These are the articles, videos and more that caught the attention of TechCentral’s editorial team in the past 24 hours.
- Will AI ever become conscious? It depends on how you think about biology: Will AI ever become conscious? Well, if you think consciousness requires meat, then robots are out of luck! Some argue only biological brains can host minds, while others believe silicon can feel, too. Without a clear theory, we’re left wondering if future AIs will dream of electric sheep – or just complain about software updates. Read more on Vox.com. DM
- Nvidia promises never-before-heard sounds with its new AI audio generator: Nvidia’s new AI model, Fugatto, is a text-to-audio generator that can create “never-before-heard” sounds from simple descriptions – even a “saxophone howl”, whatever that is. It can morph sounds like a train into orchestral music. It’s great news for creatives, but maybe not for foley artists – it looks like AI is tuning up to steal their thunder (and sound effects). Read more on Gizmodo. DM
- Jeff Jarvis: ‘Elon Musk’s investment in Twitter seemed insane, but it gave him this power’: Jeff Jarvis warns in this interview that media-fuelled moral panic threatens internet freedom through overregulation. He thinks “surveillance capitalism” is overblown and we’re better off fearing tech bros than AI itself. His solution? Demote the geeks! Soon we’ll all be bossing machines around without them. Time to reclaim the web and maybe let the nerds take a nap! Read more in The Guardian. DM
- Does cloud gaming on PlayStation Portal mark the end for consoles?: PlayStation Portal, once just a fancy PS5 sidekick, is levelling up. Sony’s update lets it stream more than 120 PS5 games via cloud gaming – no console needed. Is this the console’s swan song or Sony’s sneak peek into a handheld comeback? Either way, looks like gaming’s future might be less console, more cloud. Read more on Wired (soft paywall). DM
- Is there something special about the human voice? : AI’s ability to replicate the human voice is eerily realistic. AI-powered speech synthesisers can now put on accents, whisper and even clone the voices of others. Can we tell them apart from human voices? Read more on BBC News. NN
- The thrill and threat of mind hacking: Exploiting the mind’s full potential is an important aspect of the human experience. Brain-computer interfaces show tremendous promise in making human minds do things only previously imagined. But what is the cost of giving external machinery access to your mind? Emily Chang explores the topic on her show Posthuman – watch the video by Bloomberg Originals on YouTube. NN
- Researchers jailbreak AI robots to run over pedestrians, place bombs for maximum damage and spy covertly: Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have discovered that a range of AI-enhanced robotic systems are dangerously vulnerable to jailbreaks and hacks. While jailbreaking large language models on computers might have undesirable consequences, the same kind of hack affecting a robot or self-driving vehicle can quickly have catastrophic consequences. More on Tom’s Hardware. TS
Top stories on TechCentral in the past 24 hours:
- PayShap is getting a huge upgrade
- MTN launches its own 5G smartphone to fuel adoption
- Fight over MultiChoice, SABC ‘notifiable merger’ heads to tribunal
- South Africa’s most-watched television channel
- R20-billion earmarked for expansion of hi-tech Waterfall City precinct
- Shoprite upgrades 30 000 point-of-sale terminals
Bookmarks is a daily feature on TechCentral and published Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays.
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