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Human Brain Cells On a Chip Learned To Play Doom In a Week

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

研究者たちはコルティカル・ラボという企業が、チップ上に細胞培養した人間の神経細胞を使って「ドーム」をプレイさせる実験を行いました。約1週間で達成しました。ニューヨーク・サンタムニューサイエンスによると、「人間と比べて性能は劣るが、バイオロジカルコンピュータの実用的な応用分野、例えばロボットアームの制御などに一歩近づいた」とのことです。

2021年には同社が「ポン」をプレイするための神経細胞チップを使った実験を行っていました。これらのチップは微小電極配線板(マイクロエレクトロードアレイ)上に培養した80万以上の脳細胞から構成されていました。

コルティカル・ラボはPythonというプログラミング言語でチップを制御するためのインターフェースを開発しました。独立開発者セアン・コールがこのインタフェースを使って「ドーム」を教えることに成功し、約1週間で達成しました。

ブレット・カガン氏は、「数年前に行われたポン実験と比べて、これほど容易に生物の細胞をプログラムできることが興奮しています」と述べています。チップは人間の脳と比較するべきではないとし、「これは特殊な情報処理をするための材料であり、その性質は半導体で再現不可能です」と語りました。

コルティカル・ラボはYouTubeでこの実験の動画を公開しています。またソースコードもGitHubに公開されています。
Researchers at Cortical Labs used living human neurons grown on a chip to learn how to play Doom in about a week. "While its performance is not up to par with humans, experts say it brings biological computers a step closer to useful real-world applications, like controlling robot arms," reports New Scientist. From the report: In 2021, the Australian company Cortical Labs used its neuron-powered computer chips to play Pong. The chips consisted of clumps of more than 800,000 living brain cells grown on top of microelectrode arrays that can both send and receive electrical signals. Researchers had to carefully train the chips to control the paddles on either side of the screen. Now, Cortical Labs has developed an interface that makes it easier to program these chips using the popular programming language Python. An independent developer, Sean Cole, then used Python to teach the chips to play Doom, which he did in around a week. "Unlike the Pong work that we did a few years ago, which represented years of painstaking scientific effort, this demonstration has been done in a matter of days by someone who previously had relatively little expertise working directly with biology," says Brett Kagan of Cortical Labs. "It's this accessibility and this flexibility that makes it truly exciting." The neuronal computer chip, which used about a quarter as many neurons as the Pong demonstration, played Doom better than a randomly firing player, but far below the performance of the best human players. However, it learnt much faster than traditional, silicon-based machine learning systems and should be able to improve its performance with newer learning algorithms, says Kagan. However, it's not useful to compare the chips with human brains, he says. "Yes, it's alive, and yes, it's biological, but really what it is being used as is a material that can process information in very special ways that we can't recreate in silicon." Cortical Labs posted a YouTube video showing its CL1 biological computer running Doom. There's also source code available on GitHub, with additional details in a README file.

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Hyperion Author Dan Simmons Dies From Stroke At 77

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著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

ダニエル・シンプソンという作家が、77歳で脳卒中のため亡くなったと報じられています。彼は「ハイパión」シリーズを含む壮大なSF小説で知られていました。Ars Technicaのエリック・ベーカーによると、シンプソンは1980年代に作家デビューし、児童教育の職に就いていた後、幅広いジャンルの作品を出版しました。

その中でも特に重要なのは「ハイパión」です。1989年に発表されたこの小説は、数百の惑星で人類が定住している遠い未来を舞台としており、チャucherのCanterbury Talesに似た構造と同時に、不思議な設定で読者を魅了しました。

シンプソンの「ハイパión」は2008年のSlashdotの質問掲示板に登場し、SFファン向けの本の推奨が行われました。懐かしい思いをしたり、SF作品を探すためにこのトピックを見直すのも良いでしょう。
Author Dan Simmons, best known for the epic sci-fi novel Hyperion and its sequels, has died at 77 following a stroke. Ars Technica's Eric Berger remembers Simmons, writing: Simmons, who worked in elementary education before becoming an author in the 1980s, produced a broad portfolio of writing that spanned several genres, including horror fiction, historical fiction, and science fiction. Often, his books included elements of all of these. This obituary will focus on what is generally considered his greatest work, and what I believe is possibly the greatest science fiction novel of all time, Hyperion. Published in 1989, Hyperion is set in a far-flung future in which human settlement spans hundreds of planets. The novel feels both familiar, in that its structure follows Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and utterly unfamiliar in its strange, far-flung setting. Simmons' Hyperion appeared in an Ask Slashdot story back in 2008, when Slashdot reader willyhill asked for tips on how Slashdotters track down great sci-fi. If you're in the mood for a little nostalgia, or just want to browse the thread for book recommendations, it's well worth revisiting.

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CISA Replaces Bumbling Acting Director After a Year

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著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

CISA(サイバーセキュリティとインフラストラクチャセキュリティ局)は、トランプ政権下での予算削減や職員の削減・放棄により混乱を被っています。TechCrunchによると、CISAの代理局長Madhu Gottumukkala氏の任期が一年にわたって波乱万丈であり、彼の退任が報じられています。Gottumukkala氏は機密情報の取り扱いミスや職員を1/3削減するなどの問題点がありました。

具体的には、彼は政府文書をChatGPTにアップロードしたこと、要件情報アクセスが必要なポリグラフ試験に不合格したことが問題視されました。また、CISAの最高セキュリティ責任者らが解任されたことも指摘されています。

