Welcome to the December 11, 2023 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for IT professionals three times a week.
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Europe Reaches a Deal on Comprehensive AI Rules
Associated Press
Kelvin Chan
December 8, 2023
EU negotiators have reached a deal on what is being hailed as the world’s first comprehensive rules governing artificial intelligence (AI), paving the way for legal oversight of the technology. Negotiators from the European Parliament and the bloc’s 27 member countries on Friday overcame differences on points including generative AI and police use of facial recognition technologies for surveillance to sign a tentative political agreement for the Artificial Intelligence Act. The U.S., U.K., China, and global coalitions like the Group of 7 major democracies have introduced their own proposals. The EU rules “can set a powerful example for many governments considering regulation,” said Columbia Law School's Anu Bradford. Other countries, Bradford said, “may not copy every provision but will likely emulate many aspects of it."
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Listening for Defects as They Happen
Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland)
December 5, 2023
Researchers at Switzerland's EPFL, the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) developed an approach to detect defects in additive manufacturing processes in real time based on sounds made by the three-dimensional (3D) printer. The researchers focused on Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF), a method of 3D printing that involves melting patterns into layers of microscopic metal powder to manufacture tiny, complex parts. The new approach, tested using PSI's Swiss Light Source and a miniaturized LPBF printer, combines operando X-ray imaging and acoustic emission measurements. The system captures X-ray radiographs at high speed to observe the metal's interaction with the laser. Empa's Giulio Masinelli added that an adaptive filtering technique "allows us to discern, with unparalleled clarity, the relationship between defects and the accompanying acoustic signature."
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Big Tech Funds the Very People Who Are Supposed to Hold It Accountable
The Washington Post
Joseph Menn; Naomi Nix
December 7, 2023
Google, Meta, and other tech giants have increased their charitable giving to universities in recent years, raising concerns about their influence on research topics including artificial intelligence, social media, and disinformation. Academics say they must depend more on tech companies to gain access to vast amounts of data, at the same time that Meta and X have reduced access to their data, requiring researchers to pay more or negotiate special deals. Although most academics insist tech companies do not influence their work, citing ethics rules, two dozen professors said in interviews that tech companies wield "soft power" by controlling funding and data access. University of California, Berkeley's Hany Farid said, "They pay for the research of the very people in a position to criticize them."
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Engineers Design Robotic Replica of the Heart’s Right Chamber
MIT News
Jennifer Chu
December 8, 2023
Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created a robotic replica of the heart’s right ventricle that mimics the beating and blood-pumping action of actual organs. The robotic right ventricle (RRV) combines real heart tissue with balloon-like artificial muscles, which enable scientists to control the ventricle’s contractions while observing how its natural valves and other intricate structures function. The RRV can be manipulated to mimic healthy or diseased states. Said MIT's Manisha Singh, “The RRV simulator can be used in the future to study the effects of mechanical ventilation on the right ventricle and to develop strategies to prevent right heart failure in these vulnerable patients.”
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Meta Starts Fully Encrypting Messages on Facebook, Messenger App
The Wall Street Journal
Jeff Horwitz; Katherine Blunt
December 6, 2023
Meta Platforms has begun shifting Facebook and Facebook Messenger users to end-to-end encryption, which shields messages from views by outsiders, by default. In the new year, sources say, Instagram will transition to default end-to-end encryption as well. Government officials and others have expressed concerns that the move could conceal illegal activity by child predators and other criminals from security officials and law enforcement. Encryption already has been offered as an option on Facebook and Instagram, but Meta said it could take time to update the feature for all Messenger users. In announcing the encryption changes in a Dec. 6 blog post, Meta wrote, "We worked closely with outside experts, academics, advocates, and governments to identify risks and build mitigations to ensure that privacy and safety go hand-in-hand."
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VR Goggles for Mice Create Immersive Scenarios for Brain Research
The Guardian (U.K.)
