Welcome to the April 8, 2024 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• Who Decides When Artificial General Intelligence is Attained?
• U.S., EU to Use AI to Seek Alternate Chemicals for Making Chips
• NASA Picks Companies to Help Astronauts Drive Around the Moon
• Diabetes Patients to Be Offered Artificial Pancreas Technology
• Privacy-Preserving Robotic Cameras Obscure Images Beyond Human Recognition
• Denmark Dispatches Quantum Encrypted Message Over 62 Miles
• Smartphone-Based System for Quick Glucose Testing
• FDA Clears First Digital Treatment for Depression
• VR Fishing Game Reels in 1 Million Users
• U.S. Tech Giants Turn to Mexico to Make AI Gear
• U.S. Police Warn Those Driving to Canada to Watch for Hidden AirTags

Who Decides When Artificial General Intelligence is Attained?

Although achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), when machines are as smart as or can perform many tasks as well as humans, is a goal for many researchers, there is no standard to determine when it has been attained. An AGI workshop in Vienna, Austria, in May will focus on this lack of consensus. Said University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Jiaxuan You, "This really needs a community's effort and attention so that mutually we can agree on some sort of classifications of AGI."
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U.S., EU to Use AI to Seek Alternate Chemicals for Making Chips

The U.S. and EU have pledged to use AI to identify replacements for "forever chemicals" used in semiconductor manufacturing. A draft statement from the joint U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council in Belgium said, "We plan to explore the use of AI capacities and digital twins to accelerate the discovery of suitable materials to replace PFAS [per- and polyfluorinated substances] in semiconductor manufacturing." The U.S. and EU also will review the security risk of legacy chips in their supply chains.
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NASA Picks Companies to Help Astronauts Drive Around the Moon

NASA officials have hired Texas' Intuitive Machines, Colorado's Lunar Outpost, and California's Venturi Astrolab to develop preliminary designs for an electric lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) that will be able to reach speeds of 9.3 mph and travel a dozen miles on a single charge. When completed, NASA will rent the LTV for use by astronauts to explore the Moon’s south polar region, after which it will remain on the Moon to serve as a self-driving robotic explorer.
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Diabetes Patients to Be Offered Artificial Pancreas Technology

The U.K.'s National Health Service will begin offering artificial pancreas technology to eligible adults and children with type 1 diabetes. The device, which mimics the function of the pancreas, automatically determines how much insulin to deliver via pump using a glucose sensor under the skin. However, the need to source a sufficient number of devices and train more staff in how they work means it could take five years for all eligible individuals to receive them.
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Privacy-Preserving Robotic Cameras Obscure Images Beyond Human Recognition

Researchers at Australia's University of Sydney and Queensland University of Technology have developed a privacy-preserving camera that processes and scrambles visual information used by Internet of Things devices before it is digitized. The obfuscation process occurs within the optics and analogue electronics of the camera, rather than in the camera's computer, offering greater protection against hackers.
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Denmark Dispatches Quantum Encrypted Message Over 62 Miles

Technical University of Denmark researchers transmitted a quantum encrypted message more than 62 miles (100 km) using Continuous Variable Quantum Key Distribution (CV QKD). The researchers leveraged machine learning to reduce noise disturbances from electromagnetic radiation that could distort or destroy quantum keys and correct errors in key transmission resulting from hardware interference or imperfections. CV QKD technology can be used with the fiber optic cables that make up the existing Internet infrastructure.
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Smartphone-Based System for Quick Glucose Testing

A paper-based analytical device (PAD) developed by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur connects to a smartphone via Android app for quick glucose tests and personalized monitoring of glucose levels. The PAD is made with a lab-based functionalized biodegradable paper, which changes color based on the amount of glucose in the sample. In developing the smartphone app, the researchers trained a machine learning model on various colored glucose samples to ensure light condition and camera type did not influence the intensity of color from the PAD.
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FDA Clears First Digital Treatment for Depression

Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Click Therapeutics' Rejoyn smartphone app designed to treat major depressive disorder, has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for use by adults 22 and older in conjunction with antidepressant medications. Rejoyn, available by prescription only later this year, combines cognitive-emotional training and cognitive behavioral therapy lessons in a six-week program. It uses Emotional Faces Memory Task, which asks people to identify and compare emotions on a series of faces and may trigger antidepressant effects by improving connections in areas of the brain believed to be involved in depression.
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VR Fishing Game Reels in 1 Million Users

Real VR Fishing, an immersive fishing game from South Korea's Devs United Games (DUG), is one of the top-selling VR games in the Asia-Pacific region, racking up nearly 1 million users since its 2019 launch. The $20 game allows players to fish in around 100 real-world locations. DUG expects to release VR games for camping, boat racing, and other outdoor activities next year. However, DUG's Mark Choi said VR headsets "should be lighter and simpler like glasses for daily use. A lack of killer apps is also a problem."
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U.S. Tech Giants Turn to Mexico to Make AI Gear

To ease reliance on China, some U.S. tech companies are calling on their manufacturing partners in Taiwan to increase AI-related hardware production in Mexico. Such nearshoring has increased under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The Mexico facilities of Taiwan's Foxconn manufacture AI servers for Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Nvidia, according to sources. Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise also have asked their suppliers to shift some server and cloud computing production to Southeast Asia and Mexico.
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U.S. Police Warn Those Driving to Canada to Watch for Hidden AirTags

Law enforcement officials in Vermont are warning residents to look for hidden Apple AirTags in their vehicles after returning from road trips to Canada. There has been an increase in the use of AirTags by criminals in Montreal to track cars to steal and sell or to move drugs over the border. Apple notifies iPhone users if it detects an unknown AirTag and has released an app for Android users that allows them to manually search for the trackers.
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