さらに、CISAの最高情報官Bob Costelloも退職し、Gottumukkala氏は彼の移動を計画していたが、他の政治的な任命者がこれを阻止したとNextgovは報じています。
New submitter DeanonymizedCoward shares a report from TechCrunch: The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is reportedly in crisis following major budget cuts, layoffs, and furloughs under the Trump administration, says TechCrunch. The agency has now replaced its acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, after a turbulent year marked by controversy and internal turmoil. During his tenure, Gottumukkala allegedly mishandled sensitive information by uploading government documents to ChatGPT, oversaw a one-third reduction in staff, and reportedly failed a counterintelligence polygraph needed for classified access. His leadership also saw the suspension of several senior officials, including CISA's chief security officer. Nextgov also reported that CISA lost another top senior official, Bob Costello, the agency's chief information officer tasked with overseeing the agency's IT systems and data policies. "Last month, CISA's acting director Madhu Gottumukkala reportedly took steps to transfer Costello, but other political appointees blocked it," added Nextgov.

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Perplexity Announces 'Computer,' an AI Agent That Assigns Work To Other AI Agent

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

Perplexityが新ツール「Computer」を発表しました。これはユーザーがタスクを指し示すと、複数のAIエージェントによって最適なモデルが選択され、処理されるシステムです。現在はPerplexity Maxサブスクリーパ者向けに提供されており、「特定のアウトカム」(例:飲食店の地元マーケティングキャンペーンを計画・実行する)を生成し、複数エージェントにタスクを割り当て、実行します。主な推理エンジンはAnthropicのClaude Opus 4.6で、Geminiは深層研究、Nano Bananaは画像生成、Veo 3.1はビデオ制作、Grokは軽量タスク向け、ChatGPT 5.2は「長いコンテキストでの記憶と幅広い検索」に使用されます。

Claude Coworkなどの競合製品とは異なり、「Computer」は各タスクが孤立したコンピューティング環境で実行され、ファイルシステムやブラウザ、ツール統合へのアクセスが可能です。既存の高度ユーザー向けのワークフローをより広い範囲の人々に提供しやすくする目的があります。

OpenClawはこの概念の直近の前駆者として位置付けられます。
joshuark shares a report from Ars Technica: Perplexity has introduced "Computer," a new tool that allows users to assign tasks and see them carried out by a system that coordinates multiple agents running various models. The company claims that Computer, currently available to Perplexity Max subscribers, is "a system that creates and executes entire workflows" and "capable of running for hours or even months." The idea is that the user describes a specific outcome -- something like "plan and execute a local digital marketing campaign for my restaurant" or "build me an Android app that helps me do a specific kind of research for my job." Computer then ideates subtasks and assigns them to multiple agents as needed, running the models Perplexity deems best for those tasks. The core reasoning engine currently runs Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6, while Gemini is used for deep research, Nano Banana for image generation, Veo 3.1 for video production, Grok for lightweight tasks where speed is a consideration, and ChatGPT 5.2 for "long-context recall and wide search." This kind of best-model-for-the-task approach differs from some competing products like Claude Cowork, which only uses Anthropic's models. All this happens in the cloud, with prebuilt integrations. "Every task runs in an isolated compute environment with access to a real filesystem, a real browser, and real tool integrations," Perplexity says. The idea is partly that this workflow was what some power users were already doing, and this aims to make that possible for a wider range of people who don't want to deal with all that setup. People were already using multiple models and tailoring them to specific tasks based on perceived capabilities, while, for example, using MCP (Model Context Protocol) to give those models access to data and applications on their local machines. Perplexity Computer takes a different approach, but the goal is the same: have AI agents running tailor-picked models to perform tasks involving your own files, services, and applications. Then there is OpenClaw, which you could perceive as the immediate predecessor to this concept.

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South Korea Set To Get a Fully Functioning Google Maps

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

韓国は二十余年続いた政策を変更し、高精度地図データの輸出を認める決定を行いました。これにより、Googleマップが完全機能化する見込みです(Reuters)。輸出入に際して厳格なセキュリティ基準を満たす必要があります。具体的には、軍事施設や他の安全に関連した施設をぼかし、Google MapsやGoogleエア给人一种简洁明了的摘要。

### 主要内容:
1. **政策変更**: 韓国は20年間続いた地図データ輸出禁止政策を解除し、高精度地図データの輸出国に認可しました。
2. **条件付き**: 地図データには軍事施設や他の機密情報が含まれないようぼかすなど、厳格なセキュリティ要件を満たさなければなりません。
3. **市場影響**: これにより、韓国で地図サービス市場を独占しているナバールとカカオの勢力が弱まる可能性があります。しかし、米国のテクノロジー企業であるグーグルへの反発は和解するでしょう。
4. **懸念点**: 地図データ市場の寡頭化や、政府の地図情報システムに対する依存度の増加などの問題が指摘されています。

この変更は米国政府にとっても好都合であり、韓国の戦時状態を考慮しつつも、グーグルのような米国のテクノロジー企業との競争関係を改善することを目指します。
South Korea has reversed a two-decade policy and approved the export of high-precision map data, paving the way for a fully functional Google Maps in the country. Reuters reports: The approval was made "on the condition that strict security requirements are met," the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement. Those conditions include blurring military and other sensitive security-related facilities, as well as restricting longitude and latitude coordinates for South Korean territory on products such as Google Maps and Google Earth, it said. The decision is expected to hurt Naver and Kakao -- local internet giants which currently dominate the country's market for digital map services. But it will appease Washington, which has urged Seoul to tackle what it says is discrimination against U.S. tech companies. South Korea, still technically at war with North Korea, had shot down Google's previous bids in 2007 and 2016 to be allowed to export the data, citing the risks that information about sensitive military and security facilities could be exposed. "Google can now come in, slash usage fees, and take the market," said Choi Jin-mu, a geography professor at Kyung Hee University. "If Naver and Kakao are weakened or pushed out and Google later raises prices, that becomes a monopoly. Then, even companies that rely on map services -- logistics firms, for example -- become dependent, and in the long run, even government GIS (geographic information) systems could end up dependent on Google or Apple. That's the biggest concern."

