Holiday Hiatus

Admin note: Geekpress will take a short holiday break because of the US Thanksgiving Holiday. See you all next week!

Deep Learning Origins

"How a stubborn computer scientist accidentally launched the deep learning boom". (Via H.R.)

Government AI Initiative

"US government commission pushes Manhattan Project-style AI initiative"

Unmanned Bicycle Paths

"Paths of 800 unmanned bicycles being pushed until they fall over" 

AI And Search

"The Death of Search"

AI Agents

"Move over chatbots, AI agents are the next big thing. What are they?"

The new AI agents include the Interpreter agent that allows for real-time interpretation in up to nine languages in Microsoft Teams meetings. The Interpreter agent, which will be in preview early next year, gives meeting participants the ability to speak and listen to meetings in the language of their choice. The agent can also simulate a participant's voice.

Robot Jailbreak

IEEE: "It's Surprisingly Easy to Jailbreak LLM-Driven Robots"

Better iPhone Security

"A new iOS 18 security feature makes it harder for police to unlock iPhones"

AI Art Turing Test

"How Did You Do On The AI Art Turing Test?"

Musk On AI

Elon Musk predicts upcoming AI developments, per @amitisinvesting on Twitter/X:

$TSLA

ELON MUSK MADE SOME NEW STATEMENTS TODAY IN A VIDEO HE POSTED TO X WHILE PLAYING VIDEO GAMES:

1. "2026, at the latest, we'll have AGI."

2. "Optimus is really going to be next level. It will be able to pick up your kids from school, it can be schools for your kids."

3.… pic.twitter.com/FENd2MeVZw

— amit (@amitisinvesting) November 19, 2024

 

Long Chile

"Chile: The Ridiculously Long Country with Unique Geography and Natural Beauty"

Crypto-Friendly Government

Cryptocurrency supporters and traders will have a much friendlier administration to deal with in a couple of months. Per the WSJ, "Exclusive: Trump to Meet Privately With Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong"

School Deepfake Scandal

"Explicit deepfake scandal shuts down Pennsylvania school"

An AI-generated nude photo scandal has shut down a Pennsylvania private school. On Monday, classes were canceled after parents forced leaders to either resign or face a lawsuit potentially seeking criminal penalties and accusing the school of skipping mandatory reporting of the harmful images.

Saber-Tooth Kitten

"Immaculately Preserved Saber-Tooth Cat Cub Found in Siberian Permafrost". (Via H.R.)

New Spacesuit

"SpaceX reveals new EVA suit for 1st private spacewalk on upcoming Polaris Dawn spaceflight". (Via H.R.)

Venn Diagram Of The Day

Venn Diagram Of The Day. (Via B.P.)

 

Painful Airplane Boarding

"Let's talk about airplane boarding -- and why it's so hard"

Transporting Antimatter

"Physicists May Have Figured Out How to Safely Transport Antimatter". (Via H.R.)

AI Birding

"I Went Birding With the World's First AI-Powered Binoculars"

Baseball Mud

"What makes baseball's 'magic mud' so special?" (Via H.R.)

Wendy's AI

"Wendy's needs AI to handle its $1 Frosty demand"

Stocks That Might Benefit Under New Administration

"Trump Wins: 3 Stocks Poised to Benefit"

One of the companies mentioned is Talkspace ($TALK) -- for helping with people's mental health needs: 

Talkspace, an online therapy platform, is well-positioned to see increased demand as a result of heightened emotions in the current political climate. With the polarizing effect of Trump’s presidency, many people who feel deeply impacted by his policies may increasingly turn to mental health resources to cope.

The others mentioned include $TSLA and $PLTR. (Note: This is #NotInvestmentAdvice.)

More AI In Government

"Anthropic teams up with Palantir and AWS to sell AI to defense customers"

Prediction Markets Triumph

Alex Tabarrok: "Prediction Markets for the Win"

Light Posting

Admin note: Posting may be lighter than usual for a few days due to external obligations.

Arecibo Collapse

"Jaw-Dropping Report Reveals Causes of Arecibo Telescope Collapse". (Via H.R.)

"Cancelled Flight" Definied

"A 'cancelled flight' has an official definition for the first time ever".

This standardized legal definition will allow passengers to more easily receive refunds from airlines for such cancelled flights.

Curious Astronaut

"NASA's oldest active astronaut is also one of the most curious humans". (Via H.R.)

Alexander On Progress Studies

Scott Alexander: "Notes From The Progress Studies Conference"