possible for anyone to play with powerful artificial intelligence, but the inner workings of the world-famous chatbot remain a closely guarded secret.

In recent months, however, efforts to make AI more “open” seem to have gained momentum. In May, someone leaked a model from Meta, called Llama, which gave outsiders access to its underlying code as well as the “weights” that determine how it behaves. Then, this July, Meta chose to make an even more powerful model, called Llama 2, available for anyone to download, modify, and reuse. Meta’s models have since become an extremely popular foundation for many companies, researchers, and hobbyists building tools and applications with ChatGPT-like capabilities.

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US issues threat warning after hackers break into a satellite

source: defenseone.com  |  image: pexels.com

Three teams at the DEF CON 23 convention met a government challenge to hack satellite in orbit.

It seems like nothing is off limits for threat actors to target these days. Hospitals, schools, charity organizations and even municipalities have all been successfully targeted by malicious cyberattacks in recent years. And now, it seems like attackers are even looking into space for new systems to try and compromise.

Last week, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in coordination with the FBI, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, issued a warning about increased attempts to attack both satellites in orbit and the intellectual property of companies developing space technologies.

The warning comes just about a month after three teams at the DEF CON 23 convention in Las Vegas managed to hack a government satellite in orbit. Those attacks were conducted with the full permission of the government as part of the U.S. Space Force’s Hack-A-Sat competition. Three of the teams that successfully breached the security of the orbiting satellite were awarded up to $50,000 in prize money for demonstrating how such an attack could be conducted. This was the first time that hacker groups were able to prove that it was now possible to circumvent the cybersecurity protections of satellites in orbit.

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Array Labs is scanning Earth from space to equip autonomous vehicles with 3D maps

source: tecncrunch.com  |  image: pexels.com

 

It’s an oft-told story: The boom of space startups today can be traced to dramatically lowered cost in launch and satellite manufacturing over the past 10 years. But Array Labs, a two-year-old startup based in Silicon Valley, is also taking advantage of other technological developments in its quest to build a 3D map of Earth.

Those include computation gains, like in advanced graphics processors (GPUs), and radar software development, Array CEO Andrew Peterson explained. Peterson, an aerospace engineer who had previously worked for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Moog’s space and defense division, said the revolution in scientific computing has opened up new possibilities.

“If could take all of this superpower that we were seeing in radar and scientific computing, and you could couple that with really low-cost satellites . . . there’s probably a really, really interesting way to do a new type of Earth observation,” he said. “This was the best idea that I’ve ever had.”

Destroying Just 250 Satellites Would Make Orbit ‘Totally Useless’ in 40 Years:  STUDY

source: themessenger.com, contributed by Artemus Founder, Bob Wallace  |  image: pixabay.com

So far human conflicts haven’t spilled into attacking each others’ satellites with missiles, but the technology exists

Should countries begin blowing each others satellites up in a war, it would spell doom for almost all of the technology orbiting the Earth, according to calculations published in a new study.

So far human conflicts haven’t spilled into attacking each others’ satellites with missiles, but the technology exists: In November, 2021, the Russian military tested out its Nudol missile by blowing up a defunct satellite. The explosion created a cloud of thousands of fragments, many of them not trackable due to their size, traveling at thousands of miles per hour around the globe. 

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Scientists get $600,000 grant to merge more AI

with human brain cells

source: msn.com  |  image: pixabay.com

 

  • The funds came via Australia’s Defense Dept. and Office of National Intelligence
  • The researchers hope their ‘beautiful’ interfaces between computer chips and brain cells will soon be ‘giving Australia a significant strategic advantage’

A team of Australian scientists collaborating across academia and private industry have just received a three-year grant to weaponize their work growing brain cell cultures that are capable of communicating with machines.  

Over the past two years, the team has already succeeded in teaching a brain cell culture of approximately 800,000 neurons how to successfully play the 1970s video game Pong from its Petri dish. 

The $600,000 grant was awarded by the Australian government’s military and intelligence communities and will be managed by the Australian Research Council. 