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Trump Orders Federal Agencies To Stop Using Anthropic AI Tech 'Immediately'

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

ドナルド・トランプ元大統領は、連邦機関に対してアンソパシーのAI技術を使用を「即刻停止」と命じた。この命令は、7月に5億ドルの合意で防衛省と契約したが、完全自動兵器や米国人に対する大量監視の使用を禁じる Anthropic との間の対決を緊迫させる中で発令された。

アンソパシーは防衛省がAIモデルを使用しないことを保証するための合意を求めたが、トランプ大統領は「左翼の狂人たちは戦争部隊に危険をもたらし、国家の安全を脅かす」として Anthropic の技術使用を完全に禁止した。彼は「私たちはその技術が必要ないし欲しくないので再び取引することはありません」と述べた。

トランプはまた、6ヶ月の移行期間を設け、防衛省のような既に Anthropic の製品を使用している機関も含まれるとしている。さらに OpenAI も同様の立場を表明しており、大量監視や自動殺傷兵器などには使用しないと宣言した。

この決定は米国の国家セキュリティや兵士の生命を危険に晒すという理由から出された。
President Donald Trump has ordered all U.S. federal agencies to "immediately cease" using Anthropic's AI technology, escalating a standoff after the company sought limits on Pentagon use of its models. CNBC reports: The company, which in July signed a $200 million contract with Pentagon, wants assurances that the Defense Department will not use its AI models will not be used for fully autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance of Americans. The Pentagon had set a deadline of 5:01 p.m. ET Friday for Anthropic to agree to its demands to allow the Pentagon to use the technology for all lawful purposes. If Anthropic did not meet that deadline, Pete Hegseth threatened to label the company a "supply chain risk" or force it to comply by invoking the Defense Production Act. "The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. "Their selfishness is putting AMERICAN LIVES at risk, our Troops in danger, and our National Security in JEOPARDY." "Therefore, I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic's technology," Trump wrote. "We don't need it, we don't want it, and will not do business with them again! There will be a Six Month phase out period for Agencies like the Department of War who are using Anthropic's products, at various levels," Trump said. On Friday, OpenAI said it would also draw the same red lines as Anthropic: no AI for mass surveillance or autonomous lethal weapons.

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US Military Accidentally Shoots Down Border Protection Drone With Laser

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

米軍がUAVを誤認し、レーザーで撃墜

アリゾナ州エルパサ近郊の米軍施設から約80kmに位置するフォート・ハンコック付近で、米海軍がレーザーを使用して「脅威のように見えた」CBP(量貿と国境保護局)所有のドローンを撃墜したという報告がある。その後、FAAは付近空域を制限し、商業航空便には影響なし。

この事件は2週間前にも同地域で発生しており、その時はCBPがレーザーを使用して何の被害もなかった。両件ともドローン脅威対策の一環として行われたが、米軍側はFAAに事前に通知すべきだったという。

この事件を受け、イリノイ州民主党上院議員ダムシー・ダックワースは独自の調査を求めている。「トランプ政権の無能さが空域を混乱させ続けている」と述べた。

2024年下半期で南境周辺で検知されたドローンは約2万7,000機と報告されている。
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: The U.S. military used a laser Thursday to shoot down a "seemingly threatening" drone flying near the U.S.-Mexico border. It turned out the drone belonged to Customs and Border Protection, lawmakers said. The case of mistaken identity prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to close additional airspace around Fort Hancock, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of El Paso. The military is required to formally notify the FAA when it takes any counter-drone action inside U.S. airspace. It was the second time in two weeks that a laser was fired in the area. The last time it was CBP that used the weapon and nothing was hit. That incident occurred near Fort Bliss and prompted the FAA to shut down air traffic at El Paso airport and the surrounding area. This time, the closure was smaller and commercial flights were not affected. The FAA, CBP and the Pentagon confirmed the incident in a joint statement, saying the military "employed counter-unmanned aircraft system authorities to mitigate a seemingly threatening unmanned aerial system operating within military airspace." "At President Trump's direction, the Department of War, FAA, and Customs and Border Patrol are working together in an unprecedented fashion to mitigate drone threats by Mexican cartels and foreign terrorist organizations at the U.S.-Mexico Border," the statement said. The report notes that 27,000 drones were detected within 1,600 feet of the southern border in the last six months of 2024. Illinois Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the ranking member on the Senate's Aviation Subcommittee, is calling for an independent investigation to look into the matter. "The Trump administration's incompetence continues to cause chaos in our skies," Duckworth said.

