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Graphene-enhanced ceramic tiles make striking art
Adding a bit of graphene oxide to slurry and zapping with ultrasound for 10 minutes yields best tiles.
In recent years, materials scientists experimenting with ceramics have started adding an oxidized form of graphene to the mix to produce ceramics that are tougher, more durable, and more resistant to fracture, among other desirable properties. Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a new method that uses ultrasound to more evenly distribute graphene oxide (GO) in ceramics, according to a new paper published in the journal ACS Omega. And as a bonus, they collaborated with an artist who used the resulting ceramic tiles to create a unique art exhibit at the NUS Museum—a striking merger of science and art.
As reported previously, graphene is the thinnest material yet known, composed of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. That structure gives it many unusual properties that hold great promise for real-world applications: batteries, super capacitors, antennas, water filters, transistors, solar cells, and touchscreens, just to name a few.
In 2021, scientists found that this wonder material might also provide a solution to the fading of colors of many artistic masterpieces. For instance, several of Georgia O’Keeffe’s oil paintings housed in the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, have developed tiny pin-sized blisters, almost like acne, for decades. Conservators have found similar deterioration in oil-based masterpieces across all time periods, including works by Rembrandt.
Apple releases iOS 18.1, macOS 15.1 with Apple Intelligence
The late, staggered public release of Apple’s AI suite begins.
Today, Apple released iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, macOS Sequoia 15.1, tvOS 18.1, and watchOS 11.1. The iPhone, iPad, and Mac updates are focused on bringing the first AI features the company has marketed as “Apple Intelligence” to users.
Once they update, users with supported devices in supported regions can begin using the first wave of Apple Intelligence features, including writing tools, notification summaries, and the “reduce interruptions” focus mode.
In terms of features baked into specific apps, Photos has natural language search, the ability to generate memories (those short gallery sequences set to video) from a text prompt, and a tool to remove certain objects from the background in photos. Mail and Messages get summaries and smart reply (auto-generating contextual responses).
Hospitals adopt error-prone AI transcription tools despite warnings
OpenAI’s Whisper tool may add fake text to medical transcripts, investigation finds.
On Saturday, an Associated Press investigation revealed that OpenAI’s Whisper transcription tool creates fabricated text in medical and business settings despite warnings against such use. The AP interviewed more than 12 software engineers, developers, and researchers who found the model regularly invents text that speakers never said, a phenomenon often called a “confabulation” or “hallucination” in the AI field.
Upon its release in 2022, OpenAI claimed that Whisper approached “human level robustness” in audio transcription accuracy. However, a University of Michigan researcher told the AP that Whisper created false text in 80 percent of public meeting transcripts examined. Another developer, unnamed in the AP report, claimed to have found invented content in almost all of his 26,000 test transcriptions.
The fabrications pose particular risks in health care settings. Despite OpenAI’s warnings against using Whisper for “high-risk domains,” over 30,000 medical workers now use Whisper-based tools to transcribe patient visits, according to the AP report. The Mankato Clinic in Minnesota and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles count among 40 health systems using a Whisper-powered AI copilot service from medical tech company Nabla that is fine-tuned on medical terminology.
Don’t fall for AI scams cloning cops’ voices, police warn
AI scammers impersonating cops sound “scary” and “real,” victim warned.
AI is giving scammers a more convincing way to impersonate police, reports show.
Just last week, the Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD) warned of an email scam using AI to convincingly clone the voice of Police Chief Mike Brown.
A citizen tipped off cops after receiving a suspicious email that included a video showing the police chief claiming that they “owed the federal government nearly $100,000.”
Kremlin-backed hackers have new Windows and Android malware to foist on Ukrainian foes
“Civil Defense” pushes hybrid espionage/influence campaign targeting recruits.
Google researchers said they uncovered a Kremlin-backed operation targeting recruits for the Ukrainian military with information-stealing malware for Windows and Android devices.
The malware, spread primarily through posts on Telegram, came from a persona on that platform known as “Civil Defense.” Posts on the @civildefense_com_ua telegram channel and the accompanying civildefense[.]com.ua website claimed to provide potential conscripts with free software for finding user-sourced locations of Ukrainian military recruiters. In fact, the software, available for both Windows and Android, installed infostealers. Google tracks the Kremlin-aligned threat group as UNC5812.
Dual espionage and influence campaign
“The ultimate aim of the campaign is to have victims navigate to the UNC5812-controlled ‘Civil Defense’ website, which advertises several different software programs for different operating systems,” Google researchers wrote. “When installed, these programs result in the download of various commodity malware families.”