‘The beautiful and pioneering aspect of this work rests on equipping the neurons with sensations: the feedback,’ as one of the Pong project’s co-researchers, theoretical neuroscientist Karl Friston, put it last October. 

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Threads overtakes ChatGPT as fastest growing app ever

source: cybernews.com  |  image: pexels.com

Threads, an Instagram app, has signed up 100 million users in less than five days since launch, a feat that took ChatGPT two months to achieve.

Meta’s Twitter rival hit the 100 million mark in the early hours of Monday (July 10th), according to the data platform Quiver Quantitative, beating an earlier record set by OpenAI’s ChatGPT app.

ChatGPT made history in January when it added 100 million active users in just two months after its launch. It took TikTok nine months and Instagram two and a half years to hit this milestone.

The user estimate for Threads is based on the account numbers shown on Instagram pages. It is too early to say how many of those will use the app regularly.

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China is doubling down on its race to the moon

source: fastcompany.com  |  image: pixabay.com

China cemented its lunar goals in June 2021, when it formed the International Lunar Research Station.

China has set out a road map to compete with the Artemis program in a race to the moon, grabbing the attention of NASA and U.S. lawmakers. 

As NASA pursues increased funding to ensure the U.S. lands first, questions remain regarding China’s ability to finance the endeavor.

“China’s funding is a bit of a black box,” says Kevin Pollpeter, a China space program expert at the Center for Naval Analyses. “But if they felt they could not afford to go to the moon, they would not have gotten it approved.” 

CHINA’S 2023 LUNAR ROAD MAP

China has recently released a flurry of new details on its lunar goals, including accelerated timelines and a slew of technical designs. In just the first five months of the year, Beijing has:

  • Unveiled designs for its lunar lander;
  • Released details on its fully reusable Long March 9 rocket;
  • Begun building an international coalition for its moon base;
  • Announced plans to break ground on a lunar base by 2028;
  • Declared its goal of landing a crew on the moon by 2030.

​​“By 2030, the Chinese people will definitely be able to set foot on the moon. That’s not a problem,” said Wu Weiren, chief designer of the lunar program at China’s Space Day last month. 

HUGE INVESTMENT 

Landing humans on the moon is a pricey undertaking. From 2012 through 2028, NASA will spend an estimated $102.5 billion on the Artemis program. 

  • 2012-2023: $61 billion of program expenditures, according to NASA’s inspector general and recent budget allocations
  • 2024-2028: $41.5 billion, according to a NASA update on May 15, 2023
CHINA’S BUDGET

Research firm Euroconsult estimates that China spent roughly $12 billion on its space program in 2022; $12 billion per year would likely be insufficient for China to fund both the Tiangong low Earth orbit station and a $100 billion-plus lunar program, though it’s possible more is currently being spent in opaque budgets. 

As China ramps up its lunar program, funding will need to balloon alongside of it, possibly mixing with much larger military budgets. 

ILRS VS. ARTEMIS

China cemented its lunar goals in June 2021, when it formed the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). The goal of the ILRS program is similar to Artemis: to build a permanent scientific base on the moon.

Beijing has tapped Russia as its key partner for the effort. However, with Russia occupied by its war efforts, set back by sanctions, and generally limited by a smaller gross domestic product, China has taken the lead on ILRS funding and program direction.

The South China Morning Post reported that China and Russia have thus far secured ILRS cooperation agreements or letters of intent with the following nations:

  • Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (consisting of eight Asian nations)
  • Argentina
  • Pakistan
  • Brazil
  • United Arab Emirates, which is also a signee of the Artemis Accords

The agreements may be more ceremonial in nature, as no financial commitments or technology transfers have been announced.

LUNAR AMBITIONS

China’s interest in the moon holds potential economic, military, and reputation benefits for Beijing.

  • Economic: China believes the cislunar economy will grow to $10 trillion per year by 2050. 
  • Military: The Chinese Communist Party is focused on counteracting U.S. space dominance and its rising Space Force budget. 
  • Reputation: Chinese President Xi Jinping is eager to establish the nation as a leader in space and science. 