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Memory Price Hikes Will Kill Off Budget PCs and Smartphones, Analyst Warns

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

記憶装置の価格高騰が予測され、低価格PCとスマートフォンが衰退するとアナリストは警告しています。Gartnerによると、2026年にはPCの世界出荷量が10%以上減少し、スマートフォンも約8%減少する見通しだとされています。これはAI駆動の記憶不足によるもので、一部の記憶装置は昨年の倍から4倍に価格上昇しています。

Gartnerの研究責任者、ランジット・アトワル氏は、「記憶装置の価格が上がると、1000ドル未満の低価格PCを提供できなくなります」と述べています。製造業者は価格を上げるが、価格敏感な顧客には受け入れられません。

また、AIデバイスもPC産業に影響を与えます。これらの装置は特別なハードウェアでAIタスクを加速し、CPU内に神経処理ユニット(NPU)を搭載していますが、記憶容量が必要となり、価格を上げる傾向があります。アトワル氏は、「価格の圧迫時にはスペックを下げるという方法がありましたがあまり難しい」と述べています。

この記憶不足とAIデバイスによる需要減少が重なることで、PC産業はさらに低迷すると予想されています。
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: Ballooning memory prices are forecast to kill off entry-level PCs, leading to a decline in global shipments this year -- and a similar effect is going to hit smartphones. Analyst biz Gartner is projecting a drop in PC shipments of more than 10 percent during 2026, and a decline of around 8 percent for smartphones, all due to the AI-driven memory shortage. Some types of memory have doubled or quadrupled in price since last year, and Gartner believes DRAM and NAND flash used in PCs and phones is set for a further 130 percent rise by the end of 2026. The upshot of this is that the budget PC will disappear, simply because vendors won't be able to build them at a price that will satisfy cost-conscious buyers, according to Gartner research director Ranjit Atwal. "Because the price of memory is increasing so much, vendors lose the ability to provide entry-level PCs -- those below about $500," he told The Register. PC makers could just raise the price of their cheap and cheerful boxes to above that level to compensate for the memory hike, however, price-sensitive buyers simply won't bite, he added. Another factor expected to add to declining fortunes of the PC industry this year is AI devices -- systems equipped with special hardware for accelerating AI tasks, typically via a neural processing unit (NPU) embedded in the CPU. These systems were predicted to take the market by storm, but they require more memory to support AI processing and vendors like to mark them up to a premium price. "Historically, downgrading specifications was the way to go when prices were being squeezed, but that's difficult here," Atwal said. "The thinking was that the average price [of AI PCs] would fall this year, and lead to more adoption," said Atwal, "but that's not happening." The lack of killer applications isn't helping either.

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Moon's Ancient Magnetic Field May Have Flickered On and Off

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

月の古くからの磁場について、新たな理論が提示されました。アポロ計画で採取された岩石から分かっているように、35億年前頃に月は地球の磁場と同じくらい強力な磁場を発生していました。しかし、磁場を生成するには回転する液状コアが必要であり、研究者たちは月の小さなコアが10億年以内に冷え固まったと信じていました。この矛盾を解決するために、Nature Geoscienceに掲載された論文では、35~40億年前に核心周辺でたまにマグマが溶け出し、火山活動を引き起こしたと考えられています。これらのマグマの波状上昇がコアを時折動かし、短時間ながら強力な磁場の発生を繰り返していたという理論です。

この研究は「Science Habit」がScience Magazineから引用しています。ソニア・ティクウ博士(スタンフォード大学の惑星地磁気学者)は、「別々に考えていた概念を結びつける」と評価しています。
sciencehabit quotes a report from Science Magazine: For decades, planetary scientists have pored over a mystery hidden within the Moon rocks retrieved by Apollo astronauts in the 1960s and '70s. Minerals in the rocks record the imprint of a magnetic field, nearly as powerful as Earth's, that existed more than 3.5 billion years ago and seemed to persist for millions of years. But generating a magnetic field requires a dynamo -- a churning, molten core -- and most researchers believed the Moon's tiny core would have long since cooled off, 1 billion years after it formed. Corroborating that picture are other ancient Moon rocks of about the same age that suggest the field was weak -- leaving planetary scientists baffled. Now, researchers are proposing a new way to solve the puzzle. A paper published today in Nature Geoscience theorizes that between 3.5 billion and 4 billion years ago, blobs of titanium-rich magma melted episodically just above the core, rising in plumes that drove volcanic eruptions on the surface. By intermittently stirring up the Moon's core, these bouts of melting would have caused the Moon's magnetic field to flicker on in short, powerful bursts. The paper "links a few different concepts that people were thinking about separately, but hadn't actually brought together," says Sonia Tikoo, a planetary geophysicist at Stanford University who was not involved in the study.

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NASA Reveals Identity of Astronaut Who Suffered Medical Incident Aboard ISS

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

NASAは、1月に国際宇宙ステーション(ISS)で医療問題を経験し、初の緊急帰還が必要となったアストロノートの身份を明らかにしました。そのアストロノートはミック・フィンカー氏です。フィンカー氏は58歳で、現地時間1月7日に体調不良を経験し、即時対応が必要でした。彼の同僚アストロノーターや医師たちのおかげで状況は安定しました。

フィンカー氏は、その他の乗組員であるNASAのクリス・ウィリアムズ氏、ロシアのソジェリー・クドー・スヴェルコフ氏とセギリ・ミカエフ氏に感謝し、ナASA、スペースX、そしてスクリップズ記念病院の医療チームにも感謝しています。彼らのプロフェッショナリズムと献身が成功をもたらしたと述べています。

フィンカー氏はハービス・スペースセンターで現状良好であることを報告し、飛行後調整プログラムに積極的に参加していると述べました。「宇宙飛行は素晴らしい機会であり、時折人間の一面を思い出させます」と述べています。
Longtime Slashdot reader ArchieBunker shares a report from NBC News: NASA revealed that astronaut Mike Fincke was the crew member who suffered a medical incident at the International Space Station in January, which prompted the agency to carry out the first evacuation due to a medical issue in the space station's 25-year history. The rare decision to cut a mission short and bring Fincke and three other crew members home early made for a dramatic week in space early this year. In a statement released by NASA "at the request of Fincke," the veteran astronaut said he experienced a medical event on Jan. 7 "that required immediate attention" from his space station crew members. "Thanks to their quick response and the guidance of our NASA flight surgeons, my status quickly stabilized," Fincke, 58, said in the statement. [...] In his statement, Fincke thanked his Crew-11 colleagues, along with NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, who were also aboard the space station at the time and are still in space. Fincke also thanked the teams at NASA, SpaceX and the medical professionals at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. "Their professionalism and dedication ensured a positive outcome," he said. Fincke ended his statement by saying he is "doing very well" and still actively involved with standard post-flight reconditioning at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Spaceflight is an incredible privilege, and sometimes it reminds us just how human we are," he said. "Thank you for all your support."

