Welcome to the March 15, 2024 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• TikTok's Security Threats Go Beyond the Scope of House Legislation
• EU Parliament Approves AI Law
• Kids Taught to Code with Cultural Research, Embroidery Machines
• Meta to Replace Widely Used Data Tool, Cut Reporter Access
• World's Largest Computer Chip Will Power Supercomputer
• Countries Closing In on Digital Currencies while U.S. Lags
• Apple's Vision Pro Helps Nurse Assist in Spinal Surgery
• IP Infringement Rife in NFT Marketplaces
• Google Restricts Gemini Chatbot Election Answers
• Arm Unveils First Chip Design for Self-Driving Cars
• Haptic Device Enables Robots to Perfect Soft Touch
• AI Learning What It Means to Be Alive
• Deep Sea Drone Dives for Wrecks, Reefs

TikTok's Security Threats Go Beyond the Scope of House Legislation

Legislation passed by the U.S. House to require TikTok to sell its U.S. operations to a non-Chinese owner over national security risks does not address the security issues stemming from ownership of TikTok's code and algorithms. The algorithms, which guide the content showed to users based on what they view, are developed by engineers at Chinese parent company ByteDance. With China unlikely to allow those algorithms to be licensed to outside companies, an American-owned TikTok would require a new algorithm, which may or may not work and could render the app worthless.
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EU Parliament Approves AI Law

The European Parliament approved far-reaching EU regulations governing AI, with the goal of facilitating innovation while protecting citizens from the risks associated with the fast-developing technology. The so-called AI Act will impose stricter requirements on riskier systems, with bans on the use of AI for predictive policing; most real-time facial recognition in public places; and biometric systems used to infer race, religion, or sexual orientation. The text is slated for endorsement by EU states next month, with publication in the EU's Official Journal expected as early as May.
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Kids Taught to Code with Cultural Research, Embroidery Machines

A University of Washington (UW)-led research team used "computational embroidery" to teach high school students to code. The approach combines cultural research and embroidery traditions. It involves using the open source Turtlestitch coding language to encode embroidery patterns, through which visual blocks are pieced together, and then stitching the patterns into fabric using an electric embroidery machine. Before delving into Turtlestitch, students spent a week exploring cultural traditions in embroidery.
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Meta to Replace Widely Used Data Tool, Cut Reporter Access

Meta Platforms said Thursday that it plans to decommission its CrowdTangle data tool on August 14, three months ahead of the next U.S. presidential election. It will be replaced with a tool called the Meta Content Library, which will be available only to academic and nonprofit researchers, and not to most news outlets. CrowdTangle has been widely used by journalists, researchers, and regulators seeking to understand social media by studying the viral spread of content, including false information and conspiracy theories on Meta's Facebook and Instagram platforms.
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World's Largest Computer Chip Will Power Supercomputer

Cerebras' Wafer Scale Engine 3 (WSE-3), now the world's largest computer chip, is expected to power the Condor Galaxy 3 supercomputer, which will be used to train future AI systems. The chip, made from an 8.5-inch by 8.5-inch silicon wafer, features 4 trillion transistors and 900,000 AI cores. Currently under construction, the Condor Galaxy 3 will be comprised of 64 Cerebras CS-3 AI system "building blocks" and will generate 8 exaFLOPs of computing power.
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Countries Closing In on Digital Currencies while U.S. Lags

A report from U.S. think tank the Atlantic Council revealed that 134 countries, representing 98% of the global economy, are working on digital versions of their currencies. More than 50% of these efforts are in the advanced development, pilot, or launch phases. The report identified 36 pilot projects in progress, including China's e-CNY, which is being trialed by 260 million people across 25 cities. While it said the U.S. has made some progress in creating a "wholesale" digital dollar for banks, the report found efforts to develop a digital dollar for the wider population have “stalled.”
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Apple's Vision Pro Helps Nurse Assist in Spinal Surgery

Suvi Verho, lead scrub nurse at the U.K.'s Cromwell Hospital in London, recently assisted in a spinal surgery while wearing Apple's Vision Pro mixed reality headset. Equipped with software from eXeX, vital information was superimposed on the headset’s virtual screens, allowing Verho to monitor the surgery and determine which tools to give to the surgeon. Apple said its visionOS has been incorporated into several other medical apps, including Stryker's myMako, which helps surgeons prepare for joint replacement procedures, and Siemens Healthineers' Cinematic Reality, which provides interactive holograms of the human body for medical student training.
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IP Infringement Rife in NFT Marketplaces

A report by the U.S. Copyright Office and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office found that existing intellectual property laws can handle copyright or trademark infringement in non-fungible tokens (NFTs), but "trademark infringement and misuse is prevalent on NFT marketplaces." The report indicated the difficulty of enforcing trademarks in the NFT arena, given the decentralized nature of NFTs and blockchain networks. The agencies cited a lack of protocols for trademark enforcement and a lack of cross-platform mechanisms to remove infringing content, settle trademark disputes, or confirm ownership of trademark rights.
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Google Restricts Gemini Chatbot Election Answers

Google announced in a blog post it is limiting the types of election-related questions its Gemini chatbot can be asked. The restriction has been implemented in India, where elections will be held next month. BBC staff asked the AI chatbot questions about the upcoming elections in the U.S., U.K., and South Africa, to which Gemini responded, "I'm still learning how to answer this question. In the meantime, try Google Search." Gemini provided more detailed responses when asked follow-up questions about India's major parties.
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Arm Unveils First Chip Design for Self-Driving Cars

U.K. chip designer Arm, as part of an effort to grow beyond mobile processors, has rolled out a new class of chip designs intended to power self-driving cars. The "Neoverse" chips were launched with a suite of new systems targeting auto manufacturers and their suppliers. The new designs are being incorporated into products and development systems from Amazon Web Services, Mercedes-Benz, Nvidia, and Texas Instruments. Arm's Dipti Vachani said it will take up to five years for the first vehicles with these chips to be released.
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Haptic Device Enables Robots to Perfect Soft Touch

Researchers at Switzerland's École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have developed a haptic device that could improve soft touch abilities in robotics. SORI (Softness Rendering Interface) separates cutaneous inputs (feedback from the skin of a fingertip) and kinesthetic inputs (feedback on the amount of force applied by the finger joint) to better simulate a material's softness. EPFL's Mustafa Mete explained the new device "is not intended to act as a softness sensor for robots, but to transfer the feeling of 'touch' digitally, just like sending photos or music."
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AI Learning What It Means to Be Alive

With an AI program similar to ChatGPT, Stanford University researchers found that computers could teach themselves biology. Among other things, the foundation model, called Universal Cell Embedding (UCE), discovered Norn cells, rare kidney cells that make the hormone erythropoietin when oxygen levels fall too low, in only six weeks, an achievement that took human scientists over 100 years. UCE learned to classify cells it had never seen previously as one of more than 1,000 different types and also applied its learning to new species.
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Deep Sea Drone Dives for Wrecks, Reefs

A small autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) developed by researchers at Advanced Navigation will be used to study coral reefs in Australia and search for shipwrecks. Measuring less than 1 meter long, the Hydrus submarine drone features a 4k-resolution camera that can film high-definition video and produce detailed 3D photogrammetry models, as well as inertial navigation technology and a sonar system. It operates wirelessly, has a depth rating of 3,000 meters, and a range of nine kilometers.
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