The U.S. plan to expand its national chip industry includes adding a minimum of two manufacturing clusters for advanced semiconductors by 2030. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo explained Thursday that the goal is to create chip ecosystems that group together fabrication plants, assembly plants, research-and-development labs and the suppliers to support each phase of operation. The vision is to make the U.S. “the only country in the world where every company capable of producing leading edge chips will have a significant R&D and high-volume manufacturing presence,” Raimondo said. Continue reading U.S. Plans to Create Manufacturing Clusters with CHIPS Act

Microsoft is expanding its relationship with OpenAI, entering what it calls “the third phase of our long-term partnership” with a multiyear, multibillion dollar investment to accelerate AI breakthroughs to ensure these benefits are broadly shared with the world.” Although the companies did not disclose financial terms, Microsoft’s investment was previously reported as $10 billion. The New York Times reports OpenAI is also in talks to complete a tender offer for as much as $300 million (contingent on the number of employees selling stock), “which would value the company at around $29 billion.” Continue reading Microsoft Invests $10 Billion in OpenAI, Valued at About $29B

Last year we told you about VideowindoW, a high resolution clear-glass display that transforms windows, including the entire glass curtain of a skyscraper, into a black and white video screen. This year at CES, Superimaging Display showcased a proof-of-concept demo of a simpler approach to transparent window displays. The company has developed a thin film embedded with nanophosphors that display visible RGB images when excited by ultraviolet light from a DLP projector. The thin film can be attached to any glass surface, and the image is visible but translucent in daylight. Continue reading CES: Superimaging Creates New Clear Window Display Tech

The U.S. Department of Energy announced that that scientists at a federal research facility have achieved a breakthrough in nuclear fusion that advances the quest to unlock an unlimited energy source. The development, which took place at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, was decades in the making, and paves the way for advancements in national defense and the future of clean power. Marking a first, the team at Livermore’s multi-billion dollar National Ignition Facility achieved “scientific energy breakeven,” producing more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it. Continue reading Nuclear-Fusion Breakthrough Points to Clean Energy Future

DeepMind researchers have trained an AI to solve computer coding challenges as well as the average person. In a paper published last week in the journal Science, the group from Google’s AI division described how AlphaCode performed when pitted against human programmers, ranking in the top 54.3 percent in simulated tests, commensurate with “approximately human-level performance.” “This performance in competitions approximately corresponds to a novice programmer with a few months to a year of training,” according to Science, which says about half the humans who compete in coding contests could outperform the AI. Continue reading Deepmind’s AlphaCode AI Can Program Like Human Coders

Intel has debuted FakeCatcher, touting it as the first real-time deepfake detector. capable of determining whether digital video has been altered to change context or meaning. Intel says FakeCatcher has a 96 percent accuracy rate and returns results in milliseconds by analyzing the “blood flow” of pixel patterns, a process called photoplethysmography (PPG) that Intel borrowed from medical research. The company says potential use cases include social media platforms screening to prevent uploads of harmful deepfake videos and helping global news organizations to avoid inadvertent amplification of deepfakes. Continue reading Intel Promises 96 Percent Accuracy with New Deepfake Filter

Cerebras Systems has unveiled its Andromeda AI supercomputer. With 13.5 million cores, it can calculate at the rate of 1 exaflop — roughly one quintillion (1 followed by 18 zeroes) operations — per second using a 16-bit floating point format. Andromeda’s brain is built of 16 linked Cerebras CS-2 systems, AI computers that use giant Wafer-Scale Engine 2 chips. Each chip has hundreds of thousands of cores, but is more compact and powerful than servers that use standard CPUs, according to Cerebras, which is making Andromeda available for commercial and academic research. Continue reading Cerebras Supercomputer Calculates at 1 Exaflop per Second

Meta Platforms says its vision for the metaverse will rely heavily on compression technology “to deliver high-quality, uninterrupted experiences for everyone.” With that in mind, it’s trained its Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab on developing “hypercompression” solutions. First up is EnCodec, an audio technology it says compresses at 64 kbps, with no loss in quality, and at 10 times the efficiency of MP3. The EnCodec protocol has the potential to  greatly improve the sound and reliability of speech over low-bandwidth (like when your mobile phone is only getting one bar). It also works for music. Continue reading Meta Says Its AI-Compressed Audio Codec Beats MP3 by 10x