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  •  

Anthropic CEO Says AI Company 'Cannot In Good Conscience Accede' To Pentagon

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

Anthropic社のCEOデアリオ・アモデイは、ペンタゴンが求める技術利用拡大に「良心的に応じられない」と表明しました。 AnthropicはClaudeというAIチャットボットを製造していますが、新規約案では米国人の大量監視や完全自律兵器の開発を防ぐ進展が見られませんでした。ペンタゴン側は法的手段での利用のみを求めていると主張し、Anthropicが規制を設定するのを容認しないことを示唆しています。Anthropicとのパートナーシップ終了のリスクも警告しています。

関連リンク:
- [ Anthropic CEO Says AI Company 'Cannot In Good Conscience Accede' To Pentagon ](https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/02/26/2352217/anthropic-ceo-says-ai-company-cannot-in-good-conscience-accede-to-pentagon?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed)
- [ Four Convicted Over Spyware Affair That Shook Greece ](https://slashdot.org/story/231026/175948/four-convicted-over-spyware-affair-that-shook-greece)
- [ Hegseth Gives Anthropic Until Friday To Back Down on AI Safeguards ](https://slashdot.org/story/260226/1835225/hegseth-gives-anthropic-until-friday-to-back-down-on-ai-safeguards)
- [ Sam Altman Says OpenAI Shares Anthropic's Red Lines in Pentagon Fight ](https://slashdot.org/story/260226/184739/sam-altman-says-openai-shares-anthropic-s-red-lines-in-pentagon-fight)
- [ NASA Reveals Identity of Astronaut Who Suffered Medical Incident Aboard ISS ](https://slashdot.org/story/260225/172841/nasa-reveals-identity-of-astronaut-who-suffered-medical-incident-aboard-iss)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said Thursday the artificial intelligence company "cannot in good conscience accede" to the Pentagon's demands to allow wider use of its technology. The maker of the AI chatbot Claude said in a statement that it's not walking away from negotiations, but that new contract language received from the Defense Department "made virtually no progress on preventing Claude's use for mass surveillance of Americans or in fully autonomous weapons." The Pentagon's top spokesman has reiterated that the military wants to use Anthropic's artificial intelligence technology in legal ways and will not let the company dictate any limits ahead of a Friday deadline to agree to its demands. Sean Parnell said Thursday on social media that the Pentagon "has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans (which is illegal) nor do we want to use AI to develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement." Anthropic's policies prevent its models, such as its chatbot Claude, from being used for those purposes. It's the last of its peers -- the Pentagon also has contracts with Google, OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI -- to not supply its technology to a new U.S. military internal network. Parnell said the Pentagon wants to "use Anthropic's model for all lawful purposes" but didn't offer details on what that entailed. He said opening up use of the technology would prevent the company from "jeopardizing critical military operations." "We will not let ANY company dictate the terms regarding how we make operational decisions," he said. In a post on X, Parnell said Anthropic will "have until 5:01 PM ET on Friday to decide. Otherwise, we will terminate our partnership with Anthropic and deem them a supply chain risk for DOW."

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  •  

Four Convicted Over Spyware Affair That Shook Greece

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

ギリシャの裁判所は、2022年に発生した「ギリシャのウォーターゲート」として知られる監視スキャンダルに関連し、4人の個人を詐欺的な罪で有罪判決を受けさせました。アテネでの裁判では、ギリシャの通信機密性を違反し、個人データと会話に無断アクセスした罪で、4人の被告が数年間の執行猶予付き懲役刑に処せられました。

Predator スパイウェアは、エルサレムのイスラエル企業 Intellexa によって市場投入され、87人の人物(政府大臣、軍事高官、ジャーナリストを含む)がターゲットとなりました。スキャンダルはギリシャの情報機関(EYP)による合法的な監視と絡み合い、民主主義の責任性について議論へと発展しました。

この事件は2022年の夏に現ギリシャ社会民主党党首のニコス・アンドロラキス(当時は欧州議会議員)が、欧州議会のIT専門家から間違ったテキストメッセージとリンクを受け取ったことから発覚しました。Predator スパイウェアはデバイスのメッセージ、カメラ、マイクへのアクセスを可能にします。

