FutureFocus

Is AGI just a really dumb idea? Is the concept essentially meaningless? And are we entirely barking up the wrong tree? In this episode of TechFirst, host John Koetsier interviews Neil Lawrence, the DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge and senior Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute about his latest book 'The Atomic Human: What Makes Us Unique in the Age of AI…...

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Could you love an AI? What does love with "digital humans?" look like? Is this the future of relationships? In this TechFirst, we chat with Artem Rodichev, CEO of Ex-human and former head of AI at Replika. We dive into the concept of forming relationships with AI companions and the future of love and friendship in a world integrating advanced artificial intelligence....

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Fake AI-generated reviews, generally accompanied by five-star ratings, are flooding both mobile app stores and smart TV app stores, according to a new report from DoubleVerify, the digital media measurement company. “DV’s Fraud Lab has seen a significant increase in apps with AI-powered fake reviews in 2024, identifying over three times the number compared to the same period in 2023,” the company…...

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The Cavalier Autonomous Racing team from the University of Virginia won the Indy Autonomous Challenge at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway yesterday, averaging over 171 miles per hour around the iconic racing oval. The underdog team beat out more experienced and successful teams from Germany, Korea, Italy, plus multiple other US-based teams from Michigan State University, Purdue, Auburn University, the University of California, Berkeley, as well as local favorite Indiana University, which was competing for the first time....

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Apple released the Apple Watch Series 10 today at its special product unveiling event, saying it’s the biggest Apple Watch ever, even larger than the Apple Watch Ultra. It also has the brightest display and thinnest design, and it is the fastest-charging Apple Watch ever, the company says. “It’s the thinnest Apple Watch ever,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer....

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Consumers, get ready. You’re about to get targeted, personalized and marketed to like never before. Salesforce and Hubspot, two of the biggest marketing and customer intelligence platforms on the planet, are all-in on agents, and their goal is to make selling to all of us easier, faster and better while using less human work and energy than ever before. “Agents are the new apps,” HubSpot CTO and co-founder Dharmesh Shah said Thursday at the company’s INBOUND conference in Boston....

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Remember when the whole thing about an iPhone was its lack of physical buttons? The original iPhone had one home button on the front and three on the side: a power button, a volume button, and a ring/silent switch. Apple has gone one better ever since 2017, when the company introduced the iPhone X without a home button. But with the new iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, Apple has gone all in on side buttons....

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If you’ve ever used a Muse headband to train your brain or focus better, you have an idea what the new MW75 Neuro headphones might be able to do for you. According to Neurable and Master & Dynamic, the companies that combined forces to make them, they’re like a fitness tracker for your brain. “We are excited to introduce the first consumer headphones with a fully integrated brain-computer interface," Jonathan Levine, CEO of Master & Dynamic said in a statement....

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Two students at Harvard University have hooked Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses up to a facial recognition system that instantly identifies strangers in public, finds their personal information and can be used to approach them and gain their trust. They call it I-XRAY and have demonstrated its concerning power to get phone numbers, addresses and even social security numbers in live tests....

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This week ChatGPT announced that the gloves are off and it will be competing with Google on web search. Over the past two decades, this has been the tech equivalent of opening up a ground war in Asia or tilting at windmills, but there is some recent precedent: Perplexity.ai has been doing the same thing since November of 2022. So is AI better than traditional search?...

https://johnkoetsier.com/chatgpt-search-vs-google-search-which-is-better/

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Ad fraud watchdog DoubleVerify says dozens of popular apps that generate white noise so you can sleep at night are actually busy stealing almost $250,000 a month, each. The good news: they’re not stealing your money. The bad news is that you’re potentially aiding and abetting criminals stealing millions of dollars from advertisers. Plus depriving legitimate apps, musicians, and audio creators of the revenue they deserve....

Your White Noise App Could Be A Fraud, Stealing Millions Of Dollars Ad fraud watchdog DoubleVerify says dozens of popular apps that generate white noise so you can sleep at night are actually busy stealing almost $250,000 a month, each. The good news: they’re not stealing your money. The bad news is that you’re potentially aiding and abetting criminals stealing ...

