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The artificial intelligence in Gareth Edwards’“ The Creator,” a visually magnificent if by-the-books epic, is not the AI making headlines at the moment. This is AI in the classic sci-fi mold — the Roy Battys of “Blade Runner,” the Avas of “Ex Machina,” the ones whose sentience we question and debate endlessly. Will the machines kill us? Take our jobs? Or do something that the movies haven’t dreamed possible yet? As the retired special forces guy cleaning up nuclear debris, Joshua (John David Washington), flatly tells a fellow worker when she posits that the AIs were indeed after their jobs: “They can have this one.” Regardless, for now, artificial intelligence is more allegory for the other than aspiring screenwriters, filmmakers or trash collectors. And, for Edwards and his co-writer Chris…

The National Security Agency is starting an artificial intelligence security center — a crucial mission as AI capabilities are increasingly acquired, developed and integrated into U.S. defense and intelligence systems, the agency’s outgoing director announced. Army Gen. Paul Nakasone said the center would be incorporated into the NSA’s Cybersecurity Collaboration Center, where it works with private industry and international partners to harden the U.S. defense-industrial base against threats from adversaries led by China and Russia. “We maintain an advantage in AI in the United States today. That AI advantage should not be taken for granted,” Nakasone said at the National Press Club, emphasizing the threat from Beijing in particular. Asked if the U.S. has detected either Russia or China trying to influence the 2024 U.S. presidential elections, Nakasone said, “We…

Just a few years ago, artificial intelligence got barely a mention at the U.N. General Assembly’s convocation of world leaders. But after the release of ChatGPT last fall turbocharged both excitement and anxieties about AI, it’s been a sizzling topic this year at diplomacy’s biggest yearly gathering. Presidents, premiers, monarchs and cabinet ministers convened as governments at various levels are mulling or have already passed AI regulation. Industry heavy-hitters acknowledge guardrails are needed but want to protect the technology’s envisioned benefits. Outsiders and even some insiders warn that there also are potentially catastrophic risks, and everyone says there’s no time to lose. And many eyes are on the United Nations as perhaps the only place to tackle the issue at scale. The world body has some unique attributes to offer,…

United Airlines is making its second large order of new planes in less than a year, more than 100 in all, as the carrier renews its fleet. The most recent order announced this week will include 50 Boeing 787-9s for delivery between 2028 through 2031, and 60 Airbus A321neos for delivery between 2028 and 2030. The agreement comes with options for up to 50 more Boeing 787s and for an additional 40 A321neo aircraft at the end of the decade. The airplanes will be larger than those United is replacing. The Chicago-based company said that in 2019 it averaged 104 seats per North American departure. By 2027, United anticipates the figure climbing more than 40% to more than 145 seats. “I’m convinced our strategy is the right one as we…

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that unfair tactics used by Google led to its dominance as a search engine, tactics that in turn have thwarted his company’s rival program, Bing. Nadella testified in a packed Washington, D.C., courtroom as part of the government’s landmark antitrust trial against Google’s parent company, Alphabet. The Justice Department alleges Google has abused the dominance of its ubiquitous search engine to throttle competition and innovation at the expense of consumers, allegations that echo a similar case brought against Microsoft in the late 1990s. Nadella said Google’s dominance was due to agreements that made it the default browser on smartphones and computers. He downplayed the idea that artificial intelligence or more niche search engines like Amazon or social media sites have meaningfully changed the market in…

Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son on Wednesday said he believes artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence within a decade, urging Japanese companies to adopt it or be left behind. Son, speaking at a corporate conference in Tokyo, said “artificial general intelligence will surpass the total intelligence of humankind by 10 times in 10 years.” It will affect every industry, from transportation and pharmaceuticals to finance, manufacturing, logistics and others, and the companies and people that work with AI will be the leaders in the next 10 to 20 years, Son said. Son, who founded SoftBank and is a leading figure in Japan’s business world, has enjoyed both victories and defeats in his array of technology investments. He latched on to the potential of the internet decades ago, and now is seeking…

The Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max is the talk of the tech world, with its camera capabilities pushing the envelope even further and offering professional users even more tools to shoot cutting-edge videography and photography from their pockets without a DLSR in sight! AN EVOLUTIONARY LEAP Apple might have kept the 48-megapixel Main camera introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro, but the all-new A17 Pro chip brings new capabilities to this already impressive hardware. The camera features a 24mm focal length, an ƒ/1.78 aperture, and second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilization. This combination ensures less movement and crisper photos and videos, even in challenging conditions. This year, Apple has introduced a 24-megapixel setting via the Photonic Engine, a significant upgrade from the previous 12-megapixel. This offers ultra-high resolution without significantly increasing…