現首相キリアコス・ミトサティスはEYPを直接監督するよう指名し、彼がこの事件をスキャンダルと呼んだものの、政府関係者はまだ裁判所で起訴されていません。批判家たちは政府が真実を覆おうとしていると主張しています。
A Greek court has convicted four individuals linked to the marketing of Predator spyware in the wiretapping scandal that shook the country in 2022. The BBC reports: In what became known as "Greece's Watergate," surveillance software called Predator was used to target 87 people -- among them government ministers, senior military officials and journalists. The four who had marketed the software were found guilty by an Athens court of misdemeanours of violating the confidentiality of telephone communications and illegally accessing personal data and conversations. The court sentenced the four defendants to lengthy jail sentences, suspended pending appeal. Although they each face 126 years, only eight would be typically served which is the upper limit for misdemeanors. One in three of the dozens of figures targeted had also been under legal surveillance by Greece's intelligence services (EYP). Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who had placed EYP directly under his supervision, called it a scandal, but no government officials have been charged in court and critics accuse the government of trying to cover up the truth. The case dates back to the summer of 2022, when the current head of Greek Socialist party Pasok, Nikos Androulakis - then an MEP - was informed by the European Parliament's IT experts that he had received a malicious text message containing a link. Predator spyware, marketed by the Athens-based Israeli company Intellexa, can get access to a device's messages, camera, and microphone. Its use was illegal in Greece at that time but a new law passed in 2022 has since legalised state security use of surveillance software under strict conditions. Androulakis also discovered that he had been tracked for "national security reasons" by Greece's intelligence services. The scandal has since escalated into a debate over democratic accountability in Greece.

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  •  

Colorado Lawmakers Push for Age Verification at the Operating System Level

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

コロラド州の議員は、オペレーティングシステムがユーザーの年齢層を登録し、アプリケーションにAPIを通じて共有する法制度(SB26-051)を提案しています。この法案は、デミクラン民主党のマット・ボール参議院議員とアミー・パシャル下院議員によって提出されました。「オンラインで子供たちを保護するために、プライバシー中心の年齢認証フレームワークを創出し、慎重な対策を講じたい」とボール議員は語っています。この法案には個人情報の共有や顔認識技術の使用が求められていません。

また、各アプリが独自の年齢確認メカニズムを使用するのではなく、OSを通じて年齢確認を行うことが推奨されます。これによりユーザーのIDスキャンを要求せずにプライバシーとセキュリティ上の懸念を軽減します。法案は他の目的での年齢層データの共有も禁止していますが、年齢確認の検証方法については言及されておらず、またウェブサイトには適用されません。

この法案は昨年のカリフォルニア州の法案(AB 1043)に基づいており、2027年1月1日に施行される見込みです。ただし、法案には容易な回避策があり、年齢確認を避けることができる可能性があります。
Colorado lawmakers are proposing SB26-051, a bill that would require operating systems to register a user's age bracket and share it with apps via an API. PCMag reports: The bill comes from state Sen. Matt Ball and Rep. Amy Paschal, both Democrats. "The intent is to create thoughtful safeguards for kids online through a privacy-forward framework for age assurance," Ball told PCMag. "Unlike some laws in other states, SB 51 doesn't require users to share personally identifiable information or use facial recognition technology." The legislation also promises to centralize the age check through the OS, rather than mandating that each app enforce their own age-verification mechanism, which can involve scanning the user's official ID, thus raising privacy and security concerns. The bill also forbids the sharing of the age-bracket data for any other purpose. But it looks like it's easy to bypass the age check proposed by SB26-051. The legislation itself doesn't mention any state ID check to verify the owner's age. In addition, the bill doesn't seem to cover websites, only apps and app stores. The report notes that the legislation was based on California's bill AB 1043, which was passed last year and expected to take effect January 1, 2027.

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  •  

Jack Dorsey's Block Cuts Nearly Half of Its Staff In AI Gamble

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

ジャック・ドーシー率いるブロックは、AIに基づいた「 inteligence-native」企業になるための意思決定に基づき、約4000人の従業員を解雇し、ほぼ半数の人員削減を行った。ドーシーは、「我々が困難に直面しているわけではありません。事業は強く、粗利益は増加し続け、顧客も増えています。しかし何かが変わりました。私たちは作成し使用しているAIツールと、より小さなフラットなチームを組み合わせることで、新しい働き方の形が生まれ、これにより会社を構築・運営すること自体が根本的に変化しています。そしてその進展は急速に加速しています」と述べた。

ドーシーは、少しずつ人員削減するよりも、「私たちは今後の自信に立脚した姿勢から行動したいので、明確な決定を今すぐ取ります」として大規模なリストラを選択した。この人員削減は、2025年4四半期の収益報告と共に発表された。

ドーシーは株主への書簡(PDF)で、「ブロックがより小さく、素早くて、AIに基づいた企業になると非常に価値があると信じています。これから全ての行動はその実現のために行われます」と述べた。
Jack Dorsey's Block is cutting more than 4,000 jobs, or nearly half its workforce, as part of a deliberate shift toward becoming a smaller, "intelligence-native" company built around AI. The Verge reports: "We're not making this decision because we're in trouble," Dorsey says. "Our business is strong. Gross profit continues to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers, and profitability is improving. But something has changed. We're already seeing that the intelligence tools we're creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company. And that's accelerating rapidly." Dorsey opted to do a big layoff instead of gradual cuts because "I'd rather take a hard, clear action now and build from a position we believe in than manage a slow reduction of people toward the same outcome." The layoffs were announced on Thursday as part of the company's Q4 2025 earnings. In a shareholder letter (PDF), Dorsey says that "We believe Block will be significantly more valuable as a smaller, faster, intelligence-native company. Everything we do from here is in service of that."

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  •  

What's the Point of School When AI Can Do Your Homework?