Nicola Davis
December 8, 2023
Northwestern University researchers developed virtual reality (VR) goggles for mice that can simulate natural environments, allowing for a more accurate study of the neural circuitry that underlies rodent behavior in the wild. A pair of lenses and screens are mounted on stands either side of a mouse’s head, providing each eye with a 180-degree field of view. The mouse’s head is fixed in place, and it navigates a virtual environment using a treadmill. The researchers say their approach not only allows mice to see the virtual environment in three dimensions and eliminates visual clues of the lab, but also offers a way to present virtual images from above, for example, of birds of prey. The activity of navigation neurons in test-subject mice's brains suggested they were in a different location from where they actually were during experiments.
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Remotely Flown Cargo Plane Gets First Big Test
Bloomberg
Thomas Black
December 6, 2023
California autonomous flight startup Reliable Robotics announced that it has flown a small cargo plane on loan from FedEx Corp. without a human on board, a step toward winning regulatory approval for its remote-pilot system. In coordination with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the 12-minute flight of the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan in late November took off from and landed at Hollister Municipal Airport in Northern California. A remote pilot handled all the radio calls and monitored the plane during the flight from about 50 miles away. “We demonstrated automated taxiing, takeoff, and automated landing, all without a pilot on board,” said Robert Rose, co-founder and chief executive officer of Reliable Robotics. “Our system doesn’t do automated engine starts, so somebody has to be in the plane to start the engine,” he added. “We’re working on that."
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Diverse College Classrooms Linked to Better STEM Learning Outcomes
American Educational Research Association
December 6, 2023
A study by researchers at the University of Iowa, Renison University College, University of Michigan-Flint, Washington State University, and Indiana University found that students in classrooms with more underrepresented racial-minority (URM) and first-generation college students get better grades in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses. The study covered data on 11,868 undergraduates in 8,468 STEM courses and 20 colleges and universities from fall 2015 to summer 2017. The researchers observed a 27% drop in the gap in grades between URM and non-URM students in STEM courses with higher URM representation. They also saw a 56% decline in the gap in grades between first-generation and continuing-generation students in STEM courses with high first-generation representation.
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Floating Trash Interceptor Cleans Up River
KICT Press Release (South Korea)
December 6, 2023
A floating trash interceptor developed by researchers at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT) in South Korea is intended to reduce the amount of floating debris in rivers. The researchers designed and built an interception facility, in conjunction with Foresys Co., on the Yugu-cheon (Yugu Stream) in Chungnam. They performed a numerical model experiment and full-scale empirical tests at the River Experiment Center in Gyeongsangbuk-do, which offers the largest testing infrastructure in South Korea. The researchers used image data to develop a support system that assesses the amount and composition of floating debris and calculates the appropriate collection cycle using artificial intelligence (AI). Said KICT's Sang Hwa Jung, "By combining traditional river engineering with advanced technologies such as information technology and AI, these technologies can solve local problems and global environmental problems."
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Using AI-Generated Images to Map Visual Functions in the Brain
Weill Cornell Medicine Newsroom
November 30, 2023
A study by Cornell University researchers showed that images selected or generated based on an artificial intelligence (AI) model of the human visual system could be used to target the visual processing areas of the brain while eliminating biases associated with viewing a limited set of images chosen by researchers. Based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of participants' brain activity, the researchers found AI-selected and generated images were better than control images at activating the target areas. They also determined that image-response data could be used to fine-tune vision models for a specific individual to achieve maximum activation. Said Weill Cornell Medicine's Amy Kuceyeski, "In principle, we could alter the connectivity between two parts of the brain using specifically designed stimuli, for example to weaken a connection that causes excess anxiety."
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Quantum-Computing Approach Uses Single Molecules as Qubits for First Time
Nature
Davide Castelvecchi
December 7, 2023
Two teams of researchers have separately made pairs of calcium monofluoride molecules interact so that they became entangled, a necessity for quantum computers to perform algorithms. Both teams used arrays of laser devices called optical tweezers with one molecule trapped in each tweezer unit. Through laser techniques, they cooled the molecules to temperatures just above absolute zero, at which point the molecules are close to being completely still and can be manipulated. Both teams used non-rotating molecules to represent the ‘0’ state of their qubits, and rotating ones to represent the ‘1’. Calcium monofluoride is highly polar, and the researchers coaxed two molecules to interact by ‘feeling’ each other’s positive and negative poles. Explained Harvard University's John Doyle, “The dipolar interaction of molecules gives us an extra tuning knob."
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