Apple’s $1,299 M4 iMac at long last bumps the base model to 16GB of RAM
New iMacs also come with tweaked USB-C Magic Keyboard, Mouse, and Trackpad.
Apple’s week of Mac announcements kicks off today with a new lineup of 24-inch iMacs, Apple’s first Macs to launch with the M4 processor from this spring’s iPad Pros. The new models still start at $1,299 can be preordered starting today and will begin arriving on November 8.
Processor aside, the biggest functional upgrade to the base model may be the bump from 8GB to 16GB of RAM, the first time Apple has bumped up the RAM in a base-model Mac since 2012. The base iMac’s price is staying the same at $1,299, effectively saving you $200 compared to the M1 and M3 models. Base storage remains the same at 256GB, though it is at least possible to add external storage; there’s no way to add RAM to a Mac after you’ve bought it.
The new iMacs also come with tweaked versions of the existing Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad accessories that use USB-C ports for charging rather than Lightning ports. These were some of the last remaining Lightning products in Apple’s lineup; the iPhone SE, iPhone 14, and Apple TV remote are still keeping Lightning alive for now.
Are we on the verge of a self-improving AI explosion?
An AI that makes better AI could be “the last invention that man need ever make.”
If you read enough science fiction, you’ve probably stumbled on the concept of an emergent artificial intelligence that breaks free of its constraints by modifying its own code. Given that fictional grounding, it’s not surprising that AI researchers and companies have also invested significant attention to the idea of AI systems that can improve themselves—or at least design their own improved successors.
Those efforts have shown some moderate success in recent months, leading some toward dreams of a Kurzweilian “singularity” moment in which self-improving AI does a fast takeoff toward superintelligence. But the research also highlights some inherent limitations that might prevent the kind of recursive AI explosion that sci-fi authors and AI visionaries have dreamed of.
In the self-improvement lab
Semantic Scholar
The concept of a self-improving AI goes back at least to British mathematician I.J. Good, who wrote in 1965 of an “intelligence explosion” that could lead to an “ultraintelligent machine.” More recently, in 2007, LessWrong founder and AI thinker Eliezer Yudkowsky coined the term “Seed AI” to describe “an AI designed for self-understanding, self-modification, and recursive self-improvement.” OpenAI’s Sam Altman blogged about the same idea back in 2015, saying that such self-improving AIs were “still somewhat far away” but also “probably the greatest threat to the continued existence of humanity” (a position that conveniently hypes the potential value and importance of Altman’s own company).
Raspberry Pi OS’s yearslong switch from X Window to Wayland is now official
Pi owners should hardly notice any changes, though performance will improve.
There have been times when it seemed like X Window System would be with us forever, even though it’s more than 40 years old, and the last true version was issued in 2012. But with great effort, some organizations and operating systems have moved on. Raspberry Pi has now joined the forward momentum, with its latest release of Raspberry Pi OS swapping in Wayland—and it’s hoping the change is hardly noticeable.
You might want to wait a moment before upgrading, though.
Simon Long wrote on Raspberry Pi’s blog that the organization started thinking about switching to Wayland about 10 years ago, though it was “nowhere near ready to use” back then. Over the last few years, the Pi team has done some things to prep a real switch:
Ford adds EV routing to Google Maps for Android Auto users
Ford EVs can tell Google Maps their battery state of charge via Android Auto.
Owners of Ford Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning electric vehicles are getting an over-the-air software update that will finally give Android Auto users a bit of an upgrade. Once the update is installed, Ford’s EVs will report their battery state of charge to Google Maps when the app is running on an Android phone and being cast to the Ford’s infotainment system via Android Auto.
That means Google Maps can calculate an estimated state of charge upon arrival at the route’s end and will suggest charging stops along the way, including estimated charge times.
A similar feature has been available to iOS users casting Apple Maps to Ford EVs via CarPlay since late last year, and it worked quite well when we tried it out with the F-150 Lightning back in January.
18-year prison sentence for man who used AI to create child abuse images
UK man used AI tools from Daz 3D to create child sexual abuse imagery.
A man who used artificial intelligence technology to create child sexual abuse imagery was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Monday, in a landmark prosecution over deepfakes in the UK.
Hugh Nelson, 27, from Bolton, pleaded guilty to a total of 16 child sexual abuse offenses, including transforming everyday photographs of real children into sexual abuse material using AI tools from US software provider Daz 3D. He also admitted encouraging others to commit sexual offenses on children.
At Bolton Crown Court, Judge Martin Walsh imposed an extended sentence on Nelson, saying he posed a “significant risk” of causing harm to the public. That means Nelson will not be eligible for parole until he has completed two-thirds of his sentence.