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

学校の意義がAIの普及により問われているという記事を要約します。AI「Einstein」は、講義に出席し、レポートを作成し、CanvasなどのEdTechプラットフォームでのテストやディスカッションにも参加できるとしています。これにより、学校への通学自体の価値が疑問視される可能性があります。

エヴァディット・パリワルはブラウン大学を中退した同作の共同開発者で、彼は「馬」と比較し、「車が普及したとき、馬たちは自由にできることが多くなった。学校に行くことに意味があるとは限らない」と述べています。しかし人間は馬ではありません。マトーマス・キルシェンバウムは、「これはEinsteinを超えた問題である」と指摘しています。

高等教育における伝統的な教育モデルの変化は、長年にわたるトレンドの結果だとされ、学生たちは資格を取得するために学校に通うという「転換型」教育モデルに依存していることが明らかになりました。しかしAIの普及により、学位を持つ人々でも失業が増えることから、人間が生まれ持った目的は何か再評価すべきだという主張も出ています。

最後に、キルシェンバウムは「教育自体が取引できるようになったら、自主的なソフトウェアAIエージェントが代理でそれを実行することが可能になる」と述べています。つまり、教育モデルそのものが自己批判を余儀なくされている状況にあると言及しています。
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: There's a new agentic AI called Einstein that will, according to its developers, live the life of a student for them. Einstein's website claims that the AI will attend lectures for you, write your papers, and even log into EdTech platforms like Canvas to take tests and participate in discussions. Educators told me that Einstein is just one of many AI tools that can do homework for students, but should be seen as a warning to schools that are increasingly seen by students as a place to gain a diploma and status as opposed to the value of education itself. If an AI can go to school for you what's the point of going to school? For Advait Paliwal, Brown dropout and co-creator of Einstein, there isn't one. "I think about horses," he said. "They used to pull carriages, but when cars came around, I'd argue horses became a lot more free," he said. "They can do whatever they want now. It would be weird if horses revolted and said 'no, I want to pull carriages, this is my purpose in life.'" But humans aren't horses. "This is much bigger than Einstein," Matthew Kirschenbaum told 404 Media. "Einstein is symptomatic. I doubt we'll be talking about Einstein, as such, in a year. But it's symptomatic of what's about to descend on higher ed and secondary ed as well." [...] The attractiveness of agentic AIs is a symptom of a decades-long trend in higher education. "Universitiesby and large adopted a transactive model of education," Kirschenbaum said. "Students see their diploma as a credential. They pay tuition and at the end of four years, sometimes five years, they receive the credential and, in theory at least, that is then the springboard to economic stability and prosperity." Paliwal seems to agree. He told 404 Media that he attempted to change the university from the inside while working as a TA, but felt stymied by politics. "The only way to force these institutions to evolve is to bring reality to their face. And usually the loudest critics are the ones who can't do their own job well and live in fear of automation," he said. "I think we really need to question what learning even is and whether traditional educational institutions are actually helping or harming us," said Paliwal. "We're seeing a rise in unemployment across degree holders because of AI, and that makes me question whether this is really what humans are born to do. We've been brainwashed as a society into valuing ourselves by the output of our productive work, and I think humanity is a lot more beautiful than that. Is it really education if we're just memorizing things to perform a task well?" Kirschenbaum added: "What we're finding is that if forms of education can be transacted then we've just about arrived at the point where autonomous software AI agents are capable of performing the transaction on your behalf," he said. "And so the whole educational paradigm has come back to essentially bite itself in the ass."

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  •  

Google Launches Nano Banana 2 Model With Faster Image Generation

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

GoogleがNano Banana 2(Gemini 3.1 Flash Image)を発表し、 Gemsay, Search, Lens, Flowなど全製品にデフォルトで採用しました。新 Nano Banana 2はプロモデルの高精細さを維持しながらも生成速度が向上しています。解像度512pxから4Kまでの画像を作成でき、異なるアスペクト比に対応しています。また、キャラクター5体と最大14つのオブジェクトの一連のフローでキャラクターコンサーシティを維持し、ストーリーテリングに有利です。複雑な生成リクエストも可能になりました。

Googleは高額プランAI ProやUltraではNano Banana Proの利用が可能とし、画像再生成には三点メニューを使用します。新たに生成されたすべての画像にはSynthID水印を付け、C2PAコンテンツ証明と互換性があります。この機能導入以来、ユーザーは2000万回以上使用しています。

関連記事:中国公務員がChatGPTを使用し、グローバルな脅威opérationを明らかにした。
Google has launched Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image), a faster, more realistic image generation model that becomes the default across Gemini, Search, Lens, and Flow. TechCrunch reports: The new Nano Banana 2 retains some of the high-fidelity characteristics of the Pro model but produces images faster. The company says you can create images with a resolution ranging from 512px to 4K, in different aspect ratios. Nano Banana 2 can maintain character consistency for up to five characters and fidelity of up to 14 objects in one workflow for better storytelling. Users can also issue complex requests with detailed nuances for image generation, Google says. In addition, users can create media with more vibrant lighting, richer textures, and sharper detail. [...] On Google's higher-end plans, Google AI Pro and Ultra, subscribers can continue to use Nano Banana Pro for specialized tasks by regenerating images via the three-dot menu. [...] The company said that all images created through the new model will have a SynthID watermark, which is Google's mark to denote AI-generated images. The images are also interoperable with C2PA Content Credentials, created by an industry body consisting of companies like Adobe, Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, and Meta. Google said that since launching the SynthID verification in the Gemini app in November, people have used it over 20 million times.