TiVo has released research indicating the average number of video services used by consumers is 9.86, up from 8.8 a year ago and approaching double-digits for the first time in history. The gain is largely due to increased adoption of free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) services, also known as ad-supported video on demand (AVOD), which account for 32 percent of the overall share of video services used by consumers in 2022, up from 26 percent as of Q4 2021. According to the TiVo Video Trends Report, the average consumer is now using three ad-based video-on-demand services. Continue reading TiVo Study: Consumers Average About 10 Streaming Services

An expansion push for short-form video service TikTok has proven costly for parent ByteDance, which saw losses triple to more than $7 billion in 2021, according to an internal document leaked from the private company. ByteDance revenue grew by almost 80 percent in 2021, to $61.7 billion, and the company did manage to eke out an operating profit for Q1 2022, reports say, a significant benchmark. TikTok crossed the one billion subscriber threshold in less than five years — faster than any other social media firm. The company’s latest stock buyback plan puts its market valuation at $300 billion. Continue reading TikTok Parent ByteDance Sees Losses Rise but Shows Profit

Winners in the current streaming wars will be companies that diversify beyond a single programming vertical, checking boxes that include movies, series, news, sports and video games, according to a new survey, “What Will They Pay For? The Mind of The Modern Subscriber,” from Consumer Insights, the research division of Publisher’s Clearing House. According to the report, the answer is movies and scripted TV (39 percent), trailed by sports (12 percent), followed closely by music and podcasts (11 percent). At 10 percent, “other” is a category to keep an eye on, the study’s authors advise. Continue reading Consumer Study Finds Bundling Is Key to Streaming Success

The EU’s draft AI Act is causing quite a stir, particular as it pertains to regulating general-purpose artificial intelligence, including guidelines for open source developers that specify procedures for accuracy, risk management, transparency, technical documentation and data governance, well as cybersecurity. The first law on AI by a major regulator anywhere, the proposed AI Act seeks to promote “trustworthy AI,” but some are critical that as written the legislation could hurt open efforts to develop AI systems. The EU is seeking industry input as the proposal heads for a vote this fall. Continue reading EU’s AI Act Could Present Dangers for Open-Source Coders

Engineers at Nvidia have teamed with Stanford University researchers to develop a virtual reality headset that looks and feels more like a regular pair of eyeglasses, according to a research paper presented at SIGGRAPH 2022. The “Holographic Glasses” can depict scenes in full-color 3D holographic images using optical lenses that are just 2.5mm thick. The so-called “pancake lenses” not only have a slimmer profile, but also offer a 200-degree field of view and the potential for resolution that is virtually unlimited and can be “cranked up” at will. Continue reading Nvidia and Stanford Develop Downsized Holographic Glasses

YouTube is the most popular social media platform among teens, with 95 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds saying they use the service, according to the Pew Research study “Teens, Social Media and Technology 2022.” TikTok is currently ranked second, with a 67 percent teen buy-in, according to the study, followed by Instagram (62 percent) and Snapchat (59 percent). While neither YouTube nor TikTok were on the Pew ranking when the previous survey was released in 2015, Facebook fell precipitously — from first to fifth place — with 32 percent of teens onboard in 2022, versus 71 percent seven years ago. Continue reading Pew: YouTube Most Popular with Teens, Followed by TikTok

President Biden signed the expansive $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act into law yesterday. The legislation includes $52.7 billion in subsidies and tax credits to help strengthen U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, research and workforce development. In addition to revitalizing domestic manufacturing efforts, the package intends to “create good-paying American jobs, strengthen American supply chains, and accelerate the industries of the future,” explains the White House. The measure is also part of larger effort by the federal government to combat the growing influence of China, especially involving tech sectors and the potential impact to security and privacy. Continue reading Biden Signs Bill to Boost Chip Production and Supply Chains