California Wildfires Prompt Talks On Tougher Utility Rules

Today’s artificial intelligence is often described as a “black box.” AI developers don’t write explicit rules for these systems; instead, they feed in vast quantities of data and the systems learn on their own to spot patterns. But the inner workings of the AI models remain opaque, and efforts to peer inside them to check exactly what is happening haven’t progressed very far.

Enlarge / Aurora's sensors festoon this Volvo VNL class 8 truck. (credit: Volvo Trucks) Recently, we took a look at Volvo's VNL new Class 8 heavy truck developed for the North American market. Last night at the ACT Expo trade show, the company debuted a new variant, called the VNL Autonomous.

Enlarge / Aftermath of a nova at the star GK Persei. (credit: NASA/CXC/RIKEN/STScI/NRAO/VLA) When you look at the northern sky, you can follow the arm of the Big Dipper as it arcs around toward the bright star called Arcturus. Roughly in the middle of that arc, you'll find the Northern Crown constellation, which looks a bit like a smiley face.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images) Cities and towns that build their own broadband networks often say they only considered the do-it-yourself option because private Internet service providers didn't meet their communities' needs. When a cable or phone company's Internet service is too slow, too expensive, not deployed widely enough, or all of the above, local government officials sometimes decide to take matters into their own hands. Hundreds of municipal broadband networks have been built around the US as a result, including dozens that have started operating since 2021.

Enlarge (credit: Financial Times) Leading artificial intelligence companies have signed up to a new round of voluntary commitments on AI safety, the UK and South Korean governments have announced. The companies, which include tech giants Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft as well as Sam Altman-led OpenAI, Elon Musk’s xAI, and Chinese developer Zhipu AI, will publish frameworks outlining how they will measure the risks of their “frontier” AI models. The groups committed “not to develop or deploy a model at all” if severe risks could not be mitigated, the two governments said ahead of the opening of a global AI summit in Seoul on Tuesday.

Enlarge / Scientists have determined the system to be evidence of an ongoing merger of two galaxies and their massive black holes when the Universe was only 740 million years old. (credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA et. al) Welcome to the Daily Telescope. There is a little too much darkness in this world and not enough light, a little too much pseudoscience and not enough science.