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  •  

Chinese Official's Use of ChatGPT Revealed a Global Intimidation Opperation

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD
New submitter sabbede shares a report from CNN Politics: A sprawling Chinese influence operation -- accidentally revealed by a Chinese law enforcement official's use of ChatGPT -- focused on intimidating Chinese dissidents abroad, including by impersonating US immigration officials, according to a new report from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. The Chinese law enforcement official used ChatGPT like a diary to document the alleged covert campaign of suppression, OpenAI said. In one instance, Chinese operators allegedly disguised themselves as US immigration officials to warn a US-based Chinese dissident that their public statements had supposedly broken the law, according to the ChatGPT user. In another case, they describe an effort to use forged documents from a US county court to try to get a Chinese dissident's social media account taken down. "This is what Chinese modern transnational repression looks like," Ben Nimmo, principal investigator at OpenAI, told reporters ahead of the report's release. "It's not just digital. It's not just about trolling. It's industrialized. It's about trying to hit critics of the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] with everything, everywhere, all at once." Michael Horowitz, a former Pentagon official focused on emerging technologies, said the report from OpenAI "clearly demonstrates the way that China is actively employing AI tools to enhance information operations. US-China AI competition is continuing to intensify. This competition is not just taking place at the frontier, but in how China's government is planning and implementing the day-to-day of their surveillance and information apparatus."

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  •  

iPhone and iPad Are First Consumer Devices Cleared for NATO Classified Data

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD
Apple's iPhone and iPad running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 have become the first consumer mobile devices cleared for NATO-restricted classified data. No special software or settings are required. MacRumors reports: Apple's devices are the first and only consumer mobile products that have reached this government certification level after security testing and evaluation by the German government. iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 are now certified for use with classified data in all NATO nations. In an announcement of the security clearance, Apple touted its security features: "Apple designs security into all of its products from the start, ensuring the most sophisticated protections are built in across hardware, software, and Apple silicon. This unique approach allows Apple users to benefit from industry-leading security protections such as best-in-class encryption, biometric authentication with Face ID, and groundbreaking features like Memory Integrity Enforcement. These same protections are now recognized as meeting stringent government and international security requirements, even for restricted data."

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  •  

Firefox 148 Now Available With The New AI Controls, AI Kill Switches

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

**Firefox 148 の主なポイント(日本語要約)**

- **AI 機能の細かい制御と全体的な「AI キルスイッチ」**
- ユーザーはブラウザ内の AI 機能を個別にオン・オフでき、必要に応じてすべての AI を一括で無効化できる。

- **個別に切り替え可能な AI 機能例**
- ページ翻訳
- PDF ビューアでの画像代替テキスト生成
- タブグループのサジェスト
- リンクプレビューの要点抽出
- サイドバーの AI チャットボットプロバイダー

- **その他の新機能・改善**
- **Firefox for Android** が正式にリリース
- **Trusted Types API** のサポートで XSS 対策が強化
- **CSS `shape()`** 関数の実装
- **Sanitizer API** のサポートで安全な HTML の生成が容易に
- **WebGPU** の機能拡張とパフォーマンス向上
- その他多数のバグ修正と内部最適化

- **入手方法**
- 開発者向け情報は developer.mozilla.org に掲載
- バイナリは ftp.mozilla.org からダウンロード可能

Firefox 148 は、AI 機能の選択的管理を可能にすると同時に、モバイル対応や最新ウェブ標準への対応を強化したバージョンです。
Firefox 148 introduces granular AI controls and a global "AI kill switch" that allows users to disable or selectively manage the browser's AI features. Phoronix reports: Among the AI features that can be toggled individually are around translations, image alt text in the Firefox PDF viewer, tab group suggestions, key points in link previews, and AI chatbot providers in the sidebar. Firefox 148 also brings Firefox for Android, support for the Trusted Types API, CSS shape() function support, Sanitizer API support, WebGPU enhancements, and a variety of other changes. Developer chances can be found at developer.mozilla.org. Binaries are available from ftp.mozilla.org.

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  •  

Quantum Algorithm Beats Classical Tools On Complement Sampling Tasks

✇Slashdot
著者: BeauHD

🤖 AI Summary

**量子アルゴリズムが古典的手法を凌駕――補集合サンプリングで実証された量子優位性**

- **研究チーム**:英国のQuantinuumとオランダのQuSoftの研究者ら
- **成果**:補集合サンプリング(特定のサンプリング課題)を、従来のどの古典アルゴリズムよりもはるかに少ないサンプルで解く量子アルゴリズムを開発
- **重要性**:サンプル複雑性(問題解決に必要なサンプル数)において、**証明可能かつ検証可能な量子アドバンテージ**を示した初めての事例
- **論文**:*Physical Review Letters* に掲載
- **偶然の発見**:共著者ハリー・ブールマン氏によると、別プロジェクト中に「半分のアイテムで構成された量子状態」と「残り半分で構成された量子状態」を比較する問題に取り組んでいた際、
- 2つの状態は本質的に区別が難しいが、**単純な操作で相互変換できる**ことに気付いた
- **結論**:量子コンピュータは、状態の識別は困難でも、状態間の変換は容易であるという特性を利用し、古典計算では実現できないサンプリング効率を達成した

この研究は、量子コンピュータが実用的な計算タスクで古典コンピュータを上回る具体的な証拠として、量子優位性の新たな側面を示しています。
alternative_right shares a report from Phys.org: A team of researchers working at Quantinuum in the United Kingdom and QuSoft in the Netherlands has now developed a quantum algorithm that solves a specific sampling task -- known as complement sampling -- dramatically more efficiently than any classical algorithm. Their paper, published in Physical Review Letters, establishes a provable and verifiable quantum advantage in sample complexity: the number of samples required to solve a problem. "We stumbled upon the core result of this work by chance while working on a different project," Harry Buhrman, co-author of the paper, told Phys.org. "We had a set of items and two quantum states: one formed from half of the items, the other formed from the remaining half. Even though the two states are fundamentally distinct, we showed that a quantum computer may find it hard to tell which one it is given. Surprisingly, however, we then realized that transforming one state into the other is always easy, because a simple operation can swap between them."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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