Revitalising European democracy: AI-supported civic tech on the rise

May08
by on May 8, 2023 at 4:15 pm
Posted In: artificial intelligence


According to a study by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) released late last week, digital technologies will become an increasing factor in European democracy in the coming decade. This is perhaps not entirely surprising; after all, the pandemic shifted much of our lives into the digital realm, why shouldn’t our political participation? The report, based on interviews with more than 50 government and industry representatives, finds that the market for online participation and deliberation in Europe is expected to grow to €300mn in the next five years, whereas the market for e-voting will grow to €500mn.…

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When will AGI arrive? Here’s what our tech lords predict

May05
by on May 5, 2023 at 3:07 pm
Posted In: Insider


Every tech baron worth their Patagonia vest is talking about AGI these days — albeit with mixed feelings. Some await our robot overlords with rapturous excitement; others anticipate a digital apocalypse. The divergence stems from varied motivations: personal perspectives, vested interests, and the ambiguity of what exactly constitutes artificial general intelligence. DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis defines it as “human-level cognition” — and his opinion carries weight. Hassabis has made the London-based DeepMind one of the world’s leading AI labs, with building AGI as its core mission. “The progress has been pretty incredible. This week, the former chess prodigy and video…

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80% of our fraud scams come from Meta’s platforms, leading UK bank warns

May05
by on May 5, 2023 at 2:30 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized


TSB is urging consumers to remain wary of financial fraud on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, as scams through Meta’s platforms are increasing at a worrying pace. The UK bank analysed its internal customer fraud data between 2021 and 2022. It found that the Meta-owned sites and apps account for a whopping 80% of all scam cases within its three biggest fraud categories: purchase, impersonation, and investment fraud. Facebook Marketplace is responsible for 60% of TSB’s purchase fraud cases, seeing a 97% year-on-year increase. Remember that vintage table you had to pre-buy because the seller was conveniently in the Bahamas, but…

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Northvolt targets zero-emission aviation with ‘superior’ lithium metal battery

May05
by on May 5, 2023 at 1:20 pm
Posted In: battery


Swedish low-carbon battery startup Northvolt is on a bit of a roll lately. Recently, the company revealed a new collaboration with Scania to produce the longest lasting EV batteries on the market. Now, its wholly-owned subsidiary Cuberg has unveiled a program to develop high-performance batteries to achieve “safe and sustainable” electric flight.  One of the biggest stumbling blocks to zero-emission electric aviation is, apart from access to renewable energy, battery technology. Today’s batteries are, simply put, too inefficient and too heavy.  However, Cuberg says it has already achieved significant milestones in its next-generation lithium metal cell battery technology. This involves…

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AI that decodes what mice see can enhance future BCIs, say researchers

May04
by on May 4, 2023 at 4:47 pm
Posted In: Insider


An AI tool that decodes what mice see could enhance future brain-computer interfaces, according to a new study. Named CEBRA, the system was developed by researchers at EPFL, a university in Switzerland. Their aim? To uncover hidden relationships between the brain and behaviour. To test CEBRA (pronounced “zebra”), the team tried to decode what a mouse sees when it watches a video. “Given the brain is the most complex structure in our universe, it’s the ultimate test for CEBRA. First, the researchers collected open-access neural data on rodents watching movies. Some of the brain activity had been measured with electrode probes in…

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