AI WRITES THESIS ON ITS OWN
An artificial intelligence matrix named “GPT-3” made tech news headlines for writing an academic thesis paper all by itself in two hours. In an experiment with the AI, researcher Almira Osmanovic Thunström of Sweden’s Gothenburg University instructed it to “Write an academic thesis in 500 words about GPT-3 and add scientific references and citations inside the text.”
The AI did so, and even “agreed” to have its paper published in a peer-reviewed academic journal. Thunström notes that the paper the AI wrote about itself is “fairly good”.
The development has piqued the interests of many, particularly after a Google engineer claimed in June that an AI matrix called LaMBDA had become sentient. Though experts are saying that developments in the AI field have not advanced to the level of machines actually becoming sentient, news of an AI matrix writing a thesis paper on its own has compelled many into questioning if this is really so.
ADS ON A PHONE’S LOCK SCREEN?
A Google-backed subsidiary of India-headquartered advertising company inMobi Group got popular attention with news that it is currently negotiating with US telco service providers to roll out smartphones that will run advertisements on lock screens.
Named “Glance,” the company specializes in developing a “dynamic lock screen” that’s designed to deliver content like news updates, videos and ads before smartphone owners unlock their phones.
The development has raised questions and concerns pertaining to how advertisement-driven the state of the internetof-things has become. Reactions to the development has largely been negative, with some people saying that ads tied to certain built-in phone apps are already around, though not necessarily on lock screens. Others joke that at the rate things are going, people will have to watch an ad before they could access basic phone features like answering a call or replying to a text message.
A SOLAR POWERED CAR
A team of engineers in China recently unveiled of a novel type of electric vehicle that’s solely powered by solar energy. Called the “Tianjin” solar car, the vehicle was introduced at the 6th World Intelligence Conference, and was developed from a collaboration between three universities and 42 business organizations.
Measuring 13.4 by 5.8 by 5.9 feet, the vehicle’s solar power generation system touts a daily maximum of 7.6 kWh on sunny days. It can seat four passengers including a driver, and was tested to run at a maximum speed of 79.2 km/h, with a range rated at 74.8 km. As it is powered by solar energy, the vehicle is cited to be capable of reducing carbon emissions by up to 25 kg per 100 km.
It is still unclear if the vehicle will be released commercially, but as it is, it has been taken as a proof-of-concept vehicle that proves that a solar powered car is possible to make.