How will AI change games? How is AI changing games? In this TechFirst we chat with Morgan McGuire, Roblox's Chief Scientist and a former Nvidia research scientist. He tells host John Koetsier how AI is not only enhancing game creation through generative AI but also revolutionizing multiplayer game safety with advanced AI moderation systems. We chat about the explosive growth of Roblox and share insights into how AI is shaping the future of interactive, social, and immersive gaming experiences....

Making games with your voice, with Roblox chief scientist Morgan McGuire How will AI change games? How is AI changing games? In this TechFirst we chat with Morgan McGuire, Roblox’s Chief Scientist and a former Nvidia research scientist. He tells host John Koetsier how AI is not only enhancing game creation through generative AI but also revolutionizing multiplayer game...

Is an AI system smart when it can do what a human can do? Or … when it can do things humans can’t do? For years we’ve had the Turing Test … measuring AI’s ability to mimic being human. But is that really the right benchmark? In this TechFirst, we chat with a computer scientist who has been working in AI for more than a decade....

How do we know when a machine is smart? Is an AI system smart when it can do what a human can do? Or … when it can do things humans can’t do? For years we’ve had the Turing Test … measuring AI’s ability to mimic being human. But is that really the right benchmark? In this TechFirst, we chat with a computer scientist […]

A whimsically-named quantum company named Alice & Bob actually has a quantum chip in the Google Cloud marketplace. Its "cat qbits" solve a massive issue that affects all other quantum chips. And it might just make quantum computing actually matter. In this episode of TechFirst, we explore the fascinating paradox of building a quantum computer with Théau Peronnin, CEO and co-founder of Alice and Bob....

Can cat qbits save quantum computing? A whimsically-named quantum company named Alice & Bob actually has a quantum chip in the Google Cloud marketplace. Its “cat qbits” solve a massive issue that affects all other quantum chips. And it might just make quantum computing actually matter. In this episode of TechFirst, we explore the fa...

When will AI replace developers? Or is it an if? In this TechFirst we dive into a survey focused on how 4,000 software developers use AI to generate, test, and check code. Justice Erolin, the CTO of BairesDev, recently surveyed over 4,000 developers globally. The goal: exploreing how AI tools like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot are being utilized in software development....

AI-generated code: what 4000 developers do When will AI replace developers? Or is it an if? In this TechFirst we dive into a survey focused on how 4,000 software developers use AI to generate, test, and check code. Justice Erolin, the CTO of BairesDev, recently surveyed over 4,000 developers globally. The goal: exploreing how AI tools like C...

It's not even close any more. From my latest story in Forbes: Google’s Waymo, long thought to be one of the leaders in the self-driving space, is now clearly the leader. Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana announced today that Waymo has just surpassed 100,000 paid autonomous trips per week. Get all the details right here ...

Google’s Waymo now obviously the leader In self-driving cars It’s not even close any more. From my latest story in Forbes: Google’s Waymo, long thought to be one of the leaders in the self-driving space, is now clearly the leader. Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana announced today that Waymo has just surpassed 100,000 paid autonomous trips per week. Get all the deta...

Where does Boston Dynamics fit in the emerging golden age of robots? In a lot of ways we're entering a golden age of robots. We're seeing prototype humanoid robots from Apptronik, Amazon, Sanctuary AI, Figure.ai, Tesla, Fourier Intelligence, and probably more. And of course Boston Dynamics is the OG of humanoid bipedal robots with Atlas. But there are a lot of form factors out there....

https://johnkoetsier.com/boston-dynamics-the-golden-age-of-robotics/

Boston Dynamics & the golden age of robotics Where does Boston Dynamics fit in the emerging golden age of robots? In a lot of ways we’re entering a golden age of robots. We’re seeing prototype humanoid robots from Apptronik, Amazon, Sanctuary AI, Figure.ai, Tesla, Fourier Intelligence, and probably more. And of course Boston Dynamics is th...