Welcome to the August 15, 2025 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• Brain Implant Decodes Inner Speech
• NIST Finalizes ‘Lightweight Cryptography’ Standard to Protect Small Devices
• Margaret Boden, AI Philosopher, Dies at 88
• Hinton on How Humanity Can Survive Superintelligent AI
• Mexican Teens Win First Place at 2025 World Robot Contest
• Pro-Russia Hackers Suspected of Dam Sabotage in Norway
• Using Sound to Remember Quantum Information
• Time-Lapse Video Made Easy
• AI Launches across the U.S. Government
• Rappelling Robots Dive into a Lava Tube for Science
• Robot Dog in Mexico Teaches Animal Kindness
• Lithuania to Give Children Drone Training to Counter Russia Threat
• Drones Used to Study Sperm Whales

Brain Implant Decodes Inner Speech

Stanford University researchers have developed what they say is the first brain implant capable of decoding and vocalizing imagined words. Four severely paralyzed participants had electrode arrays from the BrainGate BCI consortium implanted in their motor cortex, the brain area that controls speech. They were asked to either attempt to speak or silently imagine a set of words. AI models were then trained to recognize patterns of neural activity associated with units of speech and knit them together into sentences.
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NIST Finalizes ‘Lightweight Cryptography’ Standard to Protect Small Devices

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released its Lightweight Cryptography Standard to protect small, resource-limited devices like IoT gadgets, RFID tags, and medical implants from cyberattacks. Based on the Ascon algorithm family, the standard offers four variants for tasks such as authenticated encryption, hashing, and customizable hash sizes. Ascon supports secure data encryption, authentication, and integrity verification while conserving energy, time, and memory.
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Margaret Boden, AI Philosopher, Dies at 88

ACM AAAI Allen Newell Award recipient Margaret Boden died July 18 at 88. A pioneer in cognitive science, she used the language of computers to explore the nature of human thought and creativity, offering insights about the future of AI. Though skeptical of AI matching human conversational depth, she saw computation as key to understanding thought. Boden herself, however, was not adept at using computers. “I can’t cope with the damn things,” she once said.
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Hinton on How Humanity Can Survive Superintelligent AI

At the Ai4 industry conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, ACM A.M. Turing Award laureate Geoffrey Hinton expressed skepticism about how tech companies are trying to ensure humans remain “dominant” over “submissive” AI systems. Instead of forcing AI to submit to humans, Hinton suggested building “maternal instincts” into AI models, so “they really care about people” even once the technology becomes more powerful and smarter than humans.
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Mexican Teens Win First Place at 2025 World Robot Contest

Three students originally from the state of Chihuahua in Mexico won first place at the 2025 World Robot Contest in Beijing, triumphing in the “DOBOT Intelligent Manufacturing Challenge—Moon Landing Challenge.” Their project involved designing, programming, and building robotic arms to simulate a moon landing. “This historic achievement not only makes Chihuahua proud, but also all of Mexico,” the state government said.
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Pro-Russia Hackers Suspected of Dam Sabotage in Norway

Pro-Russia hackers are likely behind suspected sabotage at a dam in Norway in April that affected water flows, according to police officials. During the incident, hackers gained access to a digital system that remotely controls one of the dam’s valves and opened it to increase the water flow. A three-minute long video showing the dam’s control panel and a mark identifying a pro-Russian cybercriminal group was published on Telegram in April.
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Using Sound to Remember Quantum Information

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology translated electrical information into sound so that quantum states from superconducting qubits can survive in storage for up to 30 times longer than they can using other methods. The team fabricated a superconducting qubit on a chip and connected it to a mechanical oscillator. The oscillator's plates interact with electrical signals carrying quantum information, allowing data to be piped into the device for storage as a "memory" and be piped out, or "remembered," later.
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Time-Lapse Video Made Easy

Cornell University researchers developed software that turns casual smartphone photos into panoramic time-lapse videos without a tripod. Led by Abe Davis, the project began during COVID-19 lockdowns, with thousands of images collected from everyday locations. The team created new alignment techniques to handle thousands of non-sequential images. A novel “time splatting” method uses GPS, sun position, and weather data to reconstruct and even relight scenes.
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AI Launches across the U.S. Government

The U.S. General Services Administration is launching USAi, a secure platform letting federal employees test AI tools from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta. Part of the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan, the program aims to improve efficiency while safeguarding data, ensuring agency information doesn’t train commercial models. Participation is voluntary, with agencies opting in via a simple agreement.
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Rappelling Robots Dive into a Lava Tube for Science

An international team of researchers tested a multi-robot strategy for exploring lava tubes—potential sites for Moon or Mars habitats—by simulating missions in Lanzarote, Spain. Two rovers mapped the cave entrance, deployed a small probe to create a detailed 3D map, and then coordinated for a descent. The smaller rover rappelled down attached to the larger one, detached, and autonomously drove 235 meters inside, mapping the tunnel in 3D.
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Robot Dog in Mexico Teaches Animal Kindness

“Waldog,” an AI-powered robot dog in Monterrey, Mexico, is raising awareness about animal abuse and welfare. Funded personally by Federal Senator Waldo Fernandez of Monterrey, the beagle-size robot talks with residents, promotes kindness toward animals, and reports trash, potholes, and stray dogs. Operated by remote control with adult supervision, Waldog will visit schools, plazas, and neighborhoods. Fernandez hopes the project fosters responsibility while engaging the community.
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Lithuania to Give Children Drone Training to Counter Russia Threat

Lithuania is teaching children and adults to build and operate drones as part of efforts to strengthen civil resistance against potential Russian threats. The joint defense and education ministry initiative aims to train more than 22,000 people by 2028, with younger students learning basic drone skills and secondary students designing and flying advanced drones. The move follows increased Russian drone activity near Lithuania and reports about similar child-involved programs in Russia.
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Drones Used to Study Sperm Whales

A method developed by researchers affiliated with Harvard University and Project CETI allows drones to press sensor tags directly onto the backs of sperm whales. Trials off Dominica achieved over 50% success in 20 attempts, with tagging operations taking under seven minutes. The sensors record whale sounds, behavior, and social interactions, aiding conservation and studies like Project CETI’s AI-driven whale communication research.
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