“There is a prestige factor involved. Going to the moon would be a big feather in China’s cap,” Pollpeter says. “This is a way for them to demonstrate themselves on the world stage.”

China’s play at the moon has gotten the attention of top U.S. officials at NASA, the Department of Defense, and on Capitol Hill. “We are in a space race with China,” NASA chief Bill Nelson testified at a Senate hearing on the space agency’s FY24 budget. 

TECHNICAL MILESTONES

The Artemis program is a number of years ahead of China’s lunar timeline. The U.S. has already launched its heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket, begun testing its Starship lunar lander, and commenced construction on a Lunar Gateway. 

China, on the other hand, faces numerous technical hurdles in landing on the moon. While China has released a slew of technical mock-ups of spacecraft and station designs, they remain in the early stages of engineering and testing. 

Solar-Powered Biofuel That Produces Net Zero Carbon Emissions

source: technologynetworks.com  |  image: pixabay.com

 

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, harnessed the power of photosynthesis to convert CO2, water and sunlight into multicarbon fuels – ethanol and propanol – in a single step. These fuels have a high energy density and can be easily stored or transported.

Unlike fossil fuels, these solar fuels produce net zero carbon emissions and completely renewable, and unlike most bioethanol, they do not divert any agricultural land away from food production.

While the technology is still at laboratory scale, the researchers say their ‘artificial leaves’ are an important step in the transition away from a fossil fuel-based economy. The results are reported in the journal Nature Energy.

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China May Not Need Western Technology Much Longer

source: Bloomberg.com, contributed by Artemus FAN Bill Amshey & Founder Bob Wallace  |  Image:  pexels.com

 

The latest ranking of global spending on research and development has US tech companies on top and Chinese rivals on the rise.

Western countries have become increasingly wary of sharing technology with China, with the US and Netherlands recently imposing new restrictions on exports of semiconductors and the equipment used to make them. Meanwhile, Chinese companies are rising up the list of the world’s biggest spenders on research and development — a sign that perhaps they won’t need that Western technology much longer.

When I last compiled one of these lists five years ago, mobile infrastructure and device maker Huawei Investment & Holding Co. was in sixth place behind Microsoft, just as it is here, but it was the only Chinese company in the global top 25. It has been joined by TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd., WeChat owner and gaming giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. and e-commerce, payments and cloud-computing purveyor Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. The $14.6 billion figure for ByteDance is for 2021 and comes from a report the privately held company shared with employees last year, which the Wall Street Journal reported on in October. The Information reported on April 1 that ByteDance has told investors revenue rose 30% in 2022, so I would guess its 2022 R&D spending would rank even higher.

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Russia Braces For Attack By 50,000 Ukrainian Kamikaze Drones, Seeks Shotguns

source: forbes.com (contributed by FAN Steve Jones)  |  image: pexels.com

Russian social media on the Ukraine war is buzzing with fear of an imminent attack by thousands of small kamikaze drones that could overwhelm their front lines.

Posts by a blogger using the handle Russian Engineer usually get a few thousand views, but one of his latest entries has now been seen 1.9 million times. Ukrainian military and political observer Alexei Arestovich says they are preparing a drone offensive,and in January Ukrainian General Command announced the formation of new tactical drone assault units. Russian Engineer has put these together with information from other sources to predict an onslaught of miniature attack drones.

Recently, it has become known that, in terms of drones, buyers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have bought up almost the entire market of FPV drone components in China, according to indirect estimates, by 50-100 thousand units,” writes Russian Engineer. “They have already trained more than a thousand operators of these models. They make them into kamikaze with a shaped charge warhead from RPG RPG -0.2%-7, or with a fragmentation grenade. And they have accumulated all this before the offensive.”

Racing drones, also known as FPV or First Person View drones, are smaller than standard quadcopters but have powerful motors giving speeds of 120 mph or more. They lack the sophisticated electronics for steady hover and smooth flight for good camerawork. Instead they are designed for high-speed, seat-of-the-pants flying around demanding courses, piloted using video gogglesDrone racing is a popular sport in many countries.

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