I’m surprised more people aren’t aware of how rapidly robotics are currently developing. The same LLM AI that is capturing public attention with generative art and ChatGPT is equally revolutionizing robots.
Here’s an illustration of it. This is the closest I’ve seen yet of a mass-market-priced and extremely capable robot that could sell in tens of millions around the world. This looks close to the type of robot you could bring to many workplaces and get to do a wide range of unskilled work. How long before we see fast food places fully staffed by robots like these? At the current rate of development that seems only 2 or 3 years away.
My theory would be that some western people are very disquieted to see China take the lead in various technological fields. When I post in r/futurology on Reddit I constantly observe this in China related comments and discussion.
If advanced alien civilizations exist, then searching for them via their electromagnetic radiation techno-signatures seems an obvious route.
That said, I’ve never been very convinced by the idea of Dyson spheres. Surely if you were that technologically advanced you could think of cleverer ways to generate energy than building some cyberpunk structure that was bigger than a star.
There’s a strong push-back against AI regulation within some quarters. Predictably, the issue seems to have split along polarized political lines. With right-wing leaning people not favoring regulation. They see themselves as ‘Accelerationist’ and those with concerns about AI as ‘Doomers’.
Meanwhile the unaddressed problems mount. AI can already deceive us, even when we design it not to do so, and we don’t why.
I’m interested to see how this develops. If this is a base model other companies can freely acquire with no license costs or restrictions, then it might quickly expand the range of humanoid robots available.
I’m expecting China to take the lead in manufacturing “cheap” humanoid robots, and exporting them. There are demos of humanoid robots training themselves to do simple household tasks. How soon before you can buy a Humanoid Robot Maid in the shops?
Current LLM models tend to extract “best practice” responses a lot. They can statistically guess the correct responses to things, because it’s what experts cite the most. I wonder if that is what is behind this? As the authors of the research point out, the significance here is not the AI’s appearance of superior intelligence, it’s that it’s yet another example of how people may be influenced by AI.
No part of this article involves AI making independent discoveries.
My reading of this is the opposite.
Although there were competing hypothesis, nobody knew how insect wing hinge mechanisms worked. Now they do, and the fundamental insight was provided via AI.
I think this is both a fundamental discovery, and one we can attribute to the AI, more than the humans involved.
Unitree's new G1 humanoid robot is priced at only $16,000, and looks like the type of humanoid robot that could sell in the tens of millions. (newatlas.com)
Astronomers are on the Hunt for Dyson Spheres (www.universetoday.com)
Many artificial intelligence (AI) systems have already learned how to deceive humans, even systems that have been trained to be helpful and honest. (techxplore.com)
A group of Chinese companies, including Xiaomi and UBTech, have launched an open-source humanoid robot. (newatlas.com)
When people rated moral reasoning responses to issues, and were unaware some were generated by AI, they rated the AI's as better than the humans. (www.nature.com)
Researchers are making progress on producing cows from just stem cells, with no eggs or sperm involved. Some people are wondering if the same tech might one day work with humans. (www.technologyreview.com)
A California startup says they have combined CRISPR gene editing and generative AI, and want to test their tech in clinical trials. (archive.ph)
AI is starting to make independent discoveries in basic science, as shown by AI's recent discoveries in how insect wings work. (www.nature.com)
Evidence is growing that LLMs will never be the route to AGI. They are consuming exponentially increasing energy, to deliver only linear improvements in performance. (arxiv.org)
A New York Times article where Economists talk about AI and jobs shows us just how much we are flying blind and leaderless into our AI future. (archive.ph)
Google Is Paying Publishers to Test an Unreleased Gen AI Platform. In exchange for a five-figure sum, publishers must use the tool to publish 3 stories per day. (www.adweek.com)
An international group of researchers have discovered a new phase of matter called Non-Abelian Topological Order, which may open a new route to dramatically more effective quantum computers. (thequantuminsider.com)
The open-science movement for sharing laboratory materials gains momentum (www.nature.com)
A Scottish company has successfully tested oscillating aerofoils it says may convert wind to electricity at ground level, as cheaply and efficiently as current wind turbines. (www.katricktechnologies.com)