Red hot sparks fly through the air as a worker in a heat-resistant suit pokes a long metal rod into a nickel smelter, coaxing the molten metal from a crucible at a processing facility on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. The smelter run by global mining firm Vale and powered by electricity from three dams churns out 75,000 tons of nickel a year for use in batteries, electric vehicles, appliances and many other products. While the smelting creates heavy emissions of greenhouse gases, the power used is relatively clean. Such possible reductions in emissions come as demand for critical minerals like nickel and cobalt is surging as climate change hastens a transition to renewable energy. Mining operations account for some 4%-7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to global consulting…

Google on Wednesday unveiled a next-generation Pixel smartphones lineup that will be infused with more artificial intelligence tools capable of writing captions about photos that can also be altered by the technology. The injection of more artificial intelligence, or AI, into Google’s products marks another step toward bringing more of the technology into the mainstream – a push company executives signaled they were embarking upon during their annual developer’s conference five months ago. “Our focus is on making AI more helpful for everyone in a way that is bold and responsible,” Rick Osterloh, Google’s senior vice president of devices and services, said during Wednesday’s event held in New York. As if to leave no doubt about Google’s current priorities, Osterloh described the new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro phones…

Meta plans to give Facebook and Instagram users in Europe the option of paying for ad-free versions of the social media platforms as a way to comply with the continent’s strict data privacy rules, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The company wants to charge users about 10 euros ($10.50) a month to use Instagram or Facebook without ads on desktop browsers, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the proposal. Adding more accounts would cost 6 euros each. Prices for mobile would be higher, at roughly 13 euros a month, because Meta needs to account for commissions charged by the Apple and Google app stores on in-app payments, the newspaper said. Meta reportedly is hoping to roll out paid subscriptions in the coming months as a way to…

Apple has released an iOS 17 system update that includes a fix to prevent the iPhone 15 lineup from becoming uncomfortably hot. According to the release’s accompanying patch notes, iOS 17.0.3 “addresses an issue that may cause iPhone to run warmer than expected.” The Cupertino, California, company blamed a software bug and other issues tied to popular apps such as Instagram and Uber for causing its recently released iPhone 15 models to heat up and spark complaints about becoming too hot to handle. “We have identified a few conditions which can cause iPhone to run warmer than expected,” Apple in a short statement provided to The Associated Press last week after media reports detailed overheating complaints that are peppering online message boards. It’s not unusual for new iPhones to get…

The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether state laws that seek to regulate Facebook, TikTok, X and other social media platforms violate the Constitution. The justices will review laws enacted by Republican-dominated legislatures and signed by Republican governors in Florida and Texas. While the details vary, both laws aim to prevent the social media companies from censoring users based on their viewpoints. The court’s announcement, three days before the start of its new term, comes as the justices continue to grapple with how laws written at the dawn of the digital age, or earlier, apply to the online world. The justices had already agreed to decide whether public officials can block critics from commenting on their social media accounts, an issue that previously came up in a case involving then-President…

Tesla’s summertime deliveries of electric vehicles surged 27% from last year but still fell below analyst projections as Elon Musk’s car company navigated through softening customer demand as well as factory upgrades. The Austin, Texas, automaker sold 435,059 vehicle s during the July-to-September period, up from 343,830 at the same time last year. Analysts had predicted Tesla would sell about 461,000 vehicles during the latest quarter, according to FactSet Research. As usual, Tesla’s sales consisted primarily of its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, which have been made even more attractive by rounds of price cutting that have eaten into the company’s profit margins. The third-quarter sales also marked a step back from Tesla’s 466,140 vehicle deliveries during the April-to-June period. The company blamed the sequential sales decline on planned…

Uber is adding a new task to its list of services: mailing consumers’ return packages. The ride-hailing and delivery company said this week that its drivers will collect up to five prepaid and sealed packages and drop them off at a local post office or at UPS or FedEx stores. Uber will charge a flat fee of $5 for the service or $3 for its Uber One members. The San Francisco-based company said the service will be available in nearly 5,000 U.S. cities to start. Uber said customers will be able to choose package drop off locations within its app. Only locations open for at least the next hour will be listed. Drivers will provide visual confirmation once a package has been dropped off. While the service is expected to…

The European Union announced plans to better protect its cutting-edge technologies from foreign snooping that might threaten its economy and security in the wake of repeated warnings that the bloc needs to “de-risk” its relations with China. “Technology is currently at the heart of geopolitical competition and the EU wants to be a player, and not a playground,” European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova said. To better protect its relatively open market, the European Commission wants the member states to immediately carry out risk assessments of its most sensitive industries, including advanced semiconductor, artificial intelligence, quantum and biotechnologies. Those are considered “highly likely to present the most sensitive and immediate risks related to technology security and technology leakage” and are up for the highest level of protection. Even though the…