Meta’s metaverse ambitions face a decisive year in 2025, with Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth warning employees that the project could become either “a legendary misadventure” or prove visionary. Bosworth called for increased sales and user engagement for Meta’s mixed reality products, noting the company plans to launch several AI-powered Read more…
The pace of global heating has been significantly underestimated, according to renowned climate scientist Prof James Hansen, who said the international 2C target is “dead.” A new analysis by Hansen and colleagues concludes that both the impact of recent cuts in sun-blocking shipping pollution, which has raised temperatures, and the Read more…
Scientists have demonstrated control over a newly theorized type of magnetism, known as altermagnetism, by manipulating nanoscale magnetic whirlpools in an ultra-thin wafer of manganese telluride. “Our experimental work has provided a bridge between theoretical concepts and real-life realization, which hopefully illuminates a path to developing altermagnetic materials for practical Read more…
A study found that bonobos can recognize when someone lacks knowledge they possess and take action to help, demonstrating a basic form of theory of mind. This suggests that the ability to understand others’ perspectives is evolutionarily older than previously thought and may have existed in our common ancestors to Read more…
Salesforce is cutting jobs as its latest fiscal year gets underway, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing a person familiar with the matter, even as the company simultaneously hires workers to sell new artificial intelligence products. More than 1,000 roles will be affected, according to the person, who asked not to be Read more…
AI systems that pose “unacceptable risk” or harm can now be banned in the European Union. Some of the unacceptable AI activities include social scoring, deceptive manipulation, exploiting personal vulnerabilities, predictive policing based on appearance, biometric-based profiling, real-time biometric surveillance, emotion inference in workplaces or schools, and unauthorized facial recognition Read more…
In his latest post, veteran Microsoft developer Raymond Chen reflects on what it means living in a world where you might need to reboot your toothbrush, or perform a firmware update to your shoes!